Masuk~Amber’s POV~“Tim please, once you get this call me back.”I left that at 7:15am. It was the first thing I did the moment I woke up, before anything else, before I even fully registered where I was or what day it was.After that I went to the underground area.My father was still asleep. Still in chains. And the sight of him like that, King Roland, a man who had never in his life looked anything other than powerful and present and entirely in command of every room he walked into, lying on the floor of the underground holding area with silver chains on his wrists — it sat in my chest in a way I did not have words for yet.I wanted my father back.Just not like this.Definitely not like this.I sat down on the floor just in front of where he was kept and I watched him breathe and I stayed there until 8:30am when I finally pulled myself up and left another voicemail.“I am really starting to get worried, Tim. Please call me back. Or if you are mad at me for something I did and cannot re
~Axel’s POV~“Tell me you are joking.”I already knew I was going to regret this. I had already regretted it the moment I got on the jet but I had left anyway and come here, to sit across from this idiot who was currently laughing in a way that had not shown any signs of stopping.“Are you done?”“Do I look done?” He laughed harder at that.“Zane.” I snapped. “Stop it. I am not in the mood.”“You are never in the mood, Axel.” He picked up a fry. “But fine. I will stop.”A waitress appeared at the table just then, her smile professionally warm and directed at approximately one person at this table and it was not Zane.“Can I get you gentlemen anything else?” Her eyes stayed on me a beat longer than the question required.“No.” I did not look up. “If I need anything I will send for someone.”“Hey now.” Zane pointed a fry at me as she walked away with considerably less enthusiasm than she had arrived with. “Don’t go transferring your anger onto the poor woman. And I would like to be welc
~Amber’s POV~“I know you asked me not to say anything.”His eyes narrowed at me. “Then why are you still speaking?”I couldn’t say I didn’t deserve the edge in his tone and I tried to push myself off the bed, to close the distance between us, to use the fact that I knew he liked having me near him to diffuse some of his anger. But not a single inch of my body cooperated. Every movement pulled at the wounds that were still knitting themselves back together and I flinched before I could stop it.I watched his eyes soften at that and then harden just as fast.“I asked you not to go in there. I told you I would be right back.” His voice was controlled but I knew whatever was brewing underneath was not. “If I had come even one second later—” He stopped. Shook his head. “You could have died. I could have lost you because you could not push past your stubbornness for five minutes.”“I—” I started and closed my mouth again because he was right.I could have died tonight.The memory surface
~Axel’s POV~If one more person stepped in here and asked me when Amber was coming, I swear I would commit murder.And the universe must really be testing me because the second that thought landed, the door to the grand hall opened and another Alpha stepped in.An irrelevant one at that, might I add because I had no idea what his name was and had no particular interest in learning it. Alpha Irrelevance took a sweep of the hall, his eyes landing on me for a second longer than necessary, unease moving through them, before he looked away and opened his mouth.“The Queen is not here yet? When will she—”“Unless you want to leave here without that tongue,” I cut in, speaking for the first time since I had taken my seat, “I suggest you do not finish that sentence.”Every eye in the hall cut to me.I kept mine on him and watched him swallow hard before quietly relocating himself to a seat well outside my line of sight.I let the moment stretch long enough to make its point before I continue
~Amber’s POV~All I knew was that I had to move and that was exactly what I was doing, but which specific person my brain was moving toward, it had not caught up to yet.My father, who by some miracle had woken up from his coma only to immediately shift and attack Axel.Or Axel, who had been attacked while holding our three week old son.Damn it.Why was I not with my child every second of the day? If I had been there, Axel would still have been attacked, but my heart would not be doing what it was doing right now because what had happened to Asher was not included in the information I had already started moving past before the healer could finish her sentence.And when had the Palace become this endless that I still had not—The rest of that thought cut off the moment I turned the corner and my eyes landed on them.Axel was on the other side of the hallway, Asher against his chest, his free hand braced against the wall. His skin was knitting itself back together, the wounds closing i
~Axel’s POV~I had no idea what I was doing here.Absolutely no idea. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave and so maybe it was better to just admit it to myself, as much as it wasn’t something I would have ever imagined doing, that I had come here to talk to someone who couldn’t hear a single word I was saying.That was what I had come to do.And since I was still here, I sucked in a breath and went ahead with it.“I don’t know if she has introduced you to him yet.” I turned Asher’s small sleeping body toward King Roland’s equally still one even though unconscious was the more accurate word, though sleeping was kinder. “But this is Asher.”I didn’t know what I was expecting. I felt slightly ridiculous, standing there in his room with my son against my chest talking to a man who couldn’t respond, but the feeling passed quickly because it turned out that once you started, it was not as difficult as it should have been.“I know you wouldn’t be happy with me for what I did. For walking a
~Amber’s POV~ My eyes narrowed, heat crawling up my neck. “Excuse me?”She didn’t even blink and went on as if she had not heard me. “And you were just about to storm out of here and prove my point. All I’m trying to do is get a better understanding so I can give you the best advice and get back t
~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
~Axel’s POV~ Clicking.“Axel, I don’t—”Harder clicking.“It all just happened. I don’t know what—”My fingers ran through the keys of the laptop with even harder intensity, trying to drown out the rest of his words like I had been doing for the past five minutes, but this time my hand went right
~Axel’s POV~ I knew she was going to throw it at me.And she was lucky that the cost of the bottle translated directly into the quality of the glass, which meant I knew it wouldn’t break. Otherwise I genuinely would have made her replace it, regardless of the sharp little gasp of shock that she h







