After being betrayed and threatened by her own mate, whom she had believed truly loved her, Riley is ready to leave the pack and start over, but her ex-mate wouldn't let her go just yet. In her desperate attempt to escape him, she is forced to sign a deal with the very dangerous but equally alluring Alpha Thane. . The deal was simple. Riley only had to act as the Alpha's mate for six months, and then she was free to leave with a fortune as her pay to start a new life. Alpha Thane didn't do relationships; he made that very clear to her, but he wanted her in other ways, and he was going to have her. ~ "How do I know that you won't hurt me? How do I know that I would be safe with you?" I asked, lowering my eyes. His intense gaze was on me, and he looked every bit a predator. "You are not. I am not a very gentle man, Riley, and you should know that about me. I would protect you from every other person but myself." "You would hurt me?" I asked His hands trailed down my cheeks. "Yes" . Could Riley be signing a deal with the Devil himself?
View MoreDaemon served the food on four plates, just as he always did, but this time, the girls came down to join us. I wondered if he was doing this to make me feel comfortable around him—no, I shouldn’t try to find meaning in everything he did.The girls finished their food first, just as always.I didn’t miss the way the older girl kept throwing side glances at me throughout the meal. The moment she was done, she pulled her hair to the side, baring her neck to Daemon.Daemon pushed her aside, clearly not wanting to feed from her in front of me."You've had your turn," he said, looking past her to the other girls, who kept their eyes down. Unlike the older girl, the younger ones were quieter, shyer, and more reserved.“You know my blood tastes better than any of theirs.” She bragged like it was some sort of achievement. She dug her fingers into the healing wound on her neck, and a single drop of blood trickled down. Daemon’s eyes darkened with need; he wanted this, but he was only holding ba
ALIYA’S POVI dreamt about the lake, the very first place we’d shared a kiss; it had been one of the best days of my life. But too soon, the perfect dream was interrupted by another memory. I stood in front of the fortune teller's hut, the bones and skulls hanging from the door clacking together with an unsettling sound. The old woman sat in her hut with a smile on her face.“Back so soon?” she asked.“You were right… about his darkness, he is the—”“Demon Overlord. Yes.” She agreed, seemingly unsurprised. “I had never seen such an amount of darkness in anyone before.”"You were right about me too. You told me there would be a big change—I didn’t believe you. But now I see. I fell in love, just as you said I would, and I was happy. But the pain you spoke of… I understand it now. He lied to me. I hate him for his lies, for deceiving me."The old woman smiled. "No, you don’t hate him. That’s just a lie you tell yourself because you want to believe it.""Fortune tellers are liars," I sai
“Have you gone to see the healers?” Kaida questioned.“No.” I answered; she got the clue that there’s nothing they could do to help me right now. “I’m fine.”“You’re not,” she said. I couldn’t blame her—she might even be scared that I was losing my mind. “How long has this been going on?” she asked. There was something about her voice that kept me calm.“Ever since I stopped taking the doses.”“Why didn’t you tell me? I told you that we would do this together; you should have told me…”“What would you have done?” I asked.I saw anger flicker across her face. “You told me you wouldn’t push me away. You promised me.”Was that how she felt? Did she think my silence was pushing her away? Guilt settled deep in my chest—a reminder that I didn’t deserve her. "I just didn’t want you to worry. You were so happy when I told you about my progress—I didn’t want to ruin that."The anger faded from her eyes. “I’m just… I’m just so scared. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”I wrapped my hands
“The drink isn’t helping, is it?” Phil questioned.“I needed it—I guess, but I need to head back now.”I dropped the glass back on the table, noticing how shaky and unsteady my hands were. Phil didn’t miss that either.“There is another way, you know,” he said, and I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant. “A way to overcome the addiction—one that would be less… troubling.”“There’s no other way.” I said, not wanting to get my hopes high.“There is,” he insisted. “If you are this affected, it means you’ve been on the doses for years… You can’t just quit; you’d have to take it slow.”“What are you trying to say?” I was snappy, restless, and on edge for no reason.“What I’m trying to say is that you’ll need doses of wolfsbane to survive this. You’d have to start over—but this time, with each dose, you’d gradually reduce your intake, letting your body adjust to smaller portions. Then, you’d slowly begin skipping days between doses. Eventually, you wouldn’t depend on it as much, and stopping
I tried to keep it from her because I didn’t want her to worry about me, but as the days passed, it became harder to conceal.The withdrawal symptoms had kicked in hard. Kaida was only aware of the progress I was making, but I didn’t let her know what I had to endure. I wiped away the blood trickling from my nose. It had been five days since I stopped taking the doses of wolfsbane, and every moment had been pure torment. Breaking free from my ‘addiction’ was easier said than done.I rarely got any work done. The withdrawal symptoms were impossible to ignore— involuntary shaking, random bleeding, a relentless pounding in my head, dizziness, irritability, and the tiny lapses in time that seemed to stretch wider with each passing day without my doses.I stared at the bottle of aged bourbon spiked with wolfsbane, sitting on the wooden cabinet. all I had to do was reach out, take a drink, and it would be all over; the pain would disappear. I hadn’t realized when I rose from my chair and ma
ALEXANDER’S POV“You really are that pathetic, aren’t you, Commander Aric?” I questioned. Aric didn’t deserve the title—we both knew that.Just when I thought the man couldn’t get any more stupid, he proved me wrong. I had found him before he could reach Kaida. When I’d said I would keep him away from her, I meant it. I had installed high-tech cameras, monitoring nearly every corner of this pack. I had spotted him heading to her room— our room. The pack soldiers had brought him straight to me.“You don’t understand; I have to see her right now.” he said, there was an edge to his voice, but he was in no place to make demands."Well, you don’t get that privilege anymore. You lost it the moment you drugged her, remember?" I reminded him."I—I shouldn’t have lied. I shouldn’t have told you all those things about her not wanting you. You’re all she ever talks about. She cares about you—a lot. And it… it made me jealous. I’ve been by her side for years, yet she never looked at me the way sh
"What?" I exclaimed. "No, you can't stop—I don't mind...""You will," he repeated, seemingly sure of himself."You told me you’ve formed a kind of... addiction to wolfsbane," I said, "You would suffer without it.""Yes. I would face withdrawal symptoms, but not until this incident did I realize how reckless and selfish I had been. Wolfsbane is dangerous—I risked my life taking it, but I did it because I didn’t care about living a long life. I lived for the moment, and at that moment, it had been what I needed to do. But then you came into my life, and I realized I can’t be reckless anymore. I can’t keep living for the moment, not when I have a future with you. I know the pain you would be in if..." He paused, unable to finish. "I don’t want to leave you alone. Ever. And so I have to stop and let my body heal. It might take months, even years, but I will learn. And when I do... maybe then, we’ll have a chance to have a baby."I only realized I was crying when he wiped away a tear with
Alexander led me back to our room, and of course I missed the warm, elegant space.“Are you sure you are alright?” Alexander questioned for the second time, as he studied me.“Of course, I had told you before. I am completely fine.”“You look very pale, and your skin is cold—” He took off his coat and helped me into it, his scent enveloping me. “And you’re a bit… jumpy,” he added. How had he managed to notice all that in just a few minutes?“I’m fine, just… curious.”“Curious about what?”“Back in the healing room, I had a lot of time to think… and I was wondering—do you know anyone with the ability to compel others?”The question sounded even more stupid than I thought it would, and from the amused smile on Alexander’s lips, he thought the same. I expected him to laugh at my curiosity and brush it off, but he didn’t."That ability is completely unnatural. A few sorceresses and witches possess it, but even for them, it's difficult and wears off after some time. The only ones who could
KAIDA’S POV“Luna, are you alright?” Sarah asked.I had zoned out again. Cynthia’s visit had only been a few hours ago; I still recalled how it felt like being ‘drowned.’ My throat felt sore, but it wasn’t the pain that bothered me. Until now, I had no idea how powerful she was; I couldn’t believe that I thought I could take her. If I had waited even a little longer and gathered more information about her—if I hadn’t rushed into this—things would have been much better. I mean, I know she’d never really let me off, not after what my parents did to her, but I wouldn’t be at the top of her list of priorities.Another surprise was the news that someone had taken the girl. I think her name was... Aliya. I still remembered Alexander telling me about her—how ‘important’ she was to the empresses, and their entire city. Could it really be pure coincidence that she was taken on the same day I attacked the Empress? Or had someone known about my plan, waiting for me to make my move so they could
Prologue(Riley's POV) I woke up to a sharp pain in my abdomen. I knew what was happening; Ryker was doing it again. He was cheating on me with another woman. I rolled off the bed, my hands circling around my stomach. The wave of pain passed through me again, and I screamed out, my hands remaining on my stomach as if to shield my unborn child. I groaned, crawling for the door. "Help!" I screamed, but my voice came out hoarse. The pain came again, worse than ever before, and I cried out. "Please... please stop Ryker; you are hurting me," I begged, even if I knew he wasn't here or listening. A strange kind of fear filled me, one I always felt before things went completely wrong, and I was afraid it would now. My child was only one month old, and he 'knew' I was pregnant for him. I crawled for the door, my breaths coming out in pants, my whole body drenched in sweat. The pain wouldn't stop; it only got worse, and I couldn't go any further. In here, no one heard my cries...
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