Novels by Emmanuel Abigail

“Darius…” Astrid’s voice was shaky, coming out in broken bits.“Astrid, I’m not accusing you,” he pointed out.“But you asked me. There’s a part of you that believes I did this.”“Not at all, Astrid. I want you to clear any room for doubts before I even think of having them. Please, answer the question,” he pleaded.“I have nothing to do with it! You should know I would never think of doing such a thing, Darius. How could there be space for doubt? It’s terrible that we should be talking about this, Darius!” Astrid shook her head, covering her face with her hand.Darius did not say anything for a long while after that. His mind was spiralling. Yes, he had not liked the fact that Selene had taken advantage of him and had gotten pregnant in the process. Yes, he would change the outcome if he was given the chance, but he couldn’t.Because he could not change what had happened, he had decided that he would love and support his child no matter what. He would be there in ways he had re

Astrid had gone into a frozen state as Selene cried out in pain mingled with terror, the blood trailing down her legs in bursts of extremely dark red clots.“Help me, Astrid! Please! My baby!” Selene’s voice, perhaps because this time it was directed at Astrid, brought Astrid out of her shocked state as she rushed down to get help from the security guards stationed outside.“We need help in getting to the hospital, now!” she screamed as she got out of the house, the men clad in black clothing rushing in to follow her into Selene’s room, where she was sluggishly attempting to get up through the mess that was her blood.With a little bit of hesitation and fear, the security officials managed to carry Selene down and into one of the cars. Astrid instructed Laila, the babysitter, to help look after Dahlia until she returned.Joining Selene in the car as they rushed over to the hospital, Astrid made attempts to relieve Selene as she dialled Darius’ number. Tears were streaming down her

Weeks passed by too quickly for Astrid to grasp. She maintained a steady communication with her parents back in London. As the days passed, she was slowly starting to accept that she could run away from her feelings all she wanted, but she would always circle back to Darius Titan. Even at that, she could not brush Selene aside. It was almost impossible to cut her out of the picture, especially now that she was getting more noticeable in the picture with how fast her stomach was starting to show bumps. Astrid knew for a fact that even if she made an attempt at shoving Selene out of the window and dusting her hands at the act, she would only be able to do it in the back of her mind. The bigger Selene’s stomach grew, the more time she weaned out of Darius to spend time with her. Darius, not willing to miss the chance to be the partner of a pregnant woman – like he had done with Astrid – would not pass up on the offer. Watching the slightest bit of affection Darius showed to the bump S

“Whatever you think this is, it’s not. Let me explain,” Joaquin stood up, masking his surprise at Astrid’s presence. He had not expected her to take a threat at Darius’ and Dahlia’s life so lightly. What he had miscalculated was the odds of Astrid calling Darius to ask if everything was okay.“You’re the father of Selene’s child. Y-you were in on it this whole time, Joaquin. Darius is your friend, for Christ’s sake!” Astrid was trying as hard as physically possible to stop herself from raising her voice, but it wasn’t working enough as heads turned in their direction and recognition started to brighten some people’s faces at the presence of Darius the infamous’ ex-fiancée.Astrid, noticing the not-so-subtle flashes of cameras in their direction, looked back at Joaquin. “Outside, now. We need to talk about this before I lose my mind and get Darius to come down here.”Astrid walked out of the restaurant, waiting for Joaquin. She didn’t have much to discuss with Selene. Not now, at le

“Are you all right? You look like you’ve been chased by an armed killer.” Astrid almost jumped at Darius’ voice from behind her that night. She was too ingrained in her thoughts and theories surrounding the note she had found with Selene to notice anything.“Oh, I’m fine. Just a little tired is all.” She shot him an assuring smile, trying hard to convince herself even more than she was trying to convince him.“Will you at least talk to me if you feel like talking about it?” Astrid was on the verge of breaking down at the weight of it all. It was painfully obvious that Darius was trying to be who he wasn’t the first time she was with him, but she didn’t want him to go back into his cold shell.What was it that she could possibly say? That after being taken advantage of, the child didn’t belong to him? Even if she decided to give Darius a second chance, he was still unpredictable. He could turn around and call her a liar, for all she knew. And she would understand, because she had no

“Is something wrong?” Astrid asked, my brows furrowed in a worried frown at how angry Cassia looked. Cassia headed for the bed and placed the branded Tiffany and Co. bag on the bedside table as she sat beside Astrid. “Tell me why I decided to come say hi and give you and Dahlia a little present, and the first person I see in this house is Selene.” “Oh,” Astrid said in realization as she chuckled mirthlessly. “Well, that happened. She got kicked out, or so she said. She doesn’t even want him to find her a new apartment. I guess she lives here now.” “And you’re just going to sit here and take it?” She threw her a questioning stare as Astrid shrugged, an attempt at nonchalance. Cassia turned to fully face Astrid, studying her face. Every line and every facial expression in that moment, she was determined to catch. She wanted to know what was keeping Astrid from opening her arms to Darius, for one last chance. “Do you really not care anymore, Astrid? I need you to be completely honest

I was out of the bed before Ferra could reach me, but that didn’t stop her acceleration. She swung once at me, which I dodged before Conrad could restrain her.“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?” she screamed at me as Conrad tried to talk her out of it, pulling her as far away from me as possible.“Ferra, I need you to take a deep breath. This isn’t healthy for—”“I don’t care, Conrad! Now you act like you care!?” She thrashed roughly in his arms, futilely attempting to escape from his hold. “How dare you tell me what’s healthy and what’s not healthy when you go ahead and announce to the whole pack that you’re having a mating ceremony with her!?”A slight feeling of triumph crossed me. I never paid much mind to how Ferra would react to the news, but her reaction in that moment was playing out in my favor. She would try to scratch at me and hunt me and I would stand there, shaking with my tail between my legs because I didn’t mean to hurt her.Just perfect.“Ferra, I don’t—”“You don’t g

It was time for me to see Selena.I had told Conrad where I was headed, another submissive ploy at getting him to trust me.“Are you sure you’re ready to see her after all this while? After you left, she was heartbroken. She barely left the house. I had to send some of the soldiers to check in on her.”Ever since I left? Of course he would word it like that. He would refuse to take responsibility. At least he had the decency to see Selena through it. I wondered how angry she must have been at him.“I’ll be fine, Conrad.” I nodded, waving him goodbye as I walked out into the street.It was almost as easy to shake everyone’s stares and whispers as it was before. The only thing I found uncomfortable was not knowing what they were saying, this time. The announcement of the mating ceremony had been passed two days ago, right after Conrad had proposed.I now had three days to make my mark in Conrad’s heart and head, enough for him to not change his mind about the ceremony. I also had

For some reason, Ferra’s words were not registering properly in my head. I was aware of what she had said, but the disbelief clung to me like a parasite. My mind was rejecting it, begging for it to be untrue.Ferra couldn’t be pregnant.I felt a kick in my stomach, queasiness following. I felt sick. Was I heaving? I was heaving.“Athena—”“You’re pregnant?” I cut Conrad off, staring at Ferra. I knew she was not lying. She would not lie about something like that, right?“Over six weeks gone,” she confirmed, never taking her eyes off Conrad as she said it as if daring him to say anything in his defence. “Since you know how fast werewolves give birth, you should know the heir to the pack is arriving soon. I advice you to return to wherever it was you came from.”I dropped the brush in my hand, taking shaky breaths in and out as I looked out through the window at the scene whose beauty they had destroyed for me.This was supposed to be a good thing. I was supposed to take this news

I had watched a lot of movies with different depictions and descriptions of what heaven looked and felt like. Some said it was a long, endless path of gold. Others said it was nothing but white with angels and your loved ones all around you.Now, I believed everyone had a different experience of heaven. My heaven was far different from white clouds and golden gates.My heaven was the coolness of my being the minute Conrad kissed me. It was the little sounds of approval he made whenever I did something right, like lightly tugging at his hair and pulling him closer.The heat within my bones was replaced by the rush of immense pleasure flowing through my veins in response to him.This was my heaven.“Athena,” he gasped as our lips finally disconnected. “We can’t go any further. I don’t want you doing things you’ll regret later.”“I won’t regret a thing, Conrad,” I assured, but he wasn’t convinced.“When you’re ready. For now, I want you to tell me everything Deimos did to you in f

I would stab Conrad straight in the heart.Deimos’ words played on loop in the back of my mind. Earn Conrad’s trust, give Deimos information on Conrad, stab Conrad.After everything I had come to learn that Conrad did to me, the whole idea should have appealed to me. I searched inside myself for the elation from the image of holding a knife right above Conrad’s chest, the look of shock on his face followed by realization.Nothing.I was not a murderer.Even when Frazier died by my hands, I still found it hard to believe. Besides, I was out of it when it happened. It may have been my last resort and it was out of self-defense.What excuse could I come up with if I succeeded in killing Conrad? It would be more of an act of revenge more than it was an act of self-defense.Was revenge worth killing a person over?For his revenge, he exiled me. He didn’t hold a knife to my throat for killing his Beta. Then again, he called for a fight to the death match so exiling me for winning a

I didn’t know everything I felt. I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. It had been a week since I found out the truth and cleared my doubts.I had been ripped away from my home and cast aside like a useless rag. Nobody would come for me. Even if Selena wanted to, she would most likely be exiled. I didn’t think she would want to sacrifice that much for me, especially since we had fought over something I didn’t remember.One thing I knew for sure was that I was angry.Angry at Frazier for challenging me to a fight. Angry at myself for not knowing how I had killed him. Angry at Ferra for every single thing she did and said ever since I met her. Angry at Conrad for simply existing.The one person I wasn’t angry at was the man standing in front of me with a punching bag, encouraging me to throw a heavy punch – Deimos.He made no attempt at quelling my anger or trying to make me understand his brother’s point of view. In fact, he fuelled it even further.“I just don’t understand!