If it wasn’t for the three women I lived with and little Opal I’d have lost my mind. Delilah hadn't changed from our blessed childhood friendship. Morgan’s mate Nell was full of bizarre ideas for preserving food and practising emergency drills. Lyra remained stoic and calm. Our lighthouse of sense and hope. Opal cried for her Daddy, and I had to try not to join in with her. I had to promise her he would come back, based on nothing but pure, desperate hope. It turned into full-scale war out there. The various Rogue armies were enormous, but they never quite made it to Filney. We were prepared, though. Thanks to Nell, we each had a gun safely stored by the bed. Escape routes planned. Little Opal still slept with me, keeping her close to my heart. Finally, one day, they returned. Trucks pulling in to Lyras white walled villa woke us up. One by one, we all screamed with excitement. Cal didn’t even try to trick or provoke me. He just pulled up the truck and sprinted towards us.
The last twenty years have been a rollercoaster, to say the least. That night in the hail, when Cyrus pulled me back from the brink and I spilt every single woe from the bottom of my soul to him, was the turning point. Since the triplets' birth, I had walked around with lead weights in my shoulders, dragging me down. Guilt chipped away at my self-confidence. To the point when I didn’t even feel I could be a Luna. Standing at the top of that tower, thinking the isolation helped clear y mind when it only bogged me further down in the doubt. Cyrus changed all of that. He took my guilt and made a solemn vow. Twenty years. If we can’t fix it together in twenty years, we will offer ourselves to the Moon Goddess. After that night in the hail, I cried for two days in a row. Once whipped away from the beam, the full horror of what I’d almost done was crushing. I couldn’t look at the children without damning myself all over again. Cyrus though, he became the Alpha. With everyone’s bl
Standing in the courtyard, I can feel my heart racing. It’s a strange feeling to know you’re going to die in a few minutes. I made my vow to Mireille all those years ago. I’ve been an Alpha of the North, overseen peace, and brought up our beautiful children, but this is the vow that matters. Because this promise was the one that eased my angel’s mind. Knowing we would have this final offering to the Moon Goddess and pray it is enough to free our children. /I love you/ I whisper to her, noticing her hands shake. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. /You don’t have to do this/ she links back, her voice still as soft and light as the day I met her. Age has barely touched her. I am most definitely grizzled and rough around the edges. She is ethereal. Her pale green eyes shimmering with love and sadness, her white hair plaited tightly. She’s wearing a simple white dress. I insisted on wearing my huge winter fur. It seemed the right thing for me. /Wait, I want something/ I urge. I h
The bunker is so much better than before. That's what they tell me anyway.Except I am fascinated by the past. I want to experience the true heat of a shifter. Trapped underground every sensation multiplies by a hundred. Uncontrollable lust. To feel waves of desire so intense the only answer is to willingly walk into a room not knowing whose hands or lips will be the one to ease the burn. How is that even possible? Surely you bump or accidentally roll onto another couple? Maybe it wasn’t really ever that dark and anonymous. I couldn’t imagine how my long silvery hair or green eyes wouldn’t be visible, even if only for a second. I tried to ask my mother, Luna Elvie once, but she simply blushed. “Those days are the past. We have things under control now,” she smiled sweetly, stroking my hand. “It was a necessity back then. It wasn’t love. Wolves are powerful, demanding spirits.”“But isn’t it what us shifters are meant to feel?” I challenge, a rare occasion for me.My mother’s face t
It’s taken weeks of driving. My fathers borrowed brown leather jacket isn’t cutting it against the cold. Living by the sea, basking in sunsets and fishing lines, I’ve known nothing but the warm glow of the sun bronzing my skin. Now I’m trailing over ice fields, barely making it over the steep black mountain passes. Freezing cold and pissed off, I’m questioning why the fuck anyone would willingly live up in the middle of nowhere.“You know it’s not going to be what you expect,” my father had grumbled as I prepared to leave the villa. “You’ve never really felt that kind of cold before. It strips your soul.”“It’s where I’m from isn’t it?” I replied sharply.“Why should that matter?” he questioned, stopping to study me. If he wasn’t so completely covered in scars we could almost look like brothers. Ridges hidden beneath his beard, other lumps and grisly patches covered the rest of him.A mixture of torture, frostbite and battle written upon him like a map. Not that it bothered my mother
I don’t want to be here. The snow is annoying, it’s too fucking cold and that bunker gives me the creeps. Most of the beige-clothed regulars freak me out too. They’re so fucking happy to be here. Mainly, I hate the fact every time I stand in this courtyard all I can see is the place my poor mother took her final breaths. My father, used to communicating in his own silent code, has lost the love of his life. He trusted this place would save her. Meaning I must now be the perfect daughter and care for him.I do want to care for him. Just not in an underground bunker.My mate has chosen six months of fresh air over being with me. No negotiations or discussion. Certainly not the fairytale I was hoping for. The full moon after my mother died, we found each other. It was stunning, even I have to admit that. The beam came down but I wasn’t even looking at it. I was skulking in a corner, fingers entwined with my father as silent tears slipped down his cheeks. My heart leapt, charged wi
When the light wasn't pure white I knew it was my fault. All those crippled pilgrims writhing in pain were my fault. Are they dead? Am I a murderer?Kidnapped before I could even apologise to my parents for ruining everything they’ve built here. Now I'm going to die. That's what one of the thugs sneered when they grabbed me. "Scream again and it's your throat. You're coming with us either way," my windpipe collapsing into a strangers iron grip. Then another, weirdly familiar voice with a sickly sweet fruit scent purred into my ear."We'll just keep your body over winter, then let it thaw out in spring." "I've done nothing, I have nothing! Let me go!""You have everything you spoiled little bitch. Talk over," followed up by a stinging slap across my face.Dragged around the rear side of the fortress my captors slid across the snow drifts as the slope steepened. Nobody ever used this side. No wonder they just rocked up unchecked.Someone put the silver cuffs on me. Then another guy,
I’ve walked into a cult. Bunch of peace loving idiots who were in no way prepared for those gun-toting cavemen. They might as well have been human instead of shifters. Fucking useless. Pathetic.“Shut up,” a female voice snaps.Was I thinking out loud?“You still are. So shut up.”I open my eyes groggily to see the golden amber eyes of Hope staring down at me, her gorgeously fiery red hair tied up into a high bun. Scraped away from her face she’s all intriguing cheekbones, freckles and pout. Not that I allow my expression to change in the slightest.“What happened?”“You stormed off to the medic thinking you were invincible. Passed out in a corner from blood loss and almost died. I’ve just finished digging the bullets out. I could get one of the peace loving idiots to have a go if you prefer?” she added sarcastically, a twist of a smile lighting her face.“Shit, did I miss the group heading out to meet the attackers?” attempting to sit up and getting a vicious push back down. Her bare