TALIA After we finished eating breakfast, Blake took me to his mom’s house. It was a pretty short walk from the packhouse. When we arrived, his mom smiled at me in greeting. She had a very warm smile that extended to her whole face. I could instantly tell she was a good person. Her eyes, on the other hand, looked sad. I wasn’t even sure how exactly I could tell they were sad. And then, after a few moments, it clicked. They reminded me of my own mother’s eyes—a haunted look of something gripping her that she couldn’t shake off. “Hello, Talia.” She put her hand out to shake mine. I extended my own hand and she had a surprisingly firm handshake. “Thanks for coming by. Why don’t you come sit in the kitchen, and I’ll bring over some tea?” “That’d be great, Mom.” Blake wrapped his arms around her as she patted his back and kissed his cheek, and I instantly understood they had a close relationship. After Blake’s mom laid everything out, she took a seat at the table with us. We all made sm

TALIA Once we got into H&M, I began picking out some basic clothing such as leggings and T-shirts. Then I checked the sales rack to see what they had. There usually wasn’t much good on the sale rack but I found a few things to try on. When I looked up, I spotted Lucy holding a bodycon dress against Jasmine. Jasmine looked very irritated, rolling her eyes dramatically. I chuckled to myself because it was actually pretty entertaining. The two of them had a very interesting dynamic. I couldn’t tell if they were best friends or enemies. It could really go either way. I pulled everything that fit together after going into the fitting room. I was relieved that the prices at H&M were much more reasonable, especially for their basics and sale items. Maybe if I kept a note of how much everything cost, I could eventually pay Blake back. I could also pay Hugo back for the wolfsbane. Once I figured out how to make money of course. I wished I had my cell phone because I desperately wanted to text

Author's Note: If you read an early version of Wolfbane (Book 1), you will notice that the names of the packs in Quebec have now changed. Here are the changes:> Pack Bois Foncé is now the Bois Sombre Pack> Pack Lune Taïga is now the Lune Nordique PackI apologize for any confusion! *** ALEXANDER Once my sister returned, we finally held a small funeral for my father, burning his body on a pyre, after having stored it in the pack hospital morgue while she was away. In attendance were only our closest family members and the beta family. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d seen my sister cry, but I caught her hiding her face as she wept. Between you and me, I believed my father would have preferred her as his heir rather than me. But even if my father had agreed to go against tradition and hand his title over to a female for the first time in the pack’s history, I was still older, and so the title rightfully remained mine. However, my father and sister always had a distinct connectio

BLAKE As soon as I reached the pack gate, I pulled over to where a silver Land Rover was parked outside the entrance. I stepped out of my car and Alpha Alexander quickly did the same. I walked over to him, quite annoyed with the interruption to my day. “Adalwolf, to what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked him. “Wulfric,” he replied, nodding. “I’m not going to lie. This is not great timing. It’s my fiancée’s birthday, and I just had to drive back twenty miles because you can’t come back later.” “Well, hopefully it won’t take long then. I’ve come to collect my mate.” “Your mate is in my pack?” I asked. “So rumor has it. I stopped by the Autumn Moon Pack, and they have not welcomed any rogues recently. However, I’ve been informed by the staff on duty at the entrance that yours has.” Strike two against Derek. His subordinates should know not to give out information. He was definitely not on my favorite warriors list at the moment. “Thanks for letting me know that my warriors need some

ALEXANDER “Well, there’s your answer,” Blake said to me. “I’m not leaving until my mate comes with me,” I responded. Goddess, she was amazing—no, perfect! I’d never met such a beautiful woman in my life—so tall, lean, and leggy, curves in all the right places, and the face of an angel. I gazed as she walked away, her perfect, tight ass teasing me in those leggings. I only had seconds to really appreciate her the last time I saw her. But now that I was seeing her in the daylight, I had more time to really take all of her in, I was really able to grasp what was at stake. She was my perfect match, and I couldn’t fathom the idea of going back home without her. “We had a deal.” Blake glared at me. “Wulfric, please, she’s my mate. You had a mate before too, right? You must know what it’s like.” I tried to reason with him. I was no longer above begging. He sighed. “She doesn’t want to see you.” “Let me stay with you. That way you can make sure I don’t do anything you don’t approve of. I