-DEVIN’S POV- “Well, before I give you my report.” I crossed my arms. “There are some things you ought to know.” Peeved, Valen cocked his eyebrows at me. He leaned with his bare back to the wall while he remained standing on the stairs. He had one foot on a higher step than the other. “First of all, you disappeared without telling me how to use this damn ring.” I pointed to the white gold teleportation ring on my right middle finger. “I have been morphing all over the world with every wrong blink I make like fucking Jeanie the Genie. Do you know where I’m coming from?” He tilted his head to cement his eyes on me, bouncing them from my head to my toes and then back to my face. “A good place.” “Egypt, Valen!” I barked with pinched fingers in the air. Then I counted on my hand. “I’ve been to Taiwan, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Russia, Denmark, Japan, and Nunavut.” I rambled further because he had to understand the stress that I went through when he disappeared. “And the dragons in Iceland ar
-DEVIN’S POV- Quizzically, Raina straightened herself and wiped her wet face with the back of her hands. Her expression was broken and angry when she turned to me. When she spoke, her voice croaked, “With what?” The fact that she was still crying meant that it was that bad. I brushed aside my own matters and asked, worriedly, “Hey, what’s going on?” Gently, I outstretched my hands to hold her upper arms, massaging them. Seeming like she was about to burst into another set of tears, she pursed her lips together, blinking several times to suppress them, and bowed her head. “Um, it’s a lot.” She wiped under the swelling of her left eye with the heel of her palm, unable to look at me. “I’ve got a few minutes.” I offered a listening ear and my shoulder to lean on. Although I got the impression that she preferred not to talk about it. Raina shook her head, sniffling. Her moist, red eyes met mine. “Not right now, Dev.” “Are you sure you’ll be alright?” I assessed her with a deep under
-RAINA'S POV- Devin and I arrived in one of the restrooms at Wolkrane Fortress. I darted a hard, chastising look at him. He was such a pervert for landing us in the ladies' room. Reading my expression, he muttered with some frustration. “I can't control this damn ring.” Shaking my head in derision, I rolled my eyes and sighed. He turned to leave, walking towards the closed entry door. A noise in one of the slate-gray cubicles stalled my footsteps. It sounded like someone was retching. Then the toilet flushed and there was sniffling. A part of me wondered if the person was okay. Maybe I should check on her. I walked up to the cubicle with the intention of knocking on the door. “Raina, let's go.” Devin's hand was on the lever handle, pulling the door open to a crack. My eyes lingered on the cubicle. “Um, sure,” I replied and swiveled my body to leave the restroom. The door unlatched. The person stepped out and mildly solicited. “Devin?” “Cher?” Devin's brows furrowed. He release
-RAINA’S POV- “Raina!” Mercedes heralded from the doorway like we were long-time best friends, putting on a big fake smile that displayed both lower and upper teeth. “Not now.” I stopped her with my hand. A slight headache pricked my forehead. Devin growled at her in annoyance for blocking our exit from the restroom and scolded, “It’s Luna to you.” Mercedes shrugged, trying to look past his broad shoulders into the restroom, and asked in a soft, caring voice, “What's happening here? Why is my friend crying?” Her eyes crinkled, showing concern as she glanced at a weeping Cheryl at the counter with hands covering her face. At the corners of Mercedes’ lips, you could see the smile she was trying hard to keep undercover. “None of your business.” Devin snarled, walking up to her. “Go use another restroom. This one's full.” Cheryl ran into the cubicle, bursting the door open to throw up again. I was surprised that Devin paid her no mind. Perhaps he genuinely wasn’t aware that she carr
-RAINA'S POV- Flabbergasted and open-mouthed, I stared at Mercedes. My legs felt so numb that I stumbled two steps backwards. Both the sandwich and coke fell from my hands to the floor. The nasty smug on her face riled Hera as she seethed within me. She was Snow? My brain was on pause. Her statement echoed in the deafening silence of my world. No one but mine and Valen’s family knew about Snow. Then how did Mercedes come to know that ghastly name? Neither of us relinquished the eye-lock. She was enjoying my state of shock. Empathically, she gave me time to digest the implication that the troublesome woman I nicknamed Snow, was actually her. A gloating smile took over her lips. “I was waiting until the Howl De Lune Festival to tell you, but I guess there's no time like the present.” Still thunderstruck, she placed her fingers under my chin, lifting so that my mouth closed. “Be mindful of flies.” She jibed and clucked her tongue. I slapped her hand away. She was the only bug h
-RAINA’S POV- Warning growls flurried from my chest as I ground my teeth. Hostile tension fell in the cafeteria amidst a clash of icy browns against fiery acid blues like gunfighters in High Noon. Even so, I thought, she’s got to be kidding! “On the night of the Howl De Lune, give Valen a libidolyphenol, and I’ll go to him. One night,” Mercedes held up a finger, showing exactly the amount of thought she put into her inane scheme. “One night with him will make him come around and accept me as his.” Bowled over by her impertinence, my eyebrows raised, hooked with outrage. Oh goddess, she was actually serious! One strong word was ejected from my lips. “No.” I would not drug my mate and let him sleep with her. Surprised at my refusal, she glared at me. “Should I ask Snow to do it for me?” She stared at me some more with a mean scowl. “She’s marked by Valen’s doppelganger so our Valen won’t be able to resist her.” She paused, giving me time to change my mind. My eyes narrowed challen
-THIRD PERSON’S POV- Dymian removed Farrah’s slender hands from his neck and held both of them in one of his. Then he placed her hands at the center of his exposed chest through the white button-front shirt. He looked down at her flustered expression with the slightest smile. Earlier, he had tossed away her black and white headpiece, burst the white waist tie, and ripped the black nun outfit to shreds. Now she sat completely naked with her back slanted backwards on the paper-strewn desk, and her legs wrapped around his waist in the study of the Renaissance chapel on the second floor. His solid cock was buried deep inside of her after he discarded his black priest robe, white collar, and white stole. His black pants bundled and cuffed around his ankles as he hurriedly took her in raw need. Heightened in the adrenaline rush, all the bloodlust coursing through his veins from the havoc they had recently caused to the Alpha King when they massacred thousands of lives had rocketed his ar
-THIRD PERSON’S POV- Rovell stopped in front of the antique walnut desk and sailed something towards his leader. It slid across the smooth surface of the desk, spilling white documents to the terrazzo floor, only to be halted by Dymian’s hand. "What's this?" Dymian cast his aggrieved hooded garnet-red eyes down on the vintage hardback, three-ring, trombone, leather binder that was tossed rudely to him. “The chapel’s financial report.” Rovell kept a scowl on his square face. “This place is broker than the Ten Commandments. I went digging for dineros in the safe and it was completely empty. Even the bank account is ploughing for pennies. It’s in overdraft.” He shook his head, wearing his bone-white long straight hair in a ponytail. “These people aren’t very blessed.” Dymian sat in his chair and opened the binder. He turned the pages and stalled, taking out the bank reconciliation document from the plastic sleeve. He held it up in the glare of the sun that came through the glass of th
VALEN’S POV“She attacked me and knocked me out. She has me strapped to a post like some damn hostage. I don’t even know where I am.” Venus’ hysterical voice became shaky with fear. “What the hell, Valen? Is this a drill? What’s going on?”My face twisted in confusion and utter disbelief. “Put-put Raina on. I want to talk to her.”“He wants to talk to you,” I heard Venus telling her, breath stuttering.There was a soft rustling, and Raina’s angry voice came on the line. “Now you listen real, real good. You will do as I say, or your sister gets it. No more fucking around. What’s it going to be?”A pang of longing hits me, missing her sorely.“No. You’re not going to hurt her. Vee’s your best friend.” I called her bluff. Hopefully, she didn’t mean it. “If you want me, I’ll come to you. This is between you and me.”“Get your head out of your ass. You think this is a joke?” Raina snapped, which ruffled Zeus. “Who do you think you’re dealing with?”She went silent, which pained me.Then th
VALEN’S POVGustav snickered. His tone was clipped and choppy when he said, “It’s not about a timeline. It’s about survival, and maybe once you’re gone, the bond will shift to me. I’ll become her new mate and treat her bet—.”A broiling anger surged within me, demanding release. My movement was quick, as I clawed the Worgen across the face, tearing off a chunk of his jaw. The force of it snapped his face to the right. He muffled a long howl.“Come on, tough guy. What? You aren’t gutsy anymore?” Devin steadied the guy’s face in my direction.Gustav released a mocking laugh as blood ran down his neck, trickling past his chest. “I was going to say—” He wrung his neck, wrestling his head sideways to spit curdling blood to the floor. “—pwah.” And then he gazed up at me. “We slept together, you know.”The pain and shock of his words slammed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet, but then, in a split second, Zeus surged to the surface. Fury charged through me like lightning, pushing me for
VALEN’S POV“No one has ever lasted this long,” Devin said, after we teleported inside the Worgen's holding prison under my guardian lion’s supervision.In the Spessiale Dungeon, various clear tubes strung from the ceiling were plugged into Gustav's back to drain his blood to keep him weak.This was very effective since he looked sickly pale. Silver and vampire toxins were easily absorbed by his system, making the usual torture measures useless.Underestimation was deadly, so I had to find other options.Stripped completely naked, he sat on the blue calcite floor with his knees bent and feet tucked towards his crotch, ankles in cuffs.His hands were behind his lower back in black and neon blue handcuffs that could only be unlocked by Nyx’s magical command. Sweat had drenched his hair and body. His putrid smell lingered in the air.Devin stood with his feet apart and his hands in his jeans pockets.Heat radiated off me, and my abhorrence for this crab-louse made my blood boil. A murder
VALEN’S POVA jolt of frustration ran through me. The ongoing search for Raina was long, complicated, and so painfully intricate that it hurt my brain.“This is insane,” I seethed, looking at the images on the large monitors before the Theta. “Patrol would have been able to stop Raina, but they never saw her. The magical barrier is intact. She has to be here, and I want her location now.”With one hand gripping the backrest of Jason's lofty chair and the other flattened on his office desk, I bent beside him as he nervously checked all the other video feeds from the drones. The computer trilled and beeped as his fingers worked deftly.Devin paced back and forth anxiously with his hands in his jeans pockets. “None of this makes sense. Raina is not invisible. We should have found her already. Huh? Venus is not here, and Azara hasn’t reported seeing her. Where could she have gone on foot?”“That slippery little Luna,” Theo grumbled, taking the tablet from his brother, and he slumped in hi
VALEN’S POV“Slap me.”Thwack!“Again,” Theo ordered his twin, turning his other pink cheek.Thwack! Thaines smacked him, but Theo’s disbelief refused to be whacked out of him.Repetitive growls sputtered from my chest as I paced the full length of Jason’s office, raking my hands through my hair.The impish Gamma spun around to address me, “Let me get this straight.” Perplexed, he scratched his elevated brow, probing, “Your Luna beat the crap out of you? Not only did she stab you, but she also whipped your ass and ghosted you.”Not answering, I shoulder-checked him with a deadly glare of utter annoyance. The Gammas, in their sweat-soaked gym shorts, gawked at me with wide cognac brown eyes, their jaws hanging open.A bloodthirst burned in my veins, and the air conditioning at the IT Hub did nothing to cool me down. Yet, Theo dared to peeve me with his buffoonery.With slow, menacing steps, Devin walked around the hi-tech rectangular table and hit Theo upside the back of his head, fed-
RAINA’S POVStiff as a petrified log, I couldn't scream as my world exploded in a kaleidoscope of stars. My heart thrashed a million miles a minute.The agony caught into a knot in my throat. My body tried to curl in on itself – to replicate a spider's dead dusk, but he kept my flailing limbs pinned. My body heaved.Then, Valen pulled his fangs out, licking the punctured flesh and clearing the blood. Sparks erupted. Fucking sparks shot all the way to my toes.Each lick of his tongue was like morphine. Like a kick. I basked in it. I loved it. The bond was like being controlled by an entity. It was making me want him. Dammit.My body tightened, lungs squeezed and butterflies raged uncontrollably inside of me as he flicked his sinful tongue and dragged it wetly across my sensitive flesh.Focus, Raina! Don't let him swoop you in again. This can’t go on. I must bust out of here.“I want to fuck you, overstimulate you, edge you on until you're in tears, chanting your safe word,” he crooned.
RAINA’S POVYanking my injured right hand, Valen twirled me around so that my back slammed against his hard chest. His large hand came straight for my face to rip the goggles off.The room, like my fate, suddenly got darker.“You’re not so bad without your sword now, right?” Valen said mockingly. “But you certainly aren't vanilla and innocent either.”Once he crushed the goggles, he flung it into the wall. His robust right arm circled my waist while his left hand settled above my breast, slowly traveling up to my throat. Electric sparks exploded everywhere our skin touched.“Let me tell you something, Bluebella. You've unlocked a dangerous side of Zeus that even I feared,” he whispered huskily into my ear, gripping my neck. “But since you want to keep this bratty behavior up all night, challenging me, that part of him is going to burst out of his cage.”All the while, his emeralds were fixated on mine. He dipped his head over my shoulders. My flitting eyes watched him as my heart drum
RAINA’S POVSlinking inside the Alpha suite with night vision goggles, I crept up to the king-size bed to see Valen tossing and turning in his sleep.Why wasn’t he dead yet?Moving surreptitiously to the side of the bed, I was thankful that my black leather catsuit blended well with the darkness. As quiet as ever, I held my sword tighter, angling it in a left-plow position with the long edge up.Committed to the assassination task, my blow had to be quick and precise, piercing the heart. I cannot miss this golden opportunity.Standing exactly beside the nightstand, I glanced down at the ripped muscles of his heaving chest. Grunting, his sweaty head shifted from side to side. His face twitched, and his closed eyelids flexed as he breathed jaggedly in his sleep.Cardamom and amber surrounded me, the potent scent wafted straight from the source into my nostrils. A mouthwatering scent, so maddening. Perilously beguiling. The bond beat against my chest like a bone-crushing drum. The physica
VALEN’S POV“Raina is hurting.” Penn interjected, finishing up and discarding the cotton in a bin.“I saw the pain in her eyes when she saw Snow with your baby.” She gazed sadly at Devin and added under her breath. “I can imagine what that feels like.”My Beta averted his eyes to the side of the room, avoiding hers, suddenly unsettled as he scratched behind his ear.I blew out a hard breath. I did not care about what was up with these two. Raina was priority. The mate bond wrenched at me in a silent cry from her that only I could hear. Missing the softness of holding her hands and basking in her endearing presence, hugging, touching, gazing—I just can't go on without it.“I'm pissed too because the future hasn't changed and at some point, you'll give the dick away.” Devin aired bluntly. “How could you? After all those times you swore to me…”“I'll never cheat on Raina.” I cut in sharply, darting daggers at him.Unconvinced, he huffed. Then he spoke again, his voice quieter. "She loves