Liliana's POVThe warmth of the morning sun spills onto my face. It is dawn, but I do not want to open my eyes. I am immersed in a comfort and safety I have never experienced before. This is the mate bond, and I long to forever sleep in this embrace.My mate, my childhood sweetheart, my Aden. We have been betrothed to each other since birth and last night, we celebrated my 21st birthday and finally mated.I inhale deeply and the masculine scent of pine, cedar and leather fills my senses, intoxicating me. It calls me back to slumber and I smile, ready to snuggle and fall back asleep. Wait. Pine, cedar and leather? Aden smells nothing like this! My eyes fly wide open and I see a man, strong and muscular holding me in his sleep. And all at once, memories flood my mind. Memories of last night. Fire burned within me and an all-consuming flame would have swallowed me whole if not for the man. He held me close, and only by staying near him could my soul be shielded from the fire.I k
Bella’s speech receives a thunderous applause that fills the hall.“Aden…” I turn to face him, only to see his eyes on Bella. There is a dreamlike smile on his face as if he is transfixed by her. And all around, murmurs of praise begin to rise, with heads nodding at the speech that spills out of Bella’s red-painted lips. The guests gush, saying they never realized how talented she was before. They praise her speech, proclaming how great it is.But it is not her speech. It is mine!Bella stole my speech! The speech that I had written, crafted, and worked painstakingly on day and night! And Bella had stolen my speech, word for word!“Why is she doing this? How can you allow this?! You know how hard I worked for this!” I ask in disbelief.Dad comes up to us, his eyes also on Bella. “Liliana, I don’t see how you worked for this, you went missing the night before the ceremony only to pop up mere minutes before the ceremony started. Luckily, we had Bella to stand in for you. And look, she
All my life, I had loved Bella as if she were my own sister, never once believing that she would betray me like this. But she has. And it hurts like hell.“Aden is my mate,” Bella says. Her confession stuns everyone. “I found out the truth a few months ago but I felt unworthy of Aden. I’m not like you, Liliana. I’m an orphan, not the heiress of Azure.” Tears stream down her face and she gently dabs them away with a tissue. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially not you, Liliana. I….I was willing to bear the pain all alone, all by myself.”Heat swells behind my eyes and when I blink, a tear slips down. Why didn’t Bella tell me this before? She knows how much I love her; she knows I would give Aden up in a heartbeat for her. “You didn’t have to drug me, I would have stepped back and let you have Aden,” I say, my voice breaking, but no one listens to me. Everyone gathers around Bella, showering her with words of praise for her sacrifice.“Oh Bella, my poor child,” dad says, giving
I trip over a stretched-out leg and fall to my knees. Bundles of freshly folded clothes spill all over the floor in the hallway. “Oops,” Bella says with a fake smile. “I didn’t see you there.” Giggles come from behind me. I tilt my head slightly to see the pack members snicker at me before sauntering away. It has been this way ever since that day. I am now reduced to a mere slave of Azure. Day in and day out, I wake up at the crack of dawn to cook, clean and work until long after everyone has gone to bed. “Come one, Bella. Let’s get ready for our engagement ceremony,” Aden says, placing a hand on Bella’s butt and sliding a hand under her skirt. She giggles, he laughs and starts kissing her. “Get a room you two,” I mutter under my breath as I start retrieving the clothes. Someone kicks the clothes out of my hands and growls,” What did you say?” It is one of Bella’s newly appointed minions, a bleached blonde with a nose ring and pink leotards. “Nothing.” I grit my teeth. Fighting
KADEN FROST’s POV I feel her even before I see her. Mate. And the moment she steps into view, the world around me melts away. She is beautiful beyond comparison. She is five-six at most and wears a silken white dress that clings onto her curvaceous body like a second skin. Her auburn hair tumbled down past her shoulders and rests just slightly above her bosom and her rose-red lips part into a tiny ‘O’ when our eyes meet, hers of brilliant green hues and mine as dark as the abyss. For a moment, recognition skirts across her face before confusion takes over. “Liliana, bow down to Alpha King of the great Ancient Springs pack,” the ageing Alpha of Lock Wood pack commands from the side of the throne. My eyebrow arches high. Liliana Ross… Poor Landon is still searching everywhere for his beloved Rose. So this is the woman who abandoned my asshole half-brother in his sleep, and the infamous heiress of the Azure pack who fell from grace. What a deceptive woman. But as deceptive as sh
Liliana’s POVGrandpa clears his throat before he speaks, “Liliana, why don’t you talk to the Alpha King?”I swallow hard at grandpa’s suggestion. It is obvious what he is trying to do. He wants me to get into the Alpha King’s good books by striking up some meaningful conversations. But his efforts are futile, Alpha Kaden has been avoiding me all evening. Even the blind can see that.‘He hates me,’ I tell Cathy. It is true. He has been keeping his distance from me. For every step that I take forward, he moves five steps away.And all around us, whispers of contempt rise to a crescendo. The guests don’t even bother to hide their gossip about me anymore.“Look at the whore trying to seduce the Alpha King!” someone scoffs rather loudly.Another one responds, “Such embarrassment! Has she no shame?”Yet another chips in, “Goodness! Just get her out of here!”Their words break my heart and I wish to just disappear. Why did I even come? I bite my lips to hold back my tears and force my eyes
Liliana’s POV“Aden, is your mate, Bella even aware that you kissed Liliana today before your engagement ceremony?” the man asks, grinning like the young god he thinks he is. He is none other than Alpha Benedict of the Black Wind Pack, a long-time rival of our pack.Dad had invited him to the ceremony in an attempt to mend the strained relationship between our pack and his. But I never expected things to turn out like this. Murmurs start to rise once more, and confusion takes over the ceremonial hall.Alpha Benedict is enjoying every minute of putting the Azure pack to shame. He glances at Bella before nodding gravely in Aden’s direction, “Aden make a fool out of you, Bella, didn’t he?”Aden looks like a dear caught in the headlights. Clearly, my ex-fiancé was not prepared for this. Seconds tick by as everyone turns to face him, all waiting for an explanation. But he remains speechless. Sweat drips from his face like a broken faucet and his lower lip trembles.“Well? What do you have
Liliana’s POVThey say that when a person panics, they either go into fight, flight or freeze mode. And though Aden is frozen in shock by Alpha Kaden’s confession, Bella immediately switches into fight mode. She starts to speak defiantly, albeit stuttering in her delivery, “M-My Lord, there’s no way Liliana can be your mate! She slept with a rogue! The rogue even testified to it! She…she must have used the sorcery to bewitch you!”Aden breaks out of his shell of shock. “Yes! Yes! That must be it! Alpha Kaden, Liliana cheated on me with a rogue! That was the reason her father stripped her of the status of heiress to Azure! She is a master manipulator! That’s the real Liliana! A liar and a cheater!”They are trying to drag me down with them, they are trying to bring me to the pits of hell.But as I stand before Alpha Kaden, I realize I have lost the power and the will to fight. Shame engulfs me, I had betrayed him and there is nothing I can do to make up for all the pain that I caused