ADRIANA’S POVI ended up convincing Daciana to go to bed. She was exhausted after the day’s activities, and she was also badly injured. She was stubborn of course and refused to agree with me but I noticed how she grimaced whenever she had to move her hand up. When I asked if she was okay, she said yes. I didn’t expect her to say otherwise.I felt guilty, knowing she must have gotten that when she went out. I’d been too focused on myself to even think of her, not that I would have been of much help.“Be safe, love. And if you change your mind, my door is always open. Literally this time.” I chuckled beside myself at her joke. She got up and left after that, I was happy she was finally going to let her body rest. I was weirdly protective of her, which was funny seeing how I couldn’t even protect myself. More pathetic than funny.I sat for more than thirty minutes, with nothing but my thoughts company. The renewed hope made me feel light, it made me happy. I knew if—when the time comes,
ALPHA XANDER’S POVThe smell of Adriana’s fear was like an aphrodisiac for me, and it made skipping the interrogation I’ve been looking forward to so much more worth it.After I dealt with her father, the lucky fucker, whose pack members and sons came to check how he was doing. Their excuse was they hadn't heard from him when he said he would be back soon. All in all, they made sure to make it clear that they didn’t come looking for any trouble. It was bad because I was really looking forward to shedding some blood.My sweet mate was shaking with fear, her eyes bulging and looking around like she was waiting for the Moon Goddess to appear and save her from me. She wouldn’t be able to do that.After I made sure Jameson and his mutts were escorted off my territory, with a few bruises on the man simply because I couldn’t resist, I went back to my office to answer a few calls that needed my urgent attention. I’d finished them off with my mind here, with this woman that was looking at me l
ADRIANA’S POVI was everything that explained scared right now. It was like Xander turned into a monster right before my eyes. I knew he wasn’t a saint before and he said the most atrocious things sometimes, like when he said he wanted my fear. The fear I had felt then didn’t hold a candle to what I was feeling now.My tear ducts have dried out, I was stuck in a desert with no water and the scorching sun, my eyes were burning with the need to shed tears, to cry and scream. But I couldn’t do any of that, fighting my way out of his hold was even more impossible than me trying to force myself to form tears.“Xander please,” I didn’t know what I was begging him for, or wait, I did know. He said he was going to punish me for trying to run. The last time I did something he didn’t agree with, he locked me up and I almost died.I didn’t want to be closed in again, it only reminds me of the last time and my chest grows tight, my lungs close in around me until I’m gasping for air. Seeing I was
ADRIANA’S POV“Xander please,” my brain hasn’t fully registered the image in front of me but my mouth, which was way ahead, was already thinking of a way out. I was just hoping it would work. Though from past experience, I could tell pleading and begging doesn’t touch the man’s heart. That was assuming he had one to begin with.“No, listen sweetheart.” He let go of my arm, then moved to my back and pulled my hair off my shoulder. He leaned down and I felt his hot breath on my shoulder. I shuddered in both fear and disgust. “You have to understand the gravity of what you have done.” My body stiffened when he kissed me there.I hated that I felt warm, I didn’t even know where that came from. I felt disgusted, I was disgusted but it seemed that my body was thinking of a different thing.“Please, none of this is his fault.” I pleaded desperately, even though I knew what I was saying was unimportant to him. “I promise I’ll not try it again, I promise.” I cried, tears streaming down my face
ALPHA XANDER’S POVHearing her cries burned my soul, more because her tears were for that…that good for nothing warrior. That good for nothing man I craved to kill. My claws yearned for his blood, my canines hungry to tear through his flesh. But I gave her my word, I wouldn’t do anything to him…not yet at least.Adriana follows behind me, silently sniffling once in a while. The sick part of me wanted to tell her to swallow it, the sound grated on my nerves knowing it was all for him. That damned bastard. I really wanted to kill him so bad.“Have you eaten?” I asked out of the blue. The words made it past my lips before I could even think through it. We were standing outside the door to my room.Adriana doesn’t say anything for five minutes before she slowly nods her head. I hummed then opened the door to my room. I felt when her heart beat increased, it was beating at an unsteady rate. I could smell her nervousness, heck I was sure the people outside could smell it too.I tried to hol
ALPHA XANDER’S POVI curse my damn luck for always putting me in shitty situations. Before I could think or act on the devilish thoughts that were running through my mind, I turned away from the half-naked woman standing in the middle of my room like it was the most normal thing in the world. Fucking hell.Did she not realize how she was fucking sin on legs, with a freaking pulse that just the rhythm was enough to drive a man mad?I’ve never felt like this for anyone before, nothing so extreme that I could almost feel my body trembling, shaking just from the effort it was taking me to keep myself from storming over to her.“Why the hell are you naked?!” I growl out, still watching the opposite end of the room. Where I thankfully couldn’t get a view of her. When she doesn’t answer, I start to turn but immediately turn back when I remembered the image that I would find. “Answer me!” I command, using alpha dominance. I was not above doing that to get what I want, especially not right now
ADRIANA’S POVXander looks doubtful for a second and I try hard to control my heart rate. I know he can hear it and he is watching, analyzing every single move that I make and trying to gauge my reactions. He wants to know if I’m lying. I sounded too pliant to my own ears too, and though deep down, the thought of him touching me made me want to tear my skin off. I couldn’t hide the fact that I wasn’t lying. I would agree to let him do whatever he wanted. But only on my terms.He doesn’t know it yet.I didn’t know where these thoughts were coming from, but I was liking the direction it was heading.I averted my gaze from his, his eyes were too intense, too probing. It felt like he was stripping me, but instead of my clothes, he was stripping me from my soul, searching through my thoughts, my memories, my very being. It was an unsettling thought.It reminded me of a paragraph I read from one of the lycan books I’d found back at my old pack. The title of the book was, ‘the original lycan
ALPHA XANDER’S POV“You should start talking, I’m busy.” I say to the man sitting opposite me. His mouth is clamped shut like it has been since I came down here two hours ago.If I didn’t need something to distract me with, I would have already killed the damn fool already.“Wedding jitters?” Donovan asks from behind me. I turn toward him and glare, he laughs, raising his hands up in surrender. “Just asking, damn. Chill out man.” He rushes the words out, while I barely contain my rage.It wasn’t wedding jitters, I’m just fucking seconds away from calling it off. Not because I didn’t want to be with Adriana, heck, she was my mate, I would rather be up there with her than here trying to get that piece of shit to talk. Marriage is a different thing and I know damn well I’m not ready for that.I ignore the voice in my head telling me I had three hundred years to prepare. I’ve come close to getting married a lot of times in those three centuries, I never went through with it because none o
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