please vote 🖤
"Are you ever going to tell me your name or do I have to just keep calling you Freckles?" His voice was like silk.
The plane hummed, making my silence more noticeable.
"I told you, I wasn't lying. My name is Quinn," And I wasn't lying, but I wasn't telling the truth either.
Quinn was my middle name.
A growl ripped through the air. Paxton stood up, breaking through the fabric of his seatbelt. He towered over me as I hunched back into the soft cushion below me.
We had a private plane, and for the past two hours, all I thought about was ripping his clothes off and joining the mile-high club. His towering presence above me didn't make it easier for these thoughts to go away.
His arm shot out and suddenly I could feel his hand connect with my chin, forcing it up so I was looking straight at him. His grip was like iron —there was no escape from his mesmerizing eyes.
I knew what he was about to do and it saddened me to think he would stoop this low.
His eyes turned dark as he continued to lock eyes with me —the only way to tell if a wolf was using an Alpha command.
"Tell me your first name."
He knew the truth; I was lying to him. I bit my tongue.
Literally.
I could taste the metallic blood and my hand instinctively went to my lip, my fingers wiping the non-existent drops from my pout.
His command made me tingle all over. My body's magic fought against his, creating a newfound tension. It felt unnatural — one type of magic fighting another.
His body pressed closer to me. He was leaning down now and I could feel his breath on my neck.
I shivered involuntarily at the sensation.
His lips lightly brushed against my ear as he whispered. "You remind me so much of another girl I knew. And with you, I couldn't place it at first... but I can hear it. Your heart beats differently —not like any human, witch, or werewolf I know."
My heart was pounding but it was not of a supernatural cause, but because of him, and his proximity to me.
Embry's spell was wearing off; I was appearing as less human to everyone around me. Who knew magic had an expiration date?
How long would it be before he found out? Before everyone did.
His anger wasn't pushed down now. His chest swelled and fingers gripped the armrests of my seat. Paxton finally pushed himself away from my chair.
And I felt my heart sink. I wonder if he could hear that too.
He quickly turned and went back to the private bedroom in the back of the plane. Every step he took away from me the more I wanted to jump up and throw myself at him.
How badly I wanted to throw myself onto that bed and let him have me right there. I tightened my hand into a small fist —I knew the mate bond was causing such thoughts and temptations. I needed to get a grip on myself.
Ultimately, I decided that drifting off and leaning against the window was a better idea.
Unfortunately, the nightmares came quickly.
It was a side effect of having been dead.
~
It was that night, under the bright night sky, twenty years ago when my sister Artemis killed me. A baby girl had just been born, another heir of the Moon Goddess.
As soon as that precious soul entered the world knew what Artemis was going to do; groom the child and then kill them when their magic became strong enough —harnessing the lost power for herself.
She had even killed her own daughter. One of the heirs.
Hana.
Saying her name made me feel like I was suffocating. I had to push the thought away before I became engulfed in it.
I couldn't let it happen again — I wouldn't allow the same fate for this baby. This time, I was going to save her. Artemis had killed Adira's mother, not long after birth. Leaving another child defenseless.
So I took her. And ran, prepared to run forever.
I had her, in my arms. This tiny baby. Wrapped up and innocent to the crazy world booming around her.
I didn't make it far before Artemis found me.
It started with the wolf howls. I was surrounded. The rest of the dream was a blur —their teeth sinking into my skin and my sister's face hovering over me muttering an incantation.
My screams mixed with the baby's cries until it all faded into nothing.
~
When I awoke it wasn't my tear-stained cheeks that grabbed my attention, but the large figure hovering over me. Paxton's warm hands were on my shoulders. He was aggressively shaking me.
"It's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream." He continued to mutter, and his strong grip loosened when he realized I was finally awake. He started assessing me for any other sign of injury or trauma.
But this was one of the only times I didn't want to be touched, not even by him.
I got up and pushed past him. Even though there was nowhere to go on this plane, I managed to hunker down in a new seat and hoped he wouldn't follow.
Paxton just stood there, almost like he was paralyzed, unsure of how to help.
But he couldn't. No one could.
I wasn't strong enough to save her; I couldn't save Adira then and now she was dead because of me.
~
"Where are we?"
The cold breeze told me that we had flown north, but I hadn't even known there was a pack this far away from where the werewolves had originated.
Who had migrated this far and managed to survive?
Paxton and I hadn't talked much since he witnessed my dream. He had handed me a coat when we got off the plane and after I slipped it on, he zipped it up for me.
It was these gestures that left me at a loss. They were confusing to me but also heartwarming. I never knew if he was feeling the bond or not.
"Glacier Ridge —the most northern of the packs. We are up in the Yukon believe it or not. I don't get why a pack would ever want to be based up here because of the cold, but it sure is beautiful."
And he was right, even on our short walk, I couldn't take in everything. Even though the trees were bare, the snow and ice created a blanket of beauty that covered everything. I could smell the fresh pine. It reminded me of Christmas, even though it was only the end of September.
It was only a five-minute walk from the tarmac to the main house.
House wasn't the right word. It was magnificent; it reminded me of my childhood home. It almost seemed to have the same glass windows.
Once we arrived at the main gate it was a quick affair —people rushing around us, taking our luggage, and pushing me down so many halls I got dizzy.
Eventually, me and Paxton got split up in the commotion.
A guard led me to where I would be staying. Paxton had turned the other way with the head butler. Despite my protests about getting separated no one seemed to listen. Not even him.
Great, I get assigned a babysitter.
I rolled my eyes as I was led, more like pushed farther away from my mate.
~
I sat in my room, which was also very far from Paxton's. However, as soon as I walked through the doorway and into the room —I knew why.
I was a prisoner.
My seemingly innocent room was filled with magic. I could feel the power. Almost if the room itself had a heartbeat. However, beating through these bleach-white walls was apotropaic magic...
Protective spells.
And it wasn't meant to protect me, but protect others. As long as I was in this room, I couldn't draw on any harmful energy, not without it being deflected back at me.
While I was dwelling and scanning around the room, there was a knock at the door. It swung open without my response; the action making me jump at the invasive intrusion.
It wasn't anyone I knew, but a petite girl dressed in all black. She had a box in her hand that she placed on the bed beside me and left without a single word.
My curiosity got the better of me and I ripped open the top. I had hoped it was from Paxton, and my heart sunk when the notecard read:
"Shine, like...
well, you.
Love - D"
The silky material slipped through my fingers. It felt almost like liquid as it cascaded to the ground. I held it by the straps, admiring the simplicity of the design.
It was yellow. The most perfect pale yellow, just like when the sun was first starting to rise in the morning.
I took no time to put it on, letting it hug every inch of my body. I knew it was for the ball tonight, and even though the event wasn't for hours, I couldn't take it off.
I laid there in my room waiting for Paxton to come and get me. Letting the time pass fantasizing about my future with Paxton if we had met like normal mates.
When he finally came he seemed to be lost for words; he eyed me up and down and he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away.
"You should change," he stated in a matter-of-fact. His words confused me —I was dressed perfectly.
This dress was giving me confidence as I stared down the hall without him. Turning back to tease him.
"Only if you take it off of me." I wink as his strides become faster, trying to catch me. He grabbed my hand in his own.
I hoped he would push me up against the wall and do exactly that.
Instead, he whispered back, "Be careful freckles."
We continued to walk and I could feel the electricity between our hands when swung together. I wonder if he could feel it too.
I giggled as a thought crossed my mind.
This brought a whole new meaning to beauty and the beast.
Paxton gave me a questioning side-eye but I could see a smirk hiding behind his chiseled features.
When we arrived at the double doors to the ballroom I took a deep breath. There was a line outside. A group of some of the most perfect people in the world and it felt like they were all staring at me.
I clung closer to Paxton's arm and whispered to them.
"Just walk me through this, what is going to happen right now?"
He turned to me, taking my shoulders and looking me dead in the eye.
"There is some extra security... so don't be too alarmed by the number of guards. There was an incident last year that resulted caused a lot of... damage." His voice trailed off, choosing his words carefully. It was as if he was trying to make it sound better than it actually was, but I knew what he was talking about.
Artemis always left death in her wake.
He continued. "And we have to meet the Alpha of this pack of course —he will greet us just on the inside of the door. Don't shake his hand until he offers it to you, okay? He is one of the oldest Alpha's, and he doesn't have a mate yet, so he has never been able to secure an heir."
I was afraid of meeting anyone because I could hear them all whispering about me. I just wanted to go back to my room with Paxton and sit in my dress all night.
I wanted to run away even though I was still probably the most powerful person in the world.
Finally, the double doors opened.
The Alpha meeting — or The Alpha Assembly, in its most correct name — had begun, and the main topic of discussion was going to be me.
And there, surrounded by guards was the Alpha of Glacier Ridge Pack, was someone I couldn't believe I was seeing with my own eyes.
My brother, Ashton.
I think my heart stopped beating during the next few moments. I hadn't seen him since I was a teenager. I had no idea... but I prayed that any child-like resemblance I still held would be written away as coincidence. I couldn't be recognized, I hoped and prayed.
Would I be so lucky?
His eyes caught mine and they were instantly filled with confusion and hope. He looked me up and down once, before he broke out from the guards, striding towards me in a quick frenzy.
I cursed the next word that came out of his mouth.
"Theia?"