LOGINLina's POVThese past few weeks, I have suddenly found myself aimless. It is a strange, hollow feeling, like I am a ghost haunting my own life. I wake up in my old bed, in this quiet apartment, and for a split second, I expect to see the gold-leafed ceiling of Kade’s mansion. I expect to feel the heavy, oppressive, yet electric presence of the man who broke me and remade me in his own image. But there is only silence.I have tried calling my father dozens of times. Every single time, the mechanical voice tells me his number is not connecting at all. It’s like he vanished into thin air the moment I stepped back into this house. I had once visited that new home, the one at the address Ma'am Naya gave me. It was a beautiful, place with iron gates and a few security securing the house but they who looked more like soldiers. I wasn't led inside. They told me, with cold and blank faces, that my daddy was never around. They said I didn't have an appointment. Me. His daughter. When did dad, f
Two weeks later“You're welcome, Mr. Kade?” The nurse’s voice was small and trembling as she opened the heavy door of the private hospital suite. She didn't dare to look him in the eye. No one ever did when Alpha Kade was in one of his moods. The air in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees the moment he stepped off the elevator.Lyric had fallen sick, not a physical ailment that any human doctor could truly understand, but a sickness of the soul. She hadn't heard from Kade in over two weeks. For a woman who considered herself the future Luna of the pack, the silence was a death sentence to her. She didn't have the clearance to barge into the Blackthorne mansion anymore, not after the security had been tightened. But the moment Kade heard that Lyric had been admitted, he felt a flicker of obligation. He was reluctant at first, his mind still filled with the image of a girl standing on a park bench laughing at the sky. But after a few days, he decided to see her. He told himself it w
Lina's POV“Hey, Ma'am Naya,” I whispered, my voice coming out as a dry, ragged croak. I swallowed hard, feeling like I was trying to gulp down a mouthful of jagged glass. My throat was tight, and my heart was hammering a frantic, uneven beat against my ribs. This had to be a joke. A cruel, sick joke. Maybe I was still dreaming on that bench. Maybe the wind had finally driven me mad. I forced a weak, trembling smile onto my face, but it felt more like a grimace.“Ma'am... who said that? Who told you such a thing?” I asked, my eyes searching hers for any sign of the kindness she used to show me.Naya didn’t soften. If anything, her face grew harder, more disgusted. She looked at me as if I were something she had found stuck to the bottom of her shoe. “You're such a despicable daughter, Lina. You think we are all blind? You think the neighborhood didn't see you leave while your brother was gasping for his last breath? We saw you walk away from the mess.”I shook in fear. My hands were
“Kade...” I said, while murmuring his name like a prayer I didn't want answered. My heart was thumping so hard against my ribs that it felt like it was going to crack them open. I abruptly turned around, my feet moving before my brain could even process the plan. I dashed to the side of my bed, my fingers scrambling. I picked up my bank card and the crumpled sticky note from the ground, shoving them into the pocket of a coat I pulled from the closet. I frantically ruffled through the pile of items on my bed, my eyes blurred by tears, until I finally grasped a set of keys. I bolted out of the room, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps.With not even a chance to catch my breath, I dashed to the house front door. I tore it open, the morning air hitting my face like a cold slap. I ran down the porch steps, my eyes searching the spot where the black car had been. Arriving where Kade had stood just moments before, I found that both the said Kade and his car had disappeared! The street
There should be traces of them. At least, there should be clues on which hospital my brother was transferred to. I stood in the middle of the silent living room, my breath coming in short, panicked bursts. This house was bought by my mother years ago. I can remember that clearly because my father was never buoyant enough to get this type of house on his own. He was always struggling, always one step away from a total breakdown. This house is based here in Alabama, in a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone’s business. To get neighbors that can give me hints of where my family went shouldn't be too hard. People talk. They watch. They would have seen an ambulance or a moving truck.Even though my family is not around right now, I feel so much happiness returning back to my home. It is a strange, hollow kind of joy. I looked around the room, the dust motes dancing in the morning light, but I couldn't find Kade. I couldn't understand what had happened or how I had even gotten here
My head felt like it was spinning. It was that heavy, dizzy feeling you get when you’ve been under water for too long and suddenly break the surface. My head throbbed with a sharp, insistent pain, right behind my temples. It felt like a drum was beating inside my skull, matching the frantic rhythm of my heart. Maybe I slept too much. That had to be it. I had been so exhausted after... after everything with Kade. The passion, the heat, the way he held me like I was the only thing keeping him from falling apart for the first time. I probably just fell into such a deep sleep that I couldn't even tell which room in Kade’s massive, cold mansion I was in.I tried to blink away the fog. Suddenly, my eyes widened, and the sight before me caught me completely off guard. My breath hitched in my throat. I sat up so fast that the world tilted for a second.Where was this place? My imagination was never wrong.I looked around, my heart beginning to race. This didn't look like any of the rooms in
The words painted a horrifying picture in my mind, my body that has already been broken, being ripped apart, limb from limb, a slow, agonizing death, far worse than anything I could imagine. The thought of begging for mercy, for a quick end, for a swift release, was more terrifying than death itsel
“Sire, you’re subduing me into what I don’t like,” Lina said, her voice a thin, shaky whisper. She fumbled with the hem of her simple cleaning dress, her fingers twisting the cheap fabric, a sign of her unease. This girl, this insignificant human, had a mountain of nerve to make me repeat myself. I
Kade's POV What happened? Why didn't I just drink my fill of her blood when I had her in the hall? That question kept bugging me, scratching at my mind like a fly I couldn't swat. It just wasn't like me, this weird pause, this quick moment where I wasn't my usual, wonderfully mean self. This Lina
"Over to you boys," I said, laughing hard, the sound echoing in the grand hall. My orders hung heavy in the air, it was a command that Lucian and Jamil were eager to follow, even though they were surprised I could tell them to have a fill of my property.I watched them approach the table, their eye







