{5 years ago} My bedroom window blew open, startling me awake and out of my dreams. It had been a good dream, too. It was about a young mermaid who kept splashing her friend, the dolphin. They were having a good time before I had to go and wake up. Huffing at this annoying circumstance, I jumped out of bed and ran straight to the window so that I could close it. The longer it stayed open, the more likely I was to catch a cold during this time of year, the middle of winter. Here in Aspen, Colorado, the temperature hardly reached above the 70s. Since it was winter, those temperatures dropped to the 30s and below. Though I grew up here my entire life, I was still not used to it. After closing the window and making sure I locked it this time, I went back to bed and laid down. I tucked myself in, rolled to my side, curled my arms under the pillow below my head, and closed my eyes. Luckily, the mermaid waited for me to return, and she started to splash her dolphin friend again. During my
{Merryn's pov} He’s the King of Vampires, and I’m to be his bride, yet here I am, pussy-footing at the door of his work office, barefoot on the ice-cold, gray marble floor. I wasn’t about to run back to my room to grab a pair of shoes. The only thing that would accomplish would be to infuriate him. He already had quite the short-fuse temper, and making him wait after he had already made plans to see me during his work schedule would get me into a heap of trouble. Even though right now, he was the one making me wait for him. Standing outside his office, I tapped my foot impatiently on the ground. His job seemed very demanding and far more critical than I, his little fiancé. His underage fiancé, whom he cannot get married to for at least a few more months. I am only 17, and he is at least a few centuries old. Although Samael is over a few centuries old, he doesn’t look a day over 23. The perks of being an immortal vampire, I presume. Samael and I have been close since I was about tw
{Merryn's pov} “How foolish could you be, Merryn!” Samael shouted at me. His grip tightened even more, and I was sure it would leave a nasty bruise if he didn’t let go soon. “Vampires surround us! Most of them would be unable to control their thirst if they caught even a sniff of your blood. Are you asking to be bitten? Do you want one of them to sink their fangs into your pretty little neck?!” “N-no, Samael. I didn’t mean to do it.” I gulped, trying not to cry as he pinched the skin around the wound and plucked out the piece of glass from my hand. “Of course, you did not mean to do it! You never mean to do anything. Shit happens to you all the time. Why can you not just be careful? Why can you not think before you act?!” He reprimanded me before spilling a mouthful of Spanish curse words. Many of which I had no clue of their meanings. Once he was out of breath, he inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling to calm himself down. His eyes then moved from my hand up to my face to look me
{Merryn's pov} It was a new day when I woke up. I couldn’t help but be excited about the party tonight. The last day of school was last week, tonight was Saturday and the party, and next week would be graduation. Then in just a few months, I would turn 18, and Samael and I would get married. It wasn’t all that bad if I genuinely thought about it. I knew who he was and what he was capable of doing. Despite being the Vampire King and torturing his enemies, he was an excellent fiancé and treated me differently than everyone else. I got to see the sweet side of him. The charming and loving man that he could be. Not many got to experience that side of him. Not many people even knew he had a good side to him. However, I knew, and that was all that mattered. After waking up around 6 in the morning, I took a quick shower because I knew that I would need a longer one tonight before I left. If there were something that I couldn’t stand to live with, it would be the hair growing on my legs. I a
{Merryn's pov} "Merryn, wait!" Dakota shouted, jumping between Josephine and me before I could tackle her to the ground. A large crowd began to form around us as everyone began to cheer, chanting for us to fight. However, Dakota lifted his hand to block me from stepping closer to Jo. He shook his head, frowning at me. "Think before you act, Eryn. If something happens tonight… If you get into a fight, Samael will never let you leave his sight again. Do you want that? Do you want to be a prisoner?" He questioned me in a hushed tone so the students could not eavesdrop on our conversation. I huffed at him, watching as Jo smirked and raised her hands, wiggling her fingers at me. I glared at her, flipping her off before Kota pulled me away to prevent me from getting into trouble. Once we were far away from Jo, I sped-walked over to the beverage table and poured myself a drink. This time I added more alcohol than before. I could see him shaking his head at me from the corner of my eye. Whi
{Merryn's pov} Samael placed me on my feet and wrapped his right arm around my waist, pulling me against his side as tight as possible. This was his way of staking a claim to let everyone know that I belonged to him. It was also his way of reminding me of that as well. I gulped, keeping my eyes glued to the ground as my entire body throbbed in pain. One of my eyes was swollen shut, while my other eye had cuts going across the eyelid. My lips were also bruised and swollen with bleeding cuts. It hurt to breathe, and I couldn't help but wonder if my ribs were bruised or possibly fractured. I was in a lot of pain, but the adrenaline kept me from falling unconscious. My fear was my biggest concern right now. Tears threatened to spill out of my one open eyelid, but I quickly blinked them away. If I cried right now, what would that do? Nothing, that's what. It would only make me look weak and make Samael appear weak. Instead, I stood as still as a mouse and waited for this situation to pass
{Unknown pov} I closed my laptop and placed my head in the palms of my hands. The music continued to blast through my earbuds. The song which was currently playing happened to be ‘The Night We Met,’ by Lord Huron. The musician’s voice gave me chills each time. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mother used to sit me down beside her, and she would play me a song on the grand piano. She was always a talented musician; if not for her, I would not have developed this deeply seeded love of music. This song, in particular, I had recently found. It grabbed onto my soul the moment I heard it and hasn’t let go. I swear this musician must be living a similar life to me because the lyrics reflected a vital memory from my past. A memory that constantly haunts me in my sleep and has yet to release me from its ice-cold grasp. What was it now? 4 or 5 years ago? I remember that day every night in my dreams. Over time, it had worsened; lately, I have woken up sweating
{Merryn's pov} My eyes felt heavy as they slowly blinked open. I couldn’t for the life of me remember what happened, but I somehow ended up in a different climate location. Instead of the summer season, it seemed like I woke up in the middle of winter. The air prickled my skin with an icy chill, sending an odd comforting sensation throughout my body. Looking down, I realized that I was back in my human shape and completely lacking clothes. Not to mention the fact I was covered in muck, mud, soggy grass, and dried blood. I felt a lot of pain in my waist and all the way up to my head. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that I had some severe bruising and nasty scratch wounds all over my body. A groan of frustration left my lips. It seemed that this was just my luck. I woke up in an unfamiliar place without recollection of how I ended up here. I tried searching through my memories, but my brain lacked the needed information. All that I succeeded in doing was developing a worsenin
Hello, dearest readers!First, I want to say thank you to those who’ve stuck around and followed me from the Evil Unicorn platform. It’s been a bumpy ride, and not the fun kind ;). Second, I want to say thank you to the new readers I’ve acquired through here and hopefully more will follow in the future. …. About the future updates and what my plans are/schedule is. Here is the deal. When I left the Evil Unicorn Platform, I made some decisions that weren’t my own to help “gain more readers”. Because of this, I have lost my thought process for this book and now I have found my way into the centre of maze and can’t find my way out. So here’s what going to happen starting ASAP! I have been working in the background on rewriting/revising this story to MY original plans. I am not following the outsider’s, who led me in the wrong direction the first time, opinion. Instead, I will be following the path I laid out for myself. The straight and
{Merryn pov} Today flew by faster than it probably should. After changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, we left Gio's Pack Hospital, and he showed me around his Royal Pack territory. Which I discovered was called the Haze Mountain Pack. The name made sense because of the heavy fog that rolled in every morning, starting a few centuries ago after Giovanni's mother died. That bit of history was too tragic for my sensitive heart to overhear. Fortunately, Gio spared me the gory details and settled with, "It was an unfortunate consequence of war," and that was that. We travelled by foot during most of the trip. Gio stayed by my side the whole way. Whenever we would pass by an unfamiliar face, Gio stopped and introduced them to me and vice versa. There were too many names and faces to remember that I had already forgotten most of them. The only person I had not forgotten was the young warrior named Cameron, who happened to be the wolf I outsmarted during my race to freedom. That conve
Hello, loves!I want to thank you all so much for your patience. This past month has been hectic for me and I haven’t really had the time to sit and write a full chapter. Trust me, I’ve tried and failed about a million times. Life just kept getting in the way. Fortunately, all is handled and back to normal. I have been rereading my work and going through it, making a few changes, and fixing any mistakes I find along the way. Nothing too drastic but feel free to reread if you need a refresher. I am shooting for an update as soon as possible. I promise! Again, thank you for your patience and for giving my book a chance. I sincerely apologize for the delay but edits are resuming!Love,Nikita Karou 💜~PS > I changed Esmeralda’s name to Merryn. My edits will show her new name from the beginning and here on it. !!!!UPDATE!!!! Hello, Loves! All of the edits are complete, and I have the next chapter coming for you all tonight! I am so excited to be all caught up! *HAPPY DANCE* :D
{Giovanni's pov} Closing my eyes, I tightened my hold on Esmeralda’s waist. She felt tiny, almost fragile, while wrapped in my embrace. Time had barely passed, yet her tears had already soaked my shirt. The sense of wanting to protect her was more substantial than any other need I possessed. Even the urge to go and obliterate that vampire vermin who put his hands on my mate permanently from existence. She was the only thing keeping me grounded. Her scent permeated my very being, bringing forth the tranquil memories of those summer days spent on the beach during my youth. Those bittersweet moments were rare after my mother passed, peaceful in their own right. Now, with my mate clinging to my form, those memories enveloped me as her scent of sea breeze, and tropical flora subdued the two raging animal sides of me. Merryn, sweet and guileless, trembling in my arms like an injured bird. And the one feeling truly helpless was me. After some time, I could tell she had calmed down because
{Merryn's pov} After stating that he wanted to go over some questions with me, Giovanni carefully removed me from his lap and left the room to get us some clean, dry clothes. I waited about ten minutes until I heard the light tapping noise coming from the other side of the door to my room. Before I could stand up from the bed and get to the door, Giovanni's tall and muscular form filled the doorway. He entered the room in one swift movement, and I noticed that he was now wearing a pair of black sneakers, dark blue jeans with stylish rips in the knees, and a long-sleeved light grey shirt. The shirt clung tightly to his sinewy body, making those deliciously thick biceps, broad chest, and sculpted abs appear more defined even through the fabric. It wasn't until I heard the deep, rich, and throaty chuckle escape him that I realized I had been caught gawking at his sinfully gorgeous body. My tongue inadvertently darted out of my mouth to wet my lips that had gone dry during my intense
{3rd person pov} The sound of expensive suede shoes clicking against the marble floor echoed throughout the castle. The man moved with so much grace and elegance, seeming to float as he approached the pile of ashes scattered in the corner of the room. His black dress pants clung to his thick, muscular legs as he crouched beside the ashes, scooping a pile of them into the palm of his hand. “Gilipollas.” (idiot) He growled, glaring down at the ash bank. He tilted his hand, letting the ashes fall to the floor and join the rest of the pile. “Oh well. There are plenty of witches,” he shrugged as he stood up and folded his arms across his chest. Just as he spoke those words, a flash of purple light appeared before him. Black smoke oozed out from the light; from it, a woman materialized in front of the man. She wore a long, plum-colored lace negligee that glided down her tall, slender body and made her pale skin look almost translucent white. Her dark, silky silver hair cascaded down her
{Giovanni's pov} My eyes were closed when I heard soft, barely audible moans from my little mate. I didn’t know what to make of the sounds. A part of me, the primal possessive instincts within me, were jealous of those sounds coming from her. Only because it wasn’t I, who drew them from her lips. My eyes peeled open, my hands rubbing the sleep off my face. I could feel my back protesting against the position I had fallen asleep in on the chair. The chair wasn’t a recliner, and because of that, I had to sleep upright if I was to stay by her side. Of course, that was my plan, to stay by her side from now until forever. If only to make sure she was safe and unharmed at all times. However, I was certainly going to order more comfortable chairs for all of the rooms inside the entire Pack Clinic. Another quiet whimper escaped past Merryn’s lips, my eyes moving over to find tears forming in her eyes. Despite the salty liquid running down her face, I could smell the sweet scent of her arous
{Merryn's pov} One minute I was lying in a hospital bed wearing an oversized men’s t-shirt with a large, warm hand resting comfortably on my smaller one. The room temperature was comfortable, and I felt at peace, despite the uncomfortable mattress underneath my body. I vaguely remember falling asleep, and that’s it. Then, the next minute, I woke up alone, standing in the center of a dark room. The floor was cold and smooth underneath my feet, like marble, and I wondered if I had somehow ended back at Samael’s castle in the ballroom where he had taught me to dance. I tried to move my legs, but my feet seemed rooted to the spot. My heart began to pick up its tempo due to the uncertainty of my situation. Nothing made sense. Then again, nothing usually makes sense at first. I sighed, reaching up toward my hair and noticing it falling down my back in soft, delicate waves. My fingers felt around my head, touching my earlobes and feeling a pair of diamond stud earrings. Continuously follow
{Giovanni's pov} I watched her through the reflection in the glass, listening to her conversation with Vivienne. Her bright blue eyes lit up when Vivi carried in the plate of food and the juice she had requested. I felt a slight pang of guilt for not having brought her food myself. I was supposed to take care of her because she was my mate. However, I hadn’t left her side except to throw on a shirt since last night. I probably wouldn’t ever be able to leave her side again. Five years of waiting for the love of my life to return to me was quite a long time. If I let her go a second time, she might disappear from me forever, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. It would wreck me. Destroy every hope and dream that I had for my, for our future. She means everything to me. As my mother would have said, il mio cuore e la mia anima (my heart and my soul). “Sweetheart, how old are you?” Vivienne asked my mate. Even in the reflection, I could see the beautiful light red color spreading a