She took a few moments of hesitation before she finally answered.“Yes. I did just that. I knew that if you weren’t away, somewhere Thane would never find you, then I'll lose him—of course he won’t expect you back at your previous pack, so he would be searching anywhere else. I wanted you as far away from here as possible and that had been the only way to achieve that.”“Why?, Beatrix”“Why!” she called out a bit louder. “You want to know why?” she questioned again. “Because I had been here all along, standing by his side, I had done everything, been everything, just to prove to him that I was fit to be his Luna. I gave my life into this, and I finally thought I was so close to achieving this, but you came in and everything changed, Riley. He went all those miles away, just to get you—a common wolf like you—over me! Over every single able she-wolf in this pack, it feels like an insult, a fucking slap on the face.”“You are not his mate; I am. What is your problem?”“My problem is that
Beatrix’s words were genuine, she had meant every single thing she said."Well, I love him too,” I said, staring right into her. “And he loves me.”“He never gave me the chance. You say you love him, but could you bleed for him? Would you give your life for him? Could you fight for him even with your very last breath? Could you leave behind the people you love just to be with him?” She questions, and there is something so deep about her words that I’m left silent. “No, you can’t. So what makes you think that you deserve him?”~That night, when Thane had asked me if I met my mother... I lied. I told him I did and didn’t know exactly why I had to lie, but at the moment it felt like the right thing to do, and I could only hope that the maid was the only one who knew that my mother was gone; Thane couldn’t know—not after I had lied to him.Beatrix words replayed in my mind over and over again: she was in love with him, so hopelessly in love just as I was... if not more, she was willing t
It had been a maid at the door; I had left so quickly I couldn’t get even a single word from their conversation.I didn’t know whether to feel at ease that my mother was back or more anxious. What had she done? Why was she injured? Where had she gone?Those were the questions on my mind—questions I would not be getting an answer to ‘yet’. She had said we would talk later—how much time is considered as ‘later’? I was only going to give her a few hours, and then I would be back. I didn’t like what was going on, and I had to know. I was more than ready to help now, if only she would trust me enough to tell me.~~“Is Axel alright?” I asked Thane, trying at anything to get my mind off my mother; she hadn’t come to me, and so I was going to go to her; her time was up and I needed answers. “Yes. He is”“I hadn’t seen him since the date,” I said.“He is pretty engaged,” Thane answered and then paused.“Anything wrong?” I questioned“No, I just got mind-linked by Axel; it seems like Slade lov
"I doubt the culprit is from this pack, and assuming it had been a common member, then how exactly had he been able to get to the Alpha King and leave without being caught?""Is not a he?" the messenger said, and a smirk spread on Thane's lips."So is a ‘she?" he questioned, though already suspecting the answer, the smirk on his face widened."Yes, she is a female; she had a darker shade of blonde hair.""Would you recognize this woman if you saw her?" Thane questioned."I had only had a single glance at her backside, but there is more... she has an injury to her arm; she didn't get away as easily as she had planned."The messenger said, and for some reason, my mind travelled back to my mother; she had seemed a bit strange since her return, and then... there was also an injury on her arm. I tried my best to look composed, also grateful that not a single eye was on me. I knew something was wrong when I went back to her room to discover she was gone; she had kept it a secret from me, an
I had doubts... I hadn't believed my mother was capable; this had been the same woman I lived with all my life, but here I was in her apartment... And now I think maybe I was very wrong; maybe I just never knew who my mother truly was; she might have hidden that part so well from me.“You were away for a few days. Where did you go?” I asked, my gaze burning into her.“I do not have to report to you; I am your mother, and I have the right to be wherever I want to be.”“A messenger was sent from the New Blood Pack, Thane had assembled soldiers to search for the offender. I can only help you if you talk to me,” I said to her.I could see the fight in her eyes die away.“I had been so close,” she says, and I shouldn't be surprised, yet I was because I hoped she wasn't involved; I hope it was just a mere coincidence, and maybe that had always been my problem... I hoped a lot.“I don't believe you; how did you do all that?” I asked staring at her, she was strong for a woman in her late thir
Thane was already there by the time I returned back to our room.That could only mean one thing.“Where did you go?” He asked“I needed to take some air... why?”He turned to me. He was only in a black bottom-down shirt; the sleeves of his shirt had been rolled up, and he had a glass of whiskey in his hands.“You are back early.” I noted aloud.“Yes” was his only response, his gaze on the glass in his hands.“Any luck tracking down the rebel?” I asked“Let's not talk about that right now,” he says, and I let out a sigh of relief.I walked towards him, and he took my hands.“You are very special to me,” he says, and my heart fluttered. This was the second time he had told me that. “I want you to tell me now, is there anything I need to know, Riley?”There it was. He knew something; I was almost sure about it, but never would I give my mother up.“I am not hiding anything from you, Thane,” I lied, and he nodded. He brought my hands to his lips, placing a kiss on it.“I'll miss this a lo
Thane had never gone back on his words; I knew that, yet I could only hope; I had no other option.“Thane, please don't do this; I can't live without her. Don't take her away from me; please do something,” I begged, going on my knees before him.I was willing to degrade myself—anything it took—just for her life to be spared.“I will do anything; I will be anything you want me to be, and I will not complain once, if only you will spare her life,” I said. I was practically begging to become his toy, begging him to take me as whatever he sees fit, just to save my mother.“Get up. There is no such thing as mercy, not in this pack. She did wrong, and she had already accepted her fate; you should too,” he says, his tone cold and unyielding.“No, you can’t do this... please for me.”Thane eyes were on me, no smirk on his lips this time. “I have to do this for the pack; no one goes against me or the Alpha King and stay alive.”“Alpha Slade deserved what he got.”“And I am not the one to judge
I lay at the very edge of the bed, and if Thane noticed that I had still been awake, he said nothing. I didn't know how I was going to help my mother, and it was killing me; my brain was completely blank and it was frustrating. I rolled over, feeling very restless; it didn't even help that I shared the same bed with Thane. I rose from the bed, taking my pillow along. As silently as I could, I tiptoed to the cushion and laid on it. I needed space; I needed to be away from ‘him’ even for a while.“Riley, please don’t punish yourself; return back to the bed.” Thane’s voice startled me.“No, I am fine here.”“You are not; I’ll sleep elsewhere if that is what you want.”“My mother is being held captive; the place I’m going to sleep is the least of my worries right now,” I snapped before settling on the couch.I wouldn’t let myself have even a glimpse of sleep; I didn’t deserve it..Morning came too fast, and I had come up with nothing but more desperate ideas. I was going to do every si
3ALEXANDER POVI watched her sleep. I couldn’t say exactly when the insecurities set in, but lately she kept talking about how she’d gotten “fat.” She wasn’t—she was pregnant, strong and healthy for an expectant mother.I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. I’d spend eternity reminding her of her beauty if that’s what it took.It was time for work, but I didn’t want to leave Kaida alone—not with her due date only weeks away. Before heading out, I went to check on Alexa and found she was already awake.“Daddy, take me to Uncle D, pleeeease,” she begged.She was too adorable to refuse, but it was far too early.“It’s still sleeping time; he’s resting,” I said gently.“But Uncle D don’t sleep. He a vampire,” she whispered, as though sharing a top secret. I could have asked where she’d learned that word, but I already knew the answer.Then Kaida’s cry rang out from the next room: “Alexander! It’s coming—the baby…”My heart jolted. I raced back to our room and found her leaning against t
1.***PHIL POVTwo Years Later…I had never felt so nervous.The day had finally come — Selene had turned twenty-one two days ago, and soon everything between us was about to change."Good luck, friend," Austin said to me."You got this," Ruth, Austin’s mate, added, and I nodded.A year ago, Ruth had finally said goodbye to the Winter Pack and joined her mate, Austin. Their reunion had been beautiful, and the pair had been inseparable ever since.I wanted something like that too — though I hadn’t realized how badly until I met Selene.At many points, I had thought about canceling the plan of waiting, but this time, Selene had been the one against it. I refused to think too deeply about the reason behind that.Now I stood by the door to her house and knocked.I waited a few moments; there was no response, so I knocked again.A woman answered — a complete stranger."I’m looking for Selene. Selene Ashford?" I asked."Oh, the Ashfords don’t live here anymore," she said — and my heart drop
“The others are very angry,” Kyiv said to me. “They think I’m on your side, and that’s why I killed Skale. It’s no secret they don’t like me very much, so they’ve requested something from me—to make clear where my loyalty lies.”“And I’m guessing this thing they requested of you somehow involves me.”“That’s right. Let’s look at the pros of this operation. You’d get to leave the cell for a short while—after days of being locked up, that has to mean something. But then the cons: you’d be paraded naked in front of thousands of rogues, bound, and many would want to… touch.”“I have nothing to be ashamed of, but I’m more worried about your little plan with the plane crash. Aren’t you worried the news that I’m alive will leak out?”“I too believe this is a bad idea. Even if I stand to benefit in many ways — I’d finally prove myself a capable leader to the rogues, and the other rogue leaders would have nothing on me. But I still don’t trust their promises to keep the rogues silent, so the n
I stared at the water in the wooden bowl. I was so thirsty.Could anything be worse than this?At least I would have one less thing to worry about—thirst.I reached for it. It was far enough to cause some strain on my already bruised wrist as I stretched for it, and then I took hold of it.Just before I could lift it up, the bowl slipped from my bloody grasp and fell to the floor, the contents splashing across the ground.Fuck.Well,I guess I really have no option now.Something captured my attention — a blackish smoke swirling in the air, growing thicker with every second.Then, through the smoke, Daemon stepped out.“There you are, about damn time. I was starting to wonder if I was at the wrong place,” he muttered.“How did you find me?”“I made a very wild guess.” “Kaida — how is she?”He tapped on the transparent glass, as if testing its strength.“She’s perfectly fine, and she knows you’re not dead. But she might not be too happy about the fact that I didn’t let her come with m
“There’s a slight chance we aren’t dealing with a pack,” Daemon said. “Thank you for this information.”“Wait, you’re leaving me here? I just proved how important I could be.”“Yes, indeed. If you get any other information, just reach out,” he said, then turned around. He was really leaving.“Fuck you.” I muttered beneath my breath.“I heard that,” he called out. “I intended for you to hear that!” I said, but of course he was already gone.My gaze fell on Sebastian, still standing on the other side of the wall. He raised both hands in surrender before backing away. Frustrated, I stomped off..Kate arrived at the pack a few hours later. This time, she brought along her luggage.“You won’t really need all those for a few days.”“No, I won’t. But I’m not planning to stay for just a few days,” she said, walking into her room. I followed with two more of her luggage. “I’m moving into this pack,” she said finally, and I couldn’t deny how surprised I was at that.“Really?”“Yes,” she said,
I walked past the patrolling soldier and Phil, who followed after me.“I thought you said you were leaving? I was worried you’d do something rash, so I came after you.”Good thing he and the other patrollers hadn’t witnessed what happened earlier.“Plans changed. Guess I was about to make a rash decision — but I changed my mind.”“Are you okay?” Phil asked, inspecting me.I knew I didn’t exactly look my best — I’d spent god-knows-how-long in the healing room, then ran straight to pack my bags, dressed in nothing but the white gown the healing wardens had supplied. My eyes must have been red from crying. But every other person in the pack looked the same, if not worse.They were all mourning Alexander—I realized.Many cast pitiful glances at me.“Why did he have to go?”, “He was too young to die,” “He ‘was’ the best Alpha the pack had ever had.”Everyone had something to say about Alexander.I could hardly believe I’d run past all these people without noticing a single thing. On the wa
KADIA’S POVI woke up in the healing room.A pair of blue eyes watched me — Daemon. He looked… different, and it wasn’t just the new haircut. There was something about him that made him seem more human."Daemon," I called; my throat felt so dry.He seemed to have already prepared for that. He passed me a glass of water, which I quickly emptied.Everything came flooding back — the news about the plane crash. It became harder to breathe.“Kaida. Calm down.”"He's gone — he was in the plane when it crashed."I yanked out the tubes attached to my arm and rose to my feet. The movement had been too abrupt; the room seemed to spin.I felt hands guiding me back to the bed. I couldn’t hold in the tears.“He shouldn’t have been there. I made him go, and now…”“Stop.” Daemon said, cutting me off. “He is not dead. I visited the site; I didn’t find anything that indicated he was among the ones that died.”“You were at the site?” I asked, my heart speeding up with renewed hope.“Yes. The moment I h
ALEXANDER’S POVMy blurred vision slowly cleared, and I realized I was in what looked like a small, empty room.The wall facing me was made of thick, transparent glass.I couldn’t tell how they managed to get me in here—there was no window or door, only a narrow slot likely meant for passing food and letting in just enough air to keep the ‘prisoner’ alive.I could only assume there was some kind of hidden entrance.My hands and ankles were bound with thick silver chains.The chains felt excessive—I could barely move a muscle.More wolfsbane than I’d ever consumed in my entire life had been pumped into my system, completely immobilizing me and filling me with this nauseating, sickly feeling. I hadn’t realized I was shivering until I noticed the tremble in my fingers.The room was chillingly cold, and with the wolfsbane suppressing my werewolf abilities, I was no exception to the cold. I tried to summon flames. Nothing.Maybe I was just too weak to summon the flames. The crushing feeli
1KADIA’S POVWhen I discovered the news of my pregnancy, I had been so happy. But I knew a lot would have to change.I had to be more cautious—for the baby. That meant I wouldn’t be able to keep training the pack soldiers for much longer. Of course, I’d have to give up that duty eventually and it had become a part of my life. I would have to watch my diet, too. And then there were other things. Like the fact that I would grow big, and I might not look the same. My toned stomach which I had spent years working on would be no more.This had been the type of life I once abhorred, but everything was different now—I wanted this. I could see a future with Alexander, filled with laughter and little kids running around, and the thought made me smile.Lara was the first person to find out I was pregnant.After I discovered the pregnancy test was unmistakably positive, I was as scared as I was excited.Lara happened to be visiting the pack, and we kind of bumped into each other. She was all s