James woke to find Elizabeth curled against his chest, shielded in his arms. He remembered waking up like this more than once before. But the time that came back to him is the first one. When he couldn't even see her face.She was absolutely beautiful, even when she slept.He remembered when he'd woken up after passing out, almost a full day later. She'd stayed with him the entire time, not wanting to let him lose her warmth for even a moment. She'd been starving, not having eaten for so long, but she had kept herself glued to his side.He had woken up that morning knowing something was different. About him, about her. He hadn't felt in danger in her home before that, but that morning was the first time he'd felt truly safe in a very long time.James glanced down at her again, frowning. She was not sleeping peacefully.Her eyes moved rapidly, her heartbeat erratic, fast and then slow. Her breathing uneven.'A nightmare?' James thought.But then her eyes opened slightly, and he s
Elizabeth and James turned to Selene, stunned at her words.James realized he had never made the distinction. Most of the packs surrounding him had been aware that he had chosen a future Luna, but as Katrina was not Luna yet, she had still not been introduced as such.And here he was, introducing a she-wolf to them on a humanitarian mission. Sometimes, the Lunas accompanied the Alpha's on diplomatic missions. It didn't matter much for the sake of safety to keep the Luna at home. If the Alpha was killed, the next Alpha to ascend would have a different Luna by his side, and the old one would be driven out, or absorbed as a servant into the pack.It was a very natural assumption that Elizabeth was Luna. It was one he would have made, had the circumstances been different.Still, it needed clarification."I'm not," Elizabeth began to say.But James didn't give her a chance to speak."I haven't taken a Luna yet," James clarified. "But this is Elizabeth, my packs most valuable healer.
Elizabeth sat in the Alpha's Hall, having finished her supper, she was almost exhausted. But she kept going, feeding off the energy of the wolves here. It was like they were just starting to live again.They had been working for days straight. James had taken a group of fifteen wolves to the forest and thinned quite a few of the trees strategically. He'd uprooted the trees themselves.This allowed them to make almost another entire clearing, and the herd animals had already begun grazing there, the grass springing up, no longer competing with trees for nutrients.Elizabeth had watched as James had herded some gazelle, then wild goats, and then deer, to the clearing. It was simpler than just hoping they would stumble on it themselves.The fallen trees had also given them more wood than even James had imagined, and with thirty wolves working around the clock on constant rotation, James had already had five more cabins built in just a week. Five new homes for five families.Elizabeth
{Flashback}Phillip had been recovering at a steady pace for the past few days. After the initial shock and loss of body warmth, Elizabeth had been monitoring the temperature in the cabin and Phillip's own personal temperature closely for the past couple of days.He'd been improving almost steadily. His eyesight had been badly damaged by the attack. It had partly returned, but she'd warned him it might not ever heal entirely. He could see the major outlines of things, but no detail. He could see the shape of her, but not the features that made her up.She'd also been watching his diet and recording every single thing down in her journal.She knew enough about healing to know that recovering from an Alpha's wounds was something that needed to be documented. Their world had such precious little information on healers and healing, that everything new had to be treated as valuable. Every piece of information was priceless.Phillip watched her from the bed, and Elizabeth didn't mind to
Elizabeth felt his lips on hers again, and for the third time, her mind jolted. It was like it was trying to remind her of something. A feeling, a sense she just couldn't escape.The first time she'd felt it was the first time he'd kissed her. Then again the first morning she woke up alone, after sleeping in the same bed as him. And now. As she felt his lips against hers, she felt her mind and soul warring within her. Trying to get her to remember.But remember what? Who was James to her? Why had she been dreaming of him since before she'd met him? Why had he felt so familiar to her?James pressed against her, and Elizabeth felt the tree trunk against her back, as James' torso pressed against her chest, trapping her between himself and the tree. He wrapped his arms around her entirely, pulling her as close against him as he could.Elizabeth felt his desperation and his need as he clung to her. And her first instinct was to respond. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him
James woke before Elizabeth again, and again he found her in a Luna's dream. This morning, the thought made him smile. A hereditary Luna, definitely. He wanted to tell her, beyond excited and grateful that he could tell her something about who she was, and her family.A hereditary Luna, a she-wolf born with the ability to see the future, even if she was still unmated to an Alpha, was something extremely powerful. Only the greatest of Luna's could pass this ability to their daughters while they were still young.It meant that Elizabeth's mother had been a Luna, and a very wise one. It also meant Elizabeth's father had been an Alpha.Though James couldn't tell which one. He knew many Alphas, old enough to have sired a daughter that would now be Elizabeth's age, but he couldn't think of any resemblance to her in them, or in their Lunas.Could her pack have been destroyed? Decimated by an invading Alpha? But then why hadn't he killed Elizabeth? Alphas that took over territory almost ne
The Sycamore Pack was slowly but surely recoveringThe herd animals had slowly come out of wherever they'd hidden away. And it had been challenging for the wolves not to hunt them, but they had restrained. They had become expert fisherman in the past month, so they had no need to hunt, other than instinct.The houses were almost completely done, and the Sycamore Pack was well on their way to recovery.And by the time Elizabeth realized it, they've been in the Sycamore pack for over a full moon.And just as they were readying to leave, the meaning of Selene's month-long moon sleep, presented itself to them."Alpha, Healer," Ayla greeted, coming up to them. "My Alpha has requested both of your presence in his Hall at once. It is a matter of urgency."James nodded, "Will you make sure Kenneth is there?"In the month that they have been here, a mate bond had blossomed between Kenneth and Ayla. Everyone involved knew what that meant for one of the two, and what it meant for one of th
James and Elizabeth left the Sycamore Pack in the morning. They would head north from where they were, further away from the Moirai Pack.Ordinarily, the Alpha would have gone with an escort, with guards to protect him, and with his Luna.But the council was going to be held the day after tomorrow. They didn't have the time to wait for someone to go back to the Moirai, and then journey back to the Sycamore just to bring a few wolves.James felt he would be safe enough. So he and Elizabeth set out together.Kenneth had been sent back with his new family to the Moirai. Wherever Kenneth would go from then on, his mate would go with him; the mate bond was so strong that any kind of separation would be impossible. And since Ayla had a young son dependent on her, it meant wherever Kenneth went, his family would follow him.And a war council was not the place for a little pup to be.James had debated for a long time if the best thing to do wasn't to send Elizabeth back with Kenneth to h