RAVENNA POV There was a buzz in my ears, a thump in my head, a knife in my heart.Why the hell was Zara touching Darius?It was just a small touch: her hand on his arm, but it made my vision red. Also because his shirt was sleeveless so Zara was touching skin. Why wasn't he pushing her hand away? Why was he looking so relaxed? There was even a smirk on his face. That smirk that he has given me countless times. I had to breathe in deeply to clear the buzzing in my ears so I could hear what they were saying.Zara's voice drifted through the door, light and playful, teasing him in a way I had never heard her before."You’re so cold, Darius," Zara cooed, her laughter a soft melody that curled around my insides. "You know, I could make you feel something real. You’re not fooling anyone."I froze, my fists clenching as the knot in my stomach tightened.I shouldn’t have stayed. I shouldn’t have listened. But I couldn’t help it. The temptation to know what was happening, what was really ha
DARIUS POV It was taking all my willpower to keep my face blank and let this snake touch me. Her touch repulsed me, burned my skin. But I let her continue to think she had won here. I was a predator, I liked to hunt and taunt my prey before I striked. But Zara here had been the one to hunt me out. When we were done finalizing the deal and signing documents for our new alliance, I had wanted to go find Ravenna.I knew she was hurting despite how high she held her chin earlier. I knew because her body had remained tense. And I could see it all in her beautiful eyes.And so I wanted to find her, and touch her, and kiss her and just fucking love her. But then this snake had found me when I came outside my room, had dragged me to the guest floor claiming Alpha Hale had entrusted her with a message she couldn't have said in front of Lucian and Lucas. And so I followed her here. Only
DARIUS POV I shifted back when I got to the pack house, no longer caring about my back. The pack was already gathered and some of them gasped at the sight of my back. I was beyond caring."Zara!" I bellowed.The girl walked out of the crowd, her entire body trembling and her complexion pale. Lucas walked behind her, looking like he was ready to jump in if I harmed his little girlfriend but there was also a hint of fear in his eyes."Where's Ravenna?" I asked, my voice like ice."I-I do–""Don't test me, Zara," I growled through clenched teeth. "Where. Is. Ravenna?""I don't know!" she shouted, tears running down her cheeks.I walked towards her and she took a step back. "Go pack your things and leave. But listen to this: when you get back to your pack tell your alpha that if he's hiding Ravenna then he has signed his death certificate. I will burn your territory to t
RAVENNA POV I tried, I really tried hard to hold on to the numbness, but it was slipping away from my reach fast the more I stared at Darius. His eyes were filled with so much pain, and sadness, and anger that I felt suffocated under his piercing gaze."Why?" And it only took that one question to drag the numbness away from me. And in its place, anger, sadness and love replaced it. "Why?" I parroted. "Are you really asking me why, Darius?"He took a step forward and I took a step back. "Yes, Ravenna. I'm asking you why. Why did you leave me? You couldn't stay with a broken villain so you left to find your hero?"Rage filled me. "Did you enjoy her touch?" I spat. "What did she feel like? Was her skin soft? Did you kiss her? Did you go further than just kissing? I'm surprised you're even alive. I had thought she would have killed you with her venom."Confusion filled Darius’ face and it made the
RAVENNA POV "Hand-to-hand combat?" I asked, my heart racing.If I won, was I really going to let him go? Was I going to ignore this ache in my heart, this pull that I felt towards him? During the drive here I had gone through everything he said and I believed him. That pain in his eyes was real. The raw emotions were real. So why was I still going on with this?But this was the way it was supposed to be from the beginning. This Darius’ stupid game. In the last fight, if I could injure him deeply, he would let me go. And if he also injured me he would kill me. But I could see it in Darius’ eyes, in his pained face and tensed posture that he wasn't going to kill me. And I knew deep down that I wasn't going to leave him. "Yes," Darius answered, his voice low but unwavering. I nodded, trying to steady my racing heart. Every muscle in my body was taut, coiled tight a
RAVENNA POV The burning consumed me, filled my whole body. It was all I could feel. A searing, all-consuming burn. It wasn’t just pain anymore. It was fire.My chest flared with a heat so intense, I thought my skin would melt away. The scar pulsed, a dark energy seeping through it, crawling under my skin, making it feel like my body was being torn apart, shredded by invisible claws. Every muscle, every nerve, every fiber screamed in agony as the burn spread outward, clawing its way across my body.I screamed.It wasn’t human. The sound that ripped from my throat was raw, guttural, something primal—like an animal caught in a trap.I reached for my chest, my fingers trembling, but the pain was too much. It was too much. My hands trembled. My body trembled. My whole soul goddamned trembled. And through it, through the chaos in my mind, I heard Darius’ voice."Ravenna
DARIUS POV I rested my head on the wall and stared down at Ravenna's sleeping face. She had lost consciousness before those words had even been completed.I had driven us back to the hotel, cleaned her and put her in bed. Despite her body being naked, no desire had sparked in me. The fear I had felt from that clearing still clung to me brutally. I had never known true fear in my life until that moment. At first I didn't know what was happening until I heard her bones snapped and her claws lengthened. The fear had taken root then. Shifting for the first time was brutal, painful. Some didn't come out of it. Some get lost to their wolves and animal instincts take over their humanity. Pups were prepared from birth for their shifting. But I knew there hadn't been any preparation for Ravenna. If I was assuming correctly she was born without a wolf. But that… that was
RAVENNA POV Darius was my mate. Mine.God, was this real? I kissed him with the urgency of someone on the brink of death, my arms clinging to him as though, if I let go even slightly, he would vanish from my grasp.When I had woken up and didn't find him, panic had seized me. I thought that maybe he had finally come to his senses and didn't want me anymore and had left. I was ready to drive back to his territory and beg him, slap him, kiss him. And that ache in my chest had only made matters worse. It had throbbed and then I became restless, like I wanted to leave this room. And when Darius had come back it had faded. And now I understood what it was. It was our mate bond. Even though we hadn't bonded yet, it was still there. Strong. And I knew that was how Darius had found me. I broke away from the kiss to breathe, placing my head
DARIUS POV Ravenna sat up and looked down at me, her eyes wide, her hair sticking in every direction, face flushed and lips swollen. She was fucking perfect. "After the feast?" she asked, her hands resting on my chest. "That's a week from today. I'm going?""We are going," I said, adding enough emphasis on the ‘we’. "If we could go tomorrow we would, but we have to be here for the feast. The pack would be bringing gifts and want to see their new Luna so we can't leave yet." Ravenna said nothing and just threw herself back on me, drawing a ‘oooff’ out of me. "I thought you wouldn't want me to go for a while," she said, her voice muffled against my chest. "Why wouldn't I?" I traced her spine with my fingers, making her shiver.She shrugged. "I thought maybe you would want to spend more time with me.""I'm still going to spend more time with you. I'm coming along a
RAVENNA POV The drive back to the pack house passed in a blur. Even though Darius was driving he couldn't take his hands off me, and me him. It felt like I was burning, and if Darius wasn't in me in a moment that fire would consume me. Just a brush of Darius’ fingers on my inner thighs were enough to make me moan loudly like a dying animal. And when that finger finally entered where I needed them I nearly exploded.I had told Darius to stop the car and forget about getting home but he refused, claiming this was a special night and I should be treated, even though his hard dick was nearly tearing through his pants, the spot where his head was already damp from per-cum. I admired that control he had. I was a raging mess. When I had asked him why the hell this was happening he had explained it was because of the wine. "It was no ordinary drink," he had explained, his voice rasped, his pupil di
RAVENNA POV "God, Ravenna, you look beautiful," Mia breathed, her bottom lips trembling. She shook her head. "No, beautiful is too small a word to describe you. You look heavenly." I could only nod, all words failing me as I stared at the girl looking back at me from the mirror. It was the night of my ascension ceremony, and I didn't recognize myself.The white dress clung to my body, the fabric soft and flowing, falling in gentle waves to the floor, covering my feets. My silver hair, usually wild and free, was now tamed and twisted with delicate accessories—silver beads and tiny braids woven with precision, each one pulling at the roots of my hair in a way that felt like a reminder of all the eyes that would soon be on me. I lifted my gaze to meet my own reflection. My gray eyes stared back, wide and uncertain. Was I ready? Ready for these new responsibilities? If it would mean a lifetime
DARIUS POV Each time I believed I had reached the fullest depth of my love for Ravenna, she effortlessly showed me a new layer, a new reason to love her even more. In every moment, she proved that my heart was capable of loving her beyond what I ever imagined. And so since I wasn't good with the skill of words I kissed her to express my ever growing love for her. I will make love to her so my body could speak that language which my tongue couldn't. I would worship you so my soul will be bare for her to see the depth of my love for her. She will see that there is no me without her. I took off her clothes and mine followed. I kissed her slow and deep as I positioned myself on her entrance. She looked up at me with soulful eyes filled with love and it felt like I was going to burn under that love. But it wouldn't be the type of burns that hurt.I was about to push into her but then a thought occurred and I had to pull back
RAVENNA POV When I had finally managed to pull myself together, Dalian pulled away and held my face, a small smile on his face. "It's still looking at a female version of myself," he said softly, brushing a lock of hair out of my face.I scoffed. "I said the same thing." "Grandmother had said we would be identical twins but Mother didn't believe her. She said we looked nothing alike when we were still infants and so we would grow to have different looks." "What was she like?" I asked. "Mother." That sadness returned to Dalian's eyes and he pulled me into his arms again. "She was a wonderful woman. She was soft but tough when she wanted to be. She trained some of the best warriors in our tribe. She was well respected and loved. If she lived to grow old she would have become one of our tribe's elders. Half of our tribe even voted her to be our leader but she wanted nothing to do with that life." "How…" I swallowed. "How was she killed?"Dalian's arms tightened around me and he too
DARIUS POV I wanted to drag this Dalian away from my mate. Him holding her filled my tongue with the bitter taste of jealousy, tightened my chest to the brutal feeling of possessiveness.I wanted to be the one holding her, confronting her while she broke down. I wanted to be the one kissing her hair, whispering words to her. Even though this man claimed to be my woman's brother I still wanted to kill him for touching her. Nobody should touch my mate but me. My wolf seems to agree with that because he was becoming restless, already rising to the edge.I felt a small, warm hand on my arm but I still didn't look away from Ravenna. "Come on, big guy," Mia said softly. "Give them space. They both need it." I clenched my jaw so hard I could hear my teeth grounding. "No.""Don't be like that, Darius," she persisted. "She had just found out that she has a family out there. She has a grandmother who loves her, and a twin who came for her. Don't you think she'll need time to be with him?"W
RAVENNA POV A jolt that shot through me was sharp and sudden, like the shock of touching a live wire with wet hands. The eyes staring back at me looked familiar because they looked like mine. The same shade of gray, like a stormcloud. I broke eye contact to look at the other features and my breath hitched. "What the hell?" I whispered to myself. That finally got Mia's attention. She stopped bubbling about jewels and turned to look at me. "Are you o–" Her voice cut off and I'm sure she was looking at the same person. "What... " The man standing a few feets away from me, looking intensely at me, was like a mirror I was standing in front of. Except the reflection in the mirror was male, six-foot-something tall, broad, and striking handsome. We shared the same silver hair, though his was cropped short, skimming his jawli
DARIUS POV Later that night I lay with Ravenna beside me, her head resting on my bicep, her hand stroking my chest lazily.Despite the fact that we've gone another round after we came back to our room none of us could sleep. Thoughts come and go in my head, pushing sleep away anytime it comes near. I'm sure the same went for Ravenna.So we just laid there, content to be in each other's arms. My hand went to her belly where I just drew lazy circles, before they went up to her chest. Since none of us could sleep maybe we cou–My hand touched a rough skin on her chest, just below her breast and paused there. I trailed my fingers there and she shuddered.The few times I had seen her naked I was either consumed by lust or fear, so my head was far from me. But now that none of those things were clouding my senses I could think straight."This is an interesting scar," I said softly, my finger Ms trail
DARIUS POV I could feel my pack's happiness as if it was my own. It was pulsing in the air, beating around me, making my throat tightened and my eyes prickled. Ravenna might have once been an outsider to them but at one point they had taken her as their own even if they didn't show it. And I knew now they wouldn't have a problem with Ravenna being their luna. Except…I looked around the hall and my eyes met Lucian's. He held my gaze, his expression unreadable, but then he dipped his head ever so slightly.The relief that flooded me was strong. I haven't lost my friend. He was still here. I dipped my head in return and he broke eye contact. The cheers continued, growing louder with each passing beat. After my mother died I have never known true happiness. I had forgotten what it felt like, how it tastes, and what it does to your heart. If this feeling that was sq