NIKOLAI'S POV.What was I thinking? My father was right. My feelings don’t come first. Today is the mate-picking ceremony and if I refuse to pick a mate, I’ll loose the trust and support of the pack. I’ll loose everything that I’ve worked for my entire life.I tried everything I could. I even tried to speak with the elders but it was of no use, there’s nothing they can do about it. My father has announced that Winter will be mated to him in a few days and he’s taken custody of her. The worst part of this all is that I can’t do anything about it, for now at least. I couldn’t bear to look at Winter when the guards came to take her away from me. I’d have killed them but it won’t have solved anything. I knew at the back of my mind that I was going to have to give up Winter before I could do anything. I wish I’d told her so she could be mentally prepared for it but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. She looked like she was expecting it too, she was composed when the guards came for, she d

NIKOLAI'S POV. I thought about it all night and I’ve reached the conclusion that the only way I can get to Winer is from the inside. My father has always been careless about the number of workers he has in the house, he barely even recognizes them, that’s why he had them put on this silly uniform for recognition. All I have to do is get one of those uniforms and find someone to help me sneak in. I thought about using someone that already works there to get to Winter but if I know anything about my father, it’s that he's great at making people scared of him. Asking one of them would be too risky and if they refuse, the whole plan will blow over because my dad will find out I’m snooping around. I have it all figured out, there’s only one thing that’s stopping me now and it’s who. Who will I send to the lion's den? Sherry has been going in and out of my room an awful lot this morning and its starting to irritate me. The first time she came in, she asked what I wanted for breakfast a

HUNTER'S POV. I don’t know why I said what I said. I feel so stupid. I thought I was over her but seeing her again—her beautiful eyes— they remind me that I’ll never be over Winter. I was willing to risk my life for her, how did I not see that I was still in love with the woman? I take deep breaths and remind myself that Nikolai is the better man for her and my job is to help them get together not to run away with her. I set the plates down on the kitchen counter and turned to leave. “Going somewhere?” The woman with blazing red eyes asked me and I almost tripped, I didn’t even hear her come in. Can this day get any worse? “No, I was just about to get started on the plates.” I answer and she narrowed her eyes at me. I wait for her to walk away but its like she has nothing better to do than to stand there and gawk at me. I end up doing all the dishes, cleaning the floors, wiping every surface clean and when it was time to take out the trash, I knew it was my only chance to escap

PATRICK'S POV.“Congrats son.” I greet Nikolai making sure there are enough people to witness it. I give him a side hug and pat his back gently. He smells nice, like he always has. I don’t hug him very often, unless the occasion calls for it but I know what my son smells like, I always do. In the eyes of the crowd we are a loving team and it’s not entirely far from the truth. We are a team, just not a loving one. I felt Nikolai's love for me. . . . and practically everyone else fade slowly after his mother’s death, all his emotions slowly being swept away by pain and loneliness.As a good father, I should have been worried and I would have been worried if he weren’t my first son. He was going to have to rid himself of the emotions anyway, it just happened sooner. I watch my son go from a loving, sweet ever-cheerful kid to a cold hearted warrior. The soft look he used to have in his eyes, vanished. As an Alpha, I was proud. Proud of the monster I created, proud of what he grew up to b

NIKOLAI'S POV. He died way sooner than I expected, not that I’m sad about it, I’m not. In fact, I don’t know how I feel about his death, yet and I don’t know if I might figure it out or not but for now, all I know is that I don’t feel anything. I am completely devoid of any emotions whatsoever. I watch as Hunter and the guard struggle to carry my father’s dead body, he’s not a large man, he’s bulky but not large. I’ve seen enough dead bodies to know that it has nothing to do with their size or how much they weighed when they were alive, dead bodies are just naturally heavy. I guess that’s why people say “dead weight.” I think. Bringing just a few people here to see him in this state was me doing my father a favor. He would never have wanted to be seen like this, he was a man of great pride. I can’t believe he’s now a “was.” It feels so unreal. “Where are we taking him? Hunter asks. I saw a smile creep up on his face when he was staring at my dad's body. I remember how confused he