Roman’s POVHaving snuck out the back of the shop before the door opened, I let out a deep breath. This was only one of the many hurdles I knew we would now face. I knew anything could go wrong but I also knew that Cleo and I would fight until our last breaths if that’s what it took to get our pup back. There was nothing we wouldn’t do.Together the three of us weaved through the crowd of jumpers and dancers, carefully navigating the streets. Which between the decorated floats and food stalls was incredibly hard to do. At this moment we were at us most vulnerable. Normally Balthazar would have been able to pick up on another wolf’s scent, but the smell of burgers, hotdogs and alcohol blended with the crowd’s perfume overwhelmed him immensely. The combination making him nauseous and uncomfortable.I’d hoped to spot Hades in the crowd our pup in his arms before they reached the church, but I couldn’t help thinking he’d had the same idea as us. Disguised themselves and our pup. A couple

Roman’s POVI didn’t know how Kai and my father came to be here, and I didn’t care. I was just glad they were. Cleo and I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but neither of us expected an army of rogues to this magnitude.As I broke the neck of the last rogue, I turned to see my father incinerate each lifeless body. The last thing we needed on top of this was for the humans to discover them. We knew our worlds colliding one day would eventually happen, but not today.“Am I glad to see you!” I smiled faintly as I patted my father on the shoulder, though his face contorted with worry as he scanned the street.“Where did your brother go?”“With Cleo, come on.” As we caught up to Kai and Cleo, my father quickly placed his arm in front of me, preventing me from moving forward.“You might want to wait here.” Confused with his words, I watched as he stood beside Cleo, placing his hand on her shoulder.The moment he touched her, I felt them connect. He was forcing his element into Cleo, giving her the

Cleo’s POV“Wake her up!”“No, it’s too dangerous.”“Don’t give me that crap. She’s his mate, she deserves to have a chance to stop this.”“You think I’m doing this out of spite, but I assure you, Layla, I’m not. Just one spike in her heart rate, and she combusts. What on earth do you think will happen when she finds out about Roman?”“So, what, dear father, do you plan to do? Keep her asleep for the rest of her life?”“Don’t be absurd. She will wake once the procedure is complete, and the council no longer deems her a threat.”“This is fucked up, and you know it. It goes against everything you ever taught us. Whatever happened to free will and ‘our body our choice’? It’s her heritage! I get we can’t defy them ourselves, but I’m afraid this isn’t right. She can stop them, and they know it. Why else do you think they wanted this done in the first place? They fear her and what she can stand for. You said it yourself, and so did mum. Roman was feared because he was destined to bring peac

Cleo’s POV“Ater ignus, fusce fume. Te evoco ut potentium tuam monstres. Cupidibus flammis hic veni. Caelo sub isto, harc arborem consumo. Lucem tenebrasque tuas monstra. Impetuum tuum evoco ad devorandum. Hanc arborem ac omnes hospitas devora. The rightful heir must now give her sacrifice.” Nausea rolled over me as Amun recited the words from his leather book. No matter how many times I told myself this was the right thing to do, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.Getting to my knees I held my head high awaiting the part I dreaded the most. I had never wanted to admit my heritage, but as the old saying goes ‘your past will catch up to you eventually’ and mine had.“Do you young Cleo, daughter and only living heir of our King Hades, accept the duties that accompany your new role? Do you promise to uphold the barrier between worlds, preventing souls from leaving? Will you sacrifice your pure soul to set your reign claiming the throne and all its glory?” It was no

Roman’s POVI knew without a doubt that Cleo would rather lose herself forever than for our daughter to one day walk this road. A parent’s sole goal is to ensure their children grow up safe. The problem was that Cleo had been looking at it all wrong. Each of us was born with the blood of a god or goddess. However, our pup came from both. The dark and the light are equal parts living in harmony within her tiny body. She was born to rule the underworld, her entire persona more than strong enough to sustain from giving in to a single part of herself. By accepting her role as Queen when she came of age, there was no risk of her losing herself.I didn’t want to believe the things she could one day be capable of, but now I do. I believe she will be capable of as much good just as she will be capable of causing irreparable destruction, but we had time to ensure she chose correctly. She would need Cleo and me to teach her the difference between wrong and right while freely embracing who she w