By the time we reached the pack house, the moon was already high and the horizon shrouded in darkness. We parked a little further from the main driveway, and I followed Levi to sneak through the shadows like we were a couple of fugitives. My body was sore, my head still heavy from everything that had happened in the forest. But I was still able to walk.“Let me carry you,” Levi whispered when I winced after misstepping on a loose stone.“I’m fine,” I said, straightening. “If you carry me, we’ll be slower. Someone might see us, and then we’ll have to answer a bunch of questions.”He muttered something under his breath but didn’t argue, just slowed his pace so I could keep up. We entered through the side door, the one closest to the woods, avoiding any lights or chatter coming from the living room. Once we were safely in the hallway, he glanced over his shoulder, his hair still damp with blood and sweat, eyes flickering across my face.“I’ll walk you to your room,” he said.I nodded, eve
I woke up earlier than usual to coordinate my outfit. Yes, I was going to be in a uniform like everyone else, but I wanted to look better than I usually did.I wanted everyone to be in awe. I wanted to be worthy of being by Levi’s side.Sunlight was already streaming through the window, the heat from it warming my skin. My body ached less, thanks to Levi's paste, and my mind...well, my mind was filled with a ton of emotions.A fake relationship.It sounded so simple when Levi said it last night. But laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My heartbeat picked up just remembering the way his hands felt on my skin, the way he looked at me like I was something more than just a girl struggling to fit into a world I’d only known for a couple of weeks.He looked at me like I truly belonged, like I was entitled to being Luna, just like the rest of the other female wolves in the park.I hated how badly I wanted it to be real.But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.We
“I need to have you now,” his words came in hollowed breaths.I sighed, turning to lay on my right side. This was not really happening, it was all in my head. At least that was what I was telling myself.“I want you,” he said again, wrapping his arms around my waist.He breathed me in, placing his face into my neck and pulling me closer. He licked behind my ears, moaning softly. His hands slid under my shirt, to my bare breast, and stayed there. He pulled me again, like he somehow wanted me inside his skin.Like being this close was not enough. He wanted more, and so did I.“Do you want me?” he whispered into my ears, and I felt a shock between my legs.The heat from his lips sending jolts of electricity through my body. I wanted to fight the desire, the mysterious pull that existed between me and this stranger. But it was no use, I had to have him.I needed him as much as he needed me.My lips parted. “Yes.”“What do you want?” He asked, his voice sultry and low.“I want you to take
The sun had fully risen by the time I nailed a clean hit to Levi’s side, knocking him slightly off balance. Not enough to win any awards, but enough to earn a lifted brow of acknowledgment from him.“Better,” he said, nodding once.Sweat clung to my back, and my arms felt like spaghetti. But despite the aching muscles and the early hour, I felt alive. Strong. And not just because I’d finally managed to land a decent blow on the guy who’d been smirking through most of our session.“You’re just saying that to keep me from being focused.”He leaned closer, his voice extremely low, “If I wanted to distract you, trust me, I’d use better tactics.”I waved his words away, but heat bloomed in my cheeks. “You’re so annoying.”“And yet here you are,” he shot back with a grin.A loud cough snapped both our heads around.Three younger pack members had stopped along the trail bordering the field—two guys and a girl. They were clearly watching us, whispering. Like we were a math equation they just
I couldn’t stop hearing the Alpha’s voice.“If you are Levi’s mate, fake or not…it isn’t going to be easy from now on. And if you’re not…then goddess help you when his real mate finds out.”The words spun around my head like a spell I couldn’t break, looping again and again as I sat cross-legged on my bed, staring at the wall like it had answers. It didn’t.Nothing did.I hadn't told Levi. I didn’t plan to. What good would it do? It would just complicate the lie we were both trying so hard to sell, like two people pretending they could walk across a frozen lake without falling through.My fingers twisted in the hem of my skirt. My heart hadn't stopped pounding since the meeting with the Alpha. The gravity of it all weighed heavily on me, like there was about to be a shift in this magical world.If only I could identify it.Once again, I was clueless. Even more that I was now in this mess. Was Ruby right? Was I just ignorant? Should I have thought well and hard before accepting to play
“Astra, wake up!”Lola’s voice pierced my dreams with a whisper sharp enough to slice through an elephant’s skin."Check on him," she repeated.My eyes blinked open to a haze of pale lamp light. The clock on my nightstand read 5:02 AM. Still dark enough for the pack house to still be bathed in silence, but early enough that even the birds hadn’t dared to sing yet.My body protested as I sat up. Every inch of me ached from yesterday’s trainings, but Lola didn’t speak unless it mattered. Especially not at dawn when I was supposed to be sleeping.I took off my night t-shirt and threw on a tank top, slipped into yoga shorts and sneakers, and tiptoed out of my room. The pack house was cloaked in stillness, long halls bathed in a soft golden glow from the hanging lamps that never turned off. The scent of cedarwood and old leather followed me as I made my way to the end of the hall.To Levi’s room.My hand had barely lifted to knock when the door flew open.Levi stood in the doorway, shirt s
With the help of Levi, I cleaned up and got changed. He gave me his leather jacket—that seemed to swallow me whole—to cover up my stained shirt.We were in the boys locker room alone, the air surprisingly clear. Levi dried my hair and combed it out, cleaning the spot on my shoe where the milk had dripped onto, while I sulked in anger. He wasn’t mad at me, but I could tell he was disappointed.“I told you to ignore her,” he said, dabbing on my skirt to get the milk stain away. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”I bit my lips, watching him carefully. “I know, I’m sorry. She just knows how to push my buttons.”He sighed. “Maybe our next training should be on how to ignore comments that make no sense.”I looked down at him. “Did it though?”He paused. “What are you asking me?”“What is this mark thing she mentioned?”He sighed again. “I had a feeling someone would bring that up eventually, I just didn’t think it would be this soon.” He stared at me for a long time, but I could tell he was
It felt like the ground had tilted beneath me. My breath hitched, and my heartbeat banged in my ears. No. No, this couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t really be him.The moment Levi’s eyes landed on Damien, something in him snapped."Get in the car!" he said, gritting his teeth.I blinked at him. "What?""Astra," he growled. "Now!!"There was no room for argument in his tone, so I obeyed, slipping into the passenger seat just as he slammed the driver’s door shut. The engine roared to life, and he took off with a speed that sent my stomach lurching.The tension in the car was thick and the look on his face scared the hell out of me, but I couldn’t just sit there. "Levi, please, talk to me. What are you doing?""We’re going to see my father," he said without looking at me."Levi, no. Please, let’s just...breathe. Maybe it’s not what it looks like.""You saw him, Astra. You know exactly what it looks like.""I don’t want any more trouble. Maybe we should just leave it alone, maybe he won’t
When I was a little girl, my mum would get really sad sometimes. Now that I think of it, it probably had something to do with my father. Anyway, when she got in one of her moods or I do something to make her mad, I’d take out a bunch of candy from my stash and offer them to her as a peace offering.It always made her smile.Years later, I was still that girl, using candy to bribe her way out of tough situations. And sometimes, it worked. Other times…not so much.I couldn’t sleep. Not well, at least. Between feeling guilty for what Levi was going through and trying to figure out how to find the mysterious boy from my dreams, there was hardly time. Every second counted.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw flashes. Fangs snarling under moonlight, blood soaking into the forest floor, Levi standing in front of me like a shield I never deserved. And beyond that, in the haze between sleep and something else, the dark-haired boy kept returning. Sometimes he stood at the edge of a field, silent
“Cherry?”“Drive, Astra,” she urged, raising a brow. “We need to talk, but not here.”I nodded, blinking several times as I started the engine and zoomed off. Today couldn’t get any weirder than it already was.Why was Cherry in my car and what did she want to talk to me about?“Here’s fine,” she said, looking out the window cautiously.I nodded again, pulling over by the side of the road. We were in the middle of a boulevard, the one that led to town, surrounded by massive trees. The first thought that crossed my mind was how Cherry had finally had enough of me and decided to end me.This was the perfect place to do it.Nobody would find my body for days if she played her cards right.Nobody saw us leave together, the only person that knew I was at the pack house was Levi. I immediately thought about my mother and how sad she’d be.Cherry turned toward me slowly, her face serious.“I’m leaving Moondew,” she said softly.The words didn’t register at first. I blinked again. “What?”“I’
I didn’t think it was possible for Moondew to be so quiet. So…on edge.The skies remained overcast for days, mirroring the mood of the pack. Patrols doubled. Warriors prowled the borders, barely sleeping, their gazes sharp and voices hushed. We weren’t just rebuilding. We were bracing for whatever was to come.Everyone was moving with caution.And guess who was suffering it the most?Levi.The night of the camping incident, I walked into the front door of my house only a couple of minutes to midnight.Nobody was expecting me, and I had done well to hide my bruises and pain—thankfully, my healing abilities had taken care of most of it. Julian and Jerry were surprised to see me, but they hardly had the time to ask questions as Julian got an emergency call from the alpha.He and Jerry had to head out quickly, leaving me alone to continue nursing my injuries in private.At the time, I had not suspected anything.It was not the first time the alpha would send for my father, and certainly n
There was silence.Levi’s wolf form stood over the mangled body. Blood dripped from his fangs as he slowly turned toward me. His eyes dimmed back to gray. He shifted back slowly, breathing hard. His chest heaved. Blood covered his hands.I stared, trembling. “You…killed him.”“I couldn’t stop Cain,” he said, staring at his red stained palms.Then Vrael’s voice echoed around us from the depths of the forest.“You’ll pay for this,” he said coldly. “Ezra was my brother. You killed him for a girl who doesn’t even know what she is.”Levi growled, looking around, his eyes sharp, ready to pounce if the prince decided to make an appearance.“Why don’t you show your face?” he called out, loudly. “Let’s finish what you started.”“No,” Vrael said softly. “Not today. But trust that I’ll come for you. I’ll take everything you care about until you feel my pain. A life for a life. A love for a love.”Levi curled his fists tight. “I’ll be waiting for you, and next time, you won’t get the chance to lay
“I’m not a werewolf,” I yelled out without thinking.The taller, muscular one began to laugh. “Oh look, she lies too.”I struggled, twisting hard in the first one’s grip. “I’m not lying. I don’t heal, you can see for yourself.”Another round of laughter erupted. This time, from both of them. The other one yanked me away from the first and began to drag me alongside him by my hair.The pain was excruciating, I had to stop myself from screaming out loud, for fear that he might enjoy my pain and make it worse.I kicked and thrashed, attempting to break free from his hold. But all that did was make him pull tighter, more aggressively.“Let me go!” I screamed, holding on to his hand to reduce the pressure on my head. “Where are you taking me?”“To see my father, the king,” the shorter one responded.He had barely spoken since we started the journey, but now that I got a closer look at him, I could see just how different they both were. This one was cleaner with no battle scars, he was more
I never thought I’d willingly walk out of Moondew and into Hollow Veil again, much less with girls I didn’t like, and had nothing in common with.As soon as Ruby smeared her blood across the barrier, I knew there was no going back.I stood with the others at the edge of the barrier, shivering slightly. Not from the cold, but from a strange unease that coiled in my stomach. The sky above us was painted in dark streaks, the sun already descended behind the thick canopy of Moondew’s bordering forest.The girls all exchanged looks with me, the smile on their faces wide and unchallenging. They were excited, while I was worried. It was pretty deranged to be happy about walking into danger, especially one we’d been warned about time and time again.They were treating this like a field trip, like a girls scout outing.None of this was okay.We walked about five minutes into the forest before Ruby snapped her fingers, making flames appear at the tip of two of her nails. She led the way, walkin
I stood in the middle of my room, the silence deafening. My bag lay slumped against the dresser where I had dropped it, and the shadows from the setting sun stretched across my floor like long, creepy figures.Home.The word tasted strange in my mouth now. It felt like something I was still trying to remember how to belong to. I’d stayed more in the pack house that here.I sat on the edge of my bed, pressing my palms against the comforter as I inhaled deeply. “No more thinking about Levi,” I muttered under my breath. “No more waiting for someone who already made a choice.”He chose Cherry. Whatever he and I had—whatever it could’ve been—was over. I needed to stop living in the in-between. I needed to prove, not to Levi, not to anyone else—but to myself—that I could be more than the girl who fell for someone she was never meant to have.But did I really fall for him or was I just caught up in the moment?Maybe this all happened because I was missing Shawn and my life back at Hartville.
Levi was right.Monday came faster than anyone wanted, and with it came a whole new view on life. Nobody was talking about me as the new girl who was half human, they were all talking about how brave I was to go in search of Levi.And how romantic the whole gesture seemed.But as the week went by, news of Levi’s arranged marriage began to surface. Whispers erupted once more, most of them directed at me. Some centered on pity, some reveled in my despair. Then on Thursday, I heard the first rumor about how it was indeed me who had ended it with Levi.I don’t know who started it or where they had gotten the idea, but part of me suspected it was all Levi’s doing.The conversation changed again, most people intrigued by the balls they stupidly believed I possessed. Because who in their right mind would reject a wolf with alpha blood. Some people detested me for it, while some worshipped the ground I walked on.Either way, my name was on almost everyone’s lips. Both adults and teenagers. It
“What are we going to do?” Lola asked as soon as I closed the door of my room behind me. “Are we really giving up on Levi?”The question floated in my head for a bit.I knew I wasn’t going to let him go, but I still needed to plan my next step. What would Levi do in a situation like this? Would he even think before striking? He seemed to react on impulse most of the time.I sighed, throwing myself onto the bed. “We’ll fight for him like he’d fight for us. We’re not letting them push him into an arranged marriage, he’d be miserable.”I laughed a little, picturing him next to Cherry. They didn’t even look good. Or maybe I was just convincing myself to feel better. The truth is…Levi would make anyone look great next to him. He had enough charm for two people.“What’s the plan?” Lola asked.My lips twisted into a half smirk. “We have to see Levi tonight.”I didn’t go to sleep. I didn’t close my eyes for a second.I laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting. My mind replayed every wo