*VALENS*“Why are you here?” It wasn’t like Clover to disrespect me.She had been my good friend since my teenage years, second only to Jabari who was born to be my best friend and beta. She didn’t disrespect me or disregard my orders ever and I explicitly told her to stay at the Black Valley pack after a group of men thought she looked weak and easy enough to target. She took them all down without help but she’d sustained life-threatening injuries after that.She was the kind of woman I expected to spend the rest of my life with. The kind of woman that everyone thought would make a fine princess and a powerful queen. She was beautiful both inside and outside but she wasn’t my curse breaker.“Valens, you know I get itchy when I’m far from you.” She wrapped her hands around me.“I didn’t plan to stay long here.” Which was the truth but it had changed now. I may have to start all over from here since I’d found my mate here. It only meant this land would break my curse totally.“How do y

The penthouse suite of the pack house which the prince now inhabited had a full-length mirror. The only times I saw a full-length mirror were the few times I went shopping with Celeste.I took my time to look at myself in the mirror, appraising myself from head to toe. My clothes were blander than my face. Brown eyes and dark brown hair, a small nose, pouty pink lips and a slim jaw.My chest was a handful at most but I suppose it would be half a handful to the prince. My stomach was flat not because I worked out but because I never had a full belly. No pronounced hips but I think they would have to do. Maybe they weren’t wide and full like Claudia’s but they were fitting.I shook my head, wondering why I was doing a body appraisal when we had to ready lunch soon. Claudia’s words got to me when they shouldn’t have. She could never be with Valens whether her body could accommodate him or not. He couldn’t be with another woman asides from me since we mated. His body would not respond to

“Be careful with Valens,” Clover said once she pulled into a parking spot.“Why? What do you mean?” The ride had been silent until she turned up the radio halfway to our destination.“He is complicated.” As if I didn’t know that already. “He is not someone you question.” I frowned at that. It wasn’t as if I didn’t think or know that even.“I never questioned him,” I said to which she smiled.“Not directly but when I told you he wanted to see you this morning, you asked ‘what for?’ Valens isn’t a man you ask to explain himself.”I’d only asked on reflex. He’d never sought me out for anything before so I didn’t expect him to send his former lover to me out of the blue.“I didn’t mean it that way.” I was actually questioning her but I didn’t add that part.“And he’s also not someone you argue with.”“That’s unavoidable, isn’t it? We can’t live together forever without an argument.”“Oh, you’re argumentative.” She grinned as she said that. “Valens likes it when people agree with him but I

*VALENS*I watched as my mate walked out of my office and it took a great deal of control to restrain my beast from keeping her glued to my side. With each day that passed, I grew less and less concerned about her past behaviour.She seemed too innocent to have tried poisoning me or betraying me. The person she seemed to be was not the same person I’d known her as and I kept trying to remind myself that she was more than met the eyes.She’d worked her way into my life in a matter of weeks to the point where I couldn’t string two thoughts together without her intruding into one of them. She occupied my mind on a daily basis. I knew it was the mate bond doing all these but no matter how much I tried to separate what was real and what was a projection by the mate bond, it became harder each day. I didn’t know where my true feelings began and where the mate bond ended. It felt like everything blurred together into one.One thing was certain. Mate bond or not, I would readily tear down any

LUCIEN"Are you certain she would want to do this?" I asked Skylar while we waited for Clover. She had this master plan and I swore to help her through everything as long as in the end, I had my mate back in my arms.It felt like someone poured acid in my stomach yesterday when I watched her walk hand in hand with Valens. My wolf clawed at me and fought to get out but I promised Skylar I wouldn't do anything to blow our cover. I had to make it seem like I'd given up on her so Valens would take his eyes off me."I saw the look in her eyes when Valens arrived yesterday," Skylar replied, tucking her hair behind her ears. She looked subdued today. As if it only just dawned on her the hurdle we had to scale to get what we wanted.They'd gone public with their relationship. The next thing would be to make it official with a ceremony. If they went through that ceremony, they'd be bound together as mates and more."What look?" I asked her."The same look you have in your eyes. The look of som