Charlie heard Sarah shout for her to wait but she ignored her. She needed to get out of the house and clear her head, or at least think about what she was going to do. Slamming the front door harder than she meant to, she speed-walked down the street and turned the first corner. Walking as fast as she could, crossing roads, turning corners, Charlie looked for a large open space where she could sit and think for a while.
Since her teenage years, Charlie had used open spaces to help work through her problems. She would spend hours at the beach, watching the ocean waves roll over the pebbles, or sitting on West Hill Cliff, overlooking the town below. At that moment she wished she was back in Hastings, watching the world go by as she had done many times before, but she wasn’t. Instead, she was in the middle of a strange town, with a friendly faery and a half-faery, half-wolf that was
“Aiden, let me go look for her. You’re in no condition. You still have a lot more healing to do.” Shaking his head, Aiden stood. “No, it’s my fault she stormed out. I’ll go find her. Besides, I can sense when I'm near her. You stay here and call me if she comes back.” “But Aiden, you’re arm…” “Just a scratch. Call if you hear anything, okay?” It wasn’t just a scratch, more like a nasty bite from a savage dog, but it had gotten better so it wasn’t exactly a lie. Besides, it had been five hours since Charlie had left the house and neither he nor Sarah had been able to get through to her on her mobile. The knowledge that Rafael was on his way to meet with the Alpha of the Red Dawn pack and with Charlie being alone and having nowhere to go, ha
“Sarah! That’s twice in a year you’ve come to this door. You’ll have to be careful you don’t start making it a habit, not that I mind. Come in.”“Thank you, but this isn’t exactly a social call. We need to talk, Ben. Are you free?”Sarah had questioned herself for the entire drive over to Ben's house and had almost turned back more than once.“Sure, take a seat. What’s wrong? You look like shit, I'm afraid to say.”Forcing a laugh, she sat down on the leather sofa and pulled in a deep breath. Her stomach was tied up in more knots than Fort Knox had locks and nervous nausea was rising in her throat.
Charlie's lungs felt like they were going to burst from the amount of effort she had forced into the scream. Bill had told her when he tied her to the chair, that it was pointless wasting her energy with trying to scream and shout through the rag in her mouth. He had said there was nobody around for miles, only wolves, but she had to keep trying."Sh… sh… she's in here, like you wa… wanted, Alpha," a man said."Thank you, Falcon. Make sure nobody goes to her unless they're with me. Understand?""I d… do. Yes, Alpha. Na...na… nobody."Charlie froze as the lock on the door banged and was promptly followed by the sound of creaking of wood. She held her breath as footsteps thudde
“He knows we’re coming?” Aiden was nervous. He had heard stories of shifters that had ventured into pack territory and none of them ever ended well.“Relax. He knows. I messaged him already, and his beta, too. Nobody will say anything about us being there. You’d think you were scared or something,” Simon said.“No, not scared. Just nervous, I guess. I don’t usually have any dealings with wolves, let alone a pack of them. They don’t take too kindly to my type of shifting.”Aiden looked around trying to get his bearings. They had been walking for a few hours and had ended up in what looked to be a tiny village. Cottages lined the road on both sides of him, each one looking exactly the same as another.
“Benjamin!”Sarah's world was threatening to crash around her as she ran down the street, faster than she had ever run before, screaming Ben’s name at the top of her lungs. As she reached the trio of snarling wolves, the man jumped in front of her.“You’re going to get yourself killed, woman. Stay out of it.” Simon told her.“I can’t!”Pushing Simon away, Sarah ran to Ben. It had been years since she had seen his wolf but it was still just as beautiful as the day he had first changed in front of her. After he had shifted, he had asked her if she had been scared, but she had felt nothing but love from the powerful beast.
“He’s going to get himself killed. You have to stop him, Ben.” Simon said.“You don’t even know where he’s gone and why should we bother anyway?” Paul said.Sarah scowled at the beta, leaning against Ben's living room.“He’s gone to Dawn,” Simon said.Sarah noticed the atmosphere in the room go from bad, to worse, as Paul and Ben stared at Simon.“What? Don’t look at me like that. It wasn’t my idea. He was coming to you guys for help but you royally fucked that up, didn’t you?” Simon said.Sarah wa
The hidden village sat at the end of a narrow winding lane, just wide enough for a car and bendy enough to completely disorientate anyone who was lost in the forest. Seemingly endless trees lay to both sides of Aiden as he walked down the centre of the lane, making sure he was in plain sight of the two sentries he knew were around the corner. He had already deduced during his scout of the area that neither of them seemed competent in their role. Both of the oversized men seemed to prefer leaning against the side of the boundary wall, rather than patrolling the area they were supposed to be watching.“We don’t allow visitors without the Alpha's approval. Pack policy,” the rotund, leather-clad man said as soon as Aiden was within earshot.“Is that so?” Aiden replied, running his fingers
Ben entered the village hall, followed closely by Paul, Sarah and Simon, and took a seat on the stage. He had asked Sarah to walk with him as his mate but she had refused. "It isn't the right time, Ben," she said. "Why? Why isn't it, Sarah? You should be there with me." "I will be, but as a parent, not a mate. This is about Aiden. Don't make it about us." Looking around at the seated faces in the hall, Ben knew she had been right. His pack had learned to respect him for doing what was right and in turn, he had learned to include them in decisions that risked everything they had. If he was to announce his mate and his son, they would feel obligated to go all guns blazing. &