KAYLA.Ever since I was a little girl, I've found out that journaling was the best way to express myself. Having literally no one else to talk to forced me to pick up a book one day and start channeling my emotions into it. It was the best form of therapy and I usually assumed I was speaking to my mother.Whenever I wrote, it was almost as if I could feel her presence surround me and in the times of tears, I could fell her arms stretch out to comfort me. I usually told her about the wrath I faced in Archer's hands and how everyone hated me since she passed but most of all, I told her how much I wished she was still here.How my life would be so much different if I had my mother by my side.Then one day, my step sisters got their hands on the secret book and their first instinct was to take it to my father. He was furious when he found out all I’ve been saying. I could remember his exact words, calling me selfish and ungrateful for everything he'd done.It was that day he gave me the s

KAYLA“Oh wow.”I marveled at the sight of the glowing pendant because I’d never seen something quite like this. A gazillion questions roamed behind my eyes, including whether or not Rafael knew about this. The tears seized from falling down my cheeks as I reached across to the necklace.Like an amulet, its light hit the ceiling and emanated a purple hue. I enclasped it like an artifact in my hands. narrowing my eyes at the hauntingly beautiful diamond. It was warm and embracing, like a presence flowed through the stone—a presence that seemed to choose me.What was this."Am I making the right decision?" My first instinct was to speak to it and after a moment, it beamed twice. I had no idea what that meant but a faint smile crept to the corner of my lips. It seemed like the crystal was talking back to me."Was Sarah murdered by a wild animal in the woods?" I asked the next obvious question and this time, it was hesitant although it still beamed. It was like an ancient artifact with

KAYLA.The bruises across my neck ran shallow but they burned so much.I was no stranger to torture and vile treatment that I had a lot of wounds and scars across my body. I could endure a hundred from my father but not one from a Lycan. I touched across the red surface but it hurt even more—almost yearning for Rafael's hands.Whenever he was with me, it didn't hurt so much.I wanted him.I wanted him so bad that my body craved his touch—that I couldn't explain. It was more than being mated, more than being tethered. It was as though he was my life, my cure. I wanted him as bad as he wanted me but the thought of Veronica had forced me to drive him away.I regretted it as soon as he walked out of the door. I regretted letting him go. I was a stranger to these carnal feelings which only made it a hundred times worse that I just needed the coldest shower to bury my head beneath. But alas as I stood up, holding the towel across my chest, my door suddenly barged open.And a shaky gasp e

KAYLA.Since I got here, I’ve noticed a few things.The Lycans lived much differently than how we did back at Blood Moon. They were organized, tactic and not to mention, even more powerful. They seemed to always be in control or on the verge of it. Everything here was well intentioned and happened for a reason I noticed.Their shifting also came easily to them. Or perhaps as they grew, they learned to control their powers and most primal desires. Unlike my people who could only transform during a full moon, the Lycans were blessed with the ability to shift whenever they wanted. I’ve watched Rafael slip in and out of his beastly nature and it was clear that of all of them, he was the most advanced and powerful. It made sense that he was Alpha King, able to rule fairly over the wolves of the Black Mountain Pack, commanding as much respect and regard to him. It was essential for the smooth running of the pack that they accepted him as king to rule over them. It wasn’t a messy politica

FIVE YEARS AGO.I remember hearing the voices come from behind the door as I walked towards my father’s chamber with his plate of food in my hands. I was shaking, dreading the moment I would stand before him because I knew what was coming. I knew Rose had laid her hands on my journal and now she was going to report me to father and I was scared that I wouldn’t live past that day. I wrote down my innermost thoughts in that book and some of them were the horrible ways that they treated me that I wanted to tell my mother.My heart stopped once the door flung open and there was a lone tear that escaped my eyes. Archer hovered with anger, landing me a slap across my face without any hesitation.Stars dwindled in my eyes as the plate crashed to the floor and then he took me by my hands and slammed me into the wall. “I read it all” He gritted through his teeth, far from pleased as I whimpered in his grasp.“I’m sorry” I apologized.“You realize you’re so ungrateful. You know that?” My fathe