I wake up groaning, spitting blood and phlegm and scramble to get off the floor in the pitch black of my room. The hot fluid running down the sides of my face tell me my ears are bleeding, my heads aching like it just got stomped repeatedly, and I’m so dizzy I can’t seem to focus on anything. The air is deathly cold, and I scrape my hands around the dusty wooden floor to get my bearings. I’ve no idea what’s happened, why there’s no light anymore, or why I’m so messed up, dazed, and confused and my body aches badly.The air is filled with noises so terrifying I freeze in utter fear as they filter through and I pick them apart, stilled as I listen and try to make sense of what they are. My heart grippe din icy terror.Screaming…. howling. Wails of despair and sobbing. Something else too, a weird almost chatter like taunting noise, that I swear is exactly how I would imagine the devil would sound laughing. It sends the fear of god th

Standing over me, bearing down, he grabs me by the back of my neck and digs nails into my skin. Long piercing claw like talons that bite with scorching pain and he drags me partially upright to hoarsely snarl in my ear. My body flinching with the agony of being moved. I reach back, pathetically, grip his hands on my flesh, the cold icy and clammy skin that’s alien to anything I’ve ever felt before and I know what this is for certain…. we heard stories…. The ice-cold vile touch of the skin of the undead. This lifeless cold monster’s a vampire. They’ve returned.“Too easy. Call yourselves warriors. You’re all dropping like putrid flies and one snap, it’s all over for you, puppy. I’m rather enjoying dragging it out though… why don’t you go on and beg like your little friends did. Whine and cry some, make it worth my while.” His icy cold stinking breath, fans my cheek and chokes me to quiet submission

I slump down on the ground and almost immediately revert to human form, as I don’t have the energy or the skill to sustain my true form yet. That took so much out of my wolf to literally save my life and I’m spent. Exhaling with a strangled cry of relief and emotion as everything hits me hard. Like being in a train wreck, only it’s all mental now the physical has been brushed away.Colton scurries over to me and hauls me into his arms without hesitation, the relief evident on his face and yanks me close to his chest. Wrapping me up and smoothing his hands over my naked body to check for any sign of unhealed marks. There are none. Wolf healing is incomparable and almost always fully effective. There are only a few things in this world that wolves can’t heal from and none are present tonight. He tugs my face to his throat and hugs me with less panic in his touch, exhaling heavily as he allows himself a moment of relief that warms me to my core and brings m

“Over my dead body, you go anywhere with that mongrel! I forbid it. She shouldn’t even be here!” She can’t conceal her hatred and jealousy, barking an order that even I know she has no right to make to an alpha, even if he is her mate now. I sink down inside my own wrap of itchy blanket and try to not make eye contact; in the hopes she runs out of steam. Submissive, nervous, beyond exhausted, both mentally and physically, and too tired for this. Doing anything with Colton is not high on my list of priorities when I just had the worst night of my life. I have bigger problems than teen drama and broken hearts.“It’s called trust. She’s here for protection, and I’m showing her to a room so she can pull herself together…. nothing else. Don’t assume you can tell me what to do, Carmen, that’s not how this works.” There’s an edge to his tone but as of yet, his dominant vibe is playing cool and humorin

It’s true though. He can stand making speeches and regretful apologies from now until eternity, but the simple fact is, Colton had a choice, and this is what he chose. He doesn’t get to whine like some spoiled pup about it now. He’s an alpha for god’s sake, and he needs to own it. Not act like some overdramatic teen whose parents are being lame and stopping him from doing something superficial. He stares back at me in utter shock, rendered mute at my outburst and unsure how to even respond anyway. Even his mind link is silent. I don’t think any wolf this far below his station has ever talked to him like that, and he doesn’t seem like he knows quite how to respond. If I was anyone else, he probably would have me pinned to the floor by the throat and reminded them who their alpha was. Instead he’s silently shocked that I even had it in me.I ‘arghh’ at him, and shove him back abruptly, marching past, simmering with this