LOGINThank you so much for all the support! With everyone's gems, comments, likes, library adds, etc. the book had a small boost this week!! I just wanted to thank everyone again as it really does help so much.
My eyes flew open at the sound of large doors abruptly opening.“It’s me! I’m awake!” I yelled, my heart racing.Where was I? What was going on?I frantically looked around the room, and it all slowly came back to me.I was in the palace, back in my original body. There wasn’t any danger. It was only Alistair who entered, returning just as he said he would. He was in the process of taking off his jacket but had stopped midway to stare at my outburst.All those weeks living with Scarlett in my head had taken a toll on me mentally. Like I was terrified I was going to wake up and find myself in a new location, potentially seconds away from someone trying to kill us.I brushed the hair away from my face and tried to control my breathing. It was going to take time to get used to being alone again.“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?” he asked, continuing to move again.“No... no, I’m fine.” I took a deep breath in to calm myself, then laid back down. “...What time is it? How long was I asleep?”
I was dead... — Scarlett was dead.But if she was there... then who the hell was I?I lifted my arms up in front of me, immediately recognising the limbs I found there. Ones I’d lived with for twenty-five years, complete with even that tiny scar I’d gotten after falling off the swing as a child. It was all there, exactly as I last remembered it. Every freckle, blemish, and hair.This was my body. My original body.My human body.It was no wonder my vision felt blurry. I was seeing through the eyes of a completely normal person again. No more wolf. No more enhanced healing or senses.No more...—“Get away from her,” a deep voice growled from the dark corner.—...matebond.I flinched and took a step away from Scarlett’s body, his voice triggering a gut instinct inside me to run. I might not be a werewolf anymore, capable of recognising his aura, but I could nevertheless sense just how much danger I was in by being here.Alistair stood up from the chair he’d been silently sitting in and s
“What’s going on here? Alistair, you told me that Scarlett has been missing since the battle,” Aurora said slowly. “When they dragged Liam’s dead body in here, you swore to me that you didn’t know where she went. Is this why you’ve been sneaking away so much recently? Do you have any idea how worried Victor and I have been about you?”“Aurora... calm down,” Alistair started, realising this was already escalating very quickly. “This isn’t what it looks like. She’s not who you think she is.”He lowered us off his shoulder and grabbed our arm tightly, preventing Scarlett from running off.“Alistair, my love, don’t lie to her,” Scarlett chimed in, playfully hitting his chest. “Aurora knows who I am, silly. We go way back.”Aurora’s eyes immediately filled with rage, a wind materialising from nowhere that started to gust around the room we were standing in. It slammed the doors closed one by one, trapping us inside with her. A sight that sent a chill of deep fear through me.*‘What is wron
“No... I saw you... I saw you just two days ago...,” I whispered, my head starting to feel light again.If Alistair wasn’t still holding my arms, my legs might have given out completely. It didn’t feel like I’d been gone for that long, so how could this have happened?“Where did you go? Scarlett said she couldn’t reach you.”“Uhh... I–I don’t know. I was in a fog somewhere... just waiting...,” I answered.“Was it Scarlett’s fault? Did she do something? If she lied to me, I swear—”“—No, no it wasn’t her. For once. It was....”My voice trailed off as I remembered the void holding me captive. I didn’t know how to describe what it was. The way it trapped me, yet also didn’t exist. Nothing existed.I didn’t exist.I wasn’t meant to be here.“Natalie?” he asked when I started spacing out.I snapped back to reality. “Yeah. I’m here.”I looked up at him and studied his face closer, seeing just how upset he seemed to be. In the two weeks we’d spent getting to know each other, had I really had
Scarlett shuddered in anticipation, enjoying herself as she waited for that moment he would kiss her. She didn’t really care for him. That much was obvious. This entire act of hers was for her own entertainment. Just to see if he would do it. Something for her to laugh at later and use against me.The whole time this was happening, I kept screaming inside, pleading with the void that held me captive, but it never relented. I was held in place, unable to do anything except spectate.He trailed his face along her cheek, his hot breath warming her skin as he continued to move upwards...And as he finally came to a stop at her ear, it was then that his grip on her tightened. More forceful. Almost as if he were trapping her in place.Scarlett gasped, not expecting the sudden violent strength, but Alistair spoke over her. A voice so dark that even I flinched from hearing it.“...Fuck off, Scarlett.”With that, he pushed her away.At being caught, Scarlett began to laugh, having nothing else
Somehow, I’d adopted a grumpy stray cat.But instead of a cat, it was a wolf... and instead of a wolf, it was actually the Alpha King.Two weeks went by since the initial night Alistair showed up on my doorstep. And, just like a stray cat you feed once, he kept showing up regularly ever since then. At first, he went back to pretending like he wasn’t interested in coming inside, but it only took a few days for him to give that act up. Soon, it just became the normal routine.I’d wake up around midnight and find him already on the porch waiting. He never knocked, but I think that was because he was worried about accidentally waking up Scarlett instead. He’d make me a fire, and we would just talk for a few hours. Sometimes I’d tell him a story, just a movie or book I’d read back in my world, and sometimes he slept here. The palace was always busy, and I think he liked having somewhere he could go to get away from it all. Even if that was just for a few hours.I also learnt a little about
The darkness only lasted for a moment.When I opened my eyes next, I was in water. Floating slowly down to the bottom of a void as bubbles filled my vision around me. Almost beautiful in the way they moved, dancing in the small light that came from above.Was this heaven? If true, it was kind of di
“Please...,” Scarlett choked out between sobs. “Please don’t kill me. I’ll leave you alone, I swear. I’ll run away as far as possible and never come back.”But it was too late for apologies. For years, I’d suffered at Scarlett’s hands. I was beaten, starved and abused by that entire pack growing up
“You should be in bed resting,” Liam said, holding my hand tenderly in his.I looked down at where he touched me and felt bile fill my mouth. I knew what those hands had done. I’d seen the results with my own eyes now. It was truly disgusting.“I’m fine, really,” I assured, forcing a smile on my lip
Oh... fuck.What the hell was I meant to do? No wonder the poor girl was terrified of me, some of those bruises on her body were likely my own doing. I’d just finished reading how she killed Scarlett in the future and now I was about to get a front row seat to the live action production.Was I just







