Masuk~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~It was either of two things. He let me beat him, or he was just endlessly tired from the energy he had expended in beating his father to a pulp.Either way, I was more than satisfied.I could not help the smile on my face as I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, checking every inch of skin for any spot that had not healed, the image of my claws digging into Axel over and over playing out in my head on a very gratifying loop.Everything had healed. Not a scratch left.I was about to turn away from the mirror and head back into my room so I could start figuring out how to make the Council see that I was fit to rule because there was no way in hell I was asking that parent-almost-murderer for help now, when the bathroom door burst open.“You attacked Axel?”My head whipped in my father’s direction and the smile remained because my first instinct was that he would be proud.It wiped straight off.Because he looked livid. Not disappointed. Not concerned. Livid. The kind o
~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
~Axel’s POV~“I do not care!” My growl exploded, rustling the leaves on the trees. “Find her or everyone will be wondering where you disappeared to.”The head of my security swallowed hard, taking a step backwards. The lividity was so blinding I couldn’t even recall his name.He bowed his head sli
~Amber’s POV~Men were irrevocably assholes.It was a fact that had been proven over and over again by what three years ago I would have tagged as sets of bitter females. But I knew better now.And it fed directly into the anger coursing through my veins as I turned away from that man, from his cr
~Amber’s POV~‘Mate.’Roxanne’s voice filled with that same purr slammed into me with such deafening impact that it completely overwhelmed the understanding of what was happening to me, the knowledge she’d just sent flooding into my head seconds ago.I blinked, trying to push myself up to see the p







