Masuk~Amber’s POV~“One day when I am big and stroonngggg.” I drew the words out in the singing tone and gestured with my hands, flexing arms that had nothing on them worth flexing, tiny muscles that did not exist yet no matter how hard I squeezed.My mother picked it up without missing a beat. “You will be a Queennnn.”I burst out laughing and threw myself forward onto her because that was what I always did when she made me laugh, just launched myself at her like she was the safest place in the world.Because she was.But this time she winced.It was small. A tightening around her eyes, a breath that caught halfway through, and anyone else might have missed it but I did not miss things when it came to her. I had stopped missing things months ago.The smile fell off my face immediately.“I am sorry.” I scrambled backward. “I am sorry, where did I hurt you? I did not mean to hit you so hard and—”“Amber.” She cut through the panic with a gentle smile that sat on her face like it belonged th
~Amber’s POV~Time was supposed to move slowly when it was fixated upon.But that was not what happened in my case. Because after that day in the office when I had looked into Axel Edgewood’s eyes and watched the blankness behind them echo louder than his words ever could, after I had felt every good moment between us obliterate into nothingness inside my chest, the days had blurred together.And in what felt like a blink, a total of one hundred and twenty two days had passed.I knew the exact number because I had spent every single one of them ticking it off. Counting down to the day I would never have to see Axel Edgewood again if it were to be by my will.“You get a kiss if you can guess where we are going after this.”Rosella’s voice broke through my thoughts and I looked up, meeting her cheeky grin from across the table.I rolled my eyes and realized that if I was given a penny for each time this woman made me do that, I would rival Axel’s net worth by now.“I told you to stop fl
~Amber’s POV~It had played in my head over and over on the walk here and as forward as it would make me look, especially after the conversation I had just had with my father, one of the scenarios I had run through ended with the clothes I had thrown together in a haste to get here on the floor of this office.And I knew it was wrong to even consider it after what I had seen him do this morning. Even though my father had told me to stay out of it. But I had to factor everything in. Every angle. Every possible outcome.So there was nothing he could say that would—“No.”One word. Two letters.And it surprised me so much that I physically almost flinched from it.Had he just said—“No.” He said it again, taking the rest of the thought right out of my head.I blinked. “Excuse me?”“Do you want me to say it a third time?”In between when I had left my father and when I had gotten here, I had done something I should have done a long time ago. Somewhere during the walk, I had come up with a
~Axel’s POV~I was not one for this and I did not think I would ever need to be, but seriously I was on the verge of gesturing with my whole body and saying from “where to where now?”But I did not do that.Instead I took him in with more focus than before and decided that I was done with that line of conversation entirely. So I pushed my aura out, letting him feel exactly what I was communicating without needing a single word, and I watched the unease flicker in his eyes again.This time it stayed.“Enough time has been wasted on irrelevant things.” I let my voice settle into something that left no room for whatever he had been doing for the last several minutes. “Like I said before. Sit down.”The smile had completely left his face. He sat down in the chair across from me and I got straight into it.“Thankfully, you being a know it all does have one advantage. Because yes, I asked for you to be found and brought here because I want something. And you owe me your life.” I held his ga
~Axel’s POV~I could not stop pacing.Back and forth across the length of my office, the same stretch of floor, the same number of steps, the same dead end where I had to turn around and do it all over again because my brain would not stop running and my body needed to match it.What had happened?When had I done it?Why could I not remember doing it?I replayed everything. The corridor. My mother. The suitcase. Walking away. The car. The accident. The crows. Cassandra. The child. Then standing right back where I started with blood on my hands and no memory of the space in between.I replayed it again and again and again. But I ended up with nothing over and over because every time I reached for the gap, the place where the answer should be, I came up completely blank. Like reaching into a drawer I knew had something in it and finding it empty every single time.I ran a hand through my hair in frustration and pulled at it harder than I needed to when a knock broke through it.I stop
~Amber’s POV~“So that is it then?” His voice came from behind me. “That is your solution? You are going to throw a tantrum?”I was already walking past him but my head whipped back in his direction and in an instant everything gave way to anger. But I pushed it out through a veil of calmness that took more effort than anything I had done all day.“I am not throwing a tantrum. I am giving you and everyone else what you want.”“And is that what you want, Amber?”“What I want is for you to leave me alone.” I kept my voice level even though nothing inside me was level. “I have been through a lot and it is not even ten o’clock yet. So with due respect, King Roland,” I let the title land with its full weight, “excuse me. I would like to rest.”“So that you can have the energy to go out there and stir up another issue.” His voice had gone quieter when he spoke again and somehow that was worse than the shouting. I glared at him. “I already abdicated. What more do you want from me?”“What I
~Amber’s POV~I wasn’t breathing.Even if I tried, I wasn’t sure I would be able to.My lungs felt locked and my chest was tight, like something was sitting on my ribs and pressing down with all its weight. Each second that passed made it worse, the edges of my vision starting to blur, spots dancin
~Amber’s POV~Sugar.Spice.And everything nice.Those were the chosen ingredients put together to make this…I paused and stared at it again, tilted my head because maybe it was just the angle I was looking at it from then tilted my head to the other side.But it was the same from every single an
~Amber’s POV~Shit. Shit. Shit.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.That was a lot of cursing going through my head but it was all my brain could work up as I tried to turn Axel Edgewood over.Axel Edgewood who had just slumped to the ground with the growing chaos sounding outside that sounded like it was getting lo
~Amber’s POV~“I need you to suppress my wolf.”Never in my life had I thought there would be a time when those exact words would leave my lips, nor did I think that they would be the first words I would say to the man I hadn’t seen for three years.Surprise flashed across his face before it gave w







