Sophia The week flew by in a flash. It felt like just yesterday when Rider and I marked each other, and here we were, getting ready for our crowning ceremony. We traveled to the royal palace for the first time since discovering that it would be our new home. The council had been busy renovating it over the past week in preparation for our arrival. They said it wouldn’t be completely ready yet, but it would be livable while they finished the last few details. The palace was jaw-droppingly beautiful, straight out of a fairytale. The building was at least triple the size of my old packhouse, and you could tell money was not an issue when it was built. Everything looked expensive and hand-crafted. The building had a Venetian feel, with rounded stone window frames and entryways. The floors were expensive marble, and the ceiling had intricate carvings in the stone. The entire place looked like a work of art. When I first stepped foot inside, I felt like an imposter that didn’t belong
Sophia Fifteen Years Later The first five years as king and queen were challenging. Rider and I spent most of that time figuring out our new roles while everyone else adjusted to our leadership. No one outright challenged us, but we were forced to use our aura to bring people to their knees occasionally. I didn’t like doing it, but it was a necessary display of dominance to gain full compliance, and it worked. Since then, things have been much more manageable. We’ve earned respect and loyalty from our people by keeping the peace in our kingdom and bringing the packs closer together. We’ve even formed a close alliance with the vampires thanks to my cousin Jonah and his queen, Dawn. Now, if ever there was a threat against our kingdom, we had all the support we would need. Rider and I still had our battles, but they were fewer and farther between since we’d learned to communicate better. The Moon Goddess was right. I would have never succeeded in this role if it were
Rider I was heading to my mother’s office after receiving a mind-link from her that she and my father wanted to speak with me. Werewolves could mind-link each other, which was basically speaking to one another telepathically if they belonged to the same pack or were fully mated. But it only worked when they were in close proximate to one another. My parents, Trish and Erik, were the current alphas of the pack. They shared the title. Usually, a pack would have an alpha and a luna, but because my mother had alpha blood, they led the pack together as co-alphas. It never bothered my father that she took the alpha title instead of becoming luna. It surprised me because I knew I wouldn’t want my mate to be an alpha. It was a dangerous role and definitely not the job I would want my woman to take on. I wanted my mate to be safe and sound at home with our pups while I was out protecting the pack. I couldn’t wait to find my mate. I was confident she would be perfect and submissive.
Sophia I was training the warriors with my two best friends, Emma and Conrad. Emma was going to be my beta in a couple of months when I took over the alpha title, and Conrad didn’t know it yet, but when I did become alpha, I planned on promoting him from warrior to gamma, my third in command. The three of us were extremely close and usually did everything together. Emma’s younger sister, Maya, hung out with us on occasion, but her interests were a little different from ours. She was more of a girly girl, not really into training and pack business. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but she would rather spend her time at the mall or reading gossip magazines. That was probably why she didn’t always want to hang out with us. Emma was a month older than me. She was five-foot-eight with a slim yet muscular build. She had curly dark brown hair that reached mid-back and hazel-colored eyes. I would describe her as easygoing and always in a good mood. Conrad was two years o
Sophia I spent the night packing, and when it came time to sleep, I mostly tossed and turned, pondering all the new information my parents had given me. It still bothered me that they didn’t tell me sooner about Cole, but I also understood why they kept the information from me. Even though I would never have treated him differently, they were trying to keep him innocent of his mother’s crimes. I couldn’t help but wonder if what they told me had anything to do with his disappearance. Did his uncle, that Thomas guy, take him from us? That alone disturbed me. His uncle didn’t sound like a good guy. What would he want with Cole? Would he hurt him? Emma and Conrad had helped me pack since we had made plans to hang out. They knew something was bugging me, but luckily dropped the subject when I told them I didn’t want to talk about it. I was grateful that my friends knew not to push me and that I would tell them when I was ready. It was seven in the morning. I took a quick shower
Rider When Sophia and her warriors arrived, I was speechless. I couldn’t believe how much she had changed since I last saw her. She used to have a boyish body with a flat chest and no ass, but now… all I could say was, wow. She had really filled out in all the right places. She was around five-foot-seven with an hourglass figure and legs for days. Her cleavage was on full display in that tight little black tank top, and it had my cock twitch to life. Even in her comfy clothes, she looked sexy as hell. My wolf was growling at the sight of her, demanding I bury my face between her perky tits. I had to settle him down; he was getting all worked up over her. I almost forgot how much of a brat she could be until our eyes met and she glared at me with those mesmerizing sea-blue eyes. Thank Goddess, I pulled myself together before she caught me checking her out. She, on the other hand, wasn’t fast enough. I didn’t miss her eyes shamelessly roaming over my body. It seemed the devil he
Rider I stayed in my office for most of the day. I figured if I avoided Sophia, maybe this stupid fascination I seemed to have developed for her would go away. I had just gotten off the phone with one of the neighboring alphas when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I announced before the door opened. I let out a relieved sigh when I realized it was just my soon-to-be gamma, Matty. He must have just gotten back from The Dark Shadow Pack. I sent him there yesterday to get more details about the attack on their territory. “What’s up with you?” He asked curiously as he took a seat across from my desk. He was always good at reading my mood. “Nothing, just on edge because of these attacks,” I replied, but I knew he could read right through my lie. After all, He was my best friend and could always tell when something was bothering me. “Hmmm... OK. Now that we have that lie out of the way, why so tense? I mean, you’re always tense, but today you seem extra edgy.” H
Rider I tossed and turned most of the night and when I glanced at my alarm clock, I saw it was five in the morning. I knew I wouldn’t fall back asleep, so I got up and decided I would workout before meeting with the others. I threw on some gym shorts but didn’t bother with a shirt. I left my room and made my way out of the packhouse. It’s pretty quiet at this time of the morning. Warrior training didn’t start till six, so the only people out and about were the warriors on night patrol and the omegas working in the kitchen. The rest of the pack members were all still asleep. I was jogging through the forest when I heard laughing coming from the training grounds. My eyebrows furrowed together as I wondered who else was up this early. My curiosity got the better of me, and I made my way over to see who it was. In the middle of the field, I saw Sophia, Emma, Conrad, Rory, and Matty standing in a circle joking with each other. Even though there were five of them, my eye