Seaglass Cottage

On the eve of our engagement ceremony, I noticed that Angelina Manning, my rich girlfriend, wasn't paying attention at all when we were shopping together. I bought a hotdog from a nearby food truck and passed it to Angelina's lips. To my surprise, she tossed it to the ground furiously. "Devon Fuller, my family wants a son-in-law who can carry himself with confidence and poise! Stop buying these cheap things! You'll just end up embarrassing me even more! How can my parents ever accept you if you keep doing things like this?" Feeling rather awkward, I picked up the hotdog and threw it into a nearby trash can. Then, I nodded in response so that I could maintain our four-year relationship. "Okay." I thought that was the end of the outburst, but Angelina decided to get engaged to Jeffrey Terell the next day. "Devon, Jeffrey committed suicide and got admitted into the hospital just so he could be with me. Once he's back to normal, I'll definitely return to you." I still nodded and broke up with Angelina. "Okay." After that, I left. Four years later, Angelina shows up at my residence with the diamond ring she had used to propose to me back then. "Devon, Jeffrey has agreed to file for a divorce from me. We can finally be together again! I told you before that I can return to your side as soon as Jeffrey lets go of his obsession over me and stops hurting himself." I frown at Angelina, who looks all loving and affectionate. At the same time, I mentally curse myself for picking this particular time to come home. After all, I've decided to come back to my cottage just to grab something on a whim, only to bump into my delusional ex-girlfriend. I just push her toward the door. "Excuse me. I don't want to be late picking up my kid from school."

After being forced to donate the blood from my heart to my Alpha's beloved witch, I die in the cottage that he'd built for me. Before my death, my five-year-old daughter runs to the castle in the forest to beg him thrice. The first time, she runs into the study and tells him I'm coughing up blood. My mate, Alpha Alaric sneers. "Is this one of Clara's new tricks? I can't believe she taught a child to lie!" He orders his attendant to take our daughter away. The second time, she knocks on the door cautiously and tells him I'm trembling all over. Alaric snorts contemptuously. "What's with the act? All I did was take some of her blood, not gouge her heart out. She'll heal on her own soon enough!" Once again, his attendant chases our daughter out. The third time, she kneels by the study door and weeps, saying that I'm already unconscious. She begs Alaric to save me. This time, he gets mad. He grabs her by the arm and throws her out of the castle. "I told you your mother won't die! Lie to me again, and I'll kick her out of the Wolffang Pack. She can die at the hands of those Rogues!" He breaks her arm in the process, and she clutches it. She has no choice but to pass the family heirloom—a ring—that represents her identity as the Wolffang Pack's heiress to a passing merchant. "I can give you everything valuable I have, Mr. Merchant! I don't want to be an heiress—I just want my mother to stay alive!" The merchant accepts the ring and soon brings a herbalist. However, Alaric's beloved witch, Elena has him taken away. "Sorry, but your father is worried that I'll be upset because my darling black cat is sick. He's ordered all of the herbalists in the pack to focus on treating my cat first." She snorts. "Your mother can wait."

Can we coexist, William? Or is one of us eventually going to have to leave for the other to stay?" "I don't plan for anyone leaving. Not unless we're all going.," I said. "You don't plan for anything you can't control," Elias countered. He reached out, his hand hovering near the sleeve of my sweater before he actually touched it. His fingers gripped the wool, his knuckles brushing the skin of my forearm. "What happened in 2018, William?” He asked softly. “A small cottage in upstate New York. Bought and sold in six months. No profit. No record of who stayed there." I felt the blood drain from my face. My hand moved instinctively, catching his wrist, my grip tighter than I intended. "Stop digging," I hissed, my voice a low, lethal vibration. "You’re hurting me," Elias whispered, but he didn't pull away. He leaned in, his eyes wide and dark, searching mine. "Tell me what was there, Will. Tell me who you were before you married my mother." "There was nothing in the cottage." I said, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm. I released his wrist, my hand shaking as I pulled it back. "Tell your friend to stop. Now." Elias looked at his wrist, the red marks of my fingers already beginning to bloom against his pale skin. He didn't look angry. He looked... fascinated. "So you can lose control" he breathed, a slow, triumphant smile spreading across his face. "You're just a man good at maintaining it." His eyes were wide with interest. ************************** After his father's death and the mother remarried three months later, Elias is furious and out for revenge. As he digs into his stepfather's secrets,he finds some he can use against him and some that makes him confused about his feelings towards him.