Lya I woke up to the sound of gentle snoring. I tried to sit up, but a weight was pinning my arm down. Fuzzy tingles ran up my arm, almost like the weight was causing it to fall asleep. Wide eyed, I looked around, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. My eyes fell on a giant black dog sprawled out on the bed with his head on my arm. What the hell? I shifted around, wiggling my arm free, keeping my eyes glued to the dog. How did a dog get in here? I hadn’t seen one roaming around the packhouse in the days previously. 'Hate to break it to ya hun, but that’s not a dog.' Tala’s snarky tone was about the last thing I wanted to wake up to. I looked a little closer. I gasped in horror as I realized I had been curled up next to a wolf. And, given that we were in a werewolf pack, I could only assume where there was a wolf, there was a human counterpart that went with it. I tried to fly off the bed to get out of the room, but Tala wouldn’t let me budge. 'Chill, he is frien
Oliver Adair perked up when he heard people come into the packhouse. I had buried myself in the work I had let get behind upon Lya’s arrival at the pack. I could already tell Adair was right and the pack would be best off if I started delegating sooner rather than later. A knock came at the door, but I knew who it was before it even opened. “You wanted to see me?” Lya asked, poking her head around. I smiled. “Yeah, feel up for a walk?” “Sure, but isn’t there someone you wanted me to see?” “Yep,” I confirmed, “but it’s a bit of a walk to her place.” I stood up and walked around the desk, leading the way out of the packhouse. Lya followed in silence. Luckily, Adair and I had agreed if he was going to insist on sleeping in her room, we’d avoid shifting around her so she didn’t figure out who it was, so I didn’t have to argue with him about what form we walked to my grandmother’s house in. I stuffed my hands in my pockets to keep myself from reaching out to touch her, settling
Lya For being alone most of the day, it passed quickly. So much interaction was jam packed into the morning, I was thankful for the break. I just buried myself in more werewolf books, which made it a little difficult to pretend the disaster that was my life wasn’t happening. I had to wonder if the books in my room had been carefully selected - all of them pertained to werewolf history. The evolution, notable battles, remarkable people. It frustrated me that it all seemed to make entirely too much sense. Maybe Allyssa had a point when she said because it’s in my DNA, the adjustment wouldn’t be as rough. Additionally, this was the most open communication with my wolf had been in years, and all desires to drive her away were quickly vanishing. The ways I had kept her out made me feel sick, and it was a relief to not feel like I had to go to that extreme anymore. A knock came from the door, startling me from my book. I glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was only 7:30. I shuffle
Oliver Half a bottle of wine and a couple burritos later, I was starting to see Tala peek out from behind Lya’s eyes. The difference in your own eyes versus your wolf’s is never that dramatic. Everything about your wolf reflects you - their coat color would be your natural hair color; the eyes stay the same except for a slight change in the shape of the pupil. As someone who had been raised in a werewolf community, spotting the presence of someone’s wolf had become second nature. For Lya, I’m sure she couldn’t see the difference. I hadn’t heard from Adair, probably off attempting to get in touch with Tala. They weren’t pack or marked, though, so his attempts would be futile. They already had some kind of link, but it was more like emotions being thrust upon him and able to feel her presence. The more I tried to think of it from a human perspective, the more I could see how the whole mate thing would seem absolutely bizarre to Lya. For one, it was a connection amongst the four of
Lya I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I woke up the next morning to a big black wolf on my bed again. He was sprawled out and snoring like the day before. Tala was practically purring in my head.'Do you have a thing for Mr. Stalker Wolf or something?' I demanded. 'If you only knew…' she hummed. I shimmied my way out from under the wolf and found clothes. Then, out I went to find coffee. The conversation from last night kept running through my mind. In fact, it had kept me up for hours last night. His last question - “So what are you going to do about it?” - plagued me. I needed to run. But how did I go about doing that in such a way that it drew the hunters away from this place? I could only imagine Ted’s father would be solely focused on hunting me down. They were so close, after all, and if Ted knew what I was, I was certain his father did, too. The people here were innocent and had shown me nothing but kindness. They did not deserve to be caught up in the mess I crea
Oliver I had been trying to take Sundays off for years now. I enforced a day off for my warriors, so I should try to enforce a day off for myself, right? It had been eight years, and the closest I had gotten was a half day or so. I could safely say the werewolf immune system and the natural instinct to pour every waking hour into the pack was the only reason I hadn’t worked myself to death. Lya had been a breath of fresh air, and my desperate attempts to carve out time to spend with her had made it abundantly clear that what I thought was enough delegating was, in fact, not enough delegating. My well oiled machine was quickly rusting. For that reason, I was thankful she was out of the packhouse and with Rose for the day. It provided for no distractions and no excuses to leave all the work I had to catch up on. That, and Cody sat across from me to aid in keeping on task. Cody let out a huff, sitting back in the chair. “I know she’s your mate and all, but she’s really created a l
Lya Last night, the big black wolf barked at my door to be let in. I sighed when I saw him, telling him I had always wanted a dog, but it seemed like this was the closest I was going to get, so he could stay. This morning, he had woken me up with a cold nose to the cheek before nosing open the sliding door to the patio and scampering out. Tala was still riding on the high of besting a pack warrior yesterday, even though I kept trying to remind her she was just a pack warrior in training. Oliver had made sure to tell me he really didn’t want me fighting just anyone again. I was barely healed, most fighters here are actually good, blah blah blah. But she was a bitch. And I would never apologize for taking up the opportunity to put a bitch in her place. I had done it before, and I would do it again. I couldn’t explain what snapped in me yesterday. I think it was more Tala that couldn’t stand the way Ellie spoke and acted, but I was still fairly certain I hadn’t done anything to des
OliverRose had mind linked me before pulling Lya aside. We had only been there for ten minutes, and she was already hearing whispers. I’d give anything to keep her tucked into my side, showing her off and introducing the pack to their Luna. My mate. The one I had been waiting ten years for. The woman I had given up hope would show up. But I wasn’t about to ruin any hope I had of Lya sticking around by throwing her in the deep end. She had been alarmingly receptive to my physical advances, and I was going to do my best not to blow it now.Adair grumbled in complaint when Lya left us, but we were never too far. We could feel it all. She was tense and nervous in a crowd of so many people she didn’t know. I silently thanked Rose for being so observant and her quick thinking. She is a tracker and a scout, though. That is what I pay her for. We heard every single time someone called her Luna and she corrected them to Lya. It made me wonder just how quickly ten minutes of selfishly keeping