“I…what?” I couldn’t look away from Alpha.
“You defeat Gamma Maddox and you can stay in that house with Beta, his chosen, and the child. However, if you lose, you will be adopted out. You will live in the pack house. You will move on from this childish hyper focus on a piece of property.”
Tears sprung to my eyes as I looked at Gamma Maddox. He put his hands up and shook his head. Gamma Maddox probably had been commanded because despite enjoying a good fight, this would be out of character for him. Hell, this was out of Alpha Damian’s character.
“Aurik, that’s going too far.” Mr. Penn frowned, his arms crossed over his chest. “Winter doesn’t have the training. You know that.”
“Should I just order her instead? Damian wanted to give the pup the chance and this is what I decided. I am done watching, Caspian. I’m done letting this get
Squeezing my eyes shut, I slowly pulled my limbs back to into a position I could try and get up. Everything hurt. Everything felt broken. I was still conscious though. That felt more of a win than anything. It also meant that I wasn’t done. Alpha didn’t realize it, but I’d have every intention of putting my life on the line. There was no giving up. Not when it was the one thing I had left to fight for.Rolling over, I managed to push up on all fours. Slowly, I pulled one foot up and planted it in the grass. I pushed up but let myself fall to the right as I felt a gust of wind blow by me. My eyes widened as I looked at Gamma Maddox’s arm a few inches from my face. It was sunk into the wall behind me.I wouldn’t call it scrambling, not at the pace I was going, but it didn’t look pretty as I forced myself to stand as quickly as I could. Swaying a little bit, I squared up again despite the protest of every single muscle, nerve, bone, and fiber of my being. At some point, i
I was sitting up in the hospital bed, a lap-table in front of me, as I did my homework. Krista brought it by every day after school since I was still stuck here. When she came with her mom on Friday after the doctor called her, I was forced to listen to a five minute lecture. It ranged from how much of an idiot I was, to how reckless I was, and back to how much of an idiot I was. Her mom finally stopped her after she started to hyperventilate as she fumed.For the most part, everything was healed. Bones were put back in place and any internal bleeding stopped. On Monday, Gamma Maddox came by to apologize. Though, we ended up talking more about the fight than anything. I knew he was just doing as Alpha requested. I didn’t hold it against him and if anything, it was a good lesson. It hammered home that I still had a long way to go.Dad never came by but I wasn’t surprised about that. What was surprising was that Alpha Damian or even Luna Ember never came by. I thought th
Dee picked me up from the hospital at seven in the morning. He was right on time just as I had gathered my bag and was at the nurses counter signing out. Taking my bag from me, we walked out to the car which was an old beat-up silver Toyota SUV. I gave him a raised eyebrow.“It’s Dad’s. Mine is in the shop and Dad can’t get rid of this thing.” He shivered. “He says both Krista and I were conceived in the back seat of this car and he refuses to get rid of it.”I wrinkled my nose. “That’s gross.”“It really is. Come on. I’ll take you home.” He put his hand up as I opened my mouth. “Before you say anything, I have explicit instructions to take you home and not to school.”Snorting, I shook my head. “Your family is the worst sometimes.”He shrugged and opened the door for me. Once we took off, Dee rolled down the windows and turned up the music. I pulled my hair back so that it wasn’t flying around in the wind. However, the multiple days without my usu
I was startled awake by my door opening. It didn’t slam but I knew better than to be asleep for movement in my room. Dad stood in the doorway and I sat up, blinking away the dream about collecting mushrooms in a forest I didn’t recognize. He didn’t look mad or upset, which was unusual.What he did look was tired. I hadn’t seen him for almost a week but it looked like he aged a few years. He stepped into my room but not very far. Leaning against desk that I had against the wall, Dad crossed his arms over his chest.“You want to tell me what happened?”My brow furrowed. “Didn’t you get told what happened?”“I want you to tell me, Winter. I don’t want three different stories telling me roughly the same thing.”I swallowed and looked down at the book that had fallen when I fell asleep. “From when…”“How did you get beaten so bad that you landed in the hospital?”“I…um…I fought Gamma Maddox.”He nodded. “Why?”“Becau
Slamming my locker shut, I raised my eyebrow at Krista who had been leaning against the locker next to me. She had been staring at me for a few minutes while I swapped what was in my backpack. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned in. I was tempted to knock my forehead into hers but held off.“You seem…different.”“Different? You mean healed?” I chortled.Krista shook her head. “No. Dumbass. Just different. Like…you’re holding yourself different.”Shrugging, I glared down the hallway at Rebecca. She was walking down the hallway but she looked different. Her makeup was heavier than normal. Not that she was going for a dark smokey eye but she was definitely covering up some dark circles.She was ignoring everything around her as she walked down the hallway, which was incredible to witness. Her eyes caught mine and she sneered but passed me without even an insult. Blinking, I watched her leave before I turned back to Krista.“I mean…trainin
We continued to joke around until we made it into the city. It was far more crowded than any place in pack but it was a nice change. Sometimes, it was nice to get lost in a sea of humans. Krista continued to drive through the main downtown before reaching the mall that we preferred. It wasn’t the high end one in town but it was the biggest one.There was a restaurant across the street from the mall that we decided to stop and have brunch. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese hash brown bowl whereas Krista got a whole breakfast platter. We ate talking about the plans we had for All Hallows Eve. There was going to be a whole pack festival but that usually ended before the parties started.Killing about an hour, we made our way into the mall. It was more lively at eleven than it seemed like had been was right when they opened. We made a circuit around the place, walking off our food, before we dove into shopping. I had a bank account in my name that received a deposit
Embarrassment flooded through me. This was not the conversation I wanted to have with the person we were talking about. Krista didn’t seem to mind at all. She nodded, like it was fine we were talking about mates with our Gamma.“Do you know why she is feeling the way she is?”Gamma Maddox shook his head. “It could be a leadership thing. It could be her mate. Who knows. We won’t know until it stops.”“But you’re not…” I started, my face still red as a tomato.“No, Winter. I’m not.”He narrowed his eyes for a moment before I saw his demeanor change. Krista saw it too. She sat up straighter, pulling her leg in closer. I also perked up a little more. Gamma Maddox was our leadership. Usually, he was silly and goofy. The look on his face right now was serious. Serious Gamma was a rare occurrence and one that you listened to no matter what.“I had a mate. Back when
“You okay?”Gamma Maddox stood next to me while we waited for Krista to try on clothes. After the bomb that was dropped, we all sat in silence for a while until Krista decided that she needed more clothes. So, we followed her whim. He was now holding three bags of his own purchases, I had another bag from the doom, gloom, and sex store as Krista differentiated.“I mean, I thought Caleb dumped a lot on me last night. I knew some of it, but there were just small pieces that now fit. Then…you…” I sighed. “I feel like sometimes I’m being pulled every which way. My mother’s family was leadership. Her friends were leadership. Her boyfriend apparently was leadership. Caleb was leadership. His family leadership. It makes sense that I would also be tangled up in the leadership but this is just…a lot…”He shrugged, his usual self shinning through a little more as we shopped. “You were always
“You have got to be kidding me.”Krista smiled wide. “What are you talking about? I saw this and it screamed you.”“Krista.”“Winter.”“Kris.”“Winny.”I slammed my palm into my forehead. “We don’t have time to get something else, do we?”“How dare you! This is perfect! You will look like you’re going to go into battle! Complete with battle ready shoes. I thought you would be happy with them. They aren’t even that high and they are the thick heel.”Throwing my hands up, I gestured to the dress she had set out. “The boots are the least of my worries at this point! Krista! This is over the top!”She took my hands bringing them down and holding them together. “I promise you, it’s not. You could be like me.”My eyes side over to her dress. She was right about that. Bo
It felt like something was pressing down on my chest. I couldn’t catch my breath and I opened my eyes, hoping I wasn’t having a panic attack. Instead, Krista was sitting on my chest, looking down at me with a huge smile on her face. Rolling my eye, I closed them and burrow back into her pillow.“Absolutely not! Get up!”“Five more minutes.”She started to jump on me and I groaned. “You might have been sleeping in for the last two weeks, but some of us have normal sleep schedules. We need to get ready for tonight. You turn eighteen! It’s tonight, Winter!”I turned over, Krista falling off me and onto the other side of her bed. “Five more minutes. Why do I need to get up early if my birthday is tonight?”“Because beauty takes time. Come on, girl. Get up!”Sighing, I debated throwing the blankets over my head, but that would just end up with water getting dum
“Well, sweets, that’s up to you, isn’t it?” Councilor Daeva came over, brushing her fingers through my hair. “What do you want to do? The two of you, because you are fated mates. You have to decide on what you want to do.”“Maybe not tonight? Maybe tonight we let them talk it out here?” Councilor Estella chuckled. “The poor dears are exhausted. Winter’s been through enough today.”“I already sent back Brittany. It’s why I was late coming back. She was hesitant, but I told her we were making sure Caspian was here and she was more amiable to the idea.” Councilor Daeva giggled, sounding like chimes every time she did. “And are we having them sleep together in the same room? Scandalous.”“Daeva, you’re the one who can see their mate bond. You’re the last one who should be saying that.” Councilor Augustine chuckled.
“Poisoning?” My knees started to give, but Councilor Daeva went from hanging on to me to holding me up. “They poisoned my mother? Is that how she died?”Councilor Erissa got up and got another glass. This time, it was filled with water and she handed it to me. I took a couple sips, still feeling like I wanted to pass out.“To answer your question, yes and no.” Councilor Daeva chimed in again. “Sorry, I’m not reading the room again, am I?”“No, you aren’t. You’re being overly touchy and the poor girl looks like she is going to faint.” Councilor Morel spoke again, shaking his head.He was right. I wanted to faint. Councilor Erissa helped me with the next couple of sips of water while Councilor Daeva left my back to go bicker with Councilor Morel. My mother…I always thought that she died from a broken heart. That the bond that my father refused to acknowledge had ki
I didn’t know what to say. This all was so overwhelming. I sat there, staring into the coffee table. My mind was going a million directions and unable to settle. The mug of hot chocolate was placed back in my hands and I instinctively took a sip. It was the taste of home. The same feeling when I smelled the herbs drying or damp soil from a garden. The same feeling I had stepping into this room.Taking a breath, I finally spoke. “Before…I ask anything else. The reason I came here was because Alpha Damian and my father were trying to mate me off to another pack. They said that y-you signed off on it. I wanted to state my case. At the very least that I should be allowed to meet with Caspian when I turn eighteen. To know…before I’m mated off to someone…”“You have no need to worry about that.” Councilor Augustine growled. “You will not be going anywhere. Not unless by your choice.”“We also didn’t sign off on it, for what it’s worth. They never came to us.” Councilo
The door opened and I felt my stomach drop. Regis moved to the side to allow me to step in. He gave me a smile and nodded into the room. Stepping into the room, I kept my eyes on the floor for a moment. My mother’s locket was tight in my hand. The door shut quietly behind me and slowly, I lifted my head.I had to blink a couple times to comprehend what I was seeing. The room was nothing as I expected. There were windows along the entire wall I was facing, a gorgeous view of the forest and even the river that ran all the way down to the pack. Inside the room reminded me of my house before Hannah got her grubby paws on it.It was the warm comforting living room or den. The stone floor had been covered in a hodgepodge of large area rugs. About three different styles of antique couches, five in total, were all around the room. The wall to my right was floor to ceiling bookshelves. There were was one long table in front of it and then two desks, one facing the windows
I sat in the passenger seat of Mrs. St James giant black Wagoneer. We had left the pack territory a while ago as we drove north. Outside of telling me I looked lovely and asking me to buckle up, she didn’t say anything for the entire drive so far. There was some jazz playing lightly in the background and I looked out the window, everything outside being completely new to me.“Winter.”My head snapped to her. “Yes?”“You will be meeting with the entire Council. I will not be with you. You will be on your own and a few of them aren’t happy with an extra meeting today.”Nodding, I listened carefully to her. She wasn’t looking at me, her face serious as she watched the road. It was her in work-mode. A heaviness to her tone.“You cannot argue. You cannot treat them as you would your pack. While you might rebel against the Alpha, but you cannot do that to them. They would just as easily decide that you’re not worth it.”It wasn’t a matter of seeing me as a child wasting their time. She was
“Winter, do you know what you are asking for?”I stood in Mrs. St James’ office. She had stared at me a long time when I asked her to take me to speak to the Council of Elders. Luckily, she didn’t dismiss me immediately. Instead, she asked Krista to help me get dressed and then meet in her office. I expected that we would be alone, but Mr. St James was leaning against the wall behind her.“I do.”Mrs. St James leaned forward, her elbows on her desk as she rested her chin on her hands. “Winter, bringing the Council into this…it would get messy. It would also be leaving the decision in their hands. You might not like the outcome. They might not decide in your favor.”I looked down, clasping my own hands together. “I know. Thinking over this past week, I tried to think of what I could do. I felt, powerless, despite telling Caspian that we could figure it out. Leaving it all up to him, when the reason why I’m fighting so hard against this is purely selfish. It’s because I don’t want to le
We pulled into the pack house driveway and I was surprised to see quite a few cars around. The pressure on my chest felt heavier when I realized not a single one of these cars was Caspian’s. Getting out, I left my backpack behind and Caleb even waited for me to walk with him to the door. Did he think I would run? Looking around, I wondered if it would be an option.“Inside, Winter.”Nodding, I walked into the house. What used to be a safe place for me now felt slimy. It felt like I didn’t belong here anymore. Nor did I feel welcome. Stepping into the kitchen, Luna Ember smiled and started to pull me into a hug, but I stepped back. Caleb growled but I didn’t care. Not after everything.“Winter…I know it may not seem like it now…but we really just want the best for you.” She stopped trying to hug me, at least. “I know it’s hard to see now, but trust us.”All I wanted to say was no. I didn’t want anything to do with any of this. This was wrong. Everyone knew it and I didn’t understand why