KARLA'S POV I dropped the bombshell on him, and I could tell by the look on his face that this was the last thing he thought I would be mad about because he never thought I would find out. This was the type of thing he would have taken to his grave. "Ace, say something." I prodded, and he only opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. "Tell me it was all a lie, and I'll apologize. Tell me this was an attempt to come between us." He looked away. When he looked back at me, he had composed himself, meaning he had decided on the strategy he was going to use on me. "Karla, who told you?" He asked calmly, but that only served to fuel the anger inside of me. "Wrong answer, Ace." I spat. "Tell me who told you." I couldn't believe this was the approach he was taking. "And what? You're going to fire the person for telling me the truth? You think that's going to make me forgive you?" "Forgive me? Karla, this has nothing to do with you." "Yet, you thought it was okay to lie
ACE'S POV The more time I spent away from the pack house, the more guilt I felt. If I could delegate this work to anyone else, I would, but it was too important. I had been negotiating this deal for close to six months before Karla came along. It suddenly went through the minute she came along. In a way, she was my good luck charm. Except, it was making me spend a lot of time away. She has been here for a week now, and I don't know what her schedule is like. I would get home late at night when she was already sleeping, only getting less than five hours with her in my arms before I had to leave again in the morning. It was hell. Today, though, I was determined to hurry so I could see her awake. I watched my watch impatiently as I yelled at the men to move their asses. Most days, I considered giving the whole thing up, but I didn't need to be told that it was stupid to give up. I was doing this for me as much as I was doing it for the pack. I need to succeed, and one of the many w
KARLA'S POV I didn't know which one was more surprising to me. That she called me a bitch or that she just told me she was lovers with Ace. Was? Is? It was very possible that she was saying this as a way of getting back at me for humiliating her in the morning. I knew all of these tricks, so I decided that I was going to ignore her. She looked at me, ready to bounce off my reaction. I was better than that. I was above catfights with other girls. I looked her up and down before taking a step back. "You were lovers with Ace? And?" Surprise flitted across her face before she quickly blinked it away. "You're probably a virgin, aren't you?' "What's that to you?" It was my turn to be baffled, but I kept up the careless face. "Doesn't it do something to you that the great love of your life didn't deem you worthy enough to wait for?" Her mocking question was a blow to my chest because I, myself, had wondered the same thing. I had questioned my level of importance in Ace's life. "Tha
THIRD PERSON'S POV There were different reactions to Anita and the careless way she just spoke to Karla. Ace knew the reason she had said that, but that didn't stop him from being furious with her. How dare she speak to Karla, of all people, like that? He was going to have a word with her later. He wasn't joking earlier when he said anyone that didn't like her could fuck off back to whatever hole they crawled out from. Gerald, who was fond of Anita in a way a brother was proud of his sister, found it very difficult to reconcile the Anita he knew and this foul-mouthed one who was very determined to get on the Alpha's bad side. It didn't help that she was one of the best soldiers. If someone had reported this incident to him, he wouldn't have believed it. Seeing it with his own eyes was just too baffling. He had no other reaction than to drop his jaw. It was only Rayden who looked on with a faint smirk. He had never been a fan of Anita. He used to think he was the problem because ev
KARLA'S POV I woke up the next morning with nerves in my stomach. Today was the day I would be meeting his pack members. Well, I suppose I was now part of the pack, seeing as I was his mate and he was their alpha. I guess I didn't have to think about the logistics of it now. The most important thing right now was making a good impression on his pack members. These were the people I would likely be spending the rest of my life with. "There's no reason to be nervous." He murmured sleepily from beside me. "How do you know I'm nervous?" "I can practically see the gears turning in your head. Don't overthink it, baby. They're going to love you, and if they don't, they can fuck off to where they're coming from." I slapped his chest, and he laughed. "Ace, that's so mean." "I just don't think it's fair that you're not enjoying our first morning together." "Who told you I'm not enjoying it?" "You're laying in my arms thinking about other people. My wolf doesn't appreciate that at al
KAYLA'S POV I didn't know what I was expecting from my potential mate, but I thought staying untouched was the bare minimum. Even at the age when all the girls who were my peers started having their first kiss, it never moved me for two reasons. The first was that I was definitely convinced that my father would find out about it and kill me if he found out that I kissed a boy who was not my mate. The second reason was that my mother had told me that one would die from betraying a mate bond. Of course, she meant it as when one found their proper mate, not when I was that young. I held myself to that standard and believed everyone else should follow that rule. Now, I know it was naive of me to hold everyone else to the same standard as myself. It made no sense. It was for this reason that I felt like I had been betrayed. In my young mind, I even held Ace to an even more higher standard. He was my hero. So to find out now that he was not as perfect as I thought, it was disheartening