RAVENNA POV"Today we're training in sword fighting," Mia said as we both picked our sword from the weapon table. "Yes, master," I teased with a small grin. Mia rolled her eyes and took a fighting stance. "I don't even know why you need me to train you. Seriously, I think you're better than I am." I rolled my shoulders. "I'm not. Now enough talking, let's fight." "With pleasure." With a swift motion, Mia charged forward, her blade aimed at my shoulder. I sidestepped, the steel glinting as I raised my sword to parry the blow. The two of us exchanged a series of strikes, each movement precise and practiced.I spun low, aiming for Mia’s legs, but Mia jumped, landing gracefully and countering with a quick thrust. I deflected it, our swords ringing out with every clash. We moved like a well-rehearsed dance, the rhythm of our duel captivating."This is boring," Mia grumbled. And then she feinted left, then lunged right, pushing me to the edge of my guard. With a quick flick of my wri
RAVENNA POV Suddenly, a sharp tingling sensation shot through the scar, spreading warmth through my veins. It felt like something awakening inside me, a pulse of energy that flickered with life. I gasped, eyes wide, as I sensed a presence curling within me. Mia, sensing my discomfort came back to my side, whining as she rubbed my leg. "I'm fine," I said, even though I felt anything but. "I'm fine." But just as quickly as it arrived, it vanished, leaving me breathless and disoriented. I staggered back, pressing my palm against my chest as if to contain whatever had surged through me. Darius finally moved from where and walked towards me. I tried not to turn back and run because of how big he was. The man was literally towering over me even in his wolf form. His snort was twice as large as my head. The other wolves had resumed their run but Mia still stayed beside me. Darius got to where I was and he circled me, those intense eyes fixed on me. The way he was circling and assess
RAVENNA POV "Day..." "Day five," I answered Mia. We sat on the roof on one of the smaller buildings in this ridiculously large castle, watching the sun disappearing through the trees, the breeze cool on my skin. Winter will be here soon. Mia hummed. "Day five since your last fight with Alpha Darius," she said. "When do you think the next fight will be?" I raised a shoulder, and shrugged. "I haven't not the slightest clue, Mia. It could be today or tomorrow. Darius is a prick." Mia chuckled and exhaled slowly, her face facing the heavens with her eyes closed. "I love it here," she whispered. I looked away from her and closed my eyes, mirroring her posture. "Me too." This reminds me of the last day I had spent with Lilith and Joseph. On the roof before Darius came and ruined everything. I pushed that thought away. I didn't want to think of anything. Not Darius. Not how my life keeps changing. Not how I've lost Lilith. I want to think of nothing. I released a breath and felt my
DARIUS POV Ravenna stared at her hands like they were strangers, and I stared at her like I didn't know who was standing in front of me. In a way I didn't. My hand went to the shoulder where she had struck me and it hurts like hell. "I… I didn't mean to hit you that day," she stuttered, her hands shaking. "I just… I just felt this burst of energy. My veins felt like they were on fire." I rose from my knees and held her shaking hands in mine, she stared up at me, her eyes lost. My chest tightened at the sight and I just wanted to hug her but I resisted. I had also felt that energy, with how hard the nunchaku had landed on me. Her arm had vibranted with the force. And I think my goddamn shoulder must be broken. That strength was not natural, and even her fast reflexes. The way she had dodged that strike was next to impossible if you were a human. Ravenna squeezed my hands with her own that has stopped shaking. She looked up at me and my throat closed up. Her eyes were soft. She
RAVENNA POV"Why do we have to do this again?" I asked Mia for the hundredth time. "Because Beta Lucian asked us to," she replied, voice patient. "Lucian can go to hell." Mia and a few people near me snapped their heads to me, their eyes hard. I suppressed a sigh and held up my hand. Their eyes left me and I released a breath. So we're training with the pack today. Since the weeks I've been here I've only ever trained alone with Mia. But then today Lucian walked up to us with his expressionless ass and declared we were going to train together with the pack. I had wanted to tell him to fuck off but Mia had stepped in and agreed we'll train with the pack. Not like we had a choice. It was a goddamn order from Lucian. So here we were, standing with the rest of the pack who were either snarling at us or ignoring us—I liked the latter better—with Lucian nowhere in sight. We didn't know what to do without our trainer so some of us just stood and waited while others started training.
DARIUS POV I brushed myself off and rose to my feet. This was the second time this woman had swept me off my feet. It wasn't unwelcome, not at all. In the privacy of my own thoughts, I even admitted to liking it. Though I would never let that slip, not to anyone. My pack would surely think I'd lost my mind. Perhaps I had. Ravenna has unraveled my senses, made me a man with less reasoning. Training had always been a chore, something I endured rather than enjoyed. But now, I've found a new challenge. One that ignited my blood, drove me wild, and strangely enough, brought me a strange sense of peace. That challenge is staring at me right now, her eyes wide with panic and… fear? "Is this how you plan to kill me?" she whispers–yells. I wanted to tell her that there was no need to whisper. We were surrounded by wolves with sharp hearing. I bit down those words and instead said, "What do you mean?" Ravenna opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. Her gaze swept across the p
RAVENNA POV Darius had said I was his, had said his heart has claimed me as its own. And now Darius was close to me, our bodies almost touching, his lips hovering over mine. My eyes left his lips and raised to his eyes. Those beautiful mismatched eyes were soft, softer than I've ever seen them. And they seem to be asking a question. They seem to be asking for permission. My eyes dropped back to his lips—his wonderful looking lips—and I took a deep breath and pulled away from him, even though my heart was screaming for me to close that space between us and kiss him. My heart was a confused bitch. My head was more reasonable. "We-we can't do this, Darius," I said softly, avoiding his gaze. "This can't happen between us. I am the prisoner, and you are my captor."Even as I said the word they sounded bland, unreasonable, an excuse. I managed to raise my eyes to Darius' and the hurt I saw shining in them had me looking away. Darius cleared his throat and straightened. "Of course," he
DARIUS POV "How did they manage to get past our border without us knowing?!" I yelled at Lucian as he handed my sword. "The guards at the border were killed before they could raise the alarm," he replied, as calm and composed as ever, but I wasn't having any of that. "All the guards couldn't have been killed before they could have rang the alarm," I said. "At least one of the idiots could have escaped and rang the goddamn alarm! What type of fools are you posting at the border, Lucian? Is your job too much that you can't station capable guards?" I knew it wasn't fair, it wasn't Lucian's fault. But I was so fucking furious. We haven't had a rogue attack in years. Why are they starting now? How the hell did they managed to breach my fucking border? Rogues didn't need a lot of reason to attack. Those fools didn't even reason. All they needed was blood, violence. They no longer had the humility to reason, they only think like animals. Lucian clenched his jaw as he fastened his armo
They talked about the plan and what it entails. About the marriage and how the pack was going to take it. They concluded that if they didn't take it well and didn't agree to it, then the plan wouldn't continue. They would think of something else that would get them allies. “That's enough for today,” Ravenna said, standing up and the others followed. “We’ll discuss this with the pack tomorrow and after that, we’ll know the next course of action and what we’re going to do next.”The room nodded. Darius held out his hand and Ravenna took it. He drew her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist as he whispered, “You okay, baby?”Ravenna sighed, resting her head on his chest. “Honestly? No. I'm scared, Darius. Mia was right; inviting our enemies into our territory might not be a good idea. It… Something could happen.”“Hey, I was just saying,” Mia rushed to say. “And that was before I heard your plan. We’re going to work with protections and warding. Nothing could go wrong with
The room was silent, even the twins who were usually noisy knew better than to disrupt this silence. Mia looked down at her feet; Lucian stared out the window; Dalian at the wall. Then, “That's a good idea,” Dalian said, looking back at Darius and Ravenna, who had been tense. They both released breaths at the same time. “I honestly wanted to talk about it with both of them, but I didn't know the best way to approach it. It's a lovely idea.”Ravenna smiled at him. “Thank you, Dalian.”“I don't—” Mia cleared her throat and all eyes turned to her. “I don't want to be the negative one here, but… but how do you go about this peace? What do we propose? And inviting our enemies into our territory? That is a problem.”Darius nodded. “We know that, Mia. But nothing is ever easy. We’re willing to do anything if it means securing peace for our future and our children.” He looked over at Juniper and Jasper who were making shapes with their fingers and giggling. “And how are we going to propose
Dalian was quiet after the shower, when they got dressed and went downstairs. And he looked lost in his head, distant. Mia didn't know what to do or say, so she just held his hand even when the pack looked at them. She didn't care. And she even held him tighter when she saw some of the girls eying her with jealousy. She felt smug. Because she knew they wanted him, but she was the only one he had eyes on.“In your faces,” those were the ones she wanted so badly to say to them, but she stayed silent, though her eyes said it all. They were about to go get something to eat when they came across Lucian. He looked down at their hands before he looked back at them as he said, “Alpha and Luna want to see the both of you.”“Is everything okay?” Dalian asked, the first words he had spoken for a while, his eyebrows pinched in worry. Lucian just waved at him and he walked past them. “Everything’s fine, relax. You wouldn't be scolded for fucking.”“Idiot,” Mia scoffed as they followed Lucian.
They stayed like that for long minutes, wrapped in each other, breathing in each other’s scent, and saying nothing, just content with each other. Then Dalian shifted, kissing her cheeks as he whispered, “You’re dangerous, Mia.”She smiled, eyes closed. “And you’re danger.”He chuckled, low and soft, the sound rumbling against her lips as he continued to kiss her. Her scent was thick in the air, wrapping around him like a spell, and he wanted to breathe it in until it filled every dark corner within him. She smelled like lilies in bloom—fresh, delicate, and subtly sweet—and like the earth after the first rainfall, rich and grounding. It was a scent he hadn’t known he craved until now, and it was all her. Addictive. Enchanting.Every breath he took only pulled him deeper under, until he wasn’t sure where she ended and he began. She was sweetness and strength, softness and storm, and everything about her called to something primal in him—and it wasn't his wolf. No, it was something else
Oh, if Mia thought she knew pleasure before, it was nothing compared to this. This was a whole different experience, a different feeling and she didn't want it to stop. Dalian settled between her thighs like he belonged there, and dragged his tongue up her center, groaning deep as he tasted her. Mia cried out, her fingers tangling in the sheets as her back arched off the bed. He licked again, slower this time, swirling his tongue before sucking her clit into his mouth. Mia’s body jerked and she gasped out his name, “Dalian,” one hand flying to his hair. Dalian hummed against her flesh, his tongue licking and swirling, doing things to her. He licked her folds before his tongue entered her and Mia moaned loudly, her other hand joining the first and she held his hair tight. Dalian raised his eyes, they landed on hers and held, his eyes hooded with lust. He curled his tongue inside her, tasting her from the inside. And when he slipped two fingers in, Mia screamed so loud that she was
Mia stood up, grumbling under her breath from the pain that shot from her neck. She moved to open the door but paused. What if it was Dalian?She breathed in and tried to fix her hair, but she stopped. What was she doing? She sighed as she opened the door, but it was another twin that greeted her. Ravenna smiled, holding up a paper bag. “I brought you cake,” she said softly. “You barely touched your breakfast, so I figured you'd be hungry.”Mia smiled back, taking the bag from her. “You're the best.”Ravenna’s smile widened. “I know.” But the smile dimmed a little. “I would really love to stay with you, but I got to go to the twin. I'll see you later?”Mia nodded. “Sure.”Ravenna pulled her into a gentle hug before she turned and left. Mia took the bag inside her room and set it down, taking off her clothes. She entered the bathroom and spent a good twenty minutes in there. Just as she came out from the bathroom, with only a towel wrapped around her, a knock came at her door. Was Ra
“Can you–” Mia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand. She didn't want to let go of Dalian’s hand. It felt like an… anchor. Even when members of the pack passed them and looked down on their joined hands, whispering behind their hands. If anything, she held his hand tighter. They could talk all they wanted, she didn't care. Pff, she cared. Goddamn it, she cared. She cares about what they think about her, how they see her. Because it hurts. Because they were supposed to be her family, but they're foes. She had done nothing except be a child of her father. And that was all they needed. Since she was a child of a betrayer, she was also a betrayer. But she wasn't. She loved this pack, even though they didn't love her back. And she wanted them to accept her. But she had stopped trying to gain their approval years ago. They hate her. Even when Darius had defended her all those years ago. She could still remember that day. He had just become alpha, and he was also fig
Dalian groaned so deep in his throat that anyone who passed by would think he was dying. Oh, if only they knew. He was in heaven. Mia swallowed his full length, her warm mouth like bliss around him. She stayed like that for a moment, breathing through her nose, her throat working around him. Then she swallowed and Dalian saw stars. “Fuck,” he groaned, his hands weaving themselves into her hair, but they just stayed there, giving her time. She started moving. She withdrew until only the tip remained in her mouth before she swallowed him again, hollowing her cheeks and swallowing. She did it slowly at first before she picked pace, her beautiful blue eyes never once looking away from him. He couldn't look away from her either. Looking at those eyes while watching his dick in her mouth was a sight he didn't want to miss. His hold tightened on her hair and he moved his hip slightly, wanting to thrust, but he stopped. He was going to take it at her own pace.But it seems Mia didn't mi
The kiss wasn't rough; it was slow, soft, and delicate, with only heat. Dalian kissed her like he was learning the language of her lips, like he was studying every inch of her mouth with his tongue, like he wanted them both to mesmerize it, like this wasn't about just lust anymore but every aching, torturing second they'd lost. Her hands slipped up his jacket and into his shirt, touching his bare smooth skin, up his back, fingers digging into his shoulders. He shivered against her, groaning into her mouth, and backed her up until her back was pressed against a tree, the bark rough against the fabric of her clothes. “I thought about you for three years,” he said against her lips. “And none of those thoughts were pure.”Mia grinned against his mouth. “Good.”He growled low in his throat, kissing her harder. His hand found the hem of her shirt, sliding under to feel the warmth of her skin. She arched her back, sighing his name. “I thought about how soft you felt,” he whispered as he b