SarahI wake to something squirming next to me then sharp fingernails poking at my breasts before Blake latches like the champion he is. I open my eyes, startled to find him next to me, and look down at my son, who’s wearing a fresh onesie in sage green and a new diaper, from what I can tell.I turn my head to look at the clock on my bedside table. It’s 7:00 AM.And there’s a piece of printer paper next to the clock with neat scrawl I don’t recognize. I flex my fingers, catching the edge of the paper, and drag it toward me while Blake makes soft, blissful cooing sounds as he nurses.That’s when I realize I’m totally naked, and the flavors, textures, and feelings from last night come hurtling back as I clutch the paper and read the text.I’ll be back in two days.Sydney.I set the paper down and look up at the ceiling.What have we
SydneySnow covers the normally golden plains on the outskirts of Moorn, a small territory far outside of the city center. It took a full day to reach this place, this hovel between two hills where the distant border of Eastonia looms.I don’t want to be here. The distance between Sarah and the damning truth between us is excruciating, damn near tearing me apart.But I’m still an Alpha. Still a royal. And there are some things I just have to do.The wind rushes through my fur as I wait beside my father, who’s also in his wolf form. We’re both large and dark brown with glints of gold throughout.Night has fallen. I know we’re both exhausted. We traveled on foot without stopping for a break. Maybe he needed to run in his wolf as much as I did.But still, tension makes my muscles lock. My mind is in shambles, and my heart is….I’m devastated. I d
SydneySarah doesn’t turn from the window. The sunrise hasn’t reached us yet, not fully, but the first inklings of morning creep through the curtains. Frost hugs the glass panes. It will be another frigid day, colder than the last. The faint light ghosts over her skin, illuminating her face in silver.“Sarah?” I say into the soft light.She turns her head slightly but doesn’t look at me. I notice two pieces of paper on my desk, one of them folded in half with Blake’s name written neatly across it.My heart falls into my stomach as my gaze slides to the second piece, a letter addressed to me.The truth hits me like a knife to the heart. There’s only one reason she’d write her son a letter.“You’re leaving?”“It’s best for both of you that I’m not here.” She turns ever so slightly so her face catches the
SarahIt’s freezing. The cold air bites into my skin as I roll downward uncontrollably, my body bouncing off rocks and through pockets of ice.My mind is in shambles alongside my heart. I don’t try to stop falling. I don’t have the strength, even if I wanted to.Ten years of hiding my powers… I didn’t know what else to do. I can’t control them like I used to. I have no idea where I landed, but I know I’m still close enough to Sydney that I feel his gut-wrenching despair, grief, and fury as I continue to roll downhill.My head smashes against something hard and cold as I come to a rough, jolting stop, half of my body submerged in icy water.I look up at the clear blue morning, at the frost hugging the trees overhead.Death is better. Death means Gabriel is useless. Death means he’ll never find me, and Blake will be safe.Sydney and his family are safe at lea
SydneyMom watches me come back downstairs like she hasn’t moved from the steps in the grand foyer in the hour I’ve been in the orrery. The castle is quiet, but several eyes watch my progress in total silence. Mom’s housekeeper whispers something to a maid, who scurries away into the dark recesses of the castle. My mom grabs my arm as I pass her. I halt midstep. “What’s wrong?” she asks.I shake my head, unable to find the words I need to convey the situation I’m in, that Sarah’s in. When I don’t say anything, she asks, “Did something happen?”“I have it handled.”“Can you tell me–”“I can’t.” I meet her eyes. I won’t come between my parents. I can’t tell her about Sarah and the crushing truth I’ve learned. I can’t tell anyone else.Because Sarah would be taken from me, separated from Blake, and probably brought to Eastonia, and I won’t allow it. Mom reaches up and cups my cheek. Every emotion roiling in my heart swells at her touch. I want nothing more than to tell her everything,
SydneyTwo days have passed. I’m not sure how. Every minute feels exactly like the last; achingly slow.I’m doing what I do best–deflecting. Finding other things to do besides sit at Sarah’s bedside and move between begging her on my knees to wake up and being angry at her for putting us in this position.The wound on her arm is horrendous. Wide, gnarled, and barely healing despite using my healing powers. Gabriel left his mark so deep, it took Cosette over three hours to cut it out.But now, Sarah’s free of him. He will never touch her again. He will never even lay eyes on her, and I’ll see to that myself.Right now, however, I’m sitting on the steps in the foyer with my head in my hands while Cosette paces back and forth, her short footsteps sending a clacking echo through the room.I haven’t slept in three days, at least. Longer, I think. I’v
SarahAfter the BallAlpha Sydney of Shadowcrest pauses during the long trek down the stairs leading out of the temple of the Moon Goddess. He extends a hand to me, and I take it, finding his hands warm but slightly clammy.I meet his eyes. Goddess, he has radiant eyes. The kind of blue even the best artists can’t capture in a painting. Dark blue, like the deepest ocean, and so expressive I can see every thought behind them.He’s nervous. I am too, which is silly. We’ve been dancing for an hour, singing along to a lesser known local band we both love. He helped me finish the cocktail I didn’t end up liking, and somehow we ended up doing… this. Escaping the party together without telling a soul.He wanted to see my flowers, and I wanted to show him more than anything.This man is not only an Alpha but the heir to the throne of Alpha King.He’
SarahEverything hurts. My head feels like someone took a hammer to it.I open my eyes to slits and quickly close them again. Pain rushes through me in waves like it has its own tide, and my breath is driving the current.I know where I am. Sydney’s scent is everywhere.I tried to leave him. I really did try. I thought it was what I was supposed to do to protect him and our son, but the Goddess laughed in my face, didn’t She?I slowly turn my head to the only source of light I can find and carefully open my eyes again.Sydney’s sitting at a desk only a few feet away, his back to me. The soft click, click, click, of his keyboard fills my ears as his laptop screen comes into view.It’s a blueprint of some kind. An equation pops up on the screen that takes him a single second to figure out, and then the blueprint shifts, new numbers and letters appearing that make
BrieThe castle glows like liquid gold from the light of what must be hundreds of tallow candles. The gathered crowd shuffles to find a spot to sit or stand in the wide, toppled ballroom of sorts. I’m not sure what it used to be, but only so many rooms are still fully enclosed. The weather in Emberfyll is mild. I imagine when the forest grows back, it’ll be borderline tropical. A feast of fish is laid out on makeshift tables or on long strips of fabric where people are seated on the floor, passing pewter plates down the line into hungry hands. Others break bread or pour tea and mead into mugs. I watch from the front of the room where I’m seated against a backdrop of the ocean and the clear, star filled sky. Maeve’s still asleep. She’s been sleeping all day, since the moment she arrived, but I imagine that won’t change for a while. I’m worried about her–have been checking on her all day while also juggling creating a plan of action with Logan and Seamus for when my father’s warriors
BrieI wake in the early hours of the morning to soft sunlight brushing over my cheeks. I’m sure I cried myself to sleep last night. I forgot where I was, but only briefly, reality rushing in, reminding me that I made it to Emberfyll alone. I roll in the furs, letting the warm, morning sunlight play over my face, but then I hear a commotion coming from outside. Yips and barks dance through the air. I rise, clutching the windowsill for support as I squint into the sun and see a dozen wolves racing through the flattened, charred space that used to be the front garden. Smoke rises in the forest from chimneys, the villagers waking for the day, but I can’t see past the trees and their thick summer canopies. The wolves are racing into the forest. I whirl to heavy footsteps running into the room I was given to use as my own last night. Seamus braces himself in the doorway, panting like he ran all the way here from the depths of the castle. I wait for him to tell me we’re under attack, or
Logan“BRIE!” I shout toward the trees. My voice carries through the night but doesn’t bounce back to me. It just keeps going, and going, and I’m at a complete loss as to where we are or where my mate could be. Maeve murmurs at my feet where she’s lying flat on her back. I woke up five, maybe ten minutes ago in so much pain I could barely breathe, let alone stand. Now, I’m stumbling from spindly tree to spindly tree, using them to steady myself as I scream my mate’s name into the night, but she doesn’t answer. Through the trees, I can just see the ocean, the storm raging in the distance. Lightning in shades of crimson and deep violet split the clouds as wind rushes toward the mainland. I can feel the electricity in the air, even from miles away. I can taste the thick, metallic stain of magic on my tongue. That storm… Maeve created it. It’s her powers drifting away from us, stirring up the sea. But Maeve is currently unable to even speak as it stands, and she’s cold to the touch whe
BrieI open my eyes as I’m falling through thin air. I don’t even have time to scream before my body drops into water. Deep, rough water that drags me under the second I suck in a salty breath. I flail against the waves, trying to find the surface, but the undercurrent drags me down again, pulling me by my dress and tossing me upside down. My head hits something hard, and I screech, but the sound is empty. I suck in water, choking, and realize quite suddenly that I’m drowning. I go as still as possible, using the last of my energy to start moving with the current instead of against it, which turns out to be the best idea I’ve ever had, especially under duress. I open my eyes underwater, staring down at the shallows. It’s sunny. Daytime. And below, seaweed waves between large, gray rocks. Pockets of sunshine dance through the water, illuminating seashells in shades I’ve never seen before. Another wave crashes over the top of me, sending me rolling into even shallower water, and fina
MaeveCole and Misty have a beautiful suburban home in Shadowcrest. It’s always the same–always smells like freshly baked cookies and the flowers she keeps in vases all over the house. Tonight, as my toes brush the ground, and my powers funnel back into my body, it smells like… popcorn. “You pig! You’re not going to eat all of that.” Josie’s voice, so similar to her mother’s, drifts down the hallway. I landed in the foyer, which is dark, soft moonlight drifting in through the windows and casting the stairs and framed photos of the family in silver shadows. “If you wanted more, you should have added it to the order,” Adrian argues then yelps after a smacking sound reverberates toward me in the gloom. “Give me one of your tacos–”“Or what?”“I’ll tell Mom.”“She’s in Eastonia, dumbass. Hey!” A scuffle ensures. I have two seconds to jump into the shadow of Misty’s study just off the foyer when Cole walks down the stairs, still wearing his hospital scrubs. The sound of a shower running
LoganRyatt and Evander walk out of sight across the bridge connecting the barracks to the main streets of the city. I look out of my old bedroom window at the sunny glare casting shadows over the valley. The shadows move as the clouds dart across the sky toward the castle, toward my wife, who I’d much rather be with right now than here. I… I don’t have anything to pack. Anything that meant anything to me–my laptop, my fucking glasses–were lost in the shipwreck. I have the clothes on my back, and even those were borrowed from who-knows-where, left on the dresser in Brie’s bedroom by the ghost that haunts her house. She’s all I have, and it’s not like I can pack her in my duffle bag and take her with me. I crank open the window to let in some fresh air to cut through the overwhelmingly male smell of the barracks. I turn to my empty duffle bag with a sigh, bracing my hands on either side of it on the bed, and hang my head, but a whoosh of air rushes out behind me, and I turn in time
BrieThe moment my bedroom door closes behind us, Logan’s mouth is on mine. The lock slides into place with a soft click, and an even softer groan leaves his mouth when I reach up to run my fingers through his damp curls. He smells like rain and leather. Like the promise of warmth and comfort through another stormy night. And now this man–this loud, obnoxious, opinionated man… he’s mine. He presses a kiss to the ring he bought today on a whim. It’s a simple band of gold–that’s it. “I'll give you a better one when I return,” he promises, kissing the palm of my hand before his lips find mine again. “A ring with a diamond the old gods can see from the heavens.”“I don’t care about that.” I giggle as his hands glide down my sides, pulling me close. Outside, thunder booms, the room lighting in ribbons of blue as lightning splits the clouds, but in here, it’s warm. It’s private. It’s just us. He removes my cloak. It falls to the ground in a heap at my feet. He’s careful with the dress,
MaeveBrie is… radiant. She glows in her simple white dress of lace and satin, her hair falling loose over her back and shoulders as Logan slowly, tenderly, lowers the hood of her dark blue cloak. The temple is quiet and dim, moonlight flooding the altar. Logan knits his fingers in Brie’s and brings her knuckles to his lips, pressing a kiss against them. They’re bathed in silver, the windows behind them dancing in starlight. It’s beautiful, really. It’s what I envisioned for her, one day, what I thought would be… years from now. I watch my sister–the person I love the most in all of the world–intertwine her soul with someone else, forcing myself to unravel the ribbons binding my heart to hers. She doesn’t belong to me anymore. Logan looks at her as they kneel before the priestess in her silver robes. They lean into each other like being inches away is too far apart. And the look on his face as he brushes his lips over her temple… he loves her. He’s devoted–body, and soul. My heart
Brie“Tonight?”“Yes, tonight.”“How?” I laugh, taking a step away from him. “We-we can’t.”“We can,” he says breathlessly, shaking his head. “The temple stays open all night. We’d just need to find a priestess.”“We’d need a witness,” I whisper as the cogs in my mind start turning. “I’d need a dress–”“I’d marry you like this,” he says, taking my hands. “But please, for the love of the Goddess, marry me before I go.”I blink up at Logan, my heart swelling and squeezing simultaneously. There’s still a whisper in my mind that warns me that he could change his mind, that he can’t really want me, but I… banish it, giving myself to him fully. “Are you sure?” I ask, scanning his eyes. “I’ve never been more sure of anything. I want you to be my wife, Brie.”“I’m already your mate.”“It’s not enough.” He brushes my hair out of my face and kisses me, but a rush of air alerts us to a visitor making their way up the stairs to the tower. I pull away as a soft knock sounds on the door. Neither