ANA’S POV When I woke up the following day, the sun was filtering through the opening of the curtains in front of the balcony. I didn’t remember closing the French doors before we went to sleep. I stretched like a feline to activate my muscle groups. When my hand landed on the side of the bed Ryan had laid on when we made it to the bed, I realized that it was not only empty but also cold. That only meant he had been gone for a significant amount of time. Although I was not too happy about waking up alone, I wouldn’t complain. The reality was, if I hadn’t been so emotionally exhausted by the end of talking to Ryan, I would have more than likely insisted that he make his way back to his own room; I understand that we are mates and that at some point, cohabitating would happen…sooner rather than later if truth be told. The mate bond is nothing to mess with. It seems to have a stronger pull on each other’s hearts and souls than the moon has on the ocean tides. Nevertheless, I wasn’t rea
RYAN'S POVAs soon as the front door slammed shut, I launched myself away from the railing and raced to my room. I grabbed my leather jacket, wallet, and keys in no time and headed toward the garage. I linked Maria, our head Omega, telling her that the date was a "go." Maria already had specific instructions on what I wanted to be set up, where, and by what time. I had no worries that everything would be done perfectly without micromanaging her. I jumped on my Ducati 916SPS motorcycle. I knew this little speed demon would get me where I needed to go quickly because time was of the essence. I had to ensure that there would be plenty of time to get everything done before the girls got home from their day out. Everything had to be perfect. Ana deserved nothing less.The first place I headed was the human city. I made my way to one of the cell phone stores and picked up a new phone with great photo features. The picture-taking ability was a must as it was a major part of the date activit
ANA'S POV: Dreams. That is all I had left were my dreams: dreams of finding my mate who would love and cherish me unconditionally regardless of my faults and quirks; dreams of having my pups and raising them with all the love and nurturing that I never felt during the constant ridicule and abusive torture that I experienced while living in the pack orphanage; dreams of having friends, REAL friends that wanted me around because of who I was and not because they were forced to be around me or because of what I could do for them. I slowly slid down the wall, pulling my knees to my chin and burying my face in the crook of my knees as I wrapped my arms around my legs and began to sob. I thought back over the events from the past two days as the tears streamed down my face. At first, my tears were a slow trickle, but before I knew
ANA’S POV I was leaving the only home that I had ever known, and I was barely out the door before Miss Janice slammed it shut and locked the deadbolt. But for some reason, I suddenly felt lighter, as though a weight that I wasn’t even aware of was lifted from my shoulders. Although I was still confused and my heart felt like it had been ripped to shreds only moments before, I heard a voice in my head talking to me, soothing me with her words of comfort and wisdom. “I know this sounds strange, Ana, but we are going to be alright, Hell, better than alright, we are going to be amazing!” she said. I knew it had to be my wolf even though up until today, I had never felt her presence or been able to connect with her. I had already concluded that what I had been told my entire life was true, that there were things wrong with me, and the first on my mind was that I was wolf-less. “What is your name?” I asked the voice in my head. “My name is Scarlet
ANA’S POV The following day, I wake up bursting with energy for no discernable reason. As I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the day, I remembered seeing a handbill on the bulletin board outside the office at school on Friday. It was advertising a pack-wide Halloween-themed carnival being held at the Moon Valley Packhouse. It was open to everyone in the pack, regardless of your ranking. Still, there was one essential stipulation: to gain entry to the party, the participant had to be decked out in some costume, with or without a mask. According to the notice, booths would be set up throughout the meadow behind the Packhouse with different carnival-type games like bobbing for apples, pie-eating contests, a dunki
RYAN’S POV As I was walking through the backyard, taking in the sights and sounds of the Halloween Carnival Activities and sporadically talking with guests, I was distracted by Mrs. Potato Head at the refreshment table. I watched as she got a drink and maneuvered it under the headpiece of the costume; I laughed to myself, “Now THAT is a unique costume.” For reasons I did not understand, I felt drawn to her. I knew she wasn’t my mate. My mate was killed when she was on a night run and misjudged how close she was to the edge of the cliff. I shook my head to bring myself back to the present. I had alread
DR. GAIL’S POV As I sat and waited for the processes of testing the bloodwork to finish and the X-ray films to reach me, I pondered the anomalies of this patient’s appearance. Glasses? Overweight? Is she even a wolf? Due to the super-high metabolism of werewolves, there has never been a werewolf who wasn’t lean and muscular, or at least as far as I have seen in the 30 years that I have been a pack doctor. So that was one of the tests I was running – ensuring this woman was a wolf. If not, I hoped it would give me the direction to look for her true lineage and, more importantly, help her.
RYAN’S POV As soon as Dr. Gail left the examination room to run the labs, a tech came in and took Scarlett down to the imaging department to get the ordered X-rays. I had several minutes to myself before Scarlett was returned to her room. I sat down, running my hands through my already unruly dish blonde hair, in complete confusion. I mind-linked my Beta, Chris, to update me on the rogue situation and ensure that no one else at the Carnival had been attacked or was aware of the breach. “No one other than us is aware that anything happened with rogues. There have been no additional reports of anyone else being attacked. They must have only been here for Emily. Thankfully, they failed,” he responded. I knew it was something that I would need to address with my warriors. He further informed me that the remaining guests from the Carnival were leaving and making their way to the