- VALEN'S POV “Harder! Yes!” A naked Cheryl knelt on our long brown leather couch with her palms on the armrest, doggy style with nude Devin ramming into her from behind. “I'm going to cum! Oh, Devin.” Slapping sounds of my best friend’s sexual exploits in our cabin at sunset weren't what I wanted to hear or see when I teleported from Dark Wolverson. Tits, hair, and ass cheeks bounced in a frenzy as moans and grunts filled the living room. Instead of going home to our pack, my Beta decided to stay in Wolkrane Fortress to spend time with Cheryl. I knew what it meant, but dammit, we had house rules. “Eh-hem.” I cleared my throat with my focus on my best friend. Cheryl's eyes widened when she whipped her sight at where I stood, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she tried to push Devin off her. “Damn it, Valen!” Beads of sweat rolled down his temples as Devin exclaimed his displeasure and paused with his cock deep in his fuck buddy's cunt. “We agreed that you'd use the door.”
-VALEN’S POV Neither my parents nor the Elder Council mentioned hosting a claiming ceremony. Mercedes was probably trying to swindle her way to get me to be mellow with her. “Don't beat yourself up because you didn't find Vaheed. He'll fight to stay alive until his big brother rescues him.” She soothed and crossed her legs. Then she took up the bottle of whiskey and poured more into my glass. “I'm sure he'll be back for our coronation.” Now that caused me to shoot her a ruthless gaze. Her face contorted into an ugly frown, and she kept the bottle in her hand. The very bottle that I really ought to slam down her throat. “After that tiresome mission, why don’t you let me help you relax those big, strong muscles tonight?” Dallying, she brought the bottle to her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and swirled it around the opening. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.” Right now, I was just as nauseated as my wolf who was still playing dead. Turning my head, I sought other options of liq
-RAINA’S POV- Five missed calls from Venus and two from Azara. It's not that I was treating my friends badly, I just didn't want to talk about Valen to them. The girl talk would magnify the drama that I was having a hard time dealing with. I guess I was hiding from all that stuff. Anyway, when Valen left, I dived into my schoolwork. The pile was already half completed since it took me hours. Thank goodness. After ignoring my phone all day, despite its buzzing and chiming, I finally packed up the books and laid on my bed, going through my messages. -SMS Venus: I know that you are going through a hard time, but how about pizza and a funny movie? Let us be there for you. I’m your best friend. I want to help. -SMS Azara: Those shitty people are so disgusting. Raina, do not pay them any mind. They don't know what they are talking about. All that trash, ugh! Keep your chin up, pretty girl. Call us ― please, please, please. SMS Peaches: Raina, how are you? How did you find the tea? And
- VALEN’S POV- “Did you delete the account from Gramlynz?” Raina blasted over the phone. Damn, she sounded extremely angry. “Yes.” I scratched my forehead and swallowed, staring down into my tumbler of bourbon. Devin leaned against the bar counter, slowly sipping his drink and waiting to see how our conversation would end. He, too, had been pissed over the last social media post of the kiss with Mercedes. However, my concern was mainly Raina. “Why?” She hissed. “So that you won’t be hurt by the media. I was trying to protect your feelings.” I nonchalantly explained that it was a damage control measure. “Jason will delete anything that harms your reputation.” “You and Mercedes.” Accusations overlaid her furious tone and I heard her sniff. “I saw that one. How could you lie to me?” A bit of my heart swelled in pain that she could have been crying. It saddened me. “Raina, those posts were altered to distort the truth.” I firmly insisted, frowning. “There is ‘nothing’ between me a
-RAINA’S POV- An individual is self-accountable and responsible for the quality of their life. I wanted control over mine. My life felt like someone else had the handles. It was exasperating to live like a chicken in a coop. I soaked in my tub for a while to clear my mind. Right now I would rather feel emptiness than the travailing emotions that were tumble-washing me. After that, I threw on drawstring checkered shorts, and a white blouse to match. Sliding my feet into my bedroom slippers, I yawned, squeezing my eyes shut with a fist at my mouth. The day’s events made me exhausted. Omega Meera brought me breakfast that I picked at. I missed lunch, and now it was past dinner time. Hera wanted to see Valen. She thought that we should talk face-to-face about the media instead of over the phone. She whimpered even more when I hung up the phone on him. For me, I think there's more to the situation with Mercedes than he was willing to admit. The kiss explained her infatuation. “He’s
- -RAINA’S POV- “Jakub, go home.” Dad grouped the documents together to put them into the beige file jacket. “I’ll deal with these in the morning.” The lanky warrior bowed and left us. I eyed him suspiciously. I attempted to keep my breathing regular to not alert the others of how flustered I was. “The girls keep bugging me to see you.” Mom put the doll on the empty chair at the table and cut into her chicken. My heedful sight refused to leave the doll. It sat there, adorable and innocent while my insides tied up, feeling like it was the notorious Chucky from that American horror flick. This message was not child's play. It was like a lurking monster lumbering out of the dark and brooding to bring to light what I wished to keep hidden. “Raina?” Mom rent me out of my reverie. I gulped down hard and muttered, “Not yet.” I kept putting off Venus and Azara. Sometimes it was better to go through shit without your girls constantly gnawing me with things about Valen. “The bonfire’s
-RAINA'S POV- “Jason, I want to know who the culprit is before you disclose it to anyone else.” I approached the witches’ off-white farmhouse-style cottage, ambling down the gravel walkway to the sprawling porch with the snow globe in my hand. The phone conversation was meant to be short since I was at my destination. After waking up with my panties soaked from orgasms in my sleep from the copious erotic dreams of Valen, I quickly had breakfast and rushed to see the tech team. I had faith in the pack’s head technology wizard, Jason, to track whoever was targeting me with the messages and social media bashings. “I will let you have that after dinner,” Jason promised. “Sounds good.” I hung up. Before I could ring the doorbell, the door swung open by a golden-brown-skinned, slim-thick pretty woman with lilac eyes. I did not know this girl. "Hello there, my gracious Luna." She chirped brightly, smiling. Turning sideways, she gestured with her hand inside the sitting room. "Welcome
-RAINA’S POV- The minute I entered the pack house, I received Jason’s call, “Did you find out who it is?” “Well, the device that the message was sent from belongs to Jiya Kaur.” The name shocked me. “She was a rogue we took in a few weeks ago.” The day I met her came to memory and my blood ran cold. She was the girl who came to my room and was rubbing in my face that Valen had kissed that other girl, Zurri. That nosy rosy skunk! She also had that obsession with my Dad. “She is living in the pack house. I’ll find her.” I told Jason and compressed my anger. “Raina, you need guards to face this girl.” Jason cautioned, in the event that she was a danger to me. “I’ll be reporting this to Alpha Valen, Gamma Blayne, and Delta Raj. I have a duty to do so.” “Yeah-yeah,” I replied dryly and disconnected the call. Wasting no time, I rushed to the lower floor with rage infused in my veins. I searched the entire square foot and did not find Jiya. Where could she be? I was getting more and mo
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