Novel-novel oleh Astylynn

ElenaI waved to Stu and Wes. They were some of my favorite sleuth members to mess with. They had gone away for the summer, along with a few other members, to go to another city for a football camp. My brother had just gotten back a little over a week ago, and this was my first time seeing them since they got home. I hugged them both as we immediately slid back into our normal teasing manner. Osprey joined us after a few minutes, and even though I could tell he was not really enjoying himself, he laughed, carrying on like he had no worries in the world.Suddenly, a tantalizing mix of dark soil with pine hit my nose, making me utter a little growl. My legs trembled and my mouth watered. I swallowed hard as Eden purred in my head. I slowly scanned the area, looking for the scent that was driving me crazy, when my eyes locked with Beanie’s. I grabbed Osprey’s arm.“Beanie’s back!” I said excitedly.He gave me a weird look. “Yes. He just got back today.”Beanie walked away from Nenna, who

Junior YearOsprey (A week Later)Elena skipped down the stairs wearing a skintight, short black dress, with her dual-colored eyes glinting excitedly. I groaned. She was too excited for this party tonight. She was determined to come home with a name she had already made for herself. I had no idea why she wanted to be a cheerleader, but it was what it was. She would excel as one. She was bendy and had the nauseating peppy energy that they all had. Raul eyed her outfit.“Go change! You are not going out dressed like that!” he growled.I rolled my eyes as her bottom lip quivered. “But, Daddy,” she whined, “Osprey will be there. He will keep me from getting in trouble. Please.”I bit back a chuckle when her eyes filled with tears, and I knew he would give in. He groaned as he turned to me.“You are to bring your sister home safely. And no fucking drinking, Elena. I mean it!”Her pout turned into a smile as she hugged him. “Thanks, Daddy. Love you, Mom!”Our mother chuckled. “Love you, guy

After the party, I came straight home, tossing and turning in bed for hours. Images of Scarlett and Justin kept me awake, intensifying my anger. I fucking hated it. She was mine and only mine, dammit. Nobody could have her. I didn’t need Godric to tell me that I was in love with her. I already fucking knew it. I’d known since I could walk and talk. Hell, I probably knew before I could even breathe. I rolled onto my back, debating if I really wanted to do what Godric had been begging me to do. He wanted me to be sweet to her. He wanted me to win her back with rainbows, butterflies, and glitter bombs. He was under the impression that she was like Elena, who was still into all the fluffy, girly stuff like make-up, clothes, and celebrity gossip.I got up to pace with my hands clasped behind my back, having given up on sleeping. For someone who claimed to love Scarlett, he pretended to not know anything about her. Our Scarlett was more down-to-earth. She liked the simple things in life, li

Two Months LaterI shifted back just outside of my house. I had left camp almost a week early to come home for Scarlett’s and Elena’s birthday party. I had never missed one before, and I was not about to start now. I quickly pulled basketball shorts over my hips before hurrying inside to put on real clothes. I shouldn’t have left camp, but it was driving me crazy to be there. Between missing Scarlett and Beanie not speaking to me since our meeting with Arianna, I couldn’t stay there anymore. I hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, and I kind of thought he was being a little bitch about the whole situation. Which made me feel even guiltier about it, because I knew that if someone had alluded to me not being enough for Scarlett, I would have ripped their throats out.‘Hey, Alpha,’ Beanie linked me suddenly, shocking the hell out of me.‘What’s up, bro?’‘Just wanted to remind you about the present for Elena.’I rolled my eyes. ‘I got you.’‘Thank you. I’m sorry for my behavior lately.’I s

“Osprey, how are you? Who is this?” she asked.“I’m okay. Thank you for coming. This is my best friend, Beanie.”She ran her eyes over him before hugging me. “Hmmmm. He’s a little cutie. Has he started dating one of your sisters yet?”I let her go to sit back in my chair as she took hers. Beanie grumpily also took his, making me shoot him a glare. He cleared his throat as he straightened up at my silent order.“No, he isn’t dating any of my sisters. What makes you think he would date one of them?” I inquired curiously.“Well, the best friend always dates a little sister at some point. My bet is he gets with Elena,” she mused.I tensed up as Beanie immediately started to sputter a bunch of nonsense, making her laugh.“I knew it. Your secret is safe with me, Bernard.” She winked at me. “Not that I think Elena would care if he asked her out. She’d jump on him like a beehive in a tree.”I raised an eyebrow at her. “A beehive in a tree?”“Bears. Honey. Goddess, I keep forgetting how young

I leaped over Sage, trusting Wes to keep him off our current quarterback, Stu, to race after Silver, who had intercepted the ball. Godric pushed us faster, and in seconds, we were right behind Silver, diving at his legs. We hit the ground with my arms around his thighs as he desperately tried to wiggle away from me. He pulled his leg out of my hold before kicking back at my face. I was forced to let him go as I rolled away. I jumped up just in time to avoid his next kick, which landed where my head had been seconds before. I bounced lightly on my heels, prepared for a fight that I hoped I could avoid, but if I couldn’t, he would pay for that, too. Assistant Coach Maxwell got between us, and I let out a relieved breath, knowing that I wasn’t going to have to rip his throat out. Silver lunged at me again, only avoiding an ass whooping by Maxwell stopping him.“Walk it off, Silver. NOW!”Silver’s jaw clenched as he started jogging around the field. Maxwell narrowed his eyes on me before

Minor Trigger WarningGerald“DADDDY! DADDDY! WHERE ARE YOU?” Annie screamed as she ran down the hallway, crying.I jumped to my feet and rushed out of the room. “Annie? What’s wrong?”She waved some papers in the air. “Gerry, look.”She handed me the crumpled papers, and I smoothed them out so I could look at them. I relaxed when I saw the simple math problems on it. I smiled at her.“Do you need help?”She nodded, wiping her nose. I winked at her.“Go get the jelly beans.”She grinned before dashing down the stairs. I went back into my room to prepare for when she got back. I smiled at her when she ran back in, panting and holding up a bag of jelly beans.“I got them. Osprey was trying to eat them. He-”“ANNIE! IF YOU DON’T GIVE THOSE BACK TO ME!” he yelled as he stomped up the stairs.She ran behind me, burying her face in my back. I tensed as I prepared for the hurricane that was our brother. He growled at me as he entered.“Did you tell her to steal my candy!”“No. I was going to

ToyaI smiled at Hannah as Mom and Grandma got us ready. Tonight our daddies were going to go with us to the daddy-daughter dance and we were so excited. Elena and Priscilla had already gone to their dance with their daddies. It was our turn now. I twirled in front of the mirror and giggled when my pretty blue dress flared out around me. I quickly sat down, laughing harder when it created a poofy ball around me.“I love my dress, Mommy!”She dipped her finger into the gel and added some more to the skin between my braids to force stray hairs to behave. She smiled at me.“You are such a little princess, baby. You both are.”I stood next to Hannah, frowning as I looked at our reflections. Her skin was so much paler than mine and our classmates had teased me a lot, saying that we couldn’t be siblings. My eyes filled with tears as I turned back to my mother.“Mom, why do we have to look so different?”She squatted next to me. “What do you mean, sweetie?”“Osprey, Gerald, Scila, Lena, Anni

ElenaI threw the door to Annie and Hannah’s room open. I grinned at them.“I have a cookie for the one that irritates Osprey and Gerald the most.”Annie giggled and shoved Hanna. “That cookie is mine.”Hannah eyed me. “What kind of cookie?”Toya poked her head from around my back before hiding back behind me. “It’s caramel chocolate chip,” she whispered.Priscilla bounced into the room. “I want in but I don’t need the cookie. I’ll do it for free.”I giggled as I high-fived her. “I knew you were my favorite.”I ushered Toya inside before scanning the hallway for our brothers. “I know you have a plan, Scilla. Spill.”Her face split open into a huge evil smile. “Aunt Scarlett is coming over. I say we use her.”My eyes twinkled at her. “Why you little conniving rat! I love it! So what do we do?”She turned to look at Annie and Hannah. “I think we stuff them with sugar and then have our dads rile them up. When they have to vomit, I say we have them go vomit on the boys. It’ll embarrass hi

Epilogue (One year later)ScarlettI smiled when Osprey flung the door open. I held up the plate of peanut butter cookies I had made with him in mind.“I made cookies for dessert,” I murmured, looking down at the ground.He took the plate from me and his hands slid over mine. My eyes shot up to his and he smiled at me. My heart started pounding and my tummy fluttered.“Thank you. Mom made lasagna.”He turned around and I followed him into the house while Aunt Tasha stepped out onto the porch to speak to my parents. We went into the dining room and I glanced around.“Where are your siblings?” I asked.“Out hunting with our fathers.”I played with the tablecloth. “Why didn’t you go?”“I wanted to be here when you got here.”My face heated and I couldn’t help but smile. “You could have gone hunting.”He unwrapped the plate and handed me a cookie. “I did hunt earlier.”I nervously tucked my hair behind my ear. “So, you’re not hungry?”“I am. Would you like a plate? I’ll make you one.”I t

Tasha (2 years later)I smiled at Mona over Falcon’s shoulder as he signed their father’s house over to her. It hadn’t taken much to convince him to do it since he was rarely there anymore anyway. He had moved all his things to Timothy’s house years ago and the sleuth had fully taken over his house in the city under Mona’s watchful eyes. His abilities as alpha had only grown with the other men by his side and now the sleuth was even more prosperous.Mona rushed around the table to hug me.“Thank you, Tasha.”I squeezed her tight. “I didn’t do anything.”“Pfft. I know he would have never given up Dad’s house without you asking him to.”I laughed, patting her back as I met her brother’s eyes. “You give me too much credit.”“I don’t but we can pretend I do.”Falcon took my hand and pulled me close to his side. “Shut up, you brat.”She laughed and kissed his cheek. “You can still come and go as you please.”He glared at her. “You’re damn right I can. I am still the alpha!”She winked at m

Osprey (6 years later)I sprinted back to my house like my parents had told me to after school was let out. I ran into the living room, quickly hugged my mother and deposited my bookbag beside the coffee table. I spun back to the door and rushed towards it when my father stepped in my way.“Where are you going in such a hurry? You just got home.”I stopped, lowering my head. I had learned at any age that any type of attitude would be dominated out of me so it was just easier to submit and pray that I could talk my way into getting what I wanted.“I wanted to walk Scarlett home,” I said softly.“Do you have homework?”“Dad, it’s the first day,” I whined, resisting the urge to stomp my foot.“Do you have homework?” he repeated.I groaned. “I do. I’m going to do it. I just wanted to walk her home first.”My father studied me for a moment before sighing. “If you miss even one homework assignment, I will not allow you to walk her home anymore. Am I understood?”I nodded enthusiastically. “