The soft strains of a live orchestra mingled with the hum of voices and the clink of champagne glasses. Servers in crisp black-and-white uniforms moved through the crowd, their trays gleaming with liquid jewels. It was all… excessive. I couldn’t help but feel how excessive this was, even for Alexa
Lauren's POV The room seemed to freeze, the weight of his words hanging in the air. Alexander’s jaw tightened, his gaze dropping to where Liam’s hand rested on my hip. What? Fiancée? The word echoed in my mind as I stared back at Liam. My gaze flicked to Sophia, whose smile seemed to stretch w
Before I could react, I was yanked forward, my back slamming into the cold wall. Panic surged as a hand clamped over my mouth, and I froze, unable to move. His presence was suffocating—his grip like steel, trapping me in place. "You’re planning to marry Liam?" His voice sliced through the tension—
Lauren's POV I didn’t want to hear another word from him. Not from Alexander. Not now. His voice, his lies—everything about him suffocated me. Without thinking, I shoved past him, my heart pounding like a trapped bird. The past had already taken too much from me, and I wasn’t about to let him dr
“Enough,” my voice hardened, slapping the papers onto his desk to his brooding smirk. “What exactly do you want from me?” I demanded, planting my hands to his massive desk. He leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. The sharp line of his jaw clenched slightly, and for a brief moment,
Alexander The door clicked shut behind her, and my pulse thundered in my ears. Lauren. She was here. Standing in front of me, as defiant and maddening as ever. Rising from my desk, I met her gaze. “These matters don’t concern you,” she snapped, her voice sharp and dismissive. “The agreement is
I quickly sent a message to Owen. “Bad uncle made Mom mad again today! I don’t want a daddy who makes Mommy mad!” He messaged me back right away. “He’s moody today. It’s Sophia’s fault. She’s the bad mom,” Owen said. I could tell he was upset, too. But then he said something that made me stop. “
Alexander It was hard to focus on Sophia with the low hum of tension filling the air from the two little bodies next to me. My eyes slithered to them, like two puffed up puppies as soon as Sphia appeared. I almost smirked. They had the same furrowed face. “What bring you here, love,” I said, try
His expression faltered for just a second, but he quickly masked it, folding his arms across his chest. I could see the struggle in his eyes—he wanted to help me. He did.“You think this is easy for me?” he muttered, his tone a little more clipped now. “Of course I want to help you find him, but I a
LaurenThe argument had been raging for what felt like hours. The air in the clearing was thick, heavy with tension as I glared across the crowd at the Betas and the elders. Their words were all the same: “He’s dangerous. He’s a liability. He’s an outsider. Why risk more manpower looking for someone
He hesitated, giving me that unreadable stare for a beat, but eventually, he nodded. I smirked, feeling victorious as I led him to the porch. I pulled a pair of scissors from a drawer inside the cabin, because, you know, a girl has her tools.Gesturing for him to sit on the steps, I strutted behind
SophiaThe sun hung low in the sky, casting a golden hue over the clearing as I stood before the sorry excuse for a garden that had become my latest torment. The once-neat rows were now a tangled mess of overgrown weeds and wilting plants, mocking my every attempt at cultivation. I huffed, wiping a
He didn’t respond, which was starting to piss me off. The nerve. The audacity.I narrowed my eyes, slapping the mud from my eyes. “I don’t care why you’re running! You do not just appear out of nowhere and make me fall into the mud! Do you understand me?”Nothing. Not a damn word.I clenched my fist
SophiaThe cabin was far too quiet. The silence gnawed at my nerves, making the flickering candlelight cast shadows that seemed to mock me.I wrapped my hands tighter around my teacup, the porcelain delicate against my fingers, but even the warmth of it couldn't soothe the simmering rage boiling in
He had that smirk, that look of superiority that made my blood boil, much taller then us, looming with the other smirking teens. His eyes locked on Owen.“I don’t care if you're the Alpha’s kids,” he sneered. “You’re not one of us.”I stood up straight, my fists clenched so tight my knuckles cracked
AbigailThe air smelled different tonight—sharper, like the kind of cold that only comes with a storm, or maybe just my terrible sense of smell. I don’t know, maybe I was just nervous.Okay, definitely nervous.Everything felt way too big tonight, like the forest clearing and the pack were all audit
I stopped, knowing Mark had it so much worse with a sigh.Mark just shrugged, his shoulders rising and falling, a simple gesture that said everything and nothing at once. He didn’t understand it either. He’d never get it. I’d never get it. No one did.I leaned back a little, staring up at the moon a