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The safe
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
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A Marriage of Convenience Shock
The sound of footsteps has me rushing to shove to scoop up the photos and the medication bottles into my bag. My eyes met Shawn’s and guilt etched into my soul as I masked my shock with disappointment, “I got in, but there is nothing inside that will help me.” “I’m sorry Rosie,” Shawn’s lips pulled into a frown. “You’re not crazy. I remember the pills and the movie night. I’m sure we will figure it out,” he walked over, wrapping his arms around me as the guilt intensified. “It was so long ago, I don’t know why I even care,” I lie, “I guess my father’s insistence that it never happened fueled this need to prove that it did.” “I get it,” Shawn whispered, running his hand up and down my back. “The last time that you experienced one of those episodes was terrifying.” “I’m surprised you remember that.” Something felt so wrong being tangled within his arms as it felt right, and my mind was confused about what to do. There was this deep ache to feel some form of connection, but at the v
A Marriage of Convenience Starved for attention
James’ brows pinched together as his emerald eyes roamed over my face. The tips of my ears still felt hot as I forced myself to look at his eyes, and not the rest of him.He grabbed the towel around his neck, wiping it over his forehead, “What are you talking about?”“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I spat, feeling everything from the day fill me with more anger than I’ve ever experienced.“I’m sorry, but I don’t,” he looked genuinely confused, and for a fleeting moment, I questioned the truth behind Edwards words. But then I remember the man standing in front of me. He gets what he wants, and it doesn’t bother him to play dirty.“Fifty million dollars ring a bell?”The muscles in his jaw flexed as his teeth ground together, “I should have known he was a snake,” James growled under his breath.“He’s the snake,” I scoffed, shaking my head as frustration bloomed in my chest. “You’re the one who tried to pay my lawyer fifty million dollars to disappear along with our divorce!”
A Marriage of Convenience Confusion
It was as if my brain and mouth had entirely disconnected from each other.I simply stared at the scattered photos on the ground.Why did I have them? How do you tell your husband that you found photos of his other mate in your father’s safe while simultaneously finding Aconite?“Rosalind,” James’ voice had an edge to it as his fingers gripped my chin, forcing my attention back to him.“I found them.”His brows pinched together in confusion, glancing down at the discarded photos one more time before meeting my gaze, “What do you mean you found them?”I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to force the right words out, but I found myself swallowing down every attempt.“I found these in my fathers safe…. Along with a bottle of Aconite that I think he used to give me when I was younger.” I blew out a heavy breath, not daring to look at James.He squatted down, gathering the photos, and looking at them one by one. His large fingers creased the edges as he went through them again and again.“I
A Marriage of Convenience Fallen (James POV)
Rosa’s bright, honeyed eyes stared at me in shock. As if she never thought those words would ever leave my mouth.“I have fallen in love with you, Rosalind.”Every moment I spent with my wife, learning who she was. Getting to know the woman that I’d so callously pushed aside for years has showed me what a fucking fool I’d been.And to be honest, I don’t deserve her forgiveness, but I’ll be damned if I don’t try to earn it.The moment she left me standing outside of that church, I knew I couldn’t fight the four-letter monster any longer. Sure, I’ve never been against love per-say, but I simply imagined it going differently in my head.With Onyx gone, I had to fall for Rosa in the way that a human would. Knowing that she’s my mate somehow makes me feel like I’m on this high that I’ll never come down from.Her glassy eyes move to the photos in my hand, and then the bottle, before lifting to meet my worried gaze.The one thing that terrifies me the most is her not feeling the same way.Sh
A Marriage of Convenience Intruding
My body felt like it was working on autopilot as I followed James into his aunt Joan’s home. Her face was set in a permanent scowl; her arms crossed tight over her chest. James held his head up high as he walked through the front door. I followed closely, feeling as if I was intruding on family matters. The man named Dante sat at a small table for four, chewing his nails. The moment his eyes met James’, I could see the apologies he wished he could speak out loud. “Your mother raised you better than this, James,” Joan shook her head as she flopped into one of the creaky wooden chairs. James ran his fingers through his hair before sitting in the seat across from Dante. I hesitated a beat before Joan’s eyes found mine, “You are part of this family. That seat right there is yours.” She’d softened her voice when she spoke to me, patting the table in front of the only empty seat. “I’m sorry, James,” Dante muttered quietly, but Joan interrupted, “You should be sorry. The both of you shou
A Marriage of Convenience Target
“Well spit it out,” James growled. I don’t think he realized that Dante had skillfully waited for the perfect moment to drop that bomb into the conversation, and I couldn’t agree with the timing more.The thought of Marina makes my stomach churn. “Like I said before, since your appearance at the Gathering, there has been a lot of talk. The werewolf community doesn’t consider you an Alpha anymore, given your lack of pack.” Dante looked nervous, which was comical considering the man was massive and covered in tattoos. “There has been talk about finishing the job that the rogues started,” Dante started, pausing for a moment to reach James’ angry glare. “You still think a bunch of rogues outsmarted me?” he spat through gritted teeth. The air in the room thickened with tension, making it hard to breathe. “I don’t think anything,” Dante snarled. “I know you were attacked. I know we don’t have names on who did it. And based off the information I’ve been given; I know that Rogues were pai
A Marriage of Convenience Broken
“Are you okay?” James glances over from the driver’s seat. I force a smile, “Do you want the honest answer, or the one that will pacify you?” “Rosa,” he opened his mouth, releasing a heavy breath, “I don’t want you to ever simply pacify me. I want the truth. All of it. Even if it hurts like hell.”I nodded slowly, not expecting that response. “I’m not really sure if I’m okay. I feel like everything that happened when I’d found out you were a supernatural creature doesn’t even compare to what’s happening right now.” My head falls to my hands, and I scrub my eyes with my palms, “Nothing makes sense.”James’ hand gently grabs mine, pulling it from my face and up to his lips. The soft skin brushes against my knuckles, and for a brief moment; I feel like everything is going to be okay. But that moment is so short lived, I don’t even have time to enjoy it. “Why does someone want you dead?” Out of everything I’ve found out today, that’s the thing that has stuck out in my mind. I can’t w
A Marriage of Convenience Bring Onyx back
“The first time I felt him again was when you’d gotten hurt at the hospital,” James whispered, looking away from me for the first time. His eyes screwed shut and his features morphed into those of pain. “When you’d fallen and cut your head.”What a day that was. “What exactly changed?” I finally pulled away from his face, urging him to pull over to the side of the road so that we could continue this conversation. He nodded, continuing to look as if he was going to be sick at any moment. “Honestly, I think it was your blood. I was sitting with the doctor in the other room, and the scent of copper mixed with what I now know was your scent carried me back. I felt Onyx fighting against whatever has been keeping him away,” James leaned his head back, staring out of the open sunroof. “What do you mean by something keeping him away? Do you still feel him?” His head lolled to the side, “It feels like he’s in a little glass box in my head.” A ghost of a smile graced his face, “And before
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A Marriage of Convenience Guilt
“I’ve increased security and will be checking in hourly. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” James held my annoyed stare, knowing that nothing was getting in or out of these walls without him knowing.He held up his hands in mock surrender, “Fine. FINE. I get it,” he stepped towards me, his large frame crowding my space. My butt hit the counter and my crutches fell to the ground. James lifted me with ease and placing me atop the cool, granite countertop. A shiver rolled through my body as the chill seeped into my skin, “I’m allowed to worry about you, you know?”“Worry all you want, but don’t stop letting me live. Please. I’ll be fine and I trust that all of the additional security measures you’ve put in place will keep me extra safe,” I pecked his lips, attempting to pull away quickly, but he grabbed my face, crashing our lips together in a searing kiss.James held me there until we were both breathless, and my chest ached from the lack of oxygen.“The office can wait,” he growled
A Marriage of Convenience The Perfect Mate
James assisted me into a house, where the smell of bleach assaulted me the moment I walked through the threshold. A crew of cleaners froze as we walked inside, but a single look from James had them scurrying back to their jobs.The glass had been removed and the blood no longer stained the white porcelain. A new pane of glass shimmered beneath the midday sun, and I found myself frozen as I stared at the picture-perfect home.“It feels weird to see looking how it was before,” I whispered, still feeling the fear of that night swim through my veins. The large floor to ceiling window overlooked the forest in the backyard, and I silently wondered if that fear would multiply once the sun went down and the shadows of the night came out to play.James pressed his lips to my temple, “I replaced the glass from before with something graded to be bullet proof. Nothing will get through those windows again.”A shiver rolled down my spine. Either James replaced the window with bulletproof glass to m
A Marriage of Convenience Something is off
I was finally cleared to go home from the hospital, but I’m not quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I missed my bed and the comfort of my own home. On the other, I didn’t know how to feel about being there after the attack.Not to mention my mind has been running in circles since Marina showed up here yesterday.James came shortly after she left, but something seemed off, and I wanted to dissect everything that Marina had said before confronting James about it. But even more confusing was the fact that she’d specifically said a wolf bite, when she shouldn’t have known that small fact.She couldn’t have known that unless she orchestrated it or James had told her about it, but I was leaning towards her orchestrating the attack.“How’s Ahmed?” I glanced up at James as he wheeled me out to the awaiting car.“He’s awake and recovering. I’ve placed him on paid leave and instructed his wife to come to me if they need anything at all,” James’ voice held an edge to it, but I didn’t c
A Marriage of Convenience Cops(James POV)
The inside of the house looked like a massacre. Tiny shards of glass decorated the floor like snow. Some of the larger bits were painted with a deep, blackish crimson from the dried blood, and the smell was nauseating.‘These were definitely rogues,’ Onyx spat through gritted teeth, his anger blending with mine the more we assessed the scene.Through it all, I could smell Rosalind’s blood, and the thought of them hurting her while I was off chasing some ignorant lead on Marina made my blood boil with anger. But the anger was directed at myself.I should have been here. I should have been the one to protect her, and Ahmed did his best, but one man against multiple wolves just didn’t succeed.Rainwater had flooded most of the evidence, causing it to spread before drying. The cops wouldn’t be able to pull anything from this mess. Not anything concrete anyways.I’d learned the hard way how easily evidence can be destroyed. If you’re not on the scene within a tiny window of time, your succ
A Marriage of Convenience Our. Home
“Rosalind,” Chris shouted, shouldering through a group of nurses who were conveniently gossiping about James. They still couldn’t believe he was married to a woman like me. Sure, I was a doctor, but that wasn’t anything special when the most eligible, billionaire bachelor in Georgia was in the running. He was like a God around here. And me? Well, I was simply an average looking woman who also happened to be a doctor. My status as a Red didn’t mean a damn thing, because I wasn’t a hot man who also happened to have enough money to buy the entire United States and not blink an eye. “What the fuck?” Chris muttered; eyes wide as he stared at my elevated leg. Blood had seeped through the bandages because they couldn’t seal the wound and for someone who doesn’t see this kind of thing on a regular basis, it was pretty disgusting. “Close the curtain,” I whispered, and he did quickly, rushing back to my side.“Was that,” he pointed at my injury, “From one of them.”“We are one of them,” I n
A Marriage of Convenience Cross me(James POV)
Pure, unfiltered rage didn’t even begin to describe the poisonous feeling flooding through my veins. The anger feels like a living, breathing thing.Like a Goddamned snake slithering its way beneath my skin, releasing toxic poison in the form of fury that bleeds into every square inch of my body.I want the heads of every single person who stepped foot on my property last night. I don’t give a shit who they were or what they were doing there. If they accidentally stumbled upon the forest at the back of the property…. I’m going to find them and make them pay.Since my driver is now fighting for his life in the hospital with Rosalind, I’m forced to call and wait for a driving service to offer me a temp replacement for Ahmed.A few painstaking minutes pass while I pace a hole in the cement out front of the hospital, sweating from the sweltering, humid Georgia heat before the damn driver finally shows up.‘He is clearly incompetent,’ Onyx spats in my head, ‘Ahmed would never keep us waiti
A Marriage of Convenience No one in or out
“Rosa,” James’ voice filters through the darkness, “Rosalind, baby.”My body shakes softly on my shoulders and my eyelids flutter. The lashes on my left eye are stuck to my face, and after a few attempts, they tear free.Bright lights above my head blind me as I blink away my disorientation.The sound of multiple different voices has my eyes panning around the room. EMS workers move quickly, rushing inside the small space and focusing their attention on Ahmed. I recognize a few of the faces rushing around me, but a relieved sigh falls from my lips as I finally focus on James.“What’s going on?”My voice sounds foreign and gravelly.“Are you injured?” James rushes out, coming back to my side and ignoring the emergency personnel shouting at him to back up.“My…” I start, trying to move the leg that had gotten bit, but it felt numb and stiff, “My leg and my ribs.”“What happened here?” The gold flecks in James’ eyes glitter beneath the harsh lights of the elevator, and his eyes soften as
A Marriage of Convenience Creatures
A loud noise jars me awake and my eyes struggle to focus in my disoriented state. The sky is nearly black and rain pelts against the floor to ceiling windows at the rear of the house.The television remains on, but the show I’d been watching has long ended. Glancing at my phone, I blink away the sleepiness seeing that somehow, I’d managed to nap for the last five hours.Another loud crack startles me as the sky lights up with a flash of lightning. A few seconds later, the power goes out, causing complete darkness to blanket me. The storm raging outside is the only sound I hear, and I quickly grab my phone, illuminating the flashlight as I walk towards the rear windows.The backyard leading into the forest looks eerie blanketed in complete darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and the feeling of being watched envelopes me as I squint my eyes, trying to see anything through the heavy sheets of rain.Another flash of lightning illuminates the sky, and I swear I saw someth
A Marriage of Convenience Liar
James left early this morning for work and forbade me from going into the hospital. I called in with a family emergency, and there was no questioning. They knew if I was taking off, it was necessary, even though it didn't feel that way. Chris remained passed out on the back patio, and I’m not sure if I should force him awake or let him sleep off the shockwave that was yesterday. I still don't even know if I've managed to brush off the reality that I've been a werewolf my entire life and everyone I loved kept it from me..... and I've had weeks to process it.My phone buzzing against the countertop startles me, and I glance over to see that my father is calling.Begrudgingly, I grab the phone, hesitating as my finger hovers over the small green button. I’ve been avoiding talking to either of them. Since my meeting with my father and my mother’s explosion over the scathing interview I did with Mr. Arden; I’m not sure they even consider me a member of the Red family.“Hey dad,” I finally
