Romans de Verity

DamienNo, I wasn't going to think of her now. But I already was.The fated mate I never expected or asked for that had barrelled into my life at the moment I least expected it destroying my best-laid plans.If there was one thing I learnt from my parents' catastrophic mating, it was the fact that even the moon goddess made mistakes sometimes.One's fated mate wasn't necessarily a good match.Both of my parents had been high-ranking Lycans yet their personalities had meshed as well as oil and water. They had clashed and schemed against each other until Mother had passed away from ingesting poison.The culprit was never caught largely because Father had forbidden any investigations into the issue. For a long time, I assumed it was because Father was behind it until he took my hand at his deathbed."Be happy with Terra," He'd said softly. Father seemed to have aged so much in just a matter of weeks with the illness ravaging him. "Maybe

Five years laterDAMIENThe maid was bleeding, her back ripped open, her uniform hanging onto her in shreds and her blood dripping onto the marble floor with the acrid scent of anxiety and dread filling our room."Please Princess, have mercy." She cried.How had we come to this?Miranda stood, her back to me, her laser focus on the guard who had stopped whipping the maid at my mental command."Why did you stop?" She growled, her melodic voice twisted with rage. "Whip her!"When did my mate become a stranger I could barely recognize?"That is enough, Miranda," I said, moving away from the doorway.Miranda froze at the sound of my voice then she turned slowly to face me, her face pale with the realization that I'd been silently observing her actions.I didn't look away from my mate as I spoke."Leave us. All of you."The other maids helped the bleeding girl up and out of our room, the guards following

TerraWas that… Was she… no. No."Miranda is pregnant with my heir," Damien said, confirming my suspicions. "My heir will not be born a bastard."Nausea clogged up my throat and it felt like the world was spinning out of control around me. But more than that I was shaken as I realized what exactly Damien was telling me."You… You want to reject me." I stared at Damien waiting for him to deny it but he didn't."I have only ever cared for Miranda. You know that."I did but I still couldn't accept it. I wanted the pretence to end yet I… I couldn't let go of him."I am your MATE, Damien. Our relationship is fated, you can't just end things like this."It was sick, I knew but I wasn't sure I could live without Damien.Damien's grey eyes met mine and for a second it felt like it was only both of us in the room.Both of us and all the hurt and pain we had put each other through. For a moment, it felt like Damien was seeing me, really seeing me.Then Miranda's shaky voice cut through the tensi

TerraDamien kissed me. It should have felt terrible. I should have felt nothing but revulsion but the mate bond didn't let me.He tasted like home. He tasted addictive. And as his tongue swept into my mouth, I forgot when I had parted my lips for him.Damien growled abruptly, cutting our kiss short, his lips dipping to my nape like a man on a mission, his every lick, kiss and bite so urgent that I knew he was fighting his instincts to mark me.I placed my hands on his shoulders fully intending to push him away but all I could do was tug him closer, my body soft and pliant beneath him.Tell him to stop? That would have required speech and none of the sounds I was capable of making then were intelligible.It was too much. The rough glide of his palm against my inner thighs, the feeling of his hot breath over my skin, the press of his lips, the nip of his canines.Damien pulled back and I couldn't read the look in his dark eyes."That's what I thought."My cheeks burned. Despite my initi

TerraThe elder bowed deeply."I apologize, Prince Damien. Please consider-"I turned away, unable to listen to the rest of the conversation. As though if I ignored what I heard, it would make it disappear.I was getting too good at that. Ignoring things. Ignoring the side glances and hushed whispers about me at court events.Ignoring the pitiful looks my maids and guards gave me any time I tried to talk to Damien only for him to ignore me and walk away.I ignored it until I couldn't ignore it anymore."Tonight you will visit the Prince," Sophia informed me barely two days later, her eyes filled with compassion and sadness.I began to shake. Only later would I realize that it wasn't just from pain and humiliation but also rage. After almost six months of ignoring my existence, Damien wanted me to make an heir with him to secure his right to the throne.I wouldn't have gone but it was a chance to speak with Damien alone. One I hadn't gotten since coming to this palace. I couldn't waste

Terra"Get the rose petals."The air around me was cloying and I could barely breathe. The water around me seemed to tug at me, dragging at me beneath.I was tired. So damn tired."That will not be necessary," I said, standing up from my pool-sized heated bathtub."But Princess-" Sofia sounded appalled but I was already halfway back to my room, my maids covering me up with my robes and heated towels as I moved.I stopped in front of the mirror and almost didn't recognize myself.My dark brown hair was the healthiest it had ever been reaching just beneath my backside, my skin was paler but soft and pampered. But my dead tired eyes told a different story."You might as well save your strength. My mate will not look at me no matter what I look like." I said softly.I was so sick and tired of this.My bedroom went completely silent then my maids, all twelve of them, bowed, quiet censure in their voices."Princess."Right.I was Lycan Princess Terra Morgan happily mated to Lycan Prince Dam