“Mmmgh.” Avery stirred in her sleep as Ian trailed gentle kisses down her neck, down to where her mark was, but no matter how much he nibbled on it, she wouldn’t wake up, showing how tired she was since the completed marking made her more sensitive in that particular spot.“Avy”, Ian whispered in her ear, groping her in her sleep, hoping she’d wake up, but Avery only let out a soft moan and continued sleeping.“Wow, today must have been so exhausting,” Ian thought as he gave up trying to wake her and snuggled closer instead.He suddenly understood why Avery didn’t reply to his text when he said he would visit. Ian, despite drowning in tonnes of assignments and tests at school, decided to visit Avery after hearing that her mother woke up at the hospital.It was also his attempts to avoid both his friends since things have been awkward between them lately, which he was safe from because they were just as occupied these days but since they’re both home, visiting Avy provided the opportu
“You won’t make it this time either, would you?” Avery asked Ian over the phone as he stood Avery up on their date for the third time.“Sorry, I had no idea how late it was while working on the group presentation. I’ve just got so many tests and assignments to make up. Right now I wish I’d taken the professor’s advice to take the semester off after everything that’s happened, but I didn’t wanna spend more time in school; I wanted to graduate.” Ian explained.It was similar to the excuse he gave the last time or the time before that.“I get it. We should meet up when you’re done with your ‘tests and assignments’” Avery ended the call after putting emphasis on the tests and assignments.Even though she wasn’t mad, the frustration that comes with not knowing exactly what to do next was slowly killing her.The purpose of the date was to personally let him know about the pregnancy since it wasn't something she wanted to discuss over the phone.With the conference getting nearer, her anxiet
Kaden, just like Ian, had so many things going on in his head with Eloise's death; Ian was thrown into a depth of guilt and despair.For someone who went his entire life pretending he didn’t give two fucks about his mother, it hit him harder than everyone thought it would.Kaden, however, quickly realised why.With Arden, Avery’s alleged biological father, being responsible for Eloise’s death, the situation just seems a whole lot messed up.And even with Arden being the Luna’s father, Ian’s rage felt destructive, not just to himself but to everyone else around him, since he often acts first and then thinks later when he’s mad.And then comes the news of Eloise being involved in Avery’s mother’s accident; if she were Arden’s mate, murdering her is definitely a reasonable punishment any alpha would have came up with. Kaden was damn sure Ian would have done exactly the same thing if it was his Luna in that state; analysing the situation was becoming even more useless now since his concl
Stabilising the company was a lot more difficult to achieve for Avery than she expected, especially when she was also dealing with a scandal, and the fact that the company refused to refute or denounce the rumours ended up fuelling it.Every single picture of Avery and Ian together ended up in a controversy. Eventually, Avery agreed to a press conference.The press conference was set to be held a week after Eloise’s burial. She was going to start working on it right after the burial, but she was too weak to do it since she barely had anything in her stomach when her morning sickness suddenly started out of nowhere.A whiff of sweet stuff like dessert, and she’s hurling her insides over the toilet seat. Her cravings for sour food intensified, and Avery knew…it was only a matter of time before people realised she was pregnant.Right after coming back from the burial, Avery decided to bath, but the sickeningly sweet scent of the pastries offered to the guests that stuck with her from t
Ian couldn’t place a finger on it, but he was sure something was going on with Avery; he could feel it in his bones that she was keeping something from him again, and he wished he could understand why.He thought something like that wouldn’t happen again after their last misunderstanding, but what could she possibly be worried about for her emotions to be all over the place? And now, she was avoiding him.Was it because of what he told her the last time? Ian wondered, recalling how he had briefed his encountered the relative of one of the scientists who helped Arden develop the same poison that killed Finn.Actually, he wasn’t even aware it was the same toxin that killed his paternal grandfather while he was investigating Arden. Stryker had told him an associate of his wanted to meet up, telling him he had something that could destroy Arden, but he had to protect him in return.Since he wasn’t looking to destroy Arden at the time; he just wanted to understand his relationship with Av
“Oh, by the way, I’ve been doing some digging, and I know about pulmonoxin, and don’t think it’s just me that knows about my abduction, or did you seriously think you could capture me if I didn’t let you? I only let you act however you want ‘cause I want her back.” Ian’s words rang in Arden’s mind as he stared emptily into space while in the interrogation room.While there has been no conclusive evidence that he was involved in his adoptive father’s death or Finn’s death, the police department is, however, pretty convinced that he was involved in Ian’s kidnapping and Eloise’s murder.It made Arden wonder how he got so sloppy.He was always so good at cleaning up after himself, not leaving his tail too long and making sure not to personally get his hands dirty except when it was absolutely necessary, so no matter what, they could never trace these things back to him.But after Ian’s words, he figured he was wrong. Somehow, he managed to find out about the pulmonary toxin he accidental