“It does matter, because she’s supposed to be mine! Jessica was promised to me.”
The witch laughed at me then, a cackling villainous laugh. “You will never have Jessica St. Marks De’ Lune. She was lost to you the moment she met Mikael. From what I hear, she was lost to you long before that too, but he is her true mate, they have an unbreakable bond. They’ve exchanged souls boys. Do you understand how rare that kind of bond has been all these years?”
“I don’t care! She was promised to me, and if I can’t have her, I will see her destroyed. I will see her suffer as I kill off each and every person she ever loved or cared about, and I will save her precious Mikael for last. I will make her watch as he takes his last breath, and I will have you there, to keep her alive as her bond mate dies. Then, she will be ready to be mine.”
The witch stared at me with abject horror written clearly on her face. “You are a sick son of a bitch, you know that?”
“I may well be, but I will get what I want. She embarrassed me once before, and had me thrown out of the pack. I will prove to her I am no weakling. When she sees that I am the last one standing, she will have no choice, but to love me. I will be the ultimate alpha of our kind.
Sophia bit back a snickering laugh as she turned her back on me. “You are nothing. You are a pest, and the only reason you’ve made it this far was because someone greater than you had an agenda. My agenda ended when the love of my young life was killed.”
“The love of your…” I was puzzled momentarily. “No! Not you and Antoine?” When she didn’t move or deny it, I was the one to laugh. “Is that how he convinced you to break his first bond? He convinced you that he loved you.” It was my turn to laugh now. “You fell for that, and you’ve been clinging to the hope that the two of you would be together, all this time?” I moved closer, getting a sense of her mood that was quickly deteriorating. “How did it make you feel when he bound himself to Eleanna then? I bet that was a shocker!” I watched as Sophia flinched at my words as if I had physically slapped her. “That’s what you were hanging on for wasn’t it? Unrequited love with a werewolf… You’re a witch! You are not of our kind, what made you think you could love a wolf?” I was disgusted that she would think one of our kind would lower themselves to be with a witch. We could use them up all day long, feel them writhe beneath us, and send them on their way, but they were not to be loved. This witch thought I was mad, and she had lost her mind long ago.
She never answered me, and I decided to move on with the next part of my own personal agenda. Sophia was right, we no longer had a puppet master pulling our strings, and I had often wondered what the witch would do when she didn’t have someone to give her orders. Thankfully, I planned ahead. I walked over to the far wall in the cabin Antoine sent us to, and I threw the switch there. It triggered the lowering of a special cage, like the one I had rigged up in the pet rescue that Mikael had been building. The cage fell over top of the witch, standing a few inches taller than she was. At least I had been thoughtful enough to make sure she had plenty of room so that she could get comfortable.
“What is this?” She screamed at me from inside the cage.
“This,” I gestured at the cage, “is your new home.” I tossed a pillow through the bars. “Make yourself comfortable, you’re going to be here a while. I’ll have some spell work for you to do.”
“What makes you think I’ll run spells for you, little wolf?”
I didn’t like the way she spat out the words, ‘little wolf.’ She was insulting me. I was no omega wolf. I was an alpha and I was going to have to teach her what that meant. I would break her in every way, and then bend her to my will. “Well, you’re going to want to get out of that cage one day, and the only way that’s going to happen is for you to follow through with my plans.”
“You will regret this decision, boy.” She seethed in my general direction, as I laughed her threats off. “There may well be a way to break the soul share that Jessica has with Mikael.”
“And how is that?”
“Well, we’re going to have to be patient, wolf, but I can promise you this, if you keep me locked up in here, I will work against you, not for you. Do you understand?”
“I understand that if I don’t get the results I want, you won’t be alive to worry about it anymore.”
Sophia threw her head back and laughed then. It was a disturbing thing to hear, because it pierced the ears, and shattered all the glass that was in the small room of the cabin. When she was spent, she sat down on the wooden floor, folding her legs up underneath of her as a black mist rose out from around her, and then as the black mist began to sink down through the wood of the floor, Sophia was pulled along with it. One minute she was there, and the next she was just gone.
“Well, that puts a kink in the plans,” I muttered to myself.
“We’ll have to see to that,” a man’s voice called to me from the front door.
“It’s about time you showed up!” I turned then to see what he had brought with him. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do about that god damn brother of yours.
“And so we will,” came the answer.
PREVIEWS
Branches of the Willow
The Ancients Vol. 3
Jessica St. Marks has found her true mate.
Antoine De’ Lune, the old werewolf King, was killed by his son, and no longer poses a threat.
Jessica has taken her place as the white wolf ruler, and now the wonderful life she has always dreamed of is in her grasp.
A family betrayal brings Jessica’s old enemies back together in an attempt to get revenge and see an end to the white wolf line once and for all. This time, Jessica’s bond may not be enough to save her.
Branches of the Willow
Releasing in the summer of 2014.
Check out the website for further updates:
http://authorchristinembutler.moonlitdreams.org
Becoming One
Daniels Clan Series, Vol. 1
Annalise Daniels just wanted to go on a run, stretch her legs, and relieve the unearthly itch that had crept under her skin in the night.
As the metal teeth of a wolf trap snapped closed on her back paw, sending shock waves of debilitating pain through her, Annalise knew she was in trouble. To make matters worse, the final transition in becoming a werewolf was now upon her. The scent she was giving off as a result, making it possible for males to track her for miles, was also going to make her easy pickings for the hunters who had set the trap.
Andy Wallace had a message to deliver to Avery Daniels from the White Wolf Ruler, Jessica St. Marks De’ Lune. While on his way to meet with the Daniels Clan, Andy stumbles upon an unconscious Annalise, and must get her to safety before they are discovered by the hunters that are on their way.
All hell breaks loose when Annalise’s father, Avery Daniels, discovers the two, naked and alone, in a cave near the pack lands.
The hunters have also stumbled upon the cave, and they aren’t surprised in the least as Avery shifts into his werewolf form to defend his daughter.
Available Summer 2014.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My children are so proud of what I do. I honestly can’t ask for more than that in life, especially considering the time they give up with me when I’m working! Thank you to my babies.
My parents are just as supportive, without them supporting my love of writing over the years, there would be no books. So a huge thank you to them as well.
I’d also like to give a special thank you to Patria Harris, who is always there for me, and bugged me every few days about finishing this book so she could hurry up and read it! I hope I didn’t disappoint her.
And finally, I really want to thank everyone who went out and bought a copy of Shadows of the Ancients, beta read for me, helped spread the word, and tossed ratings and reviews up on sites. It really does mean the world to me. Thank you! You guys are the reason I busted my butt to get this book out so fast. I hope
you all enjoy it!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine M. Butler was born into the life a military brat a long, long time ago. Okay, maybe not that long ago. She’s been a soldier, military police officer, corrections officer, store manager, and worked in the newspaper industry. She has a wide range of interests, and all of it has been fodder for her creative mind.
Christine currently resides in the middle of South Carolina with three of her four children. The fourth ran away to be a pirate!
An East Carolina University Pirate!
Find out more about Christine and her books:
www.moonlitdreams.org
authorchristinembutler.moonlitdreams.org
The Ancients Series on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheAncientsSeries
Falling into the White (The Ancients Series) Page 27
