[Alexander]
I had promised Adam one last hunt before the wedding. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but after all, it was only a few more days until I’d get to wake up next to Valerie every morning for the rest of my life.Over the past couple of days, I’d been packing away some of the clothes I had in my closet, making space for Valerie’s things. The small, abandoned town in Walnut Creek wasn’t exactly ready to be lived in, and I had contracted some builders to redo the dilapidated walls and tile the floors. I’d told them to leave the walls unpainted because it sounded like a good idea to do it myself.I’d been spending most of the day organizing some work files that I was planning to give to Adam while he stood in my place at Young Industries. It was only temporary, while Valerie and I would spend our honeymoon in Greece.Valerie didn’t know about our trip. I’d managed to keep it a secret, and thought[Valerie]If I thought I was full of nerves before, I really had no idea what I was in for the afternoon before my wedding.Everything around me was moving fast, and the women who’d seemingly taken up residence in our small, two-bedroom house were moving faster.“Where are the dresses?!”“Where are Valerie’s shoes?!”“Did anyone call the makeup artist?!”Questions like these were flying around, the air thick with the agitation I was sure everyone was feeling. But all the preparations seemed to overshadow me, and in some ways, I was thankful for that. I didn’t quite like being the center of attention, and with only a few hours left before that became inevitable, I sneaked into my room, quietly locked my door, and laid down on my bed.My belly was huge by now, and if I looked up while laying down, it was as if I was staring at a mountain. Watching my babies grow day by day made me miss my mate eve
[Alexander]** Epilogue **** One Year Later **I didn’t mind that we had had to postpone our wedding. The twins were growing beautifully, and rather normal for babies who had both wolf and witch blood coursing through them. It was Camilla who had explained their rapid growth before birth - Elizabeth, who was afraid of the dark, had closed her little eyes inside her mother’s womb, and had somehow managed to speed up the process of her mother’s pregnancy. Leo, on the other hand, seemed to fear nothing. I could tell by the way he climbed to the very top of the apple tree in the garden to pick some fruit for his sister and him.All those around us, our friends, family, acquaintances, all fell in love with the twins the moment they interacted with them. Leo, with his gift of insight, and Beth with her gift of healing. The girl had a tremendous power to win over hearts, while Leo awed them with his strength and ability to show them what he wanted wit
[Valerie]As strange as it may sound, I had often imagined myself knocking on Death's door in this manner. It was something I dreaded, something that kept me awake at night, and even then, I had no hope of being surrounded by loved ones, of having a familiar tongue lick my face or a warm hand holding mine as I breathed my last.The attack on us came as a surprise. We had carefully planned our route and taken extra care to arrange our own attack so that we had the upper hand. The unsuspecting group we were intended to attack was allegedly out searching for food. When we hunted, we were vulnerable. Our senses were absorbed in the aroma of our prey's blood; sweet and warm, our tongues were overwhelmed with a desire for dripping, fresh meat. And it was then that the odor of our own species became less intense.Our strategy was so sound that we were taken aback by the odd animals who emerged out of nowhere. When I first saw them, I was taken aback by their disheveled fur, which appeared gr
[Alexander] My entire being was seized by rage. We were outnumbered due to a cunning attack, and I had already lost two of my best guys. I wasn't about to lose any more ground to these repulsive beasts. Selene, our Savior, would not have made a being so foul and hideous that I felt my stomach churning the instant I laid eyes on them, even as a flesh-eating and blood-thirsty Alpha.I signaled Adam, our pack's Beta, to double up on an attack on one of the larger werewolves. I wasn't sure; their tongues were purple and their eyes were flaming, and they stood on their rear legs like humans, only they slouched their gigantic backs and their arms appeared to be double-jointed. Adam and I ran for the beast and severed its throat, roaring in unison as it collapsed to the ground, its head tumbling off the cliff.The other animals had noticed, so we broke off and tore more necks, figuring we had taken down the one that led them. They slumped to the ground one by one, but others appeared from t
[Valerie] A massive intake of air rushed through my lungs, like a breath of fresh air, and I wheezed as my eyes opened. The great light all around me was white, and I assumed it was Mother Selene, who had come to see me and take me back to her dwelling. Those tears I had tried so hard not to cry were gone. Neither was the pounding ache in my ribs, which stopped my heart and took my final breath.I looked down at my clothes, amazed that there was anything covering me at all. On my legs, I wore a khaki cotton harem and a basic black t-shirt that clung to every curve of my torso. These were not my property. Perhaps Mother Selene preferred to meet her creation dressed strangely, rather than naked, as I had died.I was lying on a bed. A bed wrecked by an unending supply of blood from the puncture in my side. When I looked down and gingerly peeled the t-shirt up, my brows knitted with perplexity. Perhaps your wounds and imperfections vanish in death. It's not unexpected, given that Mother
[Alexander]I didn’t mean to walk in on her like this. Even after last night when I had seen her at her very worst, the thoughts I had back then were modest in comparison to what I was thinking now. The parts of her body that weren’t covered by the towel glistened with pearls of water. The paleness of her skin from last night had turned to a soft golden tan - which meant she was very much alive. I took a step forward and trained my ears to her beating heart. Steady, but the closer I moved towards her, the more rapid her heart beat. It gave me somewhat of a kick to watch the way she froze on the spot, her mouth standing slightly agape as if my presence shocked her and my good looks seized her tongue.I then realized why she was here in the first place, and the fact that she was anywhere but in bed, resting off the effects of her injuries, made me mad. Amelia was nowhere to be seen either, and she’d get an earful for leaving this woman alone.“Why aren’t you sleeping?”I must have hit an
[Valerie]I tried very hard to deny the obvious, but too much was happening all at once. My second chance at life was becoming increasingly challenging, and I wondered if it was really a second chance or a test of will.Alexander - the one who saved my life - was my mate. I could see it now; the dream in which the faceless werewolf kept me afloat and brought me joy now had a face. A beautiful one. I no longer had to fall asleep to see that dream, I would be able to simply close my eyes and see him, just as the memory of his features sketched into eternity in my mind. But the dream was unattainable - a fact I learned tonight.Alexander was bold, as expected - I knew that from the moment he scolded me for not staying in bed. He was also hesitant. I felt his hand tremble when he touched me. Had he been less tentative, I might have allowed him to have his way with me. I might have sprung upon him myself, succumbing to the aching desire that called for a change of underwear before I left th
[Alexander]I was too stunned to follow her, my feet feeling like lead held them shackled to the carpet. Valerie had been so close - so close to scenting me that I wasn’t sure why she chose not to do it. She knew I was her mate - she had acknowledged that much - but she still decided to leave in a hurry, as if the thought of me being her mate disgusted her.I was far from disgusting. I was Alpha. I was also the CEO of my father’s mining company - a title I had worked very hard to attain. Amelia was the brains in the family, and growing up I always thought that she would be the one to take that place. So I worked harder and strived to get that position, even though her healing abilities made her look towards a career in medicine. She had no desire to work in the company, but still, I had to prove that I was fit to be CEO.Becoming Alpha wasn’t something I needed to prove. My lineage belonged to a long line of Alpha males, and I only had to grow up and become of age to become Alpha of th