LOGINDorian POV My schedule was so fucking packed I could barely breathe. Papers stacked higher than my forearm. Reports from three different border patrols. A dispute between two high-ranking families that somehow required my personal attention. And Damian—fucking Damian—still unconscious in the hospital, which meant every single responsibility that should have been split between us was now crushing me alone. I had just finished a two-hour-long meeting with the council. My head was still a bit foggy from the silver poisoning, the edges of my vision occasionally blurring if I moved too fast, and now I was preparing to supervise a border patrol where there had been rogue sightings. Was this what Damian had to go through every day? I knew we had a lot of responsibility, but fuck. This was too much. Just as I was sorting through the final papers, trying to prioritize which crisis needed my attention first, my phone buzzed. My wolf practically howled in excitement when we saw it was
Rhea POVThe silence that followed felt heavier than anything before.“No,” she finally said, her voice softer than I’d ever heard it. “It doesn’t make sense. Love rarely does.”I pressed my palm to my mouth, trying to hold back the sob building in my chest.“But here’s the thing about Dorian,” she continued. “He genuinely doesn’t know how to love.”Well, that was a very obvious fact.He knew nothing about loving a woman. Nothing about being soft, about being gentle, about being anything other than the cold, ruthless Alpha everyone expected him to be.Even when he tried, he almost always slipped back into that default.“So what should I do now?” I asked, because my brain had gone to mush.“I’ll tell you what you shouldn’t do,” she said. “Don’t let your guard down. While falling in love might seem nice, I recommend you still hold on to your heart. After all, he’s still an Alpha with a wife. There are just too many obstacles.”My chest tightened at the reminder.Of course.“That means I
Rhea POVI love you.I love you.Dorian’s words kept haunting my thoughts even after I took my shower and had breakfast.The hot water had done nothing but make my skin even more sensitive. I couldn’t even enjoy the chicken stew Mom had made because my stomach was too knotted to care.I tried studying for a bit, hoping it could help, but that did nothing.The words on the page blurred into memories of his breath against my ear. It almost seemed like the conversation with Mom had only made things worse.I was groaning helplessly with my books scattered across my desk when I recalled I had actually gotten Isa’s number exactly for this reason.Without hesitation I reached for my phone. I stared at it for a few seconds before dialing her number.“Who is it?” she answered on the third ring, her voice thick and groggy like I had just dragged her out of a very deep sleep.My eyes widened and I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the time.It was already past noon.Who sleeps this late
Rhea POVThe thought alone of my father being a bad person would have been like the Moon Goddess having her last laugh. I would have just assumed our family was cursed to be mated to bad men, meaning my future children, if I ever dared to have any, might suffer the same fate.The idea made my stomach twist so hard I almost gagged.But thankfully she shook her head.“No,” she whispered softly. “He was a good man, until…..”“He died,” I finished, and she sighed while I felt the tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding slowly begin to ease from my shoulders.“Yes,” she confirmed quietly. “Until he died.”“Was he also an omega?” I pressed.“He was a good man,” she said again, and I couldn’t tell if she was purposely dodging the question.So was he?“I remember he used to say the stars were just holes in the floor of heaven, and he wanted to climb up there just to see what was on the other side.”She fell silent again.And I wanted to ask more.I wanted to ask why there were no pict
Rhea POVHer question threw me off for a few seconds. I blinked rapidly before nodding and muttering, “Yes… it must have been some kind of spider. It’s been itching all morning.”Lily didn’t look even remotely convinced, but the matter had been settled. She puffed out her cheeks for a second before gracefully changing the topic.“Anyway, we’re having a party next week! Would you come?”That immediately piqued my interest. “A party?”“It’s specifically for the lesser class,” Sarah added, her voice softening as a small smile tugged at her lips. “We Omegas never really have anything good for ourselves in this place. So a few of us are putting something together. The date hasn’t been finalized yet, but it would be nice if you came.”That made me smile genuinely. I had never been invited to a party before. Since Kenzie had been my only fellow lower ranked friend, I had spent most of my time doing whatever she wanted for fun. And usually Kenzie’s idea of fun meant trying to get the attentio
Rhea POVHe was so gentle with his touch.His gaze was the softest I had ever seen. Right now he could make any girl melt into him and, fuck, I almost did.The mate bond was pulling me inches closer, especially since he was allowing it, but my logical brain kept resisting.It just felt too good to be true, like any second he would go back to being cold again.“Time changes and people adapt,” he said suddenly, wrapping his hand around my neck.What does that mean? That he loved me? I thought he didn’t remember, but the way he was acting said otherwise. The thought flashed through my head as he pulled me even closer until he was kissing me again.Instinctively, I kissed him back. I even closed my eyes like it was the most natural response to his advances. But then I remembered I was sitting on top of a sick man and making out with him.“Wait…” I breathed, pressing my hands against his chest as I tried to pull back. But his grip tightened around my waist, holding me in place, clearly not
Rhea POV“Yes, Mom… yes, Mom, I’ll be back next week. I promise. I just had to take her place, and work’s been so hard. I can’t go back and forth every day.” I lied through my teeth, clutching the phone tight against my ear.“I’m just worried about you. You’ve never been away from him this long bef
Rhea POVEvery time I managed to gather a little courage to ask for help, something always interrupted me. After thinking long and hard in the shower, I had finally gathered enough courage to ask Dorian for help with Pedro.He was an Alpha—and a cruel one. It would’ve been easy for him to solve tha
Rhea POV The former Luna was abandoned?I thought as I slowly lifted myself from the cold toilet lid. I knew the former Luna was murdered. I also knew Alpha Ragnar only started keeping multiple mistresses after her death. From what I’d heard, he might have been cruel, but he still loved his wife—s
Rhea POVMy clothes were tossed somewhere across the room. The only sound that existed were my ragged moans, his guttural grunts, and the wet slap of skin meeting skin with a brutal, single-minded purpose.And despite the heat of his skin that felt like a furnace against mine, despite the overwhelm







