TYRIONA few hours earlierI stood still watching Aria leave the audience hall. Her haunted and painful expression broke my heart in two. I was trying to control myself. I didn't want to level those dickheads and restrain every murderous intent I had within me, but what had I done? I allowed them to humiliate MY MATE. She hadn't deserved any of this. She had never asked to be poisoned. She was a survivor and the strongest she-wolf I had ever met. If the council wanted to attack someone, they should have attacked ME! They proved to be a bunch of cowards, and what they had done could only be considered the lowest of all low moves."You see? No woman is fit to rule. Luna's sole purpose is to bear Alpha babies. If she can't do even that, she ought to be rejected." Dante Greco must have had a death wish. He had tested my patience long enough; he and the rest of those council cunts.My wolf was close to surfacing. My aura was emanating in lush waves, thickening the air. None of those assbra
ARIAI slept in Tyrion's and mine chamber for about three hours. Tyrion didn't join me in bed and went straight into his office instead. He told me briefly about what happened in the council meeting after I left the audience hall and that he had given the council word and promised to find and kill the witch in three months. I wasn't too pleased with the idea of Tyrion looking for the one who was trying to kill him, but we couldn't sit and wait for her next attack either.I stretched my arms, sitting in bed when Tyrion walked into the room and brought me breakfast. He brought it on the bed tray and adjusted it so I could eat the scrambled eggs, veggie salad, and toast comfortably."Have you already eaten?" I asked.He nodded. "I have an ex-council member to kill. Greco chose to fight me, and I still try to figure out whether he is that brave or that stupid. He couldn't possibly think that he has any chance against me, could he now?"I chuckled and reached out my hand to touch his cheek
ARIA "So, do you know where he's taking you?" Nova sounded overly excited as we talked on the phone. "We're going to the Moon Mountains again," I told her. "Oh, the rustical, romantic mansion you told me about?" she sang happily. "Yes." I swallowed hard. "And I am freaking out!" Nova giggled. "But why? You had sex with him before, and you get intimate… a lot. So why the sudden panic?" "Because we are going to mark each other! We are going to complete our bond! It will be something totally different!" The agitation turned my voice into a squeaky, high-pitched sound. "It's going to be fine, and you will love every minute of it," she assured me. "What if I won't…? Or worse! What if he doesn't like it?!" I was dangerously close to a state of panic. "Aria, take a deep breath," Nova instructed. "I envy you, you know that? You get to share a mate bond with someone. Now you and Tyrion are going to seal the deal. I don't understand your sudden anxiety." The deep inhale that filled my
TYRIONI probably couldn't look any dumber as I lay beside my mate with my mouth stretched into a full grin. The bliss. She was finally mine, and I belonged to her entirely. I had never thought that the mate bond could have such power. I felt everything she felt with insane intensity, and I knew that it was the same for her. If it weren't for the fact that our bodies needed to regenerate, I would forever stay buried inside her, exchanging the heat and pleasure in never-ending ecstasy.I could now fully understand those mate couples, burning in lust long months after they mark each other. Amusing... I had always detested them. The thought of having someone I cared about felt like a burden. I was a fool. Aria wasn't a burden or responsibility. She didn't weaken me. She was the strength I desired without knowing it. In the swirl of emotions, confessing to her felt like the most natural thing to do, although I was more than convinced that this simple "I love you" couldn't convey how I fel
TYRION"Where's this footage?" was the natural thing I asked Aziz after what he had just said."I have it with me, but it hasn't been fully checked yet. The specialist I've given the camera to said that he recovered the five-hour footage, so it had to capture at least fragments of the fight, but perhaps someone else should—""The fewer people know about it, the better," I assured him. "We should watch this footage just the two of us."After everything that had happened, I became more cautious—and more paranoid. Thanks to Harriet, my office was now spell-protected against most of the magic tricks, and I had also installed jamming devices, just in case more fuckers like Ulisses Cordeiro decided to spy on me.I told Aziz to lock the door while I turned on every security mechanism I had. Then he handed me the flash drive where the whole footage was, and I put it into my laptop. He stood next to me while I played the first file from the drive. It was distorted, with only flashes of the foo
ARIASix hours earlierHad I ever mentioned how much I hated bureaucracy? The second Tyrion left his mark on me and I marked him, the two of our packs merged by a blood oath. It would have been perfect if that sealed the deal, but unfortunately, it also required a lot of changes. The Moon Blade Pack was much bigger and more advanced than my one-town territory, the Bright Haven Pack. Tyrion and I had already talked about resetting the hierarchy in our merged pack, but we still needed to figure out what to do with the doubled positions of the ranked wolves. For now, Tyrion decided to leave it as it was, which meant that Aziz had officially become his second Beta while our freshly appointed Gamma Logan would naturally share that position with Zane.It took me a while before I made several calls to inform everyone about Tyrion and my decisions. Then I had to sign tons of documents that suddenly appeared in the chamber as if I had just agreed to sell my soul. My hand hurt when I was done l
ARIA"Shit," Nova said exactly what I was thinking.I pushed her behind me, fully extending my claws as I scanned my opponents. The one thing that struck me was that they weren't wolves. Their eyes were bloody red, and they had sharp, pointy teeth in their ready-to-bite jaws, but I couldn't sense any wolf spirits."What are you?" I hissed, staring at their mocking grins."Demons," Nova replied. "They were summoned here by a powerful spell to possess some poor rogues or humans and use them as their meat suits.""Demons?!" I shrieked, causing the three snarling creatures to release a peal of wicked laughter. I had never fought with anything other than wolves or humans before. I glanced at Nova over my shoulder. "How do we kill demons?"Before Nova could reply, the demons lunged at us. I pushed Nova back while dodging their blows and shoving them away. They could have been innocent people I was fighting with. But how in the hell was I supposed to fight those creatures without seriously h
ARIA"Get inside the house!" I yelled, turning around and running to the door.Nova followed me, and I slammed the door shut as soon as she passed the threshold. A second later, the demons started hitting the door, trying to ram it. I grabbed the chair that placed its back under the handle to block the door, but I knew that it wouldn't be long until those demons broke it and barged inside."Do you know any protective spells?!" I shouted at Nova."What do you think I am doing right now?!" she snapped.Then I briefly turned around and saw her stretching out her arms and chanting something as she stood by the window. Then she moved to another window and did exactly the same thing. Suddenly, we heard the sound of broken glass and then saw one of the demons trying to get through the window on the other side of the house."Fuck!" I shouted, leaving the blocked door and rushing toward the demon.I grabbed him by the neck and made him fly out through the same window. Nova ran toward me and qu
TYRION Four months later I loved waking up while feeling the warmth of Aria's magnificent naked body. I could never restrain my fingers from tracing her curves while we were lying like this. I always looked forward to the soft gasps that broke through her plush lips each time my touch pleased her. This time was no different. A low growl left my throat as she shifted in her sleep, instinctively pushing her curvy butt toward my erection. I grabbed her hips and rubbed my hard cock against the sensitive skin between her thighs. She moaned. Her heart started to race, and the delicious scent of her arousal filled the air of our bedroom. My hands wandered to her breasts, feeling her nipples harden underneath the feather-like touch of my fingertips. Another moan left her lips when one of my hands slipped between her legs to tease her clit. "You're so bad for waking your Queen like this…" she breathed. "You love me when I'm bad," I purred before biting her neck. She turned around and pushe
ARIA Once the Moon Blade pierced my mate's chest, Gadreel looked at me in shock. Pain and fury twisted his expression. He curled his fingers on the silver blade and used the remains of his strength to pull it out. Too late. I might have been crying my eyes out, but my grip stayed as strong as it was at the moment I thrust the sword, ripping the flesh of my loved one. Suddenly, his body began convulsing as if he had been electrocuted. He roared viciously as his blazing eyes turned into black smoke. The overwhelming stink of sulfur hit my nostrils, making me lean back as more smoke evaporated through Tyrion's skin. I felt as if I was being led by the Moon Blade itself. It told me to withdraw the blade, and I obeyed. Once I did, Tyrion's body fell to the ground, and the sword began to shine brighter than before. Then the blade started sucking in the smoke. I could hear the shrieks of the dying demon as his essence sank in the glow of the Moon Blade until everything turned silent. I coll
ARIAMy eyes widened in terror as I saw the dark smoke surrounding Tyrion surge into his body. The demonic essence filled him in seconds, and I could only scream while watching it happen. Hespera was slowly regaining her strength. She got up to her knees, pulled out the remaining red crystal from the pocket of her robe, and squeezed it in her hand. Then her eyes shifted to Tyrion, and she welcomed the sight of him becoming possessed by the demon with a dark grin spreading her mouth.I yanked the silver rings, trying to loosen their anchorage in the rocks. My wrists were bleeding, but I couldn't care less about the physical pain. The only ache that became unbearable was my heart breaking at the sight of Felix's bloodied corpse and my mate, who was about to become someone else...Tyrion proudly straightened up his naked body, his blood-dirtied chest heaved and fell, emphasizing his defined muscles. When his eyes opened, I knew that he wasn't the one in control of this body. Tears floode
TYRIONEight hours earlierI almost lost it when I heard that Harriet was Hespera's sister and could have located her. We could have used that spell months ago and traced that bitch before she had begun her killing spree! Harriet tried to explain that she only found out recently, but that didn't lessen my fury."Alpha Tyrion, I beg you. Try to understand that for many years I was convinced that my sister died in a fire. Not until I saw her in the coven's castle did I know for certain—""Harriet, you suspected who the dark witch might be, but you haven't told anyone about it, not even Aria. Now Aria is in grave danger, and we could have avoided it if we had caught Hespera sooner. If anything happens to Aria, I will forever blame you for it." My tone was as sharp as the finest sword, but she should still be grateful that I used words instead of my claws.She stepped back cautiously and frowned. "You know that I would never do anything to hurt Aria."I slowly exhaled my anger. "Let's hop
ARIAI felt as if my body had been run over by a truck at least five times. At the same time, someone had installed hammer drills inside my head, and I could feel them piercing through my skull. I think I hated wolfsbane more than silver poisoning. And now the pain caused by the poison, mixed with the heartache caused by the betrayal of someone whom I trusted...A painful groan left my throat as I opened my eyes, and I was strangely grateful for not being blinded by light once I did. The place where I was looked like a cave filled with lit candles. I was lying on the hard, stone ground. I was cuffed in silver, and each of my hands was chained by a separate chain to a wall. The length of those chains allowed me to either lay on the ground or sit against the wall. I kept wondering why I was brought here. Should I be grateful for being still alive?"I can see that you're awake, she-wolf." Hespera's voice echoed in the cave's empty space.I turned my aching head toward the sound and saw h
TYRIONI was waiting in the side room attached to the auditorium, waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago. The audience had already filled their seats, and everyone was waiting for my mate to walk in and dazzle them with her beauty. Nova and Nessa stood next to me, and I could see they were more nervous by the second, just like I was.‘Alpha Tyrion, come to your office. This is deadly urgent!’ Aziz's sharp-edged voice sounded through the mind link.‘Aziz, you were supposed to be here. My wedding is about to start,’ I said, irritated.‘Where is Felix? Is he somewhere near you?’ Now I could sense panic in his voice.I leaned outside to check if he or Aria showed up, but there was no sign of either of them. ‘No. Felix is with Aria now,’ I replied.‘We need to find him and arrest him!’ he shouted frantically.‘What the fuck are you talking about?!’ I roared.‘Alpha, I've just received the remastered footage with a clear picture. The one who killed t
ARIA I had an odd and disturbing dream. It was nothing like my terrifying vision of Tyrion and me, but it still left my heart wildly pounding and my body tense. In my dream, I was merely an observer. I saw two little, smiling girls, and somehow I knew that it was Harriet and her sister. Harriet had her brown hair tied in a cute ponytail while her red-haired sister's hair was braided. They both wore similar dark-gray dresses with long sleeves, resembling the long robes the coven witches had. They were running through a flowery meadow. Then, they stopped to spin around among the flowers. At one moment, a butterfly sat on Harriet's finger. Harmony tried to touch it, but the butterfly flew away. Harriet picked up a red poppy flower and handed it to Harmony. "Harmony, look! Isn't it pretty?" she said. Harmony narrowed her deep-green eyes, and the flower dried in her hands. Then she gave Harriet a cold stare. "Don't call me Harmony. There is nothing harmonious about me," she hissed. Harr
ARIA My whole body hurt, but the dumb smile didn't leave my face. Was it what people call happiness? If so, then the hot embodiment of my happiness was lying next to me. His upper arm served as my pillow while his forearm uncontrollably caressed my back. Tyrion's other hand was lazily lying on my waist, giving him easy access to my naked buttocks. From the second I opened my eyes, I could enjoy his amazing features in a deep, peaceful sleep. I could never get enough of him. He had the amazing ability to disarm my fears, build my confidence and strength, fire up my senses, and overfill me with pleasure. Still, I knew that each day I would wake up in his arms, I would only ask for more. He was the cause of my insatiable thirst. "You're doing it again, angel." His deep purr sent a direct signal between my thighs. "I'm not doing anything… yet," I said hoarsely. He chuckled and pulled me close so I could feel every rigid inch of him. "You're aroused," he whispered as his hand stroked th
TYRIONI didn't want to leave Aria. Seeing her cowering, crying, and reluctant to accept my touch was unbearable. She said that she was going to be fine, but it sounded more like she didn't want to talk about it. I respected her choice, yet the image of my shivering mate stayed in my mind for the rest of the day, filling me with anxiety.It was hard to focus on my duties, but I had to. I called the royal council meeting. It was time they stopped demanding and started helping like they were supposed to. After I got rid of the pests, Aldo Lefebre was appointed a natural council's leader. I couldn't be more glad of that choice. The mood in the council seemed to change as well. I could sense no stink of hostility or fear as I entered the audience hall to sit with the council."I came to inform you of the current situation, and I demand your assistance and guidance," I started. "A few days ago, my Luna fought against the dark witch. We now know that her name is Hespera. Hespera attacked he