SCARLETTA whiff of a familiar scent stirred me awake.The softest sheets tucked me in place as I shuffled and rubbed my eyes before taking in my surroundings. I could easily tell that I was in Alex’s room at one glance because of the dark grey walls.Soon enough, I learned that I wasn't alone because he also came into view.From the look of things, he was in his own dimension because he hadn't realized that I was awake. He was pacing from one end of the room to the other with his eyes tightly shut and his hands clasped in a prayer form while he muttered something inaudible under his breath.As he continued uninterrupted, I took a closer look at him, at first I was simply drawn by his perfectly carved features and the obvious strength in his muscles as he moved, but something else caught my eye.There was some brown fur on his neck, and the moment I saw it, I had a flashback of what had happened before I woke up in his room.Instead the fear and uncertainty that gripped me while I wat
LOGANI could feel their stares burning into me, alongside the questions that would soon follow.But I didn't care, I was more interested in learning about what had happened to Scarlett and why she was in harm’s way for long enough to get scars.“Scarlett, talk to me,” I trained all my attention on her, my fingers reaching forward to trace the identical cut on her forehead, “What happened?”Before my fingers could make contact with her scar she grabbed my hand and pushed it back towards me with a cautious look pointed at me.“I should be asking you that, you’re clearly injured,” she nodded at my arm and collarbone that held the same scars as her.“And the million dollar question we’re all dying to ask is how you have injuries in the exact spots as Scarlett,” Alex chimed in before I could respond.The answer was simple, but the complications that would follow weren't worth being truthful about it.I could easily tell them that our mate bond has deepened, so much that I didn't only sens
LOGANFor the first time in forever, Ashley and I were in perfect harmony.We were scooping popcorn from a bowl while a documentary we were barely paying attention to played on the flat screen in her home office. We decided that I’d work from home twice a week and she’d do the same so we could spend time away from the chaos that was rotting our relationship.It felt nice, serene, wholesome.As though she knew I was thinking of our current solitude, she looked away from the files before her and smiled warmly at me. I returned the smile, but just then, I got the harsh realization that I would rather be in this serene moment with someone else.Scarlett.I shook the thought away quickly and refused to give in to my never ending need to think about and crave her every passing moment. I forced myself to focus on my work instead, and Ashley every now and then.A while later, Ashley got up and walked over to me before making herself comfortable on the desk before me. She was smiling from ear
SCARLETTMom was currently supervising the moving of mount Everest into the house, or at least a vanity mirror that matched its dimensions.“Take it upstairs, the last room at the end of the second floor,” she directed the poor moving men that were saddled with lifting her newest addition to her vain collection of mirrors.“You have a dressing room with seven mirrors, mom. Was this entirely necessary?” I asked, mouth agape in sheer wonder as more staff trooped on with countless shopping bags.“None of those mirrors are from Spain, handcrafted by an artist from Van Gogh’s lineage and traced with red diamond along along the edges,” she argued, her eyes following the staff as they carried in her luggage and what seemed like an entire mall worth of shopping.“Uh, I’m just gonna go into my room, I’ve had a long day,” I yawned and turned away from her, feigning tiredness to escape her.I’d barely taken a step away from her when I felt her grab my wrist and surprisingly pull me into a crushi
SCARLETTAfter the adrenaline rush faded, I realized what I’d done.Slapping someone like Ashley whose personality had drastically changed over the last few weeks was like adding gasoline to an active fire. It was foolish of me to have done that, and Ashley’s deathly glare as she held her sore cheek was proof of it.“I—I’m so sorry,” I stuttered, taking a step back for the sake of caution, “That slap was an instinctive hit, but I definitely haven't done a thing to deserve one from you.”Ashley dropped her hand from her face and glanced at her shattered sunglasses before looking back at me with a spine-chilling smirk.“You’re sorry? Don’t be,” she smacked her red lips and ran her manicured fingers through her silky long hair with precision, “At least by slapping me you've finally dropped your hypocritical goody two shoes act and the real you has reared its ugly head.”“That’s no—”“Denial will take you nowhere honey, that's for sure,” her eyes turned icy with anger as she cut me off.I
LOGANThe reminder staring back at me on my notification bar made dread crawl down my spine.Ashley had cheerily added a reminder to my schedule so I’d have no excuses to miss our move in day. It was the next day and I still didn't feel a shed of excitement about living with the woman I’ve loved for what feels like an eternity.Instead of anticipation, I felt webs of anxiety jumbled in the pit of my stomach.The paradise that should've been the theme of our love story was killed off the day I realized that Scarlett was my mate, and all that was left was the incessant arguing and sexless frustration that threatened to tear us apart.More than anything, I wanted to delay the move, or to find a reason concrete enough to completely revoke it without Ashley going off the rails. I just hated the thought of being farther away from Scarlett when living in the same house as her didn't feel close enough.Any more distance would kill me, I knew it.My inability to find a reason to stay close to
LOGANEvery shred of self control I’d been holding onto was immediately thrown out the window when the addictive scent of her blood filled my nostrils.I’d already been in a losing battle with my wolf and once she cut herself, my vampire side joined in and his craving for her blood propelled me into the bed before I could blink. I halted for a moment, trying to regain control of my willpower even though my eyes were trained on her neck.“Come on, don’t fight it,” she bit her lower lip while smiling before tilting her neck towards me in invitation.I lost it. My mind, body, and soul was hers to devour as I planned to do with hers.The next second, I was digging my fangs into her skin, feeling like I’d ascended into a heavenly plane as her blood hit my tongue. The pleasure bursting through me was unreal, I felt rock hard in my pants and every muscle in my body was jumping for joy.“Fuck, yes,” she moaned, sounding as alluring and enticing as a siren’s call.That was all the encouragemen
SCARLETTI awoke with a groggy feeling and a soreness in parts of my body I didn’t recall overworking.“Ugh,” I groaned as I stretched out of bed, “how much did I have to drink last night?” I asked myself as I got to my feet gingerly.I blamed Emma.Last night, she’d called me with good news that she’d bagged a better job opportunity and she insisted that we drink together over FaceTime to celebrate since we both hated the cluster and noisy ensemble of clubs.As crazy as she was, she didn't let me end the call until I emptied a bottle of Vodka and she emptied one of Tequila.But that didn't explain why I felt somewhat sore, nor did it help me make sense of how I got into bed because I vividly remember not having the willpower to move a muscle after the last swig of alcohol.I shook my head and frowned at my memory lapse as I headed into the bathroom.I was still trying to pull together my thoughts as I brushed while looking in the mirror when I spotted some marks on my neck. I paused,
SCARLETT “How many minutes apart are your contractions?” “Can you feel the pups crowning already?” “Should I get the midwives?” My husbands circled around me like vultures readying their prey, asking me a million and one questions like I was not as clueless about childbirth as they were. They’d read a library worth of childbirth and parenting books from the moment I found out I was pregnant and yet they were as nervous as a completely ignorant parent would be. “Stop hovering over her, please,” Hyacinth sighed and rolled her eyes as she walked into the birthing room, “the birthing process will begin any moment and I’ll need you all to either be quiet and or absent so I can get to work.” They all murmured amongst each other before finally falling quiet. “I’m going to give you a mild anesthetic so you don’t feel a thing and sleep through it, alright?” she turned to me with a kind smile and I nodded. I felt nerves already wrecking my body upon hearing that, I was reminded of the c
LOGANThree long yet amazing months went by and the D-day finally arrived. I couldn’t believe that I was about to be married to Scarlett and it seemed that neither Blake nor Alex could believe it seeing how nervous they were while getting dressed for the ceremony. We’d watched her become the best version of herself in the last three months and judging from all the power and potential she radiated, even three Vaughn men might not be enough of a match for her. Still, I was beyond elated to see what a marriage as unique as ours had in store for us in the coming years. And for the rest of our lives. “I still can’t figure this shit out!” Blake whined as he wrongly knotted his tie for the hundredth time and Alex and I laughed at him. “If you’re too nervous to knot your tie, maybe you should just sit out the wedding ceremony,” Alex teased him. “Yeah, it’s a small wedding anyways. We’ll just add your name to the marriage certificate and crop you into the pictures for the wedding album,” I
SCARLETTWe did it? “Yeah, we fucking did it,” Logan’s excited response made me realize that I’d asked that question out loud instead of in my head as I’d assumed. “And that’s only because you had the balls to put yourself on the line when we weren’t willing to take that risk,” Alex added, flipping a pancake effortlessly with a slight tilt of the pan. Inwardly, I rolled my eyes at his stellar skills, wondering how he was able to pull that off when I couldn’t even do it while carefully using a frying spoon. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’re no longer focused on our victory over the Shahato and you’re now hating on everyone that can make a proper pancake unlike you,” Blake said through a chuckle. I narrowed my eyes at him, picking a grape off my plate and throwing it at his head for teasing me. “Ow!” he exclaimed when it hit his forehead. “Serves you right,” I grinned before taking a generous bite of my sandwich. That led to back and forth banter, and as much a
SCARLETTAgain, they’d come to my rescue at the perfect moment.Unlike the last time, I refused to lose faith in them, so seeing them was more than an answered prayer, it was the confirmation of a truth I’d been steadfastly holding unto.I felt relief course through my entire body as the army pounced on the Shahato warriors, shifting to their wolf form and ripping our enemies apart before they had the chance to rejoice over my burnt corpse.Suddenly, the regret I felt when I was thrown into the portal that brought me here washed away and I was pleased with myself for following through with the baiting plan that brought us this far. I had a feeling that after this battle, we’d finally know peace and harmony instead of the chaos and despair we’d had to endure for months now.I was so lost in imagining a time of calm and quiet that I even forgot that fire was slowly creeping towards me as the altar behind me burnt away. It was when I smelt thick fumes suffocating me that I looked behind
LOGANI still felt shitty and stupid for how immature I’d acted when Scarlett disappeared behind that godforsaken portal.Blake didn’t deserve to be choked so heartlessly when all he did was keep me from breaking my foot to pieces—because believe me, that was my intention when I started kicking that rock. Yet, he’d stopped me from hurting myself foolishly and I repaid him like an absolute asshole.I knew I’d apologized, but it didn’t seem enough so I made a mental note in the back of my mind to make it up to him somehow after we rescued Scarlett.“Guys! Over here! Quickly!” Hyacinth called out to me and my brothers and we rushed to where she was bent over on the floor and holding a glass shard.“What did you find? Please give us some good news,” Alex practically begged as he crouched beside her.“Their sorcerer must’ve mistakenly dropped this while closing the portal in a hurry, and now I know exactly where those bastards took her,” she jumped to her feet and Alex followed suit.“Wher
ALEXFan–fucking–tastic!This bloody plan blew up in our faces just like I’d predicted it would. Those cunning bastards just zapped our mate through a portal and I couldn’t feel her through the bond from the moment they disappeared into it.I guessed that neither Blake nor Logan could feel her either because they equally seemed like they were going mad.“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck this!” Logan yelled on the top of his voice while kicking a rock repeatedly until I heard a toe snap and blood started to ooze from his boot.That didn’t stop him though, he kept spitting profanities and angrily kicking the rock until Blake ran towards him and dragged him away from the rock and set him on the floor.“What the hell is wrong with you, Logan? How the hell does that fix shit!?” Blake leaned forward, placing his hands on both knees while screaming right into Logan’s face.Instead od answering, Logan reached out and gripped Blake’s neck and started to twist it with rage burning in his eyes. I immediat
SCARLETTThe morning of the full moon had finally arrived, and just like everyone else, I hoped that things went according to plans.None of us could handle any surprises because the chances of the plan going smoothly hinged on us being in complete control. To ensure that nothing went wrong, Hyacinth got a team of sorcerers to cast truth spells on the army in a bid to uncover any hidden spies from the Shahatos.Once we confirmed that every warrior was loyal to us, we finally let them in on the plan for the first time since we’d hatched it.Afterwards, Blake and Alex guided them through morning drills and helped them memorize the parts of the plan they were instrumental to, Logan and I kept Hyacinth company while she and her group of sorcerers did a location spell.Unlike the former location spells they’d casted to locate me when I was captured, this was much more likely to work because she’d used the blood of the prisoners that were recently executed. She assured us that with a team o
SCARLETTOnce again, Hyacinth had to come to our aid.We rushed Alex home and called her to come by the house as soon as possible. After ten minutes that felt like an eternity, she finally arrived and got to work on speeding up his healing. She explained that he invested wolfsbane and that’s why he wasn’t healing even after Blake and Logan cleaned and bandaged his wounds properly as soon as we got home.Hyacinth fed him some potions, but when they didn’t work, she told us that the wolfsbane had been in his system for far too long so she would need a powerful spell to magically detox him of it so his wolf could heal.While she convened with the powers that be on the required spell for such a crucial procedure, I paced the entire room worriedly while saying prayers to the moon goddess and ignoring the words of comfort being thrown my way from Logan and Blake.For some reason, I still felt fractions of the fear and pain I felt when I thought he was going to take his life just to prove a
SCARLETTAn hour passed and I immediately rallied Logan and Blake into the car to go in search of Alex. The longer we went without being able to contact or find him, the more I regretted listening to Logan and Blake instead of my wolf.And now because of my negligence, we were all worried out of our minds for Alex.It was almost nightfall and neither of us could reach or find him still. And believe me, we’d tried everything we could possibly think of. Logan tried to track his phone but his men found it dumped in a roadside bin and had no other means of tracing where he went from there because the traffic cams in that area were all busted.After that dead end, we’d all gone around the city in search of him but we couldn’t pick up his scent talk less of find his car.Normally, we’d have assumed that he was just somewhere blowing off steam and stayed home to wait on him. But ever since the marking ritual, we had a much stronger bond and could feel each other’s emotions and a while ago we