LOGINKIERAN’S POV (12)~~The pain in Ina’s voice and the anguish in her eyes made me feel ten times worse than I already felt. I would be lying if I said Celeste’s abduction wasn’t partially my fault. I have been a distraction to Ina these past few days. If I hadn’t been, she would have been with Celeste, or Celeste would have been in her bedroom.But–“This isn’t the time to point fingers, Kieran. She needs us.” Alan was quick to call me back to my senses. My eyes cut to Ina again, and before Damon could point out every obvious reason that this could be a trap Rexton had put in place to not just have Celeste but also Ina, I let out without hesitating, “I am going with you.”“That’s crazy. You both are the ones acting rashly. Rexton is a mouse—" “A mouse who had managed to earn your trust within a few weeks despite what he did in the past, Damon!” Ina snapped, cutting her brother off angrily. Before now, she had only expressed pain. But in that moment, she let her anger out, but at
SERAPHINA~~“H-he took her! ... He took Princess Celeste!” Lily gasped the second she opened her eyes, thrashing around as if there were some sort of danger that loomed but remained unseen to Kieran and me. Or maybe I had seen it with the absence of my daughter and heard it clearly with Lily’s words reechoing in my head like mind-shattering thunder.My knees grew weaker by the seconds, my mind debunking Lily’s statement. My eyes stung, but the pain was nothing compared to that of the fire consuming my heart with the intent to ruin me from the core. “Who? Who took her?” Kieran blurted, shaking Lily to gain her attention while I staggered backwards with tears blurring my sight. The world around me threatened to blur along with my sight, but I couldn’t let that happen. Not when my daughter was in the hands of the–“Rexton! That bastard!” Kia seethed like a wounded lioness, mentioning a truth I couldn’t deny. “It has to be him. I mean, yes… no one else would do this…. No one else
SERAPHINA~~“Come in…” Unlike the past few times Serena or anyone had caught Kieran and me in positions friends shouldn’t be in, I didn’t panic as I permitted Serena to enter my chamber. Not that she needed the permission… after all, she was the Lycan Queen. I remained in Kieran’s arms even as Serena pushed the door open and didn’t try to get up until his eyes landed on us. Huh, yes… she had to see that I was sure of Kieran and that I would never hurt him just because Rexton was my first love. “First loves are beautiful, but who said seconds can’t be better?” Kia said into my mind while she watched Serena’s eyes pop. While the later years of my relationship with Rexton were anything but beautiful, we had our good years, and cherishing them is the only thing I could do henceforth as I moved on. “It looks like I shouldn’t be here,” Serena exclaimed, but I could see the small smile dancing on her lips. Kieran chuckled, staring down at me as I pushed myself out of his arms. “Yo
SERAPHINA~~“Now I want to press my lips against yours. Kiss you tenderly until you melt in my arms, clinging to me like you can't get enough of me.”Not once in my wildest dream would I have thought that Kieran, the humble, gentle, loyal man who had always been by my side, would say those words to me. When I perceived his scent by my door earlier, my heart had quickened, anticipation and uncertainty clouding my mind.I didn’t know what to do or what to say to him… not when I feared that I would hurt him. Not when everyone believed that I would, including my brother and sister-in-law. But all of those seemed unimportant when I curled up into his arms… when he looked into my eyes and said those words, putting everything we already had on the line. And definitely not when he cut me off, pressing his lips to mine and swallowing every word I had left to say to him. Before that moment, I anticipated, wondering if a kiss from him would calm the storm in my heart and confirm the kind
KIERAN~~Damon and I returned to the palace late last night, but even though I saw that Ina’s lights were still on, I didn’t go to her. Not because I didn’t want to spend another night in her bed. But because I understood that she needed space and time to think about me… or if possible, about us.I didn’t want to mount unnecessary pressure on her. If she was going to truly choose me as her mate, it had to be her own decision. “But you are still here,” Alan called my bluff, scanning Ina’s door through my eyes. Yes, I had waited all night, and apparently, that was how long I could wait. That was how long my heart, body, and soul could last against the curiosity, need for answers, and yearning to see her again. “Blame it on the mark she gave me,” I murmured to my Lycan. Alan scoffed, but before he could utter another word, I knocked on Ina’s door, and we both waited to get her permission to come in. But instead of that, we heard footsteps, sounding closer by the second, and s
SERAPHINA~~While Kieran and I were able to keep the whole mark and chosen mate thing from Damon and Serena before the council meeting, I knew we wouldn’t escape the taunting that would come right after the meeting. In fact, I was shocked we made it back to the palace before Damon asked the obvious question with a big grin on his face. And Serena? She squealed, “Since when? Why didn’t you tell us?” I didn’t know what to say to them… or more appropriately, how to say what I had in mind. Do I plainly state that I had used Kieran as a tool? Or do I tell them that I still didn’t know where Kieran and I would go from here, despite marking him? “You both can’t go mute now. You have to tell us everything.” Damon jammed his hands together right before my eyes, snapping me out of my daze. Serena nodded eagerly and announced, “I will go get tea. My mate and I need the full details of how you two did this under our noses.”Fortunately, Kieran stopped them both, eyes cutting to me before
DAHLIA’S POV~~I stared at the woman standing before me, and for the first time in years, I felt the cold prickle of genuine terror.She wasn’t supposed to be back. She was never meant to return, yet there she was, staring at me like I was nothing but a helpless fly she could stomp on if she wa
SERAPHINA~~These past five years, I have been training with warriors while studying medicine, yet I wasn’t prepared to hear a public declaration of war. War was normal to our people, but the mere thought of it made me sick to the stomach. “Might have something… everything to do with the fact
SERAPHINA~~Th-the world… M-my world had gone silent. The music, the clinking of glasses, and the hum of hundreds of voices had faded. It all vanished, replaced by a rhythmic, heavy thrumming in my ears that matched the frantic beating of my heart.It’s t-the m-mate bo-bond…It was screaming, b
SERAPHINA~~The air felt thin. Or maybe my lungs had gotten too greedy with the past closing in on me. I wanted to turn and walk away. To disappear into the library annex and find the safety of Dr. Nicola’s medical theories or run back to Kieran, but my legs felt rooted to the marble floor.“I







