VICTORIA I rejected Devon. I did it. I went against every fibre of my being, and I am free. He has no mate bond fog over me, and he can choose me if he wants, or he can move on. I can move on. This is what I wanted. I try to convince myself as we drive back to the packhouse. I watch as the buildings and trees blur by me. Zarina is mad at me that I gave up our mate, but he doesn't even have a wolf; who is she even bonded to? I can feel Lucy's eyes on me even as she talks with Damon. As we cross the border in our pack territory, I ask the driver to stop. "I need to go for a run. I'll meet you back at the packhouse?" "Ya sounds good. I'll put some tea on." Lucy smiles, knowing I need space but offering to be there in case I need her. "No, Macey will make tea. You are going to rest. It was a big long night out." Damon scolds Lucy, and I have to laugh at his overprotective nature already. I can just imagine when he has a daughter. I place my clothes in a neat pile and let Zarina take
VICTORIAI wanted to make it up to Devon. Rejecting him was not my original plan, but I panicked. I really wanted him to love me for me. Not forced by the stupid mate bond. What I didn't expect was to feel so empty after he accepted. I planned a whole romantic date at my secret safe haven. I wanted to be honest. I wanted him to know who I really was, and if he chose to walk away, so be it. But when he reached over and asked me how I felt about never having children, I didn't know how to respond because no one had ever asked me that before. No one really asked me how I felt about anything. Sure they would ask my advice on how to kill someone or hack into a secure facility but how I felt about anything was never something I had faced—that easy task of just shoving it down and not feeling anything. Yet when Devon touched my hand and asked me. I was momentarily stunned before our food arrived. I didn't know what to say. I had them prepare the best seabass and garlic fried rice and vegetabl
DEVON It had been over a week since my date with Victoria. Besides a few single-worded text messages, she was radio silent. Is she avoiding me? Is she on an assignment? Was the date not as great as I thought it was? I was a mess. Is this how girls felt when guys didn't call right away? No wonder girls were crazy. This feeling makes me crazy! I figured I would burn off some of this frustration with a run and a beer. I changed into some sweats and my Nike cross trainers and hit the trails. My head felt at peace in the trails along the river—nothing quite like birds chirping and the smell of pine in the fall. I made it to the clearing near the cliff's side. My favourite spot to clear my head. I couldn't let my anxiety get too high. Now that I was harnessing all the power from the warlock kingdom, I needed to be in control of my every thought, emotion and feeling. I daydreamed about Victoria for a while. I thought a lot about what she told me, how they removed her ovaries and took away
VICTORIA I don’t know what possessed me to message Devon. I missed him. Was it this quaint little town with all the families farming together or was the heat getting to my head? I guess I’ll never know. I thought with the rejection, the bond would fizzle out. I still felt incredibly drawn to him. Thinking of him constantly and that little dimple on his face when he tries not to laugh at something I’ve said. I had already completed the first part of my assignment. I was to hack the secure CIA server to find the safe house of one of their witnesses. Witness or not he was still the man who murdered innocent women and children for money. So it was his turn. I wanted to take my time, but Oliver needed it to look like a robbery; like it or not, Oliver out-ranked me. Mostly because he was politically correct and looked great in a suit, I, on the other hand, could not kiss ass to save my life. I said what I thought when I thought it, and I don’t really care if you’re offended. That’s why I
LUCY I had a vision of Devon's sister being held captive. I didn't know she was Devon's sister, nor did I understand the significance of the vision. I let it go, but when Damon called to tell me what had happened, I felt sick. I knew this was tied to us somehow. I was just too tired to put it together. This baby was killing me. I was a week overdue. After everyone left, I went to bed. I needed to lie down and put my feet up. I had been having Braxton hicks all week. This baby was coming, and soon. I drifted off to sleep and seemed to wake up when my phone buzzed like crazy. Thirty missed notifications. I opened my phone and called Damon back. "Angel, are you ok?" "yes, I am fine. Why?" "You aren't in any pain?" "I am always in pain, what's going on?" "I felt an awful pain in my back. I worried you had fallen. Ellen and Lanie are on their way to you now. I’ll be back when I can.” I swung my legs over the side and stood up. “Omg,” I think. I peed my pants. “What, Angel? What’s w
VICTORIA My name is Victoria Nash. I am the WereWitch born to the Alpha. My grandfather hates me and what I stand for. Weakness-Fear-a diluted Alpha Bloodline because my mother wasn't even an Omega. Just a half-breed witch sister to the oracle though no one but I and Esmerelda know that fact. I am usually pretty good at hiding away from him when he is in the packhouse. Today though, something must have made him more angry than usual because he is out for blood. My blood. I'm not old enough to have my wolf healing yet, but I can heal myself with the magic, only it wears me out, and I can't run away from him fast enough. I just need to stay hidden until he calms down. I count the tiles on the roof of the wine cellar. I can feel myself start to calm down. Slowing my heart rate, so he doesn't hear my heart beating—fear coursing through my body. A fear so potent it makes your teeth hurt. I listen as he walks past the door. He stops, and I hold my breath. I hear the handle turning and b
VICTORIA I ran so fast I could feel the beating of my pulse in my ears. I had used magic, and he found out. I ran through the trees jumping over logs and dodging rocks. I was in my pyjama bottoms and a tank top, but he had beaten me so badly I had to use a little magic to heal my broken bones before they set. He had come into my room when he smelt my magic being used. The thing with my kind is magic leaves a metal-coppery smell in the air. Only strong Alpha's could smell it when not close by, but as if he knew I would try and heal myself after he broke my leg, he was there in the doorway of my room. He backhanded me across the face, and I flew into my dresser. I grabbed my silver letter opener and stabbed it in his leg, a roar so loud it shook my room. I darted past him and into the hallway. I just needed to make it to Damon's room, but as I neared his door. I remembered he was away at Alpha training. Damn it! I ran down the stairs and out of the packhouse. I needed to make it to the
VICTORIA It had been months since my last nightmare. Since that night, Oliver had climbed into my bed like the brother I missed so desperately and just held my hand. Similar to the way Damon had. I had watched the warriors of our pack training, but it was nothing like what we did at Artamas. I was beaten daily by full-grown wolves, werebears, vampires, creatures I didn't know existed. There was a girl in the room next to mine who was a vampire witch. I didn't think those could exist. Witches were natural beings. They used life, the earth, to gain power, but vampires were dead and evil and the opposite. They had to kill to become more powerful. I guess nothing in this world is ever the way it seems. I stood in the shower of the change room after training and watched the blood from my wounds wash down the drain. I wondered what Damon was doing? If he knew where I actually was or just that I was at my fancy school. I turned the tap off and went to get dressed. I had history of ancient