LOGINVioletWith that in mind, I paced through the room for hours, my body alert to catch Elijah passing by.Alpha Alaric had dragged him away from the hall to his office and he had been very angry with Elijah.I couldn't stop worrying about what they must be discussing and if the conversation had escalated further. The look on alpha Alaric's face when he'd ordered Elijah to follow him had been beyond fury. Cassie had said that she would try to mediate but nobody took her seriously either way. And Alpha Alaric had made it clear the last time itself that since I wasn't family or anybody important, my words carried no weight.Dread began to gnaw at me as more time passed. My eyes kept darting to the clock more times than I could count, watching the minutes tick by with agonizing slowness.It had been two hours already since Elijah left with his father and he had not returned yet.Four hours. What could they possibly be discussing for four hours? Or worse, what could Alaric be doing to him t
Violet"That never happened," Nicole said upon noticing how she was turning into a culprit, her voice coming out shrill and too loud. "He didn't kiss you that night. I know he didn't because…"She stopped abruptly, her mouth snapping shut as she realized what she'd been about to admit. "How would you know what happened that night, Nicole?" Elijah asked, his tone conversational but with steel underneath. "Were you there? Did you witness the attack?"Nicole's mouth opened and closed, her face cycling through several expressions before settling on forced calm. "I just. I meant, I assumed…""You assumed wrong," Elijah said flatly, finally dropping his hands from my face but staying close enough that I could still feel his body heat. "A lot of people have been assuming wrong lately and making judgments based on edited videos and out-of-context footage."His gaze swept the room, landing on various faces, making sure everyone understood he wasn't just talking about the video."Now," he cont
VioletHis voice had taken on a harder edge now, and I saw his hands clench into fists at his sides. The bandages on his knuckles stood out starkly against his skin.I didn't want to do this. But Elijah was doing this for me, trying to fix Nicole's deliberate attempt to humiliate me, and the least I could do was participate."The others closed in," Elijah continued, directing the other men to move closer, to reach out. "And she narrowly escaped an attack that left a bruise on her shoulder”"The outcome was inevitable. That's when I arrived."He declared his presence rather simplyHe moved into the circle with fluid grace, and suddenly everything shifted. The men playing attackers stepped back instinctively, responding to something in Elijah's presence that screamed danger, and could feel the barely leashed violence radiating off him like heat."I removed the threats," he said simply, his voice calm despite the fury I could see simmering in his eyes. Then, to the men who'd been playing
VioletThe massive screen flickered to life with a brightness that made me squint. And there I was, displayed twenty feet high for everyone to see.It was footage from the night of the rogue attack when everything had started falling apart.My stomach dropped to my feet, and I felt the blood drain from my face so fast I thought I might actually pass out.I watched myself sitting there, waiting for Nate to get off his phone with that sad, desperate expression of someone hoping tonight would be different.The camera angle shifted and I saw myself looking at something across the restaurant. The angle zoomed in slightly, focusing on my face.I remembered this moment. This was when I'd noticed the waitress getting flustered while talking to that stranger. When I'd smiled at her obvious crush, finding a moment of lightness in my otherwise miserable evening.This hadn’t been in the previous video. That meant they had re-edited it to add a bit more details.It didn't look like I was smiling a
VioletShe turned back to her clipboard, but I saw the flash of anger in her eyes, the way her knuckles went white as she gripped the board.Nate noticed too. His gaze traveled from Nicole to Elijah to me, and something ugly crossed his expression. He leaned forward slightly in his chair, attention suddenly laser-focused on our little drama."Alright everyone," Nicole said loudly, clearly trying to regain control of the situation. "Let's run through the speech portion of the reception. We need to make sure everyone knows their cues for the video presentations."Oh no. I'd been hoping we'd skip this part."Madison, Veronica, you'll go first with your bridesmaid speeches," Nicole continued. "Then Violet as maid of honor, then the groomsmen, and finally the parents. Each speech should be about three to five minutes, and you need to give the tech team your video clips by tonight so they can queue everything properly."Madison bounced excitedly. "I already have mine! It's a compilation of
VioletThe whole night I kept switching from one side to another on the bed, my brain churning out thoughts related to the vision, the witch’s dark story and Elijah’s sweet words.I was barely awake the next morning when I was dragged out of my room by the maids.The rehearsal dinner was being held in the manor's grand ballroom, a space so ridiculously opulent it made me feel like I'd stepped into a period drama. Crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, each one probably worth more than my entire year's salary. The walls were covered in cream silk panels with gold trim, and massive arrangements of white roses and peonies decorated every available surface, their cloying sweetness thick in the air.And I stood near the back of the room, trying to make myself as invisible as possible while still technically being present. I looked ridiculous in my night clothes and messy hair but Nicole apparently dragged everyone out of their beds, hoping they would be as excited as her.My r
VioletThe sitting room smelled faintly of a rich heady perfume and old stone.The sweet scent curled around me, not overly unpleasant but not too comforting either.The windows were tall and narrow, letting in pale morning light that never quite reached the corners of the room. Everything here fel
VioletElijah had told me several times how he loved control and took what he wanted without asking permission. Of how he was a monster and didn’t shy away from accepting that tag.My throat went dry so I reached for the glass of water and tentatively took a sip.“I’m not warning you because I hate
VioletCassie spent almost the entire day convincing me to keep thinking of scenarios where I would appear the damsel in distress, especially in front of Elijah so that he would automatically come to my rescue.Her plan was that it had to look authentic and not an act because her stoic brother was
VioletI wasn't paying much attention to what Gavin and Tyler were saying or when Cassie had joined in the conversation.They were busy trying to come up with ideas to put Nate and Nicole in their place. Meanwhile, my phone rang and I saw mom’s name flash on my screen.I walked out of the room to t







