Orion
The morning sun snuck through the windows, attempting to coax me out of my comfortable cocoon around my little mate. Her naked body was perfectly entwined with mine.I burrowed my face into the crook of her neck, seeking sanctuary against the sun that was threatening to make me leave my mate. Her body pressed against mine, leaving no space between our bodies.Lazily my fingers brushed a few strands of her silky hair behind her ear. She was perfect. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly.“Creeper.” Her sleepy voice had me wrapped about her finger.“Am not.” I kissed her cheek. She playfully pushed away from me. “Come on, flower, we gotta get out of the bed.”“The bed calls me, though.” She whined and dove deeper into the bedding.“We promised to have breakfast with Brigid.” I pried back the layers of my mate’s blanket fort. “Don’t make me pull you out of bed by the toes.”“Fine, for Brigid, I will get out of the bed.” She threwOrion“She prayed that her light could reach that child. She took her life immediately.” The words escaped from Brigid, and I felt Rose scan my face. Rose’s hand fell to my thigh, gently offering a wave of warm electricity as some comfort.“For putting her life on the line countless times for my mother and guarding my mother’s memories, she earned her place as a pack elder. I would have known nothing about my mother if it was not for Brigid except for what my father said. If it wasn’t for her, I would have been lost. She was my compass.” I threw in.“Did the pack peacefully transition once Orion took over?” Rose asked nervously. Poor thing. She had no idea what kind of twisted pack she agreed to be in. Part of me still felt like I had tricked her into being a part of this.“No, child, not exactly. Hades had many corrupted high-ranking wolves in our pack. After his demise, they attempted to retaliate and overthrow your mate. As you see, it didn’t work. We
RoseI rolled over in the bed, reaching out my arm towards Orion, but he wasn’t there. My hand searched farther but to no avail. I pried my eyes open, sleepily looking through my eyelashes. He really wasn’t there.I crawled to the edge of the bed, rubbing my eyes. The bathroom door was open, but no light.“Orion?” I called out to the empty room. There was no response. My legs swung over the edge, and I pulled his shirt from the day before over my head. Leather and cardamon wrapped around my body, but it wasn’t as good as the real thing.Yawning, I made my way across the room towards the door. I wasn’t awake enough for this. Slowly I made my way down the hall towards his office. The walk felt so much longer than average. I lazily knocked on the door and slightly pushed the door open a crack, completely dark. I went ahead and opened the door thoroughly before walking into the center of the room, leaning up against his desk. Ugh, where was he?“Instea
MattOnce the sun had disappeared completely, I laid on top of my twin bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep was not interested in me. I laid awake for hours.After midnight I gave up on the hope of sleep. I silently crept out of the cottage, leaving Hodges oblivious to my absence.I walked towards the lake and sat by the edge. I sighed and tried to lose myself to the reflection of the moon. What was wrong with me these days? I lost my dad, my pack, and apparently a part of myself.I lost Harriet. I completely lost her. Watching her find her mate was something I was not prepared for. It took everything in me not to flip out or run away. There was one person who I didn’t expect to comfort me that night. Her mom, Mrs. Carter, had made sure to find me and say she was sorry. Even after I treated Harriet like dirt, she was there for me when everyone else had forgotten about me. I guess part of me thought Harriet would always be there for me no matter how I
RoseI drifted to sleep with the familiar scent of leather and cardamon slowly began to dissipate, leaving me alone. My eyelids were heavy, like they were weighted. Eventually, the weight disappeared, allowing me to rapidly blink. I roughly rubbed my eyes until they let me focus. I was no longer in my bed, I was no longer with Orion, I was no longer in Black Moon...Where was I?My eyes frantically glanced around; I was in an empty field with a fog blanket covering the ground. I hesitantly took a few steps forward; the fog felt eerily familiar. All of a sudden, a sprout broke through the ground beside me and began to rapidly grow. Before my eyes, it turned into a sapling and then a mature tree. Another tree grew before my eyes and then another. Before I knew it, I was in a thick forest with underbrush breaking through the ground, snaking up between my toes and tickling my ankles.I knew I wasn’t in the ethereal realm, at least. I recognized most of the trees and
Rose“Watch it! Focus!” Iris barked at me as Heather almost connected her fist to my jaw. Sweat streamed down my back as I threw myself to the side to avoid Heather. The summer sun streamed through the trees, roasting us as we sparred against each other. I had been training with Iris for the past couple of days. The fun-loving, bubbly, and laidback shopaholic was almost a faint memory. When it came to the training, she was a hard ass. Part of me kind of wished that Orion was training me, but he made it clear he was scared that he might accidentally hurt me. Iris was who he had entrusted with training me until she felt confident I was better prepared. Today was the first day that Heather joined us, so Iris could watch how much I had progressed. Heather and Harriet had been training daily since we arrived. Both of them had grown so much already and began to train with the pack warriors like it was no big deal. Heather rushed me, her fist making i
Matt “Happy birthday, kid.” Hodges greeted me when I plopped down at the kitchen table. Hodges slid a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage at me. “Thanks.” I nodded before poking at my breakfast. “Come on, I made sure they didn’t have any shells in the eggs this time,” Hodges muttered before taking a swig of his steaming cup of coffee. “I appreciate it, Hodges. Really, thanks.” I scooped a fork full of eggs into my mouth. No salt, no pepper, and a little bit of eggshell. Poor guy couldn’t cook to save his life. “You gonna go wander around and see if you catch a whiff of anything?” Hodges cocked his eyebrow and gave me a slimy grin. His tone was that of a creepy middle-aged man. He was harmless, but at that moment, he even gave me the heebie-jeebies. “Yeah, I’ll take a lap.” Silence settled over us; I quickly shoved his attempt at cooking down my throat. The faster I ate it, the faster I wouldn’t have to taste it again. Once I cl
RoseThe summer days were slipping away quickly. I had been training daily with Iris and Heather. The soft, almost squishy flesh I had at the beginning of Summer slowly strengthened into muscles.Today Orion was going to be spending time in the training center with the pack warriors and considering adding some of my original pack members to the official pack warriors. Iris, Damian, Alastor, Harriet, and even Heather were there.Orion had left before the sun rose. Leaving me clinging to his spot in the bed, trying to take in all of the warmth I could before it disappeared. Laying in our bed alone felt unnatural.I used to love the moments where I could find peace and quiet. Orion didn’t even assign me a babysitter today. I could do anything I wanted, but now this freedom felt so odd.I rolled out of bed and began to put myself together for the day. I decided that I would stop by and see my parents first. Then I would probably let Delilah out to stre
RoseIt was a warm sticky afternoon as I sat on Brigid’s little front porch with Brigid. She sat in a rocking chair, gently rocking with her eyes shut. I sat on a wooden swing, lazily pumping my legs back and forth. I couldn’t wait for autumn to come and vanquish the humidity.“Hey, Brigid?” I broke the silence. It had been about a week since my dream about the witch, but I hadn’t been able to make my way back to the ethereal realm to see Selene.“Yes, little Luna?” Brigid continued to rock with her eyes shut.“When you watched over Luna Leto,” Brigid’s eyes popped open as Leto’s name escaped my lips. “Did she ever tell you how she was able to go to see Selene? Selene told me that I showed up before she thought I would, but I never knew what she meant.”“Hmmm,” She stroked her chin as she mentally unboxed her memories of her time with Leto. “One time when I asked her about it. She said the darkness was the key. Is that helpful?”“I wonder if