If he loved me, then he should fight for what we had.Yet since I told him the truth that I was his sister, he hardly ever touched me; it had only been five days, but that was unusual for a man like Thane. He did kiss me, but it was never as passionate as it had once been. That would have to change because I was going to make a move... on him, tonight.I was in the sexiest pair of underwear. He would be back any moment. I laid on the bed waiting, and just as I had expected, he walked in.The moment he spotted me, he paused. I could see the need in his eyes, so strong, this was it; he was going to claim me.“Riley, put on your clothes.” He says and his words contradict the look in his eyes.The cold feeling of rejection washed through me, and I rose from the bed, walking toward him. “Thane look at me,” I pleaded, and he did. “Nothing had changed. Has it?”“No, you are still as sexy as ever,” he says, his eyes trailing down my body. Yet he held back.“You don’t need to restrain yourself
I had been on my way to Axels’ apartment when I walked right into my mother, she must have been waiting for me. I took a turn, trying to avoid her; she was the last person I wanted to see, but I felt her firm grip on my hands."Please, Riley, let’s talk,” she says.Talk? What's the point? We've been talking and it led to more problems, perhaps it was best I avoid chatting with her, this way she could keep her secrets to herself.“I do not need to talk to you right now; let me go,” I said. My voice sounded so cold, I almost didn’t believe it came from me. She finally let me go.“You were right, I didn't want you with him, I was never okay with that and so I knew telling you the truth would end what you both had, if only I knew how bad I was hurting you in the process. I acted selfishly but I think I have a solution.” she says, her eyes sincere."No, you don’t; the only things you can come up with are more problems, and I am fed up. I am sick and tired of you.”“Hear me out. I read abou
“Then why, why did he turn me down?” I asked, and Axel had been about to say something, but he stopped. He knew something, something he wasn’t going to tell me.“Have you tried a DNA test?” Axel asked instead.“On my way here, I ran into my mother who also brought that up... but I don't see the need of going through that only to have my hope shattered?”“Riley, I hope you don’t feel bad about me saying this, but your mother was with... others too, not just Slade,” he says, and I nod; I wanted to believe it too, I wanted to believe there was a chance.“What are the test requirements?” I asked him.“Thane’s blood or oral fluid,” Axel said.“I'd prefer he doesn't find out about the test until I get the results, and that would be impossible if I needed his blood or... saliva.”“Then his hair would do, and I could get that for you.”“You can?”“Of course,” he says with a small smile.“Thank you… so much”Something occurred to me. Axel had always been there when I needed him, but I had nev
“Is it twenty-four hours yet?” I asked Axel."There is still twenty hours to go” Axel answered, and I groaned.“Hey... what about now?”“It is still twenty hours to go, maybe minus twenty seconds. Riley, you have to calm down.”“Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down?” I asked, frustrated at everything. “You know what? I’m sorry... I know I could get very irritating, but these four hours feel like a whole day already.”“Maybe because we are practically sitting down and waiting for twenty-four hours to pass by.”“You have any ideas to pass time?”“Have you ever used a gun before?”“That’s a random question. No, I just held it a few times.”“Well then this would be fun... put on some pants, we got to go” he says."Well, my clothes are back in Thane’s room, and I am not going back there.”“I could find something that is a bit smaller for me,” he says, staring me up and down. “You are really small.”I glared at him, sticking my tongue out childishly. “Maybe you are just too big." He
Axel held my hands, guiding me, and this time when I took a shot, it landed right on its chest.“You’re dead stupid wood,” I said with a wide smile.“Your hands are steady; you can make the shot,” Axel says, and I swallow. I was going to do this on my own. “Picture someone you dislike... a lot,” Axel says.And so many images pass through my mind, Beatrix. But then I thought of someone I would hate even more. Barley, I hadn’t realized how much I disliked her. I hated her so much I was determined to get it right this time."Okay, I got it.”“Then fire,” Axel says, and I do just that, even without a single hesitation; it lands on the eyes of the mannequin, but I don’t stop there; I keep on shooting till the gun runs out of bullets. I tossed it to the floor.“Now I want to know who the person you pictured is,” Axel muttered to himself, amazed.“I hate elder Bailey a lot,” I admitted. “I think we could move on to archery now." "Yes, we can,” Axel says. He took the bow which hung on the wa
I was alone in Axel's room; there had been an emergency and Axel had to go. He did tell me he would be back soon, but it had been five hours already.Screw it.I took the envelope and walked out, heading to the room I had shared with Thane.I stopped before the door; maybe I should have waited for Axel's return before leaving, but it was too late to turn back now.I pushed the door open and walked in."Thane, we need to talk!" I called out; I knew someone was in the room, and just then I spotted Bailey seated on the couch, wrapped in a robe... Thane's robe.I swallowed."Elder Bailey, what are you doing here?" I asked, and my voice sounded shaky even to my own ears. She took a drag from the cigarettes she held."What does it look like?" She asks with a shrug; there was no smirk on her face, but I could see the victory in her eyes.I couldn't believe it. I suddenly felt suffocated; I couldn't breathe.How could he?That was the question I asked myself over and over again."Don't be ha
There was a knock on our door, and for some reasons I couldn’t explain, I knew who it was.Thane."I don't want to see him, Axel."Axel nodded before heading for the door."Alpha... I am not sure she wants to see you right now.""Axel, let me in. I need to speak to her.""I'm sorry, I can't. I might be your friend, but I would say it to you when you act like a jerk. Just stop hurting her already; make your decision and stand on it," Axel said, and though I couldn't see them, I felt the tension in the air even from here."You know I had to." He says "Not in the same room you share with her, that is disrespectful... Alpha.""You are right. Could you let me make adjustments at least?" Thane asks, and I knew he didn't exactly need Axel's permission to walk in, but still he waited.Finally, Axel let him in, and I couldn't blame him; Thane was his Alpha."Riley, can we talk?" Thane says to me, but I couldn't even look him in the eyes. I don't bother responding. He walks to me, standing rig
"The wind ‘hazard’ left thirty injured, five of them in severe conditions, but no lives were lost. The healers have their hands full," Axel reported back to Thane."What exactly caused a wind that strong, it was not at all natural," Thane wondered aloud."Were you thinking an elemental did this?" Axel questioned."Something close. Elementals had long gone extinct, of course, except one.""The elders" A female voice suggested, and of course it was Bailey approaching, joining in on the conversation ."You think the elders did this?" Axel questioned."Not just any elder... Nyaos did this; he was an elemental.""That should be the one elder who escaped," Thane added. His mask was back on, but I knew more than anything that he was furious; he hated anything that came against his pack."He was sending a warning..." Bailey began, but Axel cut her off."More like a threat.""I would end what I began," Thane declares."No, is too dangerous." Bailey says"For me?" Thane asked with a hint of amu
I felt so stupid—foolish enough to believe I was the queen in this game, with everyone else as mere pawns in my scheme. Little did I know there was a master plan, one far greater than my petty game. And in His plan, I was nothing more than a pawn.“You released those flesh eaters that attacked me; I could have died!” “That wasn’t exactly part of my plan, but again, I didn’t think you would go running off.”“You want me to believe that everything you said to me was a lie, but I don’t believe that. I know there was some truth to it all; you took the blame for me, risking your life. More than once you’ve risked your very position to make sure I am fed; you saved me from them. The kiss we shared in the lake, the memories we’ve made—they aren’t fake; they are all real.”I sounded so sure of myself, but in reality, I wasn’t. Perhaps it was all real to me, but never real to him.Trian—no, Daemon—gripped my chin, his eyes flashing from their usual blue to pure black before returning to their
A smirk curved on his lips; his eyes, once full of emotion, were empty, cold, and… distant.Suddenly he looked like a stranger.In a blink, he was no longer in front of me. I felt his presence right behind me; my heart pounded as I slowly turned around, and there he stood only a few inches away from me.“You wanted to know how I got out of The Pit? Well now you do.”“What are you?” I asked, backing away once again.“Fortune tellers might be liars, but she didn’t lie. I do have darkness living and breeding inside of me. Your empresses, they were all fools; they couldn’t see that the very thing they fought against was living with them, under their very noses.”“You are scaring me, Trian.”“No, not Trian. Daemon.”That name was also familiar; it took only a few seconds for my brain to place it. Julia had told me about the demon that had been born into the world by the Luna Queen. The demon that was supposed to be dead, he went by the very same name Daemon.“No!” I gasped.“Now you're sca
I woke up to Trian by my side.After the bath last night, he brought me back to bed; I didn’t miss the fact that he had replaced the sheets with fresh ones. Despite the throbbing pain between my legs, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied.It was better than I had ever expected, and I was glad Trian had been my first.Now I lay there, staring at him like some creep while he slept, noticing how tense he seemed—even in sleep. Maybe that was something all soldiers had in common. The thought of tracing my fingers down his perfectly sculpted face was enticing, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, afraid I might wake him—and then things would get very… awkward.I managed to rise to my feet, certain I’d be feeling him down there for days. I limped out of the room, planning to take a small tour of the house, and made my way to the kitchen. That was when I realized something I had completely overlooked—I didn’t know how to cook. For most of my life, the maids brought me food, and I ate whatever
Trian spread my legs wide, until I was completely vulnerable to him, I tried hiding away from him once again but he wouldn’t have that.That was the thing about Trian, he doesn’t asks for things, he demands for them, yet I knew all I had to say was a word and he would stop, but I couldn’t say the word, every right I had to make decisions about my own life had been taken from me by the Empresses, but this time I wanted this, I wanted him to be the one. My first.He kissed my nipples before taking them into his mouth."Trian…" I gasped, but he didn’t stop. His tongue flicked over my hardened nipple while his fingers teased the other. The moment he let go, he took the other into his mouth, repeating the motion. Heat surged through me—I had never craved anything more. Then, he kissed lower.“When I saw you, walking down that path, looking so fucking beautiful, I couldn’t wait to see you naked.” He whispered, his voice thick with lust and then he took my clit in his mouth. I jerked, moanin
ALIYA POVWe pulled up in front of a house that resembled the one Trian owned in Aureonna City.“How many houses do you own?”He smirked, “You don’t want to know.”“I do, actually.”“A lot.” He answered.“Why do you need so many houses?”“I used to be a traveler, obsessed with owning houses.” He admitted, before leading me into the house. We didn’t stop at the living area; he led me to one of the rooms.The design in this room felt more masculine.“This is your room, isn’t it?”“Yes,” he answered.I ventured deeper into the room, looking around the place; my eyes landed on the king-size bed in the middle. Dark thoughts filled my mind, but I managed to force my eyes away from the bed.“Those three weeks that I was away… I thought about you. It felt like an obsession, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”“I thought about you too, every single day.” I admitted, walking back to him, I took his hands in mine. “I believe in you now, fully and completely.”“I haven’t earned it, Aliya.”“
A small frown etched on my face.“It is, that’s his handwriting.” I argued.“Maybe, but that last line… it’s not his words.”That had been my very thought, but maybe no one really knew my father.“He knew I could do it.”“He mated you to me and gave me his pack too—to keep you safe. Why in the world would he send you to kill the person who he was trying to save you from?” he asked and I stared at him, speechless.“Did you kill her?” he asked. “The empress?”I nodded.“How?”“Silver bullets. I shot her thrice in the heart.”“And you believe she is dead?”“I shot…”“I know you shot her thrice, but if bullets could kill them, they would all be dead now, don’t you think?”"What are you saying?" I asked. My hands shook slightly, so I clasped them together to steady them.“I’m saying there is a high possibility she still lives. I don’t believe in their god but I know that physical methods are hardly ever enough to kill any of those empresses. They’ve been blessed with the gift of immortalit
ALEXANDER POVThis was the last place they had been. It was an apartment owned by Aric.My chest tightened. Had she slept with him here?I could pick the locks, but I didn’t bother with that, I broke down the door. I was right, she had been here, there was no mistaking it, her scent filled the place and it was fucking intoxicating.I entered the apartment and searched the rooms. As expected, she was already gone. In the last room, her scent hit me stronger than anywhere else in the house. A few of her clothes were still left in here.That could only mean one thing—she was coming back. I returned to the living room and stopped when I saw the table. Pictures were scattered across it.I sat on the couch and looked through the pictures. They were all of the same woman—Cynthia. I knew her. Empress Cynthia.What the hell did Kaida have to do with this woman?There were many write-ups and notes too. I read through them all, not caring about the fact that this might be seen as intruding. Ther
KADIA’S POVI searched for the light brown eyes that had stared at me from those pictures—and I found them. She looked younger than she had in the photos.Fury filled my chest. Anger burned through me. She was the one who had taken my parents from me.I fired. Three times.It was over too soon, too quick. It felt almost too easy..“You killed her, didn’t you?” Aric asked.“I think.” I responded but I wasn’t unsure. The silver bullets had dug through her heart, thrice, my aim was perfect, I never missed.“You don’t seem very content with your success; I expected more complications.”Me too.“I took her out too quickly; I could have captured her and made her death last longer; I should have put her through pain till she begged for death; my face should have been the last thing she saw before she died, slowly and painfully.”“She is an Empress. These people do not serve beneath the Alpha King or Queen; they are a city of their own. This was the smartest way to end her; delaying her deat
"We are gathered here to witness the great Encounter. The Chosen will see the god of light, face to face; they will become one body, one soul. This is the dawn of a new era..."Julia’s voice trailed off as I noticed a female figure enter. She should have been hard to spot in the crowd, but I easily found her. She was dressed in all black, a hood covering her hair and a mask shielding the lower half of her face, leaving only her eyes visible.Grey eyes.I had seen those grey eyes somewhere; I tried to pick out where I saw them from, and then I remembered.When I visited the Nightshade Pack with the other Empresses and regent, I had seen those same Grey eyes, it belonged to the Luna. I remembered how drawn I was to her; for some reason, I knew she was different. If this was indeed the Werewolf Queen Kaida, what was she doing here in the South, so far from her home?Everything seemed to go in slow-mode, her eyes stopped on me, she didn’t give me more than a glance, those grey eyes were