**Trigger warning** Some scenes in this chapter depict physical and sexual abuse and might be triggering to some.Salara’s POVI watch quietly as Henry slowly removes the shorts that barely contains the raging boner that lies beneath. His muscluar legs appear in my view, momentarily reminding me of what had initially attracted me to this monster in the first place. His hands move up to the hem of his shirt, quickly whipping it over his head and exposing his washboard abs to my view. Henry is a handsome man. It is just too bad that he is nothing more than a monster. “Take off your clothes.” Henry’s barked command causes me to jump in my place on the bed, startled out of my thoughts. Without uttering a single word, I quickly get to work removing the clothes that cover my bruised and battered body with trembling hands. No matter how hard I try to hide the pain and fear from my husband, my body is weak and I can’t stop the shaking that takes over. He beckons with his hand for me to mo
Salara’s POVHenry has been unusually gentle with me since waking up this morning. He even brought me breakfast in bed that we shared with our daughter. It was completely out of character for Henry, even before the events of this last week, and has had me confused throughout the whole day. Even Hayden looked at her father in confusion during our breakfast in bed adventure this morning. My heartrate starts to become erratic the closer we get to the turn that leads to the Evergreen pack territory. My heart is not looking forward to having to have the discussion with Derrick that I know I have to have. A part of me is hoping that Henry will take the initiative and tell him for me, but I know that is the coward's way out. A pressure on my thigh draws me out of my worrisome thoughts. Turning my eyes to my lap, I catch Henry’s hand on my thigh, his fingers squeezing gently in comfort. Surprise floods my system at the simple act of kindness from my tormentor of the last week. What could ha
Derrick’s POVWatching Salara wrapped up in Henry’s arms was like a knife being stabbed into my heart and then twisted mercilessly. Nothing in my life has ever felt as painful as realizing that my mate is not going to choose me over her newly mated husband. And hearing Henry speak the words confirming my suspicion was like someone reached into my chest and yanked my still beating heart out ruthlessly. “We have talked and decided that we are not going to let our current situation come in between the vows that we have made to each other.” Henry’s words still echo through my mind, haunting me with the finality his words have caused to resonate within my mind. Everything that was said after that was lost to my raging thoughts. My mind was unable to process anything that was spoken after those words, my thoughts still swirling around the fact that my mate was rejecting me. I have waited a long time to find my mate, and in a week's time I have already lost her. That final nail that made
Salara’s POVAfter walking us to Savannah’s place, Derrick quickly made his exit, leaving me standing awkwardly on Savannah’s porch while Henry wrapped her up in his arms. Tuning out the sounds of their kissing, my mind wanders back to the conversation Henry had with Derrick about our new living situation. Guilt had wracked me as I stood there silently staring at the floor while Henry explained that the three of us would be living together as a family. I could feel his eyes boring holes into me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up and face him. Henry kept his arm around my waist the entire time that he spoke with Derrick, making me feel uncomfortable in my skin. An inner part of me desperately wanted to break free from Henry’s hold and put some space in between us, but his hold on my waist was too tight for me to break free of. So instead, I stood there like a coward, unable to meet his eyes or utter a single word to help ease the pain I could sense coursing through him. “Do we
Salara’s POVWhat the hell happened?Alpha. There was a pause. You need to calm down and let us do our job.Everything goes dark once again. Is mom going to be alright? The sound of a child sniffling breaks through the fog covering my brain. I frown inwardly. Has something happened to someone’s mother in the pack? I try to open my eyes to look at the child who has spoken those sad words, but the effort becomes too great and I find myself succumbing to the darkness yet again.We found old bruises littering her body, Alpha. A concerned voice speaks in hushed tones from someone nearby and yet far away. They must be talking about that child’s mother that was hurt. I hope she will be okay. The child sounded really upset to find out that their mother was harmed. I shouldn’t have let him leave with her knowing that he could succumb to angry outbursts. The sound of a wall being hit filters through my ears, causing my anxiety to spike and my heart rate to increase. A machine in the distance
Derrick’s POVIt has been the longest week of my life as I waited impatiently for Salara to wake up from the coma that she has been under. Hunter perks up and prances around inside of my mind once Miguel’s excited words reach our ears. “She squeezed my hand, Dad!”A sigh of relief leaves my lips, my body slumping from the stress of this past week finally leaving my aching muscles. Nothing has scared me more than losing my mate in this horrendous way. When Henry reached the clinic located on the far side of the packhouse, I felt my heart drop from my chest and disintegrate into the earth. The sight of Salara’s bruised, battered, and bleeding body in Henry’s arms sent Hunter over the edge and it took four of my best guards to hold him at bay when he lunged for Henry’s throat, claws out and jaw snapping. Henry claims that he found her that way when he came home from his first training session with his personal trainer, but Hunter was not seeing reason at that time. I have banned him fr
Henry’s POVComing back to the house to find Salara passed out in the bedroom that Savannah provided for her was one of the scariest moments of my life. Her faint heartbeat sent my blood pumping as I rushed around to get her to the pack clinic quickly. Her bruised and battered body that was covered in a layer of her blood sent my blood boiling. Savannah claimed that she has no idea what happened to her, but I find it hard to believe that she didn’t have something to do with it. She has been pissed off about Salara since the moment that she found us while touring the pack grounds a week and a half ago. A part of me blames myself for what has happened to Salara in the short time that we have been at the Evergreen Pack, but I know that placing blame will get us nowhere. Alpha Derrick immediately pointed fingers in my direction when he saw me carrying Salara’s fragile body through the pack house doors, not giving me a single moment to defend myself before he pounced on me. It took mult
Salara’s POVThe weight of something heavy laying on my thigh sends a sharp, shooting pain throughout my right leg as I come to from my dream state. Wincing inwardly, I go to pull my leg out from underneath whatever weight is resting on my thigh. When I am unable to move the weight off of me, I lift up my hand and reach towards the object laying against me.My fingertips come into contact with flesh, startling me as fear rushes through my body. The fear soon settles when the familiar sparks erupt on my fingertips, indicating that the object laying on my thigh is none other than Alpha Derrick.My eyes snap to his stress filled face, my brows furrowing at the sight of him sleeping restlessly against me. What could Derrick be doing here with me instead of sleeping peacefully in his bed? The position that he is in does not look comfortable even a little bit. A chair has been up against the right side of my bed and he is slumped forward in it with his head resting against my thigh. His ne
Salara’s POV I suck in a steadying breath, unsure if I am ready to face my husband once again. Before I know what is happening, Leigh has taken control of my body and has us running in the direction where the previous hoard of wolves came from. Standing there in the middle of the field with his eyes widened in shock is none other than Henry. But something looks different about Henry. His body mass has grown in size, causing him to rival even my Alpha for his height and bulk. Something I never thought I would see on Henry’s small frame. There is also a different aura surrounding him than what I am used to, this one is much more calm and less menacing. “You are alive.” He whispers out, his eyes roaming over my body in hunger when we stop a few feet away from him. Watching him take in my curves with such hunger does things to my body that has me feeling ashamed. I should not feel this way for anyone other than Derrick, and the guilt causes me to lash out. “No thanks to you I hear.”
Salara’s POVLeigh is going crazy inside of my mind. Two wolves had run up and tag teamed the old Alpha when he was trying to protect us from a sneak attack of our own. Despite how strong and mighty the Mountain pack Alpha is known for, his old age had slowed down his reflexes enough to hinder him in this battle, costing him his life. Leigh is feeling guilty because we had left his side to save Derrick from being attacked, but I can’t help but feel grateful that it was the old wolf that passed away, and not my Alpha. The saddest part was the smile that was spread across his face as he expelled the last breaths from his body and went still. In the end, the old Alpha was happy that he got the chance to protect his mate once more before his time was up. Leigh has told me the history between the two of them, but I feel like now is not the time to ask when we are covered in the blood of many wolves and howling up to the night sky in victory. To my surprise, the rest of the pack joins us
Derrick’s POVMy wolves that were present for the ceremony are quick to respond to the sudden threat from the incoming wolves. With a mighty howl directed towards the full moon, the pack members spread out before me rush towards the wolves, shifting into their wolf forms as they ran. The feral sounds of wolves crashing together fills the serenity of the night, sending all creatures in the area to run off or go quiet. “I tried to handle this peacefully-” I cut off Alpha Leo’s words with a savage growl, allowing Hunter to push towards the surface in preparation for the quick change that I can feel coming soon. “You will never have her.” He growls out before exploding from my body like a bullet and launching from the stage and landing on top of him. Within seconds Alpha Leos head was detached from his body, his warm blood covering me with its stickiness and awakening the beast inside of me that I usually keep locked away. I turn my eyes in the remaining two Alpha’s direction where the
Derrick’s POV Hunter surges forward in me the moment that the wolves emerged from the woods bordering the pack house. I narrow my eyes as I look in the direction where Malcom, the Alpha of our neighboring pack, is currently standing with a cocky grin on his face. He truly believes that my pack will just hand her over to him to avoid a fight. We didn’t get the name of the fiercest pack in the region by sitting by and letting other Alpha’s make demands of us. Taking a step forward, I move Salara until she is secured behind me and out of Malcom’s sight. Hunter lets out a menacing growl, worrying me a bit with how animalistic it came out, but I file that away for later use. “You will not touch a hair on my Luna’s head.” My voice comes out low and gruff, the sound of Hunter’s voice mixing with mine as we release our Alpha aura into the crowd, being careful not to allow it to affect my members who are standing around. I watch as Malcom swallow a lump down his throat while he tries to m
Salara’s POVNerves wrack my body as I stand up on the stage set up by Beta Charles and Luna Evelyn. Every eye in the crowd is glued to where I stand and being the center of everyone’s attention is causing anxiety to course through me. Derrick reaches over and grabs my hand in his, soothing away some of the nerves with nothing but his touch. He always has a way of calming me down whenever he is near. Just the slightest touch from him is enough to chase away my worries and doubts and make me feel calm. I know it has something to do with the mate bond that I don’t quite understand just yet, but the reasons behind are irrelevant to me. The only thing that matters is that he brings me peace. Something that Henry never did.I might have suffered a lot thanks to my life with Henry, but I have to admit that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him. While I am sure that the Goddess would have found a way to bring us together, he is my destiny afterall, I can’t help but feel like e
Derrick’s POVSalara and I have spent the last thirty-six hours locked away in our suite making love to each other over and over with only breaks for napping and eating. I am almost reluctant to let her out of our suite, but if we don’t make our way out of the door soon then we will miss out on everything that Charles and my mother have worked so hard to put together so quickly. “What time will the twins be shifting for the first time?” Salara’s voice from the bathroom pulls me back to the fact that we are about to be late for her Luna Ceremony. She emerges from the bathroom wearing an all white knee length dress that hugs every one of her curves in the most delightful of ways. The sight of her takes my breath away. I stand there in the middle of our bedroom, staring at the ethereal sight standing before me. Never before have I seen a woman as beautiful as her in all of my life. Her dark looks compliment her all white attire perfectly and I can feel my cock getting hard in my shorts
Derrick’s POV“Are you sure you want to do this without first speaking with your Luna?” The concern that I see etched on my Beta’s face irritates me and my wolf extremely. Clenching my jaw, I turn away from Charles, completely ignoring his question. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I asked her about it, now would it? What kind of a stupid question was that? I can see Charles from the corner of my eye as he wars with himself internally over something that he clearly wants to say. Letting out a frustrated growl, I turn in his direction and bark out at him. “Say what you want to say Charles!” He jumps in place, a sheepish look appearing on his startled features. “What if she doesn’t want to do the Luna ceremony so soon?” I could see the moment Charles regrets opening his mouth to say those words to me, the moment that murder entered my eyes while I fought off my very pissed off wolf.Charles bears his neck to us in submission in an attempt to cool our rising anger and save himself
Salara’s POVFingers move slowly up my leg, starting at my feet and making their way up until they reach my inner thigh. Shivers run through my body creating more heat to pool between my legs and fragranting the room with the smell of my arousal. With my eyes covered and my hands tied up, it has caused my other senses to go on overdrive. The feel of Derrick’s fingers against my skin is magnified tenfold, sending even more of those delicious sparks to course through my system with every gentle touch of his fingers. The absence of my eyes has heightened my hearing, allowing me to tune in to the smallest of movements from my Alpha that I normally wouldn’t catch. Meanwhile, my nose was picking up every scent that clings to his God-like body. From the smell of sweat that lingers from training this morning, to the pre-cum that has coated the tip of his cock from his excitement.Never would I have ever thought that my senses could be so tuned in to the world around me, but ever since givin
Salara’s POVI zoned out during the remainder of Derrick’s meeting, my thoughts lost in the back and forth with Leigh. She is dead set against us ignoring the Alpha that resides inside of Henry, meanwhile I don’t want to do anything to make Derrick question my feelings for him. We wasted a lot of time thanks to Henry, and I don’t want to put him right back in the middle of a love triangle. At some point Leigh finally stopped pestering me and wandered off into the back of my mind to pout, but that didn’t help with my concentration one bit. I can’t deny that a small part of my heart skips whenever I think of the nice Henry that I came in contact with in recent weeks, but those thoughts only bring about more guilt than I know how to handle. Derrick’s hand on my shoulder startles me out of my thoughts and to my surprise, we are the only two left in his office. I run my eyes around his empty office as if my looking around would make everyone magically reappear. “Mom is keeping the kids