Alpha Anson Boyer carried the sleeping child in his arms, wrapped up in his suit jacket. The moment he had heard about her father’s death he had rushed to assist.
Thankfully he was named as her godfather and he had minimal problems to get her out of the group home. He still didn’t know who her mother was, but the little one’s father had asked him to care for his little girl if anything ever happened to him.
It was a very real threat with him being close to royalty to the hunters. He still didn’t know who had killed him, Tyler Scott, but he would see if he could find his murderers. It was a gift of the Goddess that Tyler had practiced hiding quietly with little Ember regularly; it had saved her life. He was sure of it.
But it had also kept her hidden from the authorities long enough that she was weak and dehydrated when they finally found her at his insistence. She was finally released from the hospital and he was able to bring her back to the pack after a lot of negotiations to not have her placed in a group home first.
The moment he stepped into the pack house, his wife and Luna glared at him. “Why are you bringing strays home?” She demanded angrily.
He indicated for her to be quiet while he handed the sleeping child off to an Omega with the order that she be treated like his own child and placed in the room across from his.
Bernadette just rolled her eyes and tapped her foot impatiently until the omega left with the little girl. But she demanded answers the moment the sleeping child was out of earshot.
“She is my god-daughter and her father was murdered a week ago. She’s staying with us.” He said firmly.
“I am your Luna, you should discuss these matters with me before you bring strays home!”
“She is not a stray! She is my god-daughter and will be treated like Calum’s little sister from here on out.”
“She is not even a wolf! And you expect me to raise her with our son who will be the future alpha.”
“You hardly do any raising of the boy as it is; it’s hardly a chore for you to consider Ember.” He retorted with annoyance. She was not his fated mate, but the female his father had chosen for him to expand their power.
They barely respected each other as it was and didn’t even share a bedroom. It was a sad existence to be sure, but he fulfilled his life with leading his pack and raising his son, which now extended to raising a daughter, too.
“Don’t take that tone with me, I am your Luna!” She screamed at him, exacerbating his mood even more.
“You are barely even that!” He snapped angrily. “You spend your days shopping and pampering yourself when your pack needs to care for themselves. Did you even think of anyone else today, except your own selfish desires?”
She stared at him aghast, he usually allowed her to rage at him, this was the first time he had really taken her to task for her actions. But he was still grieving the loss of Tyler and she was not helping at all.
Suddenly, she wailed loudly, pairing it with her fake tears. “How can you speak to me like that when I’ve given so much for this pack? Don’t you respect me at all?”
He noted a few omegas actually roll their eyes at her actions, clearly aware of her methods and he was just not in the mood. He was fast losing his temper with her.
“How can you treat me like this when you know I’m still grieving for the loss of my friend?” He demanded in a roar of anger. “Get out of my face! You get to do your shopping and your spa treatments and then you come here with your drama when I am grieving.”
Bernadette stared at him in open shock; she was not used to him taking her to task.
“This is your only warning, Bernadette. If you treat that little girl with anything but kindness I will strip you of your rank and make you an omega. She had to hear her father die a week ago and I will not have you add to the horrors she has already endured. Get out of my face before I think better of it and strip your title now.”
With a gasp, she ran from the room, clearly not willing to work for the pack like the omegas she looked down on had been doing. Shaking his head to himself he went to his office and poured himself a large whiskey.
“I don’t know why you haven’t gotten rid of her years ago.” Tom, his Beta and friend said when he came into his office and poured himself a drink as well. They had been close with Tyler Scott since their childhood and they were both feeling his loss acutely.
“That stupid promise I had made to her dying father.” Anson sighed tiredly. “I had promised him that I would take care of his daughter. But I’ve been regretting that promise since she became Luna. I’ve considered stripping her of her rank and just putting her up in a house with an allowance for years, but she is still the mother of my pup.”
“She’s no mother to that boy of yours! He’s her accessory that she shows with the right outfit at formal events.” Tom retorted. “Mark my words, that bitch is going to cause chaos one of these days.”
Anson sighed, he knew Tom was right, but he was still struggling to break his word to the old man. She was a selfish bitch that took every male to her room that she fancied and he was grateful that he hadn’t marked her those many years ago.
The only reason he was sure that Calum was his child was because his wolf had claimed him and he had done a paternity test to be sure. He had taken a mistress off the pack lands, who was just happy to be with him and not as greedy as his Luna.
He knew who Bernadette really was, but he couldn’t go back on his word to a dying man. It felt like a violation of trust. Perhaps he really ought to move her out of the pack house and strip her title, since he knew that most pack members would breathe a sigh of relief.
But a pack without a Luna was unstable and he didn’t want to threaten his pack’s safety and sense of security. He needed to find some way to make everyone happy, he just didn’t know how.
EmberShe was busy in her room, making a video of how to repair a toaster to upload for her social media. She had started tinkering when she realized that she would never be able to keep up with the werewolf pups and it had evolved from there.She was now considered the pack’s go to for any kind of technology. The kitchen staff loved her too, mostly because she had started helping them as a child when she had first given up on going with the pups to swim in the lake. She was just not fast enough or strong enough to match the wolves.Calum had offered to stay with her, but she had refused, since he had been excited to go to the lake, too. She didn’t want him to lose out on his excitement when she just couldn’t run as fast or as far as the wolf pups could. And she knew well not everyone in the pack wanted her there; so taking her along would have ruined his fun.She had many things to be grateful for, though. Alpha Anson doted on her like she was his own daughter, despite her know
BernadetteHer chance had finally come! Everything had fallen into place perfectly for her to take matters into her own hands. She had been angry that Anson had brought that five year old human child into the pack like she was one of them. He had added insult to injury by showing her the affection that Bernadette craved. But he had given it to a child! He had completely ignored her need to be adored, despite her throwing herself at him many times over the years in the hope that he would show her such devotion, but every single time he had cast her aside and shown so much love to a human girl! She hated that little brat!Now, after twelve years, everything aligned perfectly for her to fix the mistake he has made so long ago. When he comes back from his business trip, she would have sorted out the problem and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.One of her lovers turned out to be the second in command at the elite school. Wood Creek Academy was both a high value school an
EmberShe had resigned herself to packing as much as she could when she left the Luna’s office. She knew the woman didn’t like her, but these were extreme consequences for something she hadn’t even done.Good thing she had started making a point of recording all their interactions after that one time when she was twelve and she had slapped her for no reason. She had been hesitating to use all the evidence she had had, since Alpha Anson still showed her respect despite them not living like a married couple.But now, she thought it was time to make sure Alpha Anson knew exactly who his Luna was. But first, she needed to pack her things; since she had no doubt that Luna Bernadette would get rid of every single thing she left behind. The evidence would keep until she had found her feet, but she was about to blow up quite a few things in this pack.Not that Ember had all that much; she had always been conscious of the fact that she was an intruder in this pack. Some of the pack member
EmberThe three hour drive in the car, she spent reading through the package that had been on the back seat of the car with her name on. It had the school rules, expectations and her classes all included. She was expected to wear a uniform and she would also get extra credits for handing work in early.When the car finally came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a large apartment building on campus, she glanced at the name of the apartment building and realized this would be her home while she was here.Taking out the key from the welcoming package, the driver quietly assisted her with carrying all her belongings up to the third floor. And once she unlocked the door, he abandoned his load just inside the door and disappeared without a word.Ember stared at the place around her. It was set up almost like a small studio apartment. She had a small kitchenette with a fridge and a small countertop stove and oven and a
Alpha AnsonHe had spent the better part of his three week trip following up on leads for the murder of Ember’s father. That was not to say that he did not do business for the pack as well. But the case had gone cold and dead in the eyes of the authorities and he was not about to let Tyler’s death go unpunished.Whoever had killed him had stolen childhood memories from Ember and a lifetime of happiness and experiences. Tyler deserved justice and Ember deserved answers. He was exhausted, but he had found a few more leads to work with.From what he could find, it seemed that his death was either a struggle for power within the Hunters, or it was because Tyler had protected his baby girl. From the pictures of the crime scene, he was leaning towards a combination of them both. There would be no point in killing Tyler for the title if his heiress was alive and could easily take over leading the hunters.But what
EmberAfter a week with everyone giving her a wide berth since she sprayed Paisley with the silver solution, she was all but ignored. No one wanted to anger her enough to get sprayed as well. In fact, nothing came of the matter, since Paisley had no foot to stand on.She could walk through the corridors and hear the gossip from the other wolves. Something about the Bane Pack members coming back from their latest suspension. From what she understood, they would regularly be suspended for one thing or the other. She hoped she wouldn’t draw their attention as well; the last thing she wanted was to get into another altercation.She had started bringing her laptop to school now that it would be safe, so she could type notes in class and even used it during her lunch period. She had had some of the wolves hesitantly approaching her for the typed notes from a class they missed or didn’t do well in and she made a tiny inco
BernadetteShe was angry…no, she wasn’t angry, she was enraged.That bastard had actually taken her Luna title, exiled her from the pack and divorced her in one go. Then he had the audacity to tell her that he had promised her father that he would care for her and he would keep his word.She was sitting in his supposed care, after tiring herself out from screaming her anger to the world. His care was a sensible car, a stupidly small and sensibly furnished two bedroom apartment filled with groceries in a secure building and one suitcase with her clothes and shoes.What was she supposed to do with that?She didn’t even know how to cook! He had told her that her salary as a Luna had been untouched because she had been spending the pack’s money, so he would not give her a monthly allowance as well. He said something about smart investments would give her a tidy sum to live off. Yes, the apartment a
Ashton BaneHe was annoyed with how things had worked out. He had been sure that they had had enough evidence to get that teacher blacklisted with the information they had gleaned from the she-wolves male gym teacher the previous semester. They wanted him out of the school, but his father insisted that they needed as much as they could if they wanted to completely blacklist and prosecute him. If they did it right, he could be put to death for his crimes.Their pack had a bad reputation, but no one knew that they had been contracted by the werewolf king to work as an undercover agency to protect the werewolf realm as a whole. They were widely known as a dangerous and delinquent pack for the simple reason that the king hid their true purpose for a reason.The king had created their connection after his little sister had disappeared from the kingdom without a trace. She was still missing and no one could find any information on what ha