I stared from Uncle to Aunt to Apollo and then back to Uncle. There was a palpable tense calm in the room, as if just before a storm. “You knew that he was alive and still you kept me hidden from him?” Bile rose in my throat and my vision became blurry. “Just because you didn’t want me to be known as a rogue’s daughter?” I didn’t know whether to be grateful to my aunt and uncle or hate them. I looked at Apollo for long seconds, but he stayed quiet. “You don’t know how they treat the rogues, Natasha,” my uncle said. “They are like an outcast in every werewolf society. They are not respected, they are—” I knew it, but to hear it from them was as if they were throwing sharp daggers in my heart. “I don’t want to know about it!” I snapped and then got up to rush back to my room. Tears rolled out of my eyes. My father was alive and they kept me hidden from him. In order to keep me protected from the vices of society, they kept me away from one person who was closest to me. They told me th

I was expecting only five people for my wedding which excluded the Shaman, but when I entered the hall with my uncle, I found the hall was… packed! I gasped. How was it possible that people who hated me were attending my wedding? There were students and teachers from my school who I recognized, and then some more. I stuttered to a stop and my uncle too stopped with me. He leaned over and as if understanding what I was thinking, said in a low voice, “They all are looking at the mate and bride of Apollo de Vries, and not at Natasha. In short, the girls here are dying to be in your shoes and those who aren’t will try to come close to you. You are going to be Mrs. Apollo de Vries. And that is a big name in our world.” As if the fact that I was looking into a sea of faces was not enough, Uncle Bennett dropped this bomb on me. I started trembling for I had never ever been in the limelight, let alone being in the center of the limelight. I felt like running away and I felt like this was a

I started with school the following week. It was impossible to go to the school just after my wedding. Apollo was hardly leaving me. We would spend hours in the bed, come out to eat something Victoria would cook for us, and then go back to the bed. There wasn’t a surface in the house that he didn’t take me on. It had become a joke of sorts that I was exploring the house by having sex everywhere. During that week, my aunt called me exactly two times and then also, when Apollo was in between my legs. Damn it, I didn’t want to pick up the call, but Apollo being the scoundrel he was, he tapped the green button on the cellphone without telling me and I am sure my aunt must have become beetroot red after hearing all my moans. After that she didn’t call me at all. It was worse when someone else called me because he was inside me. He had pushed me over the kitchen counter and was thrusting from behind. When he saw the number, he tapped the phone on and spanked my ass so hard that I cried as

Panic sliced into me like corrosive acid pouring down my throat. I gripped the bars of the bed where she was lying and they groaned under my tight grip. With red in my eyes, I walked out to the nurse station. “Where is she?” I growled. The nurse sitting over there immediately rose to her feet. She bowed to me, wincing at my demeanor. “She’s still with the doctor. They are running tests. She has gained consciousness though.” I closed my eyes and my shoulders slumped with relief. “I would like to go where they are conducting tests.” “Sure,” she said and hurried out of her station. “This way, Sir,” she said and then waved her hand to the corridor on the left. We walked for five minutes until we came across a large foyer that opened into various rooms and labs. The nurse took me to the last room on the right. As soon as I entered, I saw that Natasha was lying on the bed and the doctor was doing an ultrasound of her tummy. Dread blasted inside me as I scooted closer to her bed. “Apoll

I started with the school. I just couldn’t sit at home and watch TV with my feet up at the table 24x7. I really wanted to finish my school. Apollo was extremely worried about it. He growled at me, scolded a bit and then even threatened that he would call my aunt on a permanent basis to chide me if I exerted, but I was adamant. I had to keep myself busy and this was the best engagement. Aunt Paula was at first shocked. “Are you sure you are pregnant, Natasha?” I laughed. “Yes aunty.” Bennett Uncle grabbed the phone from my hand. “Sweetie, if we are to become grandparents, how about you stop going to school? I mean that would be a lot of exertion!” And I knew that he was speaking under Apollo’s influence. My husband must have connived with my aunt and uncle to stop me from attending school. “Why?” I asked, as irritation spiked inside me. “Because you don’t need to finish it,” he replied. “Apollo has enough money to take care of you and a dozen babies and then their children as well