Alexander Holstin, or Xander, is the second son of the Alpha of Shadow Falls Pack. While his brother has taken over the pack from their father, Xander is meant to become the CEO of the pack's business, Holstin Enterprises, Inc. He started college to get his MBA, but returned home to see his brother take a mate and stayed when his brother began having problems with his mate bond.

Maeve Cross is the daughter of two witches who left their coven when they started doing black magic. Her parents began working for a werewolf, Beta Trevor, who needed spells created to keep his daughter out of trouble. When her parents realized their spells were being used to influence the memory of the Beta's Alpha, they refused. Maeve's parents were killed in front of her and her two siblings when she was 15 years old. The Beta then threatened to kill her siblings if Maeve refused to work for him.

When Beta Trevor's daughter insists that Maeve help her with a spell to go against the Guardians, she knows it's a bad idea, but she's powerless to fight against the werewolves. Her spell brings her to the Shadow Falls pack and into the arms of an Alpha that identifies her as his mate.

Maeve has no intention of becoming involved with another werewolf family that will use her family against her for their own gain. She's been keeping her family safe for three years and she will continue to do so on her own.

Can Xander forgive Maeve for what she's done to his family? And when he realizes he can't live without her, can he convince her to create a life with him, a new life that they can build together.

Prologue

**This is the third book in the Guardians Next Generation Series. It can be read as a standalone book but will have references to events that occurred in Shattered Bonds. This book will run in a parallel timeframe to Shattered Bonds. Events in this book will overlap with events in that book.

Maeve

Three Years Ago

“Norman, what are we going to do?” I hear my mother saying to my father. I’ve just gotten out of school and I’ve come to help my parents in our shop, Conjuror’s Alchemy. They bought this store a year ago when they left their coven. They wanted a fresh start, and while the store sells things to non-witches who want to pretend that they are doing witchy things, it’s a front for real witches that need to obtain certain items to create real spells.

“We’re going to tell him no, LeAnn. We don’t want any trouble with a werewolf Alpha. If he ever found out what we’ve done, he could threaten to expose us, or worse, he could hurt the kids. I won’t allow that. Beta Trevor will just have to find someone else.” My father says.

“Don’t tell him about Levana. She will give him anything he wants for a price.” My mother says. Levana is the High Priestess of the coven that they left. She and the rest of the coven had started to dabble in dark magic and my parents had been concerned that they were doing things that are against the laws of nature.

My father looks up and sees me. “Hi, sweetheart. I didn’t hear you come in. Your brother and sister are in the back getting a snack. Why don’t you join them. Beta Trevor will be here soon. I’ll be meeting with him in my office and then we can begin unpacking the shipments that arrived today.”

“Is everything okay, Dad?” I ask.

“Nothing for you to worry about, Maeve.” He says.

“I made cookies.” My mother says absently, looking over my father’s shoulder at the papers they were reviewing.

“Okay.” I say and head to the back. When I get there, my brother, Tate and my sister, Meadow are sitting at the bar that my father installed just for us so we can eat when we’re here without having to stand or sit on the floor.

“The cookies are delicious.” My brother says with a mouthful of what looks like poop. I’m guessing the cookies are double chocolate chip.

“That’s disgusting, chew with your mouth closed.” I tell him, dropping my bookbag on the counter. I grab a couple of cookies and move to sit beside my sister.

My brother is 10 and thinks it’s funny to do things that my sister and I think are gross. Must be a boy thing.

“How was school?” I ask my sister who is 12 and in the crummy middle school years. I take a bite of my cookie. My brother is right, they are delicious.

“Fine.” She says. Always so talkative.

She’ll be a freshman in high school when I’m a senior. Other than elementary school, it will be the only time we go to the same school. Tate is in his last year of elementary school, so he and Meadow will go to the same school next year. My parents are thrilled. All three of our schools have different hours, so for them, it must feel like we’re coming and going all day long.

I hear the sound of the bell on the front door and I know that Beta Trevor must have arrived. I grab my bookbag and pull out my homework, starting in while I have some time. I’m hoping to finish up early tonight so I can call my girlfriend and make plans for this weekend.

I’ve been doing my homework for a while when I hear raised voices.

“You don’t get to decide what you will and won’t do for me. I ordered this potion and I want it completed.” I hear a thud on the wall beside us and all three of us jump.

“What are you doing? Let him go!” I hear my mother scream.

“I’m reminding your husband that I’m in charge here, not him.” The Beta snarls. It’s a terrifying sound.

I look at my brother and sister. “Stay here.” I whisper.

“Not a chance.” Meadow says.

“Me either.” Tate says.

I don’t want to argue, I want to hear what is being said. “Stay behind me.” I tell them.

“I’m sure you can find someone else that is willing to do this potion for you. There are witches that will give you any spell or potion for a price.” My father says and it sounds like he can barely get the words out.

I crack open the door. I can’t see anything. I turn and look at my siblings, putting my finger to my mouth before carefully stepping out the door and looking around the corner.

What I see makes my stomach drop. Beta Trevor has my father by the throat and he’s holding him off the ground, against the wall. My mother must have tried to get to him, but Beta Trevor is holding her away from him by her arm. She’s thrashing and fighting him but he doesn’t seem phased at all, as if they are nothing more than irritating gnats.

Beta Trevor pulls my father’s face to his. “Tell your mate to stop, or I’ll make her stop.” He says.

“LeAnn…” My father gasps.

“Put him down!” My mother screams and in an instant, my entire life changes.

I watch in what feels like slow motion as Beta Trevor extends his claws and rips my father’s throat out, letting his body fall to the floor. Blood immediately begins pooling around his body and I can see that he’s dead. I stare at him until I hear my mother scream.

She begins attacking Beta Trevor who backhands her so hard, I hear her skull crack. She instantly goes quiet and falls to the floor beside my father.

I feel paralyzed. My parents are dead. My parents were just killed in front of me. There’s so much blood.

“You!”

I jerk my head up to see my parents’ killer stalking toward me.

“You work with your parents, you help them, right? I’ve seen you.”

“Yyyyyy-yes.”

“Good. I need a potion for erasing memories. I’ll wait while you put one together for me.”

“What? I don’t…I’ve never….”

He takes the three steps to stand in front of me, leaning over and I can feel the air around me become heavy and intimidating.

“You will do this for me or I’ll kill your brother and sister as well. Do you want that?”

I’m already shaking my head. “No.”

“Good. I’ll wait. Don’t take too long. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

I reach back to take my siblings hands, to bring them with me to my parents’ workshop.

“They stay with me.” He snarls, grabbing both of them by the back of their shirts and pulling them back into the room we just left.

“Hurry it up.” He says to me.

I rush to the workspace, trying to think, trying to remember anything about a memory potion. With shaking hands, I grab the book that my parents use to find the ingredients for these potions.

That was the first time that I helped Beta Trevor, but he would make sure that it was not the last.

: Maeve

I’ve been working for Beta Trevor for three years. Over that time, I’ve created spells and potions to keep his daughter, Gwen, out of trouble and keep his Alpha, Alpha Carter, unaware of what his daughter is really doing. Beta Trevor wants her to be the next Beta and if his Alpha knew what a conniving, manipulative, abusive person she was, he’d either demote her or more likely, he’d banish her from their pack.

It has taken a lot over these three years to keep my family together. Beta Trevor promised me that if I did what he wanted, he’d keep protective services away from me and I’d be able to keep my brother and sister with me. If not, he’d make sure I never saw them again. I have no reason to doubt him. And three years later, I’m finally turning 18. Finally able to petition the courts to become their legal guardian. Of course, that all depends on if I survive.

A year ago, Beta Gwen approached me, wanting her own spell. She insisted that I keep it a secret from her father, also using the only tool the wolves have against me, my family.

Gwen has set her sights on Alpha Richard Holstin, the Alpha of Shadow Falls Pack. He had been in his position as Alpha for nearly a year and in that time, he has yet to take a mate. Gwen has decided that rather than being a Beta, she wants to be a Luna.

When she first approached me, I warned her not to go against the Guardians. Even among witches their power is renowned. We’ve all heard of the vampire war and the hunter war. There are tales of power so strong it’s like a bomb going off and even that Guardians have the ability to raise the dead.

Personally, I would never have willingly gone against them. But I have no choice. I’m all that Meadow and Tate have left. After Beta Trevor killed our parents, I had taken a week trying to figure out what to do. I was only 15, my brother and sister were both so young. I had no idea how to support them, how to keep child protective services from taking them away from me. And the last thing we needed was to be separated. More than ever, we needed each other.

Beta Trevor had disposed of my parents’ bodies, giving me the ashes that he said were theirs as his ‘appreciation’ of me helping him with the potion. I had scrubbed their blood away, Meadow helping me in the end. We had cried, ranting angry tears at the unfairness of life and our hatred of the werewolves that did this to us. We did our best to keep Tate as far away from it as possible, but that was a hopeless dream, since my fear of something bad happening to him forced me to keep him close.

In the end, the three of us sat together, in the back room where the double chocolate chip cookies still sat going stale and talked about it. We decided, as a family, that we would keep the shop open, that would be our income. We’d have to sell the house and for that, I had to create a spell where both Meadow and I looked like our parents. We had signed the documents and put the money into my parents’ bank account. I used the money from the house to purchase a small apartment above the shop.

Meadow and I also decided that we should set up accounts in all of our names, just in case anything ever happened to one of us. Knowing that my life was forfeit if the Guardians ever found out what I was doing for Beta Gwen, I began putting extra money into their accounts every month. I need to know that if, or more accurately when, I am killed, that they will be safe, or at least have enough money to run and hide.

Today, Gwen is back with the items that I told her I needed to finish this spell for her. What she doesn’t know if that I’m putting in a loophole into the spell, a way to break the spell if it doesn’t cast. However, once it is cast, there will be no going back.

“Are you sure you really want to do this?” I ask her for the hundredth time.

“Stop asking me. Just do as you’re told, or I’ll have child services at your house before you can get home tonight.”

I really hope the Guardians never find out about this and if they do, I hope they never find out it was me that helped her. They are powerful allies but even more powerful as enemies.

I stir the contents of my cauldron. Cliché, but there it is. It works great with the humans, they love this shit and willingly give over their money.

I finish the spell, pour the contents into a bottle and stopper it for her. I give her the instructions on what she needs to do.

I watch her walk out of the shop. I have a terrible feeling that all of this is going to come crashing down around me.

I see Meadow pass Gwen on the street, watching her as she goes. Gwen doesn’t even seem to notice Meadow, so excited with her spell.

When Meadow comes in, she looks at me. “So, what did the Bitchy Beta want this time?” She asks.

“She brought me what I needed to finish the spell.” I say, watching as Gwen gets in her car and takes off.

“What personal item did she bring you?” She asks, doing air quotes when she says 'personal item'.

I wrinkle my nose. “His sperm.”

“Ewwww, does she know she has to drink that potion?” Meadow says, making gagging noises.

“She didn’t seem to care.” I tell her, turning my attention to her.

“Meadow, you need to remember what I told you. If this goes badly, and I feel in my gut that it will, you need to take Tate and run. Do you hear me?”

Meadow gives me a long look. We’ve talked about this many times. She doesn’t want to leave me, but we’ve both agreed that we need to protect Tate.

She clenches her teeth before nodding her assent.

: Xander

To say that Emlyn’s 18th birthday was a shitshow would be the understatement of the millennium. I had come home from school to see my brother finally announce that he found his mate, Emlyn. Only he didn’t. He called some Beta his mate.

Now, no one knows what the fuck is going on, but this is a huge problem. Our three families, the leaders of the Shadow Falls Pack, the Canyon Ridge Pack and the Safe Haven Pack have been in the strongest alliance ever created in the history of the werewolves. That is because each of those packs has been run by an Alpha mated to a Guardian. The three Guardians, of which my mother is one, created a friendship so strong, that nothing could break it.

At least, I thought nothing could break it. My brother Rich, the Alpha of Shadow Falls pack, not recognizing Emlyn, the oldest Alpha female and Guardian in the Safe Haven pack as his mate, is going to put a serious strain on our packs’ alliance. My Aunt Grace is Emlyn's mother. She's not really my aunt, but we all call each other by familial names. She and I had taken control of the situation, but there was no resolution. I have to give Emlyn credit though, like the Alpha and Guardian that she is, she raised her head and got through her party, even though those of us who know her, knew she was hurting.

Gwen, the Beta Rich called his mate, stayed glued to Rich, clinging to him. He hates clingy women, and the scent of this Beta is burning my nose. I don’t know how he can stand being around her, much less say that she’s his mate. Thankfully, he agreed to put off completing their mate bond until we figure things out.

My brother Cayd approached me during the party. My parents had seven children, three of us are boys, Rich is the oldest, then me, then Cayden. My sister Leana is actually the second child in birth order and there wasn’t another girl until my mother had my twin sisters Malin and Quinn, after Cayd. Then there is the baby of the family, my sister Reagan.

Cayd and I will take over our father’s business, me as CEO and Cayd as CFO one day. It’s a good plan. Rich gets the pack, we get the business and it all stays in the family.

“What the fuck is going on, Xander?” Cayd asks, coming up to me and snarling at what happened to Emlyn, his usual easy-going nature gone, the Alpha showing in full force. Our friendships with the other children of the original Guardians are mostly based on age. Lily and Leana, me and Emerson, and Cayd and Emlyn. Their friendship group also includes Cohen and Clint, the Alphas from Canyon Ridge, but Cayd and Emlyn have always been very close. I was actually shocked when Rich told me that Emlyn was his mate. I had always assumed that she and Cayd would be mates. So, I’m not surprised that Cayd is feeling angry and extremely protective of Emlyn right now.

“I don’t know Cayd, but I’ll figure it out.”

He snorts. “Aren’t you going back to school soon?” He asks me.

I look at him. “Not unless I figure this out. This could impact our alliances, Cayd.”

“Fuck the alliances. This IS impacting Emlyn, my best friend.”

“I know, and we’ll be here for her. We’ll support her in whatever way she needs.”

When Rich leaves the next day, I hope that will give me some time to figure things out. However, it doesn’t even take a day before he’s being intimate with his ‘mate’ and I’m having to clean up his fucking mess.

Thankfully, Cayd and Leana help me get Emlyn away from the pack before anyone notices that something is wrong. Once we have Emlyn settled, Leana drops another bomb. Apparently, Rich is in some serious shit. The council thinks that he lied about his mate bond to Emlyn to try and take a Guardian as a mate. It’s ridiculous, we all know it, but the council doesn’t. And the council takes that sort of thing very seriously.

“I don’t know, Xander. Something was off with the council. It was like the assumed that Rich was guilty without even having the facts.” Leana says. She is scheduled to take my mother’s place on the council, so I believe her when she says this isn’t usual. She’s been sitting in on council meetings for the last couple of years preparing for her role.

When Emlyn finally falls asleep, Cayd and I leave Leana to stay with her.

“He better have a good fucking excuse for hurting Emlyn like this.” Cayd says to me.

“It’s possible that he doesn’t know.” I say, trying to give Rich every possible benefit of doubt.

“Bull fucking shit. He’s an Alpha. He knows.” Cayd says.

He’s right. Of everyone in the pack, Rich should have realized that Emlyn, feeling a mate bond, would know if he was cheating on her.

“I’m going to kill him.” Cayd snarls.

Beta Trevor POV

What the fuck has my daughter gotten herself into now? Usually, I just get the damn witch to cast a spell or make a potion and I give it to my Alpha and it all goes away. Now, however, she’s messed with the Guardians. And I know exactly who helped her.

I arrive at the store and the windows are dark. I begin banging on the door.

“Maeve, get down here!” I shout at her.

I hear whispers upstairs but no footsteps.

“Maeve, I fucking know you’re in there. Don’t make me break this door down.” I shout at her.

I hear her footsteps coming down the back stairs before the lights flip on and I see her walking toward me, a bathrobe wrapped tightly around her, as if she thinks I’d touch her. As if I’d ever touch a human, much less a human that’s a witch.

“Beta Trevor, what can I do for you?” She asks without opening the door.

I lean in. “Open this fucking door now. If I have to break in, I’ll kill your brother and sister.” I say quietly, knowing the threat will work. It’s not like I don’t mean it. These witchy brats should all die, and they would have if I didn’t need them.

I hear the lock flip and a moment later, Maeve opens the door a crack. I slam my fist on the door, opening it wider, pushing her back and letting myself in.

“What the fuck did you do?” I snarl at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She says. She lifts her chin, facing me head on.

I lean over, getting into her face. “My fucking daughter. What did you do?”

“I did what she asked of me. Oh wait, let me rephrase, I did what she demanded of me.” She growls right back at me. The girl’s got balls, that’s for damn sure.

“And why didn’t you come to me. You know she’s not supposed to be using your services.” I say the word exactly as I mean it, contemptuously. Their ‘services’ are vile, but necessary.

She scoffs at me. “Beta Trevor, your daughter learned from the best. She threatened my family, so I gave her what she wanted. I warned her several times that she was making a mistake and she shouldn’t go against the Guardians, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She wants to be a Luna.”

I scrub my hands over my face. “Is there a way to counteract what she’s done?” I ask, knowing witches sometimes do that.

“No, your daughter was very clear. In fact, I had to set the spell so that it could possibly work in two different ways, making the Alpha think that she’s his mate. She made sure that if he didn’t accept her or if she died, that he’d never find another mate.” She tells me.

“FUCK!” I yell, swiping my hand over one of their counters, sending their products flying across the room.

She stands there, watching me, not saying anything.

“Is there anything you can do?” I ask her.

“I’m sorry, Beta. There is nothing.”

I wrap my hand around her throat. “What if I threaten your sister and brother? Is there anything you can do then?”

“As I said, Beta. You’ve trained your daughter well. She made sure there were no loopholes in the spell. You can kill me, but I still can’t change it now that it is set into motion.”

“FUCK!” I say, releasing her and stomping out of the store, slamming the door behind me.

: Maeve

I watch as Beta Trevor leaves the shop. My heart is beating so fast I think I might have a heart attack. Meadow and Tate come rushing up to me, wrapping their arms around me.

“Are you okay?” Meadow asks.

“Did he hurt you?” Tate asks.

“Yes, I’m okay. No, he didn’t hurt me.” I say, pulling away.

My throat is sore and I’ll have to cover what I know will be fingerprint bruises tomorrow, but I’m alive and so are they.

I look at the mess in the store. “You two go back to bed, I’ll clean this up.” I say.

“We don’t have school tomorrow, Maeve. We can help you.” Meadow says.

“Yeah. We can help. Worst case scenario, I’ll sleep in tomorrow morning.” Tate says.

Meadow and I both snort. Tate sleeps in every day he can.

I see Tate’s lips twitch and I know he said it to make us laugh, and it did.

It’s early in the morning before we get everything cleaned up. “Okay, let’s get to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day and then you have to go to school the next day.

After I get Meadow and Tate back into their beds, I go to my room and look at my neck. Just as expected, I have black and blue marks surrounding my throat. It wasn’t long after my parents death that I realized that I would need things to cover the bruises that Beta Trevor leaves on me. He never comes to visit without hurting me. He threatens to hurt Meadow and Tate, but I won’t let him near them. I take whatever he gives me, knowing that I’m keeping them safe from him. Soon, someday very soon, I’ll take them and leave this place. Run as far from here as I can. And if I'm dead, then Meadow can take Tate and they can get away from this hell.

It's a dream of mine. Run to someplace new, open a new shop where I don’t flinch every the time bell rings above the door worrying that it’s Beta Trevor or Gwen. Then, maybe, I can get Meadow and Tate through school, and possibly find myself someone special to settle down with, maybe have a couple of kids together.

I snort in my head. Yeah, I’ll have a white picket fence and dog barking happily in the yard too. Those dreams aren’t meant for me. They never were.

I wrap a scarf around my neck. I’ve purchased ones that are thin and look decorative so that during warmer months, like right now, it doesn’t seem odd that I’m wearing one. I also only buy long sleeved shirts now, so the marks on my arms don’t show. I can’t afford to raise any red flags to my customers. While they might have good intentions, any focus on me and my family could mean Meadow and Tate ending up in foster care.

I get through the day and when Meadow wakes up, she makes breakfast bringing me some. We work well together. She’s learned many of the spells and potions that I knew at her age and at night, we practice together. She’s made many of the ones that we need for the real witches. Those are in the back, only available if you know to ask for them.

Sunday is the best day. It’s the day that we stay open the shortest amount of time. It’s the one day a week that I get to sleep in. Then Meadow and I make a huge breakfast and when we close the shop at 5pm, the three of us go to the park and enjoy the fresh air. It gives Tate a chance to run around and get rid of his pent-up energy. I get to sit on the park bench and enjoy the fresh air, letting all the stress of the past week and the upcoming week wash away for a short time.

Today, however, I get a call in the middle of the afternoon. Beta Gwen.

“You have to do something. The Guardian is pregnant, he won’t reject her, and he won’t let her leave the pack.”

I warned not to mess with the Guardians, but she’s so arrogant, she thought it would be a piece of cake to get her Alpha.

“There’s nothing more I can do. They either have to reject each other, or the Guardian has to reject both bonds, the mate bond and the Guardian bond.”

“What if he marks me?” She asks.

I know I told Beta Trevor that there wasn’t a loophole, but I put the very few that I could sneak in, into the spell. It was dangerous to lie to him, but over the years, I’ve realized he knows nothing of magic and neither does his daughter. So, I made sure that that even if she convinced the Alpha to mark her, that it wouldn’t last until the other mate bond was broken.

“Their bond must be broken before yours can be made.” She growls low at my response.

“Do you have any spells to get rid of a pregnancy?”

I know my mouth drops to the floor. It’s one thing to ask someone to make a spell to have someone forget something or to not recognize a mate bond. It’s quite another to ask someone to create a spell that will kill another human being. That’s one of the reasons my parents left their coven. Those witches were dabbling in dark magic. No matter the consequences, I refuse to become that kind of witch.

“I am not a killer.” I snap before slamming the phone down.

I lean over the desk in the back where I took the call. Meadow, hearing my raised voice rushes in.

“What happened?” She asks.

I fall into the chair, putting my head in my hands. This just got so much worse. There is no way the Guardians will let me live if they ever find out I had a role in this.

I look up at Meadow. “Is your bag packed? Do you have the bag for Tate as well?”

“Maeve, what happened?” She asks and I see real fear in her eyes. There’s no since in lying to her. It will only make her question things later, or keep her from understanding the real danger that I’m in.

“The Guardian that I had to create the spell for? The one for Beta Gwen to break their mate bond?”

“Yes?”

“The Guardian is pregnant with the Alpha’s child.”

Meadow’s eyes go wide and she sucks air through her teeth. I watch as her mouth moves but nothing comes out.

“So, I need to know that you are ready. I need to know that if, or most likely when, things go badly, that you will take Tate and you will run. Run as far away from here as you can.”

She nods.

That night, after I get Tate into bed, I go over all of the financials with Meadow. I make sure she knows how to access all our funds, all the passwords, everything.

My life is forfeit, I know that. But I’ve done everything I can to ensure that they will have a good life after I’m gone.