Emery's POVI knew I was fucked the moment I caught sight of Luciano bringing Arabella back. I had waited in my room in the haren waiting for the arrest order. When it didn't come, I prayed to the goddess and thanked her for saving my life. It was all that bitch Anastasia's fault. If she hadn't engaged me in a conversation when I was handing off Arabella to her, Arabella would have never seen my face. But she had and the look on her face when she realized I was behind her child's death was chilling. When she woke up, she wouldn't hesitate before telling Luciano about me.Then I heard about how serious her case was. I had been so happy and prayed fervently for a miracle. For her to die on the operating table. That way I wouldn't be punished by Luciano for trying to kill her. However, she'd survived. And that quickly I was in trouble again. She seemed to do that a lot. It was as though she had nine lives or something."I heard her case is extremely sensitive. The only thing that can
Arabella's POVLuciano was asleep. We were in a bed that I had never seen before. It was much larger than Luciano's bed and had larger elaborately designed bedposts. The duvets were also extremely heavy and I tried to wriggle out of them feeling extremely weak and sweaty for some reason.The duvet wrapped around me tightly. Except this wasn't the duvet. It was Luciano's arm. Wow. If I had known the way to his heart had been through getting shot, I would have done that much earlier. Ha. Only I had and I couldn't remember him being this clingy then. He'd merely informed me that I wasn't allowed to participate in that sort of activity ever again.I needed to pee. Badly. I finally managed to heft his body off my mind, then I hunted for the bathroom which was surprisingly close by. I took care of my business lamenting the lack of toilet paper. Men.The water was running thankfully so I ran a bath for myself. I smelt weird. Like drugs, hospital air freshener and illness. And my hair felt gr
Alpha Luciano's POVWhen I woke up, my mate was asleep in my arms. My mate. Arabella. It felt like a dream. One I didn't want to wake from.I lost count of the number of times we'd woken up and gone at it again like a couple of bunnies unable to keep our hands off each other.I was sated and my wolf for once was calm and settled within me. I wrapped my hands around her tightly and buried my head in her hair inhaling her sweet scent. I was at peace.Looking back on it, I wondered why I had waited so long to mark her and truly bond with her but I knew the truth. The truth was that if I had done it earlier, it wouldn't have had as much significance as it did to me now after everything we had been through together. I couldn't believe she had forgiven me so quickly after all I had done to her. It went a long way to reinforce the belief I had of her being a good person. I couldn't believe I'd once put her in the same category as her father. One thing life had taught me was the fact that he
Alpha Luciano's POV"Vitalio has gotten acquitted of all the charges against him." Naturally, my wonderful mood had to be ruined by news of Arabella's father roaming free.How had he gotten out of the red tape so quickly?"How much money did he lose buying the police off? How many assets did he liquidate?""Almost, " Mikah looked at his phone. "50 million US dollars worth."I massaged my temples. How on earth was Vitalio still seeing so much money to bail himself out of these sorts of situations? At this point, nothing he did had the ability to surprise me anymore."Keep an eye on him and any other ventures he might put a hand in to recuperate his losses."Mikah bowed. "What has Emery said? Has she broken down yet?""No, Alpha. She insists that you are the only one she will speak with. That she will tell only you the truth regardless of the amount of torture she gets."I nearly rolled my head to the back of my skull. A prisoner and still making demands. I sure knew how to pick my wo
Arabella's POVThe house was massive and the more I explored, the more I found. It was around the same size as the current pack house but this one seemed slightly larger probably because it was empty. The rooms were wide and spacious, a mix of modern and ancient themes. I wondered how many years this pack house had been in use prior to Luciano deciding to move out.It was in a surprisingly pristine shape from all the maintenance Luciano supervised. I thought about how much power an Alpha had over his subjects, that they followed his every command like it was a mandate from heaven, that they could abandon their ancestral home just because it had made him uncomfortable... My father had ruled using that power to foster fear. Luciano's rule was more of a mix from the little experience I had with his pack. There was fear, admiration, love, and pity and like the man, I couldn't make an unbiased assessment of the rule itself."My lady, some fruit perhaps?"I nearly jumped, startled even tho
Alpha Luciano's POVEmery actually looked relieved to see me. I could have laughed if I hadn't been so angry. How stupid could one person be?"Luciano, you came. I knew that you would. We..we have so much history for you to toss me aside like this. I know now that what I did was wrong on so many levels. I made a mistake. Please forgive me."I looked at her dispassionately. Where was her remorse when she had killed my child? Where was it when she had handed Arabella over to a psychopath?"Who are your accomplices?""My accomplices? I don't have any. Luciano, it's not like I was planning it for a long period of time. I had a weak moment. That's all. I'm not a bad person. I really regret what I did."I unlocked the bars of her cell. Emery looked shocked then delighted thinking I was about to set her free. She moved to embrace me and I caught one of her arms and pushed her against the bars."When you speak to me, it will be with the appropriate honorifics." I twisted her arm harder and
Elder Tommaso's POVI ended the call angrily. How exactly could I have stayed calm after getting that sort of news?The man I had sent to infiltrate the old pack house had just called to inform me that the information was impossible because the number of people staying there was too little for him to camouflage as one of them.And he couldn't sneak in because Luciano had kept guards in place outside the grounds on a patrol to ensure there would be no trespassers. The patrol group was also a closely knit group that couldn't be infiltrated.All this just went a long way to prove what I knew to be true. Luciano was hiding something. The only problem now was the fact that I couldn't decipher exactly what he was hiding.This plan might have failed but I would try again. I was not fazed by failure. I would find out exactly what it was that he was hiding.******Arabella's POVI threw down my cards frustrated. Luciano won. Again."How can you be so good? Didn't you say you were just a learn
Elder Tommaso's POVI don't know what exactly I was doing going to Luciano's office. The truth was after staying up almost all night thinking about everything. About how I had been unable to get any information about him and Arabella, I'd begun to wonder at how apart we'd grown that I could no longer trust his words as he could no longer trust mine. I didn't want that sort of relationship with Luciano. He was like the son I never had. Maybe he had been onto something when he'd said that in being ruthless, we were losing ourselves. When I spoke to him, I would explain that everything I did was because I cared about him. I had raised him too well to be bothered by whether he was lying about Arabella being awake or not. If he liked the girl so much, he could keep her. If that was what it took for us to be on the same wavelength again then I would allow it gladly. I reached his office. I opened the door. It was empty. I was shocked, it was almost 10 am. Luciano had a strict work ethic