Amber’s POV I went straight to the room that was assigned after dinner. Although Moonstone pack house did not have lots of rooms—compared to the Lycan King’s mansion—they managed to assign each of us to a room. My room was sandwiched between Janine and Beta Trent, while Alpha Dale’s room was opposite ours, but I did not mind. I wasn’t going anywhere anyway, although I wanted with everything in me to be out of here. I lay on my bed, going over the events of the day in my head. Alpha Derrick had been sneaking into my home. Why? At first, it had been hard to believe—he always treated me like a plague, one he wouldn’t touch with a pole—and he was sneaking into my room? With the priestess nonetheless, was the deal with a witch?I had no idea what to make of it. What was he doing in my home without my knowledge? If Yeti was telling the truth, then I was usually home when he came, yet I still knew nothing. How clueless was I? How much of what was actually going on in this place was I
Dale’s POV I was exhausted. We all were after all the revelations. The answers did not really lead anywhere. I needed a drink to help calm my nerves, and thankfully, Moonstone Pack had a fully furnished bar. I could not recall how many bottles we had burned through, but I knew I needed to hit the bed. My wolf wanted to check on Amber one more time before we slept off, but I knew she would already be sleeping by now, and I was trying to keep my wolf away from her. Somehow, our bond was getting stronger even with her wolf bound, and it was affecting my senses. I did not want my wolf losing control one day while we were with her… “What are you thinking about?” My head snapped up to meet Beta Trent’s face, which was looking up at me in concern. With his eyes, he gestured to the hand, which was gripping the wine glass a little too tight. I shrugged., releasing my grip. “Do you believe him?” I asked. “The new Alpha, I mean. I don’t think he really knows anything, like he’s trying to
Dale’s POV The dungeon was dimly lit. During the day, I was sure light streamed in through the little cracks in the wall, but now, only a few hours after midnight, our night vision was all we had. And through it, I could see that one of the men was clinging to the iron bars of the cell, and his eyes were wide with concern. He regarded Alpha Marcus first before casting me a quick glance. Thankfully, Alpha Marcus had been decent enough to put them in clothes, covering up their nakedness.The other man stayed huddled in the shadows, preferring to stay out of sight. “Who are you and why did you attack a member of my pack?” Alpha Marcus, he asked, keeping his tone flat. “How is she?” the man clutching the bars asked. “I just want to be sure she is fine. ”My brows furrowed. “You attacked her, and now you are asking if she is fine?” My wolf growled. “Who sent you here? Why are they after Amber? Was it Derrick?” His head snapped up. “I don’t know any Derrick. I just want to make
Dale’s POV Amber was awake when I came to check up on her, but she was too dazed to notice that I was in the room with her or that I was now sitting beside her. It wasn’t until I held her hand that she startled back to reality. “What were you thinking?” I asked. The need to pull her to my body and close my lips around hers was becoming too intense for me to ignore, and my wolf was not helping matters. The fact that she was becoming even more beautiful as the days passed and her sleek curves were coming into focus also did not help. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I was so scared, I thought…” she trailed away, focusing on something behind my head. Suddenly, her eyes snapped up to my face. “Yeti? Is she alright? She came to warn me but the werewolf attacked out of nowhere. Is she okay? ”The words tumbled out of her mouth so quick that I had to squeeze her fingers to keep her from speaking more. “Yeti is fine.” I assured her, not feeling the need to add that she was in custo
Dale’s POV “The Yuletide pack did burn down nineteen years ago, and there was recorded to be no survivors.” Trent said as we both walked back to Alpha Morgan’s office. “Well, that means we just found two survivors—if Gregg is telling the truth. If that’s the bad news, what’s the good news?” “I called Whitestone’s pack Alpha, and he corroborated Gregg’s story. According to him, Gregg arrived there about nineteen years ago but would not say what pack he was from. They later came to an understanding; Gregg could live in his pack if he provided them his services.”My brows shot up. “His services? And what was that?” “Here’s where it gets interesting, Alpha. From what he said, Gregg was one of the best trackers he ever met and thought his skills were going to be useful since they had quite hostile enemies and a high rate of abduction cases.”Trent was right. How was it that a tracker who was said to be one of the best took so much time to find someone he claimed to be his nie
Amber’s POV All through the ride back to Alpha Dale’s mansion, none of us said a word to each other. The only time I heard his voice was when he had something to say to beta Trent or our driver, and it was few and far between. The tension between us was suffocating, and although he said nothing to me, I could feel his stares burning my neck from time to time. I sat rigid, keeping my gaze on the window, pretending to be fascinated by the world outside, when in reality I wanted to lock myself in a room and cry. Was he upset with me?I could not help but feel that way. The way he had stormed out of the infirmary room a few hours ago spoke volumes. Janine said not to mind him, but she was not the one who had to sit in the same car with him for almost twelve hours. I tried to think back to what had gotten him upset. Was it my question about the marking? Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. I should have kept quiet. Did he regret bringing me back with him now? Does he regret eve
Amber’s POV A sharp knock on the bedroom door jolted me awake. I groaned, blinking against the bright light that streamed in from the open window. I glanced at the side of the bed where Alpha Dale should have been, but there was no one there or any evidence that someone had slept in it. Since he announced that we were going to be sleeping in the same room, I could count how many times he slept here. Does he even sleep? Memories of last night seeped into my mind, and color stained my cheek. My finger traced my lips as if I could touch the outline of his lips on mine. He had invaded my dreams the same way his lips had invaded me, and I couldn’t decide whether I liked it or not. The second knock made me jump. Dragging myself out of bed, I shuffled towards the door, cracking it open wide enough to see Alpha Dale’s massive frame standing in front of my door. My heart kept to my chest, and my eyes widened before I could realize it myself. “A-Alpha Dale.” I stuttered, cringing as his
Amber’s POV I sighed in relief as hot water cascaded down my skin, soothing my aching joints and burning through injuries, which was taking forever to heal. I leaned against the tiled wall, letting the steam envelop me as I tried to clear my head. Every bone in my body screamed for me to go to the gallows, although Janine had advised me against it. I needed to know what was going on. If I had family, I needed to meet them. They were the only ones who could tell me about my life.Tell me about my parents. Besides, I had nothing to do here. My life at the Moonstone pack, although unbearable, had been fairly predictable. I knew what I was supposed to be doing and when I was supposed to do it. I knew where I was supposed to be and at what time. And I knew people were going to hit me when I made certain mistakes. Turning off the shower, I stepped out and wrapped a towel round my chest. My reflection in the fogged-up mirror stared back at me, wide-eyed and uncertain. But I was beginni
Dale’s POV Although we only spent a few hours apart from each other, I was already missing my mate. When Izzy called to say that they were on their way back with Amber, I went down to the dinning hall to shop through the kitchen there, grabbing whatever supplies I could to prepare lunch for Amber. I already knew that my mate was easy to please when it came to meals though, thank the goddess, but I still put extra care in preparing the food for her. A loaded sandwich with trimmings had her beaming at me as I kicked the bedroom door shut behind me. I was making plans to move us to a more permanent bedroom since our sacred space had been tainted and desecrated by Mallory. Thinking about her now made me want to dig out her corpse and kill her again, just for the sake of it. I sighed as I saw Amber looking fucking adorable sitting in the middle of the giant bed in one of my old jerseys and sweatpants. I swallowed. Goddess, she was everything I wanted and needed. “Oh, I love bacon a
Amber’s POV Even after we return to Free City and stop in front of Alpha Dale’s pack house, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Alpha Dale helped me out of the car, wrapping his arms around me to help with the travel sickness and once he felt I was getting better, he moved away from me. I glanced around the garage where we were packed hoping I could spot something out of place, but the only thing I saw was Beta Trent, staring directly at me. The way he was looking at me made me want to climb out of my skin and run far away. Although, just a few weeks ago, we had been working together and even after that, he had quietly acknowledged me, being around him still gave me the jee-bees. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that deep inside me, I knew he agreed with the Council that I wasn’t good enough for the Lycan King. A girl like me with no background, even if my wolf was the strongest and rarest. I swallowed roughly and just stared back at him like an idiot
Amber’s POV With my ability, I could somehow tell that there was just two people in the house. If there was someone else. Alpha Dale and Silas would sniff them out. The lake house was luxurious and it was very clear that Alpha Dale’s family weren’t just rich, they had a sort of wealth that encompassed the entire werewolf community. Everything was perfectly designed, and even though there wasn’t anything particularly flashy or extravagant, it still oozed money. Beta Trent moved through the house with a type of precision that only came from knowing the layout intimately. It made me wonder how often they spent time in any other properties. It couldn’t be that often since for the one year I was with them, we never went anywhere. In under a minute, we were staring Donn and Celia down in one of the many parlor rooms on the first floor. It hadn’t been that long since I last saw Donn, but he was unrecognizable now. His skin looked tight over his bones and he lost so much weight that he
Amber’s POV I was tired and sleepy as hell. While Alpha Dale had been busy walking from one councilmember to the other and interrogating Yeti’s mother, I had been busy with tracing who the actual spy was so we could finally clear Yeti’s name. If the charge weren’t dropped. We had worked till the early hours of the morning and just when I had begun dozing off, the computer geek guy announced that there was a lead! And he didn’t just pinpoint where we could find our spy, but where Derrick and Donn could be as well. It was a vacation lake house just outside of Free city. One of Alpha Dale’s properties which he didn’t use often. We left for the Lake house the next morning and I only got an hour of sleep. Our computer guy had enough intel to find the whereabouts of the security cameras and surveillance around the house Donn, Derrick and our spy was holed up in, so we already knew how far we had to travel to remain undetected. There was a long hike ahead of us, but with a deep brea
Dale’s POV Once I knew for sure that Amber was safely in Janine’s office, I let my beta know that I was heading out for the day. I wasn’t one to check-in and report where I was going to be but, thanks to the current circumstances, we were all at high alert. The fact that a witch had been able to infiltrate our minds, helping our enemy get what they want with us what something I was very much ashamed of. Finding my uncle and Derrick was not just a necessity now, it was what had to be done to prove to my subjects that I wasn’t weak and I could protect them. And now with the council hounding Yeti. It wasn’t just disrespecting me. it was a threat to my title and one that I wasn’t going to let go that easily. “Do you think going to see Graves is really a good idea?” Silas said, keeping his eyes glued to the phone in his hand as he questioned me as if he was nonchalant about the answer. But I knew that was far from the truth. As chief security officer, he shouldered plenty of responsi
Amber’s POV Yeti was the person who kept me going when everyone hated me even in Moonstone pack. I realized that a long time ago even though I hadn’t known her identity then. Although she had been going through a lot herself, she still tried to help me with medical supplies not caring about what would happen to her if she had been caught. If I lost her, I won’t be okay. The panicked flutter in my chest started up again, stealing my breath. It only took a minute for everything to fall apart and the little bit of peace I found gone with one swipe from the council. They were always the problem. Yeti was my goddamn best friend, and if she’d been a spy this whole time, I would have known. Besides, no spy would give their life to save the person they were spying on. All I wanted was hot shower and a bed to hide in for the rest of the day after the way I dealt with that councilman. After I put my powers under control – the best I could – we fell into an uncomfortable silence, but it’s
Amber’s POV My chest was on fire. My lungs screamed for air and my heart thumped inside my ribcage at a frenzied pace, but I couldn’t force myself to be calm as I stared across the room at Janine. I couldn’t bring myself to look Yeti in the eye, not with the sight of her being slammed and strangled by Derrick still fresh in my head. Janine’s eyes bored into mine, her own anger at Donn’s betrayal simmering just below the surface. I didn’t think things could escalate so freaking quickly. One minute I was happy my friend was out of danger and was no longer under the threat of losing her wolf and in the other, I was finding out her fated mate was one of the men who could have killed us had the order been given some nights ago. “It’s true…” Janine said, ducking her head to concentrate on the scrapes and bruises she was healing over Yeti’s skin. “Fabian is her Fated mate. I saw his wolf choose her during the Culling,” Although Fabian was highly trained with more skills than me, Yeti
Amber’s POV I woke up as early as 3:30am the next morning to take another shower and get ready for the day. I had a lot to do and one of them was seeing Yeti and finding a way to clear her name even if the issue hadn’t been raised yet. I didn’t want it to be raised at all. I was done dressing by the time Alpha Dale’s alarm sounded at four. He groaned like he was being murdered, shoved a pillow over his head and grumbled under his breath like he was plotting a murder for whoever it was that woke him up early. He reached out with one arm to find me once he was done grumbling and when he came up empty, he threw the pillow over his head away, sitting up with a scowl. I tried not to laugh because he looked like a child missing his mother. I smirked and waved at him because it was good seeing him off-kilter for once and not the usual composed and straight man that he was. “Stop that,” he growled. “Stop looking smug and get over here. Trent will be here any minute and I need another
Amber’s POV When I woke up, it was long after dark. Alpha Dale was right beside me and instead of distracting himself by getting busy with something, he was watching me sleep. Seeing him beside me, looking at me like I meant everything in the world to him was deliciously tempting. I sat up slowly. There was a nervous energy surrounding me now that I knew I was going to be a mother. I wasn’t worried about my wolf anymore; she had proven herself many times in the last few weeks that I was sure it was time to spare her the benefit of doubt. “You’re awake,” Alpha Dale said drowsily. Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on my lips. “You looked really peaceful, I didn’t have the mind to wake you up.” I smiled, thanking him silently for allowing me sleep. My body needed all the sleep it could get. Glancing around, I saw that I was still in Janine’s office where I had fallen asleep earlier and suddenly recalled why I was here. Yeti. “How is she?” I asked. “But first, how did the council m