LOGINLORENZOA nurse was bent over the bed, helping the patient drink some water, while my mother sat beside her in the armchair.She looked at me the second I walked in, tense, straightening her back to make it clear she was taking Alina's side."Leave us alone," I ordered, stopping at the foot of the bed.The nurse hurried out almost immediately. My mother stayed exactly where she was, like she thought I might snap Alina's neck at any moment. I didn't give a damn about her attitude. My eyes finally settled on those green eyes I'd known for so long.Sitting in that huge bed, thin and hollowed out, she looked like she could vanish into the sheets.A woman who had once been so beautiful and striking was nothing but skin and bones now.I looked at the arm resting outside the blanket and saw dark bruises, collapsed veins from the drugs they supposedly used to keep her captive.Dark circles hollowed out her eyes and left her skin looking sickly. Even I doubted for a second that the woman in t
LORENZOMy voice came out sharp and impatient the second Leo picked up."Nino found a few interesting things," he said, and suddenly my computer screen lit up on its own, the two of them appearing from the office they called the bunker."Go ahead..." I leaned back in the armchair, trying to rein in my impatience."The money trail from the accounts Patriarch Vasiliev handed over led to offshore shell accounts used by... the Bianchi family," he said.Beside him, Nino kept typing nonstop on his laptop."It wasn't the Bianchis. Somebody just wants us to think it was," I said, the realization hitting me so hard it came out with a certainty I couldn't even explain.I trusted my instincts."Nino thinks so too." Leo nodded, and Nino started motioning at him again."The accounts were tampered with. He can't find the real trail, but it looks like they were used to do business with someone else, and it wasn't the Vasilievs.""It was the Bronas." I pressed my fingers to my chin, thinking. "They u
LORENZO"Why the fuck did you bring her here without talking to me first?!"I slammed my fist down on the desk so hard the wood cracked."Lorenzo, you were taking too long. How could I leave her abandoned in that miserable little hospital? I had to make sure it was really her."My mother shot back, standing there in front of me while rage chewed through my insides.I’d come back wound tight, pissed off I hadn’t been able to make the trip with Victoria, only to find Alina already settled inside Diamond Fortress."You were supposed to wait until I got back. I was the one who should’ve seen her first. I was the one who should’ve decided...""What other decision, Lorenzo? Was there truly any other choice but to bring the real Luna back to her home?"She squared up to me like she never had before, and I knew her too well not to see exactly where this was headed."You have no idea what Alina has suffered, how weak she is, how broken. Waking from a coma after something so traumatic, with no
VICTORIALorenzo wouldn’t be riding with me. The inhibitors were barely taking the edge off.Before the door shut, Dr. Pietro said goodbye to me."I’ll be coming to your city to study the Luna Nera drug in the Greco labs, and I’ll be personally involved in your case. I hope to see you doing much better very soon," he said, squeezing my hand through the open car window.Honestly, I was really grateful to him, despite the strange way we’d met."I’m counting on you to get me back on my feet so I can hit every bar in the city," I told him, half joking, trying to lighten the mood."With that kind of incentive, I think I’m even more motivated to cure you," he replied with a wink that made me smile.A private little joke that would stay with us forever.The car pulled away, and at last I was leaving the capital behind, a city I’d come to for everything except a fun, party-filled vacation.I didn’t even know how the King had taken it that we missed his glorious birthday."So Lorenzo, the good
VICTORIALorenzo’s low, rough voice told her to leave while I just stood there, nervous, not knowing what to do or say.With a sigh, Stephanie headed out."Remember what the doctor said..." I heard her murmur under her breath, but I still caught it.Was I worse than they’d told me?Lorenzo shut the door with a calm that felt too controlled, almost cold."My love..." I couldn’t hold back another second. I ran to him and threw my arms around him as hard as I could before he even had the chance to react.I felt the rigid tension in his muscles. His hands hung there for a second, not returning the embrace.His bourbon scent felt dimmer, and even though the discomfort in my body came back and the pain in the mark flared harder, at least it was more bearable than the first time."Do you feel sick? Can you handle my pheromones?""Yes, I can... please don’t push me away..." Tears started spilling down my cheeks.I thought he was going to pull away again. I thought he was about to tell me some
VICTORIAI’m pregnant... something I’d dreamed about so many times and had never been able to make real... until now.I keep stroking my belly. It feels so surreal. I’m so happy and at the same time... sad and worried.Where is Lorenzo?I haven’t seen him since the day Dr. Pietro gave us the news.I regret telling Dr. Pietro what I was really feeling... he probably ran straight to Lorenzo with it.But now I wasn’t only thinking about myself. I was thinking about my baby too. I wasn’t rejecting him.I couldn’t help it, and the mark on my neck burned, sometimes so badly I could barely stand it.I’ve been stuck in this same hospital bed for two days now, still on bed rest... I want to go home.My gaze drifts to the huge window beside me.I’d asked Stephanie to have the bed moved over here. I spent all day staring down like an idiot, hoping I’d catch sight of him.I missed him so much that, half asleep, I could’ve sworn I’d seen him at my bedside, gently stroking me, but they kept pumping
VICTORIAWhen Lorenzo said that, I froze like a deer caught in headlights.“Fi... fiancée? But I’m an Omega. Maybe the Alpha King won’t like...”“The King’s old school. He actually encourages polygamy. He’s got like five women... not counting his Luna, the Queen”, he said, a hint of mockery tugging
LORENZO“Talk?” One brow lifted on that gorgeous, seductive face.“I thought, with the hour, and what you told me the first day... we could consummate tonight. I took my pills. An heir isn’t going to make itself, so...”I moved so fast she didn’t even have time to dodge.My fingers grabbed her chee
VICTORIAThrough the fog in my head, I felt hands on me, and the last few hours came rushing back.Instinct snapped me awake, and I bolted upright, fighting a man who was bent over me. I hit his glasses hard enough to make him stumble back.“Easy, Mrs. Greco. You’re safe. I’m the Brona family’s doc
VICTORIATwo maids were changing the sheets.One of them turned on the TV on a piece of furniture across from the bed, and a news segment made me crack the bathroom door open slowly so I could watch through the gap.On the screen, I saw that blonde woman, Stephanie, his so-called Alpha partner. The







