Kiara's POVWhen there was a knock on my door so early, she was the last person I would have even expected. "Keturah?"She smiled at me tightly and I wasn't sure how I felt about her presence. After that fruitless argument for Damien again and touching myself, it had become even more considerably out of sorts. I made sure to accept every and all the corrections Damien asked me to make to the treaty and I was already rounding up drawing up the treaty with Damien's input. Sometimes it felt like he was watching me but it was possible that it was all in my head because Damien hadn't shown even a flicker of disturbance at having me so close by. He made me doubt all that Keturah had said. And while the temperature of his office kept going up, we had not had any intimate moments. That in itself almost felt strangely intimate. And I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had seen me touching myself. Knowing Damien, I had no delusions about what he would have done. He
Kiara's POVMaybe I shouldn't have asked. Maybe I should have just sat quietly and ignored the voice in my head that wanted answers. It would have been smarter.But what Keturah said had pushed me. The way she had said it. And of course, the 'secret' itself had compelled me. I could still hear the liquid fluidity of her voice that was heavy with implicit meanings."You want to hear a secret? Damien and I were expecting once. I was going to bear his heir and be his. Then we were betrayed and I lost the child. You are probably thinking how this is any of your business but consider something."I wasn't thinking it was none of my business. I was thinking how it was possible that both of them shared such a bond and I had been unable to tell. I thought what was between them didn't get any deeper than casual sex. But keeping a child. At least until it was terminated or whatever betrayal meant, was a different ball game entirely. I suddenly felt guilty for all the moments I had shared wit
Damien's POVIn retrospect, I shouldn't have been so harsh. I should have been a little more tolerant. The thing was that was the last thing I had expected her to ask about. So her query had shaken me and I flared up and reacted based on my instincts. My mind went back to that time. That time that we lost the child. The thing was I didn't know about the child until later, much later, or I would have put in measures to keep Keturah protected. Keturah hid that information from me and I didn't understand why until recently. I would have realized the truth. That she wanted to keep the child because deep down she wanted more than the relationship we had. Mere minutes after I found out and was confronting Keturah, we were attacked and the pregnancy was lost. The loss had bound us even tighter as we sought for comfort in each other. That should have been my first sign to stay away from her but I couldn't leave her like that at that point. I was mean not heartless. I had to do something
Dorian's POV"No."I didn't even think twice about the request before declining it. Ashly was livid. Of course, she was. When wasn't she?"No? I am your mate. I have a right to be at the treaty signing."The treaty was finally going through with King Damien and as unexpected as it was, it seemed to be true, not a scam as I had initially thought. That meant he hadn't discovered that my pack, my mate in particular, had a hand in what had happened to the sceptre. All was well and naturally, Ashly wanted to put a wrench in the plans. What was she saying? That as my mate she had the right to be there. How laughable. "Sometimes, I wonder if you also lie to yourself because your delusions are phenomenal." I said, my every word coated with derision. Her green eyes hardened in anger and growing annoyance. "Dorian."From the outside, we probably looked like a normal couple having a usual argument. Ashly was just beginning to show and pregnancy looked beautiful on her with her glowing ski
Damien's POVIt was the day of the treaty signing and I wanted the day to be over with already so I could get back to Kiara. I was sure that she wouldn't leave with her father even after the treaty was signed. Maybe it was the way she looked at me at that date. Maybe it was how different things were between us. "Have you delivered the dress to her?"I ordered a dress from the same store we had been to for Kiara to wear for today's celebration. She had been so busy organising everything that she had been unable to prepare adequately for it. And the decorations had come out stunning. I was proud of how her efforts had turned out. "No, King Damien. She is feeling sick."I paused while putting on my jacket. The maid who went to deliver the dress she was supposed to wear was at the door. "Sick?"I had never walked so fast in my life. I wondered how serious it was and I called my doctors who were already on their way.It was almost time for my meeting with Dorian and his father but I
Kiara's POVI really didn't want to go to the party. I might have planned it but he was the one who had made me plan it. And since I had been given that task by him I couldn't afford to fall short of Damien's expectations. It wasn't like I was against parties. I just didn't want to go for the one where the man who had rejected me without even bothering to have a conversation with me first would be. Prince Dorian no Dorian must have felt like such a boss disgracing me so publicly and making people look down on me like I was a slut or like there was something defective with me that a prince had not wanted to be my mate. Now Damien wanted me to go downstairs and pretend like Dorian wasn't looking down on me for being caught by Damien and detained by him for this long. No, I wouldn't go. If I wanted my father to pick me up, I would give him a damn phone call. I wouldn't let Dorian and his people offer to take me home. This was their fault anyway. How could they fix a problem they had
Dorian's POVThe entire meeting had been annoying. My dad had sucked up to King Damien so much that one would forget he was a king in his own right. I could understand to an extent because the Lycan were bigger, stronger and just generally more advanced than us especially in battle ensuring whenever we had skirmishes we had the higher number of losses.So of course the importance of this treaty couldn't be over-emphasized and of course, he would do anything needed to be done to ensure it was going through smoothly. Still, the fact that we had to cosy up to Damien was annoying.Maybe my bad mood had to do with Ashly finally convincing my father that we could name 'our' child the heir to the throne immediately after it was born. Its gender didn't matter naturally. It would be a born leader as 'my' child. My father had readily agreed. He seemed so agreeable these days with anyone who wasn't me. No. Me, he watched with an eagle eye as though he suspected I was always up to something ne
Kiara's POVI couldn't believe my eyes as I watched Damien and Dorian trade blows as the crowd watched on, The air was heavy with shouts and murmurs as they fought. I covered my mouth in shock. I couldn't believe they were fighting over me. No, this couldn't happen not on the heels of the very important treaty that would spell a new dawn for both wolves and lycans. "Please stop fighting!" I yelled but both of them ignored me as they went at each other again. Damien stepped up to hit Dorian who dodged and moved away. Seeing some space between them, I fought my instincts that said to never ever step between two wolves fighting. Well, thankfully it was only one wolf and one lycan which was better in a way but worse in others. I stepped between them."I said stop!"At that very moment, Damien threw a blow at Dorian and although Damien visibly tried to stop himself in time, the edge of his blow still glanced my shoulder making me teeter. Ouch. Both of them stopped fighting instantl
Kiara's POVYEARS LATER"You need to let me up." I told my mate that was looking way too comfortable pinning me down. With the training I had now and my Lycan strength, I could easily flip him and keep him that way but he didn't seem bothered. In fact, he seemed amused. "Do I?"I wriggled beneath him but his legs were stable beside me and I feared that he was enjoying this position too much to remember we had an event to get to. An important one. "We need to get going. We can't be late."Damien ignored me of course as he pushed his fingers up my dressing robe leaving me sucking in a harsh breath.Sensing my reluctance to stop things before they got too far, he spread my legs wide exposing me to him. Fuck. How was this so hot? Any thought that I had of going anywhere evaporated as my thoughts condensed to Damien and his unbelievably erotic touch. He pressed his fingers against my slick arousal making me to shiver. I was so turned.I could hear the smirk in his voice as he respo
Kiara's POVI hoped that I was just freaking out prematurely.I hoped that whatever he had to say wouldn't be something that could break us. Hule seemed almost as hesitant to speak as I was to hear what had to say. "I am used to being the smartest, strongest and most important person in the room. I forgot that I am not presiding over a set of people but in a relationship where I can't just make decisions for you."Oh Goddess, was I hearing wrong or was Damien actually apologising? Today was trully full of unending surprises. "Damien."He held my hands in his much larger ones and traced distracting circles across my skin with his thumb."I'm sorry. I shouldn't have agreed to change you without your permission. I'm sorry about that, sorry for hurting you, sorry for waiting this long to come for you.My heart was a gooey mess at this point and I didn't know what he said as tears of happiness traced down my face as he kissed the back of my hands. But he wasn't nearly done turning my h
Kiara's POVThe moment that she pulled me to herself and I met Damien's eyes, I knew that I wasn't going to be the reason she got away this time. That I wasnt going to get kidnapped this time and force Damien to make an impossible agreement to get me out of a situation that I put myself in. I moved and the knife sunk into me like my skin was butter and a scream escaped me as I went down. The pain was complete and it held me trussed up tight until I couldn't tell where was up and where was down. I clutched my belly putting pressure on the wound but the knife had gotten too deep and all I could do was feel my blood seep through staining my hand. Dorian was at my side in seconds while I watched Damien go after Ashly with a heavy heart. I would have preferred him next to me but with my blood pouring out of me and the she pain cutting through me, I could gave cared less who was saving me. Dorian lifted me as delicate as he could but it still sent pain tearing through me and as he sa
Damien's POVI was angry but then these days, I was angry all the time. I was angry at the fact that a werewolf that I should have had killed had me by the balls literally and that it had been one of my people that had spearheaded this. It was so fucking annoying that it pissed me off.My anger had almost blinded in me in those early days that I was grateful for Dorian being around. Despite him being the pain in the ass that I had considered him to be, he had a surprising amount of insights to give as regards how to properly manage my affairs. That first day, I had wanted nothing more than to go charging in to rescue Kiara but Dorian stayed my hand. He warned me that no matter how much stronger lycans were compared to wolves, one thing remained the same, a man couldn't go off to fight his enemies when his own home was in disarray. I was glad I took his advice because shortly after, some Lycan communities began wearing with each other when the information that Keturah had been be
Kiara's POVThe more time that passed the least likely it seemed that this was all an elaborate hoax by Damien to get Ashly distracted. I noticed the buzz in the pack and I had no idea the lie Ashly had spun to make the pack members okay with the fact that she was cheating on their Alpha but it must have been a really good one because they seemed completely fine with it. It wasn't until I overheard two of the guards' conversation about how brave she was for agreeing to get mated to Damien to make up for their Alpha that had absconded from a death duel. So that was how she had spun it. Despite the fact that it was because if her that he had been unable to get to the fuel, she was using it to her advantage. Days were counting down to Ashly's mating with Damien but it was as though I was in some cocoon that was outside of time. I was losing my mind. There was no actual news that could interest me apart from knowing the truth if what was going on. I didn't know what day it was only
Kiara's POVI was more than surprised when Kiara summoned me to her office. Surprised and disturbed. The last time I had seen her was three days ago when she killed Keturah and hunted me down as I ran away. I had no doubts that whatever this meeting was for, it wasn't for anything good. The guard escorting me stayed outside while I entered the office and Ashly looked surprisingly calmer than the last time I had seen her. I didn't know if it was just in my head though. She looked at me from head to toe and looked satisfied with what she saw. "How do you feel now?"How did I feel about my injury that had just finished reading on it's own without any attention from the healer which could have led to silver poisoning?Wonderful. I was feeling absolutely wonderful. But I didn't say that of course. I wasn't half as strong as Keturah had been and I rather liked my head where it was. Ashly's friendly tone died a quick death. "I understand that you are nervous. You should be," Her ruth
Kiara's POVShaun was dead and I didn't know a thing I could have done to prevent it. Keturah had come for me and I was ashamed to admit that I had been scared. Scared after she smiled at me maliciously and had me held down while she took my blood and a section of my hair was noticeably smaller than the rest if it. She wanted to use me to bait Damien but I.saw that she had gotten way too much satisfaction from what she did.She would hurt me just for the fun of it. She wanted to hurt me just for the fun of it if I would but give her the excuse. Hearing her approaching footsteps along side a shuffling one awoke fear inside me and told me that it was possible she was back for more.She unlocked the door gesturing for me to come out of the cell with that same mocking smile that said she was just waiting for me to resist her so that she would break me. I stepped out unwilling to give her that chance only for me to see Shaun barely on his feet as he bled from what had to be at least a
Keturah's POVI was suspicious. Before recruiting Ashly, I knew of her predilection to be a traitor and it didn't bother me not when I planned to use her and dispose of her as soon as possible. But now that she had gone out of her way to help me when I was.certain she was like me only counting the hours until our alliance fell apart. Leaving the dungeons after acquiring the blood and lock of hair that had somehow quelled my blog odlust with regards to Kiara, I had gotten a whiff of Ashly. I had felt doubly suspicious. I was certain that she would go into the dungeons to sabotage me in some way so I left and doubled back after dropping off my possessions. That was when I overheard her telling that wolf that always hung around Dorian to warn Damien.. Smart. So that was what she planned. Selling me out to Damien to keep her hide. It was a good idea. If I had not gotten to overhear this it might have even worked. But now…I heard the wolf speak again, his voice intense with a quie
Ashly's POVMy chest hurt. Maybe it was because Shaun had betrayed me. It maybe it was because I knew I was deserving of such a betrayal since I had betrayed him first. The guards hauled him away and I turned to leave only for Kiara's sharp judgemental voice to pull me to a stop. "What are you doing, Ashly?"What did she think I was doing? Playing? Kiara always asked the wrong and dumbest questions.I continued walking and she raised her voice so high that the guards escorting Shaun away would no doubt catch a hint of her hefty words on the air. "You care about him yet you would do this?"Do what? I found to face her as she finally hit me where it hurt. Where I had already been sensitive about to begin with. She was no one to judge me. She had grown up surrounded by the best of everything. She got chosen to be the most of Dorian out of all the other eligible she wolves because of the incidence of her birth. The only unlucky stint she had was when Dorian had rejected her and once