POV: Echo Having finished stripping rooms, I quickly ducked into the basement to swap the laundry again and quickly freshen up before making my way over to wait in the dining room. Standing in a corner of the room, I was glad that I’d been able to keep my new dress clean for serving. My nerves were jittery, making me anxious as I waited for them to arrive. Hearing the front doors open, Alpha Brady’s voice drifts into the dining hall as many footsteps approach. The smell of something mouth-watering wafted through the door as warriors from both packs filed in. I closed my eyes and discreetly sniffed the air, taking in the scent of a forest after a rainstorm mixed with a strongly brewed coffee. Stiffening slightly as Tala chanted, ‘Mate! Mate is here, Echo!’. Her excitement flooded through me, and I couldn’t help but glance around the room quickly. There are men, mostly warriors, who are moving to sit at the table, filling their plates with mountains of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and

POV: Alpha Atlas I’m not terribly interested in this visit to the Red Stone Pack. Their Alpha and Luna are known for being incredibly vain and self-involved. In fact, the pack had been going downhill for the last decade. Apparently, the previous Alpha went mad with grief after the death of his Luna, and never truly recovered. He spent five years driving the pack straight into the ground before his son took over, and things haven’t improved. Their defenses are weak, the land is unkept, and the pack is going into bankruptcy. Alpha Brady requested I come to discuss a potential deal that would keep his pack from going completely under. Unfortunately for him, I know he has absolutely nothing to offer me. I am of half a mind to challenge him and take his pack to merge with my own. At least then the pack might have a better chance of staying afloat. Even a weak Alpha like him should know better than to irritate the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack. The rumours came from somewhere. I was not kn

POV: Echo Feeling like I was floating on a cloud, I slowly and painfully came to. ‘You’re lying on a proper bed, with pillows and proper blankets!’ Tala informed me and I could feel her kind smile at my wonder. Not wanting anyone to know that I was awake yet, I kept my eyes closed and tried to scent those in the room. The calming scent of the forest after a rainstorm mixed with freshly brewed coffee helped me remain relaxed, but I can’t remember why it’s so soothing. I can also smell a she-wolf, lavender and sandalwood. Oddly, I find her scent to also be extremely calming, but nowhere near as much as the first. Somewhere in the room, two wolves were quietly discussing some poor she-wolf who seemed to be extremely unwell. There is another scent in the room, a male, I think. He smells like freshly cut grass and leather. Trying to remember where I am, and how I got here, I’m flooded with flashes of the breakfast from hell playing in my mind. My heart pounds as I realize the scent of d

POV: Echo “When I came to, he told me he’d given me my ‘early birthday present’. He said he made it so that no one would ever want me, not even my fated mate.” I swallowed the sobs as they surfaced, determined to tell them everything. “I eventually passed out from the pain and woke up to him and his Luna pouring wolfsbane-laced water on me. It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.” I hear the hiss of breath as Beta Travis winces. Something tells me he has experienced wolfsbane to an open wound before. Tala soothes me, giving my voice the strength to keep going. “I passed out again, and when I woke up three days later, my back was bandaged, and he presented me with a full tray of breakfast. He told me that I am nothing more than his… his Little Doll and that he would do whatever he wants to me whenever he wants to.” I struggled to breathe, knowing what was coming. “He cornered me in his room later that day when I went to strip the linen. When I fought his… his advances, he

POV: Echo Thankfully, Cordelia had finished with my face and moved on to my ribs. Atlas took her place in front of me, kneeling to meet me eye to eye, reminding me just how small I was. He was a giant of a man and towered over even the tallest members of Brady’s pack. I marvelled at how someone so large can also be so incredibly tender with me, as he leaned his forehead to touch mine. His expression looked firm, and I watched him warily, confused. “Echo, my Little Warrior, certain members of our pack may call you by your name in private. However, in public, they and the rest of the pack will call you Luna, or Luna Echo. It is your title as my mate, as the other half of my soul, and it is a sign of their respect for you and me.” He explained, and his expression left no room for negotiation. “It will be a great pride for those in the pack to use your title when conversing with you. It is a reminder to everyone that you are my mate, very much wanted and taken by your Alpha.” His deep,