THE NEXT morning, when I opened my eyes, I saw two pairs of green eyes looking at me. I was now lying on the center of the bed with Iris on my right and Luther on my left. Both of them had such glorious smiles on their faces.The sun was already shining so brightly outside. And when I glanced at the clock, it was almost ten in the morning. Thank God it was Sunday or else, Iris would never make it to school. I never got to wake up this late before. The nightmares loved waking me up crying and gasping for breath at either midnight or dawn. But today, I woke up with this certain calmness in my chest which just meant that I… was truly home.Luther and Iris looked like they just woke up minutes before me. Their hair was still messy, but they were just as beautiful.“Good morning, Mommy!”“Good morning, darling.”And then they showered me with kisses on both of my cheeks.“Good morning,” I replied, still surprised at how my morning had completely changed.The duo both motioned their cheeks.

“DARLING, if you wish to win, you have to do it quickly. Do not hesitate. Remember, your enemy is a Vampire. He is as quick as a lightning, as sturdy as a rock. Even a second’s hesitation could lead you to death,” Luther advised while he was beneath me and was lying on the mat. I was sitting on his stomach and was already sweating and yet, he still looked so fresh as if he had just gone out of the shower.We had been training for hours. When I expressed my intention of wanting to relearn how to combat, Luther volunteered to train me personally. We trained for four hours every afternoon and I believe I was getting the hang of it. It was like a recap of things I already knew. My body knew how to respond to every attack, but with an opponent like Luther, I could only defend. I could not attack yet. I knew he was going easy on me but even defending was still hard.He looked so composed, he was not even sweating or panting unlike me. I bet I was the only one who looked untidy. I went to gy

I GLANCED at the women Scarlet had brought in this surprise parade of hers. They were lunas, too, all were Luther’s esteemed guests from different corners of the world. Since there was still a major threat lurking around, the guests wished to stay to serve the royal family and Luther had given them the permission to do it. Since then, more and more guests were coming, especially the daughters of the alphas and the elders.It was not that difficult to guess their purpose. This was not just about them protecting the royal family. The true goal was parading the luna candidates in front of the Alpha King. They wanted to toss me out of the empire. Even at my presence, the lunas kept visiting the main house with an excuse to offer their greetings to me bearing gifts not for me but for Luther while wearing their most seductive gowns.And if Luther came out to greet even one of them, I might have lost it, but he didn’t. He had never budged even without me around. His eyes were faithfully look

‘THE Queen’s lover, I found out who it was. The man was no other than Valerian Willers. It doesn’t ring a bell, does it? That’s because that was not his real name. His birth name was Valerian Theodore Alvarez, he was the hybrid all of us had seen at Magnus’ birthday celebration. He was also Kenneth Alvarez’s half-brother.’Giovanni’s report had never left my mind. I had always wondered who the heck that ‘Val’ was. It was a nickname I had heard my wife whisper in her sleep for weeks now. And every time, she would call him so sweetly.‘Do you think he knows who she really is?’ I remembered asking Giovanni.‘I’m guessing he didn’t. If Valerian knew, I doubt he would take her in. But now, the probability of him knowing the truth is a hundred percent.’Alexandra told me there was nothing to be jealous about. But then every night, she would call another man’s name. Some nights, she would cry. Other nights, she would smile as if she was remembering a fond memory only the two of them knew abo

WHEN I quickly withdrew my hands from Val, he and Nick looked extremely hurt. They changed their eye color and when they looked at me, their faces were back to normal. But that was a sight that was hard to forget. Val tried to reach out and I shivered. I scoot over until I fell on the bed.“Please don’t come close. Just stay where you are!” I said in a trembling voice. But Val stepped closer. And when he did, I screamed. “No! Get away from me!”“Cassey, I’m not going to hurt you. If that was our plan, you wouldn’t have been alive until now.” He turned to Nick. “We have no choice. Hold her, Nick.”“What are you going to do to me?” I asked, still horrified. “Don’t touch me!”“Are you sure about this?” Nick looked anxious.“I read about this. My father did the same when my mother was suffering. I could do this too,” Val replied before he slit the center of my palms with a dagger. Tears rolled down my cheeks out of fear and out of the excruciating pain that followed. I wanted to free myse