LOGINTim's POVThe microphone felt like a ton of weight in my hand as I rose. Hundreds of eyes turned my way, soft lighting catching on champagne flutes and happy smiles. Eric sat at the middle table, his arm wrapped around Laura, both of them glowing like they belonged on the front of a magazine. My best friend for ten years-the man I had loved in silence for every single one of them.I forced the words out.“Most of you know I’ve been Eric’s friend since college,” I said, my voice steady only because I had practised this lie in the mirror a dozen times. “We’ve shared apartments, bad jobs, worse breakups, and every stupid adventure in between. Eric is the guy who makes everything better just by being in the room.”A few laughs rippled through the crowd. Eric grinned at me, that familiar tilt of his head that always undid me.“Then Laura came along,” I said, staring directly at her. She smiled back, polite and perfect. “And I watched my friend fall completely, hopelessly in love. The kind
Elian stood calmly at the center of the stage while the entire banquet hall remained frozen in shock. The police officers had already taken control of Victor and Lord Haggard, reporters were shouting questions from every direction, investors were speaking over one another, and guests struggled to make sense of the revelations that had shattered the evening. Yet through the chaos, Elian looked completely composed.He slowly lifted a hand.The noise gradually died down."I know everyone has a lot of questions," he said, his voice carrying across the hall. "But before tonight comes to an end, there are two important people I would like to introduce."The reporters immediately grew silent.Cameras shifted toward him.Even the police officers paused.Harold Wright frowned while Celeste looked visibly uneasy.Raymond sat restrained by officers nearby, his face dark with anger.Elian's gaze moved toward the entrance.The large doors opened.A red haired woman was wheeled into the hall.Gasps
Rapheal's POV The sudden, heavy impact of our bodies hitting the floorboards seemed to vibrate through the entire room, the thick rug beneath us doing very little to cushion the brute force of our collision. For a second that felt entirely too long, neither of us moved, our breathing coming in short, ragged gasps as we tried to process the ridiculous tangle of arms and legs we had just become. I could feel the intense, rigid heat of Narek’s chest pressing directly against mine, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm that mirrored the sudden, chaotic spike in my own pulse. His dark eyes were wide with a rare, unfiltered shock, his usual stoic composure entirely shattered by the simple clumsiness of a misplaced foot against a wooden table leg. I looked down at his face, noticing the tiny, sharp line of pain that formed between his thick eyebrows as he tried to shift his weight away from me, his elbow groaning against the floor."Get your heavy frame off me right now, Raphael," Narek mutt
Rapheal's POV I walked through the dense, shadows of the forest alongside the surviving farmhands, my heavy boots sinking slightly into the soft earth as the distant sounds of our attackers faded into the quiet evening air. The tension among the group was still incredibly high, every snap of a twig underfoot causing the exhausted laborers to flinch violently and clutch their simple wooden tools against their chests. I kept my head down, maintaining my slouched posture to stay in character, though my mind was rapidly calculating the political fallout of the Blood Thorne pack crest stamped onto those assassins' weapons.One of the older farmers wiped a mixture of sweat and soil from his forehead, his chest heaving as he turned to face the small group of survivors. "We cannot possibly remain out here in the open wilderness tonight with those armed killers actively patrolling the valley routes," the old farmer said, his voice trembling with a deep, frantic anxiety that infected the rest
Chapter 1 "Leo, do you take Alexa to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor, and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"The priest’s voice echoed through the grand cathedral, heavy with solemn expectation. Before Leo could part his lips to answer, a sharp, upbeat ringtone pierced the sacred silence. A collective, synchronized groan rippled through the hundreds of guests seated in the pews."Oh, sweet Jesus, not again," someone whispered loudly from the third row."Is this really happening on the actual wedding day?" another guest snickered, nudging her husband.My heart dropped straight into my stomach, a familiar, icy dread freezing my blood. I stared at the tux-clad man in front of me, my fingers tightening around my bridal bouquet until my knuckles turned white."Leo, please," I muttered under my breath, my eyes pleading desperately. "Just drop the phone. Ignore it for once."Leo didn't even look at me as his hand slid into his jacket po
Chloe's POV The camera flashes blinded me the moment my heels hit the pavement outside the grand hotel. Brandon was already there, holding his hand out to me with a smile that could melt glaciers. He looked like a literal prince standing under the canopy of crystal lights."Ready to become Houston, beautiful?" he whispered, his voice smooth and dripping with affection.I slid my hand into his, my heart doing a familiar, happy flip. My life had felt exactly like a movie these past few months, a fairytale I still could not believe was real. I was just an ordinary intern at Houston Logistics when Brandon, the CEO’s son, noticed me in the breakroom.One coffee date turned into a whirlwind romance, and two weeks ago, he shocked the entire company by dropping to one knee in the lobby. He had asked me to be his forever right there in front of everyone. It was the easiest yes of my entire life.Now, we walked hand-in-hand into the grand ballroom, the heavy gold doors swinging open to reveal
Nia's POV I could still feel the warmth of his blood on my hands when I forced myself to move, even though every part of me wanted to stay right there on the forest floor and keep pressing against his wounds as if refusing to let go would somehow keep him alive, but the sound of his breathing grow
Nia's POV The air felt wrong the moment I veered off the main path and forced myself into the narrow trail that twisted between thick trees and low hanging branches, because everything around me carried a scent that did not belong to this forest, and I could feel it settling under my skin in a way
Nia's POV I did not stop running until the walls of the packhouse were far behind me, until the familiar scent of home was replaced completely by the wild scent of the forest, thick and grounding, yet unable to calm the storm raging inside my chest.My breath came out uneven, my vision blurring no
Torin's POVBy the time I stepped into the main hall, the weight of the situation pressed against me in a way that was impossible to ignore, because the scent of blood mixed with something bitter lingered heavily in the air, and the low sounds of coughing and strained b







