Leah's POV I looked back and saw Darren Swanson standing behind me. He stood tall, towering over me like a mountain. His broad shoulders were filling out the perfectly tailored uniform he wore. Unlike others, who were wearing designer suits, he was wearing a dark ceremonial uniform that only diplomats wore. Every time I met him, regardless of what he was wearing, be it a leather race jacket or a suit he was wearing at the poolside party, he would always manage to take my breath away. But it was this ceremonial uniform that really made me head over heels fascinated by him. It looked like a set of black armour, framing him up l
Lucas' POV I felt my blood boil as I caught a glimpse of my wife's hand intertwined with another man's. The world seemed to stand still as I watched the scene unfold before me, unable to process what I was seeing. How could Leah do this to me? Lucian wasn't enough for him? And she had to hold the fucking kid's hand and he looked, apparently, at least 5 years younger than her?! I mean, what the fuck is wrong with this woman?! I was about to buy her a bloody ex
Leah's POVStop it. Make it stop! I struggled, trying to push Lucas away. But he was like a mad beast, pushing himself against me.I didn't want to use Lycan force, because I knew it would injure him. But at the same time, I knew I had to do something to stop him from attacking me like this.Just when he was about to enter me, the weight on my body was lifted.I looked up in a panic and saw Finn pressing Lucas against the wall, choking on his neck.
Leah's POV"Breakfast's ready, Miss Leah." Mr. Carson stared at me while I was going through a pile of paperwork."Is Finn awake?" I asked. "I want to have breakfast with him before taking him to the company.""Beta took him to the Lake House this morning. Apparently, Doctor Monk wants to run some more tests on him. They left early without having breakfast." Mr. Carson said while arranging the paperwork on the table for me. It seemed that it was very important for him to make sure all the paperwork was placed horizontally and vertically aligned.
Leah's POV "I love this office! The view is amazing!" Laura smiled. "Your office is just next to mine. We share the same view, and you're welcome to my office any time you like." I stood next to Laura, leaning on her shoulder while looking out of the window. "I'm ready to work now! Where shall we start?" Laura tied up her hair and rolled up her sleeves as if she was about to start a fight. "Gean has prepared some documents for our tender process," I replied. "It's for the Huffner Bridge. We would like to get the contract work, so we'll be able to take control of the trades around the Huffner River Region. That's our first step for our entire Mediland Campaign, so we need to make sure that everything happens according to our plan." "Aha," Laura said with a frown. "That's Alpha Dire's territory. I don't like that old man. My mother said he's as canny as an old fox and he just doesn't die." "He's making money for his business partners. If we work with him, he will make money for us.
Lucas' POV "My proposal is simple. Our company has a solid, constructive working relationship with Alpha Kyle of the Moonhowlers Pack. They are currently handling futures, options, and derivatives for us. Why don't you start with a program with them? They're working on the refurbishment of the old Trafold Hippodrome and they're having an unsealed bid right now. If you get this project done, I'm sure everyone on the board will be happy to welcome a new VP to our company." Ava had a look on her face as if she was doing me a big favor. "OK. I'll certainly look into that," I replied. Alpha Kyle was the Chairman of the Derby Committee. I met him on Derby Day. I didn't like the way he looked at me. "I'll have all the needed documents sent to you in a minute," Ava said and tapped on the table with the knuckle of her index finger. "Good luck with the project and I hope everything went well, Lewyn," she added. "Oh, come on, Miss Dinara, you know you can call me by my first name," I said.
Leah's POV "Put your hands off Leah right now, Finn," Troy said in a cold, stern voice. Finn didn't let go of me. His hands were holding my arms so tightly that my skin started to turn red. "Leave Leah alone right now, Finn, or I'll have to cut off your hands," Troy warned in a threatening voice. I placed my hand gently on Finn's hand and said in a tranquilizing voice despite the pain from his grip, "It's OK, Finn. I know what you mean. Why don't we go into the restaurant and find a nice, quiet cubicle, so we can talk about it." Finn let go of my arm and walked out of the car with me. He was following me like a little terrified puppy, which was heart throbbing. I had never met someone that made me feel the same way as I felt when I was with Finn. It was like... Whenever I thought about him, my heart would bleed. He was able to touch the tenderest part of my soul even without doing anything. After we took our seats, the restaurant owner, Tony Soprano, showed up with a giant smile
Leah's POV "Please! Please don't hurt me! I'll tell you everything! Please!" The short man shouted as the soldiers shoved him into the car. "Jalin, don't hurt him..." I walked out of the restaurant with Jalin and said. "Go back and enjoy some pizza with your lover boy, Leah. Don't let this minor incident ruin your lunch date." Jalin said. He was smiling, but there wasn't a slight hint of happiness in his eyes. Our conversation was cut short because of the short man's desperate pleading, "A man gave me 300 bucks to jam your car. I swear to the Moon Goddess! I didn't lie! I have never met that man and I don't know who he is! I'm working at Mechanic World on 10th Street!" "Shut up and get into the car!" A soldier pressed his head into the car and said. "Let him talk," I said. "Leah, this doesn't concern you," Jalin said. "If someone wants to kill me, I would like to know who he is," I said. "Let him talk!" Jalin took a glance at the soldiers and nodded slightly. They immediately
Leah's POVThe sky shattered above me, a jagged maw of chaos spitting debris like venom. But Darren was there, his arms clamping around me, fierce and unyielding, rolling me across the ground as the hulking ship model plummeted from the heavens. It crashed where we'd been, its splintered bulk clawing the earth, and I felt the tremor in my bones. Dust choked the air, a gritty veil, but all I knew was his body pressed against mine, hard and desperate, his heat searing through the cold dread coiling in my gut.When the world stilled, our eyes locked. His stare cut through the haze, sharp as a blade, stripping me raw. Memories clawed their way up—him looming over me, blood-smeared and feral, shielding me from death's jaws. Tears burned my eyes, spilling hot and relentless, carving tracks down my dust-caked face. I couldn't stop them, couldn't cage the ache ripping through me.But then I caught it - or didn't. The air around him was wrong, empty. No musk of wol
Leah's POVI nodded, keeping my face smooth, blank - a perfect little mirror for the director's pride. Inside, my blood roared. These bastards had turned on Liam's father the second his body was cold, carved up his legacy, and handed it to Al Cosa on a silver platter. Everything Liam should've had—stolen. But I kept my claws sheathed, my fangs hidden. Not yet.Dinner came next, the shift announced by a waiter's clipped voice. I'd spent the earlier hours letting the deputy mayor fleece me at cards, folding my hands with a shy smile while his stack of chips grew. By the time we sat down to eat, he was rosy-cheeked and beaming, drunk on victory and wine. He clapped a meaty hand on my shoulder, his breath sour. "Leah, you've got to come to the seafood charity dinner next weekend. Big fundraiser for the Pier 16 Free Trade Zone. It'll be a hell of a show."I smiled, soft and apologetic. "I'd love to, but I'm flying to California next week. My company's got an ev
Leah's POVHours bled into each other. The party grew loud, sloppy. I slipped away to the pool terrace, heels dangling from my fingers, the night air sticky with salt and regret. The water shimmered like broken glass.Josephine used to fling herself into a pool to play damsel on my wedding night to get Lucas' attention. And that happened like in my my last life. And Darren - my shadow, my sword, the man who'd bled for me in alleys and ballrooms alike. Where was he now? Dead, surely. He'd have torn the slave market apart otherwise.The champagne bubbled bitter on my tongue. A tear fell - weakness - but the night hid it."Mrs. Winters." The deputy police chief staggered over, tie undone. "You're missing the fun.""I was just admiring the view," I lied. "I was just thinking to myself, you must be very good at your job. So young for a deputy chief."His chest puffed. "Beginner's luck.""Luck favors the bold," I said, leaning clos
Finn's POVI let him paw at me, a doll in his grip, his anxious eyes boring into me. It stirred something - anger, maybe, or worse, something soft I couldn't stomach. I shoved him back, sharp and sudden. "I'm fine," I snarled, turning to walk away.The flowers hit the ground behind me, petals scattering like spilled guts."Pick them up," I ordered, my tone cold.He immediately obeyed, bending down to gather the mess, his muscles flexing beneath the suit. I watched him, my mind a battlefield of desire and disgust. He was mine, bought and owned, yet with every touch, every glance, I felt like I was the one being claimed.I stepped on his back. Hard.Kairo scrambled on all fours before me, fingers trembling as they snatched at scattered petals - crimson on stone, like the blood already smearing his split lip. His haste amused me. The way his breath hitched, the way his shoulders tensed when my shadow fell over him.I let him hope for a s
Finn's POVI hated clinics. It stank of antiseptic and rotting blood, a paradox that clung to my tongue like acid eating through rot. Dr. Jafar's shadow pooled beneath the flickering fluorescents as he blocked the hallway - a vulture in a stained lab coat, wings spread to guard carrion."His lungs collapse twice daily now," the doctor said, teeth yellow as old piano keys. "The machines breathe for him. You understand? No more speeches about sensative topics here."I stared at him with a blank face. "Move."The ward beyond was a cathedral of dying. Monitors chirped hymns. Tubes coiled like sacred serpents around my brother's skeletal frame. Lucas' chest rose in mechanical spasms - a marionette jerked by invisible strings. I'd seen livelier corpses in the slave pits.His hand felt paper-thin when I took it, veins mapping failures under cold skin. "Brother," I said, savoring the word's rancid sweetness.Eyelids peeled back like fresh wounds. Re
Finn's POVThe dungeon stank of piss and rot, the air so thick I could taste it - bitter, sour, like the inside of a grave. A slash of crimson moonlight cut through the wall, spilling over the stone like blood from a fresh wound. My scars itched, a map of every bastard who'd torn me open and left me hollow. I needed it tonight, that sharp, searing proof I wasn't just a ghost rattling in this fucked-up shell.He was there, the slave, strung up like some beast, chains gnashing at his wrists and throat. Wolf poison hissed on his skin, blistering it raw, but he didn’t flinch. Those eyes - wild, molten - locked on me, burning with a love so desperate it could choke us both. He lunged as I got close, chains screaming, his voice a ragged snarl. "Alpha!"I saw his skin searing as it touched the chain.I tilted my head to look at the guard standing next to me.He panicked and said, "Sorry, Alpha! He has broken so many chains... We have to dip th
Leah's POVLater, they dragged me to the monitoring room, a sterile cage of flickering screens and stale air. The video looped endlessly - Antonio's fall, a silent plunge into the dark sea, over and over like a sick ritual. I sat there, wrapped in a scratchy blanket, shivering for show, while Al Cosa perched across from me, an old vulture hunched over his prey. His eyes, sharp and unblinking, devoured the footage, and not a flicker of pain crossed that wrinkled mask. Ruthless bastard, I thought, savoring his son's last moments like a fine cigar, no tears, no cracks. Just cold, hard control.Johnny, his slick consigliere, loomed nearby, arms crossed, voice smooth as oil."Mrs. Winters," he said, "I've no intention of detaining you here. But as the sole witness before Tony's fall, you've got an obligation to tell me the truth. What happened?"I shrank into the blanket, letting my hands tremble, my breath hitch."He took me to the balcony," I mumbled,
Leah's POVThe limousine door hissed open, releasing me into a hurricane of camera flashes. Miami's salt-rotten breeze tangled with the stench of money and gardenias as I stepped onto the crimson carpet, Rafael Laflamme's final creation clinging to my thighs like a lover's last breath. The dress was a funeral shroud in reverse - black silk devoured by blood-red crystals, cut low enough to make the paparazzi forget their own names. Four tall, dark male models flanked me, their hollow-cheeked perfection a living barricade. I'd chosen them for their vacant eyes. Men who looked at nothing saw nothing.Whispers followed like gnats. Who is she? I smiled behind the lace mask, its spiderweb patterns itching my scars. Let them wonder. Let them choke on their own curiosity.The ballroom swallowed us whole, chandeliers dripping light onto a thousand masks - feathers, gold leaf, animal snarls. I tasted champagne on the air, acidic and false. The first waltz began i
Leah's POVThe realtor's office smelled like desperation and vanilla-scented bleach. Floor-to-ceiling windows glared with Miami's midday sun, bouncing off marble floors so polished I could see the exact moment the man behind the desk decided we weren't worth his time. His name tag read Bradley Kensington III, which explained the smugness oozing from his salmon-colored tie.Seth shuffled in behind me, wearing a T-shirt that said "I Paused My Game To Be Here" and cargo shorts with more pockets than sense. I wore Liam's shirt and pants that were obviously oversized. We looked like two raccoons who'd fought a lawnmower and lost.Bradley didn't stand. Just swiveled his chair, lips curling like he'd caught a whiff of dumpster juice. "Walk-ins before noon require an appointment," he drawled, examining his manicure. "But I suppose I can pencil you in for a studio apartment tour next Tuesday. Cash-only, of course."Seth snorted. "Dude, we're here to buy a