RAFEAfter the kids left for school, I waited as Raven got herself ready for the day. I sit on the edge of our bed as she gets dressed and I take in her every movement. The way her back arches when she bends to pull her pants on. The way she tilts her neck exposes our mate mark as she gathers her hair up in a ponytail.Pulling her loose sweater down, she stops as she realizes I’ve been watching.“Enjoying the show, dear?” She teases.“Always do love.”I follow her down the stairs and we say goodbye. I lean against the doorjamb, watching her walk down the path. Once she’s far enough ahead, I close the door behind me and follow at a distance.I stay hidden in the shadows and off the path as I follow her. Stopping at a house outside of town, tucked away in the woods, she knocks on the door and waits a moment before I see Finnian answer the door, ushering her in.My wolf growls as she disappears from our sight. My mind flashes with images of what I can only imagine is happening inside. I
I glance around as I wait for Finn or Lucy to open the door. The nagging feeling that someone is watching me has stayed with me since I left this morning, but I’ve not spotted anyone, and no one is there now as I peer around.“Good morning.” Finn’s tone is cheerful as he opens his door for me.“Good morning. Hey Lucy, good morning,” I say as I step past Finn and into his kitchen.“Good morning Raven. Would you like some coffee?” Lucy greets from where she’s pouring a mug of her own.“Oh, goddess, yes, please. I have only had one cup so far this morning.”I take the mug she holds out for me as I join Finn at the table.“I would like to start by looking at some of the books we brought back with us. The spellbooks.”“Sure, let me go get them,” Finn leaves Lucy and me talking at the table.Once he’s back with the books, I launch into telling them of my visit with the Moon goddess and what I found out.“So, you can make the potion?” Lucy asks with excitement.“I will most certainly try.” M
“How are you feeling, hun?”He looks over the edge of his mug at me. “I feel fine. Why?”“It hasn’t escaped my notice that you still seem tired a lot. I’m just concerned.”“This again?” He stands up and takes a step toward me, kissing my forehead. “I am fine, love. Don’t worry where you don’t need to.” With one last kiss on my lips, he walks into the living room.With a huff and a shake of my head, I throw open the cupboard and grab a coffee mug. I need caffeine before I can think about this. After two cups and breakfast, I call out goodbye, so he knows I’m leaving as I head out the front door to go to Finns.It’s been about two weeks since I unlocked my magic and I’ve been practicing every day. I’ve got it down, so I don’t need to utter a word to conjure fire in my hand or to create a small tornado from the wind. If I so much as think with intent, it happens.I have been very careful though, only to practice at Finn’s place. Where the rest of the pack won’t see. And other than Finn a
It’s been an easy few days’ journey since we left. The two temples we have left to search are the farthest away from our pack. I have noticed the towns and villages further from the pack have not been messed with like the ones closest to us. I don’t know if it’s because Duncan didn’t get to those in time or after taking the ones closest to us, he felt he had enough on his side.It’s a welcome sight when we see a town up ahead. At this point, we have all slowed and started lagging from the few days on the move.Before we get to the town, four wolves step out into the street, blocking our way. When it is clear they have no intention of moving aside, we come to a halt a few feet away.We tense as one wolf shifts. “We know who you are, Raven Hale, of the Black Moon pack. And we will not let you go any further. There is nothing you can do to stop this war. This is the end for you and your friends. Then your pack and you goddess will soon follow and meet their fate.” He wastes no time shift
“Where are we going?”“Oh, we are going-”I cut a sharp look over at Lucy and she clamps her mouth shut, not finishing her response.“You will see when we get there,” I tell Rafe.He narrows his eyes at our group, trying to figure out what we’re hiding.Finn picks up the conversation in the awkward silence, not giving Rafe a chance to think too much about what we’re not telling him. We’re about a day away from the temple, and I’m hoping Rafe doesn’t recognize this area and works out where we’re heading until it’s too late.I’m still unsettled by the dream I had last night. At least I think it was a dream. I have become used to talking issues out with Finn and Lucy about the witches, but with Rafe here I can’t. I could mind link Finn about it, but Rafe would notice. So I’m stuck in my head for this trip wondering what that dream was. It was too far away for me to see what scenes were flashing across the crystal. Are they using that to track us? Is that how they knew where we were? If i
After finding recent correspondence between the witches and some wolves that back them regarding the war that is still going to happen, I pushed everyone on the way back to the pack. I didn’t want to give Rafe a chance to see or hear too much or to fall asleep. Granted, that was wishful thinking since we all had to sleep at some point. But when I noticed he was getting groggy a few times, I push us harder, trying to get us on pack lands as quick as I could. It frustrates me to not know how often they check in on his memories. Is it every time he sleeps? Every few days? It would help me out if I knew. And sadly, Rafe does not know when they do, since he’s asleep.We’re taking a break when I walk over to where he stands on the edge of the stream. “What have you been searching for in the library?” I stand staring at the slow-moving water as it trickles and flows over rocks and branches in its way. My arms crossed in a defensive position.“I’ve been looking up what I can about the Moonsto
We collected some more spellbooks while we were at the temple and one talks about centering and clearing your mind before performing any spell or potion. So I take those tips into mind and practice meditation before I try the potion again.Lucy and I are just corking it when Finn strolls into his kitchen carelessly tossing the Bloodstone around. “What are we going to do with this?”“Finn!” I yell as I march up to him. I snag the stone with one hand while my other one pushes the completed potion into his free hand. “Give me the stone and you can hold on to this.”He gives me a crooked grin as he holds the potion up for his inspection, as if he could tell a difference by looking at it. “Do you think this one will work?”With a sigh, I shrug my shoulders. “I have no idea. I don’t know what went wrong the last two times, but here’s to hoping the third time is the charm.”I gaze into the Bloodstone and you can see a murkiness in it swirling around. It’s not a perfect, clear gem. No, it’s c
RAFEI blow Raven’s hair out of my mouth, where it landed after she fell on me after our last round.I tap her ass, and she mumbles into my neck.“Baby,” I get nothing from her. So I wrap my arms around her, one hand holding her fine ass and the other between her shoulder blades. With my grip firm, I roll us so she’s on her back and I’m on top, but I quickly flop off her onto my back. Then I move us into the spooning position. I can breathe now without her hair in my mouth.A small smile soon grows into a tooth-eating grin as I lay here marveling at our bond. This is something I swear to never take for granted, having a mate and being able to feel her love for me.‘Yes, please forget about me,’ my wolf snarks.‘Trust me, I didn’t forget about you. We talked last night.’ I roll my eyes at him. He’s been talking to me non-stop since our bond has cleared. Typically, he is the opposite of me when it comes to attention. I like to be alone and sit in the library's silence. He needs to be ar