ARABELLA POV Rhys was gone by the time I came back to the ward. I felt pity for him; pain and pity. Somehow his agony echoed within me, stretching the thin walls of my sanity. It was almost as if I could feel exactly what he was feeling, only faint. I didn’t find him anywhere in the ward and Bruno was still sleeping. I checked around and even the windows (I know, absurd), but I still didn’t see him. The only logical thing that came to my mind was that he’d be at home.When I didn’t see him check in the next day, I became worried. It was unlike him to go so still, especially when a big event like this was happening.“Is Rhys here yet?” Mia asked.I shook my head no. Here she was, acting all sweet and innocent as if she just didn’t lie to him for years. She had been beside Bruno for hours, refusing to go home and telling anyone who was willing to here that he was her precious baby. She’d send Craig out several times so that Rhys won’t see him when he comes in yet Rhys never showed up.
RHYS POVA loud scream pierced the air. I turned around immediately, pushing the man before me to the side, my hand still around me. The first thought that came to my mind was that a pack member had seen me with a Rogue and was now ready to spread the news. Imagine my surprise when I turned, ready to explain, only to see that it was Arabella. She somehow fell to the ground as she screamed, looking at me with such hate, such wild look. I instinctively stepped towards her, then stopped. I looked back at the Rogue; leaving him here to attend to her would set him off and make him run. While my body and soul ached to meet Arabella, beachside her screams and increasing tears were piercing my heart and soul, I still could not leave. This was the one prisoner that I needed to integrate into the pack once more. He was the person I’d already decided that he would help me and find the actual person who killed my dad, so I couldn’t let him go.A rant memory suddenly enveloped me then. It was yea
MIA POVMy mind was in chaos. I needed a solution, and I needed it fast. How long would Bruno continue to stay in the hospital without Rhys’ notice? There’s only so much Emma could handle; she wouldn’t go out of her way for me simply because I asked her to. Besides, she’s ready to reveal her secrets if it meant that she would push me down to the lowest level. It looked like she would certainly do it; which brought me down to the first question of the day that I can’t seem to get an answer to: How do I provide blood for Bruno consistently for three months without Rhys finding out?Finding out is the worst thing that could happen. If Bruno was home and I only had to donate once a month, good. But consistently for three months?! It gave me headaches just thinking about it. The hospital would source blood, yeah, but the parents' blood would have to do for the meantime. There’s no way Rhys would find this out and not want to donate; and then he might go there and discover that Bruno wasn’t
RHYS POVMy fist slammed into his face over and over again. What I was doing was listless, but I just couldn’t help myself. The audacity that my Beta had to lie to my face and confront me about it was astounding! It sure deserved a better punishment, but kicking him until I heard the snap of his ribs break was a better satisfaction.Mia was screaming for us to stop behind her. She tried to hold me back a few times but I pushed her away forcefully. When she hit her back painfully on the wall, she knew I meant business and then stayed away; now resulting in her shouting at me to stop.I stopped and then looked back at her. She immediately stopped screaming and then hiccuped, trying esp hard to stop her sobbing even when streaks of tears filled her face.“Rhys, please don’t… don’t hit him anymore,” she begged.The ruckus had attracted a few guards. When they saw that it was my Beta I was punishing, they stayed back until I was done. I motioned with my hands at Craig so they could take hi
MIA POVI waited until Rhys was gone before I went out to my car.Emma. Emma. Emma.Ugh! I screamed inside the car and trashed about, hoping I destroy everything in the process. The car interior remained the same as expected; since the new car makers are now putting destructive werewolves into consideration. How dare she?Why would she tell Rhys about Bruno? Even if Rhys had not actively denied that she told him anything, he didn’t admit it either. My best bet was that she was the one who told him as he wouldn’t suddenly just find out. Or was he calling my bluff?I shook my head as I started the car. If he was calling my bluff, he wouldn’t have mentioned hospital and blood tests and all that bullshit. He wanted me to know where he got the information from.“ARGHHH!!!” I screamed once more, refraining from destroying the car this time around. If it spoilt I; 'm not sure Rhys would want to get me another in his current mood.Someone tapped the side of my window and I turned, startled.
MIA POVArabella.Arabella.Arabella.She was truly the one. Oh, the thought of her name alone gave me chills. I stepped back from the figure in front of me, the figure that suddenly transformed into the one person I always thought was dead.“Arabella,” I said tasting the words in my mouth after such a long time.She smiled as she straightened; looking at me and folding her arms like she’d won a trophy. How did I not see it? All those times that she acted out of character and behaved like she had a motive, I should have looked into it then. Was I that blind? Had I overlooked her so easily as an omega that I didn’t believe she’d do such a thing to me?Even right now as she stood in front of me, she didn’t look like Arabella to me. The hospital scrubs and hat gave her a different look, and she had even changed her hair color. Oh, I should have known. I was so pissed that Emma had been the one that Rhys was seeing recently, not knowing it was Arabella who snuck into this pack and disguis
JACK POVShe spoke about them like a commodity; like they were something to be owned and earned. It was crazy. I gave her one last look before leaving. Mia was stupid to think that I would even believe her, much less play into her scheme. Arabella already mentioned the part about Mia using spells on Rhys when he wasn’t her mate, but the both of them being mates? The matter was absurd to me.It’s only absurd to you because you want her for yourself.I jerked at the sound of my wolf whispering back to me. Damn, as if it wasn’t enough that I had no privacy at this time.Let’s go back, Jack. Let’s go home. This battle is not for us, my wolf said. “I can't leave her alone to fight,” I replied. “If I leave, she’ll be devastated.”She was doing just fine before you showed up. She would still be doing fine if you leave. Let us leave.“Not yet, Danearis,” I said. “Not yet. There’s still so much to achieve. If Mia was right about the both of them being mates…”Who cares? They could be mates fo
RHY POVI was scared for her. I’m not sure I’d ever been scared for anyone other than Arabella. I called her number over and over and when she did not pick up, I did the only reasonable thing to do—drive to her hospital.What about Mia? My wolf asked.I shut down the question immediately. I didn’t want to think about Mia or Craig or all the lies they’d been telling me for Years. Years! Thinking about it alone left me appalled. What else was she capable of? What else would she do if I didn’t pay attention? What else has she been doing?Crucify her.“Calm down,” I said to my wolf. “We don’t need to jump on the wagon yet. I’m sure there are other sides of Mia that I’m yet to see. We’ll expose all these sides one by one.”You’re scared of her.“Yes, dammit, I’m scared,” I grunted. “I’m scared of what she might do Arabella and her kids now that she’s found out her real identity. Mia is a nut job.”And yet you married her. “She’s our mate.”There was silence from my mate. He was always sil
ARABELLA POV“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” Lily said.I turned away from the mirror to face her. “Do you think I could be potentially making a mistake?”Lily laughed and playfully slapped my arm. “Don’t be silly, Arabella. You thought about this for months. You even went through the painful process of telling everyone your identity.”I smiled at the memory of that. “Yeah, it went surprisingly well. People took it in pretty well.”“You know the one they took in the most? The arrest and public death of Mia.”My mood dampened just a bit. My half sister was killed two weeks ago and here I was, getting married to the man she was previously married to. Rhys asked me not to overthink it as he wasn’t even hers to begin with, and I was working towards that step. I turned to Lily again.“Do you think James and Jenny would make it? They promised that they would show up today and they’re not here yet.”Lily slapped her forehead in embarrassment. She’s been slapping a lot of things lat
RHYS POVI stood outside the boys’ quarters, thinking of how best to go over this. If Jack wanted us to talk about whatever he wanted to talk about, then this was a big secret opener. I was dying to see just how much secret he was willing to uncover, and that included Mia.She was dancing when I stepped into her room. As always, it was open and inviting, as if she was waiting for the day when I would finally accept her. Was she expecting that day to be today? Had she done all this just because she wanted me?Yes, dumb ass. Yes.I ignored my wolf voice and cleared my throat. She stopped dancing and smiled brightly at me, as if I was the sunshine at the end of her tunnel.“You’re here,” she said, wiping her brows with a face towel.“And you’re dancing,” I commented. “What’s the occasion?”“You’ve confined me to this mean, smelly place and I have to get used to it, Rhys.” She gulped down a glass of water. “The fact still remains that I’m your wife and I will be until I sign the divorce p
ARABELLA POVI’ve never had so many things happen to me in the space or hours or minutes but it was definitely happening now. First my children gets kidnapped, then after 24 long, excruciating hours, I go to get them and discover they had somehow managed to free themselves. Then I stupidly went into to the cabin instead of running away with them only to get kidnapped again and have a gun pointed at me.“Your children was a handful,” the first man said. “That is not surprising. I see now where they got it from. You do know we can’t leave you alive after this?”I immediately clasped my hands together in prayer. “Please, I’m begging you with the almighty name of the moon goddess, please let us go. I swear I’ve packed all my things! I’m ready to leave now.”He shook his head. “You’ve seen our face, lady. I wish there was some other way to not kill you—”The door burst open, forcing a startled scream out of me. The kidnapper in front of me trembled. I angled my body to the side and shifted
ARABELLA POV“What are you going to do now?” Lily asked me. “Do you have any plans on how to tackle this?”I paused my restless pacing and turned to her. “I’m burnt out, Lily. I don’t know what to do! I’ve tried to think of every possible thing but nothing. Rhys isn’t even helping matters. He thinks Mia is innocent simply because she hasn’t left the house in days!”“And the kidnappers want you to leave?”“Yes! They clearly said no money, that I should just leave. Who else would not want money and ask me to leave?”She cocked her head at me as both of our mind went to Mia. She was the only sworn enemy that I had that would dare though my children and go Scot free. Thinking about it made by blood boil. I wanted to grab her hair and force her head into a hot oven…“Okay, you’re making that face again, “ Lily said. “We just need to think about what to do next, Arabella. I know this must come as a shock…”“It’s quite the shock, Lily.”“But we have better things to do like waiting for the k
Arabella PovI realized I was vibrating with fear and doom. I needed to calm down, but the thought of my children going through the most traumatic experience of their life was chilling to the bone. Why was it only them that was kidnapped out of all the children coming to school? The kidnappers had technically been aiming for me and my children. I glanced at Mia. It was her. It had to be her. There were no other logic asides the fact that Mia has a vindictive aura towards me and she was not afraid to use them.I turned my back to them and spoke into the phone. “What do you want, please? Can you just let my children go, please? I’ll do anything.”‘Of course you’ll do as you’re told, Dr. Emma, or you’ll never see your children again.”I shivered once more, bracing myself as I asked the most important question. “What do you want then? Is it money? How much would you need to let my kids go?”“You insult us, Dr. Emma. We don’t need your money. We only need you to do one thing and we’ll retu
ARABELLA POVI was very upset, and rightfully so too. I thought about Rhys every day for five days, mostly wondering if he didn’t want to let Mia go. Did he trust her enough to be sure that she hadn’t killed his father? If only I had enough time then to pressure the guy more so he would tell me the truth about Mia. She certainly had more wicked things up her sleeve and I was very desperate to reveal them to the world.“Dr. Emma, you’ve wiped that post four times in a row now,” a nurse said.I jerked back into consciousness and realized that I was in the hospital, wiping a patient’s wrist over and over so I coke inject their antibiotic for them. Murmuring my apologies, I quickly gave them their dose and stood up.“You look tired,” the nurse who had called my attention said. “You can go home; I’ll cover your shift for you. I’m not sure I want to see you dozing off the rest of your days here.”“I’m fine,” I saidSpacing out. I was constantly spacing out because I was concerned for Rhys an
ARABELLA POVI was really bumped and hyped with energy when I took Bruno back to the car. He asked load of questions about why he wasn’t allowed to see the prisoner and I said something in the lines of how his ears were too little to hear all the important details. It would really sick if he had to hear from a strange prisoner that his mother was involved in a crime.Once I left him in the car and locked it, I ran back to the cell. My heart was drumming with excitement. I imagined that prisoner holding Mia’s picture and announcing that she was the one who had made the order. Oh, that would make so much sense! However, when I joined Rhys minutes later, I noticed that he was silent and now holding the picture, having collected it back from the Rogul. The Rogul was snacking heavily on the food I brought, which I now every much regret since the mood wasn’t what I expected it to be.“What did he say?” I asked Rhys, a note of desperation in my voice. “He was holding Mia’s picture, right?”
ARABELLA POVI had a plan. A grand, beautiful plan. Rhys was going to be here anytime soon and he would be solely against it, which means I have to be wise towards it. I knocked once on the children’s door before opening it. They were laughing and walking about, looking for the perfect fit.“Mom!” Delinda cried when she saw me. “Do you think I should wear a dress to the park? I can’t seem to find the perfect fit.”I smiled reassuringly as I remained at the door. “You don’t need to stress to much, my darling. You guys should all wear shorts and shirt—you can wear a skirt, Delinda—and carry a backpack too.”Damon frowned. “A back pack?”“Yeah. It’ll make you looo smart, like a professor.”I knew they would accept readily to what I said, yet I waited on high tension. When they finally agreed to dress like professors and carry their backpack, I grinned. Earlier today in the morning, I came across Bruno’s backpack and I slipped in Mia’s picture in it. At first when I saw her picture lying
MIA POVI paced around my room, completely restless. He hasn’t been sleeping at home lately and now Bruno was gone. When he was brought back from rhe hospital, Rhys took him away and said he wanted to take him to a recovery center. How long do recovery centers usually take? Did Arabella put this idea into his head?Oh, Arabella, that wench!I laughed wildly as I continued to pace around. She thought she won this time, didn’t see? She was the lowly, stupid omega in the past, and now she’s come back a bit chic doctor who’s trying to steal my man? How are people not violent towards this act?! Do I need to start an uproar? She’s not going to win against me. The deadly wench is not going to win me.“You do not get to have the last laugh!” I roared loudly, and then fell to my bedroom floor in a beep.My hair was a mess. With everything going awry, I haven’t give my much thought to how untidy I’d been. That was fine; it didn’t matter what I looked like. I would have every single thing I’d ev