Isla felt the blood, which had been fueling her temper and flushed face, drain away. All that was left was a cold, clammy feeling that crawled over her skin. Even her wolf was unnerved by the response."M-my lord," she stuttered. To her dismay, her voice was weak and filled with trepidation."I've suspected for a while now, what you are, but now it's been confirmed," he sighed happily. "You're a monster.""I beg your pardon.""Don't lie to me, beast. You've done a wonderful job at hiding amongst the humans who don't know any better, but I can't be fooled. Not any longer. See, it has always troubled me why two wolves would have kept a human child alive. Why didn't they kill you? Where did they get you? But now I understand. They were your parents," he shook his head in disbelief."I don't understand," Isla admitted."What don't you understand?" he asked with the slightest roll of his eyes. He had the fall to be exasperated with her."My parents are the king and queen," she insiste
"Dammit," Derulo muttered, lifting up his shirt and sticking his dark hand through the torn seam in the arm, where it had caught on a branch during their journey.Kelly chuckled and stuck another chuck of bread into his waiting mouth. His stomach had been growling angrily since dusk, and it was well towards midnight at this point. He chewed and swallowed before responding to his Beta. "Maybe you should learn to control that beast." He nodded over at the chestnut mare that was nibbling on the undergrowth near his own silver mount.Derulo sneered at his friend and pulled the torn shirt over his head. The white fabric stood out easily in the dark, especially with their enhanced eyesight. He ran a hand through the course, curly black hair that covered his head and lifted his plate of cold beans into his lap. "Not my fault the horse is nervous.""Really? You don't think your pissy wolf had anything to do with it?" Kelly tossed Derulo a loaf of bread from the saddlebag next to him whi
They both knew the two wolves they were searching for and would have immediately recognized their scents; this wolf was not one of them. But she needed their help. She was not there of her own free will, and likely wasn't going to be released anytime soon.Derulo kept his gaze focused on the carriage, which was beginning to move forward again. "What should we do?""Help her, obviously.""Kill them?""No, we don't need the suspicion of four dead bodies. Knock them out, grab her, and go."Derulo nodded once and without another word, the pair exploded from their cover and were on the guards in less than a second. They'd been fighting together for as long as Kelly could remember, it was second nature to them now.The mounted horses screamed in terror as their riders were dragged off their back. Kelly wrapped a strong arm around a man's throat and squeezed until he felt the man go slack. He began to chase down the man who was running down the road away from the fight when the carriage
Chapter 1Alpha Casper footsteps thundered down the cave. The wolf within him fought for freedom; his only coherent thought, protect the pack. His vision blurred as the wolf fought for control over his body. The wolf saw only the immediate threat; the man saw the consequences of each course of action. And right now, he needed to make sure that his immediate family was out of harm's way. He needed to reach Evelyn, his son, and daughter. Needed to reach them, needed to warn them, needed to save them. He pushed his legs to run faster. The mountain shook as the canons beat against it. He had to get them out of the mountain; that was his first priority. The growls of wolves echoed through the chambers, bouncing through the walls, driving home the fact that Casper's family was in danger. The park was being attacked, and the members were rising to action. Hopefully, he could get everyone evacuated before there was too much loss. He skidded around the corner into his bedchambers t
Chapter 2Casper knew that if he was going to survive the long flight they were about to take, at the cold temperatures they would encounter outside, he needed to be a wolf."Please, pumpkin" Casper begged, "I need you to do this so you can keep your sister and Mommy safe, okay?"The boy looked over at Evelyn who gave him an encouraging smile. She knelt down next to him and pulled the blanket down so that he could see his sister pudgy face. The baby was only a few weeks old, but her eyes were already a startling sky blue, just a few shades lighter than Evelyn's. "Will you help us protect your sister, sweetie?" Evelyn asked softly. "We need you to be brave right now, okay?" The boy stared down at his little sister and gently touched his finger to her round cheek. The baby stirred and focused her eyes on his face. Casper knew that was when his son came to his decision.The boy nodded, pulling his hand away from his sister. The little boy squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating ver
Chapter 3Casper released another growl, one loud enough to be heard above the deafening noise of battle. At once, he felt the pack's mental connection click into one thought:Alpha.Their collective relief and newfound determination to destroy the threat that was influenced by the appearance of their leader caused warmth to bloom in Casper's chest. A warmth that wasn't simply the wolf stored inside of him. He ran over his pack and the humans, honing in on a particularly loud group of humans surrounding three cannons. One man spotted the diving wolf and screamed. That was the last noise he made before he was engulfed in the mouth of Casper . The smell of flesh permeated the immediate area as he walk through the scattered body and it gave him petty satisfaction that humans smelled like nothing other than food when they were eaten alive. He wasn't sure if they had lost any pack lives, but he wasn't willing to take that chance by lingering. So what if the humans would win by driv
Chapter 4"Drop the child, beast!" the leader of the men demanded of Morgana. Ten of the soldiers charged Casper's little sister, who limped back up against the trees, dragging her crumpled leg. His daughter was clutched desperately in her right paw while she used her left to swipe out at the soldiers. One of the humans threw their spear in a deadly line, and before Casper could react it was embedded in morgana's already-injured side, right between two ribs. Her roar rang through the night and she collapsed, nearly crushing his daughter underneath her large body. The humans' leader stepped forward, swinging his sword in an arch that would slice right through Morgana's neck. This time, Casper's brain was quick enough to react. He leaped forward, right between Morgana and the sword.When he hit the ground, it took a moment for his brain to register what had happened. His paw hurt in a way that he had never experienced, but when he blinked his eyes open to look at his leg, his pa
Chapter 5King Gaius p.o.vI was gone for two weeks.But, in those two weeks, I accomplished quite a bit. It started with my visit to a neighboring kingdom. My relations with King Harry were tense, but Harry owed me. I had gone on that journey with only a handful of my most trusted knights. We needed to move quickly and efficiently to be back before anything drastic was done in the wake of my daughter's death.I and my men were ushered into the large, dreary throne room in Harry's castle. The throne room was nothing like my own, which was full of light and windows with a welcoming atmosphere. No, Harry's gave the impression that he wanted his guests out of there as quickly as humanly possible. Dark drapes closed part way over the windows, allowing only minimal light in, and the dark stone made everyone in the room feel as though we were trapped there. Naturally, that made people anxious to leave and therefore out of Harry's hair."Harry, old friend," I greeted him politely, qu