“Barrett!” Orsina rushes to his side, laying a hand over his forehead. He lifts his head weakly at her voice, then his eyes spark with recognition.“Orsina…” he croaks, his eyes fluttering shut again. “Help…”Everything then happens in a flurry of activity. Clara sends everyone but Orsina out of the room, giving each of us specific directions. Jasper is sent to get a bowl of hot water and towels, I’m supposed to find a medicine kit under the sink in the kitchen, and Zach is told to go secure the perimeter of the house, especially the rear door.I return with the medicine chest in my arms. It smells familiar, full of the healing herbs and magical potions Layla often uses. It’s also got modern medical stuff like clean white bandages and stitching kits.Clara instantly sets about getting Barrett to sit up. She holds a glass of water to his lips, encouraging him to drink and take a handful of pills and capsules she’s picked out of the medicine chest. She works on Barrett fo
When we call home to let Regan and Isaac know what’s going on, they’re thrilled to hear that Barrett is okay and that Zach and Orsina have a safe place to land. They tell us that Howling Wolf is doing amazingly well - after so many volunteers and friends came to help us with the battle, we’ve gotten tons more clients in the shifter world, and we’ve been able to hire a handful of new employees.Since they seem to have things well in hand, Jasper and I decide to stay in Montana. We set up in one of the westward facing bedrooms, next door to Zach and Orsina. Clara and Bennett take an upstairs bedroom, smaller but cozier and with more privacy. With Weston defeated and his supporters scattered after our Santa Cruz victory, the rest of the bear clan needs a leader and a place to stay. Through a peaceful process, Clara and Barrett become the Alpha and Luna for the bear clan. Bear clans don’t typically refer to their Alpha’s mates as a “Luna,” but Clara is a wolf, and the title just see
Clara and Zach arrive soon enough, and we all go careening up the mountain. With Clara behind the wheel, we get back to the house in record time. Orsina is sweating now, her breaths coming heavy and hard, and Zach has to help her out of the truck and into her room.“Can you shift?” Clara asks her, gently lowering the laboring mother down into her bed. “It’s so much easier if you shift.”“I think so,” Orsina says. She squeezes her eyes shut, holding her breath. It takes a few tries, but soon she’s a bear, curled up on top of the quilts in her bedroom.“Perfect, perfect,” Clara coos. “There you go, mama bear.”“Could that cause a problem for the baby?” Zach asks, hovering in the doorway. Clara asked him to bring towels, and he’s already brought twice as many as we’ll need, but he has yet another armful. I don’t even know where he’s getting them from, at this point. Even a mansion like this can only hold so many towels.“What do you mean?” Clara asks, her voice calm and unf
My eyes fall shut easily, after such a long day. But I don’t sleep very deeply. Instead, I get caught up in a long, complex dream.In the dream, I’m back in the celestial realm, standing in the same dungeon cage that Coello used to keep me in. Sterling is there, too, walking up to me with those piercing gray eyes and that familiar smile. “Hello,” he says. He leans in to kiss me, and I think that the bars will prevent him from being able to, but he just passes right through. I feel his hands on my face, his lips on mine, and he kisses me for a long time.When I open my eyes after the kiss, I’m no longer in the cage. Now, Sterling and I are standing on top of the massive tower where we found him, high up above the rest of the celestial realm. But when I look out, I don’t see the rolling, starlit darkness of the celestial realm. I see the golden yellow plains of Montana, the valley that stretches out around Serpent’s Creek.“Where are we?” I ask, feeling strangely dizzy.
Damian is a healthy baby, well loved, and by the time he’s a few months old, it’s obvious that Jasper and I don’t need to stick around in Serpent’s Creek. The mansion is nearly full to bursting with wolf and bear shifters excited to be part of this new family and to dote on the precious baby whose existence symbolizes a fresh start for everyone.Jasper mentions going home to Santa Cruz a few times before I’m happy about it, though. I tell him that Orsina could still use my help, or that there’s still some magic I want to learn from Clara. He sees right through my excuses, though. “Are you nervous and going back to live somewhere with those guys in the basement?” Jasper asks me one evening, sliding his hands around my waist to nibble at my earlobes as he asks. “Maybe,” I say. “Now that he’s not a rabbit anymore, and he’s seen me and spoken to me, and he’s already gotten out once -”“He didn’t get out,” Jasper reminds me. “We let him think he escaped.”“I know, but he th
It’s my first day at Ponderosa High. I head toward my locker, trying to keep my head down and just make it through the day. I tug my green knit beanie down farther over my head, hoping to hide my short cropped hairstyle.Around here, all the girls have long, beautiful hair. Golden blonde, shimmering honey-brown, jet black, all in bouncing ponytails or gorgeous waves. Except for me. At my last school, some kids threw gum in my hair, and I had to chop it all off. The hairstylist tried to tell me that it was a cool new style, but I hate it. Every time I look in the mirror, I see a lonely, bullied girl who doesn’t fit in anywhere.No wonder our old pack sent us away. Our Alpha decided we needed to come out to Flagstaff and join the pack here, as some kind of trade deal with their Alpha. I haven’t met any of the shifters here, but all I can hope is that they accept me more than my last pack.In the hallway, everyone is shouting and jostling. It’s the middle of the school ye
I just have to get to class, I think. If I can make it through the hallways to my first class, I should be okay. I shove my beanie into my pocket and try to push my way through the crowd. Most people just ignore me, but as I round the corner, I see Miranda and her friends, a gaggle of tall, gorgeous, well dressed shifter girls.“Well, well, well,” Miranda says, walking over to me as her friends look on. “If it isn’t little Baldy.”I’m not bald, I just have...a temporary lack of hair. And it isn’t even my fault - some girls (who, to be honest, looked and talked and acted just like Miranda and her friends) ruined it for me. Of course, I don’t say any of that. I just give a shy little wave. “Hi, Miranda.”“Oooh, she knows your name!” One of Miranda’s friends shrieks.“Did you make a new friend, Miranda?”“Shut up, guys!” I’ve clearly made a mistake. Miranda’s yellow eyes are nearly glowing with rage. “This stupid Omega is not my friend.”“I have to get to
Hot tears slide down my face and I angrily wipe them away, splashing some water on my face from the sink before taking a few deep breaths and telling myself to calm down.Carefully, I spread out my schedule, squinting at the damaged paper. Apparently, my first period class is English with a teacher called Mrs. Longan. It’s in room 208, I think. With no other options, I turn my shirt backwards, so now the hole Miranda made is between my shoulderblades rather than in the middle of my front. Maybe if I keep my back pressed against my seat, no one will notice.The hallways are empty, and I know I’ll have to enter class late. Yet another embarrassment piled on top of an already horrible morning.At least now it’s easy to find Room 208, without a bunch of other kids crowding and jostling around. I steel myself and pull open the door, trying to slip unnoticed into the classroom.“You’re late.” The teacher’s stern voice is the first thing that greets me. A few kids giggle.“