Shannon’s POVMy eyes fluttered open and I looked around to become familiar with where I was. I was struggling to remember how I got here but that wasn’t important right now, I had to be awake to know what was truly going on. Within that same moment, a woman immediately rushed over to my side of the bed where I sat wide-eyed, still panting from the deep sleep that I had just woken up from. My palms were clammy and my heart was still jackknifing against my chest as I tried to stop myself from hyperventilating. “Hello, child. My name is Luciana. You can call me that.” She began, giving me a rather warm smile as she tried to get me to loosen up and shake the tension off my shoulders.Luciana clasped her hand over mine forcing me to turn towards her. Her eyes were firm and kind, reassuring me that it had just been a bad dream. “Take a deep breath.” She ordered, her voice soft but firm. “You need to take a deep breath.” I nodded rapidly as I obeyed her command, taking deep measured bre
Shannon’s POVI shuddered in fright as I began to recount the incidents of the nightmare that just passed. The room had fallen silent, Luciana and the man seemed lost in deep thought as their faces contorted into different expressions as I watched the both of them keenly. I gulped as I kept on trying as hard as I could to suppress the tears from running down my cheeks. I couldn’t show how weak I was in front of them, I had to toughen up like I always had whenever I was bullied in high school. I had to wait out the storm coming and face whatever obstacle life would throw my way. I cradled my stomach, feeling worried about my future and how it was going to work out. If I didn’t know how to protect myself now, how was I going to protect myself when things got a lot harder like I knew it would?I felt Luciana’s hands on my shoulder, jolting me out of my daydreaming as I turned to face her. I smiled fondly at her as she sat next to me, her presence offering a comforting solace to my frigh
Shannon’s POVMy intrusive thoughts finally won me over and I had resigned myself to its fate. I tried my best to hold on but in the end, it wasn’t sufficient enough and I had no one else to blame but myself and my lack of self-control. If I had any iota a few months back, I wouldn’t be in this terrible spot right now but there wasn’t any use crying over spilled milk. What has happened, has happened. It was time to look forward and figure out a way after this forgettable moment was over. “Are you sure you want to leave now, Shannon?” Luciana spoke, her eyes brimming with tears. I had earlier informed her of my decision to leave and return to my pack, I didn’t know where exactly I was headed yet but it would become clearer as soon as I took my first step. After talking to the strange man and telling him the ordeals I’ve been passing through at the hands of my supposed mates, I had a little sense of clarity. Running away wasn’t going to fix anything; I had to go back and decide on wha
Shannon’s POV “You need to calm down, Jules.” I held up a hand to silence him. “Before we get into anything, you don’t need to act like you suddenly care about me. You’re the last person I expected to see here, I’ll be honest with you. So imagine my shock when I opened my eyes to see you here, you can go back acting oblivious of my existence.” “That’s an irrelevant piece of information right now, Shannon. What the hell were you doing outside the mansion?” I hesitated for a couple of seconds trying to weigh the options over what my reply would lead to but it was pointless, the rest of them were going to hear about the news sooner rather than later. “Don’t get mad at me for this, Jules. But I ran away from the mansion.” “What pushed you into doing something as crazy as that?” Jules’s eyes were blazing with fury and I recognized that look, he wanted to kill. “We weren’t compatible, Jules. I tried my best to make whatever I had with you and your brothers work but none of you were
Shannon’s POVI groaned as I opened my eyes. I could feel my bones aching and I knew I was fortunate that I had stumbled into the hands of very good people who had taken care of me more than I had even realized at first. “There’s someone who wants to see you, Ms. Shannon.” A voice said and I turned to see a maid with her head bowed as she stood a couple of feet away from my bed. How had she gotten into my room without me knowing? What the hell was going on and most importantly, how many hours did I sleep that I lost track of everything going on around me?I had given everyone strict instructions that I wasn’t to be disturbed until I willingly stepped out of the room but unfortunately, my warnings had fallen on deaf ears. “I categorically said that I didn’t want to be disturbed nor did I want to entertain any visitors,” I said to the maid as I felt a slight discomfort as she winced at how harsh my tone was. “I’m sorry, Ms. Shannon.” The maid began. “I tried to explain your wishes bu
Shannon’s POV“You need to calm down, Jules.” I held up a hand to silence him. “Before we get into anything, you don’t need to act like you suddenly care about me. You’re the last person I expected to see here, I’ll be honest with you. So imagine my shock when I opened my eyes to see you here, you can go back acting oblivious of my existence.” “That’s an irrelevant piece of information right now, Shannon. What the hell were you doing outside the mansion?” I hesitated for a couple of seconds trying to weigh the options over what my reply would lead to but it was pointless, the rest of them were going to hear about the news sooner rather than later.“Don’t get mad at me for this, Jules. But I ran away from the mansion.”“What pushed you into doing something as crazy as that?” Jules’s eyes were blazing with fury and I recognized that look, he wanted to kill. “We weren’t compatible, Jules. I tried my best to make whatever I had with you and your brothers work but none of you were ready
Shannon’s POVIt’s been an hour since Jules left and I had been crying my eyes out. I had tried to figure out why he had lost his mind but every line of thought traced back to the fact that he had been jealous and that was what was making me lose my mind. All through my stay here, he never acknowledged me for a moment and now, he was jealous that I had spent a day outside the pack and to make matters worse, he felt that I was cheating on him and his brothers. This was the height of confusion and it wasn’t making any sense. Nevertheless, my decision wasn’t going to change. I had already made up my mind to do better for myself and I was going to stick by it no matter what happened. I heard a knock on the door and I immediately wiped my eyes as I made my way towards the door. I opened it to see a maid on the other side of the door. “My apologies, Ms. Shannon,” She began as she bowed slightly. “Alpha Robin has requested your presence in the kitchen.”I raised my eyebrows as I tried to
Shannon’s POV“I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “You’re still doing it.” Alpha Robin chuckled. “I’ve gotten used to it over time, it’s going to be hard to change so easily.” I sighed as I rubbed my arms. “I understand where you’re coming from but what I want you to know now is that you're now a member of this family and nothing is going to change that.” Alpha Robin began. “You’re on track to become the next Luna of this pack and this is your family now.” “It doesn’t feel like that most times,” I smiled ruefully. “I often feel like I’ve been cursed with misery and despair for the rest of my life.” “You’re talking about how my sons treat you,” Alpha Robin said. It wasn’t a question but more of a statement, he knew what I was talking about. “I think everyone in the pack knows how they treat me by now, it’s no longer a secret.” I shrugged. “You asked what my relationship with my sons is like, right?” “Yes, I did.” I nodded. “I believe that the way they’re reacting towards you has t
Shannon’s POVIt was midnight already. The maids had returned to my room two hours earlier to help me get ready for my wedding to the Mayert triplets alongside my seamstresses and a couple of other servants. They had forbidden me from lifting a finger to help myself so I had resorted to staying put unless I wanted to risk the ire of the women helping me dress up and I wouldn’t even dare to do that. At the stroke of midnight, I was standing at the entrance of the hall already adorned with palatial decorations with cascading floral arrangements hanging from every side of the grand room, sparkling white chandeliers hung high above with delicate draperies completing the settings designed to evoke an atmosphere filled with love and warmth.A group of violinists was positioned at a corner, setting the tone for the exchanging of vows that were about to take place. We were five years late, but this was the perfect time for it to happen. It was better late than never and there was no bette
Shannon’s POVI couldn’t believe that this was how my life was going to end up. A few hours ago, I thought that I would eventually have everything that I had always wanted out of life but Joshua handed me a reality check. I hadn’t seen Eve since I sent her to deliver the letter to the Mayery triplets so I had no way of knowing if she succeeded or if she had been killed before she even got there. I had no idea if my son was dead and Joshua was merely forcing me to do this to keep me by his side. I was completely hopeless and powerless in this. I stood in front of the officiating chief with Joshua standing opposite me, he had a huge satisfying smile on his face and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his smug face. “You need to say your vows, Shannon,” Joshua said, his smile never leaving his face. As I opened my mouth to speak, a familiar scent wafted through my nose and I felt joy wash over me. If they were here, it meant that they had gotten the letter and had rescued our s
Ricky’s POVI couldn’t believe what I was holding in my hands. Had he been lying to me all along? No, no. I couldn’t believe it. There had to be some sort of explanation for what was going on currently and that meant I had to speak with her immediately. There had been a mixup somewhere during the night and I had to get to the root of it all. “She played us all, Ricky,” Jules said. “Jules might be right this time around, Ricky. We thought we had her back and we were ready to show her that the past will never happen again, what did we do wrong?” Cole asked. “I don’t think this is real. I don’t mean the letter — I mean the whole scenario. Just yesterday, she told us about our son and she was willing and eager to get into a relationship with us and this morning, she’s getting married to Joshua. C’mon, boys. I need you both to think critically about this before you conclude.” I said. “You think she’s being blackmailed or worse?” Jules asked. “That’s my best guess but we need to see h
Shannon’s POVI nodded. “So this culprit behind what I’ve been experiencing, is the same person who forged this letter and brought Melissa here?” “Yes, it’s the same person,” Ricky said. “Tell me who this person is and I’m going to have them dealt with,” I said, already getting furious. “Joshua,” Ricky said. “He’s being the flashbacks you’ve been having and after following him for the past couple of days, we’ve also figured out that he wrote the letter and he has spies in your household, in my pack, and Melissa’s camp as well. That was how he was able to set up all of these with ease.” I paused. Joshua and I hadn’t been seeing eye to eye on several things for the past few weeks after I turned down his proposal but would he ever go to this length to punish me for rejecting him?“Are you sure about what you’ve just said, Ricky?” I asked. “I swear on my life, Shannon. Joshua is behind all of these. He doesn’t want to see you with anyone other than himself and he’s willing to do anyt
Shannon’s POVI couldn’t categorically tell what was happening but I knew that a lot of things were changing. I had been plagued by things from the past, things that served as a reminder of how hurtful my past had been, and no matter how I tried to stop them from happening, I couldn’t do anything about it.Before the past couple of days, things with the Mayert triplets had been smoother than they had ever been for the past five years but the flashbacks and reminders that I had been getting were forcing me to remember how they used to treat me all those years ago. I didn’t know what to do or how to stop it so I decided to stay away from them to regain my sanity. Maybe then, I would have an idea about what the fuck was going on because as it stands, I didn’t know what to make of the entire situation. “Are you sure about doing this, Ms. Shannon?” My maid asked as she brushed my hair. I had instructed her that I didn’t want to take any calls from the Mayert triplets and I didn’t want t
Shannon’s POV“What do you think you’re doing?” Joshua asked as he walked into my tent. He was visibly pissed and I could understand his anger. I had pulled him out of whatever he was doing and brought him here under the guise that we were going to war and now, I was pulling out before we even had a chance to fight. “I don’t think I have the stomach for this conversation anymore, Joshua. I understand that you’re pissed but this isn’t what I need right now.” I said. “If you’re thinking of shutting me out like you always do, it’s not going to work today, Shannon. I need answers and I need you to give them to me.” Joshua said defiantly. He wasn’t going to budge and we might just as well get over with this as soon as we possibly can. “So tell me what you want to know and I’ll answer your questions,” I said, gesturing to the empty couch in front of me. “Everything, Shannon. I want to know everything.” Joshua said as he sat down. “Everything? I don’t know where to start and—“ “You l
Shannon’s POV“And you think it’s going to happen in a day or two days?” I asked them.“No, we don’t. We don’t want you to make a decision about forgiving us here and now because we don’t want you to be under any pressure of any form, so we’re going to let you take your son and go home.” Ricky said. “And what happens next?” I asked. “We’re going to call you once again, for the last time, to know what your decision on the matter is. It’s not going to be an easy decision to make and if we were in your shoes, we would feel exactly how you’re feeling at this point.” Ricky answered. I paused for a bit, their words swirling around in my head. Had Melissa done all of these because she wanted to ruin both of us or what was her end goal? Truth be told, it was pointless now. The ruse had been discovered and there wasn’t any need to go to war over a lie. Maybe by the next time we met, we would have a lot more to talk about and indeed, there was a lot to talk about. “A couple of days for m
Shannon's POV"We have nothing to talk about, Ricky." I sighed. "Just tell me what you want and I'll give you in exchange for my son's safety." "Don't you still get it, Shannon?" Ricky said."What are you talking about? There's nothing to be understood here, this is a simple negotiation that you've been dragging on for minutes now. Are you keeping me here on purpose? Is there something you have planned?" "If this were to be five years ago, your son would've been killed, and not just that, you'd have been tricked to come here under the guise of us wanting to return your son and when you come, you'll be beaten, and battered, then forced to surrender if you want to see your son alive and when you do, I'd have killed him in front of you before killing you as well. I hate to paint this vivid imagery of what we would have done but you know this is the truth.” Ricky said.I shivered slightly as his words registered with me.He wasn't telling a lie, five years ago, this is what they would h
Shannon's POVI knew how to get into the pack without anyone seeing me as I had done it a thousand times five years ago whenever I tried to escape being bullied by the Mayert triplets. It was pointless to have told Joshua about where I was going, it would've led to a lot of arguments that I didn't have the stomach for, not when I had no idea what was happening to my son at this point. I didn't want to imagine the worst but Ricky's letter had been very convincing and I had to force myself to believe everything he had said in it because the truth was that, I had no other choice. If this was a trap, Joshua would come for me and he would bring the pack down with fire and brimstone if that was what it would take for him to avenge me. Aside from the fact that I was scared for my son, I was also scared that the Mayert triplets would eventually figure out the secret I had kept from them for the past five years. As I had predicted, it had been easy to bypass their security and it would've