Kelly’s PoVI waited patiently for Andrew to return to our room at first, but the more time that passed, the more impatient I grew.I had even gone so far as to set out a table with snacks, two glasses, and the bottle as a centerpiece. I was sure I could coax him into sharing a drink with me under the pretense of celebrating the union privately and with a shared hope for my own son Peter and Viola.I pushed the bottle of wine around the table moodily as I waited and finally, my patience paid off.Andrew breezed into the room looking tired and I smiled warmly up at him.“My love,” I greeted him with a soft kiss and he smiled down at me indulgently, his eyes drifting across to the table I had prepared and chuckling softly.“What’s all this?” He asked as his eyes lit up.I didn’t often do things like this, not unless I wanted something from him and right now, I needed him to drink the wine.“Just a little something I put together for us to enjoy.” I smiled coyly up at him, running my han
Amber’s PoVRyan sighed in frustration as he waited for Tom to get back in touch with him with more information. He had reached out multiple times but received the same answer.They hadn’t found her and nor did they have any information on who the unknown woman was although honestly, if all of what she had said was true, I couldn’t see it being anyone else other than my mother. She simply knew too much.“Ryan,” I said gently, “Let’s not think about this now. I’m sorry I brought the mood down. It’s our wedding night.”“You didn’t bring the mood down at all, Amber. Don’t ever apologize for being honest with me.”I shifted closer to him and he reached for my face tenderly, brushing his finger gently across my cheek. My eyes closed as a pleasurable shiver of anticipation ran down my spine and I reached for him, my hands running along his well-defined abs and down to the belt of his trousers as he sucked a sharp breath in.“Our first night as man and wife,” He murmured, allowing his finger
“What the fuck did you just call her?” Ryan snarled furiously.“Why? What are you gonna do about it?” The guard laughed as Ryan’s eyes flashed dangerously.“Keep going and you’ll find out.”The guards that held him by the arms were suddenly thrown forward as Ryan’s snarl of fury rippled through the room. Shouts of surprise filled the air as he lunged forward and shifted mid-air, his jaws closing around the now horrified guard's throat.I didn’t scream. I should have been horrified, but I wasn’t.These men had burst in here, into our sanctuary at the worst time possible. Of course, Ryan was going to be aggressive and protective, especially with the way he was being spoken to.“How could we have murdered him?!” I yelled angrily as Ryan shook the now deceased guard's body left and right, blood spraying across the faces of everyone gathered close as they tried to pry him off him, “We were both here, consummating our damn marriage!”“He was poisoned, by your hands!” someone yelled furiousl
Amber’s PoVI couldn’t believe that this was happening…on our wedding night of all nights too. But then, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Kelly had quite obviously had it in for me since the beginning, she had just hidden it well.I was angry that she had managed to pull this off though, in Ryan’s home, and rallied the other Alpha’s behind her.How could they believe this so easily? He had done nothing but support King Andrew and he had worked hard to get his pack to where it was now. Did I make him a target by association? Or had he been a target all along?They had put us in separate cells but thankfully, we were still able to utilize the mind link that our wolves shared to communicate. It was tiring, as I hadn’t ever had the need to use it too much before, but Ryan was proficient at it.“Amber?” he probed gently, “Are you okay?”“Yeah, I’m fine.” I sigh, “I’m just irritated that we didn’t see this coming before now.”I could feel his brooding silence as he contemplated the same
Tom’s PoVI couldn’t believe what was happening. I had left to see Lilly safely back to our room as everyone was leaving the main entrance hall, satisfied that there wasn’t anything that could possibly go wrong now that the main groups who usually clashed had left, and just as I was going to go back and check on the reports from the guards, I received an urgent mind link from Ryan.“What are we going to do?” Lily whispered anxiously as I paced the floor.“This is insanity,” I murmured, “Ryan and Amber would never conspire to do anything like this. I don’t know how any of those disloyal bastards could believe this.”“Why would they think to question her though? She was the King’s devoted wife after all…”“Obviously not,” I laughed coldly, “She’s claiming that the bottle of wine we retrieved from the cellar was the bottle that King Andrew drank from.”“But that implicates us as well!” She gasped, her beautiful eyes so wide and fearful that my wolf wanted to rip Kelly’s throat out for th
Tom’s PoVBy the time we reached the safe house, I could tell that Lily was exhausted and as soon as we were inside I had one of the mercenaries show us to the room that we were allocated to.“Will you be okay while I go and catch up with everything?” I asked her and she smiled, although I could still feel the worry oozing out of her.“Sure. I’ll get unpacked and take a shower then I’ll turn in for the night.” She paused as she bit her lip and looked at me uncertainly, “Will….will you still be able to share a room with me?”I blinked at her and laughed humorlessly.“Of course. If you think I’m leaving you alone tonight then you don’t know me very well at all. I just need to brief everyone on what’s happening. I’ll be as quick as I can, but they need to know so adjustments can be made.”“No problem. I’ll see you soon then.” She smiled as she stood on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on my cheek.“If you need anything, let me know though, okay?”She nodded and I left her to it, headi
“If we can just take a moment to think about this rationally and calm down..” I said in a placating tone, but it did little good. “Calm down? While she is locked up in a cell with Goddess knows who, being forced to do Goddess knows what-” “Can we please stop taking the Lady’s name in vain-” Delores sighed irritably with a pointed look towards the Mercenary leader. “Sorry,” he mumbled, having the good grace to look a little abashed in front of one of her priestesses, “But now is really not the time to be sitting around on our hands.” “And going in guns blazing straight through the front door is?” I snorted, “All we’ll be doing is handing them the ammunition they need to make a bold move…one that none of us will ever forgive ourselves for.” His lips pressed into a thin line and he stared at me furiously until finally, he sank down in his chair with a grunt. “Then what do you propose?” He mumbled, his fists still clenched tightly in front
Viola’s PoVThe journey to see Peter had been too long for my liking, but my mother reminded me before I left that how we conducted ourselves now would determine our future. I hadn’t realized just how much she had been doing behind the scenes to try and elevate both her future and my own.So as much as I despised the fact that all Peter would talk about was my fucking step sister, I had decided to suck it up and keep the rage inside for now. I would be the one marrying the prince, not her. It would be me with the crown and the authority, not her, and my children? They would be of royal blood. What I did now, was for them, my future children.I already had Luna …no, Queen Kelly on my side, and she supported my marriage to Peter so the hard part was done.The car pulled to a stop in front of the guardhouse and I frowned as the mean-looking guards peered into the back windows, leering as soon as their eyes landed on me.“Well
Amber’s PoVWe sat through each and every trial, and I know initially I felt pity towards Kelly for her death sentence, after learning just how deep her depravity was during the trial of her lover and true mate, I found that little spark extinguished quickly.She deserved everything she had coming to her.Peter and her true mate Rick knew everything and ultimately faced the same fate as she did. The death sentence was rarely given among our kind but no amount of time they were forced to serve would ever atone for what they had tried to do to our kingdom.My stepmother Ann was sentenced alongside my father, both of their sentences determining that they would spend life in prison alongside some of the most terrifying criminals that existed in our world. My father was also charged with the illegal killing of Ryans parent’s, with Ryan standing as a witness and finally, he received the justice that he had sought for most of his life.And Viola?She too had played a part and for the crime o
Amber’s PoVRyan received word from Tom first that Kelly and her lover had been successfully apprehended and by all accounts, things went off without a hitch for them.The team that went after Peter and Viola, however, had a tougher time once they had found him as his personal guard had never been far away from him. The absence of my sister was noted though and when pressed for information, he reluctantly admitted that Viola had been moved to the cells as punishment for setting Ryan and me free, as well as her inability to provide concrete evidence that we were no longer a threat.She was currently being attended to in the cells by the doctor here at the safe house.As for my father, he hadn’t even put up a fight. Surprisingly, my stepmother had injured more of the mercenaries than he had, furious that her hard work was going to come to nothing.I smiled to myself as Ryan draped his arm around me lazily as we took a short walk in the grounds of the house. It was the first time we had
Tom’s PoVBy the time our party arrived at the packhouse, the sun was already casting long shadows through the leaves of the forest. It was these shadows that we moved through to the entrance I had escaped through with Lily in what seemed like an eternity ago.After a brief discussion with the mercenary leader, they agreed that I should lead the raid on our former pack house. As Ryan’s Beta, this was personal to me and I felt as though I had a score to settle as he couldn’t be here himself. This thought only made me more determined to succeed.The mercenary leader had taken a few of his men to lead a smaller raid on Alpha Luke’s territory with the intent of snatching him without too much issue. He had never invested in defensive infrastructure as much as he should have, so getting in and out for them would be easy.The air inside the tunnel that I led my band of misfits down seemed to be thick with tension as we made our way silently through the darkness, stopping only when we reached
Tom’s PoVI rose early the next morning, making sure that I didn’t disturb Lilly as she slept. Delores wanted the mercenaries ready to move out at a moment's notice and Ryan was counting on my support so I did the only thing I could think of and began making sure that my own preparations were in order.By the time I had everything organized and moved to wake the mercenary leader, Delores was already hovering in the corridor, watching me with interest.“What do you want?” I grunted as I went from door to door rousing the men as the leader got himself ready.“I’m just watching you work Tom. You’ve grown into quite a capable Beta, just as I knew you would. It makes my heart full with joy and pride to know that I was right.”I snorted and rolled my eyes as her gaze burned into me.“You didn’t know for sure back then, but you were still willing to leave two teenagers high and dry without the slightest idea what they were doing. I’d say that was pretty heartless.”“Really?” She mused, “I wo
Amber’s PoVThe Elder’s were true to their word and wasted no time in getting down to business.Once they had eaten their fill and reviewed the evidence, requesting copies to be taken into their closed-door meeting, they disappeared off to one of the more secluded rooms on the second floor with Delores leading the way.Lily made sure they had a tray of drinks and snacks to take in with them, more as a show of goodwill and hospitality on our part more than wanting to sway their decision. They had been good enough to travel all this way, the least we could do was to make sure that they were well cared for while they were here.“So what do we do now?” I asked Ryan, biting at my nails nervously.“I guess now we wait,” He said, letting loose a long breath.“Do you think they’ll take long to reach a decision?” Lily asked as she pulled her chair closer to mine.“I doubt it,” My mother answered gloomily, “They have everything they need and more to make a well-informed decision. The longest pa
Amber’s PoVThe Elder’s arrived as inconspicuously as they possibly could so as to not draw attention to the safe house location.As they were ushered into the hall and heads bowed in respect as they passed, I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect them to be more…imposing.The eight members of the council filed quietly through the crowd with benign smiles on their faces as they approached the head table. Both Ryan and I stood to greet them and bowed our heads in respect as we greeted them warmly.“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you all,” Ryan said seriously as their smiles remained in place.“Well, we come when called, and in the event of serious issues…I would say that the alleged events qualify as serious issues…wouldn’t you?” The man at the front answered with a sigh.“Delores said that the Alpha King is still alive?” another Elder asked curiously, “Would it be possible to see him?”“Come now Cecil, can it not wait until after we’ve eaten?” Delores grinned as she appeared behin
Amber’s PoVI still hadn’t made my peace with the fact that my mother hadn’t been able to somehow let me know that she was okay sooner than my wedding night, and I was still reeling from the fact that Ryan had planned to completely destroy me in every way possible in order to get revenge on my father.I know that I had managed to win him over by being the exact opposite of Viola, but it still didn’t sit right with me because he seemed to be quite happy to spit in the face of the Goddess and our mate bond just to get his own back for the death of his parents.I had no part in their demise yet he would have happily thrown me to the proverbial wolves. What happened to the benevolent Alpha that took care of his pack and helped even the Omega’s feel safe under his care? Was it all just an act?“Amber?” Ryan’s voice came from outside the locked door that I refused to open for him, or anyone else for that matter while I tried to get my thoughts in order.“What do you want? I told you I wante
Tom’s PoVIt wasn’t difficult to track down Alpha Luke’s head of finance. When we found that he wasn’t anywhere near his workplace, we headed to the only other location that he was known to frequent.The smell of stale sweat that assaulted our senses as we entered the bar made me want to gag, but I did my best to hold back the urge.“I don’t see him here.” The mercenary leader murmured as we scanned the faces of the patrons here.I grunted in response and pushed my way past the bouncers who looked at each other hesitantly. This was a private club and only members were allowed, but with the mercenary leader at my side, engaging us was more of a risk for these men on the door.“He won’t be in plain sight.” I replied, “He has specific tastes that aren’t fit for public knowledge.”The mercenary leader’s face darkened as soon as he understood what I meant and he lifted his lip in disgust.“The back rooms then.” He snorted as he turned and headed straight for the door where an increasingly
Amber’s PoV“I see you still enjoy turning people’s lives upside down with your prophecies, Delores.” My mother said with a soft chuckle as she stepped forward to hug her tightly before turning her attention back to me, “I know none of this is what you wanted to hear Amber, but this curse…it feeds on secrets and lies and only draws strength from it. You must..”“No! I don’t have to do anything. “ I hissed, “All of this talk about curses, secrets, prophecies, and lies…I never asked for any of this. All I have ever worked for was to free myself and my mother from my fucking deadbeat father's grip and now, I find out that not only my father, not only my mate, but it’s looking like my mother had a hand in all of this?! What the fuck is going on?!”“Amber I promise you, I had no idea what your father was capable of when I accepted the mate bond.” She said as she stepped towards me.I felt trapped being surrounded by so many people that I felt had betrayed me in the worst way.“We met entir