GINGER A few hours after my exit, Paige burst into my room. "What did I tell you about knocking!" I yelled. "As long as I don't walk in on you getting a golden shower or having anal sex with Tyce, I think I'm good." She snickered. "What about him wearing my panties?" I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. "Well, I'm thinking the important things would be covered in that case. And, anyway, I've already seen him naked." "What! You have?" I was furious at the thought, and my fingers began contorting themselves to turn to claws, similar to the night I went to the club. "I am a warrior, you know. We're constantly shifting back and forth between our two forms." I calmed down after she gave her explanation, relieved that nothing more nefarious had gone on. "Especially Tyce since he can't mindlink with us. And it's literally all the other female warriors can talk about. You should hear them. I think they're worse than the guys!" "What do they say?" I asked, my ears perking up. She snic
JASMINEOn Saturday morning, I was looking through some reports on the casino, upstairs in my office, when I recalled that Blake had recently printed out the PowerPoint slides from a presentation we'd been given earlier that week. He had taken some handwritten notes and I wanted to make sure I took them into consideration before I responded to the CEO's email that was awaiting a reply, so I descended the stairs to go find them in his office.As I approached, I noticed the door was slightly ajar with light trickling into the hallway, and voices in a passionate conversation, possibly an argument. Curiosity getting the best of me, I snuck closer so I could better hear what was going on."Fucking Artemis, Lucy, now is not the time. Blake could come back any second. Put your clothes back on.""C'mon, Luke, don't you think it's time we get started on the beta heir? You know the pack's going to be expecting one now." It was quiet for a moment and then Lucy's voice continued, "That's right, b
GINGER The morning after the sisters' potluck disaster, I woke up to find the house empty. Paige was nowhere to be found. I figured she must have had Saturday duty along with my dad. My mom also wasn’t home, and the family car was gone. I breathed out a happy sigh. It was nice when I got the house to myself. I could just wallow in my misery alone without anyone bothering me. I spent the entire morning and early afternoon in the backyard, laying out in the sun while reading and listening to music. The sun was bright without a cloud in sight—the perfect day to sunbathe. I knew I'd regret it later since my fair skin didn't take well to the sun. But my sunburns eventually faded into tans, so I suffered through it. Around mid-afternoon, a group text came in from Lucy, with a bunch of phone numbers included I didn't know. Lucy: Club tonight! Packhouse 10 sharp! I was going to ignore the text at first, but then, I thought, it would be nice to get out and ignore my problems. I double-che
GINGER By the time nine o'clock had rolled around, Paige still wasn't home. I quickly shot her a text to make sure she was okay. I then showered, noting my skin did not take well to the sun at all and it would definitely be peeling soon, only adding to the injuries to my body that I'd need to cover. Pretty soon my only option was going to be a full-on burqa. I made sure to keep the water cool in order not to scald myself. I tried to put a bra on and found it painful when parts of it would touch the skin my bikini hadn't covered. It was becoming quite clear what a bad idea it was to go clubbing that night as I'd also have to cover my legs and arms. I hadn't thought this through fully. But I had already committed to go and didn't want to back out now. In the end, I pulled on some fishnet stockings, and wrapped a scarf creatively around my stitches, thinking maybe I could set a new trend, chuckling to myself. On top, I had on a pair of black shorts, and a long-sleeve blouse with loose
GINGER I didn't know what I was expecting when we stepped out of that room, and part of me probably should have expected what I witnessed, but it was still quite shocking. Lucy was completely sloshed—especially considering she was a werewolf. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was one of my college friends rather than a beta's mate. She was grinding up on all the guys that had come with us, wobbly on her feet, practically falling over as she flung her body against theirs. One of them took a bottle of beer and started pouring it from above into her mouth while everyone looked on cheering. "Oh, fuck," Tyce shouted next to me, and headed toward the group. "Alpha Tyce!" Lucy yelled so loudly I could hear her over the music. "Pour some more in my mouth." I couldn't hear what was said after that, but I watched as Tyce clearly tried to persuade her to go with him. There was a struggle between the two of them as he put his arm around her shoulders, and she pushed him away from her. It
GINGER Tyce helped Lucy into the backseat, where she laid down, and the valet opened the passenger door for me so I could get in. Most of the way back to the pack was pretty quiet. Tyce played music on low and Lucy was soon passed out sleeping. As we pulled into the packhouse driveway, Tyce took my hand in his and asked, "Would you want to hang out a bit longer before I take you home?" I nodded. He gave me a big smile and said, "Great! Let me just get rid of Lucy. Wait here." Not long after, Tyce came out with a tired-looking Beta Luke. They opened the back door, and Beta Luke peaked into the car. "Alright, Lucy, let's go." "Lukey!" She stirred from the back. "How much did you drink?" He asked, scrunching his nose. "I was just having some fun, baby!" She replied, getting up and stumbling as she tried to climb out of the car. Luke easily caught her, pulling her up by her arms. Luke heaved a sigh. "Okay, let's go inside." I watched as he practically carried her back toward the pack
JASMINE "It hurts, baby. Everything hurts," Lucy whined to Luke from the living room couch, wrapped in a robe with sunglasses on. Blake and I were in the dining room having breakfast, overhearing the whole conversation between the two of them. "How much did you drink last night that you were actually able to get a hangover?" Luke looked her up and down. "I dunno. A lot. A lot!" "Clearly." "Can't you do something, baby?" "I've never had a hangover, so I don't even know how to fix one. Where's Libby?" "My mom will be bringing her over soon. Can you watch her today, baby? I'm in so much pain and the nanny doesn't come on Sundays." "Lucy, I have work to do today. I don't get days off like everyone else." "Please, Lukey?" She whined, giving him puppy eyes. He let out a deep sigh and said, "Fine. I'll be back to watch her." He then opened the glass door and stomped outside before Lucy could even thank him. "Jasmine, Blake. Can you get me some coffee and painkillers?" Lucy called
JASMINEWhen it was time to attend temple service, Lucy had finally recovered and made herself presentable. I was impressed with how well she'd managed to clean up from how she'd looked that morning. She had a cute summer dress on and her long blonde hair was freshly washed and glossy. Libby was dressed in a matching outfit. If I didn't know better, I'd think Lucy and Libby were the perfect mom and daughter duo—possibly Instagram influencers with a huge following.As a fun little surprise for after the service, I'd arranged an ice cream social with some of the other women that were heavily involved with the temple. Lucy reluctantly agreed to help out last minute. I assumed it had something to do with her talk with Luke. We got there early to begin setting everything up to make it easy to roll out once the surprise was announced. Lucy was shockingly helpful, working efficiently to pull everything together, likely well practiced from working in pastry for the past few years."Did you se