[Alexis/Amaryllis]A howl pierces the night, a soulful sound that echoes with the sound of a thousand heartbreaks and rejections, and I stop in my tracks, unable to move forward, a single paw on the other side of the glowing barrier. My ears perk to listen, as the sound repeats, this time closer, more of a plea. It is the call of a broken alpha, one who has given up all reason to live. “Don’t leave me,” my mate calls as he howls one more time. “I’ve been waiting for you to love me. I will wait as long as I must. But please, don’t go out there. Don’t end everything just to get away. You’re too precious.” As the last words leave his mind, the depth of feeling that flows between us through our weak and strained bond is so suffocatingly deep I could drown in his emotions. It is a confusing rush of contradictions: He wants me, he loves me, he hates himself, he can’t let me die, but he wants to die with me. Gasping for air, I blink rapidly as I take a stumbling step away from him. “Stay
[Alexis/Amarylis] Araminta Thorpe has a bold plan, one that I was willing to go along with if it meant redeeming myself in the eyes of my pack and also reclaiming a shred of my dignity, but now she’s asking too much. “It’s important that the couples involved are as bonded as possible,” she informs us. “Double marked, double blessed. Despite what you’ve been told, witches CAN mark wolf mates…it’s just a bit more complicated.” Luna Apple blushes, embarrassed over some memory and I wonder again what it is that Sly saw in such a shy, delicate girl. She’s barely a woman, and yet he chose her over me to be his queen. It’s not that I want Sly, although I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that at least part of me will always crave him, it’s more that I don’t see what he sees in her. Apple LeRoux Moon is hardly more than a child. “Your mate is even younger,” my wolf reminds me with a snotty snarl. “Who are you to judge the Moon Goddess’ will?” “I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Ala
[Parris] For someone so determined to not be my mate, his wolf sure has other plans. I’ve never seen a soul so divided–but then again, he was a powerful witch before even a touch of his wolfish side came out. I guess it’s no wonder why he can’t make up his mind. It’s like he has a split personality. My wolf and I have been together since the very beginning. There has never been a time when I didn’t hear Max’s voice. It must have been hard for Hex to watch from Hawthorne’s eyes but never have a say in what he did with his life, a life they both share. “Yes, she touched me,” I admit openly. I did nothing wrong, nor did Sorrel. Hawthorne hasn’t claimed me as either his mate or his zing. What I do with my body isn’t his concern. And yet, I feel a need to explain. “She touched me, but I rejected her. She won’t touch me again without permission. You can let her go, Hex, she isn’t a threat.” To prove my point, I walk towards him, preessing my body into his. His muscles relax as he feel
[Parris]Apparently she didn’t need much convincing, because in less than an hour, my father came back to my room with a large smile on his face. “Look who I found in the hall on her way to visit,” he grins as he moves aside to let a young healer enter. Smiling bashfully, she looks down at her feet. “Mr. Abernathy said you might be able to use my…um…services as a healer?”My father is grinning like a fool. “She could be a good choice,” he communicates through our bond, surprisingly happy. “She’s from a good family, and a healer too. You’d have beautiful, healthy pups.” I cough, looking away. I wasn’t thinking about taking a mate or having any kids. But often big spells like these can have happy surprises. Witch families are often much larger than wolf and human families for that very reason.And of course he wants grandchildren, I’m his only child. It must have been hard for him to discover my mate is a man. “Dad, um, thank you for helping my friend find her way here,” my cheeks ar
[Parris] I had fallen asleep in my mate’s arms, nestled into his neck as he lifted me from the ground and his strong legs had carried me all the way back to the northern entrance. Or at least, that’s my best guess. Based on the shifting sunlight slowly dipping towards the horizon, that was hours ago. He’s gone now, I can tell, not just because his warmth has been replaced with cool sheets and his voice exchanged for the sound of a machine beeping, but because I cannot smell him anymore. Scent is important to wolves, even a mixed mutt wolf like me. A chair next to me creaks, and I turn my head slowly to see my father at my bedside. He is bent in half, his elbows dug into his knees as he holds his hands before him in prayer to the goddess, the words of an ancient incantation mumbled on his lips. Before meeting my mother, Harlem Abernathy had promised his life to the Moon Goddess, living as a monk at the Temple of the Sacred Moon on the East Coast. But then one day, as he was collect
[Hawthorne] “NO!!!” I wake up screaming, my body shaking and cold. “How the…?” So that wasn’t a dream. I am standing at the edge of a field completely naked. And Parris… “Ah, goddessdamn it!” I curse, finding my companion lying at my feet. His chest is rising and falling, so it’s clear that he’s still alive, but the slow, shallow movement tells me that he’s out cold. Whatever he did to strain himself drained him down to the barest embers of his inner strength. Usually, after something like that, a witch will need a day or two to recover. “Or a good tumbling,” the voice inside my head is back, louder than ever. “Oh for goddesssake, you know my name and you know I’m real, stop acting like I’m your imaginary friend.” A series of images blended with intense feelings dance through my mind and I’m swept up for a moment reliving a series of very dark, very violent memories. I shifted. Holy fuck, I shifted! Oh Goddess. I guess Parris was right. I am wolf enough to go into heat, wolf e