RILEY. It’s been five days since she left, and I still have no fucking clue where she was. If there’s anything, Benedict Solange seemed to have nothing to do with her disappearance. He just went about his daily business and was never seen doing anything suspicious. But I wondered if he was the one who sent me the envelope. Or if it was Nadia’s uncle. Darvin told me that he was released from prison and was banished from the pack. And he has no idea where he was. I have sent trackers for him as well. But up to now, there has been no news. Like Nadia, it was like they had just disappeared from the thin air. I was trying to get by and hold on to the only thing that was keeping me sane - Nadia’s scent. I was trying to keep her scent in our bedroom, and haven’t let anyone in, even to clean up. But it was still meticulously tidy. I didn’t want to trample the last place she was in and kept everything in place except for her clothes, which were my steady companion wherever I would lie d
One Month Later. RILEY. She was still nowhere. I couldn't find her. My hair had grown longer and so had my misery. I didn’t know how many nights I had skipped sleeping. And if I slept only because my body gave up. I spent my awake time looking for her, making calls, and visiting places I would never even imagine going to. But there was still nothing. I was slowly losing my stance, but I tried to put on a brave facade. Behind closed doors, I was slowly crumbling. Everything in this pack house reminded me of her. And my wolf wasn't making it easy for me either. Hunter refused to come out, and we hadn’t had a full run for the full month. And although he was with me, I felt terribly alone. The only thing that was keeping me sane was the thought that she was still alive. That I haven’t felt any massive pain through our bond, and that she hasn’t been intimate with another man. Despite losing her, she was still my driving force. A week ago, I finally had the courage to face my peo
NADIA. It has been more than a month since I left the Silver Moon Pack. And although there was never a day that I didn’t long for my mate, I think I was doing okay. Riley’s scent on his clothes that I took with me has already faded. Nothing was left of him, and it was painful. I could vividly remember my heat two weeks ago when I tried to scent his clothes to get me through the pain and so that I could have my release, but it was no longer there. I spent the whole night crying and trashing my rented space. I was so close to packing up my things and running back to him until my body just gave up and I passed out. I was having a harder time moving on now than the first time we got separated. Maybe because by now, I already knew how it felt to be his. And no matter how many times I kept telling myself that it was him that drove me to this misery, I still couldn’t find it in my heart to hate him. If there was only one consolation from all of this, it was that Riley had never been inti
NADIA ¤¤¤¤¤ FLASHBACK. TWO DAYS AFTER I FIRST MET ZAHRA. She invited me to her home. Her two daughters were in school - they were attending classes at a university nearby and wouldn’t be home until later that day. Her mate, on the other hand, was at work, so it was just us. We were standing by the door of the storage room in the basement of their house. She told me she wanted to show me everything she kept for Riley. And my eyes couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were tons of gift-wrapped boxes for almost all occasions. The gifts were neatly placed on shelves, except for those that were too big and were standing on the floor. I ran my fingers over them, skimming the wrappers as my eyes read the short notes that she had written in there. "I tried sending them many times, but they all came back untouched. I even sent it to my parents so they could give it to him and begged them to present it as their gift to him, but it was also returned. There were times I would be brave
ZAHRA. I set the custard cake and the small plates on the table as we waited for Nadia to arrive. My good friend, Laura, a human, recently bought this place and is now managing the boutique that sells clothes for females. She is human, but she is mated to a shifter like me, and I had mentioned Nadia a couple of times, and she was also eager to meet her. I worked at the town’s library, but I had no scheduled work today, and so was Nadia, so I took this time to let the two of them meet. Nadia and I were spending most of our free time together. It felt like having a third daughter. Ellie and Bella, my lovely darlings, are both wonderful, but they are the exact opposite of each other. Ellie is the geeky one. Well, a bookworm she said, and she would spend almost all of her free time burying her nose in her books or on her computer doing technical stuff I was not even interested in knowing. On the other hand, Bella, on the other hand, is the outgoing one, who would spend days outside t
BETA DOMINIC.I had just got off the shower and had put on fresh clothes when I heard movements in the living room of the suite the Alpha and I shared. I went out to see Alpha Riley slumped on the couch, his head leaning on the headrest with his eyes closed. "How was your night?" I asked him as I walked to the adjacent kitchen and started operating the coffee machine. "Coffee?" "Yes, strong one." He answered. "Check flights back to Hartley within the day. We're going home." A smile crept onto my lips as I turned around to look at him. "So you talked with her? Three tickets then?" "Just two. She’s not coming with us." He answered coldly."What? She said no and you’re just giving up and fucking off? What the fuck, man!" "Shut the fuck up!" "What exactly did you tell her?" "I didn’t talk with her. Heck, I didn’t even come near her.""What? Fuck, you’re really fucked up! You spent weeks looking for her relentlessly and now that she’s just a few feet away from you, you're cowering
NADIA. After breakfast with the Graysons, Zahra drove me to the diner before she went off to her work. Lunchtime was just over, and the crowd was starting to calm down. I am tired and I still have four hours to go. But at least I would have my lunch in thirty minutes. I could get my rest. I was scouting the whole diner if there were any booths that needed to be cleaned so I could tell Johanna, but it looked like everything had been handled. I was about to go back to the counter when the door opened. My instinct told me to turn around and welcome the customer, but I didn’t expect to see the person who had just come in. My heart leaped as I saw Beta Dominic. He flashed his boyish smile, and I suddenly forgot where I was. All I was thinking was that if he was here, Riley must be behind him. I moved forward and hugged him tightly before I got hold of myself. "Oh, I’m sorry. I just got excited." He laughed before he bowed his head slightly at me. "I’m glad to see you, Luna. I mean
RILEY. I’ve been home for two days, and this was the first time I went out and saw the sun after I holed up in our room when I came home. My Gamma and Jenny have been attending to pack matters. I told them I just needed two days to myself, and tomorrow I would get back to work. They didn’t ask why and what happened in Atlanta. Perhaps my Beta has already called them and explained. And I was thankful for that. But there was one more thing I needed to do before I could start fixing up whatever was left of my tired soul. Maybe by doing this, I could finally move on and see a silver lining. It was time to meet Andrea. I rolled down the car window and spoke with Beta Paul. He was at their border. It was easier to ask permission for entrance. It didn’t take long before he opened the gate and allowed my car in. I was expecting him to search me as they did when I went here before, wanting to take Andrea away from Caspian, but he didn’t. Instead, he offered to drive my car so we could