Chapter 12KIERANSeraphina lay unconscious on the bed, her clothes half-removed, her skin too pale. A man I recognized as Marcus Sullivan was positioned over her, his canines extended, clearly preparing to mark her against her will. A blonde woman sat in a chair beside the bed, watching with obvious anticipation.I saw red.The sound that came out of my throat wasn't human. It was the roar of a king whose mate was under threat, the howl of a wolf whose territory had been violated. Marcus looked up just in time to see me coming, his eyes widening with terror as he finally understood exactly who he'd been threatening.I hit him with the force of a freight train, sending him flying across the room to crash into the far wall. Plaster cracked and rained down as he slumped to the floor, but I wasn't done. Not even close."You dare," I snarled, hauling him up by his throat. "You dare touch what's mine?"He tried to speak, tried to explain or plead or something, but I squeezed harder. His fa
Chapter 11KIERANI stormed out of my room, my wolf was literally clawing at the edge of my consciousness with the kind of desperation I hadn't felt since the night Seraphina ran. Something was wrong and I knew it. Every instinct I possessed was screaming danger, and the mate bond, that I shared with Seraphina, who had been actively blocking it for years and it has gone dormant for five years was suddenly alive with distress signals I couldn't ignore.The hotel corridor seemed like a blur to me as I made my way towards Lucas's room that were three doors down. I had come to Millbrook with Seraphina's older brother as a favor to him, though the favor had been disguised as one to me. Lucas had been convinced that seeing his sister happy with another man would finally allow me to move on, to accept a different mate and secure the succession of my kingdom.He'd been wrong about a lot of things.I didn't bother knocking at all. The door gave way under my fist, breaking from its hinges as
Chapter 10: Desperate Times, Desperate ActsSERAPHINA The scream that tore from my throat sounded like something that didn't come out from a person. This wasn't just mere poison, it was hell. Every cell in my body felt like it was being burned from the inside out. Wolves when they touch silver gets burned very well but this time around it was liquid silver that was being poured into my system.My wolf, who had been so close to the surface since Kieran's call, retreated deep inside me, whimpering in agony."Well, well," Elena said, her voice filled with gleeful satisfaction that shows that she was happy with what she just discovered. She giggled and clapped her hands together as she continued. "Looks like our little human has been keeping secrets."Through the pain, I could see her face looming over my face as it was twisted with cruel delight. The silver was working its way through my body burning all my resistance away and making everything fuzzy and distant. I couldn't focus, cou
Chapter 9: Taking A StandSERAPHINAThe silence that followed Kieran's declaration felt like a rubber band that has been pulled to the limits and was ready to snap. I could feel Marcus and Elena staring at me, their minds probably racing, trying to process what they'd just heard. The Lycan King—the most powerful werewolf in North America—had called me by name, spoken to me like I was someone precious to him, someone he'd been waiting for, all his life. And that was something that clearly unsettled them more than they let on.I ended the call with trembling fingers, a bit scared that I had indeed talked to Keiran and tried to remain cool in front of him like I was not scared that he might have denied me in front of everyone. I have after all left him and took in another mate. Him rejecting me would be the right thing to do.I was still trying to maintain the calm facade that had served me so well this morning. But inside, my wolf was howling with a mixture of joy and terror. Kieran wa
Chapter 8: The King Who Waited KIERANI'd wanted to tell her that I understood better than she knew, that my wolf's claim on her had been as overwhelming for me as it had been for her. But I couldn't force out the words from my mouth, the only thing that I was able to do and surprised that she even let me was wipe the tears off her face.The contact alone sent shivers down my spine and I could see her body shiver as well, a soft moan escaping her lips as she leaned closer towards me.Against my better judgement, knowing fully well that this was going to be intense for her to stay away from me since she just got her wolf and I had been controlling mine for two years.I let desperation, and desire take over me as I pulled her into a kiss.The kiss had been inevitable at this point. Two years of fighting, of denying the pull between us, of pretending that the mate bond wasn't real had piled up in that moment. She tasted like champagne and defiance and when she pulled me flush against h
Chapter 7: A Bit Of Kieran's PastThe phone trembled in my hand as I stared at the message that had just lit up my screen. Three simple words that shattered five years of carefully constructed walls: "I need to talk."From Seraphina.My wolf, dormant for the past hour as I'd tried to distract myself with the blonde currently draped across my chest, suddenly roared to life. The scent of the woman beside me—vanilla and artificial sweetness—became cloying, wrong, everything my wolf rejected. I was moving before I consciously decided to, gently but firmly extracting myself from her embrace."Kieran?" she murmured, her voice thick with sleep and satisfaction. "Where are you going?""I have to make a call," I said, already reaching for my clothes. "You should go."She sat up, the sheet falling away from her perfect body, confusion evident in her green eyes. "But I thought—""You thought wrong," I said, not unkindly but with a note of finality. "This was a mistake."It had been a mistake. F