Mag-log inRoman’s POVThe next morning when I woke up, I found she was still close to me, sleeping peacefully in my arms. When we started sleeping together, I never thought there would be a day like this—when she wouldn’t be reluctant to get close to me.She still had her hand wrapped around me, her face snuggled against my chest, and I dared not move in fear of waking her up. I resigned and decided to stay still, waiting for her to wake up on her own.It felt so good to see her so relaxed with me. Maybe now she knew I was no different from her—I had suffered like her in the hands of the traffickers. Pity. That shouldn’t be the reason for her to get close to me, but still, I would accept it as long as she was with me.I was no different. I pitied her as well when we found her, and I knew she had suffered because of those traffickers. I could relate to her, and without realizing it, I already had sympathy for her.I wished, just like how I was saved, protected, and taken care of, I could care fo
Kael’s POV"Because you don’t see him for who he is. You see your lost child in him and try to mend him that way," I explained to her. "Do you respect his choices, or do you impose yours on him? When we went shopping today, did you consider what he liked, or were you thinking of what you would have liked your own son to wear and play with? Weren’t you just trying to fulfil the wishes you couldn’t fulfil with your own child?"Utterly confused and guilty, maybe, she stared at me with tears still rolling down her eyes. Her lips trembled to say something in her defence, but words failed her."Eira, if you truly want to be Raven’s mother, you need to be real. If you don’t understand how, you can talk with me or any of us. We are family now—our mate—and now we have a son. For his sake, you have to, but more for your own sake."There was silence for a while as she continued to shed more tears and finally asked, "Does he not like me as his mother?""He likes you, but he will accept you as a m
Kael’s POVMy brothers almost moved to her, but my gaze warned them. It was between me and her, so they should stay out of it. They understood and stayed in their places.I looked back at her; my heart hurt. All these years she had believed I was the one to order them to hurt her and sell her. How much she must have hated me with every breath she took.I never told them to hurt her, but left her there to get the punishment every prisoner gets for their crimes. When I told them to carry out her punishment and not bother me with it, I meant she should be punished like any other prisoner for their crimes.She would have been locked in dark, damned chambers with rotten prison cells, would have been given a meal and water only once a day, hurled some curses at by guards out of habit and hatred, and if the prisoner was not obedient they were subjected to whip lashes or kept starving for days.I never thought she was being tortured this way. After I left the prison that night, I wiped her ou
Kael’s POVAfter shopping for a long time, Raven had a lifetime’s worth of clothes with him that needed a different car just to put his shopping in.Everyone bought different things for him as per their own likings, including Raven, who got everything according to his own choices.I was glad he didn’t hesitate and bought everything he liked.The entire time we continued to wear the same customized T-shirts I got for everyone. The reason? I wanted Raven and Eira to feel like one of us — like a family.I had already planned dinner outside for my family. Roman had booked the entire restaurant, as it was his job.Everyone enjoyed the tasty meal, as everything was prepared according to each one of our tastes. Raven always ate what I preferred. Not sure if it was just a coincidence that his taste buds were the same as mine, or if he just blindly followed what I did.Mid-meal, I got a call from Liam. I excused myself and went to the balcony area to talk, where once the glass door was shut be
Lucian’s POV"Raven, we’re all going shopping," I told him the moment I came to the drawing room. "You and your mom can shop for some matching mother-son clothes. How about it?"Raven looked at Eira, while playing with the kittens.She smiled. "That would be cute. I will buy you cute bunny clothes."He blinked to hear bunny clothes. I was sure he wasn’t fond of the idea as he was used to wearing prim-prom adult like clothes. But I wondered how cute the little guy would look in cute clothes."Shall we?" I asked.Raven looked at me and nodded.I lifted him into my arms and offered him a happy smile. "Daddy Lucian is gonna buy you tons of clothes and toys today.""How about for me as well?" Roman asked. "Daddy Lucian.""You stingy finance expert. Always trying to save your money," Lucian retorted.Jason scoffed a little and put a hand on Roman’s shoulder. "Don’t feel bad. He is not your daddy.""Yeah, only Raven and Rafe are the fortunate ones," Roman commented with a grin."Don’t be jea
Lucian’s POVI received the information from my spies in the RavenClaw pack and headed to Kael, who was in the study with Rafe.When I entered the study, they had already finished talking. I hoped Kael had warned Rafe not to mess with Eira’s mind.Though I admit I liked what she did at the council hall, I didn’t wish to turn her into a mindless demon who could be manipulated easily. And Rafe was master of manipulation. It’s in vampires’ blood."What’s the matter?" Kael asked, seeing my serious expression."Seems like that bastard Asher might track Raven’s whereabouts to our pack, after searching for him in all the other packs," I told him, "And among all the other packs, he knows well only we are powerful enough to challenge him."Kael remained calm and responded with a simple hum."Shall I let him?" I asked, knowing Kael must have something in mind."Just don’t stop him," Kael said as he leaned back in his chair. "Sooner or later we have to face him. Creating hurdles for him will mak
Kael’s POVI hadn’t expected things to turn out this way. That was why I hadn’t intervened when Lucian and Jason started provoking Roman. It was something common among the five of us, tossing around jabs and insults in the name of friendly banter.But now that Roman had left in anger, I regretted n
Jason’s POVAs I walked toward her, fear crept into her eyes. She began struggling against the restraints, desperate to free herself—but it was useless."Have you ever watched spiders up close?" I asked, stopping in front of her. "Ever felt them crawling over your skin, then bite you as if they wan
Jason’s POVI looked up at the figure standing at the door.He was frozen, clearly shocked as his gaze shifted between me, the bloodied torture tools, the unconscious naked bitch tied to the chair, and my pets still crawling over her trembling body.I returned my attention to cleaning the tools in
Lucian’s POVRoman came out of his room, dressed and ready to go out. He didn’t even glance at us or ask why we were all silent and what this tension in the air was."I have some work to attend to," he said to Kael, then walked out the door.For a moment, I thought Kael might stop Roman, ask him so







