Crap. Crap. Crap.My hands started shaking as I kept my head pressed against the grass, Lady Britanny’s expensive-looking white shoes inches from my face. I didn’t want to look up, nor did I want to step in and try to protect my brother earlier, but it seemed that both options were forced upon me.“Look up at me, cutie,” Lady Britanny said, her voice both warm and firm. “Let me see those pretty eyes of yours.”Knowing it was foolish to disobey a member of the Royal Court, I pushed up from the ground and slowly raised my head until I was looking at her chin. She clicked her tongue a few times before bending down and lifting my chin with her impossibly soft hands. And the moment I met her green-eyed gaze, I was trapped.“How much for this omega,” she said after a solid minute of intense eye contact. She finally looked away towards Chris, allowing me to finally look down and gasp for air. I was sweating even worse than when I first took my medicine this morning and a wave of exhaustion t
BenPulling Ayla behind him, Ben all but ran towards his families tent upon hearing his sister’s plea. When they arrived, however, his heart was lifted when he saw Chris and his three friends standing between the Night Prince and Maize.“About time you showed up, dude,” Chris smirked when he saw Ben. “You were about to miss all the fun.”“As I was trying to say,” Prince Alec said, clearly amused by their exchange. “I have no intention of claiming my mate today. I merely wish to spend some time getting to know her at this quaint little festival. There is no need for a fight, but if you insist, then why don’t we take it to one of the sparring fields. I could use some exercise after such a long flight.”Ben pulled Ayla behind him and moved to stand in the line next to Dillan. “Hello again, Prince Alec,” Ben said, crossing his arms. “Mazie isn’t to be claimed till after she completes her time at the Night Court College, which is still some six years away as she hasn’t yet had her sixteent
Night KingSuppressing his aura, the Night King followed his three advisors through the crowd towards his personal tent. He’d only given Grizzle a few hours’ notice that he was attending, making him smile knowing that they had to scramble to make the space available to him. The Night King would make his grand entrance later at dinner, but for now he was content to simply sneak through the throng of his subjects.He'd sent his son, Alec, to distract everyone, and Alec was more than happy to do so. Alec had been pining after his future mate the entire flight, something that disgusted the Night King. He'd spent centuries growing stronger, and equally as important, centuries shortening his list of weaknesses. One of them being the cursed fated mate bond nonsense. His Werewolf side was only a small part of him these days, but even so, the bond was once his greatest weakness. Nothing crippled a Werewolf faster than a mate bond.And he had erased that aspect of him decades ago.He had an ent
BenIt still amazed Ben that, no matter how messed up the world seemed to be around Ayla, she could still tune it all out and simply live in the moment. He saw it a few times now since arriving in this Pack. When she was training with the cubs, when she was dancing at the bonfire, when she kissed him in the woods afterwards before he became a total dick and threw her away and yelled at her. And especially the day before at the school pep rally.When his father first told him about this mission, he dreaded every part of it aside from trying to figure out how to capture the Silver Myst. Moving to a backward territory whose sole output seemed to be Warriors, joining a new High School, and having to suck up to other Alpha’s children, it all seemed like a huge drag.But he had been so wrong.’Seeing Ayla smiling and laughing as they moved from one gaming tent to the next more than made up for any bad thing that had ever happened in his life. He could even temporarily forget about his broth
That was the strangest car ride I’d ever had.First there was the whiplash from what Luna Lannie was trying to achieve. First she wants Luna Belle to hate me, threatening to hurt young Duncan if I don’t play along, but then she goes and does all this. I had no idea anymore if Luna Belle wants to kill me, help, me or something in the middle. All I know for sure about her is the fact that she is very strong, and very scary.Then there was the fact that, ever since I came back from reliving the nightmares from my past, all I could think about was naughty stuff. It probably didn’t help that I was using Maize’s thighs as a pillow, and since her scent gave me tingles nearly as potent as Ben’s, my frazzled mind went straight to the gutter.But, aside from the crippling embarrassment, I couldn’t help but smile as I walked behind Luna Belle and Rosie hand in hand with Maize. It was her and Luna Belle’s first time at the Lodge and I see the wonder in their eyes. It was a large and open clearing
Maize“Maize smells really good right now,” Ayla mumbled, using Maize’s lap as a pillow while Rosie sprayed a numbing agent on her back. They were in the back of the limo Alpha Grizzle and Luna Lannie borrowed them for the weekend. Sebastion had already swept it for any hidden bugs or cameras. “And her legs are so soft, I wonder is she plans on hooking up with someone in the tents.”Maize blushed, making a point of not looking at her mother’s stern look. Ayla didn’t seem to realize that she was speaking her thoughts out loud. If she didn’t look like she was on deaths door then Maize might’ve found the situation funny.“I wonder if I should thank Rosie for taking away the pain,” Ayla said, starting to leak tears again. “I bet she hates me now after what I put her through. She’ll never let me work in the clinic again, I’m really going to miss the wolves in L-Term. Now where am I going to make money to pay rent. Maybe Jeremy was serious when he said he would pay me a hundred bucks if I f
Luna BelleAyla was panting as though she’d just sprinted a mile and she was sweating just as bad. The anguish pouring from her every pore was so thick that Belle struggled to keep her composure. But then, just as fast as it had started, the anguish was gone. As if a light switch was flipped, her emotions were once again in perfect control.Who was this girl?“Stop pretending, Ayla,” Lannie ordered, sending her aura towards her. Ayla struggled back onto her knees, her weary eyes locked on the floor. “That’s better.”“What was that,” Belle asked, feeling the satisfied emotions from the others. Lannie shifted her gaze to Belle.“We have no idea what exactly Ayla went through during her years as a slave,” she explained, watching Belle carefully. Belle made sure to keep her features neutral. “All we do know is my father showed up after the Vampire's attacked and wiped out the Thunder Pack. He defeated their leader, becoming crippled as a result. Then, with the help of the Silver Myst, the
The next few years passed in a haze of blood, pain, and toil.True to Fennis’s words, he never actually taught me how to defend myself. Instead he kept me on the basics for years, using it as an excuse to beat the living hell out of me on a nearly daily basis. But he also made my life much harder off the field as well.As I got older, he made sure I was given more complex tasks to perform. The first was when he dumped an old radio, some tools, and a manual in my cell and told me to fix it. Upon learning I couldn’t read very well, he became enraged at my stupidity and beat me so badly that I spent a week confined to my cell. Instead of letting me heal, however, he threw some children’s books at me designed to help me learn to read better. He warned me that the radio better be fixed by the time my grace period was up, otherwise he’d beat me within an inch of my life again.Another time he gave me some long and thin tools, along with another manual, and then proceeded to put my meals ins
Time dragged by after that, one horrible day after another. If it was just the hunger, the exhausting work, and the loneliness, than I might’ve been able to come to terms with my new life. But the constant bullying from the Pack, my old friends, and especially my own family, left me wounded and devastated each night. I tried so hard at ever task I was given in the hopes that someone, anyone, would acknowledge me.But no one ever did.My father continued to completely ignore my presence, to the point that sometimes I wished he would just look at me, even if it was followed by a hurtful comment. Because at least then I could feel some kind of connection with him.Mother was the opposite.It was a week after my birthday, a day I tried to forget with everything I had. When I woke up that morning, the most dangerous of all the feelings stirred inside of me. Hope. I’d been a slave for almost two months at that point and I was still trying to hold onto the past. I still wanted my parents lov