Ares: The sun gave way to the beautiful moon rather quickly as I spent the remainder of my time before Senhorita Harlyn’s celebration patrolling the borders of Shadow Veil. To be honest, the last thing that I wanted to do was attend some kid’s coming-of-age gathering, but it was the courteous thing to do.I hardly put any effort into my outfit as it was not something that was of enough importance to do so. Still, I at least bothered to put on a suit and jacket…well, technically, Zevi guilted me into putting on a jacket. Sometimes, I had forgotten that he was older than I. It was at moments such as this that he reminded me that while I was his Alpha, he still was my big brother.No, we weren’t related by blood but we might as well have been. We were brought up, raised, and trained together as childre

Valene: “You were…amazing out there, Val!” Herry exclaimed as he touched my shoulder.  I placed my Cello down on the table and took a deep breath. “You think so?” I asked. I always carried doubt about a performance. “Oh, you know that you were amazing! Did you see that applause?” “I did,” I replied, though I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the applause may have been out of respect for my Master and his daughter instead of my talent.  “You did good, kid.” he smiled and started to leave. “Hey, Herry?” I stopped him. “Yeah?”  “You have nothing to worry about...ya know…

Valene: With all that had gone on during the party two hours ago, my mind found very little solace in anything that was happening. In truth, I should have been happy-maybe even proud of what was happening on that night. For the first time in…ever, vassals were given the night to relax. They were separated from their Keepers, of course, but the fact that they did not have to wait on their Master or Mistress’s every whim was something to be proud of. So, part of me was glad to see them dancing around their own separate wood fire, smiling and laughing, but a bigger part of me-the vassal in me was concerned about everyone’s safety. Staring blankly ahead, I felt the heat of one’s gaze lingering on me and immediately knew that it was the lycan alpha. Our disagreement earlier was no doubt a heated one, and I still felt the residual tension between us even hours after. When I finally faced his gaze, an almost mischievous grin fell across his lips, and immediately I looked away. “So you’re

I had nothing else to say to the lycan king but I certainly wasn’t in the mood to listen either, and once again, I tried to pull away but he didn’t let me go. And I immediately lost it so completely that I swung on him.My attempt to hit him was sloppy as he caught my hand and quickly twisted me around holding both my hands behind my back. He snatched me into him, my back facing him as he brought his lips down to my ear.“Use your mind, little human,” he hissed. “Those beasts killed a human…and nothing else.”“We were the closest to the forest. Of course, they did.”“You are so blinded by bitter rage that you cannot even acknowledge the truth of what happened tonight,”

His gaze lingered on me, his stare seeming to wordlessly communicate that he was considering what I was saying. Then he finally spoke. “That is a weakness, alpha,” Ares replied. “A weakness that can mean life or death for my people,” he said, shaking his head. “That weakness has to be stamped out, and it will be. I assure you, alpha, that my life would be forfeit before any harm could come to your daughter.”“Why would you risk that, Ares?”Instead of answering the question directly, Ares came up with his own piece of logic. “Funny, you’ve been taking the risk for years, have you not?” He then headed for the door. “I do not wish to keep you from your daughter any longer, Alpha Wade. I will ask that you think about my proposal. I will accept you