Caspian:The tension in the air thickened the moment Eva walked into the hotel lounge.I did not expect her to be coming here, nor did I expect the fact that she would be willing to leave the house to come to the hotel, especially since she knew that I did not want her to be here.Her heels clicked
And Eva froze.For a moment, even though I was taken by surprise by the fact that Eva of all people chose to stay quiet. I would have expected her to snap for y'all, however, it was as if Valerie's dominance was one that she could not overpower.Valerie’s voice was calm, controlled, but there was a
Eva:The moment we left the hotel, I barely managed to hold my composure. My fingers clenched into fists as I sat stiffly in the passenger seat, my jaw tight with irritation. Caspian had dismissed me. Dismissed me like I was nothing more than an annoyance in his way, all because of her.And if I was
Valerie:The drive to Caspian’s pack was silent, the weight of everything settled deep in my chest. And I knew that no matter how hard I was going to try to make things work, I knew that I was going to be dealing with more consequences and more hardships than I would want to be dealing with.Even my
The car came to a slow stop, and I turned to see Caspian waiting outside, his posture relaxed but his gaze locked on me. I knew that he was listening to every word that I was saying, however, that was not something that I wanted to be caring about right now.I took a steady breath and opened the doo
Caspian:I sat in my office, staring at the glass of whiskey in my hand, but for once, the burn of alcohol did nothing to ease my frustration.No matter how hard I tried, nothing seemed to ease the pain that I was feeling, the annoyance that I was going through.Valerie was here. In my pack. In my t
I let her words settle in the air, unbothered by her outburst.Eva slammed her hands onto my desk, leaning forward. “This is a mistake. She’s a threat, Caspian. Maybe not in the way you think, but she will turn Adrian against you. She will turn people against you. I can already see it. She is going
Valerie:I wasn’t in the mood for petty fights. Not today.After everything that had happened, all I wanted to do was get some fresh air, away from all the bullshit that I was dealing with for the day.After settling Adrian into the villa, making sure he was comfortable, I decided to take a walk aro
A few minutes later, I sat with Adrian at the long dining table in Caspian’s private wing. It felt strange being here again, in this part of the estate—like a ghost brushing against the edge of her former life. But Adrian seemed unfazed. He munched happily on toast while watching the cartoon Caspian
Valerie:The knock on the door was soft, but assertive.His scent hit me first and I knew that he came. I found out that it was a little too early for him to be coming to the villa. Especially after last night. I expected him to want his time alone, that he did not want me to approach him, that he m
Caspian:The truth had a way of settling in like a slow burn, beneath the surface, buried in the muscle and marrow, waiting for the right moment to catch fire.Waiting for the right moment to burn everything that was around it, to ruin all that I believed that was true. To break me on the inside and
Valerie:I knew it had to be done.If I wanted him to be honest, then I knew that I was going to need to be honest with him. I knew that he was going to need to hear this from me if he found out from someone else or if he found out in another way or different method, he was going to flip. And I knew
Caspian:I had never been afraid of war.I was never worried about losing war. I was never worried about losing anyone that is around. When it came to war, we all were determined to fight this. We all were aware of our paths and we knew our strength.I was raised for it, trained, hardened, taught to
Valerie:Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones.I could feel it in the way that everyone was moving around the park, that everyone looked frightened, that everyone looked worried and concerned.The villa was too quiet. The guards outside were different, strangers, not familiar pack faces
Caspian:There was something crawling under my skin. And I knew that though she was not speaking, though she was not bringing up the subject, that Valerie felt it too. Her questioning the number of times that you would look at the wind, that you would look at me so the two of us would share clowns,
Valerie:Something had changed.The shift within the park was not one that I could just easily miss. It was not one that I could ignore, and I knew that Caspian was doing his best to try and hide it.I could feel it the moment I stepped outside the villa.It wasn't just feeling it, it was the fact t
Caspian:The letter arrived in the early hours of the morning, unmarked, folded neatly, and sealed with nothing but a plain wax stamp. Mateo had intercepted it before it could be dismissed as another note from one of the nearby allied packs.He handed it to me without a word, his brow furrowed, his