Something seemed to be bothering Mercy. August wasn’t sure what it was, but all evening, ever since he’d come home from work, and they’d sat down to dinner, he’d noticed there was something weighing on her mind.Recently, his mother had taken to working the evening shifts at the healing center. At first, August had told Patricia that wasn’t necessary, but now that he had evenings to himself to share with Mercy, he was sort of glad to have the house to themselves. It was almost as if they were a married couple. Sometimes August almost forgot that they weren’t married–that he hadn’t even told her how much she truly meant to him yet.As they finished up their pork chops, which his staff had so excellently prepared for them, he began to wonder if perhaps that was part of the problem. She’d been in his home for so many months now, sharing his bed for a couple of those. Was she beginning to wonder exactly what the nature of their relationship was, or was August reading too much into her exp

That night, once dinner was over, August took Mercy back home to their room and the bed they’d been sharing for months. It all seemed different now, though, now that he had asked her to become his wife, to be his Luna. His kisses were somehow even sweeter, and every touch of his hands on her flesh was even warmer, alighting her flesh on fire.August stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her, his lips playing with the sensitive flesh between her neck and shoulder as he slowly tugged down the zipper on the back of her dress. Mercy had kicked her shoes off already, and when the top of the dress came loose, she worked her arms out of the short sleeves. August’s lips worked their way down her neck and across her shoulder. She leaned back against his muscular chest, her eyes closed so she could concentrate on every touch of his hands on her skin.The dress came off and puddled on the floor at her feet. He slid his hands inside of her bra, causing her peaks to harden instantly at his tou

She was dreaming about Rider again.Mercy was walking through the battlefield, the smoke blowing around her, bodies lying randomly around her feet. Her eyes were fixed at a distant point where she knew he would appear.Only this time, unlike all of the other dreams she’d had, Alpha Rider wasn’t showing up, and she didn’t understand why.As she continued to search for him, her mind wandering, trying to sort out where he might be, where Alpha August might be, she began to hear a banging noise to her right. It was a rhythmic noise, but the longer she walked, the more persistent she became until she finally realized it wasn’t part of her dream.“I’m dreaming,” she reminded herself.Mercy sat straight up in bed. August was up, too, and he was pulling on some clothes over his boxers. Someone was banging on the door downstairs, hard. “Who is it?” she asked him.“I’m not sure, but something’s going on,” he said. “Stay here.”“Why would I do that?” she asked, getting up and rushing to the clos

August had made her promise to stay in the house, and Mercy had pretended to comply. It was better that way. Well, it was easier that way, anyhow.When she stepped outside, about an hour after the battle had begun, she knew exactly what to expect.She wasn’t wearing a long, flowing gown like she had been in her dreams, though. She was wearing a much more practical outfit. She had on pants and they were tucked into her boots. She was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt. It was a bit chilly in the predawn hours. A light fog hung over the village. It was fog–not smoke.Why would it be smoke? It wasn’t as if wolves fought with weapons that fired gunpowder like humans did. Still, she did smell smoke in the distance. As she began to walk toward the sound of fighting, the smell became stronger, more acrid, and she realized that there were some buildings on fire on the perimeter of the village.That bastard Rider had set some of the villagers’ homes on fire.Mercy shook her head and knew that t

Mercy had a choice to make. She could either chase Rider down and destroy him, or she could stay there with her sister who had collapsed on the ground but could get up at any moment and begin to wreak havoc on the sleeping wolves that Mercy had immobilized earlier.She couldn’t leave the wolves unprotected, but she also couldn’t let Rider get away.With no other choice, Mercy hit her sister with a jarring bolt of energy, one that was sure to keep her from getting up for quite some time. She hated to hurt her own flesh and blood, especially since she was quite certain that her sister was misdirected in the decision she had made, but she had little choice because she couldn’t take the risk of Leeta getting up and hurting someone.Then, Mercy took off after Rider.She wasn’t going to catch him by running after him, though. He was a male, for one thing, so he was naturally faster than her. Also, he was an Alpha, so he was stronger, more muscular, bigger than she could ever hope to be. No,