Bound with Shadows

If bad decisions had a face, it would be this.I held the steering wheel tight and looked up at the familiar roads ahead like they were the gates of hell. Five years. Five years of deliberately avoiding this place, and here I was now, driving myself back into the nonsense.“Deep breaths, Naomi,” I told myself. “You are older and wiser and hotter — okay, maybe not wiser, but definitely hotter. You’ve got this."Lies. All of it.Because no amount of pep talk was going to fix the reality that I’d be returning to the place that had witnessed me at my very lowest. The place where my mate — my one and only soulmate I was attractive to — stared me down and pushed me away like clearance sale items nobody wanted.But today wasn’t about him. It was for my little brother, Theo. The one person over the years who had consistently tried to emotionally blackmail me every time I spoke to them."Mom and Dad miss you. I miss you. How long are you going to keep pretending to be a runaway criminal?” I ha

The door suddenly bursts open. I don’t even jump. I just sigh.Layla doesn’t knock. She doesn’t announce herself. She doesn’t walk into a room like a regular person.She breaks in.“One day, I swear you’re going to knock like a civilized human being,” I say, looking on as she struts in awake like she owns the place.Layla snorts. "Where’s the fun in that?" She slams the door behind her, arms crossed over her waist, eyes raking my body like a hunter. "Okay. First of all, why do you look like you just had your own funeral?”I arch a brow. "I don’t.""You do."I roll my eyes. “I just didn’t know that looking into a mirror made you a psychologist.”Layla grins. "That’s the spirit. ‘Keep up that sarcasm, we might survive this night’”She walks over to my dressing table, where two dresses are laid out — both far too fancy for a girl like me.I already know what’s coming.She taps the red dress. "Wear this one."I shake my head. “I was thinking the black one.”Layla gasps like I just told he

The thing about dancing with an Alpha? It’s a dangerous game.Not the oh-no-I-might-trip-and-faceplant kind of danger. No, this was the I-might-actually-like-this-and-that's-a-problem kind of danger.And Logan? He played the game too well.“Call me Naomi,” I said as we moved in sync with the music. “If you keep calling me Miss Carter, I’ll start thinking I should be handing out detention slips.”Logan let out a quiet chuckle, his grip on my waist tightening just enough to keep me grounded. “Noted. But I don’t know… Miss Naomi does have a certain dominance to it.”I scoffed. “Yeah, I’m so intimidating. Just ask anyone.”He spun me effortlessly, his smirk growing. “Oh, I don’t need to. I can see for myself.”Something about the way he said it made my stomach do this weird little flip.Which was stupid.Because I didn’t get flustered by men.Especially not Alphas.Especially not this Alpha.So, naturally, I changed the subject."Do you have a mate?" I asked, hoping to shift the focus awa

Layla's cry brought a crowd, mostly security but the threat was long gone. I quickly made my way to the window and peered into the dark night, half expecting the maniac to launch at me with his poisoned blade, but all I met was the cimmerian darkness that stretched out beyond the range of the street lights.“By the love of the goddess! What happened here?!” I heard the voice thundered behind me and I turned swiftly to see Alpha Logan just making his way into the room. He stopped when he took note of the blood on my body and probably my hair, which I knew was messy. “Are you hurt?” He asked, quickly making his way to my side. “You.. you're bleeding.” “It's not my blood.” I replied calmly. “You should have seen the other guy.” I added.“Guy? What guy?” Logan asked in confusion.I noticed Marcus at the door with his new mate standing right beside him. Both of them peered within the room like vultures, unmoving, simply staring and accessing the scene as if waiting to descend once the w

Logan's POVBy the time I left the Carter residence, my stomach was filled up and my heart was glad. Throughout dinner, Naomi maintained a stubborn personality, but that wasn't enough to deter my spirit. They all act that way, and with time, the walls they build come crashing down, and then they succumb to the feeling. I wasn't going to rush her, no not this one. I would bide my time and wait patiently.Immediately I got into the car, my phone flashed on, on top of the dashboard where I had kept it earlier. A look at the screen told me it was Beta Eli who was calling.“This is Alpha Logan.” I answered the phone with a tap and turned it to loudspeaker.“Alpha? Where are you?” Eli asked immediately. “We're about to make a toast here.”He was still at the party where I left him two hours earlier. I glanced at my wristwatch and realized it was only a few minutes to midnight. It was then that I realized how tired I was.“I don't think I'll make it, Eli. Why don't you go ahead and fill in f