I didn't sleep all night. Finally, when It was dawn, I rose from the bed and headed into the bathroom, rummaging through the closets for my clothes. They weren't here; I only found a robe, and so I put it on quickly before returning back into the room."Riley. What are you doing? Come back to bed, you need some more rest." Daemon muttered."I'm sorry." I said, and with that I threw the blinds open. He should have never told me about his newfound weakness. The sun burnt his skin, I didn't wait to watch him die. I raced down the stairs and out of the main entrance door, and I froze. The house was practically in the middle of nowhere; snow covered the ground. Where exactly was this place?The drugs he had used on me prevented me from using my wings, and so I ran on my feet; the wild wind blew through my hair, causing my eyes to water, but I couldn't stop running. After a few hours, I slowed down, I couldn't run anymore; My breaths were shallow and foggy, visible in the cold air. With e
ISABELLAEARLIER…I knew about Logan Diminitri’s visit; I also knew about their plan to find a cure.Thane didn't like the control I had over him, I knew it would come to this. I wondered what I would be to him when he had found the cure. I won't be of any use to him if that happened, he would have no reason to let me stay at the pack.Was it selfish that I didn't exactly want him to find a cure?I stared at him lying on the bed. It was still there, his feelings for me were still somewhere in there but he would never admit it because he loved her more.I was becoming a different version of myself, and I didn't like it one bit. Thane needed the cure; I knew this would only get worse if he didn't find it, yet a part of me didn't want him to find the cure, and then Riley—I had sent her away because I wanted to be alone with Thane; I wanted him to wake up to my presence; I wanted him to see that I would always be there for him. It was a selfish thing to do, and here I was, alone with him
RILEY"Change of plans." Daemon said, a frown etched to his face. "You will pay a visit to your pack.""What?" I questioned, this must be some kind of a trick."You heard me right. Maybe I underestimated Thane's feelings for you; I'd rather not take the risk, so it's time to end this off the right way.""End what?""You will say your last goodbyes to Thane, just so he will stop searching. He had involved Bruce, your father, in this, and now I have even more enemies, but it wouldn't be so if you told him how much you love me and how you plan to live the rest of your life with me.""You are going to force me into doing this too?" I asked."Yes, I will.""I will do as you said, but leave the people I care about and every other person out of this.""Of course," he promised. "I'll be back in an hour; I'll leave you to prepare a very convincing speech," he said before leaving me alone. I stared at Daisy's notebook. Could I be able to pass a secret message to Thane without Daemon finding ou
THANEMaybe it had been because this had happened once before, or maybe because despite her words, I still saw through her.She didn't mean any of it; she must have been forced. I wondered what Daemon could have over her.Riley would never move on without Ethan.I slipped my hands into my pocket, and I noticed a piece of paper. I was sure it hadn't been there a while ago. I pulled it out. Riley must have slipped it into my pocket, maybe at the time she hugged me. I couldn't help but smirk; that was a smart move. On the paper were written three words that seemed to be scrambled in a haste. 'Use the pendant.' ..."Thank you for coming." Bruce said, letting me in.The building was a perfect hideout; the outside made it seem like this was an abandoned space, but inside was completely… different."Did you bring the pendant along?" he asked, and I nodded, tossing the emerald pendant to him; he caught it.I spotted a mid aged woman, she stood by his side with a smile that looked too fake
RILEY "Was the hug really necessary?" Daemon asked. "You said I should make it convincing, and I did." "All those things you said back there... did you mean them?" he asked. "You mean when I said you make me happy? No, not really." "You know, you could have lied and said, ‘Yes’." "Did I hurt your feelings? Good, because that serves you right." Daemon's gaze drifted past me to the notebook on the table. "Did you touch the book?" he asked me, and I rolled my eyes at him. "Of course not." I lied. But he walked past me and picked the book up. He scrolled through the pages and paused. "This book is missing a page, Riley." "What do you mean?" "Where is it?" "I'm not in the mood for this..." My words were cut off when Daemon slammed me hard against the wall; my head collided against the wall, and for a moment I felt dizzy. "You little bitch, I did everything for you, and yet, this is how you repay me?" "I don't understand what you are talking about!" I cried out. "Don't play
ISABELLA'S POVI was worried about Riley; since she was gone, Thane refused to allow himself even a few minutes of sleep. He blamed himself for everything—but it wasn’t his fault; it was mine.I paced round the room, waiting for any update about Riley's whereabouts; just then, Thane walked in."Thane! Is she alright?" I asked him."She is alive," he responded. "What happened to her? Where is she?""I think we need to talk," Thane says."I know, I'm sorry about earlier; I had no clue she was in danger; I shouldn't have tried to stop you from going to her.""It's not about that, Bella," he said, and I couldn’t help but notice how he wouldn’t even look at me."Then what do you want us to talk about?""I want you out of this pack."For a moment I doubted if I heard the right words, but there it was, what he wanted to talk about."What... why? I am sorry if I did anything wrong. I just... I don't have anywhere to go.""You can't stay here anymore.""No, you need me; I can help you—I know
RILEY POV"Hello, Riley." The woman said, "Don't mind my newly acquired body. Thane did get your message and managed to free me from Hades."Daemon turned to me; I had never seen such hate in his eyes before and this time it was directed at me."Where is Thane?" I asked Jade."He should be here in a few minutes, assuming Bruce got the shifting spell right.""How did you find me?" Daemon asked her."It was easy; we are linked in a way."In a flash, Daemon appeared right before me, gripping me tightly as the black mist swirled around us. He was escaping, and he was taking me with him, I had no right to fight him.But something was wrong; I could see it on Daemon's face. He finally let go of me.It didn't work. We were both still in his room.Daemon let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his ear; blood dripped down his nose. Jade seemed to be doing something to him; her eyes glowed, and her hands were outstretched. She didn't stop till the footsteps drew both our atte
"I once told you the difference between a sorcerer and a warlock: a sorcerer is born into magic while warlocks have to earn theirs. Our magic comes from a… dark source. All my life, I hungered for power. I believed I wasn't born to live an ordinary life and I wouldn't settle for less. I studied every supernatural creature, and that's how I knew about Vox.""Who is Vox?" I asked Bruce."He is the Demon Overlord, a powerful entity, and he saw me as useful. I went on missions for him—while I wasn’t skilled in the physical aspect, my knowledge and resourcefulness made up for it. I wanted to become his favorite, but with Vox, things don't work that way. You are only important to him when you are of use.I was able to complete all my tasks; I did really bad things, none of which I am proud of, and finally I was rewarded; he made me a warlock. Just as I had wanted.Still, I wanted more, and my greed got in the way.A warlock's magic never does die. If a warlock kills another, he gets a port
I knew something was wrong the moment I set my eyes on the boy named Eli.Maybe it was because he seemed so… nervous. The car came to an abrupt stop before a tiny building that didn’t look anything like a romantic spot. My hands wrapped around the dagger I had carried along with me.Eli was quick to open the door and Cas walked out.“Wait!” I called out, but it was too late. There was a man behind her, he placed a brown rag to her nose and she immediately fell into his arms. She had been drugged.“Come, come. Child.” The man cooed, but I moved backwards. He let out a growl. Something about him didn’t feel right and I could finally place it, it was his scent, he didn’t scent like a wolf and yet he was one.A rogue.He was a rogue.The man reached out to pull me out, but I slashed at him with my dagger; I got him across the eyes, and he let out a snarl. More men appeared; there were about six of them. The other door was pulled open, and I had no place to hide. One of the men picked me o
He was right. I was not as fearless as I made people believe I was.He took another swig of his liquor. That was good; I needed him as drunk as he could be for the question I was about to ask.“Tell me… did you ever plan on telling me what happened to your parents?”“Do you want to know, little mate?”“Yes, I do.”“And you will, only if you tell me how you got those scars.”A frown formed on my face; I had my back to him so he wouldn’t notice it. I had told nobody about my scars, no other person but Aric. Not even my father knew the full story.Alexander was curious about my scars, just as much as I was curious to know what happened to his own parents, and while I would have never told him the truth of how I got these scars, there was no harm in telling him now; he was drunk, and he would probably forget it all, but I would get the truth out of him.“I had a friend. A female friend. Her name was Cassandra, but I called her Cas, and she called me Kai. We were best friends, though she w
The moment Alexander was gone, I wolfed down the food he had brought as I was starving.I began my daily exercises. I had been slacking off for the past few days, so I started with 100 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, and then resumed my squat routine. The hours passed by in a blur; I hadn’t even realized how long I took exercising; the sun had gone down, giving way to dusk.I was covered in sweat. I had to take a quick shower; I was in no mood for long baths and I wasn’t expecting Alexander back anytime soon; I guessed he would spend the night with his whores, and I will once again have the room all to myself.The cold water was just what I needed.I paused, turning off the shower.I thought I heard a sound. I listened in harder, but there was nothing. I must have been mistaken. I stepped out of the shower stall; only then did I notice him. Alexander stood by the door, his eyes trailing down my very naked body.“Get out!”“You are my mate; you don’t need to be shy.”There was something slightly
“Walk with me,” Alexander said to me.Many curious gazes followed us.“Where to?” I inquired.“To the Dining Room.”“I’m not hungry.”“But I am, so come with me.”I clenched my teeth, following after him.“How do you feel?” he asked.“Really? You are going to ask me that question?”“Last night, you felt it, didn’t you?”“I’m sure you were so happy and satisfied knowing I was in pain.” He passed me a vial filled with a clear, thick liquid. “What is this?”“Something I should have given you earlier. You should take it; while it won’t completely take the pain away, you would barely feel it.” he explained.“I don’t need it.”“You don’t have to be stubborn, Kaida; it will do you no good. Tormenting yourself is not fearlessness; it’s stupidity.”“If I can endure being with you, then no amount of torment is too grave to endure.” With that I walked past him, heading back to my room. I had lost my appetite.…I stood at the balcony, all I could think about was my father. He was all alone—I sh
I hadn't realized when I had fallen asleep on the couch until something woke me— pain.My whole body seemed to be on fire. I knew what was happening; how the hell hadn’t I thought about it? We were fated mates; of course, if he was with his whores, I was going to know—I was going to feel it.After Alexander had marked me, he walked out of the room. I knew exactly what he was off to do, and I didn’t care; I was happy to have the room all to myself. I didn’t realize what I would have to endure while he was having fun, but I had been through worse. He knew what he was doing, and if he thought even for a second that this would make me change my mind about going to bed with him, then he was wrong; I’d rather endure it.I managed to draw myself a bath; I was hoping this would help ease the pain, but of course it didn’t. It went on for longer than I expected, but finally it came to an end.I got dressed, making sure I was fully clothed. I couldn’t sleep, and so I spent my time practicing wit
KAIDA’S POVAric brought me a few of my belongings—the little he had managed to pack on such short notice. I had refused to wear anything the Alpha King had selected for me, good thing I now had options."Thank you," I said to him, and he nodded, a slight smile on his face.“Some of the pack members have already been moved here; the rest will have to wait till there are more rooms to accommodate them.”“How is my father?” I asked, The smile on his face faded, replaced by a somber expression. “I guess that’s all the explanation I needed.”“How has the Alpha been to you?”"He has been very loving," I said sarcastically, motioning to the empty room. Alexander had instructed a soldier to lead me to ‘our’ room. And yes, I would be sharing a room with him, I wasn’t looking forward to that.“Kaida…”“No, don’t try comforting me, I don’t need that from you. I know what I have to do and why I am here, he is my mate so I guess it was… meant to be.” I said with a smile that was clearly false.“I
ALEXANDER'S POVKaida Dawn was different.She was different from any other woman I had ever had in my bed.I had discovered she was my mate four years ago, but unlike many other werewolves, the thought of having mates never did intrigue me. I didn’t want to be loyal to anyone; I didn’t want a family, and that’s why I stayed away.And then Alpha Trent Dawn had come to me with his proposal. He was one of the few people in my good books; I knew what he had done for this pack, and I was aware that we owed him a favor. But I did find it strange; He had a Beta, going by the name Aric. Since he had no male children, the Beta could've taken over, and Kaida could've mated him instead. But for some reason… he didn’t hand the pack to his Beta.I had spotted her the moment she walked into the feast. How couldn’t I? Her scent was all over the place. My wolf inside didn’t like the Beta being so close to her, or the fact that they had slept in the very same room, but I reined him in. What happened b
I’d heard other she-wolves talk about how it felt when they met their mates. The scent, the pull—I felt it all.“Do you feel it?” I asked him, and a small smirk spread on his face.“Feel what?” he asked. “The mate bond?”“You knew.” My tone was accusing.“I’ve known for a very long time now, Kaida. Even before I agreed to your father’s proposal.”“How long ago did you know?”“Your father and his beta made constant visits to this pack; your scent was all over them.”“And yet you made no move, why?”“I don’t say this to offend you, but you aren’t exactly my type.”“Oh, I know. I guess brunettes are your type, and maybe you'd have preferred a girl who would fall on her knees and worship the very ground you walk upon, a girl who would obey every single word you utter without questions.”“I would have liked that, but that wasn’t what I was referring to. You see only a few girls shut the doors to love and choose the parts of becoming ‘warriors’. Of course, most times there were reasons beh
It had taken every ounce of willpower in me to return here.But if I was going to be his Luna, then the rules would have to change; I didn’t care who the hell he was.The soldiers escorted me to his chambers. He wasn’t alone. There were about a dozen men seated there, many of whom were middle-aged; they should be the ones people refer to as the king's 'advisors.’Alpha Ethan’s eyes settled on me.The scent was even stronger now, but I was going to rein in my wolf; I was in control, not her, and it's time she knew that. I had expected to see a smirk on his face; after all, he won. I was here because I had no other options, but his face remained unreadable, and maybe that’s one of the many things I found unsettling about him. I couldn’t read his emotions, and I was very good at that. I didn’t like surprises, but the man seated before me had a bottle filled with surprises, waiting and ready for me.“Leave, every one of you.” He ordered, and all the men rose and walked away, leaving me a