“I lived another life, and I died.” I stumbled over my words and I felt my father freeze. A quick look to Ronnie had him locking the door and waving his hands. I felt the air still, but I was focused on my father’s eyes. “This morning I woke up six years in the past after living until I was twenty-four, and growing my own pup only to have my mate to rip him from my body.”
My father’s and Ronnie’s snarl shook the walls, but I raised my hands. “He betrays me for my step sister who convinced him that I cheated and the pup wasn’t his, so he killed us both using silver scalpels, and killing any love I had for him at the same time.” I looked up at my father and the tears rolled down my face. “Pup.” His voice was choked up, but I raised my hand. “I don’t want him to be my mate, daddy. I know I won’t survive it. I need to change it. Everything, and it starts with hiding my scent. I told mom what I needed, and she called you. How are you going to help me?” I was starting to panic. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want my pup ripped from my stomach only for him to smell himself on him. I don’t want to create life just to have it ripped from me daddy. I can’t.” My soul was ripping and even though I want revenge, this was the first time I was given to truly grieve the lost of my pup. “Sugar.” Ronnie’s voice was barely a whisper and then I felt my father lose control. “Who?” His voice was pure darkness front he depths of hell. His fist slammed into the desk, creaking the thick wood, and I looked up to find my father’s wolf looking back at me. “Who hurt you, my pup? Who killed my grand pup?” Loki’s voice was deeper than I had ever heard and his eyes promised retribution. “Brandon, the alpha’s son.” I whispered the final piece and everything seemed to click. The air rushed back in and my father’s wolf shifted into his black form. I screamed and Ronnie dove in front of the door. Loki snarled, but Ronnie held firm. “You can’t go kill him for something that hasn’t come to pass yet, Loki. You know how this works. You have been through it yourself.” But Loki just snarled. “Daddy, please.” I begged. I knew if he got out, Brandon and Shannon were dead and the council would be on his doorstop. Loki whirled on me and softened at the devastation he saw on my face. He padded over and licked the tears from my face before going back behind the desk and shifting again. “I’m sorry Amy, I lost myself for a moment.” He opened a door and slipped into some shorts. He wiped at his face before he sat back down. “I guess its our turn to come clean.” “Daddy?” I sniffled and looked up at him. “I’m not just a wolf, although, as you can see, Loki is very much a part of me.” His laughter was weak, but I just smiled. “My mother was a shaman of our people, a witch, and my father had to have her. Even if it was just for a night. And I was born.” “A witch?” I dropped my hands, and he just had a small, sad smile. “Yeah. You would have loved her, but witches don’t live like us. They have the lifespan of a human, a flash in the pan. She was gone long before I met your mother.” He shook his head. “One of her powers was exactly what you explained, a second chance. The moon goddess passed us down with the same powers. I had mine when I was your age as well.” I jolted back as he nodded. “What?” “I never cheated on your mother.” His words were soft. “I alpha commanded a wolf to pretend I did when she came to me and told me she was with pup. You see, in my first life, I stayed with her and we had three wonderful pups, but one night, my enemies attacked and the four of your were all murdered.” His swallow was thick. “Daddy.” “I couldn’t lose you, not all of my pups, so when I woke up four years in the past, I acted. You were just a babe. I never got your brothers or sister, which broke me for a time. But I had you.” He swallowed back his tears as I reached his side. “I told your mother I betrayed her.” “She said she felt it.” He nodded slowly. “When a wolf betrays their marked mate, the mate feels the worse pain imaginable.” “Yes, he does.” Ronnie growled out and I darted my eyes back to his face and I realized something. “Mom and Morgan.” “It doesn’t happen often enough to make a big deal out of it.” My dad growled out. “But it happens enough that you feel the pain.” Ronnie growled out. “Mom doesn’t know.” I wrapped my arms around my father. “She wouldn’t ever if she knew.” “I know, princess, but you can’t tell her. I’m sure I passed the fate, since I made it past my death…but now, now it would break her to find out the truth.” My dad squeezed me. “So she felt you take another female?” I hugged him back, but he just shook his head. “I used my power to fake the pain. She was crying inside of our room, and I was in the next room, breaking my own heart.” “Daddy?” “It was losing her and you, or losing everything. And I knew I would still get to see my little girl.” My dad pulled back. “But anyway, I didn’t tell you so you would feel bad for me, but to know that you have power too. Power to hide your scent, at the very least. But I will teach you how to wield it this summer.” “Thank you, dad.” “Don’t thank me yet. This summer will probably be the worst you have ever had, but it will save you in the long run.” “Once everything is done, I need you to promise me something, daddy.” “What is it, pumpkin?” My dad always called me new nicknames when he was worried. “After I have done what I need to do, we are going to tell mom the truth.” “Baby, we can’t.” “She is stronger than you think. And she never moved on. She only got with Morgan because she thought I needed a male’s protection in the new pack. And she didn’t like the attention she was getting from the Alpha.” My dad growled and hit his desk again and then nodded. “Fine. We will tell her.” “Thank you, daddy.” I kissed his cheek. “Now go get settled, we will start tomorrow morning, but I know a certain someone who is pounding down the pack house doors to try to see you.” I smiled and shook my head. Cass was my best friend and soul sister. “Cass?” “Has been champing at the bit as soon as she heard you were coming, so go see her.” “I love you two.” “And we love you, sugar.” Ronnie kissed my head. “I’d kill your alpha mate if I could.” “You would start a war.” I shook my head and left with a last hug from my dad.I shook my head. I had to think of what I would say next. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “When the goddess was giving me power, I felt something.”He cupped my cheek. “Tell me.” The trust and devotion in his eyes settled me. “My babe.” His breath caught.“You're pregnant with my pup?” I shook my head.“Shush. Just listen.” I grabbed his hands. “When the goddess was filling me with power, when it reached my stomach, I felt it. The flutter of life.” I struggled to find the words. “But it was familiar. One I had grown to know, one I had memorized.” His brow furrowed. “You aren’t making much sense. All babies move the same.” He tried to make sense of my jumbled words. I shook my head. “In my first life.” I think in that moment he started to understand, and his face turned a little sad. “What are you saying, Amy?” Toya’s voice was soft. But I could feel her behind me.I shook my head. “I’m just going to say it out loud, and then we can argue about the ridiculousness of it.” Ro
Everyone spun from the grave to see Alannah bent over in pain. Her hands were clutching her heavy belly as she stared down at the barely filled grave. “No…it’s too soon. They aren’t ready.” She turned to look at me, and I could see the panic there.My mother grabbed for her side. “I don’t think they agree with you, Momma.” She wrapped her arm around her back, and Wendy stepped up to my side, taking my place. “Baby?” My mother looked at me over her shoulder as she spun the groaning Alannah back towards the cabin. “Yeah?” I felt my stomach clench as I watched as my friend was herded away. “Finish here. Then come upstairs.” She turned away as Rowan stepped up next to me. “I don’t think we have the time to stay for the birth.” His voice was soft, but Toya came back to our side. She closed her eyes for a second and she shook her head. “All the mindlinks from my pack were severed.” Her voice was soft but filled with worry. “I’ve been trying to reach my father since the battle.”I reache
I leaned against the side of the cabin, and Rowan settled next to me. “That was…” His voice was soft, and hesitant. “A lot.” I finished. He laughed. “It’s gone.” He looked back at the grave.“What’s gone?” I turned to look at him.H waved his hand at me. “Your mark. You are back to normal.” He smiled. “Which is great because I missed your normal eyes.” He leaned over and kissed me. “You are so beautiful.”I snorted. “I’m covered in dirt, blood, and I don’t want to think about what else.” He cupped my cheek and stared down into my eyes. “That changes nothing. You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He kissed me again as the door slammed open.“Get a room, you two.” Rick limped out, a bruise healing on his face. “You look rough.” I grabbed for him as he stumbled over the hose. “Yeah…I’m still weak from Vince. So healing is taking a little longer.” He winced as he licked the corner of my mouth. “Can’t worry about it too much.” He settled next to us as he nodded ove
Rowan stared at me for another long second before he traced my forehead with a finger. “Your Goddess Blessed.” He sounded breathless and surprised. I nodded, staring into his eyes. “Yes…” I furrowed my brow. “I thought you knew.” A soft light rippled on his face, and I looked up to the sky, trying to see if the moon was trying to shine down on us through the clouds.“I did.” He tilted his head, still staring at me. “But hearing it and seeing it are two very different things. This,” he waved his hand. “Is different.”“What do you mean?” I looked from him to Alannah and then landed on my mother. “Mom?”“Your mark…your eyes…they changed.” She pointed to her own forehead. “It was a normal Goddess Blessed mark, the crescent moon. But now it’s more…” She trailed as she leaned closer. “I don’t know why.”“More?” I looked back at Rowan. “, More how?”He pulled his phone from his pocket and aimed it at my face. I heard the click of his camera as he took the photo. He turned the screen towards
I wiped my tears and stood. I turned to see my mother peeking around the corner, but I waved her off. Rowan furrowed his brow. “Why did you wave her off?”I grabbed one of the shovels in his hands and then started digging. “I didn’t want her to come back over with Alannah until the evidence was gone.” I waved my hands over my face. “Why?” Rowan smiled, but it was a little hesitant, like he didn’t know why I wouldn’t want Alannah to see me cry over her mate.I rolled my eyes. “Don’t play dumb.” I pointed at him. “You know exactly why.” I looked up, and I realized he didn’t. His eyebrows were pinched, and he was staring at me. “I'm an Alpha, and until she settles at my dad’s pack, she is mine.”“So?”I stopped digging. “An alpha needs to be strong for their pack; we can’t show our weakness.”“That’s bullshit. I watched you with Toya and Wendy.”“That’s different.” I shook my head.“How?” He started digging again, and the hole started to get wider. “When I’m just me, just Amy, then I d
Once the pair disappeared around the cabin, Rowan handed me my shovel, but I held up a finger. I moved over to Ternen. “Hey friend.” I wiped his hair out of his face. “I know you are worried about her.” Rowan came up behind me. I could feel his strength trying to seep into me, but I pushed it away. I didn’t deserve the peace he was offering. “You probably don’t believe me when I say I’ll watch over her. I was supposed to watch over you too, and now look at us.” My voice caught. “I’m so fucking sorry.”“Amy.” Rowan reached for me but I shook my head. “This isn’t your fault.”I couldn’t stop the chuckle that left my lips, but it quickly turned into a sob. I slapped a hand over my mouth trying to push it all away. I didn’t have time to break down. “It is.” I looked back down at Ternen and I cupped his cold cheek. “He was alive, and warm less than an hour ago. I should have been faster.” I shook my head again. “He’s dead because of me.”Rowan dropped next to me. “He’s dead because Garith