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LUCY'S POV:I take a step back as he approaches me. I open my mouth and close it. I have no idea what to say.Seth catches on, sits up, and gets off the bed."Why don't we go see what Jason has whipped up for breakfast? Lucy, you really need to eat. It will help Nia, trust me," Seth says as he walks over to the door and opens it fully."Should you be up and about? I can bring you some breakfast in bed if you want," Leon says."No, Lucy, you should stretch your legs. After what happened -" Seth catches himself.What surprises me the most is that both of them are using a slightly harsh tone, as if they're talking more to each other than they are to me.I'm feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the way they're both staring at me now."I'm fine, Leon. He is right. I should probably stretch my legs and get some fresh air," I say with a side smile I have to force."Perfect! We can eat out back on the patio. It's chilly today so I can build us a fire," Leon suggests.I didn't want to be near
LUCY'S POV:"You want to try that again?" Leon says, fuming.They're standing not even a foot apart. Seth is a few inches shorter than Leon, causing Leon to tilt his head forward just slightly so he can look down at him.He is purposely trying to intimidate Seth. I'm shocked that he hasn't slipped his Alpha aura at this point."I said...Don't yell at Lucy." Seth doesn't raise his voice this time.His voice isn't shakey, and he doesn't back down from Leon one bit.I do not like the way that this is transpiring."What is this all about?" Jason asks, appearing in the kitchen. I'm still sitting in the chair, my body twisted to look back into the kitchen where Leon and Seth are looking at each other. Neither of them budged or broke eye contact."Leon thinks that because he is an Alpha, he can yell and disrespect whoever he wants." Seth doesn't look at Jason when he answers; he continues the stare-off with Leon.My jaw drops.After what happened to me at the hands of many Alphas, his words
LEON'S POV:'I don't feel a connection, Leon. I can't even scent a wolf at all. Are you sure she isn't lying?' Bandit says, making me cringe internally."But what about Bandit?" I ask, hoping to get more clarification.Lucy looks up at me with a pained expression before she grabs my arm and drags me to the front porch.The electricity I feel at her touch makes my dick twitch. It takes everything I have to remain in control of that feeling."Sit," she says, pointing to the porch swing matter-of-factly.I liked it when she was bossy. "I've done my best thinking here," she commented as she sat down. I noticed she sat as far from me as she possibly could.'I don't think she is our mate,' Bandit persists.'Can you give her a chance to explain?' I respond to him, getting irritated.'She is playing you with those electrical tricks,' he continues.I shove him so far in my head that I can barely feel him.I was also questioning it, but if I'm being honest, I was just excited that Lucy was look
LEON'S POV:I'm staring at her, obsessing over everything about her.She is glaring at me. It's so cute. Everything she does is adorable, honestly."You're not mad I used a descenter so my mate couldn't find me?" she asks indirectly accusing me of something I don't really understand, or maybe it's that I don't care at this moment.I also realize she says "my mate" instead of referring to her mate as me. I don't like that.I felt more connected to her after she grabbed me and sent the spark through me.I finally shake myself out of the all-consuming daze."Am I supposed to be mad?" I ask, staring at her lips. I'm not even sure I know what I am saying or asking at this point."LEON!" She finally screams, bringing my full attention back to her yet again.Her brows are furrowed together, creating a small crease between them.I want to kiss her face. It doesn't even have to be the lips. Just anywhere."Stop staring at my lips! I'm talking real words, Leon!" she explains in an all too irrit
LUCY'S POV:Leon suddenly gripped my waist, sending me into an internal spiral. My heart was beating out of my chest a hundred miles an hour as the trauma in me surfaced like a living nightmare."If you listen better this time, I might let you eat tonight," Alpha Zeak's voice rang in my ear.I could still feel his fingers plunging into my bare skin as he gripped my waist, squeezing my bones and sending shooting pains up and down my sides.He didn't need to hold me this tight. He always tied my hands down; there was no way I could escape anyway. He enjoyed the torture, my pain, the way I was powerless to him.'Lucy...' Nia whispers soothingly, bringing me back to reality as Leon's hands on my waist release their hold on me, making me feel like a hundred pounds of weight had been released from my chest. "Will you put your head on my chest and let me tickle your back?" Leon says quietly.When I look up, he is rubbing small circles across his chest, crumpling the plain black t-shirt that
LEON'S POV:'She is so timid,' Bandit comments, his voice laced with concern. 'We will figure it out B, don't worry. She is already loosening up to us,' I respond back to him.Her scent is complex.She smells like a summer night: fresh air from the calm after a rain storm lingering with waves of fresh-bloomed wildflowers, smoke from a blazing fire burning nearby, combined with the taste of ice-cold homemade lemonade.I didn't know taste could have a smell but that's the best way I could describe it.Her cheeks are blushing from my insinuation. There is no way she can't feel how stiff my cock is.My body is reacting instinctively to having her on my lap this way.It's not something that can be helped. This is what she does to me and will always do to me."Sorry," she responds to my playful banter. I don't want her to be sorry; I want her back to her old, playful self, but I can tell this topic makes her uncomfortable."No, don't be sorry for how you affect me." I gently lift her into m
LEON'S POV:I look down at Lucy in my arms. Thank the Goddess for her.I already knew she was going to make me a better man by the way I was reeling my emotions in rather than letting them explode like I always have in the past.My teeth are chewing at the sides of my cheeks. I'm torn between confronting Seth and just letting it go completely.I get Lucy tucked into her bed, kissing her cheek before I reluctantly pull away from her.I push open the back door. I can hear Jason's footsteps behind me before I step outside.He catches the door and jogs up behind me as I'm stripping my clothes off in a hurry."Hear him out first," Jason warns me as the door behind him slams shut from the wind.I cringe at the thought of that sound waking Lucy up.He knows I'm angry Seth didn't tell me.I can't promise I will, so I don't say anything at all before I shift.His scent is easy to find. As I pick up speed, my paws hit the dry earth hard. Echoes of my paws meeting the surface below it flutter th
LUCY'S POV:I wake up feeling more refreshed than I have my entire life.My eyes flutter open. I look in each direction, expecting to see my mate, but I'm left with nothing but the black and white scroll patterns stitched into the comforter resting over my body.There was no light coming from the window. How long had I slept? It can't possibly be nighttime, I thought to myself.A crackle of thunder makes me jump.'Something feels off,' Nia comments as I settle back into bed. The lightning follows soon after, lighting up the room briefly.'What do you mean?' I ask her.'I don't know exactly. Find our mate,' she says firmly.My bare feet hit the cold wooden floor with a thud as I slowly panicked at the emotions that were mixing with Nia's.I stumble my way to the door before I grip the doorknob hard and turn it open.I rush down the hallway and down the stairs to the first floor and into the living room. Jason is nestled on the couch, eyes closed, clearly taking a nap."Where is Leon?!
Lucy:Leander said yes, of course. I knew that he would.Rosie was over the moon with excitement, and while I think we were all still shaken up about the crazy driver situation, this was a silver lining."Of course, Tallie and Maddel will have to agree. After all, they did adopt Rosie, and she is not an adult yet," Leander states.I couldn't tell what it was, but I didn't care too much for Rosie's adoptive mother, and I hadn't met her adoptive father yet."You're like a magnet for danger!" That's Trish.About time she shows up.Oh no. She doesn't have Saul.It's getting late. We've been here for longer, or the entire crash and chaos took more time than I had thought."Trishy, where is your mate?" I ask, staring at the cottage in hopes that Saul will come around the corner, but he doesn't.He went with Seth.Of course, he did. It makes sense, but I still can't help but feel bad. I keep feeling like everything is my fault. Anyone around me is put in danger left and right."Stop," Seth
Lucy:A gentle hum vibrated from my connection with Rosie before everything went black.Am I the only one who can hear her this way?"Hello?" I ask into the darkness.A blue light illuminates the darkness. I shield my eyes with my arm momentarily until the light dims, and I'm left sitting on a garden bench."You're okay," I hear Liam's voice.I jump, startled by his presence in my space.My space? Where am I?"What? How?" I ask, turning my body to face him fully now.Liam just smiles at me and pulls me onto his lap to straddle him."This doesn't-" I'm cut off by Liam's lips softly pressing against mine.He gently wraps his arms around me, pulling my body closer to his in the process. For a brief moment, I let myself go, bringing myself into this moment with Liam."Wait!" I pull away."This isn't real. You aren't real!" I say, tearing up again.I had a horrible feeling about Liam going on that mission.How do I get out of here? I need to find Liam. Real Liam.Dammit, Rosie, what did
Seth:'What do we do?' Leon links me.Lucy has been crying in his lap for at least five minutes now as we drive to Rosie's.Goddess, why did she have to live so far out of the way? A large spot on his shirt was soaked with her tears. He's been doing a great job soothing her, the best anyone could, but she's not being receptive like she normally is.I can tell even Leander is getting nervous. Lucy's mood seemed to sway anyone within 20 feet of her.'Maybe it's a good thing we're going to Rosies,' I link back.Honestly, I have no idea. I had never seen Lucy act this way.Liam's leaving broke her into pieces. At least a million of them."Lucy!" Leander speaks up before clearing his throat.I watch as she hiccups and clears her throat, wiping her tears as they continue to flow steadily down her cheeks."Liam has been on a lot of scouting missions. This is his specialty. He managed to make it to Kragen's facility, find you, and come home in one piece. He will be okay," Leander states, s
Lucy:'Lucy! Wait for us!' Liam links me, but Nia isn't listening.Neither am I.I gave Nia complete control; she needed this. We should have gone for a run first thing this morning.We're gaining on him. I can feel the strength running through our blood, supplying us with more energy.The sound of his heartbeat sounds like rocks beating relentlessly against a drum.He's scared.Good.'There he is!' I say, even though I know she can see him too.The sound of paws is now beating heavily against the dirt ground, echoing off the solid oak and maple tree trunks. Of course, he had headed straight towards the forest. Anyone trying to get away would run in this direction but an unanswered question pops into my head.Where is he running to?'Wait! Nia! Let him get away!' I shout as loud as I can.I feel her growl vibrate through our entire presence as she leaps over a fallen oak log, our paws nearly brushing against the bark.I force myself forward, shifting mid-air against her will. My body
Lucy:"We'll have to take a car to Rosie's," Seth says as we head out the front doors of the pack house.For the most part, everyone understood what I had explained to them earlier about the connections, but if there was one thing I was holding very close to me, it was Hecate telling me to trust my gut.I had a third sense for things. It wasn't my core gift, but it acted very close to it.At some point, I needed to get Seth alone to help me plan for my other mate's birthday.While the ceremony would be on their actual birthday, I had a small idea of what I wanted to do for them as my gift, and it wouldn't be able to be on their actual birthday.The typical black SUV pulled around with a driver I hadn't seen before. It wasn't their usual guy."Can I take the passenger seat?" I ask, feeling oddly uncomfortable with this new driver for some reason unknown to me at this moment.While it may seem odd to take the passenger seat with how I'm feeling, it's really not. The closer I am to this d
Savina:"What took you so long?" I hiss.They left me for dead; I just know it.My throat feels like sandpaper as I sit up in the cot I had been in for the last several days."Be thankful we came back for you at all," Kash says.I have no clue where we are. The room is dark, and they haven't let me leave since I got here.They lied to me. Lucy wasn't supposed to have her magic. It was supposed to be an easy task.Although my plan was never to take her out in a challenge, I was improvising.The goal was to separate her from her mate's bond so that if her magic ever came to fruition, she would not gain her full strength.Kash never told me why we were doing it. Some might think I was a fool for following his orders blindly, but I trusted him.I loved him.I never wanted Leon the way that I had made it seem. It was a means to an end."How could you say that, Kash?! I did what you asked of me!" I defend.His comment nearly shattered my heart into a million pieces."You are a fool, Savina!
Lucy:We had lunch and revisited the plan we had made with Zeak after getting blood samples. There were still many things to do at this point, and I wasn't sure which direction to take next.We decided to have lunch at the pack house cafeteria. I told my mates we needed to start being more present in the pack."This doesn't mean that Savina is a demi, does it?" Liam asks."No, there weren't enough markers. She was given a gift somehow. That means we're working against magic that we hardly know anything about," Theo explains.Nadia looks worried, even though she is trying to pretend otherwise."Are you not going to explain to me why you want my blood tested?" I ask Nadia for what has felt like the millionth time.I know she isn't being completely honest, but what I had said to Seth was true.I want to build her trust and guidance, but I don't want to push for answers because I know sometimes we just don't know what the answer really is.I gave Theo another sample of bloodâa fresh one.
Lucy:"How did you think of that?" Seth asks as we walk to the city building.The air was cool, fresh, and crisp. The combined scent of pine and lilac lingered about the pack as it always had, but today, it was different.The rain the prior night had wafted the earthy scents further into civilization. I couldn't breathe in enough of it, and it relaxed my soul."Think of what, mate?" I asked. His question was random, as we had been walking for a few minutes now in silence."Doing a reverse Luna ceremony," he explains as if I should already know.I stop in my spot and look over at him, trying to gauge his emotions fully and independently.I hadn't considered that there was typically a Beta female, too, and being mated with Seth made it all the more complicated.He never mentioned me being a Luna or a Beta female, and I hadn't thought to ask either."It just made sense to ensure the pack is connected to me and has their full strength. This way, I'm not a Luna or a Beta female. I'm just m
Lucy:"Her position is next to us!" Seth speaks up.He's protective in a way that's different from my other mates. He knows I'm insecure about my place amongst others.Or... at least I was. I'm not anymore.My mom knew I was going to have power that was bordering on unimaginable and most certainly unreasonable.No one needed the kind of power I had, yet here I am.She knew I would gain strength one day, so that I wouldn't be able to be so easily cracked. I was starting to understand how the Fae functioned and understood themselves with their magic.It was different. I wasn't the same, and I would never be the same again.I didn't want to be."Calm down, that wasn't what I was saying," Leander starts.The longer he takes to explain whatever's on his mind, the more the room feels like it's losing oxygen. I'm having a hard time controlling my feelings, sitting here waiting."I need you all to start considering what the pack's impression will be when Lucy has marked both the Alpha's of thi