โOh my God, Brian?โ My eyes widened. I had totally forgotten that the marking came with being able to mind-link your mate. โWhat kiss is she referring to? Did you just kiss someone else?โ He asked again.โNoโฆ I mean, yes, but it's not what you think. I promise.โHe walked up to stand beside me, gazing ahead. โLyric, you reek of the scent of another man; itโs all over you!โ The rage in his tone bled into my mind. However, his facial expression was as blank as ever. โI canโt believe this.โ He frowned and stormed off. โWait, Brian. Please, I can explain.โ I called his mind.โI donโt want an explanation.โ I felt something snap in my head and I could no longer reach him, indicating that he had ended the mind link. Rina nudged me. โWhat are you thinking of? You just zoned out.โ A smirk crawled on her lips. Were you thinking ofโโI glared at her. โThis is all your fault, Raina! I told you to be quiet, but you never listen. Why are you soโโ I groaned, watching her brows lift in horrorโWha
We finally pulled into Brian's pack. After he unlocked the secret passageway, he drove into the place. It was filled with rich, tall plants, the roads looked new and expensive, the buildings of the pack were straight out of the future (they looked too advanced for this decade).I wanted to compliment his pack, but since the start of the drive at Dentville, Brian hadn't said another word to me. He acted like I didn't exist at all.It was another thirty minutes of suffocating silence till he pulled over by a fenced building. As soon as we stepped out, multiple people joked their heads to greet him, then a few of them hurried to grab our bags and took them away. "Hey, hey, hey, baby bro." A feminine voice called and a familiar tall and slender woman walked up to us, her arms stretched. She huffed Brian tightly. He wiggled out of her grip, a slight frown on his face. "Get off me," he simply said. I remembered! She was his sister in the photo he had shown me. "Where's that punk of yo
I jumped to my feet, glancing at a space between two of the wolves and began to sprint towards it; the rogues, however, had formed a wall against me, so they closed the gap, growling. "Get away from me," I barked at them. "I guess she's new," one of them barked at me and they made noises that would be interpreted as laughter in human sense. One of them began to approach me and he sniffed me. "She smells sweet." He purred, his wolf eyes growing dark in lust. It made me have a gag reflex. I kicked him and wanted to run off when another one of the rogues easily flung me backwards, causing me to land hard against the floor. A whimper escaped my wolf mouth at the pain clouding me. "Grab her and let's go," one of them barked. One of the rogues approached me and dug his teeth into my back to drag me away. It wasn't a harsh bite; however, my body was hurting. It felt like my skin was swelling in all parts. As they pulled me away, a familiar loud ringing filled my ears. It became too
PAcing around the room, I thought hard, contemplating on whether or not I should go there. The thought of stepping out of this room alone was torture and I didnโt know if I was ready for that. Biting my lower lip, I paused, taking a deep breath.My vision aligned with the framed photo of Brian at the top of the bed and it stirred a sensational wave around me, my skin tingling for his hold. As much as I missed the physical touch, honestly, I missed talking to him. It had always been nice to have someone to share every useless detail of my life with, over text or in-person, but he wasnโt even responding to my texts anymore. This was clearly his bedroom, but he had never been here again. I stepped out of my bedroom, and once again, no one paid attention to my presence. It made me feel a strange unsettling feeling in my gut, but it erased and was replaced with something heavier by the time I arrived in front of Brianโs office. A huge, tall, black, wooden double door stood in front of m
Watching the clock tick from the umpteenth time was starting to become a hassle. I hugged my feet to my chest, my butt sinking deep into the softness of the bed. โHeโs not coming,โ Maya admitted. I sighed in defeat and laid on the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest. A few minutes passed when I heard the door click, then it was quietly pushed open. I heard silent footsteps, like tiptoes. My eyes closed as I listened to the sound of the steps approaching the bed, waiting till it got closer. The steps stopped beside the bed. My eyelids complied and stayed shut. A weight dropped to the bed beside me, something hovering over my face as a familiar sweet scent of bourbon vanilla, mixed with mint and oak filled my nostrils. I felt fingers brush my hair, and from the sparks that coated my skin, I immediately knew who it was. I turned and felt him jerk from the bed. When I opened my eyes, Brian was standing by the nightstand, pretending to be taking something out of it.I bit back a smile
A simple ball, I had read. It was just going to be a small parlor event, I had assumed. I didnโt need to dress too fancy, I had thought. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Tell me why we just arrived at a ginormous building, filled with couples in outfits that seemed right off the runway, people in makeup that could compete with plastic surgery. Yet, here I was, in the same outfit I had worn on my first date withBrian. It wasn't ugly, but maybe a little too underdressed for this. โAre you nervous, kitty?โ Brain asked, gently squeezing my hand. โUh?โI jerked my neck to him.โYour palm is sweaty,โ He pointed out.โOh, Iโm sorry.โ I quickly took my hand from his grip. โDonโt be ridiculous. I donโt care if theyโre sweaty.โ He grabbed my hand again, flashing a smile at me. I smiled back. โYouโre obsessed with me, even my nasty sweat is therapeutic for you.โ I joked to soothe my nerves down. โYouโre not wrong. I wouldnโt even mind if you rub them down my body, all the way to places unreachable to no
What?โI half chuckled, hoping they were lying.โYEs, so what the hell do you want?โ Emily snapped. โWe're trying to move on and start over in a new pack. Donโt try to ruin it again.โ No, no, no, no, no! This couldnโt be happening again.โNo, you canโt be the Alpha. It just canโt happen. Find a different pack or anything else, just not here.โ I shook my head. โWhy do you care? WHy are youโโ She gasped mid-sentence, quickly taking her phone out of her purse. โBaby,โ she pulled her phone to him. โIs he the one?โโYes,โ he said and she gasped again. โYouโre dating the Fisher family, so youโre here to take the Alpha position from us. No way!โโWhat?โ Roger frowned. โYouโve crossed the line now. Why? Did you know all along that he was a rival of my granduncle?โ โWhy would I bother to know? Iโm not in any way obsessed with your lives.โ I frowned, yet my heart was pounding harshly, my thoughts racing through how I was going to explain this to Brian. Emily scoffed. โYOu stupid pretender.
~ RAINA ~ Pacing around the bathroom of the bar, I stopped and concluded: Tone was hiding something from me, and I knew it. He was always running off in the middle of the night to do whatever heavens knew. He would leave at intervals to answer multiple phone calls, and he had some physical changes that weren't normal, like his eyes changing colors. It was too confusing. Plus, I didn't like it. Exiting the bathroom, I made my way to the counter to order a glass of margarita when my gaze trailed off to Blade. "Hey!" I waved frantically. "How are things going between you and Lyric?" He shrugged. "Bad. She's not talking to me anymore. I think she blocked me." What in the world? Why'd she do that? "Can you please talk to her for me?""I would, but she wouldn't listen to me either. She's not gonna answer my calls or texts if I call." I sighed, taking a sip of my drink. Lyric was such a hard puzzle to solve. My phone buzzed, and I lifted it, seeing a call from Tone. Answering it, I gri
It was the day I had been waiting for, the day I had worked so hard to reach. My graduation day. I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection as I adjusted my cap and gown. A sense of accomplishment washed over me, but it was mixed with bittersweetness. The road to this moment had been nothing like I imagined. The journey had been full of unexpected turnsโlove, loss, battles, and triumphs.In the early days after Brianโs coma, when I learned I was pregnant, I never thought Iโd make it to this moment, let alone have my son with me by my side. The idea of balancing motherhood with my education had seemed impossible. But here I was, with my son, my husband, and my packโready to take the next step in life, even though I knew it wouldnโt be easy.I smiled softly at my reflection, adjusting my gown one last time. My son, only two years old now, was already napping peacefully in his crib, a reminder of how much had changed in such a short time. Brian had been there for me every s
The first day back in classes felt so unreal. The energy of the students buzzed through the airโlaughter, conversations, the occasional groan about assignmentsโbut none of it truly reached me. Not with everything that had happened. Not with everything that still weighed on my mind.Brian walked beside me, his presence a steady force, but even he felt different. Stronger. More protective.As if he could sense what was coming.And he wasnโt wrong.'Goodbye, my love.' He said through mind link, causing my cheeks to flush red. 'Goodbye, my love.' I mind linked back and giggled loud, earning side eyes from two of the girls about to enter my classroom as well. The moment I stepped into my first lecture hall, Professor Jennaโs cold gaze landed on me.Jennaโฆ jeez. How could I forget this witch?A woman who shouldโve been nothing more than an ordinary professor, but she wasnโt. She had a fixation on Brian, one she had never hidden well. Before the war, before everything, I had ignored it. Br
~ LYRIC ~ The ray from the sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the pack house, casting golden light over the polished wood floors. I stretched my arms above my head, breathing in the sweet fresh morning air as I gazed out over the training grounds. Warriors were practicing, their movements sharp and precise, but today wasnโt about war or battles.Today was about something far more terrifying:School. Yup, you heard that right. I gotta go back to school. I had almost forgotten that the rest of the world hadnโt stopped when Brian was in a coma, when I was learning to rule, when I had been fighting to hold our pack together. But time had moved forward, and now it was time for me to return to the life I had before I became Luna.Not that I minded.I loved being Luna.I loved the power, the responsibility, the feeling of belonging to something greater than myself. The pack respected me. They trusted me. I had spent the past few weeks proving that I wasnโt just Brianโs wifeโ
~ LYRIC ~Two weeks had passed. It had been. Two whole weeks. Two gruesome weeks. Two weeks of Brian laying in the hospital with no medical diagnosis. No treatment possible because no identifiable problem. It had been Two weeks of ruling without him. Yes, on the bright side, the pack had completely defeated the enemy and wiped out all of them, thanks to my power (not to brag or anything), so I had been leading the pack as Luna completely, with help from Jordan. Poor Jordan was mourning the murder of his beloved. It broke my heart for him, but Anna got what she deserved. It had been two weeks of waking up alone, staring at the empty space beside me where Brian should have been.Two weeks of trying to be strong while my heart ached in ways I never thought possible.Brian was still in a coma. My mother, too.The healers said their conditions were stableโalive, breathingโbut that wasnโt enough. Not for me.Every day, I carried the weight of my pack on my shoulders. I made decisions, I
~ LYRIC ~I couldnโt speakโ speaking was too much. I couldn't breathe. Brianโs body lay limp in my arms, his warmth slipping away with every second that passed. My hands were soaked in his blood, trembling as I pressed them against the wound that should have never been there. This wasnโt how it was supposed to end. Not at all. What was all that stupid prophecy of saving him about? I had tried all I could, summoned all the power I could find, yet I couldn't heal him quickly. A violent storm of emotions built inside meโrage, grief, desperationโtwisting and churning until my body couldnโt contain it anymore. I wanted to explode. Watching the love of my life grow cold and pale in front of me was a sight that stabbed my soul. "I would not let this happen!" I growled and rose up, his pool of blood dripping from me. "No! I screamed."I would not let this happen. A throat wrecking scream tore from my throat, shaking the very ground beneath me. My power exploded outward in a bright
~ LYRIC ~I woke to the sound of gunfire.The sharp, jarring cracks destroyed the peaceful silence of the night, sending a jolt of terror through me. I sat up so fast that the blankets wrapped around my legs scratched my skin, my heart thundering in my chest.Beside me, Brian was already moving. Clearly, someone had experience in years of war and survival that had trained him well because he didnโt hesitate, he didnโt freeze, he didnโt seem fazed. He grabbed his armor and weapons from the bedside, his body tense with readiness.โWhatโs happening?โ I breathed, throwing off the cover and getting off the bed to match his speed. His eyes were already scanning the darkened room, his jaw clenched. โWeโre under attack.โAnother round of gunfire exploded outside, followed by the distant shouts of warriors and the sickening sounds of metal meeting flesh.My stomach twisted. I was growing tired of this whole war nonsense and just couldn't wait for it to end . We barely had time to pull on o
โThey are here!โ A guard announced.I didnโt have time to panic.My vision had given me an advantage, but that advantage would mean nothing if I didnโt act now. The enemy was coming, and they were coming fast.I stood straight ignoring the way my body still trembled from the strain of seeing through time. I forced my voice to be steady, authoritative. I was Luna. They needed to hear confidence, not fear.โJordan ,โ I said, my tone fierce. โGather everyone. Now.โHe hesitated for a while before nodding and rushing off to sound the alarm.Minutes later, the war room filled with warriors, guards, and pack leaders. Their eyes were wide, their bodies tense. They knew something was coming.I took my place at the center of the room, armed with full armor and a gun for myself. .โThe enemy is on their way,โ I announced. โTheyโve taken Alpha Brian as a distraction, hoping weโd be too broken to fight back. But we will fight back. And we will win.โA murmur ran through the crowd as they digested
~ RAINA ~I never should have agreed to this crap. Fake dating Blade was supposed to be easy. A simple arrangement. No emotions, no expectationsโjust a mutual agreement to keep up appearances. He needed to make Lyric jealous, and Iโฆ Well, I wasnโt sure what I was getting out of it anymore. It was initially for the sake of research, but I had barely done any research here. It was all just war, war, war. . At first, it was fun. Blade had a way of making things exciting, always pulling me into his world of effortless confidence and easy charm. I told myself it didnโt matter that he was still hopelessly in love with Lyric. That his eyes always followed her when she was in the room. That I was just a placeholder in whatever game he was playing. But then, somewhere along the way, I started wanting more. I realized it today when I saw the way he looked at her, even when she was barely holding herself together. We were at the training grounds when he spotted her. Lyric stood off to
~ LYRIC ~I stretched my legs across the couch, letting out a satisfied sigh as I sank deeper into the cushions. The warm scent of my motherโs cinnamon tea spread through the air, blending with the soft crackling of the fireplace. It was one of those rare, peaceful nightsโone where the world outside didnโt seem so chaotic, and all that mattered was the quiet comfort of home. Tone sat across from me, one arm draped over the back of the chair, his face relaxed for once. For some reason, tonight, he lookedโฆ happy. Maybe even at peace. Mom was laughing at something he said, her voice light and full of warmth. I didnโt even catch the joke, but I smiled anyway, just glad to be here with them. In the midst of the war, I could still sit and enjoy a nice family time. โThis tea is perfect,โ I said, wrapping my fingers around the warm mug. โMom, I swear, you should bottle this up and sell it. Youโd make a fortune.โ She chuckled, shaking her head. โItโs not that big of a deal. I just use a l