JASMINEThe following Wednesday, I finally returned to work. I walked in at 7:30, ready to position myself for the morning rush. Before I could station myself to begin making drinks, Valerie pulled me in for a hug, taking me aback. There was a line of customers to serve, so she quickly let me go so I could do my job.Once the café was empty, she came over and said, "Are you okay, Jasmine? I heard everything that happened. I've been worried. You haven't responded to any of my texts.""I haven't been replying to anyone's texts," I replied."Why not?""It's just too much right now. I don't really want to talk about it." She nodded and moved to the back. I grabbed the spray bottle and a rag so I could clean up the café. At least I made it to work. That was progress. I just had to make it until 4 and then I could go back to my bed until Saturday.I returned to behind the register after I finished cleaning, ringing i

BLAKE Alpha Antoine’s and my troops appeared, sprinting to congregate. Suddenly darts began raining on us. They were fighting dirty. It was also completely reckless. Part of the reason werewolves didn’t use weapons was the risk for friendly fire was too high. Unless you were close enough to someone to smell the pack they were from, it was close to impossible to differentiate between friend and enemy, with the coloring of a wolf’s fur almost never being indicative of the pack they were from. Before I could fully process the situation, sharp flashes of pain pulsed through my body, one after another. My pack members were falling. Fucking cowards couldn’t even fight us the right way. I took the lead, and several darts hit my body. Luckily, I had spent years building a tolerance and was fine. We all moved forward, and finally the cowards showed themselves, running toward us. They must have run out of darts. We all bolted toward them, attacking as we could. I quickly plunged my claws into

BLAKE I woke up in a hospital bed, not knowing what day or time it was, with an IV in my arm. I could feel that my ribs were still healing, but the burning from the wolfsbane had finally subsided. After some time, Dr. Davis came in. He was the other doctor who worked at the clinic with my mom. “Ah, Alpha, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” “Better,” I replied, looking at him. “Glad to hear it. We took some of your blood and you had at least five times the lethal amount of wolfsbane in your bloodstream. That was likely after you had already metabolized some already. To be quite honest, I am baffled that you’re still alive.” “High tolerance.” I smirked. “Glad to see that we still have our alpha with us. Other than that, it seems you just need time to heal at this point.” Upon hearing what he said, a sickness came over me. “Where’s my mom?” I asked. He looked at me sadly. “Due to the circumstances, she’s taking a leave of absence until she’s ready to return to work. She’s been in

JASMINE Blake’s scent entered my nose. I turned to see him sitting down next to me. “Hey,” he said. “Hey,” I replied, looking at him. “Nice speech.” “Thanks.” “Sorry again about your dad,” I said, feeling emotional, touching his leg. “Thanks.” He looked down at his hands. “I see you recovered finally.” “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to text you, but I got caught up in pack duty stuff. I had to visit all the families of the fallen warriors and meet with the priest. It’s honestly been a lot.” He sighed. We sat silently together for a bit and then he spoke again. “Do you want to do something tonight?” “Like what?” “Just hang out. I’ve missed you. I’d like to spend some time with you.” “You know how my parents are.” “One second,” he said, getting up and walking toward my parents. I stood up, shocked by him approaching them so suddenly. I watched as he shook my father’s hand and spoke with him. After about a minute, he returned. “You’re a free woman. Let’s go!” “What did you say to h

BLAKE It was an amazing night. We had round two and round three after the first round, barely sleeping. Then, the next morning, after we woke, we had round four. I was practically singing as I drove Jasmine home and dropped her at her parents' house. I snuck into the packhouse and quickly showered and got dressed. Then I made my way downstairs to the office where Luke was already at his desk, concentrated on his laptop. "What's up, what's up!" I said as I walked in, a big smile on my face. "You're in an oddly good mood this morning," Luke looked up at me. "Too much coffee. Maybe I should get some more," I said, getting up and heading to the kitchen. I quickly poured myself a mug. "Good morning, Connie!" I shouted, looking over at her preparing some food. "Good morning, Alpha," she looked at me oddly. "Would you like me to make you some breakfast?" "Yes, that would be great!" I smiled, taking my mug and heading back to