Athena "What is this place? Please, Aaron, let me go. I beg you."Instead of responding, he simply tied my hands behind my back. As I pleaded with him to release me, desperately trying to convince him not to hurt me or my baby, fear gripped me. This was the real Aaron I was facing now— The facade was no longer there.The surroundings around me were unfamiliar and I didn't even know my way back since he'd very cleverly covered my eyes right after a few minutes he had forcefully gotten me inside the car. All I knew is that I was locked in an old, dusty room. My eyes caught the peeling paint on the walls. It hung like tired skin, revealing the layers of time that had passed, as if the room had seen countless lives come and go. The air was heavy with the scent of decay, and I could almost taste the dust particles, and a cloud of musty air that assaulted my senses. Cobwebs stretched across every surface, connecting the remnants of a strange bygone era. Ancient furniture, draped with tatt
SebastianThere was no trace of her anywhere. Every search and every query yielded negative results.Fuck this!A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead. My heart's rhythm grew louder, each passing second eroding my grasp on composure—I can't forgive myself if anything happens to her or our child. Past mistakes already burdened me, and failing them now would be unbearable."Any leads?"."No, Alpha. No sign of her," came the reply."Then search around! Why the fuck are you calling me without anything to report? Damn it!”"Apologies, Alpha. We'll expand the search."I disconnected and flung the phone away. This situation was maddening. Worry consumed me, and Aaron's tactics, unexpected. I had misjudged his feelings for Athena, forgetting the twisted core that might lead him to harm her for his ego's sake.Damn it! I should've seen this coming. Accompanied her instead of letting her go with Cora.How could I act fucking careless?!I sped up the car, the dark night heightening my fears.
AthenaIn just a matter of minutes, perhaps five at most, another howl echoed from the same direction I had just fled. The urgency to rescue my child and escape intensified. The deeper I ventured, the jungle's darkness engulfed me, beyond the approaching dusk, as if the very terrain absorbed my every pawfall.Adjusting to my newfound lupine form proved challenging, despite the profound potential it held. Joy should have welled within me, had circumstances been different. Amid this life-and-death urgency for my child and me, my half-life of hell ended. The ash-hued fur now enveloping me marked my shift – bones realigning, former doubts erased. A single question remained, paramount: Can I save my baby?I did not know but I knew, I had to. No matter what, I had to.Irrespective, I surged forward with unrelenting speed, and the strength in my body grew. But the abdominal ache deepened, sapping my strides. My efforts persisted, each second ticking toward an impending reckoning. My deliver
Vincent"Where could it be?!" I scoured every corner of the room that my sister had once lived in. Each belonging I touched, felt like a piece of my soul leaving my body. She had degraded herself into being someone's... object, all to avenge a duty that was never meant to be hers in the first place.I had failed as a brother. First, I couldn't save my wife and child, and then my sister— I had failed as a brother, a husband, and a father. Perhaps, at some point, even as a son, the day I emptied all the bullets in my gun into my mother's body.What else could I have done? She wasn't the mother I once knew, or maybe she never was. She’d become just a wife, a woman consumed by revenge for her husband's death, stooping to any level she could."Fuck, I need to find it!""Do you really think she wrote about it in her diary?" Cora's voice was laced with frustration, mirroring my own. Despite her wound, she'd insisted on coming with me. Seeing her struggle and fight through the pain just to be
Athena"What kind of sick joke is this?" Sebastian growled. "She can't even breathe, and you're asking her to push? Is this another one of your schemes to put her through even more suffering? Listen, Tristan, why don't you just leave? You've already succeeded, then just go.""Look, I'm not lying. I know I should be the last person you'd trust, but if you want to save her, this is the only way. It had always been this way.""Do you expect me to believe that? You're the one who brought my mate and child to this condition. And now, you suddenly change your mind and say you're willing to show a sick way to save her?""I don't know why I'm doing this, okay?" Tristan shouted. "I still don't know if I'm supposed to save your mate and child and give you a happily ever after when you've ruined hundreds of lives, including the one I loved. I'm not even sure if I won't regret my decision if I save her... but," his voice dropped low, "I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself if she dies bec
TristanI had made a mistake. A great one. One that I couldn’t undo no matter how much I wished.Cora handed me the diary as we all stood outside the hospital. The morning winds were bitterly cold or maybe, it was just the cold within me."This is Celine's diary," she said, her demeanour different today, unlike the times when she used to follow me around in an attempt to make me acknowledge the mate bond I had been denying until now. Of course, I knew the reason—she had seen the kind of person I had become.And who would ever want to be with a man like me? Worthless.I hadn't done this right. I made Athena pay a price she wasn't supposed to pay—all that pain and suffering just to see her child's face once. She had endured too much for my revenge, a revenge I shouldn't have sought in the first place. But what else could I do? I wanted to hurt Sebastian, and she was the only one who truly mattered to him in this entire world.Celine died to save Athena. Had I made her sacrifice go in va
AthenaEverything around me felt too light, and my body felt burdened by an inexplicable weight. I was acutely aware of my own breath, the gentle touch of someone's fingers caressing my cheeks, and the faint, delicate movements of a small figure nestled in my arms.Do the departed continue to breathe? Perhaps in their consciousness, or maybe in a manner imperceptible to the living. Do the dead really breathe?Am I among the dead now? If I am, then why do I still sense that touch, one that seemed to coax my soul to the surface with every stroke? Why do I feel the presence of someone incredibly dear to me, as though a part of my essence had drawn near?Thoughts raced through my mind, clamouring for attention, until one realisation surfaced — my baby.My eyes slowly fluttered open, adjusting to the soft, ambient light. The surroundings were unmistakably familiar — our very own home, and our shared place—Our room.So....we made it?"Love," Sebastian's voice whispered beside me, and I turn
AthenaFour Months Later"Sebastian, Vincent, I need to feed Asher. You two need to give him to me, right now!" I yelled for the second time, standing at the doorway with my arms crossed over my chest."Do you want to go to Mama?" Sebastian asked, planting soft kisses on Asher's cheeks, eliciting a chorus of giggles, "We don't think so. He's happier with Daddy and Uncle Vince.""Yeah, our little fighter is happier with us than with you, Athena. You seem to bore him all the time," Vincent chuckled, gently taking Asher in his arms and playfully nibbling on his ear, "What a big boy you are, huh?!" He planted a loving kiss atop Asher's head."Yeah, Mama's boring," Sebastian joked, pretending to lie down across Asher's lap. Asher, ever the daddy's boy, leaned in and gave Sebastian a kiss of his own, complete with a cute but slobbery open-mouthed smooch. That was his way of kissing."See, even Asher agrees with us," Vincent said with a proud grin.Goodness! When I had Asher, who could have