LOGINLara's POV"I'm just trying to warn you." Raina's voice carried that practiced tone … the one that sounded reasonable on the surface while doing something else entirely underneath it. "Werewolves with no pack affiliation are banned from the Alpha Conclave."She wouldn't stop. The more she spoke, the more she revealed exactly how little had changed in six years, and the more I found myself genuinely struggling to take any of it seriously. I mean, she always finds a way to sound stupid."Oh, but let me guess." She shifted in her wheelchair, throwing her hands out demonstratively. "You heard that Alpha Lucien was going to be meeting the new Moonshade clan Alpha and you decided to come and stir up some trouble, huh?"I opened my mouth to respond.Lucien got there first."Raina is right." His voice was flat, that familiar tone he used when he had already decided something and was simply announcing it. "This isn't the place for your drama. I suggest you leave and I will come talk to you lat
Raina's POVI couldn't believe my eyes, just as everyone in here was also shocked at the sight of who just walked in.‘What the fuck is that bitch doing here?’The thought hit before I had even fully processed what I was looking at.Lara!!!? Walking through the main entrance of the Alpha Conclave like she had every right in the world to be there, in that red gown, with that walk, and with all eyes in the room still on her like she had magnets attached to every single person present.I felt so angry and maybe threatened by the sight of her, and the two feelings sat in my chest side by side, making it difficult to breathe properly.And to think that she looked all bold and full of elegance only made it worse. This was not the Lara I had watched bleed on a bathroom floor 6 years ago. This was not the wolfless omega who had begged me for her baby while I stoo
Raina's POVWhatever negative thought that was coming to my mind…this was not the right time for this, and the best I could do was clear the air right away first."Actually, I am not the Luna." I kept my voice light and easy, like the correction was barely worth making. "My name is Raina."We both extended our right hands and shook. Her grip was firm. She was still looking at me with that polite, curious expression, the kind that meant she had not fully let go of the question yet.And I was not going to give her time to come back to it, either.The moment I had gotten her attention this much, I needed to take over the show and make it completely mine. The table beside us had people half-turned already, with their ears open the way people's ears open when they sense a conversation worth listening to. I could feel the shape of the opportunity right in front of me and I was not the kind of woman who let shapes like that go to waste."Luna Lara actually divorced Lucien and ran off with an
Alpha Lucien's POVSitting right here with Raina, as if she was my Luna, was something I had not planned. It had just happened … let's say it was one guilt trip at a time, over the course of three days before departure, until somehow I had arrived at the Alpha Conclave with her in the seat beside me.And now every Alpha in this room was looking at us the way people look at a couple. Reading the picture the way anyone would read it. I could already see a few glances, polite and assuming, the kind that came with the unspoken conclusion that the woman beside the Alpha was his Luna.But then, she was not my Luna. She had never been my Luna. But this was not the venue to have that conversation, and so I let it sit and focused on what had actually brought me here.After some time while we sat waiting for the event to start officially, I quickly brought out my phone to check if the message I had sent
Lara's POVI took a private jet and landed at the private parking space where I was supposed to meet the chairman of the wolf council.As soon as I alighted in my gorgeous and eye-catching red gown, with a matching red lipstick and light dark eye shades, I felt the shift immediately. The air here was different … thick with the energy of powerful people gathered in one place, the particular kind of tension that came from Alphas who were all used to being the most important person in every room they entered suddenly having to share that space with each other.I straightened my shoulders and walked majestically to meet up with him, while Beta Draven fell into step right behind me, steady and unhurried as always.A man stepped forward from the waiting group, distinguished in his bearing, his posture announcing his authority before he even opened his mouth."Alpha Lara. I'm Rylan Hills, the chairman of the wolf council. It's a pleasure to meet you.""It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hills." I sa
Raina's POVJust on that last inch for our lips to lock into each other, Alpha Lucien abruptly stood up real quick and then shoved my hands off instantly.I stumbled back slightly in the chair, caught completely off guard. As much as I know, the charm was supposed to have him. It was supposed to have locked in the moment I blew it into his face, just the way old and strong curse didn't leave room for resistance. And yet he was standing there above me with his jaw set and his eyes clear and sharp …and completely his own again, looking at me like I was something he had already made up his mind about.The sea-blue colour had faded from my eyes the moment he pulled back. Now I could feel the charm dissolving, unused, the energy of it just bleeding away into nothing. Six years of waiting. The most powerful thing I had in my arsenal. And it had not been enough to reach the part of him that still belonged to Lara.
Lara's POVI moved out to the corridors, and guess what?Alpha Lucien was right there, placing a lady into a wheelchair that one of the nurses had just wheeled over — on his instruction, obviously, since that was what all the urgency had been about… The emergency. The ‘quick, I need a doctor.’ That
Lara's POVI didn't waste a single second after that call.I threw on the first decent outfit I could find, grabbed my bag, and was out the door before the thought of breakfast even crossed my mind. Whatever was in that hospital report wasn't something I was going to sit at home and stare at the ce
Lara's POVI swiped the screen open fully.And there it was.A photo of Alpha Lucien lying across Raina's body with his eyes closed and completely at ease — the kind of relaxed that only comes when a person feels truly safe where they are. And Raina was looking directly into the camera, front-facin
Lara's POV"Lucien, mark me."I moaned the words like a prayer I had been holding back for five years, helpless and wanting as we were both soaked from the shower. I had woken up from sleep and come to him in my nightwear — the thin kind that could be pulled off with one hand — and somehow we had e







