Daemon tossed me a blood bag. “What do I do with this?”“What else? Have a drink. It will help you heal faster.”“So now you are going to pretend like you care?”“No, I don’t, but for as long as I need you by my side, I need you alive and… healthy.”“Yet you go ahead and drink my blood.”“You were being stubborn; you left me with no choice.”“I’m not drinking this.” I said to him,“Oh, you are.” He snatched the blood bag from my hand and pulled the cap open; he was going to force me into drinking this.“Okay, you don’t have to feed me; I’ll take the damned blood.”I snatched the bag back and took a huge gulp. It tasted warm. “You will need to empty the bag, Riley.”“Where did you get this from?” I asked him.“From the healers. Where else?”I just needed to be sure.I emptied the bag, just as he said. All the while he watched me like a freak.“Wasn’t so hard now, was it?”“Daemon… I just want to know if Thane is safe—I want to see him; I need to see him…”“Shut up. Thane is gone, it’
I couldn’t believe it. Slade hadn’t died. The same man who had ruined I and my mother's life was still alive, and he was a part of all this.I didn’t agree with Daemon on many things, but there was one quote I did: ‘Justice is not real.’ A man like Slade deserves to die in the worst way possible, yet he still lives.“You seem a bit quiet. Still thinking about Slade?” Daemon asked as we headed to the meeting room.“He deserved to die.”“Yes, he does, but you don’t have to worry; he is useless without a body. The chances of things going as he planned is very low. The warlock Flynn might be powerful, but so is Logan.”...“Thank you all for joining us.” Daemon said to the Alphas gathered, some of them came along with their Beta. Daemon took a seat, and I had to sit beside him. I spotted Trent and immediately looked away; I couldn’t let Daemon have any suspicions. I knew very well how that had ended with Regnux.“There is a matter of importance I want to discuss with you all.” Damon bega
I rose to my feet. It didn’t make much of a difference. Vox had a very intimidating height. “Now you listen to me.” I said to Vox, “You are in my pack; I didn’t remember inviting you here. You captured my mate too. In his absence, I am the leader here, so you could go be the Lord over your little demons but not here.” “Shut up, Riley.” Damon warned. “You shut up. This is my pack, and I will sabotage every single plan you make.” Vox had a look of irritation on his face; suddenly I felt a burning sensation right in my chest, spreading through my whole body, and I fell down to my knees. “What... what are...” I couldn’t complete the word. I coughed out blood; the pain only got more unbearable. “I still need her alive. The pack needs their Luna for now; with her by my side, there would be fewer suspicions.” “Then put your woman on a leash.” The pain seized, and Vox was gone; he had just… disappeared. “He would have killed you.” Daemon said to me. “Isn’t that why you brou
I couldn’t bring myself to sleep; Thane clouded my thoughts.“Still thinking about him?” Daemon asked. We both knew who he was referring to.“No.” I lied. “I can tell when you are lying.”“What difference does it make? It's not like you will let me go to him.”“And what if I can?”“Vox wouldn’t let you.” I stated."You know, I have never truly been a 'free' creature. Every time I feel as though I’ve achieved it, I realize I am still in servitude."“It had been from Jade to Bruce and then… Vox.” I said to him, and he nodded in agreement.“I want to ask you a question, and I need a genuine answer from you. When I was gone with Jade, you knew what was going to happen to me. Did you at any moment regret your decision? Did you ever think about me?”I was silent for a long while. “Daemon, I…”“Just answer the question.”“You want an answer, then it’s ‘No:. I never regretted my decision; I never thought about you—at least not in the way you think.”“Do you hate me, Riley?”“I sometimes beli
Tears welled up in my eyes the moment I spotted Thane. For a moment I thought he was dead, but then I noticed the slight rise and fall of his chest. His facial hair was a bit more grown. I spotted the remains of food they must have kept for him, but knowing him, he would never eat anything from them; he would rather die, and that’s what was happening: Thane was dying. I fell to my knees beside him and managed to lift his body. He was cold, very cold. I immediately pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around him. “Thane!” I cried, but he didn’t seem to hear me. “Thane!” I cried louder, and finally he stared at me. “How… how…” “Don’t speak. I brought you food.” . Only when he was done eating did I speak up. “I’m sorry; I wish I could have done something.” “Are you alright?” He asked; I couldn’t believe him; I should be asking him that question. “I am going to get you out of here, Thane. I promise you.” “Riley, it’s better you stay put. You will get hurt if you make any rash dec
Daemon stood before me, furious. I crawled away from him. “Don’t touch me.” I warned, but the Daemon I knew was gone, and the monster—the demon—was all I could see. “I’m going to hurt you, Riley, and this time, you deserve it.”A kick to my abdomen sent me flying through the air, and I crashed into the wall with a cry. He walked to me, taking deliberate steps. I aimed for his ankle, trying to make him lose his balance, but he didn’t even flinch at my strike. He picked me up by the hair, his grip firm, no doubt I would lose a few strands. I head-butted him; dark blood poured down his nose, but he didn’t seem to notice that. He slammed me face-first into the jagged cave wall, and I crumpled to the ground.Blood dripped down my face. I curled into a ball as my vision blurred—maybe from the tears, or maybe from the blood.He picked me up once again, this time by the arm, and in a matter of seconds we were back in our room.“Take a bath, wash up. I have work to attend to.”With that he w
“So the Lycan’s curse, it was never real?” I asked her, and she nodded, wiping the tears off her face. Despite everything, I couldn’t bring myself to feel even a tinge of sympathy for her; Thane had been like a brother to Axel, and yet…Maybe I was just being unreasonable; I mean, if I had been placed in her place and Thane or Ethan’s life was at stake, wouldn’t I do anything to get them back?“No, it wasn’t,” she answered.If this was the truth, then why didn’t Thane tell me any of these? It could be possible that he knew nothing about it yet, or maybe he kept it away from me because he didn’t want me getting involved. He wanted me safe, but he was wrong. I wasn't safe with Daemon; I had lost his trust and gained his hatred.“Why should I believe you?”Everyone seemed to be a traitor; I didn’t know who to believe and who not to, but one thing was clear: I had no choice, and so I was ready to stake it all.“So many times, I have wanted to tell you the truth…”“Like back in the garden?
Daemon’s hands slipped down my hips; I felt like I had been placed under some kind of spell. My mind knew the right thing to do, but my body… my body was under his spell. Tears streamed down my eyes; this reminded me of time I'd spent under Bailey's control, when I knew what I wanted, but I had no control over my own body. His bite had never had this powerful influence on me, and I guess this was all thanks to Vox.I knew for a fact that right now, if he touched me, if he… did more than just ‘touching,’ I wouldn’t be able to fight him. What I felt now, it was natural, and I hated it. His hand slipped into my pants pocket, and before I could understand what he was doing, he pulled away. He held the piece of paper Pricilla had earlier passed to me in his hands.“I’ll always be one step ahead of you, Riley.”“Is not what you think.”“It’s not?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Then what is it?”“It's nothing.”“If it’s nothing, then you wouldn’t mind this.”In a flicker the paper caught
The bond was gone, leaving a void in my chest. But what I felt for him didn’t change. Despite the fact that we were no longer mates, I still loved him. I was right—what we had was beyond the mate bond.I had given up far too quickly, I realized. I wasn’t willing to let him go just yet.The crowd was gone by the time I returned to the healing room. I stood by the door of the room where Alexander had been kept, contemplating what to say. I could apologize again, but something told me it wouldn’t be enough. He believed I could ‘move on,’ but he needed to see that I never would—that I could never love another. My heart belonged to him, mate bond or not. Nothing had changed. And maybe, if he saw that, he would change his mind.Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. No response. I lifted my hand to try again when the door creaked open.I pushed it fully open—only to find the bed empty.His scent in the room was still strong, enough to tell me he hadn’t been gone for long. I walked int
The disappointment in his voice was even harder to bear than the betrayal I had suffered from people I once called friends."I should have told you, but I knew you would’ve kept assuring me you were fine—even when we both knew you were dying inside. She said you were going to die, whether you stopped or continued with the doses. I just… couldn’t lose you.""Who is this ‘she’ you are referring to?” he asked, and I immediately realized my slip."I… it doesn’t matter. You’re alive, and that’s what’s important."Slowly, he let go of me, and I instantly missed his warmth. “How does it feel?”“What?”“To be so close to achieving your dreams?” he asked. I wanted to tell him I didn’t care anymore about the goddamn title; all I wanted was to have him by my side. I wanted him, but before I could tell him just that, he spoke on. “I hope it was worth it.”Those final words had felt like some kind of goodbye.“I, Ethan Alexander Darkwood, reject you, Kaida Dawn, as my fated mate.” He said.Seeing
There was something different about the way he looked at me—the way he regarded me. I saw it in the way his body tensed the moment I stepped inside. He saw me as a threat, and it took a moment to understand why. Cynthia had taken my form when she approached him, making him believe it was me. The moment his guard dropped, she struck.But what he remembered was me stabbing him—my face, my hands, delivering the blow.“Alexander,” I whispered, unable to say anything more. He only stared at me, as if trying to read me. I had wanted to see him so badly, but I hadn’t stopped for even a moment to think about what I would say to him when we met.“The Cursed Weapon—how did you find it?” he asked.“I don’t understand.”“The dagger you used on me.”The cursed weapon, I’ve heard about that too. History says the Elders had been the original keepers of the steel; that had been before they were killed. The weapon had the ability to take away one’s wolf. It made more sense now, what Cynthia was saying
It felt surreal—the blood on the sheets, the body—Alexander. I couldn’t process any of it.“No!” I cried.Foolish, foolish girl.I held him. “You can’t die, please, you can’t die. I’m here, look at me, open your eyes, dammit!”I had never felt this afraid, not even when I received news that my father had passed.Soon, I heard footsteps approaching—the door was still open. They were coming to find the source of the noise. I hadn’t even realized how loudly I had been screaming.“I didn’t mean to… She said she wouldn’t kill him.”More people gathered, and soon, our room was crowded, every face frozen in shock.A hand pressed against my back—Phil. He was saying something, but I couldn’t understand him. Austin was there too, along with some of the other advisors.A woman stepped forward.“I have to take him, Luna.”I let out a snarl. “Don’t touch him… No one touches him!”There must have been something in my voice because she stepped back immediately—so did some of the other pack members.
“There must be another way to cure him.” I insisted."There is no other way. It’s either this or he dies. We don’t have much time. If you refuse my offer, I won’t be generous enough to grant it a second time. You will have to watch him die—knowing you had the power to save him, but you refused."I held back the sob, threatening to escape my lips. They would not see me cry, especially not the woman who killed my parents.“You want a puppet; someone you can control.”“I only have one request from you, the very same one I had already mentioned. Other than that, I won’t make your decisions for you. You will rule.”“When you take away his wolf. What would he become?”"He won’t change; he will be the very same man," she said, a small smile curving on her lips. "And since I’m so generous, I’ll leave your Beta Aric, and Sarah with you to do as you wish. Punish them as you see fit."“No!” Sarah cried out, falling to her knees before the Empress. “I did as you asked of me. I did everything you
"Let me help you, Kaida," Cynthia said, her voice only a little above a whisper."I told you, I don’t need your help. Alexander will find me, and none of you will get away with this."“You’ve only been here for a few hours; besides, Amanda would hardly be considered a threat, and all the camera captured was the little girl leading you in here. He wouldn’t think you are in any form of danger.”"So, you aren’t here for the missing girl. You’ve revealed all your secret plans to me… I can’t help but wonder—why are you here? If you wanted to make me pay for what I did to you, you would have done it a long time ago."“We are getting to that. But I believe there is something you need to know. Addiction to wolfsbane may be dangerous, but stopping is even more dangerous.”For some reason, I believed her. I had seen what the withdrawal symptoms did to Alexander; it was slowly killing him, but his response remained the same anytime I asked; ‘A little while and it would pass.’ The question was, w
Empress Cynthia had read the question in my eyes before I could even ask it."I know you're curious about what your Beta wanted in exchange for betraying your trust," she said. I refused to meet her gaze—I wouldn’t let her see that I wanted to know. “He loves you; that much is clear. There were times he was willing to turn his back on his own family just to keep you safe. You were the one person he would never hurt. But when it came to choosing between you and his little sister… the choice wasn’t easy. She was the leverage I held over him. I have her locked away, far from his reach, until he completes his assignment. Everything he did—he did to keep her alive.”That was a lie.“Aric never had a sister.”"You say you cared about him, but I don’t believe that. You were always caught up in your own little world, blind to what was happening in others’—even those you called ‘family.’ You know, I wanted to reward him for his service, I believed he deserved more, but he never cared for mater
Aric had been the Beta, second in command—it only made sense for my father to leave him in charge of the pack, but he never did. He had seen something I hadn’t. Instead, he wanted me mated to Alexander, believing it was the best way to keep me safe. I had thought it was just to protect me from Cynthia, but that wasn’t the only reason. He knew there were others who posed a threat.Cynthia waited for me to piece everything together and slowly, I did.My father never informed Aric of his plans to marry me off. I had found that strange but never thought much of it. Now, thinking back to their conversation—when Aric had tried to convince him to end the agreement—my father had firmly refused.“The letter… it was false.” I finally spoke up.“Your father would never have sent you against her. He wanted you far away from her. But it wasn’t entirely false—there was some truth to it,” he said, his eyes never meeting mine.“You advised me against telling Alexander about my plans to face the Empre
I woke up with a pounding headache. It took only seconds to realize this had been a setup—and Amanda, the girl we rescued, was part of it.I wasn’t chained or restrained—just placed in a corner of the hall. Sitting right in front of me was Empress Cynthia, with Amanda by her side and…“Sarah?”It came out as more of a question. My gaze shifted between Amanda and Sarah, and the pieces finally fell into place. Amanda had been ‘adopted’ by Sarah—this had all been a carefully planned setup.“I am doing this for you.” She said, there was no hint of regret on her face.Sarah was one of the few I had allowed close to me. I saw her as a friend—the last person I would ever expect to betray me. But I couldn’t let them see how much it hurt. These were people I cared about.Alexander had wanted me to stay out of the Gray Moon Pack’s business, but I didn’t. I wanted justice for the little girl being sent against her will to marry a barbaric man like Grayson. And now, that very same girl had turned