AQUAI stepped into the house, instantly overwhelmed by its grandeur. Every polished surface, every carefully chosen piece of decor, exuded an air of wealth and refinement. It was the kind of luxury that made me feel out of place, amplifying the unease already twisting in my stomach.Although River had promised that he wouldn't reveal the fact that we were true mates, I was still worried about how he would explain my sudden presence to them. But he seemed unfazed about the situation as he strode confidently into the dining room. I gazed down at my empty hands, trying not to feel hurt about the fact that he had left me behind. It was to be expected that he would be pissed about the fact that I had practically blackmailed him, but still, I'd hoped that he would remain by my side until we left this place. Guess that was not going to happen, I thought to myself. “Well, if it isn't the only man who gets to keep everyone waiting,” A middle-aged woman stepped out to meet River. I watched
GUNNARDo you know that feeling you get just before something bad is about to happen?That's how I felt when I was about to reach Aqua's house. For some reason, I couldn't even run faster than the wolf that was accompanying me, Edith. And she was the least fastest wolf in the circle. When we finally reached the threshold, I knocked on the door, but there was no response. For a minute, I wondered if Kianna and my mate were still working in their massage parlor, but once I checked my watch, I reckoned that they were supposed to have returned according to the reports Colin sent me. It was already evening, dammit. So what the hell was going on?I peeked through the window, but I noticed there was indeed no sign of anyone in the house. Although her absence was enough to make my wolf agitated, I was still level-headed enough to consider waiting for her to return. Maybe she couldn't stand being cooped up in the house and decided to have a girl's night out. I didn't oppose to her having s
AQUAThe tension in the room kept getting worse with each passing minute, its suffocating silence pressing against my chest like an iron grip. I must have been the only one who sensed it because everyone else was busy eating and chatting with each other like nothing happened a few minutes ago. But there was something still simmering underneath, and I could feel it.Every glance. Every pause before they replied to each other. It was so obvious that one wrong move could quickly ruin this fragile balance. Just when I was coming up with an excuse to leave, I felt River's hand cover mine. Our eyes met after that touch, passing several unspoken messages between each other before we pulled away. And one of them was definitely his plea, telling me to stay. Once dinner was over, River was the first one to leave. He pulled me up as he rose to his feet. At the same time, my eyes landed on Jocelyn, so I murmured a polite thanks towards my hostess. “Thank you so much for the food, Jocelyn. And
GUNNARMy eyes widened when I saw Aqua in front of me. It was like she dropped from the sky, and now, she was a few minutes from hitting the ground face-flat. My hands immediately wrapped around her waist as I pulled her close to me, but it seemed like my stamina was not enough to stabilize the both of us. So we fell to the ground together. Shielding her with my body, I braced myself for impact when we fell. A low grunt escaped from my lips as I tried to endure the pain, but at least, my woman was okay. “Oh, my goodness,” Aqua gasped. She pointed at my head, which was now bleeding, and tried to touch it. “Are you alright?”I nodded. "I'm fine.” My head hurt like hell, but it wasn't anything that I wasn't used to. I scanned her entire figure, making sure she was alright before asking. “Now, do you want to tell me why the hell you were running like that? What happened?”Aqua's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't speak immediately. I knew what that meant, but still, I was curious en
GUNNAR"I've already made my choice!" Aqua screamed angrily.Even though I tried to control my emotions, my heart involuntarily skipped a beat when I heard her words. My second chance mate had been standing beside me all this time, yet it seemed like a wall had risen between us. She lied to me and even went on a date with her true mate. At that moment, I had no hope that she would choose me. Perhaps she was simply having a lover's spat with him and wanted to use me to make him jealous.Thinking like that made my heart squeeze in my chest. Although I hadn't been sweet and attentive like River probably was to her, at least my intentions were pure and true. Since the moment she entered my life, my every thought had been consumed by her, longing to cherish and protect her. But is this what I was going to get in return?She was just going to walk away, turning her back on our future? On everything we had up to now?Aqua interlinked our fingers with each other before unmuting the mate bond.
AQUAAs Gunnar finally pulled up in front of my house, a wave of dread washed over me, causing my legs to tremble uncontrollably as I opened the car door. The chill of the evening air seemed to seep into my bones, but that was nothing compared to the heavy weight of apprehension sitting in my chest. Somewhere in my mind, I knew I should be grateful that he had delivered me safely in one piece, but this situation felt worse. Perhaps it would have been better if he had made a scene or even shouted at me, but he did nothing.The entire drive had been a stifling silence, wrapping around me and squeezing the breath from my lungs. Although the windows were open, cold sweat trickled down my spine as I tried to figure out how to fix this mess I had created.I should have never kept this a secret from Gunnar. I knew this was going to happen, yet I stubbornly clung to my stupid belief that I could fix this all by myself.Now, I was going to lose the man I loved.When Gunnar turned to leave, my
AQUAThe next morning, I jolted awake to the frantic sound of Kianna's voice cutting through the fog of sleep. As I sat upright on my bed, I bit my bottom lip to suppress the throbbing pain in my head. At that moment, I didn't even remember how I ended up tucked in my bed or how I even got my clothes changed.“Aqua, you need to see this!” Her urgency dripped with a mix of panic and dread as she pressed a crumpled flyer into my hand before settling beside me on the edge of the bed.I rubbed my sleepy eyes before staring at the paper in my hand. As I scanned the words on the flyer, my eyes slowly widened with shock as I struggled to process what I had just seen.I turned to Kianna and asked. "What's the meaning of this?""I swear I didn't say anything," Kianna said with a trace of panic. "When I went for a pack run, I noticed there were whispers in the pack, so I decided to ask about it. That's when my friend gave me this flyer.""What the hell?" I cursed under my breath. Kianna shifted
AQUAThe next moment, I found myself standing in front of the entire pack with my hands and legs bound in chains. My wolf screamed against the injustice of the situation but I used every willpower I had to suppress her unreasonable whines. I wasn't offended by the rough treatment and derogatory words I had been subjected to for the past hour, but rather I was more concerned about how this situation would end.Things were truly going to get messy, I thought to myself. Just when I was about to close my eyes for a quick nap, the door suddenly burst open without warning. The pack priestess stood at the entrance of my cold, dark cell with a grim expression that spoke a lot of volumes."Greetings, priestess," I said, bowing my head respectfully despite the prickling fear dancing along my spine. At first, I was curious about the purpose of her visit but then, I started to suspect that she was the one behind the flyer incident.The old woman ignored my greetings and approached me. At that mo
GUNNARAfter several days spent among the Storm Fire Pack, my men and I finally tracked down the remaining soldiers under Bodhi's command. Whispers about him lingered in the pack, yet no one seemed to know the true story behind his demise. It appeared that River, in an unexpected act of mercy, had allowed the survivors to return to their families, but that hardly mattered to me.He was going to pay for killing my friend.“Is it true that the pack priestess is also gone?” I asked my deputy commander, my voice breaking the uneasy silence. I had overheard a group of women murmuring about it during my visit to the grocery store.At my question, my deputy commander stiffened, a flicker of shock crossing his face before he nodded with a grave expression. I felt my fists clench at my sides, anger and confusion swirling within me. I had left the pack for only two weeks, and already, it felt as if everything had caught fire and turned to ash.“How did she die?” I pressed, the heavy question we
AQUA I woke up to the sound of water running somewhere. My vision blurred for a second, and then I was able to recognize my surroundings. This seemed to be River’s bedroom, a place that I had visited so many times. The room was well-lit but extremely messy, like he hadn't visited the place for a long time. There were clothes spilling out of his closet and some books scattered across the floor, the kind of mess that River would have never tolerated in the past. I tried to flex my aching limbs to adjust my position only to discover they were bound. The biting grip of the rough ropes digging into my flesh hurt enough to bring tears into my eyes. Panic instantly gripped my heart before my mind could even catch up to the situation. How the hell did I even get here? Where was River? Instinct immediately took over as I tried to retract my claws, hoping to free myself from the tight ropes. But these things were sturdier than I had anticipated, almost as if they were made from another
GUNNAR The sun was high in the sky when we finally reached the boundary of the Storm Fire pack. My men were exhausted from the heat, their bodies glistening with sweat after fighting off a pack of hyenas lingering near the territory. I could sense their fatigue through the pack link but chose not to acknowledge it. I wasn't trying to be ruthless; I knew their job wasn't unfinished. As soon as I stepped into the forest that marked our pack territory, I sensed something was wrong. The weapons the patrols were carrying were not the standard gear I had approved for pack security, which likely meant my family was in danger.I held up my hand to warn my men, who were trudging right behind me. The noise instantly faded into silence as tension seeped into the air. We watched the patrols head towards our location as we concealed ourselves behind the trees.Even their uniforms were different, I noticed when my eyes landed on a badge on one of the men's shirts. At this point, I was starting to
AQUAWhen we returned to the pack, Wilder took us straight to the Kincaid mansion, where the elders were already waiting. My stomach twisted as I climbed the stairs, flanked by guards, every step heavier than the last.Their eyes followed me like a shadow, and the fact that I sensed it made me even more nauseous. These were the same familiar faces that had stood in my living room just two weeks ago, offering smiles, congratulations on my engagement, and pledging undying loyalty to the Alpha King. Now, they sat cold and silent, the weight of their betrayal hanging in the air like a storm about to break.They’d all chosen Nathaniel.And that meant Gunnar’s throne…was no longer safe."What, are you surprised that we got the elders on our side?" Wilder released a low chuckle after he noticed my glare. "Don't be, darling. You'd be surprised at how dissatisfied they have been with your mate's way of doing things."At that moment, I was barely restraining myself from punching him in the fac
AQUA After Saint's death, Odin led Fawn and me to the pack boundary, the weight of our grief hanging heavily in the air. We journeyed for an entire day under a dense canopy of trees without taking a single break. Sunlight filtered through the tree, casting a path over me and my stepdaughter.I nearly stumbled over a root but managed to catch myself before I hit the ground. However, the sudden impact jolted Fawn awake, so I mumbled a soft apology before adjusting her to my body. Despite everything, the wolf didn't stop and continued to walk ahead of us. With each step, I could sense the exhaustion radiating from the wolf beside us, his powerful frame still trembling from the ferocity of that intense fight. He must have been devastated about the loss of his brother, yet he continued to push himself to complete the mission given to him. As we moved deeper into the woods, the air grew thick and rich with the scent of damp earth and pine, grounding yet unsettling. The guards had stopped
GUNNARI was several miles away from the Storm Fire pack when I felt it.The pain. The sorrow. The fury.All these feelings struck my heart like a tempest, consuming my senses until I couldn't think anymore. My heart felt so constricted that I couldn't stand anymore, causing me to fall on one knee. When my men saw this, they immediately rushed towards me in concern, but I stopped them with my raised hand. They must have been so shocked they couldn't control their emotions because I felt all their fears crash into my heart.Was it possible they were almost scared to death because of my sudden fall?No, that wasn't it. The general sense of unease spread among the soldiers, making them jittery. I pushed myself to stand, my legs trembling as they bore my weight against the unseen burden pressing down on my heart. Then, a piercing howl sliced through the heavy air, sharp and haunting, reverberating off the trees and sending a chill down my spine. Others might not know where it came from, b
AQUAThe first time I heard about hunter wolves was when I was in the Wind Ridge Pack. They were used to hunt a notorious thief who had broken into Julie's house one summer. The news spread across the pack in less than four hours, mostly because they didn't give us a choice to accept it or not. But if there was one thing I learned back then, it was that those people were ruthless. The kind of people capable of doing anything as long as they captured their prey. Some said they did it because they didn't have any other choice, considering the tight competition in the business. But others said they were psychos, people who enjoyed seeing the pain they inflicted on others. That's why I knew we were in deep shit now. The hunter wolf inhaled, breathing in the cool night air that was faint with our scents. It's the very reason why I had chosen to stay up in the trees, holding that the harsh wind current would mask our scents. But he still catches it nonetheless. “Their scents are still
AQUAOnce I heard the noise from the living room, I pushed Fawn into the kitchen and locked the door. The air was thick with tension, and our ragged breaths broke the eerie silence that enveloped the room. My heart raced as we waited, straining to hear the sounds from the other side of the door. But then, a sharp scream pierced through the air, followed by a series of female cries that sent a fresh wave of panic through me."Shut the fuck up!" Nathaniel barked. When the women's cries were finally reduced to frightened sobs, he muttered some words to the guards before turning to them. "I have no intention to hurt you, but if you don't tell me where Aqua and that little devil spawn are right now, then all of you are going to pay dearly for your silence."Ella remained unfazed by his threat. "But we are telling the truth! No one saw where Her Highness went after she gave us orders to search for her daughter."Nathaniel ignored her and continued to speak to the other ladies, but none of t
AQUAHogan froze midstep when he heard my words. The six-foot, muscular blonde man who had been cooking for Gunnar for over ten years gave me the most sinister look I have ever received. I couldn't help but retreat when I saw him take a menacing step towards me."You're not supposed to be here, Your Highness," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Does anyone know you're here?""I don't need to report to anyone about whereabouts because this is my house," I asserted, my voice sharp and clear. I noticed he had already retracted his claws so I did the same. "What were you doing in the kitchen storage room?"It was the only place we hadn't checked in the house, mostly because Hogan had always been sensitive about letting people in. He would spend the entire day talking about food contamination so I guess all of us were just subconsciously afraid of getting on his bad side.But now, it turned out that he was the traitor we had been looking for."Move aside, Hogan," I ordered. The air in the ro