Novels by L.A.B

“I’m here for Everly.” Is all I say to the female guard who had been standing and keeping watch on the area of the border I was coming through. She looked down at me like she was analyzing if I was trustworthy enough to let in. “She asked me to come.” I huff, annoyed with the way she was looking at me. I still wasn’t too fond of the wolves of this pack, because at one point or another, they’d all been loyal to Sebastain. I just couldn’t bring myself to trust them.She hesitates a moment longer, then ticks her head in the opposite direction, turning and starting to walk. I guess I was following her.I glance at the other guards who are hovering around, some in human form, some as wolves. There were significantly more of them today than there had been in the past. I wonder if that was because of Sebastain or if there were other threats looming over Everly’s head. What had she been dealing with since we last talked? I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty as I followed after the giant

“Eli, dude, you gotta stop eating dirt.” I mutter, reaching out to pull his tiny hand from where he was trying to shove yet another fistful of dirt into his mouth.I was outside with Eli, trying to get him to show some interest in working out with me. He was almost three, so he only had a few more years before he’d really start training. Given he was an Alpha’s son I was hoping to get a head start on him, but he didn’t seem to share my plans as of right now. He was mostly just interested in pulling fistfulls of grass and dirt out and sampling their flavor profiles.I sigh, plopping down on the ground, giving up for the time being. Eli was still a little too young to care about the strong man he would have to become one day. He still had a few years of being a kid, I guess. Might as well enjoy it while he could.I furrow my brow as I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I shift a little, digging until I pull it out. “It’s your mom.” I mutter to Eli, who isn’t paying me any attention.

“You’re not seriously thinking about letting him come back here, are you?” The second Sebastain is out of the room, Beatrice is walking around to stand in front of the desk and glare at me. Her tone was filled with accusation, and her face looked annoyed. “You think I want him here?” I ask, a little annoyed with her tone. I don’t know why she was acting like I had invited him here and asked him to threaten me.“Well, you didn’t tell him no.” She scoffs, crossing her arms. I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. Like I didn’t have enough to worry about, now Beatrice was picking this moment to challenge me, to act out. “You heard what he said.” I say, looking at her. “I’m not strong enough to beat him in an actual fight. If he wanted to take this pack back from me right now, he could.” “Not with me here.” She growls, her eyes flashing. I was actually quite pleased with her reaction, the immediate reaction to protect the pack against Sebastian, despite him being her former Alpha. Des

Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in Sebastain’s old office, me in his chair, him on the other side of the desk. It was a weird feeling, to be looking at him from this perspective. My first instinct was to give him his chair back, but then I realized how weak that would make me look, so I fought against it. He hadn’t said anything to me since we’d come face to face, but he also hadn’t taken his eyes off of me. A few of his old pack members, mostly members from the guard, had surrounded him and started asking him questions. Where had he been, what had he been doing? Was he back for good, if not, then why was he here? Some of them were irritated sounding, and betrayed, still feeling the burn from his disappearing act. Some were curious and maybe a little hopeful he was making a comeback. I tried not to linger on that too much, reminding myself things had been a bit rocky since I’d taken over. It was only natural they’d miss the strong leader who had carried them to the top of the wer

So much paperwork. File upon file. Page upon page. It seemed like everytime someone so much as took a pack of crackers from the supplies closet I was made to fill out a form. I mean it was one of the reasons this pack was so financially stable, because no dollar was left unaccounted for. But being the one in charge of maintaining that level of thoroughness kind of sucked.It had been three days since our little encounter with the confrontational wolves at our borders. Today was supposed to be the day Killian would bring the twins by for some play time with me, but because of the growing tension, I had told him not to come. The same men had been seen multiple times lingering near the border late at night, sneaking around, probably trying to find a weak spot in the guard system. But because of their presence, I’d only increased the number of guards we had on the borders, and made sure we had a twenty four seven rotation of wolves keeping a close eye. The other’s have been very cooper

“Having any morning sickness? Lower back pain?” “No throwing up so far, and no more than usual.” I answered the obstetrician who was currently asking me questions as she tried to get a picture of the baby inside me. I was laid back in one of their sticky, plastic covered seats, my shirt lifted and my pants unbuttoned. “That’s great. Let me know if anything changes, okay?” I nod, giving her a tight smile as my eyes flick back to the sonogram screen.“Anything?” I ask. “Mmm it won’t be the best image because it looks like your baby is hiding from us, but I can get you one today. If you’d like.” She says, stopping her sonogram probe that had been gliding over my exposed belly to show me the small, barely recognizable life form inside me. The image was black and white, grainy too. I remember when I had gotten one for the twins I had been so excited at any chance of seeing them at all. Now I was wondering when they were going to get some better equipment for this medical facility, becaus

"You little shit, get your ass back here." I laugh from my spot on the kitchen counter, watching Nate chase our naked child, Liam around the living room with a yellow bath towel clutched in his hand. Liam stops then, turning around to grin at his dad. He was only three, but was already extremely mobile, and had a smile just like his dad's. "Are you going to help me?" Nate sighs, glaring up at me as Liam yells and resumes running around like a mad man with his arms up in the air. I shake my head a little, pointing to where Liam is now standing on the couch. He grins at his dad, who finally swoops in and grabs him in his arms, wrapping the towel around him tightly as he does so. "Ha! Got you!" Nate declares as he wrestles Liam so he's upside down in his arms. He squeals with delight as Nate carries him like that back towards his room to put clothes on, calling him a weakling the entire time. But Liam loves it. He loves his dad, and he loves playing and "fighting" with him.I smile a

Why is it so often when I'm waking up in the morning, I'm in pain? I groan, stretching my arms above my head and blinking away sleep. I wince as harsh daylight assaults my eyes. My head pounds, and I bring a hand up to rub at my temple."Fuck." I groan, sitting up and leaning against the bed's headboard. I look down at where Ike is facing away from me, towards the wall, hugging himself and with no blanket. Nate is on the other side, also facing away, burrioted up in the entire blanket. I fall forward and start to crawl between them to get out of the bed. I stop when I feel a hand grabbing my ankle. Nate's green eyes are already staring at me. He's rolled over and untucked himself from his blanket tomb. "You're not going to make me chase you again, are you?" I furrow my brow, sitting in a crawling position, trying to think why I would run away. "Oh." I say when I finally realize what Ike had done to Nate last night. I didn't actually see anything, but I remember one of Ike's hands

I leave Ike at the bottom of the stairs, taking Cleo into my bedroom first and laying her down gently. She starts wiggling around, smiling and rubbing all over the sheets. Weirdo. I go back for Ike, who is pulling himself up the stairs, or trying to. He's got one hand on the second step, his other on the first. "Can I help you?" I ask, bending down to wrap one of his arms around my shoulder and putting my arm around his middle. "Here we go." He mumbles as I half drag him to my bed.I let him fall onto it, barely avoiding Cleo, who has taken her leggings off finally and is laying like a starfish on the bed. I sigh. I turn and flip the light off, kicking my shoes off as I do. Off come my pants and shirt. "Move." I huff, closing Cleo's legs and scooting her to one side of the bed. "You too." Ike listens for once, but only because he wants to be Cleo's big spoon. I roll my eyes and fall into the empty space beside them.I lay on one arm, staring at the ceiling for a moment before clo

"You know what her parents told me earlier?" Ike tilts his head to stare at me. I shake my head. "They told me, that this is the last time they'll be seeing Cleo." I freeze at his words. My eyes dart around to try and find the two in question. "Don't bother looking for them. They went back to their place and are leaving first thing in the morning. They aren't even planning on saying goodbye." He shakes his head at me. "I mean, why come in the first place?" He scoffs, finishing off his drink. "Just to rub it in her face that you exist?" He's staring at Cleo, muttering to himself now really more than talking to me. "Did they say why?" I nudge him to try and get his drunk ass to focus. He kind of blinks and shakes his head before looking back to me again. "They said they couldn't stay or come visit her because of the rules of being part of The Circle," He scoffs at their title. "And that she couldn't visit them because if anyone knew they had a daughter out there they'd try and make he

My peace with Cleo is ripped away by that fuck head Thomas, who snatches Cleo away over his shoulder and yells something about loving tequila. Had he just been waiting for the perfect chance to steal her away again? "Oh my god." I rub the bridge of my nose and make eye contact with Cleo as she sits up on Thomas to grin at me like a child. I lean back and cross my arms as I watch him take her to a group of guards. "I got her!" He yells in victory. The guards cheer and whoop in excitement. "Your mates have had enough of your time!" Zach proclaims as Thomas sets Cleo down. "And besides, it's your turn to chug something!" I groan, and I'm about to rush over and stop her, but I halt when Ike and Parker walk up to me from their spot in the crowd. "I wanted to introduce you two." Ike says, stopping in front of me. I'm half sitting, half standing, midway to snatching Cleo away from the frat boys. I glance at her for a second and see her snapping the neck off a bottle of tequila. I sigh,

"Why do you people insist on doing this to me?" She complains as I carry her away from her group of fans. "It's just easier than arguing with you." I reply. She makes an offended noise, struggles to sit up for a moment, and then flicks me on the back of the head. I roll my eyes, hiking my shoulder up a little into her gut and smiling at the noise she makes. I approach a table that's empty on one end and set Cleo down in a chair. "Wait here." I look her in the eye to make sure she's paying attention, and then turn to track down some water.I spot coolers near one of the tables closest to the fire and make my way through chatting and drinking people. I didn't realize how many people were a part of Ike's pack now a days until they were all converged together like this.I finally make it to the line of eight coolers and start opening them to find one not filled to the brim with liquor. Finally, I get my hands on a cold bottle of water. There was only a single cooler with them in it; ty

“...I will see you later, my flower.” I hear a whisper in my ear from my dreams, a breath of air on my neck. I stir a little, reaching out but finding no one.My eyes flutter open after a moment. I sit up, squinting against the sunlight coming in through the window. I look around, feeling a bit confused. I hadn’t even remembered falling asleep last night. Erik and I had talked, mostly about my dad. About why he could have left, what he might’ve been doing this entire time. I had been laying on him while we talked; I must have gotten too comfortable and nodded off.Erik was nowhere in sight now, much to my disappointment. I sigh, moving to get out of bed. I wonder how long it would be this time before I got to see him. As I dragged myself to the dresser to get ready for the day, I began feeling a sudden hot flash. I fanned at myself a little, shaking my head as I opened a drawer. I grabbed my clothes and slammed the dresser shut, taking a deep breath. Why was I so hot all of a sudde

“My flower… I hear you’ve had a hard day.” I remain laid on my side that evening in me and Erik’s bed, on my side, facing away from him even as I heard him coming into our room.The day had passed in a blur. I’d spent it with Chepi and the other servants, talking to them and helping them to distract myself. By the time dinner had come and gone, I had begun to realize I hadn’t seen Erik since yesterday, and now, I was feeling pouty about that. I had needed him today, and he hadn’t been around. I may not have realized it until the very end, but not it was bothering me. Where had he been? What had he been doing that was so much more important?“Delilah, are you sleeping?” I roll my eyes as I feel the bed shifting as Erik crawls up to me. “Why are you ignoring me?” He asks once he’s over me, brushing my hair away from my eyes. I roll away, huffing and burying my face in a pillow. “I could ask you the same thing.” Comes my muffled response. I knew I was being petty, but I couldn’t stop m

After Larkin dropped the bomb on me he suspected my dad to be of the Gud species, he went off to talk to someone and I was left alone, trying my best to process. He’d said he needed to talk to this someone right away and had offered to bring me along, but I could tell he was in a hurry. And I was in no mood to be rushed. I didn’t even have the energy to try and pry and find out who it was he needed to talk to. Though, now I was a bit curious as to which person would know anything about this situation. So I’d told him to go ahead, and now I was just wandering around the halls. There were plenty of other Alva and servants around, doing their own thing, unaware of the fresh set of trauma I’d just been delivered. I smiled politely at any that passed but made care not to hesitate. I wasn’t in the mood for small talk right now either.I couldn’t stop asking myself, was it true? Was my dad from this place? I mean, it had to be one of my parents, right? I got my powers from somewhere and thi

“....Deeeelilah. Hey. Heeey!” All at once I’m aware of everything. I sit up, sucking in air desperately like I’d been underwater. Sunlight was assaulting my eyes, making me squint and bring my hand up to shield them from the harsh light. “You okay?” I blink a little as I realize I’m looking into Larkin’s eyes, his much too close eyes. His blue eyes looked worried and a bit tired.“Oh. Yeah… yeah.” I shake my head a little, sitting up and scooting back against the headboard. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to focus a little. “How long was I asleep?” Larkin moves back from me, standing at the edge of the bed again now that I’m awake.“Uh.” He rubs at the back of his neck a little. “I mean the whole night. Eight hours maybe?”“Huh.” I furrow my brow, looking around the room a little. “Erik never came?” I had only planned on being asleep for a few hours originally. I had expected to be sleeping in the same bed as Erik afterwards so it was a little concerning he never came. Maybe it was a g

This made no sense. I stayed hidden in the shadows, mouth agape as I stared at the man who was supposed to be dead. He looked exactly the same. How was that possible? It had been years, he should have aged. Even my mother had gained some smile lines and gray hairs here and there over the years. He was holding my mother’s hands, comforting her as she looked down at the table. “How long has she been gone now?” My dad asks in a low voice. My mom lets out a shaky breath before speaking, “Six months maybe?” I blink, thinking. It definitely had not been six months. A month tops, maybe. My dad nods a little. “Time passes differently there. She will have only felt like she’s been gone for a month or so at most.” Seriously? Time was passing faster in this world than in the new one I was living in?“What if she’s hurt, or lost, or hungry? She doesn’t know anything about that place.” I feel a little offended at her assumption I was failing, but tried to remember she was just worried about m

“So… how is this going to work?” I sigh, opening my eyes again to glare up at Larkin, who was leaning over me as I lay on my bed.“Like I’ve already said, I’ve been telling myself all day I want to visit my mother when I go to sleep, so hopefully it’ll work like it did last time and my subconscious will make it happen for me.”Larkin makes that same slightly unhappy face he’d been making since I told him what my plan was yesterday, like it worried him. I wasn’t sure why, but he had insisted on at least being in the same room as me when it happened. At first I had said no, I could do this alone. Then he’d threatened to fill Erik in on what I was doing and I quickly caved. It’s not like I was hiding it from Erik, per say. Why would I? I wasn’t doing anything particularly dangerous, I wasn’t actually “going” anywhere so it’s not like I would be walking around unguarded with Griffin out there.I was just laying down in our bed and going to sleep. That’s it.“What if it doesn’t work?” Lar

Even after Angel was gone, my nose was still filled with her scent. Vanilla, fresh baked cookies, sunshine. It was like it had soaked into my pores throughout our day together, making it impossible to get her off my mind.I had parked the car us workers used when we needed to drive a cast member somewhere and was making my way back up to the secondary house where the on-site staff lived. There were only ten of us, sharing five rooms, two people in each one. We didn’t interact much outside of work, mostly all just tucked away in our beds and texted with family or scrolled through social media. Everyone except me was here for one reason: the paycheck. Being a worker on this show may be slightly degrading, but everyone here was very well compensated for their time. I actually had to pay off another worker for my spot here in the end, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get in undercover, that was how good the check was. I wasn’t sure why it was so high, maybe it was difficult to get

By the time August took me home, around four pm, it was safe to say I was smitten with him. It’s not like I had a ton of experience with men under my belt, but I could say for sure the encounters I had were nothing like being around August. After today I was convinced I’d never really had a crush on anyone before, because I couldn’t remember a time another person had made me feel this way… ever.I liked how he listened when I talked, his eyes locked on me and his body language aimed in my direction. He never zoned out when I was speaking, never pulled out his phone mid conversation to check it. He would lean down to hear me better sometimes, his hand hovering around my lower back, and it made me all giddy. He’d open doors for me, ask me questions about myself, and oddly enough, didn’t care at all that I was lower ranking. He’d even said he was jealous of how close it seemed I was with my parents. As I walked through the house to my room, butterflies were fluttering my stomach, and

“This place is so cute.” I breathe as August and I walk into a small cafe thirty minutes later. The drive over August had taken advantage of the time and peppered me with a million different questions, like he was trying to get to know me. He’d asked my favorite color, my favorite animal, if I was allergic to anything. At first it had been weird talking about myself so much with a perfect stranger, but eventually I’d relaxed and just gone with the flow. They were all pretty innocent, insignificant questions, but I found myself liking that he even cared enough to ask if I preferred whole grain bread or white. No one had ever taken the time to get to know me quite so thoroughly. We’d pulled up into the small parking lot of a tiny green building tucked into a corner downtown. It was halfway underground, with steep steps leading to the pale pink front door. There were vines crawling up the sides of the building and potted plants around the entrance. There were no signs or indicators to

“Well, I don’t know how you did it, but we somehow managed to make it through the first round because of you.” I look up, smiling a little at Quinton. We had just finished with the closing ceremony for the first round of the show, and much to everyone’s shock, Quinton and I were staying, and Peter was kicked off. Time had run out on him, and they’d sent workers in to get him. He came storming out a few minutes later, his fists clenched at his sides and his glare fixed on me from the second he broke through the tree line. “You little bitch.” he had growled, quickly closing the distance between us. Before I’d even had time to shoot back at him, Victor and Quinton both had stepped in front of me, blocking his path to me. He’d yelled at them and taunted them, calling them whipped, losers. He had to be dragged off the set, actually, the cameras capturing every juicy moment as it went down. Any guilt I’d felt about what I’d done was washed away as he yelled curses at me as he was pulled

“Come on Angel, we only have fifteen minutes left!” “I know, I know!” I huff at Quinton as we run through the trees as humans, both of our breaths labored and shallow. Though it was clear I was struggling a little more than Quinton. I think he might have even been going slower for my sake. We both had all our items and were so close to finishing. We just had to make it through the woods and back to the lake house within the remaining time limit. We had almost lost everything to Peter. We would have, had it not been for the randomly appearing knight in furry armor. I had a very, very strong feeling as to who it was, but why would August help me like that? He didn’t owe me anything, we weren’t friends, he wasn’t a contestant on the show trying to win my affections. What was his angle? There was no way he was just being nice to be nice. People just weren’t like that.Still. If it hadn’t been for him, Quinton and I would have been one hundred percent screwed. I would have to thank him

“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have watermelon boba. Like it’s the best flavor. If you’re gonna offer boba in the first place, you might as well make sure you have the good flavors.” I have to actually physically restrain myself from rolling my eyes at one of the girl's complaints… Emily maybe? She was a ginger with kind of an impressive rack, but something about the sound of her voice was so grating to me. The image of having to wake up next to her forever, hearing that voice saying “Goood morning” made me shiver a little. So far all but three of the contestants had made it back. Angel, Quinton, and Peter were still searching. Angel and Quinton made sense, since they’d had harder items and were both working alone. I have no idea what Peter was doing. He was partnered with Chase, but I guess once Chase had found his items he had no interest in helping Peter to find his. A good example of the kind of character these people had.Chase was currently the one listening to Emily com