I fell down on my knees and braced myself on the ground with my palms, in the process myself. “Ah!” I said, as I lifted myself off the gravely path. When I gazed around, I found that I was surrounded by Rita and three other she-wolves. This was going to be the first hurdle for me—to be the target of every she-wolf who loved, adored, worshiped Apollo, and I knew that it was every she-wolf of the Black Moon pack. So, yes, I was practically a target of every female in the pack which I didn’t even belong to. All my life had been so cautiously planned in a way that I should stay hidden and never be the center of the limelight and yet, I was being pushed in the limelight by fate. “You mutt!” Rita growled. “I am going to beat you to pulp. You dared to seduce Apollo?” “She thinks that she can keep Apollo wrapped around her little finger?” said another one. “Let us first smash her face with a stone and then we will see what Apollo thinks of her. He will drop her!” “How about we punch her s
I frowned. He traced the outline of my lips and then smoothened the crease on my forehead. I didn’t know why but every time I frowned, he tried to erase those lines. For a long time, Apollo traced my features, running his finger gently over my cheeks, nose, lips, and chin. As if that was not enough, he started running his fingers through my hair. He took a deep breath in and said, “I am sorry for not being able to protect you.” Our gazes locked, his full of concern, and mine puzzled. “You are under no obligation to protect me,” I replied, but that reply brought tremendous pain to my ribcage. “Ah!” I winced and closed my eyes, trying to understand what happened to me exactly. Apollo’s reaction to my pain was… surprising. When I opened my eyes, I saw that blood had drained from his face and he looked pale. “What happened?” he asked in a hoarse voice with a ragged breath. “Why does my rib cage hurt so much?” I asked and tried to remove my blanket to see the extent of damage done to
For the entire week, Apollo didn’t leave my side. He conducted his business from my room in the hospital. The other bed was a spread of documents in which he was immersed when I was sleeping. When I was awake, he would monitor me closely, make sure that I was comfortable and well fed. I felt like a baby in my mommy’s arms. Artemis would come with his notes from the school. At first, it was really awkward. He would simply come and keep his notebooks on my table. I would pick up one by one and read them. One day, I asked him a question and we debated about it for an hour after which it turned out that I was right. It was evening and Artemis was munching on his chicken sandwich when the argument started. Apollo gave me my medicines, and then ordered food that mostly consisted of congee and stewed vegetables. He ensured that I ate it while I still argued with Artemis. He watched the two of us quietly and then went back to his bed after giving me a glass of water. When my argument turne
Two days later when I was discharged, I was hoping that my aunt and uncle would come and take me home. Instead, they messaged me that they won't be able to see me for the next week also. Kevin was apparently being an asshole who was making work difficult for both of them. It was all because of me. I was to be blamed. Sadness encompassed me when I read their message. It was good that I didn’t let them know about my visit to the hospital. They would have freaked out. Apollo was talking to the doctor when I was discharged with a satchel that consisted of my belongings. I was standing in the foyer, watching him with renewed appreciation and admiration. The doctor had said that I was as fit as a horse now and that I could attend the school easily. But I had to take precautions with my medicines. “You don’t need more than a five days course. Eat healthy and don’t eat junk food.” There went my burgers and pizzas. While I came out, Apollo still talked to the doctor about me. I was overwhelme
Apollo stared at me for one more time and then he crashed his lips over mine. He crushed me beneath him, his body flattening mine, his fingers wrapped around my nape and his thighs pressing mine in a way that I could no longer run away from me. With no space between us, I could hear the rhythmic pounding of his heart.I was so wet that it must have dampened his erection. Every part in my body throbbed. My breasts became heavy and my nipples pebbled straining against his ridged muscles. He kissed me so hard that his fangs lanced my tongue. That action was enough to scorch my soul. I was burning inside with intense feelings. I didn’t know when he slid his finger down and then inside me. “You are mine,” he rasped. When he left me, we were both gasping for air. He trailed a line of kisses down my torso and reached my navel. He kissed it deeply over there, licking my skin with skin and then went lower. “Wait, answer—” When I tried to scramble, he clamped my hips and yanked me back. He hel
My back arched when I felt him hit the deepest part of my body. I felt things I had never known before. I clenched his shaft as I welcomed the stretch, and I could feel him shuddering and sweating against me, above me. Both of us were hanging on the edge of the cliff and we wanted to fall down with our arms wrapped around each other. “Say my name, Natasha,” he hissed. I let out his name from my quivering lips in reverence. “Apollo…” He took his shaft out and then delved in deep, twisting and rolling those lean hips in a way that I gasped, I groaned. He started moving slowly, waiting for me to adjust to his pace. His cock rubbed on a turgid spot inside that was titillating as hell. I clenched my muscles so tightly around him that he was having trouble controlling himself. He grew his pace and soon he became merciless, plunging inside me as if he had been desperate to do so, as if he wasn’t thinking. His teeth gnashed. His thighs quivered and I could feel the dust of hair against my
My lips curved down when he asked me not to come the next day. “Why?” I wanted to hug the ghost. “I heard she will kill me tomorrow and hand over my pieces to my father and mother.” His eyes were moist. For a moment, I froze. Then I threw myself on him. “I won't allow it, ghost,” I said and kissed the top of his head. “I won't allow it.” I was determined. He winced in pain but didn’t ask me to leave him. “Do you miss your mommy and daddy?” I asked, my voice a mere whisper. “Yes… a lot…” “I can call them, if you like. I have a small phone. It is a toy phone and when I press numbers, it lets out lovely tunes. I am sure I can call your mummy and daddy with it.” “You will be in a lot of trouble if you do that,” he replied, as he rested his head on my shoulder. “I won't be.” The ghost murmured a number to me. I forgot by the time I came out. I walked to my bathroom and changed my clothes that were stained with ghost’s blood. If my ma saw me with blood-stained clothes, she would bea
I didn’t know where Apollo was taking me, but I trusted him completely. And to be honest I would go anywhere as long as he would take me. I was sure that I would never again cross my paths with the black and depraved soul like him, and here I was… thinking about how much I had come to trust him? The feeling shook me from the inside, but at the same time, it felt… natural… as if we were bonded with each other through ages and times… eons… With our intertwined fingers on his thigh, he steered the jeep to the winding, undulating, nearly empty roads of the town. He would bring my hand to his mouth and kiss it but he never released it. We stopped at a shop in which he got in quickly and came out with a bottle of wine, blueberries and cheese. I couldn’t help but smile, wondering where he wanted to take me. “Where are we going?” I asked, curious as I looked at the wine. “It’s a surprise!” he said as he started the jeep and accelerated it. We drove all the way to the base of the valley on
It had been a month since Apollo had become the Alpha of the pack. He was extremely busy with the pack activities. Taking over was a massive task. With Artemis as his Beta, they had so many things to look into that a day seemed to stretch for twenty-eight hours. And in that time, I saw Apollo only during nights when he would come back home, exhausted and grumpy. He would not let me and Lucas go out of sight until he slept. I could understand the pressure he was having. The positions of The Head Tracker, Head Enforcer of arms were still vacant and he had to fill them soon. Kirill had informed me that Ivan died that night when the attack took place. It was said that he was in his room while the whole carnage took place on the outside, watching his mate, Dahlia. When they forced open his room, he shot himself in the head, his last words being, “I love you, Dahlia.” I mourned my father’s death even though he had been a monster to me. As the days passed, I realized that he was missing m
When we reached the Black Moon pack, it was past midnight. Luna Mira had come to the airport. I could sense that she wasn’t alone. The whole pack was with her. I could hear wolves howling in the background. The news that Alpha Jacob had died came faster than us. I clutched Lucas in my arms as Apollo curled his arm around my shoulders and took us out. I came to stand in front of Luna Mira and even though I had coined the words of apology a hundred times in the airplane, I simply couldn’t utter a word in front of her. My throat was choked with emotions, as guilt weighed me down. Because of me, she had lost a lot. She was on the verge of losing her son, but Alpha Jacob went and got him back. And now Alpha Jacob went to recover me. His sacrifice was greatest. He was an alpha wolf who protected his family till he breathed his last. I guess the day I came into the Vries family, the day I was wedded to Apollo, he had accepted me as a part of the Black Moon pack in his own way. Luna Mira s
“Olga?” My whole body jolted in shock and I sat upright. “What the hell? Are you sure? How can that be? God, I had so many questions!” “Shocking,” he replied and to my frustration, Apollo just smiled. He crossed his arms beneath his head and settled on the pillow cozily. “You always have questions.” Shooting him a glare he was used to, I said, “How did Kirill take it?” “Obviously, he took it badly. But I was ready. Nash gave me video evidence of how Olga came to him to give Ivan’s names to the authorities. At that time, he was already with my father and going against Ivan. Olga became furious but she never asked Nash to not go against Ivan. In fact, she gave him some of his secrets and what would be the best way to take him down.” If the revelation that Olga betrayed my father had shocked me, all this information punched the air out of me. “Olga was always my nanny. She loved my parents and she was very protective about me. I never saw her leaving me, except when she went for he
I saw two wolves—a giant black one and a massive gray one, heading in our direction. They were both heading in our direction with ferocious snarls. Snow had started drifting around us and I knew that we had to find a cover before the cold affected my son. Kirill yanked me in the shadows of the naked pines as those wolves slowly came towards us, snarling menacingly. They stopped about thirty feet away and I picked up the familiar scent. “Apollo? Artemis?” “That’s them! Come on.” Stunned, I couldn’t even breathe as Kirill tried to drag me to them. As soon as Apollo saw us, he dashed through the snow to us, yapping and nipping and swishing his tail. I sank on my knees, not able to bear the shock of seeing my mate after such a long time. Apollo licked me and then his son who giggled. My eyes flooded with tears and my mouth was like a cotton ball on a cactus. I had been riddled with so many dreams of this meeting that it looked surreal to me. I threaded my fingers in his fur and brou
Natasha POV A rough calloused hand over my mouth woke me up in the middle of the night. Panicked, a scream surged through me which was smothered into the palm. A face leaned over me with wide eyes. He placed his finger over his lips. “Shhh!” Throat dry as a desert, I blinked my gummy eyes to see who was it through the darkness. Kirill was hovering over me. “If you promise to stay quiet, I will pull my hand away.” I nodded as I stared into his hazel eyes. “Kirill?” I gulped my panic down with some saliva to wet my dry throat. “What is going on? What are you doing here?” “We are under attack from rival rogues.” There was commotion on the outside. Red and blue lights flashed through the gaps of the curtains. My heart leapt out as I jerked to a sitting position. I whipped my head to Lucas who was still sleeping soundly in his cradle. Kirill raked his fingers through his hair looking perturbed. “We thought it was a plain police attack, but these are hardcore rogues. They are t
Apollo POVTwo months. It had been two months since Natasha had left with Lucas. I had become like a shell. I had stopped eating and looked so gaunt that my mother winced when she glanced at me. I knew that she would cry in silence seeing my condition. No mate should be treated like this. We had had numerous arguments over how much she had warned me against Natasha and that I should have rejected her. Every fucking time I would stomp out of the house and find myself in the bar where I had met Natasha for the first time. I would drink until I could no longer think and then had to be brought home. Each time it would be Artemis who would bring me home. He would mumble curses under his breath and I would chuckle and tell him never to leave his mate. I had stopped going to the office, stopped meeting people and had withdrawn into a cocoon. My father had not moved an inch when Natasha called for help because he had to protect his people. And Natasha? My little mate? She sacrificed herself
October November December was the most cruel in Russia. Ever since father had brought us back to Vyaska, our hometown in the north of Russia, he had been extra vigilant. All his energy was usually spent in taking measures that I was highly protected. He had started giving orders from home and barely stepped out even for grand political functions that he was invited to in the human world. My cell phone was snatched and smashed. The two months without Apollo seemed like eternity. I wondered if he was finding me. I didn’t feel like eating, having lost all my appetite. The only thing that kept me going was Lucas. I ate because I had to feed Lucas. I breathed because I didn’t want to leave Lucas in the hands of Olga. I stayed alert because I wanted to escape. I needed only one chance and I would leave, even if that meant running across the wilderness of snow-clad Russia. Ember wanted an out and she was aching to come out after my first shift. She was getting antsy inside me. Once I h
“Natasha!” I heard my father’s astonishment in his voice. “You have shifted!” When I looked down at myself, all I saw was brown fur that covered my hands. My gums were aching for they had protruded painfully long. And I heard a dangerous snarl, which belonged to me. For the first time I had shifted into my wolf and I couldn’t believe that she chose to come out now. ‘I am Ember,’ she growled. I was so much in awe of her that I let her take full control. The transformation was liberating and it felt so good. So, this was how every werewolf felt when their wolf came out. Now that I had my wolf, I understood the hollow, the void I suffered for so long. My wolf completed me. And right now, she was snarling because people had attacked our mate. ‘I will kill all of them,’ Ember hissed. I padded with my chin dipped and a low snarl. The four men in the room stopped beating Apollo. He was almost unconscious. “Natasha, you have to stop!” Ivan’s voice fell on my ears. “This is not what you w
I took a shaky breath in when my father repeated, “I had lost all hope to see my heir ever again, but now my hopes are renewed.” “Father…” I said, my voice breathy. “I am married… and I belong to Apollo and his pack.” I gazed in his eyes to see some kind of reaction, but all I saw was coldness on his face. I pursed my lips and looked away. I had to make him understand that I could never come back to him. He sipped his vodka as tense silence settled between us. When he didn’t speak, I continued, “I can't come back with you to Russia. This is the place I belong to.” From the corner of my eyes, I saw a dark figure moving behind the glass very quickly, as if hiding for being caught. I drifted my gaze back to my father avoiding it. My father swirled vodka in his tumbler as he became silent as if contemplating his next move. At this point of time, I realized that I had to be very careful. There was a darkness that spilled out of him and darkened his expression. He leaned back on the sofa