ROYCE. “Fucker!” Alejandro growls as he goes over to the door. “Where the fuck have you been?” “Sorry Dad,” Dante says as Alejandro embraces him. I’m not so sure if he’s angry or relieved to see him as he slaps him on his back. He greets all his family, teasing Delsanra that she looks beautiful. There’s an inside joke there as everyone but Rayhan laughs, instead he raises his eyebrows at his younger cousin. He walks over to the bed, and I look at Skyla, who is sleeping, the image of her fighting with everything she has raw on my mind. “I’m proud of you, My Audacious Lioness…” he murmurs, crouching down beside the bed and kisses her forehead before he tilts his head. Intriguing that he calls her a lioness, to think a lioness is linked to Bastet. Was it a coincidence? I don’t think anything is a coincidence with this man. He brushes her hair back before he glances at me. “Things are looking good.” He says before he turns and looks at everyone in the room. “Apophis is breaking div

ROYCE. We hear a thud and Leo turns sharply. Something’s wrong. A sudden wave of dread fills me, and I stride towards the bathroom and Malevolent runs to the bathroom door, meowing. Leo turns sharply as I push past him, splintering the door with a powerful bolt of lightning that sends splinters everywhere. Blood. The powerful coppery smell of blood hits me and all I see is red, spread everywhere. “KIARA!” Leo shouts, as I stare at the scene before me. Blood covers the floor and walls, the shower is still running and there on the floor, curled up with her hands around her throat as her heartbeat fades away, is Skyla. “Sky!” I shout. I drop to my knees, placing my hand to her neck, before I look down. It’s not a stab… she… My stomach twists as I realise, she tried to rip her throat out. There are bits hanging out and her fingers are still wrapped around her veins. The sheer weight of what she tried to do hits me fucking hard, and I don’t even realise I’m shaking as I remove

RAIHANA.My heart is hollow.I never knew a person can feel so empty…When a thousand emotions should be coursing through me, ripping into me like a plague, clawing away into me, I’m oddly… blank.That is how I was feeling until last night when I realised that my family needs me.It left me numb. I somehow manage to turn my emotions off, almost.A part of me wonders if subconsciously I have cut my emotions off. A dangerous little trick that witches can do… because without our emotions… we are far more deadly…But… my family needs me, my children need me, and I need vengeance.For my man.The last conversation I had with him before we parted ways that day replay in my mind.(FLASHBACK)“Hey, kiss me goodbye,” Chris smirks cockily as he pulls me back into his arms.I roll my eyes, “I’ll be seeing you in half an hour. Wasn’t that kiss enough?” I ask airily, raising my eyebrow as I run my hand up his shoulders.“That was a peck, but I admit even if it was a kiss that lasted a million lifet

RIC THE DICK. “I want them to feel the pain,” she murmurs, staring ahead. “I want them to feel the pain I was in as they held me against my will!” “Oh?” I ask. I don’t trust her fully. Not after she’s been with them… Never underestimate your enemy. We are on the way to the Arden mansion at her request. She thinks as the rightful next Alpha, it’s my duty to be there, for my pack and people. And of course, I think it’s very important for them to know I am in charge. I rang ahead, commanding them to secure the place and making it clear Royce is not to step onto Shadow Wolves' ground. She’s touching me, but that spark between us has lessened. It’s strange, but these days I don’t really feel my wolf anymore. An odd wave of regret washes over me, he is- was a part of me, his emotions and mine mixed… Now I wonder if he’s simply closed off or is dying. He fought the powers given to me by Apophis, and I had to shut him down. He wasn’t strong enough for me! I needed more! I look down

SKYLA. I’m about to say something when I feel a wisp of air swirl around me. She’s leaving! Although I know she’ll remain in a way, I won’t ever get to talk to her again and oddly, that fills me with sorrow. ‘I won’t fail you.’ ‘I believe you won’t. I have faith in you, my Lioness.’ Her words seem to echo inside of me and my eyes flash as I feel something like a sharp zing rush through me. It affects my arms, and my head and it’s intense on my stomach and back. My eyes blaze and I stare in the mirror at my now cat-like eyes before I close them, not wanting the women to notice them. I won’t fail you like your people, Bastet. She’s gone. The moment I felt that touch, I felt it. She’s still with me, but not in the way she has been until now. Now all I have left is what she has given me and hoped for from me. I won’t fail her. “There, we are all done,” Lenora says, I stare in the mirror. The woman in front of me is not me, but an image of the ideal woman in the eyes of Aleric.