Everyone had settled into the main living room after we ate. Sonja had dared Fable to down an entire pint of blood, filling the girl to the brim. Contrary to pop culture beliefs, not all vampires could drain a human dry. Think of it this way, some people barely ate anything and some people ate a lot. Fable could barely hold everything in. We had laughed when she gagged a bit, but no one was laughing now. Staff members were cleaning the kitchen as we spoke. She had thrown up all over the counter. Great warrior, not so great at saying no to stupid dares. A comfortable silence had settled in around us, the television our only background noise. We all had our hobbies to keep us entertained once we returned from the field, although we would gladly do it together than far apart. Having their presence around me eased my mind. I may have been lonely, but I was never alone, not with them. Amelia had never joined us. Rather keeping to herself this evening. Maybe I had struck a chord s

"How is my wife doing?" Arjun asked from his perch at the breakfast nook. Newspapers were scattered before him whilst another was clutched in his hands. His attire was anything but formal. He almost looked to be of poor hygiene. Amelia's lack of speaking with him had brought him to his knees, it seemed. "She is flourishing by my side. The war had left her busy and happy. Sated even..." I trailed off, a nasty gloat in my throat. The bastard had bruised his wife more times than I could count. It wasn't wrong of me to have her the way I had. She deserved a whole lot more than he was ever willing to give her. Even though she wanted nothing more than to rub her new found freedom in his face, Amelia was also busy ensuring our troops were well fed and clothed. She didn't have time for petty things such as Arjun. "Your company suits her, I see." Arjun didn't even glance up from the paper as he spoke. Numbers appeared on the back of the pages. Body counts and losses garnered

Katharine hugged her stuffed bear closely to her chest. Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes. I hated knowing that I was the cause of her distress. She did not deserve such an absent mother. No child ever did. But one day when she is queen, she would understand all that I had sacrificed for her. "Mommy, don't go." The little girl pleaded and stepped closer to me. Squatting down, I pulled her into my arms. Her body shook with a sob. Small. Fragile. If the war spilled into our home, I would never forgive myself. She deserved more than this, by far, but war was an ugly thing. "I'm sorry my princess, but mommy has to go make everyone safe, okay?" I tried to make her understand. She might have been young, but she understood things far better than most people could. But this was no one of those things. My heart ached at her saddened face. This was horrible. This was the reason I couldn't come back as often as she wanted. Leaving her every time just became worse and worse

The house was silent when I stepped out of my office again. The Alpha's necklace dangled from my neck, a cold reminder of what I had threatened to do to him. After all, I owed him nothing but the brutality that he got. To come into my territory and threaten me would be his last shitty decision. Mikaela was taken and father had sent an Alpha to tell me this. War wasn't pretty, but dragging innocents into it was far beyond wicked. My wife was taken. My daughter. I would show no mercy in my pursuit of getting them to my side again. If even one hair is out of place when I do get them back, father was going to wish he had never procreated. To take my necklace from me was one thing, to take my wife and daughter was another. No mercy would ever be shown to him, blood be damned. They had my wife. They had my daughter. Our security's negligence would not go unpunished. We had a mole within our walls and that could lead to even more lives lost. That was our first priority. To find who

When I was little, my father had wanted me to be mated to an Alpha. For obvious reasons. He had craved power my entire life long. Never being sated by just having the largest pack in South Africa. After a while, he had laid was to several other packs within the country, absorbing their members into our own pack. Father had never stopped pressing the issue of my mating with another Alpha. One, hopefully, from a larger and foreign pack. I would be the prized heifer he gave away in return for more power and a larger army. I had not only disappointed him but enraged him with my mating to Julian and Mikaela. He said he wanted the best for me, but I always knew he wanted what was best for himself. Change was a painful process, one he had refused to go through for as long as I could remember. Then he had realized what I would become. His worst fear. Mating with an Alpha was my father's dream, never my own. Now here I stood, fulfilling my father's wishes without me even realizing it