Soon I notice the dense forest parting and opening up into a landscape that takes my breath away. This must be the kingdom of Longsang. We drive along a cliff-side that sees over a river of crystal blue water. There are several small waterfalls, each with bridges running over them. The largest waterfall comes from the mountain to our right. We pass homes, structures, and pavilions everywhere, even along the side of the mountain or on top of cliffs. There are people everywhere just going about their lives with their homes nestled among lush greenery and plum blossom trees everywhere. We keep driving until eventually driving between two cliff faces until the space opens up to the most beautiful palace I’ve ever seen. The traditional Chinese structure is surrounded by mountains and is at least five stories high and mostly red; from the tiles to the wooden rails and beams. The pillars are all black with gold seals on the front that show two snakes facing each other. Lanterns hang from ev

I’m pulled from my continuous depressive thoughts when I hear the buzzer for the door go off. Evalyn quickly gets up and opens the door, letting Amelia and Aulen inside. I quickly jump to my feet. “Is it Mei? Is there news?” I ask in a hurry. Amelia looks at me regretfully and shakes her head, “Nothing yet, but Aulen wants to try something,” she says, stepping aside. My attention now turns to the redhead beside her. Why are all her clothes so revealing? She’s once again in black slacks, black stiletto ankle boots, and a black top with bell sleeves and a deep V-cut that goes straight to her navel. 'Who the fuck cares?! Find out if she can get back Mei or not!' Axel growls viciously. His temper has never been so out of control in all the years we’ve been together, it’s a little scary, to be honest. “I’ve tried to magically follow her trail and Zixin’s, but there’s nothing. So I want to try to see if I can track her through you,” Aulen says matter-of-factly. “I don’t follow,” I say

*TRIGGER WARNING* This chapter depicts assault. Skip to chapter 27. I can no longer feel the pain in my cheek as I force myself to sit up and begin furiously shaking my head, unaware of where my new strength is coming from. His eyes darken, his jaw ticks and I see the fury burning in his eyes. “I had expected you to show more gratitude, Mei,” he says coldly, his demeanour completely changing. “I won’t marry you! You’re not my animai! I’d rather di–” My words are cut off, as in the blink of an eye he’s lifting me out of the bed by my throat. My hands grip around his as I struggle to breathe; my feet dangling off the floor as I become lightheaded. “Now I’ve tried being nice to you, but I warned you about behaving. I can do so much worse than kill you, Mei. You see, I need you alive,” he says with a smile on his face, but quickly his smile disappears, and his expression turns cold and vicious. “But I don’t need you in one piece.” Before I know it, he’s throwing me across the room wh

Once I’ve seemed to calm down, Nuo once again helps me get cleaned up and dressed. Gradually I can feel my strength returning to me, but it’s not there yet and honestly, I just don’t care. I can’t find the will to do much of anything, I feel as though I’m running on autopilot. When Nuo’s gotten me ready – I notice the Emperor’s body is no longer in here and that gives me a small amount of relief – she sits me on a couch far away from the bed. I can’t bring myself to even look at it knowing what happened on it and I’m grateful she’s keeping me away from it. Nuo sits beside me and holds me as a mother would a child and gently rocks me back and forth and I let her. Eventually, Qiang returns, glancing between Nuo and myself, “How is she holding up?” “How do you expect her to be holding up?” She asks pointedly. He sighs, “Right. Sorry. Jianyu says he’s on the outskirts of the border, if I can get her to him he’s promised to take her in and keep her safe. I’ve warned him to handle the si

It happened so fast, but as soon as I saw the blisters I knew exactly what was happening. It wasn’t too long ago something like this happened to me, only I could see with Chris this was much, much worse. His pain was getting worse to the point he began throwing up. Even when my pack was under attack I never felt this helpless. Someone abducted and is now assaulting my friend and my other friend is suffering along with her. We’re surrounding Chris, but there’s nothing we can do to help him, all we can do is watch him suffer and I hate it, I hate it with every fibre of my being. “Step aside!” Exclaims Aulen. Vitali and Tyson move out of the way as Aulen kneels by Chris’ head and places her hands on either side of his head. A purple glow forms around her hands as her eyes turn to black abysses with silver pupils and within a moment Chris is unconscious. “What did you do to him?” Tyson asks warily. “Knocked him out. It was the only way to stop the pain. I can’t block the bond, but I c