I lay nude on the bed. I wasn't alone; Thane and Axel were both present. I had been cuffed to the bed post. A rush of excitement filled me when I spotted the silver Kengel balls; Axel rolled one slowly around his fingers. He walked to my naked form, and Thane took his position, watching. I stared at him, even as I felt the cold silver ball against my already wet entry. I moaned out Thane's name as Axel touched me. He went in and out with the balls, and just when I thought I couldn't take more, he pulled the balls out, going down on me and devouring me. I moaned again as his finger dove into me next, pumping in and out. I could feel my muscles grow tight as I reached my climate, and I shattered into a million pieces, crying out his name. I awoke with a start. I could feel the moisture between my leg and I wasn't alone now either. Axel paused at the door, his amused gaze on me. I knew he could smell my arousal even from there, I turned red. I've heard similar dreams before, but ne
I wasn't fine. I knew that. It never did stop. The nausea and puking became an everyday routine. I leaned over the sink, spraying more water on my face. I thought I looked pale. I stared down at my stomach. Was it just me, or did it look a little bigger? Maybe it was just me. I walked out of the bathroom; the knock on the door gave me a pause. Before I could give a response, the door was pulled open. "I didn't remember asking you to come in, Bailey," I say to the Elder. I might have to put it in mind to keep those doors locked at all times, but locks can’t restrict werewolves, so it gets a bit useless. "So, the rumors are true; you are back." "Much to your disappointment, I see." "I should feel hurt that you didn't come visit me; I thought we were such good friends and all." "Is that what you thought? I'm so sorry, I have been busy doing nothing. I couldn't make out the time, but you are here now, and I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore," I say to her wi
"You want to practice, then do it with me," Axel insisted."It's fine, Axel"He didn't seem to like the idea of Bailey ‘practicing’ with me one bit, he stood, close enough to end it if things went too far. Bailey picked out two swords, tossing one to me. I caught it mid air."I'll try not to hurt you," she said to me, and with the speed of a bullet, she came at me. I blocked at the last minute.Her sword sliced through the air in a semi arc, and this time I dodged. I switched from defensive to offensive, and I went at her. Our swords clashed, and the force of her strikes caused my arm to ache, but I wasn't giving up anytime soon. We went faster and harder; it didn't feel like practice anymore. I kicked at her abdomen, and she took a few steps back. She retaliated with a kick to my knee, almost causing me to lose balance, but not quite yet. I switched to her position, giving her only time to defend my hits. She growled.Now she was angry.She managed to knock the sword off my hands. I
I suddenly felt very hot."I need to take some air," I say, heading for the door, but Axel was right in front of me before. "No, you need to go to the healers; things would only get worse if you left this unattended to and it's severe as it is." Axel says, trying to make me see reasons, but I couldn't go to the healers; they might discover what I was."I can't... I just need some air; get out of my way." I growled at me, feeling restless inside; he wouldn't move, and my patience was getting thinner."I'm sorry I can't do that.".I lost it.I slammed him against the wall. "You don't choose where I go and when," I snarled at him. No, he didn't look alarmed; his calculative gaze simply watched me, noting down that there was something off with me.My eyes found his neck."I'm sorry," I say to him, but he says nothing; my eyes never did leave his neck. "You scent really nice, Axel... really really nice, and your neck... it's beautiful.""Is she drunk?" Axel asks Thane."No, she's not."T
THANE'S POVRiley had not always been this strong. The duel with Bailey, the incident with Axel, and her impressive defense against my soldiers all hinted to the secret she kept hidden and we both knew it."That was the last thing on my mind right now.I was furious.When the healers had confirmed she was pregnant, I made the decision that that wouldn't change a thing between us; I was going to take full responsibility over the child, but then, if she never did have sex with Nick, how could she be pregnant?I struggled to seize control over my inner beast; he was raging. Riley, my mate, had been taken advantage of by the bastard.I was going to kill him; I wouldn't spare his life this time.My trip to the Raven Clan had all happened in a haze, and finally I was there.Getting into the pack was easy; their security wasn't that ideal, with only a few soldiers left to guide every entry there's only little they could do. Of course the pack house was the biggest of all the other buildings
I stared at her, amused. Not everyone had the bravery to hit the Alpha King. She hated me, and I knew making amends would be so damn hard— almost impossible, but I would have to keep trying... for Riley."I guess I deserved that?""Stay away from him; stay away from me and my family too!" She cried out, the pain in her eyes deep.I wondered if she would protect this Nick if she knew what he did to her daughter."I am trying to help here.""How? By beating up the Alpha?, that is not helping. If you really want to help, then you could let go of my daughter.""No, I can't, Kate. The thing is, I really love her.""You don't; if you loved her, you would never have hurt her; goddamn you, she only started healing; if you had stayed away for a while, she would have been married and happy.""And how do you know that? How do you know she would have been happy?""You've never deserved my daughter.""That I know, Kate. Please let me make it up to you," I say. She lifted her hands to hit me… again
RILEYI woke up with a strange hunger and thirst.I stared at Thane; he had his hands wrapped around mine."You would be fine," he promised, kissing my knuckles."You are back." I whispered, and he nodded."I am; Nick will be here soon, I don't think he did this; he speaks of a sorceress; he says she could help," he informs.I nodded absentmindedly. The sorceress was coming; how was I going to keep this a secret for much longer?My breathing quickened"Riley, are you alright?" He questioned the slight panic in his eyes. I nodded. "Look at me, Riley," and I did as he said. "Breathe in and breathe out very slowly." I did just that, and after a while I felt better."I'm fine, thank you," I said.The hunger panged at my stomach. I stared up at him; his scent was so nice, and then his neck. I couldn't get my eyes off it."I'll get you something to eat," he says, rising to his feet."No, please don't leave me." I pleaded.He sat back beside me. "I am here, always.""Kiss me."It had been a
THANE."Laugh it off, Axel," I said to him, he bursted into another fit of laughter. He did find this funny, and maybe it was. If he hadn't stepped in, I might have let her drink me dry, and I wouldn't even realize the abnormality of that action.The puncture marks her teeth left had healed, but I could still point out exactly where they had been."I'm worried about her," I say to Axel."Since she left this pack months ago, she hadn't been the same. So Nick hadn't been the one, right?""He denied.""And you believe him?" Axel asked."I didn't spot a lie, and he does love Riley; they were about to get married; I can't understand how he could have done that. I don't think it was him.""So had there been some other person involved?" Axel questioned."Not that I know of, but Nick does seem to suspect something; he would be here shortly with a sorceress.""A sorceress? What do we need a witch for?""You were right when you said Riley hadn't been the same since she returned from the Raven C
The dark blue dress would look beautiful on Kaida. That was the first thought on my mind when I saw it in the store. I knew I had to get it for her..Kaida was on the training field, she’d taken up Aric’s position. I believed it was another way to honor his memory. She trained the soldiers just as he had done… before everything went downhill. I had to admit, she was very good at it. Even the soldiers seemed to be enjoying the session with her."Your weight on this leg," she instructed, adjusting the soldier’s stance. I didn’t miss the way his gaze flickered to her ass for a split second before he quickly looked away, likely fearing he’d be caught staring. The possessive part of me wanted to pry out his eyes for even looking, then drag her into our room and fuck her all day long for looking so damn sexy.The longer I watched, the more something dark stirred inside me. She was too damn close to that guy, and those leathers—hell, they were so tight, her ass was practically on display. I
The Rogue leaders had waited. When the two days were over, I invited them into the meeting room.A maid brought over bottles of beer, and Edna was the first to take a deep gulp, the others following soon after. The maid excused herself.“Edna, Skale, Kev, Gal, and of course, Timothy. Welcome to the Nightshade Pack.”“I didn’t remember keeping you waiting this long when you paid us a visit.” Edna said to me."I’d hoped you’d get impatient enough to leave."Edna chuckled; it was silent and humorless. “Unfortunately, we’ve come to speak on an important matter.”“I assumed as much.”"We allowed a peace treaty with you once, and now we’ve come to discuss the terms.""I made you a promise, Edna. I told you that if you couldn’t keep the rogues under control, there would be war. This time, something tells me you were the brains behind the earlier attack.""Yes. I was. Like the rest, we believed you were gone, and we did what anyone would do—we attacked.""But I guess you were wrong.""Sorely.
ALEXANDER’S POVIt was almost unnerving how similar she had looked to Kaida. Her voice sounded so much like hers—I had hesitated, and in that moment of weakness, Cynthia escaped.It all made sense now. I could recall that incident. When Kaida had walked into the room, looking all seductive, I had given in so easily. And then—she ‘d lifted the dagger to my chest. I hadn’t realized it wasn’t her. For a fleeting moment, I had even thought the weapon was just another tease.But then she’d stabbed me, and too late I realized something different about her—something I hadn’t picked up on earlier. Her eyes. They were different, not because they weren’t the same grey I knew, but because it felt like they belonged to a stranger, not the woman I had known and fallen for.Kaida had taken the blame, but of course, she could never have done such a thing. She’d never have gone through with it, and I couldn’t believe I was just realizing that now."It’s not your fault. Cynthia excels at those kinds o
"I know the truth," I said to Julia, finally speaking up.“What truth? Don’t tell me you still fall for his falsehoods—you should have learned your lessons by now.”"He tried to protect me. He kept me safe. That’s more than you’ve ever done?"“Protect you—you really think you are safe here with him?”“Safer than I ever was back in the castle.”“I taught you better than this, Aliya. I taught you about bad people who would want to taint you, but you were always the curious type; I should have known.” She said, I didn’t miss the fact that she addressed me by my name."I remember everything you taught me, Julia. Thanks to you, I know more languages than I’ll ever have the chance to use in my lifetime. You spoke endlessly about good and evil—you painted yourselves as saints, but you all are far from that. I know the truth now. Your plan was to sacrifice me. That encounter—all of it—was a lie. I was nothing but a vessel to you.""And do you think you mean anything to him?" she asked, her g
My thoughts drifted to Ash. Could he have been stupid enough to come back here with Daemon present?Something told me Daemon wouldn’t be pleased about me seeing him behind his back.A small sense of relief washed over me when I realized the footsteps approaching weren’t from a man. There was something feminine, something familiar about them.It was Empress Julia.Of course, I would recognize the sound of her footsteps; I had spent over a decade of my life listening to them.Daemon seemed genuinely surprised. “How did you find this place?” he asked."I can't say. You see, it's a small secret, Trian—I guess that's the name you stole."Daemon’s eyes drifted from her face to the object she held in her hand: the Nexus Amulet. She had somehow gotten it out of the transparent glass container—perhaps that explained the noise that had alerted us we weren’t alone."Give it to me," Daemon all but growled."Tsk, tsk. Not so fast."Daemon looked like he was about to lunge for her."You won’t get t
I shouldn’t be thinking about Ash’s words, but I was. No matter how many times I tried to shove them out of my mind, they always found their way back."Dinner is served. Come eat," Daemon announced. Staring at him, I could almost forget that he was a demon; he just seemed so… human. But when you looked deeper into those dark blue eyes, that’s when you noticed something off—something that screamed predator.“I’m not hungry.”“That’s a lie. Come with me,” he said. I might be hungry, but I was in no mood to eat, yet I followed him. He had already dished out the food for me and, as usual, none for himself.“Thank you.” I muttered, taking a seat. The smoky scent of spiced grilled meat filled the air. On any other day, it would be enough to make my mouth water and my stomach rumble, but this time, I could barely force myself to eat more than a few small pieces.“Aliyah,” Daemon called, and I looked up at him. “I can make something else if you don’t like this.”“It’s not that. I’m just not h
ALIYAH’S POVI stared at the empty room, once occupied by the human girls. Now, the chains that had been used to bind them were the only sign that they had ever been here.After the incident with Tasha, Daemon wasn’t willing to take any chances. He had let the two cousins return to their homes.When Daemon wasn’t home, I had the whole house to myself.I returned to my room to take a quick shower before his return. I peeled off my clothes and walked into the shower. I was done in less than twenty minutes. I was about to step out of the bathroom when my reflection caught my eye. I paused, staring at the figure in the mirror that was mine.My eyes were the only thing alive; every other part of my body seemed to be fading away. My silver hair didn’t look as healthy, and my pale skin was even paler. I spotted the bite marks marring my skin. I didn’t mind them at all; maybe I was getting just as crazy as Tasha, but I liked seeing those marks on my skin; they reminded me of him, and so I ha
I watched as Aric’s casket was lowered into the ground.All the memories were buried along with him. Guilt ate at me, knowing he shouldn’t be down there.Many who knew Aric were also present. He had once been a beta to the Dawn pack, then a commander to the Nightshade Pack. He was loved by many, but the strangest thing about life was how fast people tend to move on.Two hours later, everyone was gone, back to their lives. A few months from now, some would forget him. In a few years, others wouldn’t even remember that a man named Aric had once lived among us. He’d be just another tombstone like the rest. No one was ever truly too important—life always moved on.I stood before Aric's grave, eyes puffy and red, tears rolling down my cheeks, and Alexander stood beside me. His eyes were on me.“You know, he had a sister. I had no clue about her; she was the reason he betrayed me; he wanted to save her.” I paused when I realized who I was talking to. “Sorry, I know you’d always hated him.”
Derek had been taken away from the pack after our fight. A small part of me felt bad for him. In his pack, he had been worshipped, but now… everything was about to change—especially the fact that he would have to rule as an Alpha with only one arm.If his story taught me anything, it was that we often fail to appreciate what we have. He had a pack, people who loved him, but like every other Alpha, he wanted more. He was an honorable man, and for that reason, I had let him go his way—even after his demeaning words about making me his ‘whore’ when he took over the pack.“I have to admit. You did very well with the pack.” Alexander praised, and I couldn’t help the swell of pride I had felt in that instant.We were currently in the bed, none of us wanting to leave the room or each other’s company.“Most of the time, I didn’t even know what I was doing.”“Well, that makes the two of us. You were born a leader, Kaida.”"No, I wasn’t. I might be the daughter of an Alpha, and I might have ha