It was dark, as it was well into the night, but Lila had no trouble seeing. In nothing but her sexy sheer nightie and a flimsy excuse for a robe, she poured a glass of water for herself. Leaning onto the kitchen counter, she sipped it and absentmindedly listened to the voice raging a few rooms away. That voice had woken her up. Pulled out of her sleep, she'd felt the other side of the bed to confirm her fiancé wasn't there. Instead, he was in his study, conversing with someone on the phone. Whatever they were discussing must have been serious—he was yelling pretty loudly. The kitchen lights came on, and Lila squinted as her eyes got used to the brightness. Georgina stood at the doorway, her hand still on the light switch. "You're awake." It was a question more than it was a statement. Draining the last drops of water, Lila dropped the glass on the counter. "Your son made it impossible to sleep." Glancing out at the hallway, Georgina looked in the direction of the study. "He tends t
Belinda glanced at her phone, after which she glanced back at the sign reading May&Tom's Coffees. The name matched the one specified in the text, so she pushed the door open, entering the shop. It did not take long for her to spot those she'd come for. They waved widely at her from a corner of the café, easily drawing her attention as soon as she walked in. Returning their smiles, Belinda joined them at their table. "We're so sorry we didn't call sooner." Jane was the first to speak, apologizing as Belinda took the empty seat in the circle. "It felt wrong to simply call you on a phone, so we decided to treat you." The woman who had raced through the hallways of the hospital to find her husband, looking haggard and shaken, was completely gone, leaving this Jane that seemed to radiate sunshine. Dressed in a cute floral gown and with her hair properly combed, she appeared even more pretty. Belinda flashed her a kind grin, and assured her that it was okay they'd taken their time to
Belinda sighed as her lover nipped her lower lip, her tongue coming to lick his upper one. Their kiss was soft, the kind that progressed slowly, searing their partner with satisfaction after hardcore sex. Draven's fingers caressed Belinda's waist as he deepened the kiss, reigniting the flames still left in her body. His hand eventually slid to her bum, and she giggled as he squeezed a cheek. "You can't seriously be up for another round." She smirked as she raised an eyebrow, because she truly couldn't believe it, not after the sex they'd just had. "And what if I am?" Teasing her, Draven took her earlobe between his teeth. "That doesn't sound like such a bad idea." Belinda curved her arms around his neck, and pressed her breasts to him. Indeed, she was exhausted, but the instant her nipples came in contact with the Lycan's bare chest, they stood at attention. She could never get enough of him. He was a drug she was delighted to be addicted to. As punishment for being so
"What?" The once peaceful atmosphere turned tense as shock coursed through Derek. He frowned, his brain delaying to process what he'd just been told. Staring wide-eyed at Belinda, he waited for her to say something. Anything. God, this was frustrating, Belinda thought, grinding her teeth against each other. How was she supposed to convince a Beta to turn his back on his pack? First of all, she was taking a mighty risk exposing herself to him, but she'd been pushed to by the encounter outside the café. Suffering defeat at Lila's hand had made her realize she needed someone on the inside on her side. She needed to know who was doing what in the Knight family, and when it was happening. Her only link to the Chicago Pack, Lexie, had been severed though, for very obvious reasons. The only other person Belinda had a friendly enough relationship with was Derek, despite their recent fallout. It was either him or no one else. "To be accurate," Belinda chose her words carefully. "I'
Dressed in a silk black shirt, a couple of its buttons opened and its sleeves rolled up to his elbow, Draven walked through the hallways of the hospital. A shadow shaded his expression, but aside from that, no other emotion was visible on his face. One hand propped in a pocket of his black trousers, he entered the private ward on the VIP floor. Derek jerked as the door swung open, and the face he saw at the doorway made him pale several shades. "My lord." His voice came out as a breathy, petrified, croak. Rather than reply, Draven took a look around the ward he'd just entered. It was clean and spacious, with every comfort a VIP patient could want. Good. There would have been hell if any expenses had been spared to make his partner comfortable. As Draven turned to the lower-ranked man, he squirmed, his fear visibly paralyzing him. Derek sat on a stool beside the bed where Belinda lay unconscious, her body bandaged in several places and a drip inserted into the vein at her wrist.
Sunlight hit her face, causing her eyelids to flicker open. The first few seconds Belinda spent awake, she wondered where she was and what was happening. Her vision gradually grew clearer, she picked out the white wall and the tiled roof, the classy furniture, and the painting of a meadow hanging on a wall. Okay, she recognized everything... she was in her bedroom at the Lycan's penthouse... but why, in the moon goddess', name did her entire body ache!? She ached in every place imaginable, and her head felt like it could fall off from her neck at any moment. Using her elbows as support, she tried to sit up on the bed, and groaned from the effort. The noise drew the attention of Lexie, who had been looking out the window of the room before then. She turned to a scene that brought tears to her eyes—a scene of Belinda alive and kicking—and immediately smiled. "You're okay. You're really okay." Rushing to the bedside, Lexie fell to her knees and threw her arms around Belinda. She enc
Pushing the door open after two knocks, Derek entered the CEO office of Knights & Co. "Good day, sir." He delivered his greeting with a bow. The room was spacious, the large ceiling-floor window allowing a magnificent view of the city. Paul had kept the decoration of his office simple, with sparse but luxurious furniture, and only the most needed equipment. Sitting behind his unnecessarily wide desk, he typed on his laptop. And although he noticed the entrance of his beta, he did not lift his gaze from the screen. "Yes. Yes. Come." He urged mildly, then poked at a thin file beside his laptop once Derek drew near. "Take this to the study at my home." The silent order was nothing out of the ordinary, so Derek thought nothing of it as he slid the file from the desk. In the process, several papers slipped to the floor, and he bent to pick them up. His eyes caught part of the title on one of the pages as he stood up... DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT. There was
The instant Belinda stepped into the Peach Valley Orphanage, children swarmed around her, as they always did. As usual, she laughed as she greeted them, and as usual, they squealed as she unloaded what she'd bought for them. She waited till they lost interest in her, going off to play with their new toys, before she stood up. Ellie was waiting at a table with a cup of coffee and a plate of biscuits. "You don't always have to get them something every time you come, you know." She said as Belinda took the seat opposite her. "I don't welcome you because of what you give me." "It's the kids, I've already formed a habit with them. Anything less would be a disappointment." Adjusting the position of her chair, Belinda settled into her seat. "They're fond of you." Ellie pointed out. Belinda smiled at that observation. "I'm fond of them too." "I can see that." Pausing just before her lips sipped from her cup, Ellie studied Belinda. Then, as though she'd seen what she'd bee
Draven sat in the back of his SUV, the aura around him likable to a stormy night in the middle of an ocean. He was waiting, and he hated it. The longer his subordinates took to report back to him, the more restless he grew. His body vibrated with barely contained power, his gaze darker than the moonless sky. A moment later, his phone vibrated in his pocket and his expression never changing, he pulled it out. He swiped the screen, picking the call, and put the phone to his ear. "We've located Miss Knight, my lord." A deep voice droned into his ear an instant later. Draven listened to the address that came next, one he wasn't familiar with, then tilting his head towards his driver, repeated it. "How long is it from here?" The man behind the wheel hastily imputed the location into the car's GPS, and was provided with an answer soon after. "30 minutes, my lord. It's just on the outskirts of the city." Armed with information, Draven resumed the conversation with the one on the ph
Belinda's blacked-out mind gave way to consciousness, and the first thing she became aware of was the merciless throbbing In her forehead. Her entire body ached, as though her nerves were fighting a battle against her—and winning. Instinctively, she tried to find a position that was not so uncomfortable, but she felt like a log—too heavy and stiff to move. She realized then that despite her eyes being open, all she could see was pitch black. Her guess was that she was blindfolded, judging by the slight pressure around the diameter of her head, but she couldn't be sure. When she attempted to lower her hands to check, however, she met resistance. Without sight or mobility, Belinda had only intuition to use to assess her situation. She deduced that she was being pinned to a wall, both her hands held high above her head with handcuffs. Her bottom sat on a cold concrete floor, the dew on the surface seeping into her shorts and soaking it. She was alone, as far as she could tell, and in a
Draven never locked his doors, because every living being in the building knew to never disturb him without being summoned first. The only exclusion was his Beta, who he'd grown quite fond of over the decades. That privilege did not yet extend to his Beta's son and successor. The boy knew that, yet he walked through the front doors of the penthouse uninvited. And what was worse, he'd brought company. Dropping all he was doing, Draven leaned back into his chair, waiting for the trio to arrive. They found him soon enough, halting in front of his office's door. A soft knock sounded a second later, but the show of courtesy did little to lighten his mood. "May we come in, my lord?" Marcus' clear voice rang from behind the door. "You seem to have already come to a conclusion on that." The annoyance wasn't lost in Draven's reply. It should have been to scare them off, to give them the hint that he was not in the mood to entertain any guests. Yet, the wood swung open, ushering thr
Derek returned home well into the night, way past the customary 5 pm. He was newly discovering that a CEO working hard to revive his company was no easy job, and it often left him drained after a long day. Tonight, he heaved a sigh as he removed his suit blazer and pulled off his tie. As he stepped deeper into his apartment, however, he realized that his housemate's scent was way too faint, meaning she wasn't home. That made Derek frown, especially as to how late the hour was. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, absentmindedly strolling into his kitchen as he prepared to call her. That was when his eyes caught a piece of paper pinned onto his counter by a pan. He instinctively picked it up and went through it. “... wish for my own privacy...would appreciate if you respect my wishes.”Anger coursed through Derek at the words in the note. Like hell Belinda had moved out because she wanted “privacy”! She was simply locking him out again. Damn it, she hadn't even had the guts to
After closing the door behind her, Belinda gazed ahead at the room she would now be staying in till further notice. It wasn't the most luxurious quarters, but that was the thing about second-rate hotels—they were just below perfect and affordable.Dragging her luggage along, she advanced deeper into the room. She randomly deposited her bags on the floor and moved onto the bed. The soft mattress jerked as she plopped her bottom onto it, her mind too far gone to notice the bounce. Absentmindedly, she picked up the remote and switched on a channel. Although she gazed at the screen, she was not watching the TV program playing. She was thinking about too many things at once. Slipping out of Derek's apartment had been easy. As the other went to work early in the morning and came back late in the evening, she'd been able to pack her bags and leave without him realizing. She wasn't exactly running away. She'd left a piece of paper on the counter with her new address, which also specified the
"I've got a solution for all our problems." The proud declaration did not have the effect thought it would. Paul simply stared dead on at her, his flat expression displaying anything but curiosity. Georgina was no better. She did not appear irritated like her son, but her look was anything but impressed. "And what is that, dear?" Her tone was patient and indulging, like she was talking to a child she did not expect to say anything meaningful, but let him speak nonetheless. It annoyed Cecily senseless, but she forced herself to get past her anger. Pushing her chin even hire, she said, with just enough confident arrogance. "We trace the problem back to the source, and that's Belinda." "Moon goddess help me." The groan came from Paul. He rolled his eyes upward, praying to the deity above to grant him patience, because he was on the verge of committing murder. "Can you—for once in your life—not make everything about yourself and your crazed beliefs?" He snapped once he jud
Cecily was frustrated. She screeched, stomping her foot repeatedly like a child going through a tantrum. Her plan to spy on her stepsister to prove that she was the source of all their family's problems had gone to shit. Actually, she hadn't been spying on Belinda at all. She'd struck gold the first day she'd followed that omega paparazzi. However, neither she nor Belinda had done anything suspicious throughout their meet-up. When they'd separated, Cecily had naturally switched to following Belinda, but she'd lost her. Cecily neither knew where Belinda was staying, nor where she frequented. So, she'd been forced to revert to her original plan, waiting outside the skyscraper for Lexie. She'd tailed the latter for ever since, but was yet to spot her best friend. As a last resort today, she'd returned to the bank, and had crossed her fingers, praying that her target would show. No such luck. Why was the entire universe against her? Cecily screamed again. Why did everything have to go w
He knew him very well? Derek found himself feeling confused for the first few seconds. Then it hit him—this was not the first time he was coming face to face with the King of Alphas. Indeed, he'd met the Lycan not once but twice. The first being that faithful day he'd followed Belinda to this very building, and confronted her after recently recovering from his rejection. The Lycan had caught them in a very compromising position, and there had been no mistaking the fury in his eyes and he warned Derek off his mistress. The latter had ignored the directive, and had gotten Belinda into an accident. Another dreaded meeting had occurred. Heat rose Derek's neck, but not as much as alarm bells rang in his head. Somewhere in between the crazy events of the past months, he'd forgotten these encounters. He might be very well standing in front of a man who was out for his blood—a very powerful man at that. That couldn't be helpful to his cause. "I apologize for that time—I didn't intend B
A knock resounded in the small but organized study and to it, Draven replied, "Come in." With the scent wafting into the room, he already knew who the visitor was, and he had only given one person permission to come up to the penthouse. A man entered the office a beat later, bowing low before closing the door behind him. "My lord." The man greeted with worshipful respect. He was tall and quite bulky, with gleaming brown skin ripped around bulging muscles. However, behind his gruff exterior was a highly intelligent man, who could be subtle when he wanted. And that was why Draven had assigned him to this particular task. Pausing what he had been doing, the Lycan propped his pen between the pages of his open book. He leaned back into his chair, his pose casual yet powerful, his focus zoning in on the man in front of him. "Well?" He probed flatly. With a solemn nod, Travis Jonahson went on to deliver his report, like he'd been doing for the past few weeks. "In the last week,