LOGIN“So, do we walk to talk about it?” I looked over at Cassie, but she was staring straight ahead. “Cas?”
“Can we pretend like it never happened?” Her voice was small when I pulled her over to the side of the mall and leaned in. “Talk to me.” “What do you want me to say?” She threw up her hands. “It’s miserable being this weak. Every she wolf with more power out of the ranking demands we do their work, or their chores, or if we get nice stuff, they take it.” Cas looked at me and I could feel her pain. "We have no alpha female that protects us here. The beta and gamma try, but they have their own duties.” Cas wiped her face. “We have learned to deal with it, and when it really gets bad, then you dad gets involved.” “Cas…” “You aren’t here, and neither is your mom. If you get too involved, then we just suffer when you leave.” She looked at me and then shook herself. “C’mon, let’s go pick out jewelry for your dress. Which one are you going to wear?” “Don't worry about it. You are going to come over and get ready with me, right? So I can do your makeup and hair?” “I don’t have anything to wear.” Cassie looked to the side. “Nonsense, you will just borrow something of mine. Let’s go pick out some jewelry.” I wrap my arm in hers and pull her to the store. “I can wear something of yours?” Cas smiled up at me as we walked into the store. “Of course you can. You are my best friend.” I bumped her hip and walked up to the counter. A set with onyx stones caught my eye. It was stunning. And then a soft golden number with diamonds. “Excuse me?” “Yes?” The sales woman walked over and I pointed to the two sets. “You have a good eye.” She pulled out the sets, and I was amazed. “I’ll take them.” I smiled. “I’ll just wrap them up.” “Hold on a moment.” A new she wolf I had never seen before walked in with Amanda in tow. “I want that golden number for my niece.” I turned and smiled at the group of women. “Sorry. I already decided to buy it.” The new she wolf puffed out her chest and raised her eyebrow. “Are you the one that bought the dress before my niece?” “There must be a misunderstanding. You see, we had the dress first.” I smiled over at the new wolf, but she just lifted her lip and pushed out her aura. She was strong for sure, but she didn’t even reach the gamma level. “You don’t speak to me that way, little girl.” “Auntie…” Amanda started, but I cut my eyes to her. “If I were you. I would be very particular about who you speak to like that.” I smiled at her and cut my eyes to Amanda. Nix, speak to Amanda’s wolf and forbid them from speaking who I am to her aunt. Smart. Nix pulled away and I watched as Amanda jolted and I smirked. “Who do you think you are?” She snarled before she looked at the human sales woman. “I want that necklace for my niece. This little girl can’t afford it.” “Who says that?” I raise my eyebrow, surprised at the audacity of this wolf. “I do! Do you know who I am?” She stomped her foot like a child and I just turned away. I didn’t need nor want to deal with her anymore. “Don’t you turn your back on me.” “I don’t care, nor do I want to know who you are.” “I’m the future…wife of the man in charge here.” She looked smug, and Cassie and I burst out laughing. “Please wrap these up for me.” I smiled at the poor sales woman and handed her my black card. The card was my fathers, but this time around I would make my own money. My mind drifted back to my previous life, where my father's pack went bankrupt due to Brandon and Nix snarled in my mind. This time, he won’t be able to force us to watch as he wipes out this pack using our mate bond. No, he won’t. I promised, this time around, he would regret everything he did to us. “I said no.” The woman grabbed for me but I moved out of the way. “Do not touch me.” Nix growled in my mind. But I held my power in check. “Here you are, miss.” The sales woman handed me the bag with both sets and my card back. “Thank you.” I smiled and wrapped my arm around Cassie’s again. Then I turned to face the group of women. I forbade all of them from speaking of us. Good. “I will see you all tonight.” I smirked and turned to leave, but the aunt, the stupid woman, grabbed me again and I let out a low growl. “I already told you once not to touch me. Soon to be wife or not, I know the man in charge and he would not want you touching young girls.” I flashed my eyes at her. “You would do well to give me that necklace.” She growled out. “And you would do well to remember this interaction tonight.” I ripped my arm out of her grasp and pulled Cassie out of the store. Once we were a ways away, I turned to her. “Who was that?” “Aurora. A she wolf who moved to the pack last year. She has the hots for your dad and he did seem interested last time I saw them.” “There is no way.” I shook my head as we headed to my favourite sushi place. “My dad would never.” “Well, some of us think he will. And she would be the worst choice for all of us. She is the one pushing the unranked wolves to push us around. The gamma and beta won’t step on her toes because the attention you father is giving her.” “I will handle him.” We sat down at the booth that the server sat us at and I clapped my hands. “Now I won’t let her ruin our day. I haven’t had conveyor belt sushi in so long.” I squealed and Cassie laughed. “I don’t know why you like this place so much.” “Because it’s amazing.” Then I grabbed for my plates. “Let’s eat, then we can go back to the house.” So that’s what we did.We closed the door behind us, and Rowan laughed. “That was mean…even for you.” I threw my head back and laughed.I started up the stairs without looking back. “It’s not like we had a lot of choices. Luke was the best option on the fly, and I need to get back to my father’s place.”“I know you’re4 right. His face was funny as fuck though.” He chuckled once more before we headed back through the closet to screaming. “Alannah, push.” “No!” She screamed again. The guttural sounds sent shivers down my spine. Rowan stopped short, and I had to push him inside further so I could step into the cottage. I walked around him toward the closet door. “Amy…” His whisper stopped me short, and I turned back. “Yeah?” He pointed to his nose in the dark. It took me a second to realize he was telling em to use my nose. I nodded once and turned back to take a deep breath. “Come on, baby, you can do this.” Ternen’s voice was soft and confident. “Once they come, you have to leave again.” She cried out.
Once both bags were full and Vince’s pack was completely drained of lupine solution, we all headed out of the med building. Luke locked the door behind us, and when I tilted my head watching him, he scratched the back of his neck. “Everyone else is already at the pack house waiting for the meeting. I guess I just locked it out of habit.” The tips of his ears turned a soft pink as I turned away. Rowan shifted, and I heard a soft smack that was followed by an indignant yelp. “Don’t flirt with my mate, Luke. You’re my friend, and I’d hate to kill you.” That made me smile as I started toward the pack house. “I wasn’t.” Luke tried to deny it, but Rowan just grunted as they both followed me. He cleared his throat. “I assume you need the lupine solution urgently, so why are you having a meeting at the pack house?”I puffed out my lips as I thought of my father’s pack. “We do. But as the Alpha of this pack, I also have to worry about the wolves here.” I looked over my shoulder as we turned
We cleared the tent and ran into Toya. “Are you okay?” I grabbed for her. The cut on her face was healing as I watched, and the worry I had disappeared. She grinned. “Yeah. My family just got back from hunting down some runners. We just came back to check in before we went for another run.” She looked around. “Everything good here?”I shook my head once. “I’ll send Nix to you to explain. We are heading back to the pack house.” I sighed. I grabbed her arm once. “Stay safe until we get back.”She tilted her head and nodded once. “Be safe.”I smiled at her, then I shifted into Nix and started running. Megan…go tell Toya everything. She took off before I hit the trees. Erubus caught up with me, and we ran to the pack house in silence. “We are heading back to Vince’s pack, right?”I nodded once. “They have a med building, and I’m sure they have a huge stock of what we need.” I called over to him. “Plus…”“Plus what?”“It gives me a second to check in on Alannah.” We ran past the pack hou
The waking world returned to me in tiny fragments. My eyes were still closed, my mind half awake, but I felt fingers intertwined in both of my hands on either side of me. I felt my fingers twitch, and both hands tightened on mine. “Baby?” Rowan’s words were a soft siren call, pulling me from the depths of the darkness that held me. I felt the tendrils of blackness slowly slipping from my body as I swam to the surface of my conscience. “Baby? Are you there?” I tried to talk. I’m here. I called out, but my mouth refused to move. I was still fighting the hold of exhaustion that still ate away at the edges of my mind. I’m here. I tried again, but my body still refused to listen. I kept fighting because I needed to re4ach Rowan, and my dad.That thought was like a bomb going off in my mind. Everything came rushing back. The cave-in, my magic failing, Ry’s words. My dad’s last goodbye. I felt the burn behind my closed eyes as tears trailed down my cheeks. “Baby?” Rowan’s fingers trailed
I focused on the little boy in front of me. His little sister clung to my side as voices rang out around me. “Is that everyone?”“I don’t know.” Another voice called out.“How many were missing?”“How many did we pull out?”“Baby.” Rowan’s voice called my attention back. “Amy?”“Yeah?” I shook my head to clear it of the mist that seemed to still coat it. “Did you hear me?” Rowan leaned over my shoulder and stared into my eyes. “What?”“Did you hear me?”My mind processed what he was saying. “What? No…Yes, I mean. Yes, I can hear you.”Rowan smiled. “I’ll take that as I no. You didn’t hear what I said.” I must have frowned because he smiled bigger. “I need you to stop pulling rocks out and instead look for anyone else still buried.” I must have paled because he reached out and cupped my face. “We just need to be sure there is no one else still buried. We don’t want to leave anyone trapped still.” His face fell for a second. “Everyone deserves to come home.”I nodded once and licked m
My entire world shattered as my vision flickered black again. But I heard some wolves call out, and I knew I had to hold the shield for as long as I could. Even if my father was gone…The words caught in my throat. I couldn’t think about it. Hold the shield. Protect the pack as long as I could. Those words became a mantra, even as I felt my wolves start to fade. Even as Loki disappeared. I wanted to stop. To save him, but I was duty bound to hold the cave for everyone else. I felt tears coursing down my face as my heart splintered. My mind flickered to my mom, and a heard a sob break free from my lips. She had just gotten her mate back, and now he was gone. I felt my power sag again, and someone cried out as a rock snuck past the shield, hitting the ground near them. I wish I could look to see if they were pulling people free, but my world was still dark. Darkness had long taken over the clearing in my mind. I was down to the tiny flickering flame of my magic. Everything else was go







