THE MORNING OF THE CEREMONY arrived, and Anna and Leah surprised Elana and her mate with breakfast in bed. They gave them an hour to eat in peace and informed them that they would be back after that hour to take over their room so they could turn it into a beauty salon.Elana appreciated the time they gave them because it settled her nerves enough that she didn’t feel as if she wanted to run for the hills. By the time they climb into bed tonight, she will officially be his mate and the entire pack will know. They already knew, but it felt so much more real knowing they were actually going to have a mating ceremony.Elana tried her best not to complain when the two women returned with an entire army of omegas to turn her into a bride. She really tried, but it was even more difficult to calm down when they were working on her hair, make-up, and nails at the same time! Her mother almost tried to help her take a shower for goodness’s sake! In Elana’s mind, none of this was necessary since

THERE WAS NO EXPLANATION for Anna’s sudden condition, and all her tests came back negative. The doctors couldn’t find out what was going on with her. Since she was a hybrid, it made things so much more difficult since the doctors didn’t know that much about vampires, which meant there was an entire array of things that could be wrong and they wouldn’t know.The hours turned into days and still, Anna didn’t get any better. The monitors showed that although she was in a medically induced coma, her body was still reacting as if it was in incredible pain. Sebastian pondered asking Nicolas for the first couple of days, but he didn’t say anything to Collin since he knew how his son felt about the vampires. When two weeks had passed and Anna was still not waking up, Sebastian felt he had no other choice.Collin was furious at his father’s suggestion and Sebastian had to discuss it with him since it meant that the vampires needed permission to come there. Permission had to be given by the alp

THE CLEAR LINK BETWEEN Nicolas and Anna had everybody on edge and without Nathaniel around to explain how the hell he got his experiment to work on Sebastian and Beverly, it was impossible to really know why they were linked.Why was Anna specifically linked to Nicolas and nobody else? The doctors took some blood samples from Anna and Nicolas, but after running every possible test they could think of, there was still no scientific explanation. Collin wasn’t going to say out loud what he was thinking way, way back in his mind. Anna told him that she felt drawn to Victor at some point, but it was never anything like a mate bond.It was some kind of weird attraction that repulsed her more than anything else. When Collin mentioned this to her after she had returned from the hospital, she frowned. She didn’t feel anything like that towards Nicolas.“Collin, I know you might not like this, but Nicolas is like a father figure to me, and that is where it ends. He promised your parents that he

COLLIN DIN’T WANT TO GAWK, but he was openly gawking! He had never been to see the council of supernaturals. He had never been in the building. It was an actual castle! As their car pulled up, he imagined the building inside to look like the images he had seen on television over the years.He was right. The moment they walked into the building, he could see that there was money growing on the damn trees around there! The furniture was exquisite. The paintings looked ancient. Everything was incredible, and not a single spec of dust could be seen anywhere. They were shown into an enormous boardroom and Collin couldn’t help but appreciate the beautiful table right in the middle of the room. What he didn’t see were trinkets.He half expected there to be candlesticks and vases all over the place, but there was none of that.“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the council.” A very handsome gentleman walked in to greet them. He was just as tall as Collin and Sebastian. Collin instantly smelled

AS NICOLAS SUSPECTED, everyone was waiting for him in the boardroom to find out what the council wanted. He told them what he told the council and they tried to figure out what the council might want to do with this information.Sadly, after their recent experience with the council, they had to eventually agree that there was no way of knowing what the council was planning. They could only return to their research and wait. They were in the process of systematically working through the grimoire when Collin got the notice from the guards just outside of the small town.The council had arrived. Since the warriors were outside the town borders, they could see time come to a complete standstill. Cars that were driving just a moment before just came to a halt. People who were making their way somewhere on the sidewalks were halted mid-step and many people were silenced in the middle of a conversation.It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on life. The council appeared in the sq