Ember's POV:Tilting his head backward, Darius pinched his eyes closed. When he opened them again, he seemed so tired and fatigued.With a deep sigh, he told me, "I think it'd be best if Nicholus himself tells you everything about your mother. I don't even know all the details."Disappointment washed over my face as I slowly shook my head in disbelief. Of course, all his loyalties lay with his Alpha.As I stepped away from him, Darius took an urgent step toward me, "You can have your doubts about everything but one thing that's certain is that he loves you, Ember, and you know that."Tears welled up in my eyes as I croaked, "And yet he always hurts me."I hated myself for being so vulnerable and childish but I had no idea how else to act in such a matter. Both of them outrightly refused to listen to me like I didn't even matter to them.Pressing his lips into a thin line, he said, "I understand what you are feeling right now. You are being overly emotional and sensitive and that's tot
Ember’s POV:After Luna left, I started pacing the room while waiting for Nicholus and Damon to arrive. Luna was right, I should keep my anger aside and only listen to my heart as it was the most important decision of my life. I should definitely fight for my happiness.With every passing minute, I was growing restless as more chaotic thoughts jumbled in my head. It was difficult to deal with two brothers at once but I had to do it.My footsteps halted as I heard a loud knock on the door right before it creaked open. I willed my erratically beating heart to calm down as the duo stepped into the doorway.Both of their gazes were zeroed in on me. But instead of going nervous, I lifted my chin and said firmly, “Come in.”They exchanged heated glares while flaring their nostrils before finally stepping inside. Damon slammed the door shut while Nicholus walked all the way to me.Dipping his head, he placed a kiss on my cheek. For the first time ever, it felt wrong because, by the way he lo
Ember's POV:After Nicholus left the room, I turned to face Damon who was also staring at the door with a slight frown.Headache was already kicking in and I hadn't even started yet. Rubbing my forehead, I said, "Can we go out on the balcony? I need some fresh air."Shifted his gaze at me, he muttered, "As you wish, princess," before making his way toward the balcony.I followed him out on the balcony and instantly inhaled deeply, rushing the fresh air into my lungs. I could feel it clearing my head.Settling on the chair, I waved at the one next to me, "Have a seat, please."Sitting down beside me, he jumped straight to the point, "Tell me what you wanted to talk about."I took a moment to think about where to start but was there any way to have this conversation without breaking his heart? I doubted so. I had no intentions of hurting him but there was no other way of doing thisTaking a deep breath, I opened my mouth and started speaking, "Damon, I know why you came here and I reall
Ember's POV:As Damon opened the door to leave, I saw Nicholus standing right in the doorway. Damon ignored Nicholus glaring at him in confusion and went away without a word.Stepping into the room, Nicholus closed the door behind him. At that moment, I felt like a therapist who was about to attend her second patient of the day.Walking deeper into the room, Nicholous pointed his thumb at the door, "Was he crying? His eyes were red."Jerking his neck, he muttered, "He'd always been a crybaby. I knew he'd be using his tears to gain your sympathies.""Nicholus, please, no need to exaggerate," I interrupted her.He rolled his eyes, "You don't know him.""Do you?" I snapped at him, "If you'd really known him then you wouldn't have let him go in the first place."His nostrils flared, "I couldn't really chain him up, could I? He left because of his ego.""And you let him go because of YOUR ego," I blurted out.Saying that, I turned around, and reminded myself to keep my calm. Nicholus was c
Ember's POV: After placing one final kiss on his lips, I slid off his lap and earned a disapproving grunt from him. But I stayed rooted to my spot and uttered, "I think we should talk about my mother now." At her mention, he straightened up and contorted his face in a serious expression. Lifting his face, he met my gaze, "I'm ready when you are." I nodded firmly, "Tell me everything about her. I wanna know all that you've been hiding from me." A slight frown appeared between his brows, "First, I wanna make sure that you know I didn't hide anything because of any ill intention. And that I wasn't intending to hide the truth forever. I was merely waiting for the right moment." I stared at him hard and long before relaying the truth, "I still think that you shouldn't have hidden such an important truth about my life. You are my mate, I don't deserve to be betrayed by you." Standing to his full height, he looked at me with worried eyes, "Hey, don't say that." Closing the distance b
Ember's POV: Resting my body against Nicholus, I sighed tiredly, "What a hectic day it had been." I couldn't see his face but still heard the mischievous smirk in his voice, "I'll make sure to end it with a nice and relaxing body massage." "And then...?" I trailed off flirtatiously. Planting his hands on my ass cheeks he pulled me forward until his hard dick was poking into my sensitive flesh, "And then I'd make you cum so many times that you'd lose the count of it." He let out an amusing chuckle, "You sleep best when your body is completely drained after a series of multiple orgasms." Shaking my head amusingly, I tilted my head backward and stared up at the night sky. "The moon is at its highest point," I uttered with temptation. Hooking his finger under my chin, Nicholus made me look into his eyes. His eyes searched mine for honesty as he asked me, "Do you still wanna do it after all that happened? Or do you want to take some more time to process everything?" I glanced at t
Ember's POV: Once we climbed down the ladder of ecstasy after cumming so hard, both of us stared at each other and burst out laughing like two maniacs. Rushing to the washroom, we did a quick job to clean ourselves and returned to the room. I giggled at the cute naked ass of Nicholus as he sprinted to the balcony to fetch our clothes. Our movements were quick as we slid into our wedding outfits. While zipping my back, Nicholus informed me, "We need to hurry. I'm continuously receiving mindlinks from Mom and Darius." Grabbing the skirt of my dress, I rushed toward the vanity and redo a bit of the makeup before brushing my hair straight. Nicholus was leaning against the doorframe, staring at me in amusement as I tied the straps of heels around my ankle. Raising my eyebrow, I inquired curiously, "Why are you smiling?" His smile only widened as he blurted out, "I think I'm feeling butterflies." A chuckle spewed out of me at his choice of words, "And why is that?" He took
Ember's POV: With wide smiles and twinkling eyes, everyone was staring at the door, waiting for the bride and groom to make their first appearance. But as soon as the doors opened, all the chitter chat turned into loud gasps followed by a pin drop silence. Tightening my fingers around Nicholus's arm, I stepped inside and noticed how every pair of eyes widened with shock as they spotted the Princess of the South beside the King of the North...a very unexpected match indeed. No one in their wildest dreams would have thought that they would ever witness such a day. A heavy lump formed in my throat as I scanned the crowd. So many faces were familiar. The people who had always known me as the daughter of Alexander Valdez and the future queen of the South were now witnessing me as the bride of Nicholus Dicaprio and the shock was clearly evident on their faces. But among the shocked faces, there were some red with anger and betrayal. Those were the unfamiliar ones. The daggers they were t
Ember's POV:After Nicholus left so abruptly, I didn't have any appetite left to indulge in breakfast so after only a few bites, I grabbed my cup of coffee, stood up, and excused myself."You didn't each much today," Luna noticed.I scrunched up my nose, "I feel full. But don't worry, I'll have a snack later," I added before she got worried.With my fingers around the cup handle, I strode out of the castle and made my way into the lush green lawn to soak up a bit of the sun.Tilting my head toward the sky, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I relished the feel of fresh air rushing into my lungs but it did nothing to ease up the restlessness that was zinging inside me.Ever since yesterday, I have been feeling so restless. There was one thing, one particular moment during the attack yesterday, that was still stuck in my mind. No matter how hard I tried to nudge it to the back it was still there, replaying again and again."You felt it too, right?" even Aria couldn't ignore it any
Ember's POV: When my mind processed everything and I came back to my senses, the first instinct was to comfort him but I resisted the urge to go after him. He was very angry and I didn't want to add fuel to his rage. Deciding to give him some time to cool off, I took off the bathrobe and changed into PJs. With slouched shoulders and a foul mood, I walked into the bedroom and flopped onto the bed. After such a hectic day, sleep kicked in the moment my body touched the mattress. The spot beside me was cold and empty. I missed his presence. I missed how he'd either spoon me or hug me. I missed sleeping to the sound of his heartbeat beside me. I forced my eyes open and decided to wait for him. I kept glancing at the clock. It struck 12, then 1, and then 2 before my already tired body couldn't take it anymore. With the thought of waking up in his arms, I finally drifted off to sleep. The next morning, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the window. As soon as my eyes open
Ember's POV: After showering, I tied the bathrobe around myself and tiptoed toward the closet room. I was going through my PJs when the hair on the back of my neck stood taller. That always happened when he was nearby. Would my body ever get used to his proximity? He was lingering at the doorway, waiting for me to acknowledge his presence and when I didn't, he let out a deep sigh, "For how long are you going to keep ignoring me?" Not making any attempt to answer him, I kept sifting through the clothes in the almirah, pretending to be busy deciding what to wear. All of a sudden, a chill ran down my spine as he came up beside me, too near that I could feel his hot breath on my cold skin as he said tightly, "I am talking to you, Ember." Yanking the random PJ set out, I snapped sharply, "And can't you see I'm not interested in talking to you?" Slamming the almirah door shut, I jerked around. Without bothering to cast him a glance, I just walked around him. But I had just taken a ste
Ember's POV: During the entire ride, I kept my face toward the window, staring at the night lights as the car sped on the road. I could feel his unwavering stare boring holes in my back but I did nothing to acknowledge his presence. Apparently, the silent treatment was just not sitting right with him because he finally ended up opening our mindlink, "Are you okay?" I kept my face fixated on the window, too angry to answer him. How dare he behave like that? Carrying me over his shoulder as if I was some stubborn kid? And that too in front of everyone? Ridiculous! He waited for a few minutes and when I still didn't answer, he tried again, this some more gently, "Will you let me see your wounds? I need to make sure they're healing properly. I don't want them to catch any infection." Again, he was met with only silence. Was he not going to talk about how inappropriately he behaved or how rudely he talked to me? Maybe I was exaggerating but considering I'd never imagined him talking t
Ember's POV: The world seemed to slow down around me but at the same time, everything felt to be happening in the fast motion, way too quick to process properly. In my peripheral vision, I saw a guard lunging forward but before he could even reach us, another rebel gripped him by the throat and yanked him away. I choked as the blood gushed out of my throat. With trembling hands, I managed to grip his wrist and tried to wriggle myself out of his death-like grip. But all my efforts were in vain. He was strong. Way too strong for me to take down. I tried to use my hypnotizing power on him but because of my weakening strength and loss of consciousness, I was unable to muster up the magic. Blood rushed to my ears and soon, all I could hear was a loud ringing and nothing else. Tears welled up in my eyes and my vision blurred. My eyes were fixated on the demonic, creepy smile stretched over his face as he relished in my misery. But the very next moment, I frowned slightly as I saw his
Ember's POV:My mind was too shocked to register the sudden turn of events. I and Darius jerked our heads toward each other at the same moment and the next thing I heard was his ear-piercing scream, "Protect the Queen!"All of a sudden, someone gripped my wrist in a death-like grip. My gaze shot down to see fingers clasping around my wrist. I was just about to lift my gaze when my head whirled toward the door as the loud banging erupted in the air before someone yelled from the other side, "Open the damn door, Samuel." Someone else screamed, "How dare you invite the daughter of the enemy into your pack house? Are you declaring a war against us?"Samuel turned to his wife. He was no longer looking like a sweet old man I had a great time chatting with earlier. Instead, he looked every bit of a deadly warrior as he commanded Luna, "Take Queen and the girls to the safety bunkers. You must protect her at every cost, Carolina."The hold around my wrist instantly tightened before suddenly ya
Ember's POV:Darius stayed by my side as we took a quick tour of the packhouse before settling in the living room. After a few minutes of talking about random things, a maid strolled inside with a rolling tray laden with a kettle, cups, and all sorts of desserts.“Aw, Carolina, you didn’t have to do so much. Only tea would have been enough,” I said with awe.She shook her head, “You requested us not to arrange for the lunch. Even though we wanted to but we decided to respect your request. So, please enjoy the tea.”Pouring the tea in the cup, the maid placed it on the table in front of me before picking a plate, “What desserts you want me to serve you, Your Highness?”Sliding forward, I grabbed the plate from her hand and smiled up at her, “It’s okay, dear. I’ll serve myself.”She went still for a moment before finally straightening up, “Sure, Your Highness.”My mouth watered as I greedily eyed all the pastries, donuts, custard pies, and fruit tarts. I was about to pick the chocolate
Ember’s POV:As soon as I stepped out of the castle, I came to a sudden halt while gasping aloud.With wide eyes and a shocking voice, I screeched, “What the hell is happening here?” while pointing at dozens of black SUVs parked outside with almost half of the North army standing guard beside them, ready to hop in at their Alpha’s command.Nicholus raised his eyebrow as if there was nothing ridiculous going on, “I only agreed to this plan of yours because you agreed to go with high security, remember?”I sucked in a sharp breath, “I definitely didn’t think you were talking about this ‘high security,’” I groaned while waving my hand toward the guards.Nicholus took a deep breath and twisted his neck, “You refused to take me along with you. If I’m not going, then they’d all go instead.”I rubbed the back of my neck, already tired of discussing the matter for infinite times, and gritted out through clenched teeth, “In case you forgot, let me remind you again of the purpose of my visit. I
Ember's POV: The next morning, I woke up with Nicholus's arm wrapped around me. As I tried to wriggle out of his hold, he squirmed in his sleep and tightened his hold, "Mmhmm, where are you going?" I glanced over my shoulder at his adorable, groggy eyes he was squinting at me with. "I have to go," I replied. He groaned, unhappy with the answer, "No, don't go anywhere. Just stay here and give me morning cuddles."At that, I burst out laughing loudly, "People would call me crazy if I'd ever tell them that the ruthless alpha of the North just said those cheesy words to me."Moving his hand to my bottom, he spanked my ass playfully, "You naughty, little princess, why would you tell anyone about what happens in our bedroom?"I giggled under my breath, "Good thing that the room is soundproof or otherwise I wouldn't need to 'tell' them about what exactly happens in our bedroom."Snuggling closer, he licked my earlobe and whispered roughly, "Yeah, because your loud screams and hot moans wou