ANMELDENSelene clasped her hands together tightly, clearly preparing herself for the insults, accusations, and angry words she expected Elara to throw at her.The muscles in Elara’s jaw tightened as she clenched her teeth.But instead of shouting, she simply nodded once.“Apology accepted, Selene. There are more important things happening right now than anything either of us said or did in the past. I can move past it if you can.”She cleared her throat.“And if you want to get to know your nephew, I’m okay with that too.”Her words were polite and carefully controlled, almost like a politician giving a prepared response.It was obvious she still needed time to heal from the pain.Kael lifted his hand slightly and smiled at Selene.“Uh, hi, Aunt Selene, I guess. I’m Kael.”At first, Selene’s eyes widened.Then she pressed a hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes.A small sob escaped her before she swallowed back her emotions and gave him a little wave.“Hey, buddy. Umm, it’s nice to off
“Not yet,” I said, “but everything is under control. Are you both ready to leave? I have a meeting at the alpha house, and I think you could spend some time there while I handle it.”Even though I tried hard to hide my emotions, Elara still knew me very well after all these years.Whatever she saw in my face made her eyes narrow slightly.“Yeah. That sounds fine,” she said. “Come on, Kael.”I paid the bill, and then we left.The drive back to my house was mostly quiet.Both Elara and Kael could tell that something important had happened.“Was that guy your brother?” Kael finally asked.Elara turned toward him in the backseat.“Honey, maybe we shouldn’t—”“Elara, it’s okay,” I said.I glanced at Kael through the rearview mirror.“Yeah, he is. Deep down, I think he’s a good guy, but he got mixed up with some bad people. Maybe I can help him. We’ll see.”Kael nodded and leaned back into his seat.When we arrived at the alpha house, I told Kael to go look around.His eyes became huge as h
“Don’t worry about this,” Vale said, gesturing toward his injured face. “Can we talk outside?”I didn’t need Vale to explain who had done that to him. I already knew.Varek.There was no doubt in my mind.I could still remember the annoyed expression on Varek’s face when he realized Vale had told me about the debt.“Outside,” I said as I stood up.I looked over at Elara and Kael.“Stay here. This won’t take long.”“Okay,” Elara replied, though both she and Kael looked concerned as I followed Vale out into the parking lot.The moment we were outside, some of the anger I had been holding back finally escaped.“Where is that motherfucker?” I hissed. “Tell me where he is, and I’ll give him a black eye of his own.”Vale shook his head and sighed.The sound was full of exhaustion.“Can we just get this over with? You don’t have to keep pretending to be the protective big brother.”“I’m not pretending, Vale,” I said, feeling hurt by his words.He waved a hand dismissively.“Enough. I’m fine,
My neck actually popped because I turned so quickly.Orion was right.Kael was standing by a display of special shoelaces, but a small group of girls was gathered outside the store. They were whispering to each other, giggling, and pointing at him.I knew my son was handsome because he looked so much like his father, but this was different. Girls were openly staring at my baby. Even worse, he was only fourteen, and most of those girls looked at least sixteen years old.My protective instincts immediately flared up, and I wanted to chase every one of them away.“Everything is happening so quickly,” I said as the cashier handed me the bag containing the shoes. “I can barely keep up. One minute I had my little boy, and now, a few mornings later, I have a nearly grown man with girls practically drooling over him.”Orion laughed softly.“I remember you being pretty territorial over me back in the day when the same thing happened.”I scoffed.“Daisy Gillies was trying her hardest to get int
My alarm went off early the next morning, pulling me out of a deep sleep. The early wake-up was necessary because I was far behind on work and needed to submit an article before my ten o’clock deadline.The sun had not even risen yet when I climbed out of bed and slowly walked down the hallway to make coffee. As I returned to my room with a hot cup in my hand, I could hear Kael’s soft snoring coming from his bedroom.After finishing the article and giving it a quick edit, I sent it to my editor along with an invoice. By the time I finished everything, it was almost nine in the morning.My phone suddenly vibrated.I looked at the screen, and my eyes widened in surprise.It was Gaige Parker.He was an old friend from the place where we had lived before moving back to Pinecrest Valley. Gaige was the alpha shifter of a nearby pack and had tried to fill a father-like role for Kael while he was growing up, although it had never really worked the way any of us had hoped.He was also a realto
No matter what happened, I decided I would keep an open mind about everything. Maybe I wouldn’t end up liking the person Orion had become. If that happened, I figured I could simply reject him completely. That would break the bond between us and allow both of us to move on and find love with someone else. Even thinking about that possibility hurt far more than I ever imagined it would.Not wanting to get lost in my thoughts and all the questions filling my head, I went to find Kael. He was sitting on the couch watching a superhero movie. To me, all those bright costumes looked the same, and I could never remember who was who. If it wasn’t Superman, Batman, or Spiderman, I had absolutely no idea what character I was looking at.“Do you want me to order pizza for dinner?” I asked. “I know it’s a little early, but—”“Yeah!”I laughed softly. “Okay. I’ll order it.”While we waited for the pizza, I sat beside Kael and tried to follow the movie. From what I could understand, some villain wi
I did not really know what Orion and Kael had been doing together over the last few days, but the difference in Kael was impossible to miss. While I sat at the kitchen table reading the news on my laptop, Kael pulled a box of Pop-Tarts from the pantry. There was a lightness in the way he moved now.
“Good game?” I asked.“Yeah. It was fun.”Once we got back into the truck and started driving away, I pointed toward the girls through the windshield. “Not your type?”“Something like that.”“You don’t like girls? You into guys? I don’t judge. Love is love,” I said.Kael immediately burst out laugh
As if fate or the universe itself had heard my thoughts, I suddenly noticed a familiar face standing at the far side of the park. Vale. My half-brother. He leaned against a tree with his arms crossed while watching the boys play basketball. I had not seen him since coming back home. He looked diffe
He shrugged the way teenagers usually do—a small shoulder movement that somehow seemed to say a lot without using actual words. Not wanting to make things uncomfortable, I quickly changed the subject before the mood of the afternoon got ruined.“Hey, whose turn is it to shoot?” I asked.His eyes li







