The mind link fizzled for a minute before a voice came through. It had been spotty at best since the potion was still wearing off. I couldn’t shift but I could now mind-link and pick up things that weighed more than seventy pounds without grunting.'Beta?''I can hear you. What up, Mark?'I set down the tablet I’d been drawing on for the past forty-five minutes. We were planning a new residential area within the pack territory. It required a rough sketch of the housing layout to see how many homes we could fit without feeling like sardines. As much as we were pack wolves, we still like our space from our neighbors.'I wanted to give you a heads up, there was a rogue running close to our borders a moment ago. Came in from the east side, swung down south and then followed the river. Looks like towards the ponds.'My eyes narrowed. 'Just one?''Yeah. They also looked like they were carrying an instrument on their back, or at least of of those hard-shell rectangular cases.'We’d seen some

Her head tilted to the side for a moment. “I’m not sure. Bruising is a bigger deal than just bleeding but I’m not sure how bad the repercussions of this will be. Worth it though.” She looked at me, a smile playing on her lips. “Worth it if it means you come out of this ordeal alive.” Shaking my head, I sighed. “You say that like my life means more than yours.” Her chuckle reverberated through the quiet night of the forest. “It always has. Back then and now.” “How? How can you just devalue your…” “I’m not devaluing anything. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually enjoy living. I’d love to have been able to move forward; have the giant family we talked about. Be an aunt for Noah and Finn one day. Live outside this craziness I got swept up in.” She sighed. “I just don’t have the time or luxury to do so. Back then, I made the decision because I knew Silas needed you more. Now, I make the decision because

Finn’s arms were wrapped around my middle while his head rested on my shoulder. I rode my motorcycle up into Silas’ territory and headed into the town square. To say we turned heads was an understatement but I didn’t care. I usually turned heads everywhere I went but Finn seemed a little uncomfortable with the attention. Pulling up to Shep’s private office, I turned off the engine. “What are we doing here, Sol?” I looked at him. “Getting you checked out.” His eyes widened and he started to sputter when I grabbed his hand. Pulling him around the corner and into the office, Shep was smiling at us. “Alpha asked if I could see some interesting folks today but you exceeded my expectation.” I chuckled. “Shep, it’s good to see you.” Holding out my hand to shake his, he took it but his other hand covered mine. “How Silas couldn’t see it, I don’t know, but you are the spitting image of your mother.” My eyes widened but I just smiled. “You’re as

*** Silas POV ***“As you can see, Alpha, she is both beautiful and would make the perfect Luna. She’s a little young but she’s been raised right.”I looked at the woman in front of me. Alpha Reid wasn’t wrong. She was beautiful and the old 50’s kind of beauty. Classically beautiful some might say. The issue was he also hit the nail on the head with how young she was. She just turned eighteen. We were separated by double digits in age. It made me grimace and I’m sure my reputation may have made me look far scarier to her than I meant to be. However, being surprised by Elder Herman and Alpha Reid, throwing his grand-fucking-daughter at me. As though she had no mate out there to love her, as though she was washed up like me with no mate in sight.Behind me, I could feel Nate and Sam’s amusement at the situation. They’d come over to the pack house at nine in the morning. Knowing Sam, Nate, and I didn’t really leave to start whatever we were doing until after ten a.m. However, all of us w

“How did it get here?”“Nailed to a tree outside the territory.”She clicked her tongue. “When?”I glanced outside. “I don’t know…I’ve been holed up in here.”Sighing, she put her hands on the sides of my face and pulled me down. Our foreheads touched and my eyes closed.“Don’t make the same mistake Father did.”I growled loudly. “I’m not letting those bastards get…”“Silas.” She cut me off, voice harsh. “I don’t mean that. I mean, thinking you can take this on alone. You’re not alone.”My eyes opened and she was staring into my own, seeing the anger she also had. The fire that I had been feeling in my own soul but hers smoldered instead of exploded. It didn’t come out in a blind rage. Sighing, I shook my head.“I know. I just…”“You obviously don’t know. Three days, Sil. You’ve been holed up here three days. Haven’t spoken to anyone, haven’t reached out. Even if you didn’t want to speak to your pack about it, you have me. Not just your sister or some rogue, but it’s my duty as First