Episode One

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Nakia

Get it together, Nakia. I jumped out of my dad’s truck and headed for our house. The last few months were some of the worst I’d dealt with in a long time. First, we had to deal with local vampires attacking the area, and then my dad had to make a pact with the Larics to save not just our dwindling pack, but others in this area too. Second, the time was ticking down to when I’d have to take the alpha roll, and I was not looking forward to that.
“Are you okay?” My dad glanced at me from the front of the truck.
“I’m fine. We’ve just been driving for a long time,” I said, rolling my shoulders for effect. “Tired.”
“Is that all there is to it?” He didn’t come closer, but he had a way of knowing when I wasn’t being completely honest.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
He watched more a moment longer, his dark eyes looked more tired than usual, but he didn’t let on. “You know you can talk to me or Atlas.”
I forced a smile. He knew I wouldn’t want to talk to either of them about anything. It was too complicated, and they both acted like the overprotective fathers I didn’t need right now.
“I just want to get some rest. Everything else can wait,” I said.
“You’re going to have to talk to us eventually,” my dad said, but didn’t push it.
God, I hope they didn’t figure it out. I didn’t need to be pushed into a mating before I was even the alpha. I groaned at the thought.
Ever since I was little, it was drilled into my head I was going to take over the pack when my father died. That was years away, thankfully, but I knew better than anyone that the pack was not going to accept a woman unless I was stronger than every other man in the pack. I was nowhere close to that, not yet.
I walked into the house and headed straight for my room. I needed rest and just be in my own bed. The Larics had a decent house there in Pennsylvania, but it was nothing like home.
I wasn’t ready for the dreams that came or the voice that won’t leave me alone.

***

I was standing in the middle of a fight. Vampires on one side and wolves on the other. I let my eyes scan their faces, but most of them were people I didn’t recognize. Wolves from another pack, except for one.
“Jaylyn, what are you doing here?” I yelled and made my way toward him. I dodged vampires lunging for wolves and claws aimed at vampires. It was like they couldn’t see me. I wasn’t there. “Jaylyn,” I yelled. He didn’t look at me.
I watched as he shifted, his light gray wolf growling at something behind me, but it was the slightest bit of silver magick circling him and reaching for me that I noticed.
I shook my head. This was not happening. I could refuse. I could just not tell anyone. It didn’t have to happen if I didn’t want it to, but the pull was almost overwhelming. Any doubt I had was gone.
Jaylyn was my mate.

***

I picked at my toast, thinking about the night before. If no one else realized it, maybe I could get away with no one knowing. Jaylyn was a sweet guy. He was always making sure I was good when he should have been thinking about how they were going to fight the vampires, but his father would make everything complicated.
The little kitchen was painted the same light blue my mother loved. Each of the cabinet doors were painted a matching while with a silver flower handle on each one. The counter was white Formica with little swirls of dark blue. Hell, even the dark matching stools carefully placed at the eat in counter were from my mother.
“Are you okay?”
I blinked and turned towards my father. “Sorry, just thinking about the vampire shit.”
“Yeah, even with what happened with Ivy, they could come back,” he said, pulling up a seat. “This time we’ll be waiting for them.”
“Do you think it’s better to join the Larics?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not the alpha. I just didn’t want them to know that,” he said with a slight smile.
“You know it’s weird that you two do that,” I said, taking a small bite. I didn’t want to admit how hungry I was, but it was a long drive and I didn’t eat anything before I went to sleep.
“Look, it keeps everyone safe if no one knows the truth,” he said, stealing my other piece of toast. “But I suspect there will be some changes that need to be made.”
“What do you mean?” I tensed slightly.
“Well, Erik and Jaylyn’s dad knows you are eligible. It won’t surprise me if they try.”
“They would never let us be in charge of ourselves,” I countered. “That can’t happen.”
“Things change, and with everything going on with the vampires, we might have to as well.”
I had responsibilities to my pack and my family. Our tradition was old and based more in pack law than what the Larics liked. They were brutal and dominating, but when things didn’t go the way they wanted, they had a habit of bending their own rules to make it the way they wanted.
“What about the other packs? You remember there was a different option in the past,” I said.
“Carik?” He shook his head. “He’s not an option. After what he did to you.”
“It wasn’t completely his fault, you know,” I said, and finally decided I really wasn’t hungry anymore. “We both decided it wasn’t a good thing, but if it was him or the Larics, he’d be the most accepted by the pack.”
“Atlas would never allow it,” he said.
“Atlas is an angry man and should listen more,” I said, watching him. While Axl was my father in every way, Atlas liked to make everything think he was and acted like it when it came to protecting me. No one could tell the difference between them unless they caught the scar on my father’s neck. To anyone else, they looked like the same man.
“Nakia, when your mother died, we agreed to put our differences to the side and make you our priority. You are the next alpha by birth,” he finished.
“Only because I was the only one,” I muttered.
“Birthright is how we work. My father was alpha, his and so on all the way back to when we left our home,” he forced a smile. “Someday I’ll get to go back there.”
“When the war ends,” I said with a smile. “That was always your plan, wasn’t it? Help Atlas and then just leave and go back to our homeland.”
“I always hoped to. If the damn packs would get it together and work to keep each other alive.”
“I hope you can.” I had never thought about trying to go back. I’d never even seen the other world, but there were stories. Maybe it didn’t even exist anymore.
I heard buzzing and watched my dad grab his phone and walk through the doorway of the little kitchen and into the living room. I could hear him talking but not make out the words. I could however make out the groans of something he didn’t like.
Great.
He walked back in and glanced my way before sighing. “We need to meet Atlas at the library for a meeting.”
“The entire pack?”
“No, just us,” he clarified.
This wasn’t going to be good.

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Jaylyn

“You just let her go,” Erik said from the couch. I was still in his new territory, waiting for whatever fresh hell my father had for me. My brother was a newly married man and crowned alpha. He didn’t need me following him around anymore, but the thought of roping Nakia into my father’s nonsense was too much.
“You know what father would want,” I said, taking a seat across from him in my favorite reading chair. “He’d want to take over their pack, just like he had you do to this one.”
“If we hadn’t come here, Ivy would be dead and every other wolf here either displaced or dead along with her,” he snapped. “I’m not our father.”
“I know you keep telling me that,” I snapped. “Nakia and her pack are not like us. They won’t let him take them over, and it’s just going to cause more trouble.”
“Maybe he’s not entirely wrong.”
I gave my brother a look.
“The packs need to be united. We’re vulnerable alone. Each one that gets united makes the vampires think twice about attacking us.” He sighed. “Things are changing. I can feel it.”
“Maybe it should change,” I countered. “The warlocks need to be stopped.”
“That’s not our job,” he snapped. “We protect our people, our pack.”
I picked up the book Nakia hadn’t finished reading while she was here and thumbed through it. Maybe he was right. Maybe the only way to bring us all back together was through merging our packs. It just didn’t feel right coming into their space and taking over. I didn’t like it when Erik was forced to do it and wouldn’t like it for me or anyone I cared about.
“This isn’t about us,” Erik said as though he’d read my mind. “The pack has to be considered.” He paused. Besides, do you really think Father didn’t notice how you looked at her. He’s probably already making arrangements.”
“Good luck to him. Did you see how Axl looked at us? There is no way he’s going to let me mate his daughter.”
“He’s an alpha, he’ll protect his pack,” Erik said, raising an eyebrow. “Besides, I’m tired of you following me around looking like a sad puppy.”
“Wow, you’re an asshole,” I said with a slight smile. “How’s Ivy?”
“Better. It’s not easy when you lose a parent,” Erik said with a forced smile.
I knew that pain all too well. Our mother was one of the last people of her own pack. She never show what our father became. She didn’t see how hard he was on everyone, but more than anything, how hard he was on Erik. “If there is anything I can do to help…”
“I’ll let you know, but I think she just needs time. She’s better than she was after it happened, but grief takes a long time.”
“Unless your name is Erik and you push it down,” I said, raising an eyebrow. My brother was good at keeping his feelings to himself, and our mother’s death just closed him down more. Ivy seemed to be a good cure for that.

“I’m fine now that I found her, and you will be too.”
“I’m not looking for a mate to cure me,” I said without thinking.
“Not cure you, but to help you feel again,” he said. “The whole mate thing has a way of opening you up more than you ever thought possible.”
“Probably because you can feel each other,” I finished. “I know. I’ve heard the stories.”
“Sometimes I forget you weren’t a little kid when Mom died. Gavin wasn’t so lucky,” he said with a sigh. “He probably doesn’t remember her at all.”
“He does. Just might need a little push,” I said. Maybe I did too. My memories were few and far between, but I did remember her stories and the way she would talk about how she and Father found each other.
I heard my brother’s phone buzz, and then he glanced at me. “Father is looking for you.”
“Of course he is,” I said and shook my head. “Let’s see what fresh hell he has in store for me now.”
“Give him a little grace. You might be surprised.” Erik watched me as I stood and shook my head.
“I don’t trust anything he does and you shouldn’t either.”

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Nakia

Our town was small, and the little houses that lined the streets were in dire need of a paint job. My dad and Atlas tried to keep up on everything, but we were one of the smallest packs in the area. It didn’t help that we lost some good people helping Erik and his new pack.
“What are we doing?”
“Atlas has some big thing to talk to you about,” my dad said.
I groaned. The only thing he could need me for is something to do with me being an alpha in a few years. Not what I was looking forward to at all.
We walked into the library, and I waved at the librarian, who just hurried away. It was a small space, but most of the people we needed for pack meetings were either in my family or in one of the other long running lines of our pack.
Standing at the far edge of the space by a bookshelf full of books no one had read in years was the spitting image of my father. He was tall and broad, wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a red t-shirt. His hair was cut short, but in the same style as Axl to make sure no one outside the pack could tell who they were talking to. He didn’t turn before he spoke.
“Nakia, I’m glad you’re safe,” Atlas said, finally turning to look at me. “A lot has happened.”
“The vampires? Yeah, I know,” I said, crossing my arms. I hated these meetings.
“It’s more complicated than that. The vampires pulled back, but there is talk they will be coming back and hitting all of us harder than ever.”
“So…?” I just wanted to get to the point of all this. “What does this have to do with me?”
“We need more power. More wolves in our own pack. If we can pull power from another pack, then we might have a chance to shield ourselves from the worst of it,” he said. “We don’t have much to offer besides our own strength.”
“We’ve got hundreds of years of keeping the pack pure, yada yada. I know,” I said. “You want me to find a mate.”
“I want all the women to. The more packs we can align with, the better,” he said. “You will still be the alpha. That won’t change.”
“So, a mating lineup,” I said, shaking my head. “You promised we would never do that.”
“I need you to make the women understand. They need mates. We need power. Or we’re all dead and none of it matters.”
“Won’t that taint the pure image you wanted?” I raised an eyebrow.
“We’ll pull from packs that haven’t interbred with humans or witches. Should be pretty easy since most of them hate them, anyway.”
“I wonder why,” I said with a touch of sarcasm. Of course, wolf shifters hated humans. They were one of the early hunters of our kind. The Order was the biggest offender back in the early life of the United States. They liked to recruit people who’d been hurt by a vampire or demon and tell them we were the problem. They almost hunted us to extinction.
My pack was one of the few that stayed alive and vowed never to allow them to kill us again, even if we had a truce.
“I’ve already reached out to several packs. They are sending their alphas. Carik is included in that,” he said.
“What?” I almost yelled it. “That was a done deal already.”
“I didn’t say he’d be here for you,” Atlas snapped. “He might want another one of our women.”
“I know how you think,” I said, “You’ll expect it.”
“Maybe it should be that way. We were always supposed to be one pack. It would merge us, and we’d have power.”
“You know they follow the old power. The wolf and the witch. He’d never go along with it,” I said. “And neither will I.”
“Then you’ll have to pick a different mate with just as much power,” he snapped. I opened my mouth to counter him. “End of discussion.”
There was no way I was getting locked into a mating with Carik. We were not right for each other in any way. He was impulsive and bossy. He was the rightful alpha of his own pack. He would never settle for anything less.
Neither would I.

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Jaylyn

I glanced across the room at Gavin, leaning on the wall. The hall was quiet, and it was just the two of us in there waiting.
“What do you think he wants?” I asked, and Gavin smirked.
“What do you think? He’s deciding what pack to take over next.”
I grimaced. The idea of just taking over a pack and expecting to be the alpha without a fight was less than enticing. “Why can’t he just be happy with the empire he already has?”
“Because we’re getting ready to go to war and we need body,” my father’s voice rang through the hall as he walked into the center. He was always put together, but today he had every graying hair in place and looked as though he’d just been to a wedding in his dark suit.
“We already fought a war,” I countered.
“You have a lot to learn if you think that was the only time the vampires will attack our packs. I won’t even get into what the warlocks will do if they decide we’re a threat. We need to be ready,” he rolled open a map on the table at the center of the room. “There’s been whispers that the vampires are gathering in New York. While they’re busy there, it’s a good time to build our own defenses.”
“How do you know they’re in New York?” I didn’t move from where I was. I knew my father had spies all over, but this was new, and embedding a wolf in a major city with people that had connections wasn’t easy.
“I have spies that are rejected wolves. They don’t shift so no one thinks anything of them,” he said. “I’ve heard from three separate packs that Atlas is reaching out for alpha mates for his own pack. I want one of you to go.”
I furrowed my brow. “He’s trying to find a mate for Nakia?”
“I noticed you had some interest when she was here. Perhaps you want to try to convince Atlas to let you mate her,” my father said, turning towards me. “Or I can send Gavin.”
“No,” I said a little too fast. I was not near as smooth as Erik was with Ivy. “I can try. Larics are a strong pack. It might be a good option.”
“They follow the old ways. If you two mate, we’ll have to change that. My son will be an alpha, not an alpha’s mate.”
I looked at him in confusion, and he sighed.
“They go by birth. She is the child of the current alpha. The only way that can be changed is through a challenge from another pack member. Nakia is their next in line, but Atlas is going to have to change with the times if he wants to grow his pack.”
“I doubt that man will listen to me. He was very set in his ways here,” I thought about it and realized they didn’t call him Atlas here, but packed the thought away. “How would I even begin?”
“I saw how you looked at Nakia. The mate bond is there. Convince him that would be better than some wolf his daughter will never love.”
My father had no idea.
He looked back at the map. “Or don’t come back.”

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Episode Two

Start at the beginning with Moon Bound Here…