Hello Cherished Reader,If you're reading this? I'm grateful and impressed. Congratulations on surviving my pacing issues, grammatical errors, endless love for cliffhangers, and more importantly Thalia and Knox.Thank you for joining me on this journey, You didn’t just read this book, you breathed life into it. Thank you for lending me your attention and support throughout the story.🩷I will follow through with a short story as promised. Don't forget to leave me a follow, and a review so others can see how much you loved or hated Thalia & Knox. If Amelia’s story isn't your style? I have two other books that could try to steal your attention.I love and appreciate YOU!!Xo, Athena♡🦋
TWO & A HALF YEARS LATERKNOXTragedies are equally unavoidable as they are avoidable, this much I’ve learned throughout my life. Every hurt has shaped me into a better man, a better father, and a better Alpha for my people.“Remember when mommy died?” Arabella asks, looking up at me with an uncomfortable glint in her eyes. I guess she still hasn’t learned to stop retelling the story. She sees how much it hurts me to bring up that bit of our past, but she doesn’t care at all.I sigh, slamming my car door shut. “Let’s not talk about that, Princess.”“But the boys don’t know,” she whines. “I want to tell them.”Lies.The boys do, in fact, know the story. I’m certain they’ve heard it a hundred times since they were born. “You can tell them later, for now, let us get this visit over with.” I pat her head, anything to avert the story for a few minutes. Hopefully, by the time we are done here, she will have forgotten and moved on to one of the cartoons her brothers couldn’t watch last night
Arabella hesitates, her gaze shifting between Mariella and me. “Okay…” she whispers, carefully lifting the gun again. The way she does it has me wondering how long she’s been doing this. The precision of her shot earlier cannot come from practising in the few days she has been missing.Her eyes flicker from bottle to bottle, determination gleaming in her eyes. She’s confused, but she wants to play the game right; she wants to earn Mariella’s approval with it, but Mariella is hoping she slips up and shoots me instead. It’s only a matter of time. She’s foul; I think the first might have been a lucky shot, but she proves me wrong with the second.“Good girl,” Mariella praises. “Hold your gun lower, princess, you’ll get a better shot.” She says, helping her lower the gun, but Bella raises it again.I can feel my stomach knotting tighter and tighter with each shattered bottle, every echoing crack, and the giggle that Mariella lets out each time I wince is getting on my nerves. My arm is st
“It hurt me daily watching you live my life, getting picked up from school, father-daughter dances, princess tea parties, all that shit you bragged about was supposed to be mine!” She screams, swirling around and throwing my blade across the room where it lands on a picture of me, nailing it deeper into the wall. “All of it,” she turns back to me. “My dad, my happiness, you were living it all while I cried myself to sleep.” “Stop it,” I shake my head. I can’t bear to hear her say these things about my father. It’s been years since I last saw him, but every detail about him is engraved in my soul, and there is no way that he would be capable of any of this. He loved kids, and he wanted more kids. He always told me I’d have more sisters and brothers, but he was gone too soon. “No, you shut up,” Mariella counters. “From the moment that you were born, I didn’t exist for him, he loved you more than he ever could me, just like Knox. But he never put you above me, yet Daddy always had his
I don’t know how long it takes, but soon, I’m dragged out of the car with a bag over my head. “Move,” the man grunts. He is unfamiliar, but I can scent Mariella on him. He didn’t say much, not even when the other man driving spoke of how crazy big Mariella pays them on the way here.I’m shoved forward and I hear a giggle, “Here she is, baby.” The man says, the confidence in his voice slightly faltered.“Finally,” Mariella laughs. “My guest of honour is here,” she says, just as her accomplice removes the bag from my head. “Welcome!” Mariella cheerfully says.My eyes flutter open, the light almost blinding as I stare up at Mariella who watches me with a twisted smile. “What?” She frowns. “You look upset, do you want a hug?”“Don’t touch—”“Touch you?” She snickers. “Of course not, I wouldn’t even dream of it. But I’ll have someone else hug you, and you better smile and appreciate the hug or she’ll get very sad.” She warns, twirling a blade in her hand.I don’t get to wonder who it is th
THALIAWe go through the plan a few more times before finally sneaking out of the house with as many firecrackers as I could find in storage. We wait until half the pack has stopped roaming around before sneaking out.I keep checking my phone the entire ride there but I don’t receive any calls or texts from one of Mariella’s private lines. She has called me from multiple lines to avoid getting caught and the last one was tracked to a graveyard where she had a ‘Haha’ sign up for Knox to find.Nova’s foot is jittery and I’m a nervous wreck in the passenger seat of her car, staring out into the night in hopes of seeing Mariella. We already set the firecrackers off and now we’re waiting in the car because it’s cold outside.My phone vibrates in my lap and I instantly grab it, sliding to answer so fast that my finger cramps.“Mariella?”“What is it?” she asks. “Hmm, you do not sound excited for my call and you also don’t seem to have followed my instructions. Did I not say to come alone?…”