After Roman dropped me off with the girls, I did my best to try and simply hang out with them, talk with them, and enjoy their presence. But the darkness swirling inside me didn't let up; I had to count my breaths a couple times when black started to swirl into my vision. They had asked me a couple times what was wrong, noticing that I wasn't my usual cheerful, goofy self. Each time I'd simply smiled and said all was well, just that I was missing my mate. They would be filled in eventually, by their mates, or in Violet's case, by Gemma or Roman himself. Would they fear me? I wouldn't blame them if they did. I feared myself, feared what I was capable of. When I couldn't take it anymore, I stood up and returned to Roman's room, saying I was feeling unwell and needed to lie down. They probably knew I was lying, but they didn't protest. Tami didn't say anything; I think she was trying to siphon some of the darkness. I laughed bitterly, realizing my inner turmoil would somehow be much w

We spent eight days at the cottage, the extra day happening after Amara used her tears and a couple other parts of her to convince me to stay. But unfortunately, we have to get back to regular life. Aston, of course, whined like a little baby whenever I told him we were staying one more day. We spent pretty much the entire eight days having sex, and occasionally Amara would train. She would execute anything I had her do perfectly, so we could have dived a little deeper into the training if we hadn't gotten distracted. Yeah, we might have ended up fucking in the backyard a couple times. After the run back, we're just now walking into the packhouse."I'm gonna go find Violet! I'll stop by your office after." Amara says to me and kisses me quickly before running off.Okay then, I guess she isn't too upset about coming home. I chuckle and walk into my office.My eyes nearly jump out of my head when I see the pile of paperwork sitting on my desk. Fucking Aston! Did he do any paperwork at

I'm quite violently woken up by a familiar voice yelling at me and then jumping on top of me. It takes me a minute before realization dawns on me, and then I squeal."What are you doing here?! How?!" I yell as I push Sophie off of me, sit up, and then tackle her again in another hug"Your grumpy Alpha asked me to come a couple days ago. Oh, by the way, he definitely thinks I'm an idiot. I blubbered the whole way up the stairs. I don't know how you're not scared of him; he's much more intimidating in person. Which is saying something because the idea of him was already pretty freaking scary." she says"I've told you a million times he's a softie, and I probably put him in a bad mood because I may or may not have thrown a hissy fit before I came up here," I say and cringe at my earlier behavior."Girl, what did you do?" Sophie says, rolling her eyes and lying beside me on Roman's side. I stifle a growl that she is laying in my mate's scent. She rolls her eyes and punches my shoulder.

In all honesty, the rest of the night was fun. After I introduced everyone, who thankfully already were briefed on the circumstances, my father didn't contribute a whole lot of conversation. He was just observing, and if roles were reversed, I would have stayed quiet too. He did talk here and there, though, not enough for me to learn much about him. Nonetheless, I felt lighter having him there. I guess I didn't realize I expected him to be nothing short of a monster. I had just shown Sophie and my father to their rooms, and now Roman and I were walking up to ours. "So today was certainly…a day," he says "Today was the equivalent of four days," I sigh "How are you doing, feeling?" he says, taking my hand in his and kissing my knuckles; I smiled despite what was about to come out of my mouth. “I'm just trying to process it. It's not like it was a shock that he showed up; I'm just surprised I was so emotional over it, you know? I didn't really expect to feel any type of connection

"This is a power I've wielded several times before; take a second and look at him, let the tether to your magic loosen, and then will it to surround him with protection," my father says as I stare at Seth, trying to put a shield around him to let him into the Underworld. I do as he says, and when my power reaches Seth, I see him stiffen for a second but relax as it surrounds him entirely. I can actually see it around him, like a light haze. I smile, completely unrestrained, as I realize it worked! My eyes dart to Roman's for a beat, noticing the pride and softness in his gaze. 'I love that smile on you,' he says through the link, and I look away; I'm probably blushing like a freaking preteen."Good. Now do that to everyone else here, except for your mate," my father says "Maybe try and look a little less like you're constipated this time, though." Seth teases me, I shoot him a glare, and he yelps. I jump, not expecting that. "Goddess, Amara. Are you going to do that every time I