Blake P.O.V. I couldn’t help myself. I just had to see her again before going off to the Alpha gathering. So, when I was woken before 5am this morning, cold sweat running down my face, fear coursing through my body and my heart racing with a million miles a minute, I knew the feeling wasn’t my own. It was her. I jumped from my bed and ran down the stairs to get outside. There I shifted seamlessly and ran as fast as Shadow’s paws would bear me to her home. It didn’t take me long to reach her. I needed to make sure she was okay. Had she had a nightmare or was she in danger right now? I would not be able to rest before I knew it. Reaching her cottage, I observed her from afar. She was coming out onto the porch with a steaming mug and a blanket. She seemed alright, but I could still feel the conflicted feelings inside her. Our bond is already strong enough for me to pick up these things. Incredible really, the circumstances taken into consideration. Shadow whines for us to get closer,
Allison P.O.V.It’s been five days since I met Blake at the Diner, and he has been on my mind a lot since then. I can’t shake the strange feeling of him being important to me, but that makes absolutely no sense at all. He is a complete stranger, although the way I felt in his arms and on his lap when he comforted me in my panicked state was nothing I have ever felt before. The buzzing in my whole body and the stirring in my head, as if someone was trying to break free or something. Even now I can feel it whenever I think of him. His black hair, green eyes, perfect body and tattoos. Godness. No one should be allowed to be so freaking perfect. I have been coming to the Marigold Diner every day as promised, and I’m feeling more comfortable being out in public. Finally starting to feel safer. Tina has been a huge blessing I didn’t know I needed, and every day Tristan and Elliott have been there as well. As if they know exactly when I’m there. They have begun sitting with me, talking and
Blake P.O.V. Five days! I have been at this boring ass gathering for five lousy days and not just that?! No no! They made it a gathering of all fucking regions because Alpha Asshole and his minions complained and whined enough to the Elder Council! UGH! I miss my mate, and I wish I could go home to her soon, but I still have over a week left here. In endless meetings, and pointless work groups. We have discussed everything from food and water supplies to the smaller packs in rough areas to the growing problem of feral rogues. I know Tristan and Elliott have everything under control and they are taking good care of my girl. They update me every day when they have seen her, and they check on her in wolf form multiple times a day. Tina has been an angel and helped us keep her safe as well. I decided to tell her the truth, as I knew she would be on board with keeping an eye on Allie. It made it bearable to be here, but not more than that. And it also didn’t help that some of the Alpha’s
Allison P.O.V. ‘Girl, you need to wake up now! Our mate is here.’ Dawn says in my mind. It’s still really weird. Sharing my mind and body with someone else. She has been explaining everything about werewolves and how it all works while I’ve been out, but it’s still foreign to me. I was a simple human girl, who was running from her abusive ex husband, trying to start anew, and now? Now I’m some rare supernatural being, who can change into a wolf whenever I feel like it. That is so crazy to me. And then there’s the whole mate part. Dawn says I am going to have a soulmate, which is someone who will never hurt me. Someone who will love me, protect me and help me heal. It all sounds nice, but I am not sure if that is something I want for myself. Honestly I feel good in my little old cottage. It’s home now. I made it my home. A place where I am safe and myself. ‘But were you really safe there? The rogues would have killed us before we could live out our true potential.’ ‘Dawn, I am still
Blake P.O.V. I thought I had endured pain before, but hearing my mate break down like this, begging me to end her life and seeing her so completely hopeless and feeling her agony through our bond, breaks me in more ways than I ever thought possible! The tears soak my shirt, but fuck if I care! Even when she turns her head into my chest, and uses me as a cloth to dry her soaked cheeks, I don’t care. I will be everything and anything she needs! The raw feelings of heartache constricts at my heart while she sobs uncontrollably, her fragile body shaking and wrecking at each sob. All of them are a needle sharp stab to my heart and soul, and not for the first time I silently vow to her that she will never experience pain like this again! I will not let her down, and I will forever be the protector of her heart.Allie has been crying in my arms for over an hour, and at one point I almost think I am not enough to calm her down, but slowly her breathing evens out and she falls into a dead sle
Allison P.O.V.Blake tells me he has someone who wants to talk to me. I wonder who it is? Is it someone I know, or maybe he is going to hand me back over to Bane? I immediately toss that thought to the side. He doesn’t seem like someone who would hand me over to an abuser, although one never knows about these things I am fairly certain he wouldn’t do that. But then who could it be? Tristan? Elliott? Or perhaps Tina? The train of thoughts keeps driving from one thing to another, and it takes a turn to the recent conversation with my wolf. It was very enlightening talking to Dawn again, although the premise on which I got to talk to her could have been better. I find it easier to picture her in my mind, and what I have seen so far is amazing. I’m still confused and uncertain about all of this, but Dawn keeps assuring me we got this together and she’ll be here through everything. It might sound crazy but I believe her, and deep inside I think I have always known not everything was as
Blake P.O.V. “I just really want to live here in my nice little cottage, Blake. Why is that so wrong?” Allie was released from the hospital this morning. I slept in her room last night on a futon they brought in for me. We have been discussing this since last night, and we have yet to reach an agreement. She wants to go back to her little cottage, and I want her to stay here in the packhouse with me. “I want us to live together, Allie. Why is that so wrong?” She sighs, rummaging through her stuff. “I am not ready for that. I haven’t even been single for that long. Can’t we just date for a while and see where this is going before taking huge steps like living together?” We are currently sitting in her living room. When the doctors said she could go home this morning, she immediately wanted to go here, and I brought her here just after breakfast. She doesn’t know about Bane looking for her, or the danger she potentially is in with the rogue
Allison P.O.V.I can’t believe that sick fucker broke into Mr. F’s office and stole my information. And he killed him. That is just all sorts of fucked up and twisted! Why is he so invested in me? He could have any woman he would like, but he is chasing me. Knowing I was his mate and he mistreated me like he did has my heart hurting. Blake reaches over a hand and grabs one of mine. I didn’t even notice it was shaking before he grabbed it. He gives it a gentle squeeze, showing me he is right here with me. It makes my hurting heart flutter with gratefulness. He could have run so many times, but he has stayed with me and offered me a place to stay. He has been understanding, sweet and caring all the way. He has not tried to rush me, much, and has been so amazing when I gave him my arguments for not wanting to live together. He even has accepted the crazy train I obviously boarded today, as I changed my mind after seeing what Bane is up to.“Why is he so obsessed with me?” I ask Blake qui
Allie P.O.V.‘Dawn, we need to make sure they are following us back to the pack!’ I tell my wolf as we are running at full speed with Shadow at our side. Everyone else is behind us, Elliott’s wolf, Thor, on our six, watching our back.‘They are following us, don’t worry!’ Dawn replies as a growl rips through the air. We both know that growl from the day we first shifted. It belongs to Bane’s wolf and he is close to our trail. We need to go faster. I mindlink Elliott telling him to split up and take some warriors with him, he breaks left away from us at the next turn, taking half of the people they summoned with him. ‘Neptune, where are you?’ I include Blake in the mindlink to our Delta, mostly so Neptune knows we are both okay. ‘With Tabatha and her mate at the packhouse. We are getting innocents out of here before everything goes to hell when you all come back.’ Neptune answers. ‘If I might say so, Alpha Allie.’ He adds, probably thinking he offended me. ‘Good! Can one of you make
Tabatha P.O.V. “You always were a big disappointment to your parents, Tabatha. And now we find you whoring yourself out to wolves and other disgusting lowlives. No wonder your mother is distraught and grieving.” My aunt taunts, while smirking at the wolves by my side. I asked both Neptune and Damien to shift back into their wolf forms so no one saw who they were in human form. “You do know the bitch you are calling my mother, so not the woman who carried me and Talia and birthed us, right?” I ask, rolling my eyes. I am just keeping a shield in front of myself and the wolves for now. My aunt is a talker, not a fighter. She’ll run for the hills the moment she even thinks she has to fight me, and I need to save on my magic. A shield draws almost nothing from me, besides, Damien allowed me to draw some strength from him through our matebond. Although we haven't mated and marked each other, our matebond is strong and will only get stronger as time goes on. “Of course she did.” Aunt spit
Blake P.O.V.It was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be over before it really got started. But now here we are hunting for Allie and Athale, Tristan is in the hospital recuperating from his temperate stay in the world of the unalived and we are nowhere near the end of the battle. Shadow is going crazy in the search for his mate, knowing she is properly with that insane bastard to Bane all the while we are looking for her. We promised to protect her, and we screwed up! I should never have agreed to this plan. ‘It’s too late for what if’s. We just need to find her in time and make sure she never leaves our side ever again!’ Shadow grumbles. I have to agree with my grumpy wolf. We are never letting our little mate out of our sight again after tonight! We’ve been searching for some time when the air ripples in front of us. Thor immediately puts himself between the ripple and Shadow, trying to protect us. Shadow snorts, but I shush him, proud of Thor and Elliott. They are acting l
Talia P.O.V. “So we’re all in agreement?” The wolves nod and I smile. After I teleported us via my focus on Blake, we landed right in front of him and Elliott’s wolves. They were taken very off guard, and I was lucky they recognized me in time to not attack out right. I hadn’t really thought this through - I just knew I needed to get to them fast and this was the fastest way I knew how to get to them. Ethan and Ophelia, strongly encouraged by the snapping teeth and growls of the two huge wolves and the fact that they can’t use their magics because of the cuffs, showed us the way to their base of operations. Of course they would choose the old Marigold packhouse. The irony of that location was something Bane and my parents could not pass up even if they wanted to. I put a strong illusion on the cuffs on Ophelia and Ethan so only they and I could see them, making sure my parents would think they had truly taken me hostage. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was going to be a hoot
Bane P.O.V.I finally had her where I wanted her. She was here and she couldn’t do a single thing to me. I was going to enjoy breaking her little by little, seeing the light that shined so brilliant in her eyes now dim with every blow and stab. I had planned meticulously for her capture. For my victory. And then someone from the outside had to fucking ruin everything. I was allowed to be there when they captured Annabel and that witch bitch, but I could not touch her, could not be near her. I wanted to taunt her; see her face when she realized I was winning, but no. They put them in a room with a guard, and told that fucktard of a guard to not let me in. I was livid. The only good thing to come out of this was Lucy. She came to us when we came for Annabel, and she joined our forces. At least she could be a distraction amidst my anger. And she was more than willing to play my little games. She told me everything she knows about her former pack, her former Alpha and made me promise to
Talia P.O.V. “Come on, babe, we need to bring her to your parents. We’re not getting answers out of her.” Ethan says with irritation lacing his voice. They have kept out of the trap they set for me, knowing they seal themselves in here with me, on my terms, if they did. The first thing I did when they let up on the electric shocks a little, was search the little snare they had laid out. It was way out of both their leagues, and I decided my mother or father must be the ones who set it up. They made sure only the person who is directly inside the pattern in the ground is trapped, and his or her active powers do not work on those outside. Searching and understanding the concept of the trap is a passive magic, so it worked quite fine. It also told me they had to render me unconscious or put dampening cuffs on me to move me. “NO! I finally have her where I have wanted her for decades. Centuries. Helpless. She is mine!” Ophelia screams at Ethan, who takes a step back from my sister's ou
Allie P.O.V.“Wakey wakey little bitch.” A whiny female voice says in my ear, while nails dig into my throat. I’m tied to a chair, and the female is nauseatingly close to me, her perfume almost making me gag. I recognize her voice immediately and Dawn growls in my head, but I chose to not let it show as I slowly ‘wake up’. Apparently it’s too slow for her, because she lets me go, only to douse me with cold water. I blink the water out of my eyes, lifting my head to see Lucy’s smug face smirking at me. “Well, well. How the tables have turned, huh.” She says victoriously, but I ignore the obvious jab. I instead search the room with my eyes and find a still unconscious Athale opposite me, also tied to a chair. Dammit. So they got her too. Something hits me like a ton of bricks. Tristan came. He came to help us. He must have been close to the blast, but not close enough to be affected by it. He found us in the forest. They killed him. Tristan died trying to protect Athale and me from bein
Tabatha P.O.V.“Can you get in touch with your Alpha, Damien?” I ask, trying to think fast. We need to move, and we need everyone to understand the severity of the situation. “Of course. You want him here?” I shake my head, we’ll need to be somewhere else, somewhere safer. A place where we can regroup. I sigh. There is nowhere safer than here at the moment. The battle has completely died down here because of the blast and the vast numbers of dead still on the ground. I close my eyes, feeling for Talia ‘s aura as well as Ophelia’s and Ethan’s; they are not in our vicinity. Someone is. Someone who I don’t recognize immediately. I frown, but right now I just need to focus on this task. I handle this person if they make a move. I make sure to put a passive tracking spell on him, so I know where he is at all times. I know it’s a he, but something is off and familiar at the same time. This is going to drive me crazy. “Yeah, I actually think it is as good as anywhere. If he can get some of
Tabatha P.O.V. I didn’t like the idea of splitting up with Talia, but she was right; we would cover more ground this way. I know our family is spread out through the battle as I can feel their dark auras pulsing in different directions, but the thought of her going into that training ground alone. The aftermath of the blast held so much dark power, it must be a trap. I shake it off mentally. Talia will know it’s a trap and prepare accordingly. She always was the smartest of the two of us. I’m more like a punch first, ask later kinda girl. It took a lot of fucking balls on our part to leave our family behind in the first place, and now we are going to protect our peace with everything we have! I swore to Talia that no matter what happens, I will fight on. The gloom tries to settle into my heart, but I push it away. We’re not going to die today. Not her, not me. “Warrior, DUCK!” I yell at one of our allies. He throws himself to the ground, and I blast the enemy with an energy ball, m