Soon the table was covered in trays of food, a mix of savory and sweet. There were pancakes and waffles and doughnuts along with berries and cream and powdered sugar and grapes. And then there were skillet potatoes, different types of toast, bagels and biscuits and every type of egg she could imagine. And there were mimosas and champagne.Dani stared at the table and wondered if it would collapse under the weight of so much food. Even with this many werewolves there was no way they would even be able to put a dent in all of this, she thought with a shake of her head.Once every plate was full, Dani lifted a strawberry to her lips and thought that it was the sweetest thing that she'd ever tasted. But she'd only just completed that thought, and hadn't even finished chewing, when the pleasant brunch that they had been having ended rather abruptly and became something else entirely.Dani felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up a moment before she raised her eyes and saw Lyra st
"Lyra is the absolute worst." Dani stared at her old Luna, her eyes widening in surprise. She was quite certain that in all the years that she had known Emery she had never heard her say a truly unpleasant word about anyone. And while she agreed wholeheartedly that Lyra was in fact, the absolute worst, she was still somewhat startled to hear those words coming out of Emery's mouth. She was just so perfect that Dani wasn't even sure she was capable of gossiping. "Don't you agree?" Emery nudged her with a knowing smile after another moment of silence. "She knit a sweater for your daughter?" Dani finally cracked a smile as they walked away from the restaurant, headed towards the shops and boutiques of downtown Lovellton."That was ridiculous. I mean I knew she didn't knit it. It had tags. And we hardly spoke at that conference. She sent it because all the packs did. I know she was just looking for an excuse to crash brunch. What the Hell is she still doing here?" Emery shook her head
Dani was completely alone for the first time since she'd met Luca and it felt fantastic. She knew that if Luca knew that she was alone he wouldn't have approved, but being watched all the time was tiring and so she had come home from a morning of shopping and lunch with Emery exhausted. Dani had taken a shower and after finally picking up her phone, which had been sitting where she'd left it for two days, she had plopped down on Luca's enormous bed without putting on a stitch of clothing, and propped herself up on her elbows to check her messages. There was one from her mother, after brunch this morning, gushing about her mark and how perfect it was. She rolled her eyes. She needed to check in with Luca about meeting with the doctors and making sure everything was going smoothly with Clara Beth, but it really did seem that getting her mother out of their old town and away from her old friends had been a good thing.There were a couple texts from friends back in her old pack, ask
Luca slipped out of their bed after she was soundly asleep, pulling on a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt as he watched his little mate's chest rise and fall. He walked over to her phone and picked it up where it was laying next to the bathroom door. The screen was shattered beyond anything he'd expected to see, and when he pressed the on button nothing happened.Sighing he turned back towards the bed, sitting down on the edge as he pulled on his shoes. "I wish I knew what you were hiding from me, my little Luna."Reaching over he tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear and watched her sleep for a moment before standing. He'd already been missing from the meeting for far longer than he meant to be, but his wolf didn't want to leave his mate alone."We aren't leaving her alone." He mumbled the words out loud, although the comment was directed at his wolf, as we walked down the stairs."I don't want her leaving the house, unless you speak with me about it." he said in his Alp
"Am I wrong?" Luca asked, staring hard at the Alpha on the other side of the table. "You're not." Alpha Vos stood, and looked over at his Beta and third in command. Kent was slumped in his chair, looking furious at the entire situation. "Kent. Go check in with Emery. Make sure she's alright. Maybe take her over to visit Dani. If your guards will let them in?" He raised an eyebrow at Luca and waited for his answer. "Yes. Of course they will. And thank Emery for me. I'm sure a visit from her would do Dani well." Kent stalked from the room, managing to stop short of slamming the door on his way out. "They've been friends for a really long time." Vos said slowly, after taking a deep breath. "Since kindergarten or preschool or something like that. And he is inappropriately overprotective as a result. Especially after we saved her. And especially because of her relationship to me. I expect it will wear off when he finally finds his own mate." "I'd like to speak to you alone." Luca said
"His truck was found, on the other side of town, upside down in the river two days later by fishermen. He was dead, still strapped in the driver's seat. They tried to say that the car was full of beer cans, but Dani's father didn't drink. Dani's mother didn't start until after her father died. But once she did it made it easier to start up all the rumors and just act like they'd always been the town drunks." "And how old was Dani then?" Luca's voice cracked as he asked the question. "I think three or four? Little. Too little." Vos turned away from the forest and threw himself down in a chair, his eyes unfocused as he continued to stare off, lost in his own thoughts. "Clara Beth lost herself in guilt after that. I don't know why she told him. The day she talked to me she was drunk, so it was jumbled. But I think he'd heard a rumor and she was tired of denying it when it was true. And after that she started drinking at night. She lost her job at the bakery pretty quickly because she c
He'd expected her to react, but not quite so severely, especially not before he'd told her the worst of it. "He said that if I didn't reject you and marry Lyra, that he would declare war on our pack. Of course I'm not going to do that. You're my life. I would die for you.""I don't want you to die for me." Dani murmured the words, her eyebrows wrinkling. "I don't want anyone to die for me." She shook her head. "I don't want a war fought because I'm your mate." Her hand went to her head. "Lyra. Lyra Harding. Alpha Harding. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.""Kitten. It's okay. I can protect you. I'm the man who's conquered almost all of the packs in the entire continent. Other alphas tremble before me. Alpha Harding has overstepped and he'll see that soon enough. I'm going to send Lyra packing back to her father, and we are going to live happily ever after. I only told you because you shouldn't be in the dark about all of this. But you don't need to worry Princess."Dani flinched as he said the las
Dani woke in a room that she didn't recognize. But she knew, even before she opened her eyes, what kind of a room it was. This wasn't the first time that this had happened. The smells, the sounds, the buzz of the fluorescent lights, it was all the same. Opening her eyes she saw that the walls were painted light blue and that there was a flat screen TV on the wall, on the far side of the room. An IV was in her right arm, the one that wasn't bandaged and wrapped and she turned her head, knowing that he was there beside her. Still she was half afraid to hear what he would have to say to her.Luca was slouched over, on her right side, having fallen asleep in a recliner that was pulled up next to the side of her bed. He looked enormous, trying to sleep in the normal sized chair, and she knew that he couldn't have had a comfortable night.Shifting her weight she tried to pull herself into a sitting position, but her arm throbbed. "Fuck. Baby. Don't move. You could make it worse." In a m