Dorian's POV"Dorian." Damien replied after an extended silence that put me on edge no doubt as he wanted. And while his tone was jovial, friendly even, there was an undercurrent that immediately put me on edge. "This is a surprise," I said, borrowing Ashly's earlier words. "Why did you call?"Damien chuckled darkly. "Are you telling me that you don't know why I am calling you?""If I did, I wouldn't be asking you." I said pointedly trying to deflect his attention from what we were saying. There was a slight chance that he already knew that I was looking for Kiara and he was messing with me but if he didn't I wouldn't just out myself."Dorian," This time when he spoke all levity was gone from his voice. "Don't you have something to tell me? Something about Kiara?"He knew. A chill spread across my skin and I wondered how he could have found out so quickly.I rushed to apologise, to assure him. "Damien, I will find her, I–"I heard static from across the line and a slap as though so
Kiara's POV"I forbid you from going."What had I expected from Damien? Because being objective wasn't even in the books. It had been three days with no word from Dorian. Three days after he told us that he would be confronting his psychopath of a mate and my former best friend Ashly who it turned out that I had never known. When he told me of his plan, I felt a chill go up my spine. It was something that needed to be done but if she could try to kill me, her childhood friend, who she had grown up with and shared her life experiences with then she had no limits.Damien had dismissed my concerns. She was just one pregnant wolf who couldn't even shift, he said, Dorian would be fine. And if he wasn't then perhaps he wasn't supposed to be the Alpha of the Black wolf pack. It had been three days. Three days of no news of the arrest of Ashly, no news of Dorian's disappearance. It was just radio silence with our calls to the Alpha's office being ignored. "Damien." I said, my mind was ma
Kiara's POVAs I watched both of them sit next to each other hand in hand, it felt like my eyes were deceiving me.I gawped so much that I almost didn't hear the council members asking my partner and me to move the chest. "Drop the chest there." One of them gestured to the space close to the Alpha couple. As I carried the chest close to them, my heart raced and I wondered if they would be able to see through my disguise. I shouldn't have worried as they barely glanced away from each other long enough to notice that I had even passed them by. One of the elders spoke up, his words stunning me even more than the bizarre sight of both of them sitting together like a real couple. "These weapons are all we will need to commence the war with the Lycan King."What?! They wanted to continue the war with Damien after signing a peace treaty? They had lost their minds. Damien would not forgive such a betrayal and he would rip them apart mercilessly.Another elder nodded, seeming either pleas
Kiara's POV"Luna Ashly has lost the baby."It felt like a dream or a particularly bad nightmare as I heard that from the pack doctor. Just an hour ago she was alright. She was fine as she was while claiming that she would be going to war with Damien.My ears rang and I almost walked away in shock. After she had fallen, I could have left and I could have run away. Maybe I would have if Dorian hadn't been standing there looking on blankly as though his mate wasn't losing her baby. So the job to call out for assistance had fallen on my shoulders and I had called and called until someone came to assist me in taking her to the pack clinic. That was when Dorian had snapped out of whatever fugue he was in long enough to follow us to the pack hospital. But it was already too late she had lost the child already.I felt awkward staying in the room but guards were already at the door so leaving suddenly would draw attention to the girl in male uniform standing to an extreme corner of the roo
Kiara's POV"Luna Ashly has lost the baby."It felt like a dream or a particularly bad nightmare as I heard that from the pack doctor. Just an hour ago she was alright. She was fine as she was while claiming that she would be going to war with Damien.My ears rang and I almost walked away in shock. After she had fallen, I could have left and I could have run away. Maybe I would have if Dorian hadn't been standing there looking on blankly as though his mate wasn't losing her baby. So the job to call out for assistance had fallen on my shoulders and I had called and called until someone came to assist me in taking her to the pack clinic. That was when Dorian had snapped out of whatever fugue he was in long enough to follow us to the pack hospital. But it was already too late she had lost the child already.I felt awkward staying in the room but guards were already at the door so leaving suddenly would draw attention to the girl in male uniform standing to an extreme corner of the roo
Kiara's POVIt was the day of my execution.The guards dragged me out of my cell and I felt so despondent that I didn't struggle, couldn't say a word as they moved me away.I wasn't taken to the receiving hall where Dorian had rejected me so long ago, instead, I was taken outside the pack house towards the forest line where the majority of the Black wolf pack was gathered to witness my execution.An executioner's block had been set up and a large wolf stood by its side, a large axe in his hands.I felt sick. So sick I would have thrown up if there was anything in my stomach. Was this where I was going to die? Was this how I was going to die?Up ahead of the execution block, a platform had been erected where the highest-ranking members of the pack sat. Dorian was at the centre forefront with Ashly firmly at his side and some of the elders sat behind them watching in absolute silence with contrite looks on their faces.They would continue to watch like that while I was executed. I tried
Kiara's POVThis couldn't be happening.I understood where Damien was coming from but arresting Dorian like this after slaughtering a ton of his pack members wouldn't do well for the treaty even though I was already doubting its tenuous existence with all the fighting and killing that had been done today. "Damien, you can't –" I began to object as two of his warriors cuffed a still-confused Dorian with thick silver cuffs.Damien cut me short, his hazel eyes blazing with barely restrained fury and daring me to say just one more word to land myself in trouble. "I have not forgotten how you snuck out and endangered your life again." He grated making my cheeks burn in remembrance of how carelessly I had risked my life. I stole a glance at Dorian comparing him in my head with the Dorian I had met upon my return. Coming back might have been foolhardy but I might just have saved Dorian's life and I refused to regret it.I folded my hands and glared up at him."If you had just allowed me t
Kiara's POVYes. Damien just spanked me like I was a little child.I couldn't believe it but I couldn't get out of his hold even as my cheek burned furiously. I began to struggle in earnest, but my efforts only earned me two more slaps on my butt.His arm on my middle held me in place as his hands actresses my bottom. “Don’t move,” Damien ordered, his voice solid and final with no room for arguments. “What—” Before I could complain about how unreasonable this was, his hand came down again and made a loud and vicious contact with my bottom.“That was for breaking my headboard.”I gasped. "Fuck you."His hand came down again, this time twice as hard.“And that was for running off and almost getting yourself killed again.”I dug my fingers into the sheets, my body twisting in his arms as I braced myself. The next smack hurt worse than the previous two combined and my vision went white with pain.“And that was simply for the fun of it."He didn't let me up though, his hands caressing