Ember’s POV:After breakfast, I sauntered out to the castle lawns to interact with nature. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining brightly. It was a pleasant day.My eyes swept around the greenery I was surrounded by and I inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. Slipping out of my shoes, I planted my bare feet on the soft grass and relished the feel of it.Fishing the phone out of my jeans pocket, I opened the chat with Sophie and sent her a quick text: “Hey, if you are free, then find me on the lawn.”She had been ignoring me since our little argument yesterday. She was upset with me and I didn’t like that at all.My eyes were on the screen as the little bubble appeared indicating that she was typing. A moment later, her reply came, “Can’t. I’m busy.”My fingers tapped on the screen, “Doing what?”This time, the typing bubble hovered on the screen for the whole minute which was enough to tell me that whatever she was typing would be long and not to my liking.Her message came and I i
Ember's POV:I flung around and hissed, “What did you just say?”Damon cocked his head to the side with amusement dancing in his eyes. He sure was enjoying it. Slowly nodding his head, he said, “Well, your reaction just confirmed my suspicion.”There was no use lying to him now because doing that would only make me seem more pathetic. He wouldn't even have said such a thing if he wasn't 100% sure of it. But how? How did he even get to know?I wanted to resist the urge to ask him but I just couldn't do that. So yeah, glaring at him, I inquired in a blank tone, “How did you know?”He thought about it momentarily before saying, “Yesterday, when I threatened Anna, I was sure as hell that it wouldn’t work on you. I only did that because I was actually expecting you to fight me. I was even looking forward to seeing your feral side. I kept waiting for your raging, alpha wolf to show up and challenge me,” his eyebrow piqued higher, “but when you just surrendered without any fight, I got suspi
Ember’s POV:“So, are you going to this…dinner?” Sophie asked me while flopping on the mattress.“Do you think I have a choice?” I shot her while munching on the cookie.Sophie turned to her side, “Well, after knowing what a crazy psycho bastard he is, I would suggest you not provoke him any further.”That's the plan. Brushing the crumbs from my mouth I groaned heavily, “Ugh, I hate how he is controlling me, Sophie.”She heaved up on her elbow, “I despise him for it too but still, I don’t want you to risk anything.” She looked at me with concern and enunciated her words, “No one can know about the weakening or disappearance of Aria when you are this close to finally becoming a Queen. People will only see it as a sign of weakness and will never accept you as their Queen and ruler.”Sadness filled me up and I stayed silent. Sophie’s voice turned softer as she tried to make me feel better, “People of the South love you, Ember. There is no doubt in that but when it comes to their safety an
Ember's POV:I stared out of the window at the night lights as the car dashed through the city.After about 20 minutes of driving, the car screeched to a halt in front of Fable & Fork, a renowned five-star restaurant located in the heart of the city. I've been here dozens of times to attend meetings and events.As the driver opened the car door, I grabbed my purse and stepped out of the car. As soon as I was out, a man clad in a black suit accompanied me. Bowing slightly, he introduced himself, "I am Brian Wade, the manager at Fabel & Fork. It's an absolute pleasure to serve you this evening, Your Highness."I pulled a small smile and acknowledged him with a nod. Waving his hand forward, he requested, "Please."Lifting my chin, I started walking toward the entrance. As I stepped inside, two other waiters bowed and accompanied us. As we reached the dining area, I looked around to find a familiar, brooding face of a psychotic bastard.Brian cleared his throat beside me, "Not here, Your
Ember’s POV:The food was brought and served by the Head Chef himself. Seeing the mouth-watering food made my stomach growl, which fetched a chuckle out of Damon.I squinted my eyes at him, “Let the girl devour the finger-licking food, you demonic soul.”A burst of laughter escaped him as he filled me a glass of wine.Rolling the pasta around my fork, I slid it into my mouth. Closing my eyes, I relished the feel of my taste buds exploding with a rich creamy taste.I opened my eyes to find Damon staring at me with a small smile and amusement in his eyes. I raised my eyebrow at him to which he slightly shook his head and grinned widely, “Who could have thought that the Princess of the South has a severe food fetish.”I winked at him playfully, "At least, better than a foot fetish." Taking another bite, I pointed at the untouched plate of food in front of him.Sliding the plate of sizzling hot steak closer to him, he picked up a fork and knife and took his time to slash the piece of meat
Nicholus’s POV: “So yeah, I have tightened the security around the borders and made all the arrangements in case we’re attacked again,” Ethan informed me of the military situation. I nodded my head curtly and said tightly, "Very well. I want us to be fully prepared for any future attack." Ethan assured me that he had taken matters into his own hands and I needed not to worry. Nodding at him, I reached over the piled-up files on my desk and plucked out the blue one. It was a full-fledged plan and proposal by Alpha Maddox, King of the East, about to convince me to hand over the rights to manufacture BloodMoon Merlot to them. As I read the contents of the file, Ethan leaned back in his chair and assessed me with careful eyes. I was fully aware of his stare at me and even knew what was going on in his head. I waited for a few more minutes before grunting, "Say it, Ethan." He straightened up, "Nothing to say, Alpha. I just have a question I'm really curious about." "Ask away," I mum
Ember's POV:I woke up to someone shaking my body vigorously. As soon as I peeked open an eye, a severe wave of headache split my skull into two.I winced in pain as I forced my eyes open and blinked several times to focus. Sophie was hovering over me with a deep frown on her face, "Oh, thank God you opened your damn eyes," her hand flew to her chest, "I thought that you went into a comma."I groaned while rubbing my forehead, "What happened?"She widened her eyes, "12 pm happened, Your Highness."All the grogginess vanished from my body as I abruptly sat up on the bed and screeched, "What? 12 pm? And I slept in?""Again," Sophie groaned.And then her eyes roamed all over my face and her frown deepened, "Are you okay, Ember?"She sat on the mattress beside me and said with worry, "You don't seem fine to me. You have gone so week in just a matter of few days. You sleep in every other day, don't have the energy to train, and I've noticed that you've even lost your appetite."I pinched m
Ember's POV:Sophie and I stayed on the lawn for the next few hours and gossiped about all random things until she received a text from her mom, who asked her to run some errands.Sophie wanted me to tag along but I was feeling too tired to do anything productive. So I stayed behind and sprawled on the grass for a little longer.An hour later, I finally forced my legs to stand up and return to the castle.Walking through the corridors, I was about to take a turn toward the stairs when my eyes caught Damon playing chess in the hall. Something about him made me stop in my tracks and I couldn't help staring at him.He was playing alone, all by himself. He seemed so lonely at that moment that I got flashbacks of my own childhood before Sophie came into the picture. I used to be alone just like him.I remember vividly how I used to play all by myself. Being a princess, I was never short of toys but what fun do toys bring when you don't even have a friend to play with? Yup, that's why Sophi
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
Ember's POV:Knowing that I had a long day ahead, I hit the bed earlier than usual. I just wanted to restore my energy to appear fresh and energetic while making my first public appearance.But despite everything from lighting the candles with soothing aromas to drinking the herbal tea, I was unable to find sleep. Hours passed and I still found myself tossing and turning on the bed as restlessness zinged inside me.There was a ball of nervousness inflating inside my belly as I thought about tomorrow. Even though after careful consideration, we've shortlisted the smallest and most welcoming pack for our first visit I just couldn't help thinking about the worst outcome.I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the door creaking open. I glanced over my shoulder to find Nicholus closing the door behind him.As he turned around, a slight frown appeared between his brows, "Why are you still up? Is everything okay?" I caught a hint of worry in his voice as his eyes roamed over all over