Jasmine and I arrived at the greenhouse, hoping to score some apples after training. She won the race, but I didn’t do too badly. The training was definitely helping me build stamina.“So, what’s your name? Or am I calling you ‘Ugly Face’ forever?” I teased.“Jasmine. Or ‘Highness.’ I can go either way,” she replied with a smirk.“Aurelia. Aury for short.” I smiled. “Nice to meet you.”“Aury… hm… I like it.” She tilted her head. “So, why are you here?”I shrugged. “Taking a break from my life. Learning new things. Getting close to my mom’s roots. Your standard Eat, Pray, Love—minus the love part.”“I thought you were just some bimbo here for a vacation,” she admitted, “but I see you actually trying to learn and be independent. I appreciate that.” Then she smirked. “You suck at everything, though. But at least you’re trying.”“Okay, I don’t suck that bad,” I shot back, pretending to be offended. “And for your information, I’m great at fishing.”She laughed, and I joined in.We spent th
I arrived at the secret training location, which turned out to be the same place where my mom and I had been fishing when we were attacked by the bear. I spotted Gamma Brandon—and Alpha Rhett. What is he doing here? “Hi, Aurelia. Come on over, you’re right on time,” said Gamma Brandon. “Hi. You mean I’m early, right? Where is everyone else?” I asked, glancing around. “It’s just us. You have a lot of catching up to do,” he replied. Then, shooting a pointed look at the Alpha, he added, “And there’s no better sparring partner than our Alpha here.” I looked between the two of them, sensing something unspoken passing between them, but I had no clue what it was about. “Okay… just don’t beat me up too badly,” I said, giving a nervous laugh. “I still have morning training, and I’d really like to survive it. Oh, and maybe—just maybe—land one punch?” Gamma Brandon chuckled, but Alpha Rhett remained as serious as ever. Tough crowd. “Alright, let’s get into position,” Gamma Brandon instruct
I swam in the river, letting the cool water soothe my muscles after the brutal training session. At first, I was just enjoying the quiet, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind—I was being watched.Something told me it was Alpha Rhett. And if I was wrong? Well, too late to do anything about it now.I started swimming properly, using the water to train my endurance. Back and forth, faster and faster, until my muscles burned. A strange satisfaction filled me. I was actually enjoying exercise. Who would’ve thought?By the time I climbed out of the water, the feeling of being watched had vanished. Still, I didn’t waste any time—I threw on my clothes and ran home, not eager to find out what else might be lurking in the darkness of this place.I fell asleep almost immediately after eating a quick meal—a boiled egg, the best I could manage with my exhaustion.Gamma Brandon was an older man, with white hair and a neatly trimmed beard that added to his distinguished appearance.
A few days passed since the dinner. We were in much better shape thn whn we started. We had furniture, a warm bed to slep in, food, ways to gt food, we had stater a jewlery which we used to trade for other things within the pack and sometimes ven sel it for money. It was such a fun thing and I was exilarated that people enjoyed the designs that they want them for themselves. This summer was so far the best yet. My heart was healed, I completely understood and accepted what happened. And somehow any lingering feelings I had were no more. Although I still remember jeremy with fondness. It is crazy to think I saw him as my mate and now I remember him as a friend. I hope he feels the same way, It would be hard to go back to ____ pack if there was any awkwardness. My brother was supposed to his beta and it would be odd to run in to him or his mate and feel tension. At least there wouldnt be any tension coming from me. I also made a friend here, Jasmine, a.ka. Ugly face, who was actually b
I was on my third training session of the day. We had been in Alaska for five weeks now, and for the past four weeks, I had been training every morning, every evening, and then at night with the Alpha and the Gamma. It was exhausting—but exhilarating.My body had changed. My muscles had grown stronger, more defined. As a cheer captain, I had been physically fit, but I wasn’t Foraker Mountain Pack fit. There was a difference between being athletic and being a warrior. And now, I was beginning to bridge that gap. My stamina had nearly doubled, my reflexes had sharpened, and for the first time in my life, I felt powerful.My mother had started attending the night sessions as well, claiming she needed to "chaperone" me, but I wasn’t blind—I saw the way she lingered when the Gamma was around, the way they exchanged fleeting glances that spoke of an old, quiet understanding. It was strange, seeing my mother like that. For so long, she had been just Mom. But here… she was someone else. Someon
The night was already dark, but suddenly, it felt like the shadows thickened, swallowing the remaining slivers of moonlight. A deep, guttural roar echoed through the forest, sending a chill down my spine. It wasn’t a wolf’s growl—it was something else, something unnatural.Then, the trees trembled, their towering forms swaying as if something massive was forcing its way through them. The sound of cracking branches and rustling leaves grew louder, closer. My breath hitched as I instinctively took a step back.My mom besides me tensed, and everyone's posture shifting into defensive stances. Gamma Brandon and Alpha Rhett’s eyes flickered in the dim light, assessing the unseen threat.Then, a scream shattered the silence.It wasn’t the playful shout of someone roughhousing. It was pure terror, raw and piercing.More screams followed—panicked cries rising from the direction of the pack village. My chest tightened. Something was attacking.Alpha Rhett’s face darkened, and he let out a sharp,
The creature’s red eyes bore into me, glowing like embers in the night. It was huge—its distorted, hulking body moving unnaturally fast as it tore through the trees. Each heavy step sent vibrations through the ground, the sheer force of its presence suffocating.Amanda grabbed my wrist and yanked me forward. “Run!”We bolted.Branches whipped against my face as we sprinted toward the cabin. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it over the chaos. My mother’s grip was iron-tight, as if she feared letting go would mean losing me forever.A deep, guttural snarl echoed behind us, and I risked a glance back.It was gaining on us.The beast’s powerful
If not for the destruction around us, I would have thought I imagined it. The battlefield was eerily silent, save for the wind whispering through the ruins.But as I lowered my gaze, something worse happened.The black blood on my arms began to spread.A sickening wrongness seeped into my skin, moving like poison through my veins. My limbs weakened, my vision blurred, and before I could scream—Everything went dark.I woke up to an endless expanse of snow.The wind howled, ice-cold and unrelenting, stinging my skin like tiny daggers. The sky stretched above me, an eternal gray abyss, void of sun, moon, or stars. Empty. Hollow. Infinite.I was alone.“Rhett!” I screamed. “Mom?”No answer.I spun in place, searching for any sign of life. My breath came in frantic puffs of white against the frozen air. Then, in the distance—a shadow emerged.It was moving toward me.Instinct screamed at me to run, so I did. My feet pounded against the snow, but no matter how fast I moved, the shadow loome
Ares’ POV“Come on, Snow. You gotta get up,” I muttered to my sister, nudging her lightly. Two days. She’d slept for two whole days. Again. And I was over it.A groan came from the bed. I let out a breath. Well, that was better than the coma-like state she’d been in before.“Stop being a sleepyhead. I need you to wake up. We all need you,” I said, softer this time.The door creaked open behind me. “Has she moved or said anything?” Alpha Rhett asked.I didn’t even bother to hide my eye-roll. I didn’t care what anyone said—it was obvious he cared for her way more than any normal pack member. What Alpha spend two days straight sitting in someone’s hospital room?“She groaned,” I replied.“You should take a break. I’m here—I’ll watch over her.”Didn’t sound like I had a choice.“Sure. I’ll go get something to eat. Thanks,” I said, getting up.I stepped out of the room but didn’t walk away. I lingered by the small hallway window, peeking through the gaps in the blinds. I watched as Alpha
Jerry’s POVI woke up at 4 a.m. The sky outside was still dark and quiet. My body moved through its routine without thought—wake up, hit the gym, spar with one of the warriors. Then breakfast. Then the office. I had to process payroll before the banks opened. Running a pack isn’t for the faint of heart.My lovely mate was still sleeping. She enjoys her mornings slow, and I’m okay with that. Jeremy, on the other hand, was also asleep, and that I wasn’t okay with. He should be up with me, getting his discipline set. Instead, he was still floating in the honeymoon phase with his new mate.A gamma is not a bad match for an alpha. But he gave up a beta-blooded female with high priestess potential. Fated mate or not, he made a political mistake. That kind of bond could have brought strength to the pack—especially with these demon attacks getting worse.My own fated mate died in a rogue attack before we had a chance to mate. I chose another, Jeremy’s mother. Chosen mates are just as good, s
"Hi," I said timidly.She stood before me, tall, radiant, cloaked in fur as white as snow with eyes like garnets, glowing from within. My wolf. She was... like me."I have been waiting for this moment," she said. Her voice was regal, calm, and ancient. "I am Alba, descendant of the goddess Kheimon, first of my kind. High Priestess of Winter.""Is that who we are?" I asked, my voice trembling with awe. "High Priestess of Winter?""Yes, young one. That is who we are. Do you not feel our power?""I do," I whispered. "I felt it... when we attacked the demon."Only then did I look around us. We stood in what looked like the middle of a frozen ocean. Ice stretched in every direction, flawless and glistening, with no land in sight. Above us, the sky was glowing with soft, golden light, ethereal, energizing. Peaceful. Magical."Yes, we wounded that demon," she said."I thought we killed it. It turned to smoke after our attack.""To kill a demon requires more than drawing its blood," she said
The demon's grip tightened. The pressure was excruciating. I could not move, and I could not fill my lungs with air anymore.My ribs cracked, at least one of them did. I couldn't scream. Couldn’t move. The heat scorched through me, blistering my skin. I was suffocating, burning, and breaking.This is it, I thought.This is how I die.But just as the world began to fade into nothingnessI heard her.A voice. Fierce. Wild. Mine but not mine.“You will not kill us.”A sharp pain tore through my chest, not from the demon, but from within. It was like lightning cracked open my soul. My head snapped back, eyes wide, and my whole body exploded with a blinding white light.The demon howled.Frost spread across its hand and arm. The cold energized me; it was me as another surge came through my body.All the frustration, the weakness, the fear, it all exploded and dissipated in an explosion. As the demon’s hand shattered into a million pieces. It roared in agony. I fell hard onto the stone ste
POV: AureliaI woke up feeling strangely rested, as if the chaos of yesterday hadn’t left its mark. But it had. A warrior from another pack had been murdered inside our borders, and his chest was carved open, a demon mark left behind. And last night, I dreamt again.No, not a dream.The demon spoke to me.It felt too vivid, too real. Like it was no longer bound to the other side but slipping into this world… into mine.And then Rhett showed up. Like a knight in dark armor, he held me through the night. I’d fallen asleep in his arms and somehow ended up in my bed this morning. Ares was home. So was Mom, if the smell of bacon coming from the kitchen was anything to go by.Today, I needed normalcy.Breakfast with the family. Morning practice. After training, I went home, worked on some new jewelry, then walked to Market Street to drop them off at one of the shops that sold my work. I even considered expanding and maybe start selling online or even in human markets. Crazy, right?The sun d
POV: RhettI woke before dawn, a hum of unease crawling beneath my skin. It wasn’t the usual stress of leadership or the weight of politics pressing down on me. No, this was different. This was dread.I didn’t even make it to the war room before Brandon intercepted me in the hallway. His face was pale, his jaw clenched.“It’s Jonas,” he said.Jonas, the emissary from Crescent Ridge. Sharp. Steady. Loyal to the cause, if not to me.“Where?”“Behind the barracks. You’ll want to see this.”We moved through the thick morning mist in silence. The compound was quiet, save for the distant cry of a crow. One for death. Two for trouble. I remembered my grandmother saying that once.Jonas lay in the clearing, and one look told me everything.Not just murder. Ritual.His chest had been carved open with sickening precision. Symbols burned into his flesh pulsed faintly—demonic, like the ones Aurelia had described. There was no blood. No sign of a struggle. As if he’d gone willingly.Or been taken i
Aurelia’s POVI didn’t stop running. Not until I reached the pack house, not until I was standing in front of Alpha Rhett’s office door, panting, my heart pounding harder than it should’ve been. That symbol, branded into the temple stone like a fiery curse, was still seared into my mind.I knocked. Harder than necessary.The door cracked open, but it wasn’t Rhett who answered. Lily stepped out, looking… disheveled. Her lipstick was smeared, her hair mussed like she’d just rolled out of bed—or someone’s arms. She tugged down her tiny dress, pretending not to notice the flush on her cheeks.I stood there, frozen.Lily.Hair tousled, lipstick smeared, tugging at the hem of a too-short dress like it might magically grow an inch if she pulled hard enough. Her smirk was smug, but her eyes flashed like she’d been caught.Great.“Look what the avalanche dragged in,” she purred with a cruel smile. “A frozen corpse. Oops. Sorry, Aury—I got confused for a second. Your paleness threw me off.”Bi
POV: AureliaAfter the ball on Saturday and the Council meeting that followed, I was exhausted. My body ached, my thoughts were tangled, and the heaviness of responsibility settled into my bones like frost.And yet, it was only Monday.My official role as high priestess had barely begun, and here I was—sitting in war rooms, speaking alongside Alphas and strategists like I belonged. I wasn’t sure if I did. But I knew I had to.As the meeting began, we gathered once more in the war hall. This time, it was less ceremonial and more tactical. The long table was crowded with voices, not just in person, but through a large video screen that connected us to packs too far to travel. The faces of distant Alphas flickered with unstable connections, eyes squinting into their screens, expressions guarded.Some representatives were cooperative, offering records and patrol notes. Others were vague and evasive. A few, like the Blackwood and Night Howlers delegates, answered in clipped sentences and t
Ares’ POVWe were all gathered in the war hall—Alphas, Betas, and the trusted few they brought with them. I had specifically requested each pack’s leadership team be present. If they had heroes or people with unique insight, they were welcome too. We needed unity. And more than that—we needed the truth.Alpha Rhett stood at the front, shoulders squared, his voice calm but commanding as he addressed the room.“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” he began. “I want to be clear—this meeting doesn’t take away from this weekend’s festivities. But it is the perfect time to gather as many of you as possible and discuss our growing concerns.”He scanned the room, his expression unreadable.“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors,” he continued. “I’m here to confirm them—and to put any doubt to rest. The attacks are real. And they’re growing bolder. Our lands were recently targeted by something... monstrous.”The words hit like thunder.“They stood taller than any creature we’ve ever recorded