-Kira-
The silence between us is deafening. We’re simply staring at each other, with neither of us knowing what to say - what just happened should not have happened. Arkyn should not have been the one to steal my first kiss. And yet… everything felt so right when he did.
“Kira? Are you in there, Printsessa?” my father’s voice sounds from the door again, and this seems to snap both of us out of whatever spell we were under.
Arkyn blinks and walks to the door, opening it and smiling at my father. “Oh, Arkyn! I didn’t know you were here, son. Do you need a moment longer with Kira?” my father asks, oblivious to the fact that we just did the unthinkable.
“No, I think we’ve said all that needed to be said for now,” he says, then turns to me and briefly makes eye contact. “I’ll see you inside, Blue. There’s… something we need to discuss, but it can wait.”
“See… you,” I trail off when he walks out without waiting for my answer. He closes the door behind him, and I have no time to mull over what just happened between the two of us. Because my father is looking at me as if his heart is about to break.
His blue eyes are shining with unshed tears as he crosses his arms and places a hand over his mouth, staring at me. My heart constricts at the sight of this strong, powerful man being reduced to tears at the sight of me, and I can feel my bottom lip start to tremble.
“Please, Pappa, not you too!” I cry out, but this time I don’t even bother to salvage my makeup. My face crumples up, and an ugly sob escapes my throat just as my father walks over to me and wraps his arms around me.
I have always felt safe in his arms. He’s always been my guardian and protector, but now that role will fall to my mate. To be honest, I never thought I would ever be someone’s Luna since our Alpha’s firstborn always becomes the Alpha heir next in line. My father trained me to be an Alpha, to take over the role from him one day.
But now I’ll become a Luna and a means to keep the peace between two rival packs.
“I can’t believe I’m losing you today,” my father’s voice shakes with emotion and all it does is make me cry harder. He breaks off our embrace and takes my face in both of his hands while wiping my tears away. “My little girl, all grown up and ready to leave her mark in the world. I am so damn proud of you, Kira.”
I vehemently shake my head. “Please don’t say you’re losing me; don’t ever say you’re losing me!” I murmur in a voice soaked in sadness. “I’ll always be your little girl, Pappa. I just won’t be a Volkova anymore.”
The mere thought of me not being a Volkova anymore wounds tightly around my heart and nearly leaves me breathless. I don’t want to be a Helseth; I don’t want to adopt another pack’s customs and leave my own behind. The BloodCrest pack has long stood strong above all others while the Helseths always remained second.
How will the pack members treat me, knowing who my father is? I don’t know Adryan well enough to say he’ll treat me kindly, even though he’s been courting me since I was eighteen years old.
I see a flicker of anger in my father’s eyes and a growl rumbles in his chest “The fact that you won’t be a Volkova… that I’m handing you over to them….” my father trails off, clenching his jaw so tight that I can see the muscles bulging in his neck. But he lets out a sigh, then shakes his head.
“The Goddess would not have chosen Adryan if she did not believe in your Bond, so I will respect what she has chosen for you. Even if I hate it to my very core.”
I frown. “You don’t want this union, Pappa?”
“No. I do not trust Erik Helseth or his pack. They’ve long been wolves starved for the power we hold, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that hungry wolves are never loyal.” He says, then takes a step back from me and crosses his arms. “If it were up to me, I would never have this union between the two of you, but unfortunately, it is not up to me.”
I don’t know what’s worse; that my father doesn’t want this union, or the fact that he doesn’t trust the pack I’m being given to. I have heard of my father’s exploits when he was younger, fighting in the Serbian Pack Wars and leading everyone to victory alongside Arkyn’s father, and fighting the Wolf God himself.
His judgment I trust more than anything else in the world, and his revelation right now does very little to quell my already nervous deposition. Not only do I not feel the power of the Mate Bond with Adryan, but everything about being with him feels so wrong.
I know if I had to tell my father this, he would put a stop to this wedding and alliance. But I can’t do that; not when the peace between our packs rests with me.
Breathing out a sigh, I force a smile on my face and walk towards my father. “I know you only want what’s best for me, that you want to see me happy and flourishing under the Volkova name,” I start and take his hands in mine. “But I think we should trust in Goddess Tiarin and her choice for us.”
I hate saying those words. Hate repeating my mother’s mantra, but I know if I don’t, then my father will worry about me non-stop. He needs to be under the illusion that I want this, that I’m happy with a man I feel nothing for. After years of protecting me, I need to prove that I no longer need his protection.
My father sees my smile and returns it with one of his warm smiles that always cheers me up. “I would much rather see you with Arkyn than the Helseth boy, but since I am only a Wolf God and not a Moon Goddess, that is not my choice to make.”
Excuse me, what?
-Kira- I pride myself in not allowing the smile to waver on my lips when he mentions Arkyn’s name. He wants me to be with Arkyn? When did he decide this?“Pappa, Arkyn is my best friend!”He raises his eyebrow and smirks. “Hm, that’s not what I see when you two are together but let me keep quiet before I get into trouble with your mother.”Just then the door opens and my father’s smirk grows when my mother walks in with a look of disapproval on her face. “Kai, we’ve spoken about this-”“I know, little wolf, and I will keep my thoughts to myself from now on,” he says. Something tells me they’ve spoken about this topic many times before and I don’t know how I feel about that. Did my father know how I felt about Arkyn? Could he see the way Arkyn felt about me even though I was oblivious to it up until a few minutes ago?I can’t ask him more about this, because my mother walks over to me then and tuts when she sees my ruined make-up.“Oh, Kai, I told you not to make her cry!” she exclai
-Arkyn-I can still feel Kira’s lips on mine even as I kiss Jade’s. I can still feel her hands on my back, pulling at my clothing even as another man claims her as his. And my heart still fucking beats to the sound of hers.She should have been mine. That smile full of love should be directed at me, not fucking Helseth. She should belong to me. She should be saying those vows to me! Nothing about this feels right at all, nothing at all!Her kiss proved it. If she didn’t feel the same way about me, she would have pushed me away. But she kissed me back with the same vigor; she returned my desperation with her own.And yet her expression does not change when I introduce Jade as my fiancee; her smile doesn’t even waver slightly knowing that this woman is to be my Luna Bride.“It’s lovely to meet you, Jade,” she says in that sing-song voice I adore. “You’re absolutely stunning!”Jade blushes and looks down. “Thank you, but you’re the stunning one! Congratulations, it was a beautiful weddin
-Kira-They decorated the Hall of the Five in black, red, and gold. The Helseth family wanted to be the ones to fund the reception, while my family funded everything else. I must say that they’ve outdone themselves; a beautiful reception for a powerful wedding. This is what every bride dreams of… except I feel like I’m sitting with the wrong groom.I shouldn’t be looking their way, but my eyes keep on falling on them. Arkyn’s refusal to look at me all evening causes my heart to beat too fast for me to catch up with it. He’s the one who kissed me with his fiancee waiting for him, so why is he mad at me? What’s with the anger when he has someone else?This will all be over soon since our paths will go in different directions after today; I’ll be moving to Norway and he’ll be taking over as Alpha with a Luna in tow. Whatever happened in my bridal chamber should not have happened, no matter how right it felt.The added anxiety causes me to feel lightheaded and makes me forget Adryan is ri
-Arkyn-Kira is quiet as we step onto my father’s waiting private jet. She’s holding on to her cousin, Luka, while he whispers soothing words to her. Luka is like a spitting image of Beta Konstantin, just with the green eyes of his mother. I know they’ve always been close, closer than she and I could ever be. But I can’t help but think that it should be me comforting her… even if she wants nothing to do with me right now.She’ll resent me for taking her away, but her father has left her in my care. There is no way I would pass up on a request from Alpha Kai himself, not when it comes to her. I have informed my father of what happened at the Hall of the Five; how the Helseths have yet again waged war on the Volkov pack. Erik used his son’s bond to Kira and it worked, nearly everyone was incapacitated when we left. There’s an uneasy quiet that settles over everyone; no one speaks or looks at each other. Elijah is sitting next to Jade and the two still refuse to acknowledge one another
-Kira-Today I woke up with an empty feeling right in the middle of my chest, it gnawed at my heart and left me breathless. Now as I watch my wedding dress disappear in a breath of flames, that emptiness has spread over my entire body.I feel numb, but I refuse to shed another tear./“We’ll be okay, Kira,”/ Yailyn, my wolf says with her ears flattened against her head. /“We’ll find a way back to our family.”/I sigh. /“I hope so. We’ll just have to be strong through this. We have good allies here.”/Luka has his arms wrapped protectively around me, but he’s not grieving like I am. He’s seething. After years of Luka not having a man to call his father, my uncle finally gave up on his search for his daughter, Kaia. Uncle Konstantin, aunt Lily, and Luka started getting closer, their bond repairing day by day. Until last night when we were both forced to flee our home. My father wanted us to run and not fight because he knew the hunters would overpower us. He knew he could trust the Vega
-Kira-I haven’t seen Arkyn all day. Not only have I been restless and anxious, but Jade’s uncalled-for bitchiness is getting to me as well. I tried to talk to her late afternoon, and she just brushed me off, so now here I am, cooking because I need to do SOMETHING.Our conversation with Alpha Fenriz left me with more questions than answers, and now it might be true that Adryan had our bond tampered with. He’s not my true mate; I can feel it in my gut, but that leaves me with the question as to who is. /“There is someone…”/ Yailyn teases me with her words as if I hadn’t already thought about it. The way I felt about Arkyn has not subsided even after meeting my supposed mate. Could it be that Arkyn is my true mate? I suppose I’ll never know until my bond to Adryan is severed. “Keeping busy?” Luka asks when he walks into the kitchen smelling like lemongrass. He’s spent the entire day in Arkyn’s gym burning off his anger. Now it looks like he’s showered and cleaned up for dinner time.
-Arkyn- I could feel Kira’s eyes on me throughout dinner, but I refused to acknowledge it and make things worse. But hearing her calling out for her mate, watching her lose her mind and fight to get to him, just pissed me off. Then my father mentioned Helseth was not her true mate, and shit started going downhill. What the fuck happened today while I was out attending to meetings? It’s fucked up; I know I should have been here for her today, but since uncle Andreas left, he has handed me over the Vega reins in my father’s stead. Duty before pleasure, as he always taught me. I nod at Kira’s words, then gesture for her to follow me as we walk up to her bedroom. She’d feel more comfortable here than in mine, anyway. We walk inside and she closes the door behind her, leaning the back of her head against it. “Adryan isn’t my mate.” Four words shouldn’t hold that much power over me, but those four words spoken by the woman I love have just knocked the wind out of me. “What do you mea
-Kira-I sink to the floor with my hand over my mouth; my heart is beating so fast that I’m struggling to form a coherent thought. He kissed the spot where my mate is supposed to mark me and I felt more than just a simple pull; desire flooded my entire body. One thing is clear…Arkyn just staked his claim on me. All these years I thought my feelings were one-sided, when in fact Arkyn felt the exact same way about me and thought I knew! How did everything change so quickly? From feeling lost and heartbroken to knowing the person I have always been in love with, feels the same?But even if we both feel the same, Arkyn is engaged to be married to another woman; another woman currently staying under his roof. What will become of Jade, or the agreement Alpha Fenriz has with the pack Jade belongs to? This is a lot more complicated than simply admitting our feelings; this could cause a rift between packs.I get to my feet and head over to the bathroom while trying to push these thoughts ou