Kira
“Kay!”
His voice was bright. Elated. Goddess, it felt good to hear him.
“I’m surprised you picked up!”
“Why?” Ethan asked back, genuinely surprised.
“Because you never do!” I accused.
“That’s because you never call me.” I could hear the grin on Ethan’s face. It had been too long. Just random texts here and there. It wasn’t enough. I missed him.
“That’s because you never call me!&rd
KiraI ignored Perrin as he pounded on my door, refusing to use the spare key I knew he had to my suite. It was out of courtesy, more than anything that he didn’t just let himself in. But I appreciated his honor in this sense anyway.I heard his phone buzzing from the other side of the door. “Yea, sorry. I was talking to Kira… yea, everything’s fine.”Liar. But I was glad to hear his steps recede down the hall towards the elevator. I needed my space to process in my own space. In this suite.Rather, my mother’s suite, My thoughts wandered to my conversation with Ethan. I had the right to the Beta Select suite by now. I hadn’t seen it in years; but truth be told, I remember it being beautiful.
TRIGGER WARNING: The following chapter deals with issues of pregnancy, death, and premature birth.JasonI was relieved to see Perrin at dinner. He finally listened to me and decided to have dinner with the Alpha Guard. In time these men would become his closest friends; but he had spent so much time during the Sacred Call with his mate that he had missed the opportunity to bond in the excitement of the challenge.So I was grateful–no, assured–when he showed up to dinner, albeit late and stuffing his phone into his pocket, to sit amongst his comrades.I watched him as he made easy conversation with those that he already knew; sitting down in the mess-hall like set up at a long table and chatting with the patrol. He had been running patrol with many of them since he had completed h
KiraI sipped from my water bottle, aware that this was the second gallon of water I’d been through in an hour. The sauna was well over 100 degrees, and I could feel the steam licky my body, my skin covered in gleaming sweat. It was also blissfully quiet; I had it all to myself, thankfully. While the saunas weren’t technically private, nobody really bothered to use them so late at night.Or, had a key to the Lodge for after-hour use. I thought of the time I stole Ethan’s key–a few years ago, at least–and made a copy so I could train late in the evening’s on the nights he and Perrin were otherwise occupied. I could practice–fail, and try again–without the looming judgment of one–nearly two–older brothers. I wiped sweat from my forehead lazily onto my towel, nearly soaked through. I had felt my muscles relax over the last hour or so, my head nodding as I listened to the rhythmic hiss of the steam as it pumped into the sweltering room.I had decided–whether through reason or in my curr
Perrin“Thanks, Charlie. And if you could have the rest delivered at 11 that’d be great.”I kicked the car door closed behind me after Charlie agreed and headed inside to the infirmary. Kira grunted somewhere behind me, face lost behind several large cardboard boxes. “Are you going to tell me what all of these are for?”“Jesamine,” I replied simply. “Morni’ Lorrie,” I nodded in her direction as she waved us through.“Couldn’t you just… pay someone to bring this all in?”“What, and give you an excuse to miss an early morning weight lifting opportunity?”I heard several indistinct curses muttered behind the cardboard box that teetered dangerously at the top of her pile. “What is all of this, anyway?” Kira managed, her head finally visible as she dropped them outside of Jesamine’s suite.“I’ll tell you later,” I said, sweating slightly from all of the bags I was holding.“Later?” Kira blinked, then cocked her head to the side. “Um, speaking of later.”“Yea?” I set the bags down as I mea
PerrinI shifted uncomfortably, my jeans now tight in the hips. I was readjusting myself and getting my bearings when I heard a string of muttered curses from behind me. Kira emerged from another hallway a few moments later, scowling.“How’d your meeting go?”She stopped mid-swear and chugged the last of her coffee before throwing the cup in a nearby receptacle. “That good, eh?”Another angry look. “Ok. Well listen, I’m gonna head out–”She perked her head up, as if finally realizing I was there. “How about we walk?” she suggested. “That way we can… talk.”Talking to Kira was the last thing on my mind at the moment. But I hadn’t asked Charlie to be here for another hour, so I was left without a ride. In the last three seconds, I had planned to run back to the pack house and take advantage of the time I had with Lo before I needed to be at the Lodge, but…“Sure,” I found myself saying. I could walk fast. I fell into step with her as we left the building, checking my watch and settin
Kira I ignored Perrin’s texts, still too angry to respond. I hated arguing with him. I hated that he wasn’t listening to me. And I hated that I finally said out loud what I had been thinking for the last several weeks. But it was true. Everything about becoming Beta had felt overwhelming. The training; the politicking; the khakis were only the tip of the iceberg. If anything, I just felt like I didn’t belong. Sure, I beat Gowan. But what did that really prove? That I was some fraud with maximized speed? That I was just parading in Ethan’s shadow? And the worst part was that I was never going to be big enough or fast enough to get out of it. I stopped at Stella’s on the way to the archive, intent on stifling the sounds of my stomach and Perrin’s words with a special cappuccino and as many chocolate chip cookies as I could stuff in my mouth. Once I was completely full I left the shop, waving to the bubbly barista who now had my favorite drink down to a science. I stopped just
Deidre “What do you mean, she canceled training?” Cynthia paled as she informed me of her call with my daughter. “That is inexcusable,” I said tartly. I knew I was being harsh on Cynthia, but she was the only one I could trust with Kira’s etiquette training. Mistra had ignored any sense of ladylike decency of my daughter since she was a child. And Beta or not, she was going to be able to hold herself in civilized company. Cynthia was muttering something about khaki’s and I cut her off, directing her to negotiate time with Mark to ensure we had at least two hours with her a week. Two hours was better than nothing. And if that girl continued to keep up her training and spend time with the Alpha Guard, it would be more important than ever to maintain some semblance of civility and manners. And perhaps, even an ounce of femininity. She left my office and I sat quietly, staring at the top of my desk with intense focus. Why had Perrin asked about Nyllan’s Theoretical Text, Volume 3? N
Deidre And I had almost missed it, the single, minor reference to the man I had been hunting for weeks. I had found it reading through crop rotation guidelines and a seasonal calendar of when to grow the best herbs. “Lavender is best grown in the early spring, though buds from the previous bloom should be removed in the season prior to allow for the most growth.” I had skimmed the page, not caring about lavender this and lilac that, when its uses were outlined at the bottom of the page: “The blossoms are most fragrant and can be dried for use in herbal teas. When added to warm water such as baths, their aromas can be psychologically calming. And when blossoms are removed under the full moon and muddled, they produce the most powerful, natural sedative known to the werewolf species. Ingestion may cause one to sleep for up to three weeks at a time, reducing the heart rate to almost nothing; the body going into an almost death-like state.” A footnote at the bottom credited the source