-Corrine-It was Trevor.I was pretty sure Trevor recognized who Andrew was. Because of the way he was looking at Andrew right now, it was clear he wanted to kill him. The only thing holding Trevor back was the people around us.Trevor approached me in three long strides. Eva followed him, skimming the situation and realizing something was wrong, though she didn’t know what it was.Roughly, Trevor pulled me away from Andrew until our grip on hands broke.“What are you doing?!” He hissed and glared. I’ve never seen Trevor this angry at me.“I—“I didn’t have time to say anything when Trevor pointed his finger at Andrew. “You—“ As if pointing at him was not enough, he grabbed Andrew by the collar of his T-shirt and gave him a firm grip. “Stay away from my sister.”Everyone around us stopped to look at us. This was the second time I was a spectacle at Emily’s birthday party, and this time it wasn’t for the good. Some of them even openly brandished their cell phones to record this inciden
-Andrew-I shouldn’t have gotten carried away and marked Corrine just like that. I should have stuck to my original plan of staying away from her and keeping her safe in her own world. I should have—“Andrew? You okay?”My hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. My eyes darted to Eva. Her voice pulled me out of my raging thoughts. We were on our way to the dorm and I had been drowning in regret and worry for Corrine’s safety.Corrine’s pack hated me so much as I hated them that I was almost certain they would kill Corrine for betraying the pack. Yeah, that was very possible.But I knew it didn’t happen because I could sense Corrine’s presence, her existence, now that we were mates.She was still alive, but I didn’t know if she was okay.“I’m not,” I answered, honestly. There was no need to lie to Eva about how I felt right now.She sighed. “I don’t understand why Trevor got so upset when he saw you guys together. I think Corrine was just exaggerating when she said not to let you and
-Andrew-‘Corrine? Where are you? What happened to you?’Our bond as mates allowed us to communicate through the mind link at any distance. It was something I had only heard of once and had forgotten about because I thought I would never have a mate.Now I was grateful for this ability.‘My family locked me up.’I could almost hear the tears in her voice, and anger once again overcame me.What kind of family locked up their own daughter?‘Did they hurt you?’‘No, no. I’m fine.’‘I’ll come get you.’I heard the panic in her voice as she said, ‘Don’t! They’ll definitely kill you if you come here!’‘I’m not coming alone, Corrine. And they will never catch me.’There was no answer. ‘Corrine? Are you still there?’‘Please, don’t come, Andrew. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’m sure my family will release me soon and send me back to Golden Valley. They’re a good family. They’ve never hurt me.’I imagined her face when I heard her begging me like that. Oh, fuck, I missed her already
-Corrine-Before my mom could shift, I jumped in front of her and spread my arms. “Mom, please!” My tears welled up without me asking, and I knew my mom could never see me cry.Her anger died out and was replaced by compassion. “Oh, Corrine—“ She sobbed. “What kind of abyss have you fallen into?”“Mom, he’s my mate.” My hands fell to my sides and clenched into fists. I wanted to hug her, but I was afraid. Afraid that she would suddenly change her mind and pull me away, separating me once again from Andrew.This was a tough situation, and my heart was torn in two. For my mom and for Andrew.“Please, don’t hurt him.” I was very careful when I said that. My hand reached out, about to rub her arm, but stopped midway before I dropped it to my side again.This was the first time I hesitated to touch my own mother.“Are you sure he’s your mate?” My mom’s face was wet with tears, but she was no longer crying. Her hands wiped away the streams of water on her cheeks. There was no smile there, b
-Corrine-I screamed and jumped back, trying to avoid the sudden attack. But the woman’s movements were so fast. She clawed at my arm, tearing at my clothes and skin.Blood rushed onto the carpet, and I winced at the pain.“How dare a werewolf enter this house?!” the woman bellowed. Then she glared at the maid. “How could you let her in?!”The maid seemed to have expected this situation to happen. She looked surprised but kept her calm demeanor. “She’s Mr. Ashbridge’s guest.”The maid’s reply made the woman’s eyes grow wider. She jerked her gaze to me. “You?” The tone of her voice showed disgust that she made no effort to conceal. “What’s your relationship with Andrew?”“I—““She’s my mate.”All three of us were stunned to hear Andrew’s voice. My heart poured relief into my tense body when I saw him appear in the doorway. He looked at me, then his expression hardened at the blood on my arm.In two wide strides, he came over to me, pushed the woman and the maid out of his way, then tou
-Corrine-My stomach tightened at the challenge Leana threw at Andrew.“He has to fight with one of us! Isn’t that the rule for a lycan who wants to join our alliance?”“My niece’s right,” the man said. “She must fight and prove her worth. Whether she deserves to be in this alliance.”So the man was her uncle. No wonder they supported each other.A second that felt like an hour passed as I waited for Andrew’s answer.“Don’t you understand the meaning of the word ‘mate’?” Andrew growled. “She doesn’t have to prove anything because she’s my lover. It wasn’t her who wanted to join our alliance, but I brought her here.”“But—““Once again you make a fuss about this, I’ll kick you out of the alliance,” Andrew cut in firmly. “Isn’t that the rule? That as the leader, I have the right to do that?”“Ever since you replaced your father’s position, I’ve always supported you. But this is what you’re giving me in return?”I could feel the depth of Leana’s feelings for Andrew in the sentence she ha
-Corrine-“Give us a minute.”Andrew stepped back and pulled me with him, then he slammed the door right in Bent’s face. After that, he put his hands on his waist, sucked his lips, closed his eyes, looked away, and then took a deep breath.Without anyone needing to tell me, I knew he was upset. Very, very upset.“What—for fuck’s sake—are you thinking?” he asked in a trembling voice, with the emotions that must have been stirring in his heart. “Do you know who Leana is?”I knew he didn’t mean to look down on me or compare me to Leana to make me feel inferior. But hell, I didn’t like the way he asked me.I folded my arms across my chest. “Do you know who I am?”“Are you a warrior in your pack?” He puffed out his chest and leaned closer, challenging me with his gestures and piercing gaze. “Are you highly trained in combat? Do you, as a werewolf, fight often?”For a moment, I flinched. All the answers to Andrew’s questions were no, I wasn’t a warrior, and I didn’t fight often or highly tr
-Corrine-All eyes were on me as I entered the fighting arena with Andrew.The fighting arena was similar to the gym at my high school in Wesgrove, with a high, curved roof and a large room without partitions. Only here there were no stacks of mats and basketball hoops, but an arena bordered by ropes, similar to a boxing ring.In the center of the arena, I see Leana. She was stretching when I arrived and she stopped to look at me.The murmurs of the alliance members built up around me. Their gazes momentarily made my knees wobble and I could feel their aura as lycans, which I admit was stronger than the aura of the werewolves.My hands clenched and opened, a sign that I was feeling nervous. But I tried to push those feelings aside and instead recalled everything about Leana that Andrew had told me.Besides the fact that Leana was one of the alliance’s top fighters, there was a lot of other information I had received from Andrew. The most useful fact was that Leana was very weak in pro