I’m on the phone for an hour and a half with Ashley and the PR team, coming up with a statement for the media and a plan for how Kas and I should respond if we’re asked questions by reporters. I hang up and rub my hands over my face. I really fucked up. The PR team is mad, Ashley’s mad. I can only imagine how mad Lenora is. This was an international event. She is going to have to deal with it, too. I’m surprised she hasn’t called to yell at me yet. And tabloids reporting that Kas is pregnant, too? I can only imagine how upset she is. I sit back in my seat and sigh. The television is on mute, but I look over and see an image of me sitting on the edge of the fountain with my hand on Kas’s belly. Oh shit. I can’t hear what the reporter is saying, but she has a huge grin on her face. The tabloids aren’t just making shit up. They saw us talking about it. Even if they couldn’t hear our conversation, they saw the body language. That’s all they need to run with a false story. Fuck. I lean
I watch as his skin becomes sallow and his eyes turn soft blue. He speaks again but his voice is less confident than it was before, “Okay. Stop. Please stop. I will give you what you want. You can have your baby.” I let go of his chin roughly, letting him fall forward. My arms cross in front of me and I watch him grab his chest, panting and looking up at me. I meant it when I said I would suck his energy dry. Besides, now I have what I need from him; I have no use for his egotistical ass. “Oh, an energy empath, well played, Iokaste,” Hera smirks with her chin against her hand as she watches me jump down from Zeus’s throne to stand back with Amari and Jasen, “Selene, with her gifts, your daughter would make a good Olympian. Are you sure you want to let her continue as part of the Manae?” “She has her place, Hera. We are here to discuss Iokaste and the future landscape of the Manae. Not her place in the hierarchy of the Gods,” Mother says in a damning tone. “Iokaste,” a man’s voice
Marco’s POV “Mister Sanchez, what can I do for you? I’m having a terrible day,” Katherine sighs into the phone. “Katherine, we need your help. Something’s wrong with Kas,” I pace around the living room, cause ain’t no way I can stand still right now. “What’s wrong with her? Out with it,” she snaps. There ain’t no concern for Kas in her voice. She just sounds annoyed. Kas was right about this bitch. “She is hysterical, and it seems like she’s in a lot of pain. She keeps calling for Amari,” I explain as patiently as I can. “Well, that is probably because Amari passed away sometime last night or this morning,” her voice is so cold and uncaring that you’d think she didn’t give a shit about Amari. It makes me feel like she just threw a bucket of ice water at me, “Just tell your Alpha to keep giving her all those hugs and kisses until she gets over herself.” “Wait? What do you mean, Amari and her mate passed away?” I ask. How can she say it with no emotions, like it doesn’t matter that
Bronx’s POV Diane offers to keep Kas company in the apartment while we work out a plan on how to keep her and Tessa safe from the rest of the Manae. I feel better knowing she is a nurse and Kas trusts her. When I get back in the afternoons, she reports that Kas mostly sleeps and spends a lot of time in the shower. Almost every day, after I dismiss Diane, Kas lets me hold her while she continues to cry from the lingering pain. I don’t know how else to help her and it’s killing me. She doesn’t leave the apartment except to come downstairs for dinner. She insists being with the pack will lift her spirits up. Delilah comes to the apartment every evening after dinner with her bag of potion ingredients. She and Kas spend an hour with the bedroom door closed meditating and trying different remedies to help ease Kas’s pain and help her sleep. Some nights it seems to help. Other nights, I have to hold my sweet little mate while she whimpers and cries to her mother for mercy. I feel completely
Kas’s POV I look in the bathroom mirror and sigh, “Lex, we’re doing the right thing here, right?” “Yeah. I truly believe we are. Everything will change. We’ve known for centuries it wouldn’t be easy, but right now, you have all the tools and resources you need to make it happen,” she reassures me, “You’ve got this.” “You can feel it taking over, can’t you? The darkness. Even with Delilah trying to help remove its presence every day?” “That is your human spirit, Kas. I don’t feel it. I just sense that I feel you’re not the same anymore. You may never be, honestly. But I will always be here for you, regardless.” I lean against the back of the door and cross my arms, “What if I’m happier this way? With this feeling inside. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. It's a little scary, but it feels good too.” “Kas, what do you want me to say? That you should stop letting Delilah try to help you? Let yourself become corrupted by dark magic?” “A part of me does, yeah.” “I love you, Kas, but
“Kas, this is where you live when you’re not with us?” Julia asks, looking around my apartment in the packhouse in awe. “Yep. This is it,” I smile as I take a couple of boxes out of her hands, “What’s your home like when you aren’t at Mavri Magea apartment?” “Well, it’s basically a bunker,” she frowns, “I can’t have a whole lot of flammable items. Just the necessities.” I give her a compassionate look, “Maybe soon, I can help you hone your ability. Get a better control over it?” “I would love that, Kas,” she smiles before she steps back through the portal to get more containers of baked goods they have prepared using my recipes. I look at the clock on the wall, four thirty p.m. “Alright, ladies, time to wrap it up. I’ll take it from here and I’ll see you all soon,” I clap my hands, giving everyone a hug before they climb back through the portal in my bedroom. When the last of the Mavri Magea disappears into the white circular light, I wave my hand and recite the incantation to cl
“Tessa said she and Arnie can escort us to give everyone else a break, but only pack members who live in the packhouse, okay? If we leave the packhouse, we have to have extra security. Even if it is just the houses down the street,” Bronx lectures me after making a few phone calls. “I’ll take it. We can get everyone else tomorrow in the dining room,” I smile and throw my arms around his waist before I run on my toes to the shower to get myself ready for the day. I turn on the water in the shower and get undressed, take off all my jewelry, including my lavish, trackable, diamond dog collar, and place it all in the little velvet lined dish on the countertop. Oh sorry, I meant to say, the beautiful diamond necklace my husband had custom made, using the latest nanotechnology, so he could know where I am every second of every day. I step into the shower and start washing my hair. As I’m massaging the shampoo into my hair, I hear Bronx call me. “Baby? Did you take your necklace off? I go
After congratulating the happy couple, we make our way around the hospital wing, handing out boxes to the grateful staff and the patients who are happy to get a visit from their Alpha and Luna. When all the boxes run out, we make our way back up to the apartment. I give Tessa a deep hug, letting her energy surround me without pulling it from her. It feels very structured and controlled to hug her, but full of gratitude and love at the same time. “Everything’s going to work out for the Manae, Tessa. I’m going to make sure of it,” I pat my hand against her face reassuringly. “Little Sister, I don’t know how you think you could make a difference on your own, but I commend your tenacity,” she gives me a kiss on the cheek and makes her way down the hall. I get back to my normal routine and make dinner for Bronx. He comes into the kitchen and helps make the side dishes, listening to my instructions carefully. Just like the guards and warriors I have given lessons to in the past, using t