My legs felt shaky and everything was bigger. I realized quickly that I had shifted. I stretched and twisted. The shiny saber coat of fur lifted my heart.I didn’t think I’d ever be able to shift. I felt Alyssa fully settled and solid in my mind as I turned to look at Matt. His eyes were wide as I went up to him and rubbed my face against his leg.“You’re beautiful,” he said, kneeling and stroking my head. “Can you shift back, so we can talk?”I whined. Alyssa panicked and he chuckled, hushing me. He cupped my jaw and rubbed at the spots of tension there. It felt so good. I didn’t know what else to do but practically purr at him.“Take it easy. You don’t have to turn back right now,” he said. “I know it can take some getting used to.”He shifted and Alyssa sat up in alarm as we looked at Lucas and Matt through her eyes. He was so much bigger than us, stronger. His eyes glowed with red light. He could break my neck with such ease. I should have been scared, but I knew he would never hu
I used to be a normal werewolf with a family.My mother and father were the luna and alpha of the Fluorite pack. They were sweet and loving. I couldn’t have asked for better parents. My younger sister, Angelia, and I were happy together and as close as two sisters could be.The Fluorite pack was the size of a small city, but we were wealthy because of the precious stones we mined and the flowers that grew in abundance that we supplied to jewelry, cosmetic, and medical companies from other packs.Because the pack was so small, we spent a lot of time helping around the pack. We didn’t have amusement parks or anything, so Angelia and I were young we collected gems in the rivers and spent our days playing tag in the meadows. Our parents would watch us from the back of our house until it was time or lunch. After dinner, we’d cuddle up around the fire and they would tell us stories about the great alphas and the way our current society came to be.
I couldn’t tell how long I was there, only that water was provided through a small slot in the door every so often. They didn’t give me food. My stomach ached. I grew shaky and desperate. Eventually, they hauled me out of my solitary cell and put me back with the others. Angelia was leaning against the wall, curled up and silently staring into nothing. She was skinnier. Armilla was curled into a ball, weeping to herself with a slowly healing bruise around her neck. Had they been treated worse because of me? The thought infuriated me. I turned to glare at the guards. “Cowards!” I yelled, rushing at them and slamming into them. “Crazy bitch!” The guard struck me across the face. I fell and got back up, furious and desperate. I spat in his face. He sneered at me before slamming his fist into my stomach. Pain exploded through me as I flew back, hitting the wall, and fell unconscious. I woke up, slumpe
Three years later… Nine hundred and one. I grit my teeth and swallowed the bile threatening to rise as I stared at the headboard, focusing on counting the grains in the fake wood. A spike of pain hit my hip as the john grunted and the sound of slapping skin grew erratic. Nausea surged and tumbled in me but I kept my eyes trained on the wood pattern and counted another four distinct lines. Three years ago, I was Glenda, the eldest daughter of Alpha Adam of the Fluorite pack. Since then, I learned that my pack had been destroyed and the land that used to belong to the Fluorite pack now belonged to the Warhammer pack, led by the Wallber family. They claimed that a plague had taken out the entire pack and there were no survivors. They were liars and it was clear that they had orchestrated attack. What I don’t understand is why. We had money, but we weren’t that powerful. Ben Wallber, the al
The door swung closed, finally leaving me alone in my dressing room after listening to Trista’s explanation of the auction procedures for the last time. I knew it by heart long before I was eligible for the auction.With a few minutes to spare, I opened my phone and searched for Matt Wallber again. His article on his pack’s website appeared first with his portrait. Handsome features with cold dark eyes and the slightest hint of a cynical condescension on his lips.There wasn’t much in the current news about him that I hadn’t read already. He took over Warhammer’s finance, real estate, and information enterprises and led the pack to the level of wealth they now enjoyed. Despite all that he’s contributed to the pack, he was not his father’s favorite to be the next alpha of the pack. His father and his peers were too concerned about the opinions of the public, and Matt had no problems being splashed across tabloid pages in comprom
The rules of the auction stated that as soon as a guest bid ten times the standard opening bid price, the woman was taken off stage and no longer had to perform.It was nearly unheard of to be removed from the stage during the first round, but the announcer told the crowd that I had reached the threshold. I offered a charming smile to the crowd, not focusing on anyone in particular before leaving the stage with one last look at Matt who sat back in his seat, seemingly relaxed.I could take that as a sign that he was responsible for the high opening bid, but I couldn’t be sure that he would stay ahead with me off stage and marked essentially forbidden.When I got backstage, the crowd was roaring signaling the start of the striptease. While I was grateful, I didn’t have to participate, I was a bit nervous about the opening bid.I walked into the lounge where Trista was waiting to greet me. Trista managed me and five other women, but she only car
The drive went surprisingly quickly, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Mat was practically a prince of the Warhammer’s city. If he went over the speed limit, who would stop him? He probably got away with all sorts of things, up to and including mundane murders. He and his pack had gotten away with a massacre. What were a few innocent pedestrians?The lights of the city faded into the distance as we went over several hills on the only path that led into the mountains. My heart raced as he guided the car around the sharp, winding curves. There were sudden dips and changes in direction like being on a roller coaster.It had been years since I had been on one, but I remember enjoying them a lot.Just ahead there was another sharp turn yet he didn’t seem to be slowing down.“Scared?” he asked, his voice challenging and oddly teasing."No," I smiled.If he thought plummeting from a mountain was scary, he w
Matt's POV She smelled so good. The joy I was feeling was just as I had been told as a child, breaking through years of coldness I had never imagined would go away. But, the joy was slipping through my fingers like sand. In its place, fury, like I had never known, began to boil in me. What was she saying? Did she say mistress? How could my mate be my mistress? How could she not feel our connection and understand? What did she think of me? How could she think so little of me? We’ve only just met! I stifled a growl. I had to calm down. I didn’t want to scare her or make her think I was angry with her. It was their fault: Larry’s, whoever had touched her before me, and whoever was responsible for her every mark on her body and the timid fear she was showing me. I would kill them all later. For now, I had to focus on her.