I walk in the door late, having missed dinner with my boy again. I see Sandra and Bhakti on the floor with Nathan, building some monstrous stack of blocks with cars and Little People stacked on and around it. Nathan’s making roaring noises and giggling. The sight stops my heart. He’s been so happy here. The shadow of Julian and that pack has left, fallen away from his little psyche, and left this happy little boy in its wake. It’s amazing to see his healing. Amazing to see what his life should have been all along. Carefree, creative, full of hope and happiness. And love. So much love. He's never met a stranger. Every other pup fights to sit beside him in school or be on his team during recess. He is loved by everyone. I wish that I could be more like him. Yeah, I’m better. I’m not constantly on high alert, waiting to see what I would do to piss someone off, to see how they’d react. Using my son to keep me in line. Using my body to beat out their frustrations or gain
Rin has finally fallen asleep. She had clung to me, afraid of my reaction to her emotions from the clearing. She wasn’t convinced that Severn and I could handle her feelings. For some crazy reason, she had convinced herself that we would reject her, leaving her all alone in the world. Don’t get me wrong, I understand her fear of abandonment, especially with everything that had happened with our pack and all of the other packs. But what had Severn or I ever done to convince her that we would leave her? I don’t understand. I want to, but I just don’t. Regardless, I can’t let her be alone. That’s when she goes down these rabbit holes and freaks out. When she spends time alone in the woods with that damn skeet shooter and just thinks about everything that we’ve lost, that’s when she comes up with ideas for revenge and plots for kidnapping. I’ll support her as best I can through all of this until we can get in with the other trios. According to Brandon, they’ve got counselors an
I wake to the smell of rotten meat surrounding me and a heavy weight in my lap. The feeling of cold stone on my back and beneath me reminds me that I’m in the gym cave with Sev, who is probably what is in my lap. I crack my eyes open slightly, just enough to take in the room. No one is in here yet, but they are just outside of the door. I can hear them moving in the leaves, not even attempting to be quiet. I guess they think that because there are six of them, they can stand against us. Yeah, ok. I put my hand over Sev’s mouth so that he doesn’t speak and shake him awake. Immediately, he’s alert and beginning to claw at my hand. I pull his head to mine quickly, keeping my eyes on the door. I can see one of them in wolf form starting to walk towards the door. “Rogues!” My whisper is urgent, my eyes tracking their movement. It’s then that we hear Corinda’s scream from the other cave. Without thinking, Sev leaps up, calling her name. “Fuck!” I mutter under my breath. He j
I wake up with the urgent need to pee. I sigh loudly before rolling from side to side to try to get momentum. I finally roll to my side and push myself up. The change in gravity does not help the peeing situation AT ALL. This little girl is doing a tap dance on my bladder. “Alright, kid. I get it. Calm your ass down. I’m getting up as fast as I can,” I grumble. I lean forward and put my weight on the bedside table and half fall forward, half stand. I love this kid, I truly, truly do. But I can’t wait to have my body to myself again. I finally stand and waddle my considerably bigger ass to the bathroom. After finally relieving myself, I waddle back out of the bathroom, looking for my shirt that I threw off when Lily and I came in here for a nap. From my understanding, with two pups, these will be at a premium soon and Lily and I decided that we would take advantage of the little time that we have left. Our due date is eight weeks from now, just behind Sandra and Bhakti.
When Case floated Sev up to him, I almost expected to feel a pang of jealousy surge through my chest that he hadn’t done the same for me. But, I didn’t. Instead, I just feel that “awww” moment that you get when you watch sappy movies and the main characters finally get together. Happy for them, somewhat wishing that you had it yourself, but not really wanting to be a part of their moment. I don’t really dwell on the feeling long. Sev wasn’t completely wrong when he accused me of not being in love with my mates any longer. I am…but more as long time friends love each other. I guess you could call us friends with benefits? I hadn’t really felt love for them in…years? Even the fated sparks have died down for me. I don’t really feel them when I touch my mates anymore. I had hoped that once my revenge was exacted that I would start to fall back in love with them. It hasn’t happened though. I still feel too angry. At least, now, I have a new enemy to vent my anger on. I turn
It all seems to happen in slow motion, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Rin spins towards Brandon, her fist already pulled back before she releases a punch that would have definitely dislocated and possibly broken a human’s jaw. But Brandon catches her hand in mid-throw. Suddenly, she’s on the ground beneath him, her hands grasped in his, his knee in her stomach, and his face menacingly close to hers. “I wouldn’t do that, Corinda. You have to know how my gift works. I’m not sure why I didn’t see Sev’s tree coming, other than it isn’t really living, but I’ll see anything you try to do. Don’t do that again.” His voice is a growl, threatening her. I feel Case tense beside me, but I can feel his conflicting feelings through the link. She kind of asked for this, but that’s our mate that’s being threatened. The most unexpected thing happens when her arousal scents the air. It temporarily leaves both Case and I immobile in utter shock. Brandon moves off of her almost fas
Zak and I had just made our way into the Alpha Council when we feel Brandon’s distress and pain. It’s like something is squeezing our throats, making it hard to breathe. Almost like an asthma attack, nothing at all like Brandon is feeling, but still scary as all hell. Wheezing, Zak and I fall to the ground, clutching our necks. Arya and Dev run to our sides, our other friends close on their heels. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?” Dev cries, holding us up so that we can get deeper breaths of air. Through short, panting breaths, I say, “It’s Brandon. He’s dying.” “No!” Dev screams. He holds me while Arya holds Zak and their demi-god powers lessen the pain. It makes it so we can think. And tap into Brandon’s side of the link to see what’s going on. What we find is scary as fuck! Casen is holding Brandon down with his wind power while sucking the air from his lungs. The process is slow and excruciating. If feels like he is dry drowning, searching for air when there is no
I know that I took my anger out on the wrong person. It’s just so much easier to take it out on Brandon than it would be to face Rin in that moment. But I have to face her now. We’ve got to get out of here and to the safehouse. And we have to deal with the shit that just went down. FUCK! I can’t believe that she got off on Brandon holding her down. She hasn’t gotten horny like that since…I can’t remember the last time we’ve made her horny with just a word or a touch. We have sex so rarely and when we do, it takes her so long to get wet. We have to use lube and do foreplay for what seems like hours for her to get wet enough to take us. She rarely, if ever, seems interested. But a wolf can only go so long without being with their mate after they are marked and mated. It’s helpful that Sev and I can be together and that pushes the need off some, but we need each other. At least Sev and I need her. I catch her scent quickly and follow her through the woods. Though she is a