LOGINCarlos’s P.O.V.The word ‘trouble’ left no room for hesitation. The moment it left Derek’s mouth, my body reacted on instinct.I vaulted through the shattered window after his massive brown wolf, the night air slamming into my face like a warning. Glass cut my palms, but I barely registered the pain. My mind refused to process what had just happened. Harley was completely gone. She was not in the room, nowhere to be found. This was sufficient for me to leave all my reasons aside and follow Derek.I didn’t even waste my time shifting into my wolf form. Well, I didn’t need to. My vampire side was still fully awake from the recent feeding, raw, powerful, and predatory. Blood thrummed beneath my skin like a second heartbeat, sharpening my senses until the world felt painfully clear. I hit the ground, running, catching up to Derek with humiliating ease. “What happened?” I asked, keeping pace beside him. “Where is Harley?”I demanded answers. I needed to know where Harley was right now!
Carlos’s P.O.V.Every second stretched like an eternity, the clocks moving at a turtle’s speed as we waited for Harley's recovery. My eyes were fixed on her heaving chest, her shallow breathing making me afraid for her life. It felt like if I looked away, even for a second, she would disappear from my world like everything else I ever dared to love.And despite this heavy tension, Grandpa wasn't at peace. He didn't leave this moment to scold me like a strict teacher, asking me the details of the incident over and over again. When he asked me for the third time to explain how I marked her, I ran out of patience and snapped.“I told you before,” I said hoarsely, my voice breaking despite my effort to stay composed. “I never intended to mark Harley. Never, I swear on my life.”I explained, biting back the regret and dismay in my body. “None of this would have happened if I had told Harley the truth. This was my fault. I failed her, Grandpa.” Lucian stood rigid across the room, his anci
Carlos’s P.O.V.Heaven!That was the only word my shattered mind could grasp as delicious liquid filled my mouth. Warm, sweet, and alive.It surged over my tongue like liquid fire, intoxicating in a way any blood could never be. Every nerve ending in my body lit up, my vampire side roaring in bliss after years of restraint. The taste was exquisite, dangerously perfect, like my soul had been starving for it without my knowledge. The world faded—the arguments, the pain in her eyes, the sound of my own heartbeat.There was only her blood and me.For the next few stolen seconds, I was lost in it, drunk, feral, undone. My fangs sank deeper on instinct, my body responding to the ancient call of blood and possession.Goddess Sanguis herself seemed to hum in my veins, approving, blessing, and calming my thirst.But then… Harley stopped struggling, her body sagging. That sudden weight in my arms snapped me out of the haze like ice water poured over my head.“No!" I yelled in my mind.Goddess,
Carlos’s P.O.V.Something was wrong. Nope! Everything was wrong. I had seen Harley sad, angry, and furious. I had even seen her laugh until she cried, seen her exhausted, curled up against my chest with her breath evening out as sleep claimed her. Not to mention I had seen fear in her eyes, grief, and stubborn defiance too. But this? This was something strange! Her scariest expression ever. I didn't want to name it, but my instincts screamed that this was deliberate distance.It felt like standing on solid ground and realizing too late that the earth beneath my feet was cracking open.Harley stood on the balcony, her back straight, shoulders tense, as if my touch alone weighed on her skin. When I tried to pull her closer, she didn't melt into me the way she always did. Instead, she stiffened, withdrawn and pulled away from me. My instincts sharpened instantly. The wolf inside me stirred, hackles rising, sensing rejection. The vampire in me whispered about danger.“Harley,” I spo
Harley’s P.O.V.Why would he tell me that? That was something I couldn't put in words. Like Henry kidnapped me with proper planning and was confident about the success of his plan. But still, he brought up this personal matter before anything else. I failed to understand his intention behind it.So, I chose to remain silent, fidgeting with my sleeve. Aunt Freya also didn't press for answers. She was silent for a long time after that question, so long that the ticking of the antique clock on the wall began to feel loud, each second stretching thin with tension. She didn’t look at me immediately. Her fingers traced the pattern on the bedspread, slow and deliberate, as if choosing her words carefully.“I expected this conversation,” she finally said. “At the prayer ceremony, I noticed your confusion, especially during the second ritual. Henry's blabbering was just the final push to your suspicions.”I looked up, startled. My heart thudded wildly in my chest. “The second ritual?”She no
Harley’s P.O.V.Three days later.The castle felt like a mausoleum. Three days had passed since my wedding was ruined, I was kidnapped, drugged, and almost killed. But the fear wasn't dulled a bit. It clung to me like a second skin, racing my heart at tiny movements around me.I walked slowly down the corridor leading back to my room, the soft echo of my footsteps swallowed by thick, suffocating silence. Black drapes replaced the white silks that had once fluttered from every pillar. The scent of funeral incense clung stubbornly to the air, bitter and heavy, as if grief itself had seeped into the stones.Henry’s funeral was over, if it could even be called that. Lucian had stripped him of the Laynox surname before the sun had set on the day of his death. No family crest, no ancestral rites, no burial in the Laynox graveyard where generations of nobles slept beneath carved marble angels.Henry was laid to rest far beyond the castle walls alone, his name an example of disloyalty and be







