‘“You’re joking.”Hunter’s look turns borderline menacing as his brows draw together and his face forms a deep frown,“Do I look like I'd joke with something like this?”I’m still not convinced so I chuckle and give him a stare, “You’re joking. You’re clearly joking, this is just some sick joke to get me back to your pack.”“Diane’s carrying my child, Scarlett! She and that child could die when the time for her to give birth comes if you don’t come to do your final duties to the pack.”I take a deep breath, because this is the last time I want to hear anything like “duties to the pack” used in the same vein as me and the Nightshade pack.“I Have no duties to your pack Hunter. I never did.I was the baby machine you locked up, remember?”“That was in the past, Scarlet.”“So why do I suddenly have duties that need attending to in your pack now? Is there anything I'm not being told here?”I see my question hit Hunter right in the face like I expect it to and I’m satisfied when I see it
Roman stares at me a bit flabbergasted when I tell him.His expression is surprised, then unbelieving, and then he releases a really low scoff. Something so insignificant, yet something that shows me he’s not happy with what is happening, or happy with it at all.“Is that really necessary?” I nod slowly and watch the conflicted look that crosses Roman’s face.I get a tight chest whenever I think of it too so I don’t. I just ignore whatever feeling plants itself in my chest when I imagine having to do that.“Hunter said my absence has cast a shadow of death around the pack. They’ve… they’ve had nine wolves die in the past four months.One of them was a young boy. Barely ten years old.”The distraught scream of a mother rings in my mind, lifelike and almost real. The need to bury my face in my palm and cry overcomes me.“No, Hey Scarlett look at me?”My eyes sting with tears but I direct my gaze to Roman all the same, trying to keep a tough front. He stares deep into my eyes as he cr
My eyes flutter open to something wet on my head, and Roman’s scent, pine, and forest, fills my nose.I can see the look of concern on his face.The worry lining his brows and the apprehension behind the casual calmness his expression gives off. He smiles softly when he sees my weak attempt to open my eyes, and the presence of the wet towel disappears as he takes it off, dropping it into a bowl instead as he asks, “How are we feeling this morning?”Roman’s soft husk of a tone sends pleasure rocking through every part of my body.His eyes are soft yet intense on me, and the sight of him in casual clothes has me chuckling weakly.I nod, smiling as best I can and finding my voice still a sore rasp as I respond, “We’re feeling a bit better. Thank you for asking.”Roman crouches by the side of the bed and takes one of my hands in his, placing a kiss on the back, at the base of my wrist, and where my palm connects to my fingers.His affection sends waves of love radiating through me and I s
“No Scarlett.”Roman’s jaw is locked tight and there’s barely any indication that he’s going to listen to me. There’s a bitter frown on his face, like he’s annoyed i’m even asking this and he can’t understand it, yet he cannot hate me or reprimand me for it.He can only say no.I let out a shallow breath and reach for Roman’s hand, smiling softly as he allows me take it and I stare into his eyes, “But the women, Roman…”“Can wait and they will NOT expect you to make a trip to their pack when they never considered you their Luna in the first place. Those women were there when you were being abused, weren’t they? They saw you whenever you dropped Maya off at school, one of them would definitely have heard something, but did any of them do anything?”Roman’s words light up a fire in my chest and a bitterness in my throat. It feels like I’m trying to swallow a stone and he stops the moment he sees his words are hurting me. He doesn’t mean for them to hurt me and I hear it in his mind bef
My heart thumps lightly in my chest as Roman stares at me but I keep my eyes mellow and I try not to look at him. Roman’s questioning tone comes at me a moment later,“Scarlett.”He has this special power of simply mentioning my name and getting his message across. I finally look at him, hesitantly, reluctantly, and I smile sheepishly, “What?”“You know what.”I pause for a while, the urge to spill all my secrets pooling in my guts but instead, I give a light smile.Roman’s gaze is still stern, and while I could always pull the “trust me” card on him this time, I feel he’s going to keep on thinking about it even after I ask him to excuse us, and while I don’t know if he remembers Myrtle’s prediction to the last letter, I really don’t want to risk making him feel insecure, like his scarlet eyes are a bigger deal than he thinks they are. That would just be catastrophic, so I relent with a small sigh.“I asked Myrtle to come over, not because I have anything bad I think is going to happ
“I’m looking for information about a scarlet-eyed king. King Damianos.I don’t know how long ago he ruled or how far back it’s been since he last walked the earth, but I suppose it was about two to three hundred years ago.” Myrtle nods, the flute of champagne to her lips, “Sounds about right. We were basically in the period of Kings and castles then.”That doesn’t tell me if she knows who he is though, or anything about him so I carry on.“The scroll I read said he had scarlet eyes.And King? What was he King of? A kingdom?”Myrtle gives me a look that tells me I might have just asked a very not-so-bright question because of course he was the king of a Kingdom.It’s usual to have things like that.“What I meant was what exactly was he King of?I’ve spent some time reading and finding out more information on the Royal families of the current…. werewolf world, and,”“Did you have fun?”I throw Myrtle a lightly scathing look and she chuckles, picking a grape and popping it into her mout
There’s barely anything stopping me from telling Myrtle to stop if it hurts her too much but I can't.I need to know what I'm dealing with here.Myrtle's voice is bitter and cold as she begins,“Back in the day, there was really nothing like consent, you know that right?Even if there was, some people felt it naturally didn’t apply to them and this King Damian was one of them. He was an Alpha, he was King, history says he was a smart man who thought strategically and planned well, but he was also a tyrant to some people. In the case of Harriet and the family of Ragnar, the Duchess was only a mother trying to ensure her daughter didn’t die while trapped in a strange power.She sent a letter to the King asking for a healer, because then, healers could just about fix anything. And King Damian had a team of them at the palace. She was a Duchess, her husband was a Duke, they were relatives to the King, and all she asked for, was one healer.The King came himself and took one look at Briel
“Are you sure you’re feeling better? I can stay.”I shake my head and push Roman softly towards the door, the smile on my face so wide it almost hurts but there all the same.“No. No way. You missed work the first day, and the day after that. I’d rather not be here to see you miss the next, because you aren’t going to.I can accompany you to work if I want to now, that’s how strong I feel. I’m better now, and you Mr Alpha, you’re going to work.”Roman sticks a foot against the door and renders all my light pushing useless, not budging an inch even as I apply more pressure.“But what if the baby decides to grow again the way he did last time?”“We still have weeks ahead of us for that, Roman.”My husband pouts, his face scrunching in the most handsome way yet somehow managing to make it cute.“I wouldn’t be here to protect you, or help.”The way Roman stares deep into my eyes seems to set the strings of my heart ablaze again, but he’s not fooling me with that look. I repeat my words,