When I was little, my father had wanted me to be mated to an Alpha. For obvious reasons. He had craved power my entire life long. Never being sated by just having the largest pack in South Africa. After a while, he had laid was to several other packs within the country, absorbing their members into our own pack. Father had never stopped pressing the issue of my mating with another Alpha. One, hopefully, from a larger and foreign pack. I would be the prized heifer he gave away in return for more power and a larger army. I had not only disappointed him but enraged him with my mating to Julian and Mikaela. He said he wanted the best for me, but I always knew he wanted what was best for himself. Change was a painful process, one he had refused to go through for as long as I could remember. Then he had realized what I would become. His worst fear. Mating with an Alpha was my father's dream, never my own.
Now here I stood, fulfilling my father's wishes without me even realizing it
"We can't have him around the house! It's too dangerous! What if he runs off? Tells your father where we are? What we are doing? Fuck knows if he even wants you as his mate for the right reasons." Julian hollered and slammed my bedrooms door closed behind him. Rays of light danced through the sheer curtains, casting a halo around him as I turned around."What do you want us to do? Kill him? What if I lose my last chance at happiness? Or worse, lose my mind all together? You told me to do this. Made me believe it was the best decision. Well hell, we hadn't even asked him what he wanted! Now that you saw what he is like, now you don't want this anymore. Did you think it was going to be sunshine and roses the entire time?" I asked him and sat down on the edge of my bed. Today had gone down the drain faster than I had thought it would and I hated myself for it. I should have stopped what I was doing and assess what could happen afterwards. Now Julian wanted to kill Caspian all to
Even in a distant land, I found the moon to be my home. A constant reminder of where I came from and who I was. What blood still ran through my veins. Even if I found the wolves to be profoundly backwards, they were still, in essence, my people. Children of the moon goddess and all the glory that entailed her name. Being surrounded by war and violence brought out a new misery within me. So many people's blood stained my hands. All in the name of a better future. Honestly, I was no better than the humans. No better than the wolves who followed my father. Families were torn apart. Brothers. Sisters. Mother and fathers. All because some old woman had proclaimed it the righteous path. It was a never ending road, but one that would bring about peace. Hopefully.The humans spilt blood in the name of religion. I spilt blood in the name of equality and diversity. Everyone who fell beneath me were my pawns, even if they had families. During battle, I couldn't remind myself of that fac
Sophie lunged forward, teeth bared in a snarl. Sonja quickly side stepped her, grabbing her by the back of her uniform. But I knew this trick, taught it to her myself. Twist. Turn. Throw out your leg. Sonja fell to the floor as Sophie hit her hard. Before Sonja could recover, a knife was to her throat. Sophie looked up to me for approval and I smiled in reply. Sonja might have been my right hand, but Sophie was my sword. The rest my shield. I woke up this morning satisfied and happy next to Julian, but with a growing sense of urgency in my mind. Mikaela was still gone and Caspian expected more from me than I could give him. So I set about gathering the Valkyrie before dawn to train. A good training session would ease the tension within my shoulders. Besides, if I left them to their own vices, no one would train. "Excellent." I praised Sophie, crossing my arms over my chest. She had taken everything I had taught her and built upon it. Improved it with the years. She w
We had ended training after Caspian and I had fought. Everyone was confused as to what had transpired between us. The Valkyrie had demanded answers the moment we got into the house, but I had needed time to sort out my thoughts. Process what had taken place.Caspian had decided to stay and frankly, that was a relief on some level. Yet I knew that was the easy part. Julian wouldn't take kindly to a man constantly around me, whether that man was my mate or not. We still barely knew him and I already had two mates. Throw in another Alpha male and mating hormones and we were doomed. The three of us would have to sit down and talk about ground rules. Boundaries. But all of those tasks could wait until after Mikaela was back in our midst. For now, we needed as much information from Caspian as possible. To know what my father was planning gave us a great advantage.I was headed towards the bathroom for a shower when Caspian caught up to me. His face was red and the wound on h
I had made a deal with the devil. Yes, some part of me was happy that I had given in to Caspian. Given in to the idea of us. He had wanted proof of how serious I would take this arrangement. Take us. But this was on a whole other level.Caspian staggered back after his words, realization kicking in. Because he had taken my blood, his heart would stop beating. Vampire blood now coursed through his veins as well. Like Mikaela and I, Caspian would live forever, unaffected by age and time. Death would come looking for him in other ways, but dying from being too old was not his way to go anymore.Caspian's eyes shot to mine as he clutched at his chest. Shock ran rampant on his face, but his mouth couldn't properly form the words. I remembered the time I had gone through exactly what he was now experiencing. It was earth shattering and mind numbing, but the thrill of knowing I would live forever drowned out anything else. Live forever with my mates beside me. Bliss. Caspian
I could see the colour draining from Sophie's face as she realized what I had said. Sonja blinked once, then twice, at a loss for words. The rest of the Valkyrie simply stared at me, their eyes going wide, but kept their mouths shut. None of them knew how to approach this. Neither did I. Caspian and I weren't exactly the best fit. Our opinions differed, yet he had stayed. Stayed for me but still demanded I leave Mikaela and Julian. What we had done only moments ago would disrupt this house completely. I hadn't spoken to Julian before hand about it and I knew how unsettled he would be.To see their reactions now was tearing me apart."Are you sure?" Claire asked from behind Sonja, her glasses slipping to the tip of her nose. Strange to think that a vampire would have bad eyesight. I would have to ask her about it later."She is sure. Otherwise his scent wouldn't be clinging to her skin." Emory commented, poking out her head from behind Sophie. The walls to the ha
Julian remained silent, so I turned my head to look at him. Julian had slumped back into his chair, eyes drooping to the floor. His shoulders hung low and he refused to look at me. There were tugs at my heart, only indication of my guilt. Well, and my racing thoughts. Stepping closer to Julian, I reached out for him, but he barely moved. Bricks weighed down his shoulders as his fingers curled and uncurled around each other.What had I done?Things weren't meant to come to this. I had been stupid and impulsive. I thought I could solve all of our problems alone. "Julian, I-" "There is no need to explain. It is what it is and it is your truth. I cannot change what you feel." He mumbled, unable to face me head on. Sucking in a breath, I stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his knee. I wanted to remind him that I was there. I was with him and I still loved him with every fibre of my being. But happiness was a fickle thing once war came. Once the tra
The sun flooded my usual perch within my office whilst Julian sat tensely at the desk. His shoulders were hunched in concentration, eyebrows furrowed in thought. Papers were strewn all about the table in the same way it always was when he wanted to figure something out. Our situation with Mikaela was growing more tense by the second. After our little conversation with Caspian, we had turned the chat around to something else entirely. Mikaela. None of us had actually spoken about or brought up rules and boundaries for the coming relationship and that was fine. Mikaela came first above all.Caspian sat on a chair close to my feet, fingers never leaving the bridge of my foot. His thumb would stroke me from time to time and sparks would travel up my leg in response. Any excuse to touch me was a good enough excuse for me. I felt the same, but couldn't help and think what Mikaela would say. She wasn't even here to see all this drama unfold. Every time I had a problem, Mikaela was b