UNKNOWN POV Hot air escaped from my lips as I tugged my sweater close. Wentworth was cold this time of the air. My feet wobbled as they tried to stay afloat on the frozen floor. It was times like this I wished I was back at Havenbourne; the city of Roses. I entered an alleyway that served as a shortcut to my apartment. My phone buzzed and as I fished into my pocket to retrieve it, I saw something move behind me. Instinctively turning back, I surveyed the area. Wentworth wasn't particularly dangerous but one could never be too careful with dark alleyways. "Who is there?" I demanded. My sense of smell was keen and so was my divine gift. "I know there is someone there and if you don't step out of the shadows, I will kill you."My threat seemed to work nicely. My stalker stepped into the moonlight. The first thing I caught was the color of their eyes. They were the darkest blues implying this was a Nightshade werewolf and that vital piece of information caused me to immediately take a b
LYDIA When morning came, the guards came to my cell just as Alpha Alexios had promised. I took a deep breath as their heavy metal keys singled into the keyhole and the door clicked open. "She is beautiful," I heard one of them mutter. "It is such a shame that we can't have her. I can think of a few things I want to do to her."I was repulsed. My eyes were still closed when one of them's brash fingers went for my throat. I felt his nails break the surface of my skin and as the sting surged through my body, I opened my eyes to see the guard's disapproving glare. "The Alpha demands your presence and you have the guts to sleep." Having said his piece, He lifted me off the floor and threw me against the metal bar at my left. A cracking sound exploded from my spine as I hit the bar and dropped limply to the floor. I wanted to fight. I knew I could. I barely had any training in combat but the one thing my dad had taught me was how to kill a man. The sentinel in front of me was weak. I coul
LYDIA Tendrils of moist hair blocked my sight as the guard from earlier led me to Alpha Hunter. The doors to a quarter opened and I was greeted by the laugh of a woman being pleasured. I looked before me. In the bed which was draped all over, I could make out two silhouettes. The feminine one had her hands combing through her air while her slender body bounced back and forth. Below her perfect body was the silhouette of a man. His hands were wrapped around the female's body like a tentacle. Moans escaped his lips as the woman continued to bounce. "I'm going to cum." I heard the woman say and it made me cringe physically."Do it, baby. Cum inside of me." The woman retorted, grinding her behind against his stiff member. Was that their dirty talk? With the way my body sang at the act under the sheets, I didn't need any miracle to know who they were. A loud whimper that hinted sexual liberation lunged out of the crevices of their throat and I watched as they both collapsed to the bed,
ALEXIOS There is a kind of shock that rushes through you when the woman who told you to your face that she regretted ever birthing you waltzes back to your front door. "Give me a minute," I said to the messenger."Why is she here?" Fiona inquired. I wish I knew but if I had to guess, it probably had to do with the stupid promise I made her. I glanced at Lydia. The look of relief distorted her face. I liked it better with the frown lines. I begrudgingly walked to the bed and grabbed my clothes. "Keep the girl in check," I instructed Fiona, giving her a kiss before stepping out to face my mother. Glancing around, I zigzagged through the giant hallways and ducked in through an open door. The only open one really. It was a small room that acted as my office. “Hello mother,” I tried to say in the most uncondescending voice I could manage. I took my seat in front of her and asked. “What bring you back to this hellhole?” Her hand was wrapped around a steaming hot coffee cup while she d
FIONA The girl–Lydia Nightshade–was afraid. While I couldn't comprehend what bothered her. It had to be valid. I would be a prick if I believed saving her from Alexios's grasp was all that it would take to help. She didn't deserve this. "Now that we are alone, what do you want to do?" I asked, strolling back to the bed to don my clothes. I waited for an answer but none was forthcoming. So I craned my neck back to read her expression. She was backed down to a corner of the room, her head fallen. "Loretta?" I called her by her name to sound more receptive. Not sure which book I read that in, but I knew it helped. It did seem to work because the second Lydia heard her name, her head whipped back up."I apologize." She said with a bow.The haughty act made me cringe physically. I had enough servants treating me like I was some porcelain doll. This was going to be different. We were going to be friends and when the time was right, I would convince Alexios to grant her freedom. "Don't apo
FIONA I met Alexios Rose one cold October. I had been diagnosed with a curse and my parents saw it fit that I spent time with my uncle and aunt who specialized in healing magic. Those were the words that left their lips but fourteen-year-old me knew better. My parents were leaving me to die. It was difficult if not impossible to break a killing curse. My parents intended to purge my existence out of their memories as my demise got closer but how could I blame them? I was the weak one who got susceptible to a curse targeting my bloodline. It was bound to happen eventually. Entering my uncle's home, I felt the will to live completely drain from me. My uncle searched for one cure to another in a bid to remedy the curse. His obsession with healing me didn't even stem from his undying love for his niece. I was nothing but an experiment to the stout broad man. I was an opportunity for my uncle to prove that he was talented in breaking curses. That was what my family stood for. Power. It wa
FIONA The heavens thundered as I waited for something from Alexios. I wanted him to tell me it was all a lie. My ears were clearly not deceiving me but if he told me that was the case, I would accept it with no question. Alexios however remained silent. I could see the stigma in his eyes. He couldn't even bring himself to deny it fit my sake. Dips of tears pinnacled my face as he tried to come closer. I couldn't bear to even look at him right now. "Stay away!" I warned. My scream caused a mug on the table to shatter stimulating Clara to jerk backward. I wanted to apologize. I wanted to take it all back and fix the damage that my magic had done but my anger kept getting the better of me. It felt like a consuming fume I couldn't escape from. "Was that it?" I asked him. Alexios looked at me worried as he tried to pare the space between us again. "Fiona, listen...""Answer me goddamnit!!" I retorted. This time the heavens parted in two and a fork of light descended dangerously close t
ALEXIOS"What have I done?" I repeated almost scoffing. "I did exactly what you forced my hands to do. Now deal with the consequences to come. You know, the terrible things that follow a rejected Luna." It was an attack because I knew my mother's morals would not be able to handle it if Lydia's wolf could not handle the rejection. In many books, it was written that when the wolf dies, the body followed because the body and soul of a shifter was bound. Agony and death followed from losing one. There were rare cases where the shifter and their wolf survived but I doubted that would be the case here after everything Lydia and her wolf had been through. It almost made me feel guilty. No, this was different. A subtle pain settled within me. At first, it wasn't physical but second crawled by, I came to realize that it was both physical and emotional. Was this the rejection, I wondered. My eyes wavered at Loretta. Why wasn't the feeling this? I didn't know how to describe it but my wolf c