ALPHA XANDER’S POV “Why is she not awake?” I growled at the doctor who was still checking out Adriana. I didn’t think she would appreciate being taken back to the hospital so I had the doctor sent over. It was unfortunately not the same woman that treated her at the hospital. She lived out of town and wouldn’t be here until morning. I was left with this fumbling, incompetent man treating my mate. I’ve growled at him in warning more than five times since he got here ten minutes ago. I didn’t have time to change her and since she had a few scratches on her back that weren’t healing like they would have if she had a wolf, I had no choice but to leave her in the stupid clothes. The single glare I shot after he got here told him not to look beyond where he wasn’t treating. That at least he has abided by. It was the only thing he has done right since he got here. “I don’t know alpha. Maybe she just needs to sleep, she seems tired.” He stuttered through the words like a total weak ass. I s
ADRIANA’S POV “The name’s Candace sweetheart,” the woman’s voice pulled me from my disturbing thoughts of Xander. I was grateful for that, because the last thing I wanted to look into was why I was anything but terrified, or even disgusted at what he said. I also needed to figure out why that wolf attacked me. All in due time. The woman’s unwavering gaze reminded me of my manners and I sputtered a silent apology. My voice came out raspy, my throat feeling a lot drier and even more worse than the voice. “I’m Adriana,” I introduced myself. Not getting over my head and thinking she would know my name. She shot me another warm smile and then turned after that, she was picking up the pillows that have been kept around me. Almost like the person—Xander, if my memories weren’t actually hallucinations or a bad dream—didn’t want me to fall off. I wasn’t a baby, though I was grateful for the thoughtfulness. “Oh sweetheart, I know.” She said, her tone suggesting how hilarious the thought of
ADRIANA’S POVUnlike yesterday when my being unable to walk to the bath was entirely fictional, I was actually struggling with it now. I’ve groaned and cursed about ten times since Candace left me in the bathroom. She’d helped me out of the wheelchair first then helped me get into the bath.I would have chosen a quick shower but standing was a bitch. What the hell motivated me to run out of the room with no shoes on? Whatever dumb spirit that was, I was really hating on it right now.I finished my bath faster than last night then got out of the tub, wincing with every contact my feet made with the cold tiles. I wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that I had no shoes on in the bathroom. It wasn’t dirty in the least, if I was being honest, the bathroom was much neater than my room back at my old pack.I was tying the towel around me when I heard a knock on the bedroom door. My heart almost stopped, thinking it was Xander. Something told me if it was him, a scene like last night’s w
ALPHA XANDER’S POV“What happened with the wolf?” I asked with a growl. I’d been on my way to meet with him when he told me he was already back and in the shower. His exact words had been. ‘I was in the shower, I couldn’t fucking talk to you when I was naked. I don’t know about you but I’m not into guys.’ He’d ended with a fucking snicker. Safe to say I felt like breaking all his teeth. I stopped myself before I could though, I knew my anger wasn’t directed at him. It was all because of that damn wolf that thought it would be fun if he messed with my mate.“He has been tight lipped.” I pursed my lips. That wasn’t what I expected, after he told me he was back. I’d thought he got all the information I needed, not this. I raked my hand through my hair, fighting the urge to tug at the strands.“All night?” he gave a look that suggested I was stupid before nodding. “Did everything to the fucker but he refused to speak.” Donovan mumbled. He let his cool mask slip but only for a few seconds.
ALPHA XANDER’S POV“What the fuck?!” I heard Donovan’s loud voice booming in the halls before he walked into the office. He busted into loud laughter almost immediately after which told me he was taking in the scene. The asshole.“Daciana, stop.” I tried to pull her off me but she was intent on….clawing my eyes out? “Daciana!” AlthoughI didn’t want to, I had to use my alpha voice and that forced her into submitting. She released me and moved back, her heated glare still intact though.“Fuck you, Xander. You’re a fucking asshole.” She growled before stomping out of the room. Donovan and I shared a look, wondering what the hell was going on.“You should have put her in that asylum when you had the chance,” he muttered like it was the easiest thing in the world. I shot him a glare which he rolled his eyes to and shook his head, giving me a look that said he was very disappointed. “Don’t you have a humor?”“That’s not funny,” I grumbled and took off after Daciana. I needed to know what th
ADRIANA’S POVAfter Daciana left, I had nothing to do, I didn’t feel motivated to do anything with the thoughts running through my mind. I felt guilty for whatever she was going to do to her brother and I tried as much as I could to mindlink her. Xander spoke with me through mindlink last night so I thought I would manage, but again I failed.I felt like the failure my father always says, never getting anything right in my life. I felt too weak to even eat and get dressed so I just ended up going back to bed. I didn’t sleep, I didn’t think I would have been able to sleep either way.As a sort of punishment to myself, purely because I felt like I deserved it, I laid on my back which hurt like hell. But I felt a sliver of satisfaction, like I was finally getting something I deserve.I laid there for what felt like hours, Candace didn’t come back which I was glad for. Being nice or even pretending to was something I didn’t have the energy to do.I was starting to like being away from peo
ADRIANA’S POVMy heart is beating in overdrive. Like a wolf running carelessly in the night, the breeze and trees only a blur in their vision. Hearing and feeling absolutely nothing but the hard thud of their paws hitting the earth. I felt like that, the adrenaline pumping through my blood. It was weirdly funny how I found this anything but terrifying was the main issue.Xander was still above me, his mouth and mine not even a hair’s breadth away. I kept my eyes tightly shut, knowing I could do nothing but that. His warm breath fans my face and he is as still as I am, though we were like that for two entirely different reasons.I shouldn’t feel this, he literally just said he wanted to have my fear, he wanted me to be scared of him. It’s what I’ve always felt my whole life and I should want something different. I wanted something different. But with him this close to me and saying stuff like that, he is making me want to forget whatever my dreams were and all the things I thought I wa
ADRIANA’S POVThe hallway was deathly silent, it almost felt like the house was deserted because I didn’t see anyone even after I got to the first floor. I regretted not using the elevator and taking the stairs, I also regretted not wearing shoes but I didn’t want to be in that woman’s presence any longer. Just one glance at her unsettled me, I didn’t know what would have happened if I’d stayed onger.I stopped outside when I reached the ground floor, having no idea where to go from there. I looked to my left, then right, then left again before sighing and taking the right. I keep walking through a seemingly never ending hallway until I stopped at a door that I heard voices in, I tried to sniff to get a whiff of their scent but all I managed to locate was a lot of old furniture. I couldn’t fully rely on my sense of smell, I knew that one. Yes, it was good, but that didn’t make it good enough.I considered opening the door to check who was inside but I decided against it. I was dumb to
ALPHA XANDER’S POV “How do you know?” I’m not sure that is the right thing to ask but the question comes out either way. “I saw him,” he swallows. The tears fell this time, full of guilt. I know I’m a heartless monster but I still reach out and pat his shoulder in what I hope is a comforting touch. “I used to have trouble sleeping so I usually sneak into her room and sleep on her bed, she leaves the door open for me but he didn’t like that, he said I wasn’t man enough,” he frowns, his eyes hardening. He was just four, Jameson is a sick bastard and he deserves to die a slow and painful death. I vow to deliver that to him, in whatever hell he is hiding. “He had a pillow over her head and he didn’t stop until he was sure she was dead, I was too shocked to move. I ran to my room after, scared he would do the same to me and I never told anyone. I don’t know how he found out but he punished me and threatened to do the same to me if I said anything about it.” His throat bobs as he swallo
ALPHA XANDER’S POV“I know where he is,” Carlson says out of the blue. He has been quiet for about five minutes and I was reveling in it but that gives me a pause. I look up at him, his eyes are fixed on the ceiling like he is seeing a prophesy or some shit up there.“What?” I ask, because I can’t be sure what he said is right. If he knew where his father was all this while, why is he just telling me? I sit up and push the papers that are littered on my desk out of the way.“Jameson,
ALPHA XANDER’S POVDonovan suggested we cremate Adriana’s body, the look I gave him made him never mention that again.It has been three weeks, five days, three hours, twenty-one minutes and five seconds since I watched Dreaya slit her throat, and like I have been doing since it happened, I replayed every part of it. Every excruciating second of it. I try to analyze all that has happened, think of what I could have done to make the end happen differently. Burning Dreaya’s body was very easy but I made sure I left a mark.In whatever dumpster her ashes remain,
ALPHA XANDER’S POVMy entire world stops when she pushes the dagger deeper, a small raspy sound leaves my mate’s throat. That is the only thing I can hear is the drip of Adriana’s blood, I can hear every single gurgle from her throat.I try to force my legs to move but it feels like I’m rooted to the spot. No! This can’t fucking happen!Unlike the first time, I feel our connection sever. It is like my heart is being ripped from my chest, painfully slow, every vein being cut at an extremely slow pace. This seriously can’t be!“No.” I go to scream but it comes out in a small moan.Dreaya stands back and twirls the bloody dagger in her hand, she holds it to her face then brings it to her lips and juts her tongue out. I don’t feel disgust at her licking her daughter’s blood right off it. I’m in too much shock to do anything except stand there and watch all of this crazy shit. A part of me is praying this is just some type of messed up hallucination and I will snap out of it.I will give e
ADRIANA’S POVI’ve thought I felt what an out of body experience is before, but what I’m feeling now, I realize, is exactly what it means to have an out of body experience. I’m here, I hear things, I see things but I feel absent. In my body. I know this isn’t just my wolf taking control and pushing me back, it is more than just that.“What did you want to say again?” Xander asks, sounding bored.The woman—my mother—it feels weird calling her that because I didn’t feel any of the things I thought I would feel if I saw her. No joy, not even disappointment or anger. I just feel numb, and she could as well be anyone at this point. She hasn’t turned or spared me a glance since she came and that is probably adding to how I feel about her presence.I’d known it was her the moment I caught sight of the long blond almost whitish hair, so much like mine, and her eyes, I have a feeling they are the same color. Even our statures are quite similar. It is like I got all my genes from her and not Ja
ALPHA XANDER’S POVThe hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention, I don’t turn immediately. Letting the shock wear off my face first.My first instinct had been to get my mate out of there, then on second thought I didn’t move, knowing she was playing a game I have no idea how to. If she gets an inkling of my affections towards her daughter, this will just be a million times worse. I already have a lot to lose as it is. Any more and I would be left with nothing.“Hello Xander,” her slightly raspy voice says. This time I spin and face her, my eyes flicker to the bed, where Adriana is sitting still like a sculpture or something inanimate. I make sure the look is as brief as humanly possible, a blink is slower than that.Beside the bed, standing in her full glory is the woman I had hoped I wouldn’t have to face since the last time we tried to kill each other, a century ago.I feel the darkness that has been hibernating in me all these months, probably even years, the main reason wh
ALPHA XANDER’S POVThe most unlikely place for me to think is when I’m in between Adriana’s legs, or on the verge of cumming from how good she was riding me. If I wasn’t so sure about her being innocent, I would have been worried about how she knew how to do that.Wolves and lycans know the natural instinct of mating and since she is more wolf than human now, it makes sense that she would want to mate, completing the mate bond on another different level. If I was thinking straight, I would have stopped her knowing what would come after this. She would want to mark me and it won’t stop that way, her wolf, now linked to me and feeling my lycan aura would want to shift. That would be disastrous seeing the state the manor is in. The first shift is always horrendous.I’m lost in the sweet world of ecstasy that only involves my mate and me, and the pleasure and high we’re chasing.Everything goes well and I try to soothe her while she transitions into her true self and submit to her natural
ADRIANA’S POVI can admit one thing, I’d thought of taking control from Xander just to see how he would react, and because I was thinking with the throbbing between my thighs and not my brain.What I can’t agree with is what I did after, or what my body did. I’m feeling more confused than ever now.Xander’s eyes are widened into slits as he looks up from beneath me, the fire in his eyes makes my insides burn and they travel down my body and finally settle where I need him most. I’m sitting right above his crotch and I feel his excitement, it takes a lot of effort for me to not further move down and just end this torture.“Fuck,” He groans throwing his head back, he closes his eyes for the briefest of seconds. “You look beautiful on top baby, that is where you belong, above everyone else.” He says in a deep sexy drawl, I feel the need to clench my thighs but it is impossible because of the way i’m sitting. Xander places his hands behind his head, making his muscles flex and. He adjusts
ALPHA XANDER’S POVI almost decline his offer, then I stop when something comes to my mind.“You can help with something, but first, I need to make sure I can trust you.” Telling him is not the best thing, but it is not like it is something we don’t know. He knows I don’t trust him, not even a little bit, and the feeling is mutual. I’ve just grown a little liking toward him after interacting with him.“What do you want?” he looks a bit cautious asking that, as he should.“For you to answer a few questions for me too.” I haul his words back at him. The sides of his lips tip up in an almost smile.“Do I have to sit through a lie detector test?” he asks, it sounds like a joke but there is a hint of seriousness to it.“I have more effective ways of getting the truth out of people.” I smirk and point to the door. “Feel free to make yourself at home. Ring a maid or something if you need anything.” I’m going to see Adriana and hopefully try to work through her wolf issues with her.“Yeah sur