Two ceremonies down, time to party! Only two regular chapters left and then two epilogues before THE END!
With Dream Mate completed, everyone must wonder, âWhatâs next!?âWell, Iâm going to tell you, this may not be the schedule you were hoping to get, but this is whatâs next.The Destroyer will be posted six days a week. Thankfully for my brain, itâs already written, and Iâm just editing and making minor changes before posting a chapter. Manâs Best Wingman, the fifth in the Ravenwood series that will focus on Clay Nikolaidis (twin brother of Reese and cousin to Darius, Elijah, and Forrest), will release in November after I get enough chapters written to submit for a contract. Once itâs signed, it will be posted six days a week. I know everyone is anticipating the next of my werewolf series, but at the moment, my brain needs a break from the werewolf universe. Never fear, though; Sicilian Holiday (D'Amore holiday short story), The Genius Delta (Silvercloud/Persephone), The Quiet Giant's Mate (Regina/Ivan), Beta's Innocent Mate (Alexander/Delilah), Beta's Twin Mates (Zoe/Gunnar/Henrik),
Six years! Can you believe itâs been six years since my world was turned upside down in the worst and best ways? I sure the hell canât. Six years ago today, I was standing in my Delta heir room getting ready for my best friend and Alpha heir Thalesâ welcome home bash with my fingers crossed heâd find his mate in our Beta heir Crista Fayte. I was so off base on that line of thinking. We will have our annual memorial to remember the lives of those we lost and celebrate what their sacrifices protected. I hope Iâve made Thales, my parents, and his parents proud as Alpha, even if some days I feel like Iâm a hoax, just a stand-in for the real Alpha. There are times, fewer as the years have gone on, that I keep waiting for Thales to walk into the office and tell me to get out of his chair and stop fucking his Luna. Okay, the second part I only felt that first year. Katrina is my mate, so Thales being here or not wouldnât change that I was meant to be with her. But if heâd lived, sheâd be hi
Itâs been over a year since the Sicilian pack war started, and my life changed forever. Well, not just my life but everyoneâs changed after Icky Iggy and Shit Witch Melania launched their war. Nebrodi took the brunt, losing more than half of the pack in the massacre, including their ranked wolves and one of my mates. There was so much loss in that war that it sometimes was hard to focus on what was gained. I know my family will never forget what we lost or what we gained. I lost Thales before I knew he was meant to be mine, and we all lost Bisnonna Chiara. But I got Tiberius, my magic, and my wolf. Papa gained Crista, and now they have my adorable sisters, Gwen and Christina. AndrĂ© gained Darren and his adopted son Lando from this war. So while what was lost will never be forgotten, I know we should appreciate what we have and are building towards. Papa is experiencing fatherhood at the side of the woman he loves and was always meant to be with. I love getting to visit Papa and see h
The last thing I remembered was feeling too tired to keep my eyes open as Tiberius passed me to Papa. How long was I asleep? Where am I? I shouldnât be too worried, Iâd last been with Papa, and nothing bad could ever happen to me when I was with him. And I didnât feel panicked about where I was because while the bed under me wasnât familiar, the scent around me was. That all-so-consuming smell of basking in the summer sun, the intense orange and golden amber scent that I have known since my first shift as Tiberiusâ scent. It only made sense that he would smell of sunshine with his bright and warm personality. And summer is one of my favorite seasons. Ironically winter is my other. So the presence of his scent meant I was near him or at least in a room where he spent much time. If Iâm not at our villa, where am I? And why does it smell like Tiberius? These questions and more faded from my mind as the bond ignited my soul as I felt Tiberiusâ lips against mine. My lips moved in tandem w
I have a minimal worldview about magic. And Iâm sorry to say most of that is negative. I donât deny that there are good witches out there. Iâm mated to the best one. But my time dealing with Shit Witch, yes, I refuse to use her name - monsters donât deserve words, has left a bad taste in my mouth and a negative view of witch stuff. But despite all that, I was intrigued to witness this ascension ritual Katrina would perform. Sheâs studied harder than anyone else in the ranked hierarchy for tonight, and most of it was for this ritual. This was much memorization of incantations and what order everything was supposed to happen. Our oath ceremony was about knowing how to respond to a question. Okay, so I flipped through her binder the other night. I wanted to know what she would have to do and why she was spending so much time with her nose in the binder and the Crone grimoire. And I gotta say it looked like a lot. I didnât understand most of what was going on, but as long as she did, it
Getting through the pack ceremony was a cakewalk. Weird but easy. Strange because till Nina woke up, I never had a link, and even when she did wake up, I only unlocked my family link. But as everyone after me sipped from that cup, I felt a Nebrodi link open. I could hear the voices of everyone in the pack, well, everyone old enough to have a wolf. It was an incredible feeling to be connected to them. It was overwhelming. For those too young, I know the link will open to them when they come of age, and I look forward to it. How does Papa do this? How can he be tied to everyone in Incubi and not lose his mind? All their thoughts and feelings quickly outnumbered my own as the others took their seats. âCrazy, Iâm the one saying this, but focus, Katrina.â Tiberiusâ voice pushed past all the other voices, and his feelings of serenity overshadowed everyone elseâs swirling emotions. âA pack link is overwhelming, especially for anyone of rank. But you need to focus. Focus on your thoughts an
Iâve said it before, and Iâll keep saying it for the rest of my life; I am one lucky son of a bitch to have Katrina as my mate. There is no doubt she was born to lead. Her organizational skills are out of this world, just like her imagination. I know the outfits she had Imma create were from AndrĂ©âs mind, but everything else about this ceremony is all her. Nebrodi is not as stuck on tradition as other packs. But the practices we do have Katrina followed to a T. We donât have a set location for our ceremony, usually hosting it at the pack house. Iâd snuck a peak at Katrinaâs ceremony grounds, which looked amazing. Since our ceremony merged with her Coven ritual, she wanted it performed outside. And something about the ritual will mark the space as a sacred space within the pack for the Coven. The whole scene is witchy and exciting with all the candles and symbols. Like in the center of the clearing, a stone altar had been placed at the center of an elaborately created image created fr
Preparing for the ceremony took up a lot of my time. While there may not be defined guidelines for Incubi, certain traditions must be followed. And some of the practices have to be modified to suit our ranked wolves. The rules were written for males to be the ranked wolves, and fewer restrictions were given to their mates. As Luna, Iâm the only one held to a set standard. And this wasnât just a Nebrodi ceremony I had to deal with as The Coven would be there. I am expected to perform a new moon ritual to assume my position in the Coven as Crone officially. Historically the successor ritual is performed on a new moon. It is a time to plant the seeds of the future, which means my promises as their leader. Which is probably why my binder is twice as big as everyone elseâs. There is so much I have to remember. The Luna stuff, Iâm good with that. I was the daughter of an Alpha. I saw how a pack was run and understood the duties of a Luna, even if our pack lacked one. Itâs the Crone stuff I
I need to think more before sending gifts to the Fayte sisters. I didnât think sending her Gwenâs dress would cause a fashion emergency worthy of AndrĂ© skipping an Alpha meeting. I knew how much that dress meant to Crista and how sheâd dreamed of wearing it for her Beta ceremony. I hadnât considered the Incubi traditions sheâd have to follow or just how fired up Katrina would get about abiding by them. The Incubi ceremony went off without a hitch, and so did the after-party. And thanks to AndrĂ©âs quick thinking, Incubi tradition was upheld, and Crista got to feel a connection to her mother on such a special day. A wardrobe change was an ideal solution. It made her entrance at the reception a more significant wow factor. So overall, I give the day two thumbs up. When the Faytes joined Incubi, I was sad when I lost the pack connection to Crista and felt it when Persephone and Delilah took their oaths even though they didnât have their wolves yet. But on the bright side, since Iâm mate