He slammed into me at full force, his jaws snapping at my throat. I whined as I hit the ground under his weight. My shoulder was protesting in pain, and I heard the sound of my stitches tearing. I retaliated by scratching furiously at the wolf’s underbelly. The smell of his blood satisfied me, but it wasn’t enough to down him. He howled in frustration and sank his teeth into my wounded shoulder. Out of pain, I reacted by latching onto his front leg. I bit down and felt his bone crunch in my jaw. He let go and whined as he fell off me. I jumped to my feet and took my place in front of Hugo again. I only had a second to see his expression, but he was horrified. The snapping and snarling of the other two wolves brought my attention back to them. They growled, approaching very slowly. The golden wolf was limping, but he took his place in between them, teeth bared. I responded by snapping my jaw warningly. He snapped back. They moved closer and I was forced back furthe
“Insubordination is punishable by death, Natalia.” Cedric’s voice was dripping with irritation. “May I remind you.” I met his eyes. “I agreed to the union only after I graduated. I don’t care what kind of power trip you’re on, Shadowfang has fulfilled their debt to you.” He took a step closer to me, menace in his expression. He looked like he might kill me right then and there. I bit my tongue, wondering if I should’ve listened and obliged. To my surprise, Byron stood and put a hand on his father’s chest to stop him. When he spoke, his tone was cool and collected. “We agreed to this when we were very young, father. We have known our place since we were ten. Natalia isn’t opposing the union; she’s simply asking us to uphold our end of the deal. Redclaw and Shadowfang agreed to letting the youths graduate first. Pushing the date up is voiding the agreement.” Cedric’s face contorted to anger, before he calmed again. He
The bell yanked me from my thoughts and I shook my head out of the fog. I tugged on the shirt Zara had picked out for me that morning. It was an irritably low cut, skin tight tee that left little to the imagination. According to her, it was good to attract my mate before the union. Not that Byron didn’t already seem interested, but I wasn’t particularly comfortable trying to attract anyone. Luckily, the tee covered my bandaged shoulder well. It ached as I bent to pull my books out of my bag for first period. Someone burst through the door and everyone looked up. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Hugo give Mr. Hinge a shy smile and hurry to his seat. I caught sight of Damien giving him a distasteful look before returning to his notes. Hugo waved to the human boy sitting on his other side and hurriedly pulled out his books while Hinge started his lesson. I didn’t dare look in his direction, suddenly remembering our last encounter. I hadn’t
“Can I ask you something?” Hugo finally looked up from his computer. I peered at him. He hadn’t spoken for the entire thirty minutes we’d been at the library. What he didn’t know was I was as comfortable in silence as I was in the heat of a battle. Especially when I was sidetracked by my own wandering mind. “I think you just did.” He didn’t smile. “Are you effected by the full moon?” I tensed. He noticed and immediately began stammering out another sentence. “It wasn’t a full moon when you changed, but I thought werewolves only change during the full moon.” “Your lore gets more wrong than it does right.” my voice was barely above a whisper. He shifted in his seat. “So, silver doesn’t effect you either? Or garlic?” I could feel my canines sharpening. “Silv
The building on the outside wasn’t anything I normally would have looked twice at. It was old and worn, paint peeling and wood chipping. I double checked the address Byron had texted me, unconvinced this was the place. It wasn’t until I stepped inside that I was delightedly surprised. People were dancing on a large dance floor and music blared through speakers on an empty stage. There was a bar, where a few of Redclaw’s elders were stationed. I tensed upon seeing them, wondering what they were doing here. Byron caught sight of me and called me over to a table where our packs sat. My eyes never left the elders. Byron noticed me staring and laughed. “This is Redclaw’s territory, Lia.” I nodded. “It’s just weird, being in the same room with wolves that used to be our enemies.” “Relax, they’re just here to drink.” he scrunched up his nose. “You smell like human.
My mind reeled as I watched the Redclaw’s tear after him. His words continued to replay in my mind, banging against my skull. I was the street, the elder wolves came out from the club. The biggest, a graying man with a serious expression on his face, looked at me expectantly. “What happened?” Fyn took a step forward. “Rogue in the street. Byron and the others went after him.” The elder barely gave Fyn a look before he shifted into a copper wolf and tested the air. The other three elders did the same, and a second later they were after the intruder too. Fyn turned to me with clenched fists. “What the fuck just happened? He was right there and you didn’t attack him. What the hell were you doing?” I swallowed. “He didn’t attack me.” “He’s a rogue, Natalia.” Ash clenched his jaw. “Remember what the pack said
I made it to his house without so much as a whiff of the Redclaw wolves. I wondered if they had gone home to regroup right after we’d left. If they had, it would make my job easier going home. Redclaw owned the largest portion of territory in Mystic, so it made sense they didn’t have wolves to be everywhere all at once. Like the other packs, they prioritized their forest over everything. The part of the town they owned meant very little to them, therefor they were less likely to defend it. The rules for the town were different than the rules for the forest. Wolves from every pack were allowed in all areas of the town, whether or not it was claimed. This was determined when the packs first resided in Mystic. The only thing we weren’t allowed to do was hunt or defend in a location that was not our own, which usually wasn’t an issue. The town was considered a safe zone otherwise, but I’d already had an unpleasant encounter with Redclaw’s elders once
The next morning was a fog. I wasn’t sure what time I’d finally passed out, but it wasn’t early enough. My pack was just as grumpy as we trudged to our first classes in silence. The only thing keeping me awake was the news Byron promised to deliver about the rogue. I had to know what happened. I slid into the seat next to Hugo. He turned to me, face twisting in concern. “You don’t look so good.” I groaned. “All I want to do is sleep.” He scouted his seat closer to me and cleared his throat. “I called my dad.” I was pulled from the daze of tiredness in an instant. “What did he say?” The door to the room swung open and Damien walked in with Ava at his side. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of Hugo leaning over. It was then that I realized how close he actually was to me and how wrong it might look to someone like my intended mate's Secon
I was the last person to the lunch table that day. I threw my lunch bag on the table and sighed as I collapsed into my chair. The other wolves eyed me with a smile, having heard of Byron and I on the bleachers already. I shot the alpha a look and shook my head. He laughed and shoved a bit of his sandwich into his mouth. “Didn’t invite us to the party?” Mel winked. I flashed her my canines. “Watch yourself.” “Ease up, Lia. It’s not like anyone here is going to call our parents and tell them what was going on.” Byron smirked. “They’re all too afraid. I think if Hinge knew who he was coming up on he would have kept walking.” “Do you think Cedric and Chano would even care?” Ash took a bite out of his cookie. “I mean, the union is just around the corner, isn’t it good news you two are getting along?” “The union'