HANNAHI finally recovered my powers of speech in time to murmur a 'thank you' to Jace, but he was already far in front of me, holding the car door open so he didn't hear me. Before I could try again, I was hugged around the middle by Willa."I told you I would get you out," she said."Thanks Willa," I said, my heart metaphorically bursting with gratitude. "I owe you one.""Ladies," Jace said, drawing our eyes to him. He tapped on the open car door. "Shall we leave this place? We're going out for lunch," he added as he drove out of the parking lot. His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. "I hope you are hungry."I nodded. It would be great to have some food inside me. The scene with the security guards had left me still feeling quite lightheaded and shaken up."Good," he said and concentrated on driving."Jace," I said when he had been driving for quite a while. "Thank you so much for what you did there and... I'm sorry you had to leave whatever you were doing to sort that out. I'm
HANNAHAlthough Jace drove really fast, I felt like he could not get to my house fast enough. I sat on the very edge of the car seat, wondering what horrors Asher and his father had unleashed on my mother, now my only present family. Jace, thankfully did not go on offering hollow words of comfort. He seemed to know that silence was what I needed now. Silence was what I needed to process this."She will be fine," was all he said and I held on to those words fiercely.Jace started to say something when he pulled up in front of my house but I was already out of the car, racing to the front door. I threw the door open, expecting... Well, I didn't know what I was expecting but it was a relief to see that the house was still intact. And there my mother was, sitting on the sofa with a piece of paper that looked like a letter in her hands. She was here. She was alive and fine and that was all that mattered."Mum." I stopped for a few seconds to catch my breath. "You sounded urgent over the ph
HANNAHThe tension in the room was so palpable it felt like it could be cut with a knife. The only sounds were the nervous shuffling of my mother's feet, my laboured breathing and maybe the pounding of my heart. I was pretty sure it was beating so loud that everyone could hear it. I glanced at my wristwatch again, was surprised to see that barely five minutes had passed. Only five minutes? It felt already like five hours. Where were Jace, Cade and Chase? Seeing them here would make me feel so much better.I heard a footfall. I quickly turned towards the door but saw it was just one of the Alpha's guards coming to have a few words with Asher. Asher didn't seem to be paying attention to what the guard was saying. He was glaring concentratedly glaring at me. He had been doing so ever since I walked into the room. I looked away at once, stared at the floor. Somewhere on my right sat the Alpha. I didn't need to look at him to feel the full force of his displeasure. I refused to even look
HANNAHThe tension in the room was so palpable it felt like it could be cut with a knife. The only sounds were the nervous shuffling of my mother's feet, my laboured breathing and maybe the pounding of my heart. I was pretty sure it was beating so loud that everyone could hear it. I glanced at my wristwatch again, was surprised to see that barely five minutes had passed. Only five minutes? It felt already like five hours. Where were Jace, Cade and Chase? Seeing them here would make me feel so much better.I heard a footfall. I quickly turned towards the door but saw it was just one of the Alpha's guards coming to have a few words with Asher. Asher didn't seem to be paying attention to what the guard was saying. He was glaring concentratedly glaring at me. He had been doing so ever since I walked into the room. I looked away at once, stared at the floor. Somewhere on my right sat the Alpha. I didn't need to look at him to feel the full force of his displeasure. I refused to even look
HANNAHThe first thing I noticed the moment I stepped out of the vehicle was the absence of people. For some reason, the guards that had been stationed around my house for as long as I could remember, were not there. Frowning, I wondered why. Had the Wallace's called them off? I honestly doubted that. My mates took my security very seriously."Did you want to go somewhere else?" said the driver from behind me.I turned, found I was still grasping the car door handle."No. No. I'm good," I said.I stepped away from the car and the driver drove off. I reshouldered my backpack, half of mind on the amount of homework I had to do. As I stepped over the threshold, I froze. I opened my mouth to scream.The man standing opposite me with a wicked looking dagger at my mother's throat put a finger to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet. He was tall, built like a barrel. There was evil etched on every line of his scarred face. My head spun. I was in danger. My mother was in more danger. What
Before I could respond, he grabbed my hair, forced it to bob up and down. I shuddered at the thought of the picture they had painted. I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep the sobs in, but the tears ran down my cheeks.What did these men want? What was going on and most importantly, where were the guards who were supposed to be protecting us?The other man laughed. "I think she's gotten it now. Look at her shake like a frightened little mouse."I heard the scarfaced man's joints pop as he squatted in front of me. "In two days, at the meeting with the Alpha- Ah. Yes. You have finally figured what this is about, haven't you?" I felt my eyes widening, bugging with horror at the realization of what was happening. Asher had sent these people here. My mother had been right. The meeting really was a ploy to manipulate this situation to their advantage. Only the goddess knew what horrors Alpfay Dawson had in store for me and my mother now.I was brought back to the present by a stinging sla
HANNAHThis was it then. Today was the day I got to ruin my life with my own mouth. I was helpless to stop my fingers which were twisting and knotting and shredding the already frayed hem of my blouse. Never had I ever wished for a day never to come as I had done for today. And yet, the day I dreaded the most had come. There was no way out now and though my mother who sat beside me and kept shaking her head whenever she met my eyes, I was aware that even she knew there was no way out for me. There was no way I could stand by any let her get killed because of something I refused to do.I bit my tongue hard to keep back an agonized groan. How I wished something, anything would happen that would postpone this moment. For what I knew was the last time, I thought hard of a way out of this situation while the silence of the room settled on me like a heavy blanket. The more I thought, the more a sense of hopelessness crept in.Asher's harsh voice cut through the silence like a whip. "Are w
"I'm sure you heard her all right," Alpha Dawson said dismissively. "She just chose my son."He was trying so hard not to look gleeful and succeeding mostly, but Asher was a different study. He was grinning from ear to ear at the Wallace's discomfiture."What the hell has come over you, Hannah?" Cade bellowed, finally finding his voice. "How could you choose him?"My lips trembled. Why were they making this so hard? Rejecting them once was bad enough. Reaffirming my decision was pure agony. But I had to make this convincing."I'm sorry but I have made my choice," I said. "I'm sorry if I- if I led you on."Chase, muttering angrily to himself, kicked his seat. Jace was the only one who hadn't moved. His eyes were fixed on my face. The hurt I saw there broke my heart all the more.Asher pushed to his feet, looked haughtily around the room."I think we have had enough of the drama for today," he said. "This meeting has come to an end. Hannah, my mate..." He paused to savour the words when