LOGINRiley’s POVFor a second I was too stunned to speak.Not because I hadn’t been insulted before. I had. More times than I could count. But there was something especially humiliating about standing there in my running clothes, hair tied back, no makeup, while Leon’s mother looked me over like I was dirt.And Ezra was right there.Of all people, he had to see this.Heat climbed up my neck. I clenched my fists and snapped, “What makes you think speak to me like that?”Leon’s mother sneered, her perfectly arched brows lifting in amusement.“Can’t I? Listen to me young lady. If you want to climb the social ladder by marrying my son, you’ll need to learn to endure a little correction. A small-town girl like you requires a great deal of work before she can be presented properly.”Every word landed like a slap.Yet Leon just stood there beside her and did nothing.His father stayed silent too, hands folded behind his back, watching me with the same cool detachment people used when judging live
Riley’s POVShit. Shit. SHIT!For one second, all I could think was: I just slapped Ezra.The Lycan prince.The future king.The most dangerous person in this whole city besides his father.My palm was still stinging. The sound of it still seemed to hang in the air, sharp and stupid and impossible to take back.The two guards were still standing there waiting for Ezra to say anything. One of them looked from me to Ezra, then back again, clearly trying to decide whether he’d just walked into a crime scene.Ezra touched his cheek. The red mark on his face stood out viciously against his skin. I gulped in fear.What’s he going to do? Hit me back? Or order his guards to drag me out right now and expel me from this city?Then, to my surprise, he simply let out a cold chuckle.“I’m fine. Lady Riley’s just messing with me,” he said. “Leave us.”The guards hesitated.Ezra turned his head slightly and gave them a look that could have frozen hell.“Now.”That was enough. They backed out immedia
Riley's POVMy face burned.God! Why did he have to walk in on this exact moment? This ugly, humiliating little scene where Leon saw me as a grasping poor girl trying to sneak a bigger diamond.I wanted the marble floor to open and swallow me whole.“Do you mind?” Leon spoke up abruptly. “I’m talking to my fiancé.”Ezra let out a cold, mocking laugh.“By all means,” he said with a shrug. “Keep talking to your fiancé.”Then, to make things worse, he pulled out a chair for the girl hanging on his arm and sat down with her at the display table right beside ours.That girl—Jenny, apparently—looked thrilled by his attention. She immediately started cooing over the spring collection the sales assistants laid out for her, touching necklaces and bracelets and earrings with wide, sparkling eyes.“Oh this one is gorgeous,” she gasped, holding up a diamond bracelet.I took in a deep breath. Her face, sickly sweet voice made me want to puke.Ezra barely glanced at it. “Buy it.”Her eyes lit up. “
Riley’s POVFor a second, I honestly thought I had misheard him.I just stood there staring at Leon, waiting for him to laugh and admit he was joking. But he didn’t. He looked perfectly serious, standing there with that calm, polished smile still fixed on his face.“Excuse me?” I looked at him in disbelief. “Rule number one?”He tilted his head a little, like I was the one being unreasonable here. Then he smiled again, soft and charming as usual.“You’ll have to understand that I come from a very prestigious and strict family,” he said. “There are expectations for my future bride. Nothing unusual. Just certain boundaries that help avoid gossip and embarrassment.”I stared at him.There it was again—that polished tone, gentle on the surface and hard underneath. He didn’t even sound angry or demanding. He spoke as if this were obvious, as if I were already halfway molded into the kind of woman his family wanted.“If I’m going to marry you,” I said, keeping my voice flat with effort, “I’
The night I agreed to marry Leon, I couldn’t sleep.No matter how many times I closed my eyes and ordered my mind to shut up, I just lay there listening to the silence of the room and the pounding of my own thoughts.Rene stirred restlessly inside me.“That’s a bad decision,” she said to me sternly. “I don’t like Leon.”“And you like that cold, arrogant jerk Ezra?” I asked with my eyes shut.“At least he’s our mate. I know he won’t hurt us…But that Leon guy? I don’t know. I don’t trust him.”I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. “No. You’re wrong, Rene. Ezra has already hurt us. Deeply.”Every time I thought about him and that pretty girl kissing on his car, I could still feel my heart ache.Rene’s voice softened a little. “You’re just angry. This whole marriage feels like a revenge against Ezra. It’s not fair to you, or to Leon.”I pressed my palms over my eyes and sighed.Maybe she was right.That only made me more irritated.At some point I grabbed my phone from the
Riley’s POVEzra froze.For one second, even the chaos around us seemed to fall away. The shouting crowd, Leon’s ragged breathing, the teachers pretending they hadn’t seen anything—all of it blurred at the edges.All I could really see was Ezra’s face.He looked like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. And the world had slammed into him so hard his body had forgotten how to move.Good, I told myself that, clenching my fists.That was what I wanted, wasn’t it? To hurt him back. To make him feel even a fraction of what I had felt standing there while he let his friends tear me apart, while he kissed another girl in front of me like I had meant nothing.I turned from him and bent to help Leon up.He winced when I touched his arm, but he straightened anyway, still breathing hard from the beating Ezra had given him. There was blood at the corner of his mouth and dirt on his shirt, but when he looked at me, there were sparkles in his eyes.“Are you serious?” he asked me, breathing f
Riley’s POVI was in a great mood when I left the clinic.Odin and Olivia’s surgeries were perfect. Olivia woke up still acting like a diva, complaining all about the disinfectant smell in the surgery room, whining that the painkillers weren’t strong enough—basically just continuing to be a pain in
Riley’s POV“Fuck!” I cursed.At the last second, my wolf Rene took over and shifted us. She was a sleek white she-wolf, with just a splash of brown at the tips of her ears.She darted out of reach from the mutated dogs, weaving between them like smoke, leading them in circles around the lot.“Hey!
Riley’s POVHe was a guy I’d never seen before—tall, handsome, and clearly a warrior just by looking at his build. He wasn’t as bulky as Ezra, but he had that solid, alpha male energy all the same.I didn’t know him. Why would he help me out?When he caught me frowning at him, he flashed a grin, sh
Riley’s POV“What happened?!”Ms. Bright came rushing down from the podium, screaming. Everyone in the class jumped up in shock and turned to look at me.“Oh my god, I think I’m gonna faint! There must be glass in my hair!” Camilla shrieked.“You’re fine,” I rolled my eyes, still holding up my blee







