AvivaA calm has finally settled over Silverhide. The shift in the energy after we brought the kids home was palpable almost immediately.Now, it’s late afternoon. The sun is warm and bright, but the threat of rain hangs over the mountains where dark clouds simmer over the peaks. I walk toward the house where Sydney and Sarah are resting with their girls but stop when Maddy steps out of the house, her face bright and cheeks pink with excitement. She spots me and stops, smiling widely, and motions me over before reaching up to pull her long, dark red hair into a bun on the top of her head.“How are they?”“Oh, they’re just fine,” she smiles, smoothing the fabric of her yellow shirt over her midsection. “They’re just beautiful. I’m so happy for Sarah and Sydney.”I look up at the second story windows, which are open to let in some of the last warm, early autumn air. “Do you think they’ll be able to travel home soon?”“Sydney is a little worried, of course, but Sarah’s ready to get home.
AvivaFallThe air is crisp and scented with smoke as I walk through the maze of brightly colored canvas tents. Lexa, dressed in furs to stay warm and beaded booties I worked tirelessly on the past few weeks, looks around, turning her head side to side like a little owl, taking in every new sight and sound.This is the largest Harvest Festival I’ve ever been to. So large, in fact, that the festival stretches for over three miles. Just two days ago, this sacred place was nothing more than a grassy field. Now, it explodes with life, color, and the promise of a comfortable winter where food and supplies will be far from scarce.We pass a tent selling apples covered in sticky, hardened sugar. I drop a few coins into an elderly woman’s hand in exchange for the treat, letting Lexa paw and mouth it while continuing our exploration.I’ve been Luna of Silverhide for just over a year, and Queen of the Deadlands for just as long, but I’m not used to being recognized by anyone outside of Silverhi
MistyCrescent FallsI toss my keys on the counter as I come thundering through the kitchen, sweat lining my brow. “Cole? COLE!”“I’m upstairs!” he calls out as I sprint around the corner into the hallway where the foyer opens up, spilling wintery sunlight through the bay windows overlooking the curving staircase. Snow falls in thick clumps, covering the ground. Two suitcases rest near the front door, but upstairs, I hear Cole talking to Addy and the sound of zippers closing.I trip on each step in my haste to get upstairs, carrying a bundle of papers in my arms. A few notes come loose, floating through the air behind me as I rush into our bedroom.Cole turns to me with another suitcase, arching his brows. “I didn’t think you’d be back until this afternoon–”“I finished it,” I rasp, breathless, thrusting the stack of printer paper into his full hands. All two-thousand pages, front and back, stare up at him, and he looks down in shock.“How?”“I just–I just got it done,” I pant, glanci
MistyTen Years LaterSunlight fans through the kitchen windows, highlighting the frost coating the glass. I blink, shielding my eyes as the sun drops below the tree line and the light in the room shifts, fading to a deep gold that paints the kitchen table and the mess my children left behind in their haste to get to school this morning.It’s a quiet late afternoon. It’s my favorite time of day, actually. The house is still and silent–the calm before the storm… which is running up the driveway right now, pushing and shoving toward the front door. The door swings open, the chilly late afternoon air carrying two small voices through the foyer and hallway. “Mom! MOM!” Addy’s voice echoes over the sound of heavy winter fabric dropping to the ground, probably in a wet heap. “MOM!”“I’m in the kitchen!” I call out, smiling to myself as I stick my coffee mug in the microwave. Two sets of footsteps thunder in my direction, and then I’m surrounded by blond hair and overlapping, excited voice
Aviva“Line up,” I whisper against ten-year-old Lexa’s ear. “Breathe in… release.” An arrow splits the cool spring air in two. A soft squeak whispers toward us as a squirrel falls from its perch on a nearby cottonwood tree. I squeeze her waist in silent congratulations while she beams, her dark-blue eyes wide and round. “Good job.” I grin, giving her a pat on the back. “Go get it.”Lexa takes off in a blur of red curls and homespun textiles in soft creams and browns that match the melting snow. In the distance, over the shadowed mountains, plumes of gray smoke stretch toward the first inklings of the sunset. Lexa bounds back to me, squirrel in hand. I tie it to her belt and help her put her bow back in her halter while seven-year-old Nora puts the finishing touches on the snowman she’s been building for the last hour.“Nora, come on!” Lexa calls out, motioning for her little sister to hurry up, but Nora has never listened to anyone in her life. I smile as the girls start to bicker b
Sarah“It isn’t that serious,” I tell Blake and Liam as they blink at me, their faces dappled with mud and their knees stained with grass. “But I’ve had enough of the fighting. You’re too old for this, especially you, Blake.” I fix my oldest son with a look I’ve had fourteen years to perfect.Blake, now a teenager, purses his lips and frowns. “He’s been harassing me all day–”“You were supposed to be helping me clean the garage,” Liam, thirteen, bites out. I feel the tension beginning to boil between them and clear my throat. “Both of you, enough.”“Mom–”“You’re both already grounded,” I edge, crossing my arms under my chest and arching a brow. “Do I need to add another week to your sentences? Or are you ready to behave like good little wolves and finish the chores Cosette laid out for you?”Liam grumbles under his breath. Blake mimics my stance, crossing his arms. We’re eye level at this point, and Liam isn’t far behind in the height department. Still, Ella and Maddy taught me thei
Kenna“Stay close, okay?” I shout as the girls hurry ahead of me through the woven, interlocking streets of Moonrise. It’s insane how much things have changed in the last decade. I tuck my phone in my purse; change number one. Yes, Eastonia has cell-phone service after decades of back and forth, but we’ve finally come out of the stone-age and into modernity, which includes change number two. Brie yanks Maeve out of the way when a car comes barreling down the street, bumping over the cobblestone road. I lift a hand, waving at the careless driver. This area of the city is supposed to be pedestrian only, but not everyone follows the rules. “Mom, we’re going to be late!” Brie scolds, gripping Maeve’s forearm. “Quit dragging your feet! You’re going to scuff your shoes!”“Then I’ll get new ones,” eleven-year-old Maeve grins, rolling her sea-green eyes. The castle rises above us as the girls bicker back and forth. Brie, fifteen and so beautiful it hurts to look at her sometimes, throws me
Brie“He can’t be that bad, Brie,” Maeve hisses as she clutches the crook of my arm, leading us down one of the winding staircases in our castle in Veiled Valley. Sconces flare to life on their own accord, lighting our way. “Mom said he’s been dying to meet you, anyway. He’s a warrior, you know. They’re always so handsome.”I purse my lips as she tightens her grip. “You’re entertained at my expense.”“You don’t get to complain. You’re doing this to yourself!” Maeve throws her head back in a beautiful laugh that echoes down the corridor. Everything my little sister does is beautiful because she’s stunning. Beautiful of the drop-dead gorgeous variety. She’s also only eighteen, and I doubt she fully grasps what this meeting with the Alpha of Rainway, a nearby pack in the mountains bordering Veiled Valley, and his warrior son means.Mom and
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
BrieLogan steps into my dad’s office. All eyes turn to him as he scans the men–Sydney, Grandpa Ryatt, my father, a few others that serve both my father and grandfather as generals, captains, and commanders. Logan’s eyes are like polished, imperfect emeralds as he eyes my grandpa wearily, like he’s not entirely sure he understands what Ryatt just said to everyone in the room. “Brie, you don’t need to be here for this,” Aviva whispers behind me, knitting her fingers in mine. But Logan growls, “She stays.”A silent, heavy, creeping hint of tension scatters around the room. The entire castle would explode if someone lit a match right now, I’m sure. My spine tingles as Logan turns to Ryatt and says, calmly despite the bite in his voice, “There’s nothing in Emberfyll.”“Quite the contrary,” my grandfather replies immediately, rounding my father’s desk, his shadow powers simmering and coiling around his fingers, “Debris has been washing up on the southern shore of Tarsian for decades now.
LoganBrie looks exhausted, but otherwise… happy, thank the Goddess, as she sits between her mother and Misty, listening to their conversation and picking at a sandwich. I lean my elbows on the table across the room where I’m sitting in silence, alone, still waiting for my mind to catch up with my body after Maeve jumped with us from the middle of the ocean to Veiled Valley. A shadow moves into view, crossing through the doorway before a shadow breaches the informal living area. Ryan looks around before turning the corner, beelining for me, waving away several rushed questions coming from the group of women on the couches nearby. He braces his hands on the table beside me, leaning down to whisper into my ear, “I need to speak to you in private before Ryatt returns. Can you come with me?”I glance at Brie, who’s watching us with her brows furrowed in worry. I suck my teeth before nodding, and Ryan moves back a step so I can stand. Brie and I have been using the mind-link as much as
BrieI pull the stool out from under my vanity, sinking down and facing Blake. I’m older than him by a few months. We’ve always been close, even when we were younger, and he tended to want to play rowdy boy games with Aris. He always sat quietly and played tea-party with me, though, without fail. He’s also the pariah of the family and knows it. His powers rival Ryatt’s, which is a terrifying thought. In fact, I often question who’s more powerful–him or Maeve? But that’s not a fair question at the moment, given that Maeve’s powers aren’t even fully developed yet. Blake, however… he exudes energy that makes my skin tingle as he sits in my desk chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “You found us, didn’t you?” He nods, a flash of guilt darkening his irises. “I admit I didn’t even look until Maeve cornered me. She felt you, she said. Sensed your arrival back in our waters.”I wonder how much Logan told the family. Probably everything, I’m sure. That man can talk, and I love that abou
BrieAt first I think I’m dreaming that I’m in my room in Veiled Valley. Familiar smells and textures unravel my senses, shielding me in a sense of calm serenity I haven’t felt in a very long time. Sunlight trickles through the curtains as they lift in a soft, warm summer breeze. Birdsong flutters through the air, breaking through murmured conversation nearby, but it sounds like a gorgeous day outside. The kind of summer day I’d spend in the garden before shifting and running into the mountains to that overlook, where a waterfall funnels back toward the city of deep, emerald green and crystal. The vision fades for the space of a breath, my eyes growing heavy once again. I wonder what I’ll dream of next? I hope it’s a good dream. But my stomach rolls and pitches, and I choke on a cough. Bright pain tingles through my body, settling at the base of my neck where a headache of epic proportions explodes, and suddenly wherever I am is too bright and far too loud. I groan, twisting into t