(Kaan’s POV)My first thought when I saw her cross the street without caring if she would get run over or hit by cars was, "You crazy woman! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" And then I saw her gripping the rail with such desperation, and I thought, "No, she was asking for help, and no one stopped to give it, only blaring their horns furiously, probably thinking she was merely a careless person who wanted to save time by crossing the street away from the pedestrian lane."I watched her for a few minutes from the other side of the road, wondering what she was planning to do. She couldn't possibly be thinking of jumping down the small irrigation system; it was too shallow, and she would just end up getting hurt. Moreover, it was smelly.When she gracefully refused my offer of dinner, despite being so obviously starved, I knew there was no way I was leaving that place without taking her with me. It took a little bit of gentle persuasion, but I have never felt such pride in a simple
(Raya POV) "...why don't you just hire a surrogate? I might even consider being a candidate if the pay is good." Just a few minutes ago, I was sobbing, feeling humiliated instead of grateful for the pity job offer. I know he means well, but my pride is stinging, and I can't help feeling this way. It's been a long, difficult day, and here I sit, being fed by a kind stranger who has everything she needs and has no problem risking it all for a few seconds of adrenaline high. Life just feels so unfair… But the drink must have started affecting me because now I find myself laughing, braying like a donkey at my own joke. My laughter dies down awkwardly because he doesn't join in. "Hmm… Actually, that's not a bad idea," he says pensively, more to himself than to me. I must be drunk because I feel myself sober right up. "Wha— no! I was just trying to be funny. What's wrong with you!?" I say sourly. "Hey, I'm not the one who came up with the idea." "Well, you shouldn't even be considering
(Kaan’s POV) I sigh as I close the door to the room Raya is in and head to the kitchen to put the bags of takeaway food on the table. As always, the place is spotless because my housekeeper comes in daily to make sure everything is in order, with not a speck of dust in sight. I don’t know what Raya is going to do for me tomorrow when she wakes up, in exchange for sleeping here tonight. I would have to mess up the place a little for her to be able to do something, but it seems a bit extreme. And I do hate clutter and mess. D@mn, what am I even doing, bringing her here? I mean…sure, we clicked and I had a great time but I could have just hailed a taxi and sent her home. Or called my driver for an overtime gig, he would have come. But for some reason, I didn’t. I couldn’t. I experienced extraordinary fear for the first time tonight. It’s an unfamiliar emotion because I never felt it for any of the extreme sports I ever tried. I never blanched in front of the highest jump, the deepe
(Raya’s POV) It was a disaster, one after the other. My phone’s alarm clock did not do its only job, but then, I can only blame myself, because how would the blo0dy calculator know that it was supposed to wake me up? Yes, I wrote 630 on the calculator, instead of setting my alarm at 6:30 a.m. and only my bladder saved me from sleeping until my next lifetime. I must have been so tired when I set it up. Anyway, I had a moment of panic when I woke up this morning and did not recognise the room. Then everything came rushing back and I sighed as I stood up to go to the bathroom, doing my early morning ablutions in a rush so I could start paying my debt for last night’s dinner and lodgings. My clothes had not yet dried after I washed them last night so I decided the bathrobe would do while I waited and then I went out of the guestroom to see what I could do today to help out. Nothing. The place was immaculately clean. Does he have OCD? In my experience, bachelor’s places are usually
(Raya POV) He stares at me pensively while leaning against the door. I stare back, waiting for him to give me a proper explanation. He sighs as he walks back to the table. “Do you know why I was at the pub last night, Raya?” I blink in confusion, trying to remember what he said his problem was but my mind is drawing a blank at the moment. “I…” It would be so embarrassing to admit I don’t clearly remember so I take a deep breath and cautiously say “I thought you weren’t being serious.” He chuckles as he sits back on his chair. He wraps his hands around his giant mug of coffee and stares at it, without really seeing it. “On the contrary. The woman you saw with my parents just now, Ms. Westley? I was on a dinner date with her last night before I ended up in the pub.” “Oh?” Again, the twisted little painful stab in my chest that I don’t even want to think about anymore. He glances at me before staring back at his cup, tracing the rim with his forefinger absent-mindedly, around an
(Raya POV)“Be my pretend mate…” He tells me, explaining a little what it entails and I gawk at him. “...by the end of which, we will part as good friends and… I will pay you ten million dollars.”Ten million dollars. An absurd amount tossed like that as if it was nothing. I would have believed him more if he’d said ten grand…It’s still a preposterous amount for someone like me, but at least it’s reasonable. So he’s gotta be sh*tting me, right? Ten million dollars, my sweet patootie! There’s no way he’s serious. Well, two can play this game…I close my mouth, the lower part of which must have dropped to the ground with the mention of ten million bucks, and I try to keep a bland expression on my face, although the way his lips twist in amusement tells me I am unsuccessful with my effort so I just roll my eyes instead.“You never really explained what a mate is and why you called me such.”He acknowledges it with a nod as he beckons me to sit with him in the living room.“I had to cla
(Kaan’s POV)I close the door of my room behind me with a sigh. It’s barely eight in the morning and I’m bloody exhausted. I’m trying to keep it together because I’m a grown-up and a f*cking lycan with noble king ancestors. I’m a businessman who can destroy a competitor’s life’s work without batting an eyelid and still sleep well at night, as if it’s just another day. Dealing with women shouldn’t be this hard, right?Wrong.Right now, there’s nothing more I’d like to do than bang my head on the door, but Raya might hear and worry about me. To be honest, I really need to be alone right now. To get dressed for work. To process what I just did and ponder upon my life choices. To calm my soldier down.What have I done?What was I thinking, offering her such a tacky proposal? Pretend mate? I sound like a f*cking romance novelist. Where the hell did that come from!? What the hell happened to my sanity this morning? Why did I go through with it!?Why did I kiss her?Why…why did it feel so…go
(Kaan’s POV)My father's eyes shift away from mine, and for a moment, he seems unsure of what to say. Finally, he sighs and meets my gaze once more.He admits. “Your mother didn’t send me. I told her I have an important meeting to attend. I came here to see if you’d be here.”I lean back on my chair. “Why?”“I was worried about you,” he says, his voice tinged with concern.“Why?” I ask again, genuinely perplexed. My father looks at me intently, his eyes searching mine. “You didn’t look like you found your mate.”“What’s that supposed to mean?” I say finally, my voice low. “I didn’t realise there was a particular way I should look like…I must have missed the memo when it got out.”“I meant happy, Kaan. You didn’t look happy. That’s how I wanted to see you when you finally found her.” My father says firmly. “You claim that she’s your mate…but what I saw this morning tells me a very different story.”I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. My father's words hit a nerve, and I f
(Raya’s POV) I stare at the face of my little prince as he sleeps peacefully beside me. “You’re so beautiful, my darling boy,” I whisper as I caress his tiny hand planted possessively on my cheek. He likes sleeping this way. He looks just like Kaan in his baby pictures and I wonder if, as the years pass, will he look more like him or like me? Or something in between? Oh, I can’t wait to see! And yet I can’t bear for this wonderful version of him to be gone either! I’m so torn! I couldn’t help but kiss his cherubic face, the plump cheeks that drive me nuts. He’s so cute! I hear Kaan chuckle as he enters our room. “Are you obsessing over Alarick again?” He whispers. “I can’t help it, Teddy’s so freaking cute!” I whisper back. He rolls his eyes at the nickname Teddy I insist on using for our firstborn, whose name is Alarick Theodulf. He says it’s not very princely. I make a face. “Oh, and Kaan is?” I tease him. He grins. “I’ll have you know that Kaan means King of Kings. You
(Lila's POV) She sighs. “Go ahead…” “As mate of the king’s guard, you will be able to do more for your sister than being here, working yourself to exhaustion every single day. My position as the king’s guard opens doors that not even that Jack-ass she was mated to could ever dream of. You will be an honorary member of the royal family. Your sister’s future is as good as secured. And well, there’s the added bonus of having a good-looking mate who loves you as much as you love him.” He winks at her, making her smile despite herself. “Is that all?” She asks. “What about my shop? I have yet to finish saving up to pay for the capital that Alpha Seth and Luna Marie lent me.” He smiles sheepishly. “You owe them nothing. That was money I sent for you, so you will lack nothing ever.” He covers her lips with a finger when she starts to say something in protest and grins. “I know, I know…I shouldn’t have—but it was my allowance that I put aside from what was promised to my parents by the king
(Orthros POV)“May I ask why?”Lila takes a deep breath and stands up so he follows suit. She walks to the kitchen and offers him something to drink which he declines. “Lila—”She prepares a cup of tea for herself. “You wanted me to build a life with Maeve here. I did.” She frowns and turns to look at him. “I upended my life at the lycan court for you years ago, Orthros, because I believed we were going to be together. But you left me here and moved on. I made a life for myself and my sister now, we have set our roots and worked hard to get the shop going. Maeve is going to be big someday. She’s very talented and I know she’ll go the distance. So, forgive me but…I can’t and I won’t leave everything behind just because it’s convenient for you now.” She tells him tartly.He stares at her, torn between frustration and amazement. He is impressed by how level-headed she is, how firmly she is handling him and sending her message across in a very clear manner.Lila has changed. She is no lo
(Orthros POV) She stares at him as if she’d seen a ghost and inwardly he winces. He can’t really blame her for this reaction, it has been several years since they last saw each other and even though he kept tabs on them through Alpha Seth, he dared not establish direct communications with her or Maeve. It was difficult enough to stay away when he knew she would not be waiting for him. To find that she was still hoping for him to return, or even just to hear anything from her hinting that she needed him…it would have broken his concentration—and he would have come back running, to hell with the consequences that could ruin their lives. However, Alpha Seth assured him that Lila and Maeve were doing great, that they have been integrated well in the small town and were busy rebuilding their lives and setting up a home and a shop as dressmakers. I sent him money to ‘lend’ the two sisters so they will be able to have anything they need without being a burden to the pack, and asked Alpha
(Lila POV)It still hurts to remember that day, even though she’d put on a brave face, for the sake of her sister Maeve. She had cried herself to sleep many nights after that separation until there were no more tears to shed.But then, as always…life goes on and time waits for no one. She learned to wipe away her tears in the morning as if they were never there in the first place. And then, before she knew it, she stopped crying all together.As she became busier and busier building a new life with Maeve, she realized one important thing that made everything…a little better. The beautiful and poignant truth:He loved her too. For just as she was willing to break the fated bond—if they were indeed destined for each other—and let him find a better mate, Orthros chose the hard path to make sure she and Maeve will be safe… that they will live a better life.It only saddens her to think that Orthros might have been thinking that he was not worthy of being loved anymore, just because he ha
(Orthros POV) She stood there with a basket of berries, so beautiful she made his heart ache for he longed to touch her and kiss her strawberry red lips. It was his dream, to finally claim her as his, fated or not, for lycans have the gift of free will to choose their own mates. But how could he do that to her? How could he condemn her to a life of misery, of being shunned by everyone and laughed at for having a cursed mate? How could he risk giving her pups that might have the same affliction, punished with the same fate for daring to reach for the stars? “Orthros?” She whispered before rushing to embrace him. The moment their skins came in contact with each other, her thoughts came flooding in and his fears were confirmed. She loved him so much that she cared not about his terrible fate and was only too happy that he was meeting her eyes again. He closed his eyes as he hugged her back tightly, breathing in her lovely scent, and allowing himself to dream for a second longer, befo
(Lila POV)Lila watches her younger sister go, her heart aching for the pain she knows Maeve is currently going through. If only she has done more to make sure her sister had not given that jerk more than he deserved, perhaps Maeve wouldn’t be so…broken.Luna Marie sighs. “Poor girl…I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes right now—such pain she must be going through…so much that she cannot speak because words have failed her—but perhaps it’s for the best. I never liked that boy Jack. He would have only held her back from her potential and hidden away her brilliance under his barrel of self-worth.” She hooks her arms in Lila’s, gently pulling her away. “Your sister has something great in her future. Do not worry so much, Lila…she’ll heal, like many of us who went through something similar.”Lila glances at the luna of the pack that has accepted her and Maeve when they needed a home. Luna Marie has always been so kind and supportive, and loves the alpha so much that it’s hard to imagine any
(Orthros POV) “Don’t say no yet. The offer stands until the day before we leave.” Former King Wayan tells him jovially, slapping him amicably on the back. Since abdicating the throne in favor of his son Lakàn, the old king seems to have regained a little bit of his youth. His excitement over his incoming world tour and ‘second honeymoon’ with his mate has obviously done him wonders. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” Former Queen Freya smiles at him. “You have only two weeks to convince the girl. Best be on your way now, child. It'd be a shame to choose someone else less trusted to travel with us.” He bows. “I will try my best, Your Majesty.” As he walks away, he winces at the assault of thoughts that he can hear from the people around him. Ever since his extra wolf Lethe has left him, his wolf Levi is finally able to breathe and use his powers to its full extent. He has no idea how much the parasitic and incompatible bond between Levi and Lethe has been holding him back. He sighs as
(Kaan's POV)“I’m stepping down.”We are at my parents' mansion, currently enjoying a bountiful Christmas dinner when my father invited me to his office for a glass of whiskey.He said those three words right when I'm drinking and I almost choked. As it is, I started coughing and my eyes watered from the effort to clear my throat.“What the—what do you mean you’re stepping down!?”My father only chuckles and raises his glass, watching me turn pale as I realize he’s not joking.“Dad—”He turns his back on me and faces the window. “I want to travel the world without the weight of my people on my back. To really feel the sand under my feet when we go south or the cold breeze on my face as we head north… To dance with your mother while I still can.” He turns to look at me with raised brows. “I do believe you are ready now. And dear Raya will be there to help you.”“Dad, I…”“Kaan, I want to live before my time in this world is over.”What do I even say to that? How do I refuse when I know