“Tessa said she and Arnie can escort us to give everyone else a break, but only pack members who live in the packhouse, okay? If we leave the packhouse, we have to have extra security. Even if it is just the houses down the street,” Bronx lectures me after making a few phone calls. “I’ll take it. We can get everyone else tomorrow in the dining room,” I smile and throw my arms around his waist before I run on my toes to the shower to get myself ready for the day. I turn on the water in the shower and get undressed, take off all my jewelry, including my lavish, trackable, diamond dog collar, and place it all in the little velvet lined dish on the countertop. Oh sorry, I meant to say, the beautiful diamond necklace my husband had custom made, using the latest nanotechnology, so he could know where I am every second of every day. I step into the shower and start washing my hair. As I’m massaging the shampoo into my hair, I hear Bronx call me. “Baby? Did you take your necklace off? I go
After congratulating the happy couple, we make our way around the hospital wing, handing out boxes to the grateful staff and the patients who are happy to get a visit from their Alpha and Luna. When all the boxes run out, we make our way back up to the apartment. I give Tessa a deep hug, letting her energy surround me without pulling it from her. It feels very structured and controlled to hug her, but full of gratitude and love at the same time. “Everything’s going to work out for the Manae, Tessa. I’m going to make sure of it,” I pat my hand against her face reassuringly. “Little Sister, I don’t know how you think you could make a difference on your own, but I commend your tenacity,” she gives me a kiss on the cheek and makes her way down the hall. I get back to my normal routine and make dinner for Bronx. He comes into the kitchen and helps make the side dishes, listening to my instructions carefully. Just like the guards and warriors I have given lessons to in the past, using t
I send six of the wolves in one by one to spread themselves around the packhouse. The more confused pack members are by seeing Lex look alikes, the better. “Leticia, no shifting. No magic,” I warn before she enters. “Yeah, yeah. You’ve already told me,” her wolf tilts her head curiously at Lex before she bounds off into the pack house. “Alright, ladies. The back staircase to the dungeon is to the left. I’ll shift. You stay in wolf form until we get to the safe. Let’s make this quick,” I say to Sophie and Thea, who are twins. Sophie has the power of telekinesis and Thea can control electricity. Throughout the packhouse we can hear yelling, barking, and claws clacking on the marble floors. When we get to the door to the dungeon staircase, I shift and quietly use a spell to break the lock. I crack the door open and sniff deeply. There are no fresh scents. No prisoners means no guards are down there. We won’t have any interruptions until someone has time to check time to see why the
“Incoming,” I link my sisters in the apartment. “We’re hidden,” I hear Thea reply. Marco, Ellen, and I make our way into the apartment. Bronx is already standing in front of the sofa, where Estelle and Simone are sitting. Marco directs Ellen to sit as well and stands behind the sofa with his gun still raised behind them. I don’t see any of my other sisters who I know are hiding somewhere inside. “You. Keep your mouth shut,” Bronx points to Estelle, then points to Ellen, “How many of you are here?” “Just the three of us,” Ellen says sullenly. “Bullshit,” Tessa growls with her nose in the air, “I smell more of you.” Bronx puts his nose in the air as well. His eyes turn black as Saint comes to the surface. A deep growl comes from his chest. Saint’s gravelly voice comes out of Bronx’s mouth, “Lie to me again and I will end this lifetime for all of you.” I watch my sisters shrink back as their Guardian threatens their lives. I have a powerful instinct to scold him for their mistreat
When I come out on the other side of the portal, Leticia is waiting to greet me with open arms and a huge smile. Much to her surprise, she is met with my most vicious right hook I can muster to the face. I feel the satisfying crunch of the bones in her nose collapse under the weight of my punch. I watch her collapse to the floor. Blood pours from her broken nose onto the gray carpet. Around us, my sisters gasp in surprise at my actions. “HOW DARE YOU CROSS ME?” my goddess voice booms, “YOU WILL PAY FOR KILLING MY BETA, LETICIA!” “Kas, I’m sorry. I-” Leticia looks up at me, prepared to beg for mercy. She won’t find any. I grab the collar of her shirt and force her down by her neck, and kneel on her chest while I continue to pummel her traitorous face. I barely hear the rest of the Mavri Magea trying to stop me and pull me off her. The typhoon in my mind suddenly stops churning, giving me the ability to focus on Leticia. I clap my hand over her mouth, making my purple aura surround
The murky water laps up and almost touches the soles of my shoes. The dark gray stones of the shore are wet with a thick gelatinous coating, making them slippery under my feet. I shuffle back slightly to avoid letting its poison get too close. One drop could kill me. The landscape is dead and soft at the edges. There is no bright white here, there is no pure black either. Just a world composed of shades of gray. Purgatory. I assumed it would be awful here, that it would be full of pain and suffering, but it’s actually still and peaceful. I close my eyes for a moment and let the silence engulf me. Finding my way here has taken me halfway across a world I never knew existed. Now that I’ve witnessed what purgatory is like, I’m pretty sure it would satisfy me to exist with its blank, empty feeling. It’s better than the darkness that has taken over. It is a comforting contrast to the Mavri Magea apartment. Trying to reforge a cursed blade and block out the pitiful whining of my sisters
Bronx’s POV The portal closed. Kas is gone. She left with them. She chose the Mavri Magea over our pack. I look back at Lenora in my arms. I feel myself rocking back and forth. It isn’t for her comfort. Lenora can never be comforted ever again. I take the hem of my shirt and try to clean the blood away from her face. All it does is smear it down her chin. “Leni. Come back. Don’t leave me. Don’t leave us. I need you. So do Milo and Codi and the pack. Please Lenora, come back to us,” my lip trembles, pleading with her. Tears drip down from my chin onto her forehead as she looks blankly at me. I look into her green eyes one last time before I run my hand over and close her eyelids. Now she looks like she’s sleeping. I pull my shirt off and lay it over her, trying to hide the gaping wound on her neck and chest. I can't bear to look at her that way. When the searing pain of our family bond and pack bond breaking at the same time hits me, I pull her closer. I cry out in an Earth-sha
Katherine’s POV The estate is unusually quiet when I get home from work. I don’t notice the usual hustle and bustle, but I chalk it up to coming home later than I normally do. I push open the door to my darkened office, pour myself a glass of scotch, and make my way over to the desk. I turn on the desk lamp and sit down, taking a deep sip of my drink. “Hello, Iokaste,” I lean back in my chair, addressing the woman in the tall wingback seat across the desk, “You look like shit.” “Hello, Katherine. Thank you for the compliment,” she snarks at me and leans forward from the shadow, letting me see her pale skin and sunken eyes be more clearly. Her spindly hand supports her chin. The longer I look at her, the more I realize she is way too thin. “K-Kas. Are-are you alright?” I stammer when I see her true condition. “Don’t worry about me, darling. You never have before. I’m here because I need you to do something for me. I’m going to give you a choice on how you do it,” she says, steepl