LOGINAUTHOR'S POV "What implant are you talking about, Jennie?" Vera moved closer to the woman. "He has an implant. I don't know what purpose it is for though." Jennie briefly glanced at Ezra's arm before looking at the machine. "It's nothing to worry about. It's just a tiny implant to prevent me from getting pregnant." Ezra said, appearing a bit nervous. Vera was stunned. "Prevent you from getting pregnant?" Vera repeated and changed positions slightly so she was now standing clearly in front of Ezra. The latter nodded. "Why would you get an implant for that? It's your nature to be pregnant and moreover, you don't have a mate yet, do you?" "He is bonded already. He has been claimed." Jennie interrupted, letting her eyes wander from Vera to Marco and back to Ezra. Vera's lips parted, unable to form any words quickly while Marco's countenance, on the other hand, fell. "Wasn't that obvious to you already? He smells different. Anyone could have sensed that alrea
EZRA'S POVThe next morning, I was already up at seven and had changed into my clothes of the day. I replied to a few messages from the quads who informed me they had caught the stalker and were waiting for him to wake up. I smiled when I saw that. I knew they could do it and to reward them, I took some pictures of myself in the bathroom and sent to them. My inbox had been ringing nonstop. I went down to join Marco and his aunt for breakfast. "How has your stay been here so far, Ezra? Do you like what you see?" Vera prompted me and I smiled, nodding my head like an obedient truth. Moreover, it was the truth. Valden was beautiful on its own. "Comparing that cold place..." she went ahead, referring to Caldenmoor, "...to this place of warmth, which is better?" Marco assisted with pouring juice into my cup. I pretended to rack my brain before I chuckled again. "I really can't say..." "Are you sure you 'can't' or you just 'won't?" "It's both. Caldenmoor and Valden are
AUTHOR'S POVEzra tried to sleep but just couldn't. He rolled on his bed, his emotions were all over the place. He exhaled heavily and drummed his fingers on the pillow while looking outside through the window. After a minute, he sat up and grabbed his phone. Not really knowing what to do with it, he put it down again and rubbed his face. There were so many theories with loose ends right now for him and to say he wasn't overwhelmed was nothing but a lie. As he sat there, his mind went through the questions that he had. Marco wouldn't be possibly lying to him, right? He knew he could easily ask around and get the answer to those questions about the war so he wouldn't dare to deceive him. But for Caelen? It's most definitely because he never asked so Ezra made a mental note to ask him these questions once he got back to Caldenmoor. He should tell him his side of the story. Finally, his mind calmed down just a little. He fell flat on his back and snuggled into his towel. The only th
AUTHOR'S POV "The people who came on behalf of Caldenmoor to negotiate were Caelen and Aldric. You might not know this but those two of them go way back and their bond is very strong. At some point, we'd actually thought they were dating or so the rumors were in centuries but turned out they weren't. They just connected and had a very strong bond that could not be severed easily. When we didn't agree to bow, that night, with the permission of Caelen, Valden was attacked by the vampires." Ezra held his breath, the shocking news holding him by the throat literally. He blinked and finally propped his chin without saying a word so as not to interrupt Marco. "He and other Vampire officials were in charge of Valden until about twenty years ago when they finally let us be without suffocating us." "When you said they were in charge, was it that they flooded Valden after the war? How were they in charge?" "No, they didn't move into Valden but we lived by their rules and they had
AUTHOR'S POV "How? What happened?" "We...and when I say 'we', I mean 'our ancestors', since we were never born or either too young to know when all of these happened."Ezra nodded. "Once upon a time, werewolves were growing in mass size. We were the largest habitat for other beings to come to. The only set of people who couldn't stay too long in Valden City were the vampires because they are cold blooded people. At first, we never stepped across their territory. We never overstepped our boundaries for whatever reason. I believe our goodness was what the moon goddess saw and used to bless us in population, wealth and other things."Marco walked towards a bench and patted on it, signaling to Ezra to come and sit beside him which he did before he could proceed with his story. "When we began to grow, we never thought we could be a threat to the Caldenmoor, home of the cold blooded demons."Ezra bit back his urge to disagree with Marco that they were not demons based on his
AUTHOR'S POVThe gallery was the opposite of the kind of space Matthew ran in Caldenmoor when Ezra first went there and it was probably because Vera's gallery was more of a private room located at the back of the house, past the main corridor and through a door that required a key she wore on a chain at her wrist. The room was very cool and it smelled of old paper and something preservative. The walls held portraits and drawings in frames of varying ages. They were pretty looking too. "Wait here." She said and entered the room. She instantly went to the far wall, to a cabinet built into it that Ezra hadn't noticed at all earlier and opened it. He stood near the door, waiting in high anticipation. His hands were still at his sides and his breathing? It was off and on. Even though he was supposed to feel warm, he was almost shivering from the coldness that had dawned on him without even knowing. Finally, Vera turned. In her hand was a frame that wasn't too large or small. It was
EZRA'S POVWe arrived earlier this time and it was Cole's idea that we come early. Luckily, my mates...feels a bit weird calling them that but Cole said I'd get used to them. Anyway, my mates and dearest father-in-law encountered some problems with the business and all five of them needed to be pre
EZRA'S POVThe bonding mark on the woman's neck was three lines. That was it. Three curved lines, fine as thread, sitting just below her ear in a pattern that looked almost like it could be a scar if you weren't looking for it. She tilted her head to give Cole a better angle and he leaned in with t
DORIAN'S POVThe city at night had a specific quality that I had stopped finding interesting approximately four hours ago. We had covered two locations since dinner. Both dead ends. It was starting to feel more like bad luck. I sat in the front seat and watched Voss City move past the windows and
EZRA'S POVCole knocked 3 times before I could just pretend I wasn't home at all. "I can hear you breathing just fine, Ezra. Get the fuck out and stop living that introvert life." He yelled so much that I feared he would draw a lot of attention to my abode. I stared at the ceiling. "That's







