GAMMA CARLOS.
I knew Shaila would be shifting tonight. I haven't seen her for weeks. The last time I saw her was when I teased her about her new haircut and she got pissed off.
Shaila had a crush on me as far as I remember. She would always follow me around whenever her brother would take her with him during training. Her brother, Santo, was one of our pack warriors. And Shaila took it as an opportunity to trail behind and stalk me.
Fuck! I knew I was being boastful.
But she was five years younger than me and started paying attention to me when she was fourteen. I was nineteen and not yet a Gamma, just a regular warrior being trained for the Gamma position by my father, who was the Gamma at that time.
So I just shrugged off the attention. Because let's face it, I was used to it. She wasn't the only girl around that age who swooned over me. On the other hand, when it comes to females, my father has been extremely strict. No fooling around with the f
CASPIAN. Andrea stood frozen in her spot as she watched Shaila in agony, as she was being held by Gamma Carlos. As Shaila's cries and whimpers could be heard all around us, I approached Andrea and snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her to my side. She looked up at me with tears welling in her eyes. "Is she going to make it?" I smiled at her and nodded my head, "She will. And you will, too. The pain is extreme, but it will not last forever. You just need to bear it for a while until you can fully shift." She was about to say something when Shaila started to scream, and Carlos gave her space as she crouched on all fours. She was shifting. Andrea scooted her body closer to mine as we witnessed Shaila shifting into her wolf. It wasn't long after, a dark, cream-colored wolf was standing in front of Gamma Carlos. And Shaila's cries turned into howls of triumph. I smiled as my heart swelled with pride. Another successful shifting
CASPIAN. Andrea was sleeping peacefully. I could only imagine what was going on in her thoughts. I hoped she wouldn't break down tomorrow when everything sinks in and she realizes she didn't shift. I crouched on the floor beside her side of the bed, and ran my hand through her hair, brushing it gently before I leaned in to leave a kiss on her lips, brushing mine against hers in a gentle manner so as not to wake her up. I didn't think I would be able to sleep. Too many things were running in my head, and sleeping would just delay everything. I stood up and glanced at her sleeping form one more time, making sure she was nicely tucked under the blanket before I made my way out of the room. I wanted to look through the archives because she told me that they had information on her parents. It might have come from the Silver Moon Pack and was transferred to us when they moved packs. The packhouse was eerily quiet. My Beta and Gamma were probably sno
ANDREA. The days went by so fast. When I wake up tomorrow, I will be eighteen. But according to the Elders that Caspian spoke with, I would never be able to scent my mate. This has me restless. How was I supposed to get out of the pact if I was not able to find my mate? Caspian wasn't saying anything. He was moving on as if nothing bad had happened and just kept reassuring me that my wolf would surface once she was ready. But when? Maybe it would be too late by then. If anything, I learned that my grandmother was alive. And she was still living in the Silver Moon Pack. I couldn't even remember her. It was weird that we lived in the same pack but my parents had never introduced me to her. And they never talked about her. I hoped one day I would get to meet her. Maybe she has the answer we were looking for. I would like to believe she knew when my mother shifted and if there was something wrong with me. "Penny for your thoughts?" B
It smelled like a mixture of lavender and cinnamon. It was so good that I wanted to lick it. Hmmm... My body jolted up as my eyes snapped open when it finally hit me with what I was smelling. Andrea! My head snapped to my side, searching for her while my heart was thudding loudly in my chest. I found her at her side of the bed, in a coiled position, hugging the blanket tightly against her body. She was sleeping peacefully, purring softly in her sleep. My eyes started to water as I inhaled more of her scent. It was too faint, but it was enough to wake up my senses. But I was not alone. Zion, my wolf, growled in my head. MATE. He was claiming Andrea as our mate. I wasn't hallucinating. I smelled her. And if my wolf acknowledged the bond, it meant one thing. He could sense Andrea's wolf as his mate. I shifted my weight and crept behind Andrea's body, burying my nose in the back of her neck and inhalin
CASPIAN. I was outside the packhouse talking with Gamma Carlos about the training schedule that he had reshuffled when I received a mindlink from my Beta. Riley was on the phone, and he refused to hang up until he talked with me. With a creased forehead, I made my way inside the packhouse, glancing at the kitchen as I passed by. I saw Andrea with her back in the hallway as she talked with the cook scheduled for today. She woke an hour ago and was now helping out in the kitchen preparing breakfast. She went inside my office and sat on my lap as she usually does, but she didn't seem to find anything strange or unusual about me. I tried to act as if nothing was going on, despite the turmoil within me. I wanted to tell her about her scent, but I was not sure of myself either. And the last thing I wanted was to raise her hopes high just to disappoint her. So I kept it to myself, even if it was killing me. I opened the door to my off
ANDREA. I didn't have any idea how long I'd been standing in the middle of Caspian's room just looking at his bed. Many different emotions were surging in my chest, and I tried my hardest to control them all. Anger. Fear. Sadness. Agony. Longing. Love. I knew someday Caspian would come to understand me. He might be angered by my decision, but I was doing this for him. Riley wouldn't stop until he staked his claim on me. He has been present for the last three years of my life, and although he hasn't done anything to physically torture me, he has succeeded in torturing me emotionally. I knew what he could do. And I knew I had this coming for me. But not Caspian. He could still get away from Riley. And that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to take him away from all of this. I held the letter I'd written for Caspian for the last hour tightly in my chest before bringing it onto my lips to leave a kiss and slipping it under his side t
CASPIAN. I shut off everyone while I let Zion out. We ran. We kept running until our body expired and we laid out flat in the hillside meadow. It was only then that I opened my mindlink and voices came from everywhere, even those not directly sent to me. I cleared my mind and wiped out the other conversations running in my mind from every mindlink in my pack. And then my Beta's voice dug into my head. 'I'm taking Andrea to the border. Riley is already there.' I didn't reply and remained spread out naked in the middle of the meadow. It was for the best that I didn't see her before she left. I didn't trust myself that I would stay quiet and let Riley take her without any fight. But the last thing I wanted was for Riley to take her and punish her later on for my actions. So I remained where I was. Until I couldn't anymore. I rose up from laying down and immediately shifted back into my wolf form
ANDREA. I smiled weakly at Jenny before walking away from her and her mate, Gamma Sebastian, as Riley was guiding me towards the pack house, his hand securing mine tightly. I was trying my best not to let out a sigh. I needed to be calm if I wanted to make Riley believe I was okay with this setup. I heard him say he would bring me to our room, and it took so much effort on my end not to flinch. Although I have shared a bed with Caspian, I did it out of love. And I had no plans to just jump into another man's bed if I had a choice. But I didn't know how I could stop him from doing this. Sweat formed on my forehead as we reached the fourth floor of the packhouse. I had never been here before, and if I remembered it right, this floor belonged to the Alpha alone when I was still a small girl tagging along with my mother whenever she went here for work. So this floor belongs to Riley now. Bile threatened to rise from my th