ログインLisa POVThe afternoon passed quietly. Because of the sleep I had missed the night before, I kept drifting off on the living room sofa, my head falling against the cushions. I had a feeling Harry had mixed something into my tea to keep me calm.When I finally woke up, I walked down the garden’s gravel path to clear the fog from my head. By the time I came back through the glass terrace doors, my dad had arrived.My mother, Alpha Kieran, and James were gathered in the living room. My father stood near James, his hands gesturing wildly. When his eyes found me by the door, he stopped, crossed the distance, and grabbed my shoulders before pulling me into a hug that smelled of cold wind and tobacco.“I heard everything. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”I opened my mouth to speak, but he already seemed furious.“I told you not to do it. I told you it wasn’t worth it.”“Richard,” my mother warned.My dad spun around.“This is all your fault. If you hadn’t been drowning in medical bills, Lisa wou
Lisa POVThe translucent gel Harry squeezed onto my stomach was cold, making the muscles across my abdomen tighten. He pressed the transducer against my skin, moving it in small circles over my lower belly. The monitor displayed gray, shifting shapes that blurred whenever I took a breath.After Cameron left, the crying clogged my throat until my mom turned from the window and snapped that I was going to make myself sick if I didn’t get a grip.“What if he had done worse?” I kept saying, my knuckles digging into the edge of the mattress. “What if he had a knife or something dangerous? What if he killed me?”“Well, he didn’t,” she said. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a tube of wintergreen ointment, and began rubbing the thick cream into my palms to warm them. Harry kept his eyes fixed on the gray screen, moving the probe without a word.I blinked, clearing the moisture from my eyelashes. “But why? Why would they send him to hurt me?”My mother stopped rubbing my hands. Her mout
Cameron POVMy fingers tightened around the steering wheel as one of the guards climbed into the passenger seat. The headlights of the van behind us came alive across the gravel as I pulled onto the dark road.The drive home barely registered. Time kept vanishing. One moment I was staring at the white lane markings, the next the Alpha estate gates were opening in front of me.The guard beside me kept glancing toward my face, his boots shifting nervously against the floor mat, but I ignored him.I slammed the car door and walked into the mansion. I hadn’t even reached the staircase before Evangeline stepped out.She wore a dark fitted dress, her hair pinned tightly despite the late hour.Her eyes narrowed when she saw me. The pain behind my forehead throbbed harder.“Please,” I muttered, lifting a hand. “Not now.”“What did you do?” she asked sharply. “I can smell her on you.”“Eva, I have a headache.”“Do you have any idea how much you’re hurting me?”She stood rigidly near the stairs
Cameron POVI sucked air into my lungs in ragged pulls. The blood vessels behind my eyes throbbed in time with the rush in my ears.Everything in the room looked warped. Alpha Kieran and Harry stood in front of me. Their lips moved, but the words came too fast, blending into a flat drone my brain couldn’t piece together.Lisa stood near Kieran’s shoulder, her chin tucked into her chest as she sobbed. Every time my eyes drifted toward her, a knot tightened behind my breastbone. The sound of her crying scraped against the inside of my skull.I raised my right hand and wiped a smear of warm fluid from the groove above my lip. I looked down at my knuckles. The skin was split where I had driven my fist into Kieran’s jaw. I stared at the blood on my skin, the reason for the blow completely missing from my head. The room was just noise.“Look at me, Cameron.”Kieran’s palm struck my cheek lightly, pulling my focus back to him. I tried to hold his gaze, but Lisa’s mother wrapped an arm around
Lisa POVNobody interrupted Cameron as he remained on his knees. His palms stayed pressed against my hips, and the heat of his forehead soaked through the fabric straight to my skin.My fingers twitched against his scalp. The fear from earlier remained; the possibility that he was my mate, and that I was now a target for whatever was tracking him.Harry’s words about altered bonds drifted through my mind, but the steady rhythm of Cameron’s breathing against my belly drowned them out.He lifted his head, his hands slipping down to rest on my knees. When our eyes met, he looked exactly like the man I knew, yet his gaze was flat, like a house with the lights turned off inside."It feels good to feel so light," he said, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile.I looked past his shoulder, unable to keep staring at that expression.Alpha Kieran stood behind us. He watched Cameron the way a man watches a dog off its leash."Did you drive here alone?"Cameron didn't turn his head. "I th
Lisa“What’s wrong with him?” I whispered to my mom as we watched Alpha Kieran stare into the distance from the terrace.“I don’t know. He’s been this way since he returned. Perhaps he received bad news.”My heart skipped. “You know you don’t have to hide anything from me. If this is about Cameron, tell me.”“I truly don’t know everything,” she said carefully. “And you shouldn’t panic before we understand what’s happening.”She ushered me away as we walked downstairs into the living room, passing Harry at the dining table with his laptop open, working on something. A spreadsheet of dates and numbers filled the screen.Alpha Kieran had walked in about four hours earlier without speaking much. He had dropped his car keys into the ceramic dish by the door with a loud clatter and gone straight upstairs. Even though he was trying to act like everything was fine, it was obvious it wasn’t.We were watching TV, catching up on the sitcoms we used to enjoy as a family and the recorded laughter
“There’s honey garlic chicken and mashed potatoes. Do you want some?”I nodded.Lisa moved around the counter, pulling plates from the microwave and setting them on the table. She set one in front of me and took the seat across from me. I started eating while she watched, neither of us speaking. Th
CameronI walked out of the alpha meeting seething. The other alphas had leaned over the table and thrown insults at each other. I stayed quiet because none of it touched my territory.Alpha Gregory, a stubborn old bastard, noticed this when they brought up expanding the trade route through my terr
We stayed at the table after the heavy part settled, and the look Sasha kept giving me told me the topic was about to shift to me and Cameron.“So, how is tall, dark, and emotionally confusing Alpha?”I rolled my eyes. “We’re not doing this.”“Oh, we are absolutely doing this. You disappeared into
LisaMy mom talked nonstop the entire ride back to the safe house, her voice filling the car. She kept turning her head toward the windows like she still couldn’t believe she could see, pointing out everything passing outside.“Street signs. Look at that shop. Oh, the traffic lights are so bright.







