Beneath the dull light of the waning moon, we folded our clothes into neat stacks and tucked them into our allotted lockers, then turned, naked as the day we were born, towards the forest.

  I lifted my face to the moon and let my head fall back, breathing in and out. The earthy scent of autumn filled my nostrils, bringing beautiful memories of childhood and adolescence. The moment my mind reminded me of last year's autumn, I shut it down, and called to my Wolf.

  She practically rammed me from within as she leaped forward, tearing my body apart to reform and renew my connection with the wildness that was as much a part of me as my human skin. My bones shifted, shortening or lengthening, as my muscles reshaped, and thick fur sprouted from my flesh. It happened quickly, the pain a flash before I was standing on the pads of my paws and staring at the forest with eyes that saw colors and details indistinguishable to me as a human.

  I breathed in the scent of the earth and my mate and moved forward to butt my head against Bash’s shoulder. He was bigger than me, in human form and wolf, and sexy in both shapes. His thick black hair was fur now, so glossy it reflected blue beneath the moon’s light and his eyes, flashes of emerald fire, peered out at me from his lupine face, anxious and eager to run.

  I nuzzled him for a moment, then bounded into the forest.

  We raced over damp earth and fallen trees, through thick brush and trickling streams. I let the weight of the world drop from my shoulders and just let my wolf take the lead. She’d been cooped up for too long anyway. It was time to let her free.

  The property spread out, offering wilderness, flower filled clearings, hills, and water. We explored in peace, ferreting out secret paths in the undergrowth where rabbits and grouse frequently travelled. We roamed until the thick trees opened up, revealing a small meadow flanked by a brook that looked like a perfect swimming pool.

  I barely hesitated before running straight into the water and barked with laughter when Bash splashed in a moment later.

  Wanting to feel the still warm water on my skin, I closed my eyes and allowed my body to shift back to human.

  It was cooler on my skin than I’d thought it would be, but the water was fresh and lovely all the same. I moved deeper into the pool, reveling in the velvet feel of the liquid on my bare thighs. When I was deep enough, I dove in, and came up under the light of the moon. I smoothed my soaking wet hair and tipped my head back to gaze lovingly at the celestial body.

  “Old Ones, you’re breathtaking,” Bash murmured.

  I turned to gaze at him, appreciating the way the moonlight glinted off his skin, reflecting an otherworldly beauty. My stomach clenched, seeing the love in his eyes, feeling the reflection of it so strongly. “You’re one to speak,” I said, trailing my fingers through the water and preparing to jump him any second. But not too soon, I was enjoying this casual flirtation.

  “Elena,” Bash began, and the tone of his voice chased away the sexy thoughts that had been swirling through my mind.

  I knew that tone. I knew him. He wanted to talk.

  A groan threatened to escape my lips, but I caught it just in time and turned it into a sigh. Running with him beneath the waning moon, it had been so easy to let the darkness slide away. I didn’t want to lose that now. My mind searched for a way to distract him from his intent and settled on seduction.

  Ignoring the worry I heard in his voice, I lifted my hand from the water and trailed it slowly along the curve of my breast. “Yes?” I murmured, widening my eyes and lifting them to his gaze.

  His muscles tightened instantly.

  He’d been so patient with me. For the first month after my escape, I’d been useless, practically a vegetable. Time had meant almost nothing to me in the quiet place inside my mind where only the whispers of the pack lived. They’d kept me safe from the evil outside, from the shadows pressing on my mind, trying to pull me under and destroy me. I didn’t remember their words, if there had even been words, but I recalled the feeling of peace and safety they’d bestowed on me. It had been a gift, a treasure, one I wouldn’t soon forget.

  Outside my mind, though, time had moved along at its regular pace. Bash, my parents, Sylvie, and Katherine, had stood by my side, keeping watch as I fought a battle to return to them. I knew they’d been afraid, were still afraid I wouldn’t come all the way back, but I was doing my best and didn’t know how to offer more.

  Still, I thought, looking at my mate in the glow of the moon on the water, I wasn’t the only one who’d experienced trauma. I couldn’t imagine what it had felt like for Bash to find me missing, to search endlessly for me, yet again, and to find me almost completely destroyed. Love and devotion surged through me, hot and heady.

  Feigning innocence, I licked my lower lip, drawing his gaze, and bit down on the fullness there. “Did you want to talk about something?”

  “Ummm,” he stammered, then blinked and lifted his eyes from my lips to briefly meet my gaze, which was heavy with desire. Slowly, Bash shook his head and moved through the water like the predator he was, lips tilting up on one end in that crooked grin that always made my heart leap. “Nothing comes to mind.” His voice was husky. It sent thrills through me. His hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me up and into his kiss.

  It was like coming up for air. I breathed him in, tasting him, and feeling connected to reality and him for the first time in months. My mind reeled and my body spun fast, faster than usual as his lips teased their way along my jaw and down my neck.

  “Elena.” He breathed my name on a sigh and slid his hands down the length of me to curve around my hips. I wrapped my arms around his neck and arched back, offering him my breasts, my body, my soul, and asking for nothing in return.

  He was all I needed to be whole.

  His body was like a work of art. I worshiped it with every touch and breath, trailing my fingertips over his muscles, which bunched and moved beneath velvet skin as he devoured me.

  His lips closed over my nipple and, a moment later, his teeth nipped at sensitive flesh, tearing a breathy gasp from my throat. I dug my fingers into his shoulder blades and felt the give of flesh beneath my nails.

  He growled low and grasped my hips, lifting me, then lowering me and filling me, impossibly. I cried out and clung to his shoulders, as water lapped around our waists, creating waves as his hands moved my hips in a rhythm as old as time.

  Sensations gripped me, swirling through me like brilliant colors, exploding behind my closed eyelids. He buried his face in my neck and sunk his teeth into my skin, and the ripple of exquisite painful pleasure it released sent me soaring over the edge.

  An orgasm tore through me, laying waste to any that had come before. I went blind with it and deaf. There was nothing but him and me and the love we shared, the bond that connected us as one. I gasped in oxygen and shuddered around him as he emptied himself into me.

  We sank into the water, unable to stay upright, and held on as the tremors eased then passed. When I was sure I could speak, I raised my head and looked deep into his emerald eyes, and whispered, “I love you.”

  Bash smiled and pressed feather light kisses over my lips. “I love you, too. Marry me.”

  Chapter 5

  “He did what?” Rory’s eyes went wide as saucers and her mouth dropped open.

  I pressed my palms to my cheeks, pushing back the intense heat that had exploded in them the moment Bash’s question had sunk in. Still in shock, I shook my head. “I can’t think straight. I just… I don’t know.” I squinted because it felt like my eyes were absorbing too much light, making the ache behind my eyes intensify.

  “But, but…” she stammered, flailing her hands.

  “Exactly!” I nodded emphatically. “We’re too young. This is insane. What was he thinking?” My hands left my cheeks and gestured wildly toward Rory. “You know I’m still fucked up, right? I heard you and Daniella talking about it.”

  I was too flustered to care about the flush that spread across Rory’s face.

  “Bash knows, so why is he asking me to marry him when I can barely maintain a conversation for more than ten minutes without going to the dark and spooky place?” My volume climbed with each word until it echoed off the walls of Rory’s bedroom.

  “Elena.” Rory pushed to her feet and stepped towards me with her hands held out, like someone approaching a rabid dog. I frowned and pulled back, offended.

  “I’m not crazy, Rory,” I reminded her. “Just taking my sweet damn time getting over being tortured and murdering a bunch of people without trying.” The look of shock in her dark eyes made my words sink in a moment later.

  My lips twitched.

  It was all too much. My entire life right now was too damn much. A giggle bubbled up, escaping into the hushed silence between us. I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop it, knowing it was inappropriate.

  Then Rory’s lips twitched, and I was done for.

  We collapsed onto her bed in a fit of giggles, holding our stomachs and laughing until tears streamed down our faces and my stomach hurt.

  And, as I lay there, looking up at the ceiling with a smile splitting my face, I felt more like me than I had in months. Maybe it was finally happening. Maybe I was moving past the tragedy and torture and finding my own again. Like a child, I crossed my fingers and made a wish.

  Rory rolled onto her side to face me. “So, what did you say to him?” Her eyes were still wider than usual and shell-shocked.

  I turned my head to look at her. “I calmly told him that I need time to think about it. Then I shifted to paws and bolted back to campus like a frightened mouse.” I sighed. “I could feel him pressing on my mind, trying to talk to me through our bond, but I just kept it all locked tight and ran.” A disgusted sound burst from my throat. “I’m the worst.”

  “Maybe not the worst,” Rory said, wryly. “But certainly not at your finest. You’re going to have to talk to him, Elena. He’s probably freaking out, too. Chances are he didn’t plan it. Did he even have a ring?”

  A frown creased my forehead. “No, he didn’t.” I chewed my lower lip while I brought back the details of what should have been the most romantic moment of my entire life. “You might be right. Bash knows me too well to spring something like that on me right now. At least, I think.” I pouted and worried that I might not know him as well as I thought I did. “It’s going to be weird now. Why did he have to make it weird?”

  Rory clucked her tongue. “Not unless you make it weird. Or, weirder than you already did. He’s your mate, Elena. Just talk to him.” She glanced at her phone and cursed. “We have to go, or we’ll be late for study group.”

  I blew out a deep breath. “Or,” I said, dramatically, pushing up off the bed. “I could keep distracting him with sex for the next two to three years, until I’m ready.”

  Rory’s face tightened. “I don’t think it’s the time or place to joke about your relationship, Elena.” She glanced in the mirror, fluffed her hair, then grabbed her backpack.

  I blinked in surprise at her tone and was about to ask her what the hell when she glanced over her shoulder and said in a deadpan voice, “And I’m not wearing pink taffeta. Even for you.”

  I threw a pillow at her, grabbed my backpack, and chased her out the door.

  ♀♀♀

  “Welcome, Sisters.” Sylvie stepped to the podium and spread her arms wide to encompass the group of women standing, shoulder to shoulder in the secret underground cavern that housed the dramatic meetings of Alpha Wolf Academy’s Sisterhood chapter. Dressed in a gorgeous cream couture suit and black stilettos, she commanded every eye with easy confidence and power.

  I glanced down at my simple black dress and ballet flats and wondered if I’d ever be as elegant as her. If The Sisterhood got its way, I would be the Russian Alpha one day soon. How could I be an Alpha when I felt like such a child?

  No, I thought, frowning, that wasn’t entirely true. I’d been through more in the last year than most people experienced in their entire lives. Some parts of me had aged irrevocably, while other parts searched for purpose and strength.

  “For some of you, tonight is your first step towards making our world a fairer, more just place. Keep dreaming and working for what you know is right.” Sylvie scanned the crowd slowly, catching gazes, smiling, and I knew there would be many who felt an instant connection with her. It had felt that way for me this time last year at my first meeting. Only, it hadn’t been Sylvie then. Katherine had welcomed me into The Sisterhood.

  She stood by her mother’s side tonight, gorgeous and proud. I narrowed my eyes and leaned closer to Daniella, who stood next to me. “Does Katherine look particularly glowy tonight?” I asked, putting emphasis on my words.

  Rory leaned forward and whispered, “I was just thinking that!”

  Daniella kept her gaze settled on Katherine and made a small humming sound in her throat. “I haven’t heard anything, but she does look…” she seemed to search for a word and settled on, “dewy.”

  My stomach jittered with hopeful excitement. It had been barely more than a week since I’d seen her, and she hadn’t said a word about any pregnancy then. I pursed my lips and tried to remember if she’d been drinking, but my memories of the party were vague and slipped away as soon as I tried to search them.

  I frowned and tried to remember details of anything that had happened over the last few months. I remembered mom and dad arriving at Wild River, and Bash cradling me in bed when I woke up from nightmares that ripped and tore at my soul.

  I’d had doctors’ appointments, taken walks, shifted occasionally and ran through the forest, but, looking back now, none of it felt real. It could have happened to someone else. It felt as if my life had paused the moment I’d released my Alpha power and then picked back up just yesterday. Even the first week of school was a blur.

  At least it was finally becoming clearer. I didn’t want to live like that, watching the world through a fog.

  I refocused now, on Sylvie, as she welcomed back members from previous years. Anxious nerves bubbled in my stomach as we neared the real reason we were here tonight.

  “The Sisterhood is under attack,” Sylvie said in a tone that allowed for no interruption. Not that she needed it, you could hear a pin drop in the cavernous room. I barely dared to breathe.

  Sylvie lowered her head for a moment, letting the silence stretch out for ten long seconds before taking a deep breath and continuing. “We celebrated a momentous event in April of this year, the appointment of my friends Elise Heylen and Irena Novak, as Alphas in their home countries of Belgium and Slovenia, respectfully.” She swallowed audibly and I remembered how hard the news had struck her.

  Katherine stepped forward and reached for her mother’s hand. Sylvie glanced down and smiled sadly, then lifted her voice and continued. “Both Alphas were murdered the night of their appointments and the terrorism didn’t stop there. Jacqueline Devante, Lianna Sayles, and Zuri Abioye were abducted and held for over a month before they were released.” She squeezed her eyes shut and a tear slipped down her cheek. Katherine angled towards her and leaned in to whisper something. Sylvie nodded and stepped back.

  “They were tortured, abused, and left broken as a message to The Sisterhood. That we’ve overstepped, that we should know our place, that they will always win.” Katherine barely held back the sneer from her lips.

  A murmur of disgust spread through the room, then silenced as Katherine gestured to a woman I hadn’t noticed before. She was tall and broad through the shoulders and chest, with a mane of golden hair that reached to her waist. “Lianna,” Katherine murmured quietly, before stepping back.

  I gasped in realization of who this was and heard my sentiment echoed through the room.

  The woman stepped forward, her wolf engraved cane highlighting the loss of her right leg and squared her shoulders purposefully before speaking in a thick eastern European accent. “My name is Lianna Sayles,” she said clearly. “I asked Sylvie and Katherine if I could accompany them on their visit to local chapters because I wanted,” she broke off and frowned, then shook her head. “No, I needed to show all of you that I am not broken. Even after everything they did to me.” She gestured to her missing leg, then thumped her fist against her chest. “I am still alive. I am still here. And I will never stop fighting for what is right.”

  My breath whooshed out as a sound of awed joy burst from my chest. Fingers closed around my hand and squeezed. I looked down at Rory and grinned as she whooped loudly, along with all the other women in the room. At the podium, Lianna beamed, Katherine cheered, and Sylvie dabbed elegantly at unshed tears.

  My gaze locked on Lianna, at someone whose bright eyes and wide smile belied the truth of her experience. She’d been held for four weeks, three days, I knew, and had returned home alive, but far from whole. Sylvie had talked about her, Zuri, and Jacqueline often to me, especially when she didn’t think I was paying attention. I hadn’t been, not really, but it was because listening made my own pain, both psychological and physical, return in fresh waves. I hadn’t lost a limb to Viktor, but I’d lost myself, if only temporarily.

  I was finding myself again, now, though, I thought with a tremulous smile.

  Together, Lianna, Katherine, and Sylvie relayed the rest of the information being shared with the Sisters at Alpha Wolf Academy. I glanced over at Daniella who watched with keen eyes and knew she’d love to be part of the inner circle, as I was. She’d appreciate it more than me, right now, at least.

  “So, above all, be diligent, be watchful, and stay safe.” Katherine inclined her head to the crowd in closing, then descended the podium to join a small group of women who, I noticed, included Headmistress Donahue and Dr. Sherman, my history professor.

  “Let’s go say hi to Sylvie and Katherine,” I said, feigning casual interest. I tugged Rory forward, since we were still linked in solidarity from Lianna’s speech. In truth, I wanted to find a moment alone with Lianna, to feel her out, to see if she really had chased all her demons away successfully. I glanced back to see Daniella watching me with slightly narrowed eyes. Her emerald greens locked onto my face and saw right through me, as usual, so I looked away and started towards the front of the room.

 

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