Lahat ng Kabanata ng Forced To Bear The Alpha's Son: Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 107

Vena.I had been walking around my room for almost twenty minutes, biting at the skin around my fingernails until one of them started to hurt. Today was the Lantern Festival, and the sun was already disappearing outside my window. From the television downstairs, I had seen Pack Central filling with people since the afternoon. Everyone in the mansion had left except the security guards, and Nikolai still wasn't back from the office.This was probably the best chance I would ever get.“I don't even know if I'm going to the festival,” I muttered to myself.Miriam had told me she spoke to Ivan and asked him to convince Nikolai to let me go with the girls, but I hadn't heard anything since. Knowing Nikolai, the answer was probably no. “Fuck!” I groaned and sat on the edge of my bed. Nikolai would be home soon, I thought as I stood again.“I have to make a choice.”My stomach twisted painfully as I looked toward the door. I didn't want to do this. For the past week, every time I thought ab

Vena.I stood in front of the mirror for what had to be the fifth time, turning slightly to look at myself from another angle. The blue sundress I had chosen fell below my knees, and I had paired it with simple sandals since my ankle was only just getting better. I had pulled my red hair into a ponytail and put on a necklace and a small pair of earrings. For a moment, I had considered wearing Freya's bracelet, but I decided against it. I didn't know why, but wearing it around Nikolai tonight didn't feel like a good idea.“Do I look nice enough?” I didn't even know why I cared. It wasn't as though Nikolai was taking me on a date, but that didn't stop the stupid excitement in my stomach. For the first time since coming here, I was leaving the mansion without the thought to escape, and I was going with him. Heat spread across my face, and I pressed both hands against my cheeks.“He's really taking me to the festival,” I whispered, smiling like an idiot.Then I gasped. “Nikolai is waitin

Vena.I stood in the queue for the bathroom with the wolf plushie pressed against my chest, occasionally looking over my shoulder to make sure Nikolai was still where I had left him. He was waiting near a shop covered in fairy lights, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket as he looked around the festival. He was probably checking the security again. Even with the baseball cap hiding part of his face, Nikolai was difficult to miss. He towered over most of the people around him, and there was something about the way he stood that made it look like he owned everything around him, which, technically, he did.I stared at him longer than I should have. The baseball cap made him look younger somehow, and maybe a little kinder, although I knew better than to trust that thought. I looked down at the plushie in my arms and smiled. It really did look like him, it had been the green eyes that made me choose it. They were almost exactly the same shade as Nikolai's.“Did your boyfriend win

Nikolai.The clearing was a hidden part of Thornmoon that my mother had taken me to many times as a child. Looking back now, perhaps my father had been right about me. I had been weak. Crowded places made me anxious, and during the festival there had been times when I couldn't breathe properly because there were too many people, too many scents and too much noise around me. I was hardly allowed to leave the estate, so I had never learned how to deal with any of it. My mother would notice whenever I became overwhelmed and bring me here until I calmed down. I hadn't attended another Lantern Festival after her death, and I hadn't returned to this lake either. I didn't know if that was because this place reminded me of the weak child I had once been or because I didn't want to be anywhere that reminded me of her.Either way, everything I thought I would feel when I eventually returned wasn't there. Maybe it was because Vena was here with me. There was something different about this mome