-RAINA'S POV- “You’ve been avoiding me,” an angry voice came from behind after I descended the glass-bifurcated stairs of the exquisite Saturn Striders Hotel. “Alpha Kain,” I acknowledged when I swung around to the six-foot man with hands crossed that made his biceps appear larger and ready to crush me for neglecting his messages. I said coolly, “I didn’t know that you were coming.” “You would if you had replied to my recent messages.” He dropped his hands to his side and his vexation toned down. The seventeen-year-old Alpha of an external pack licked his lips as his steps approached me with a cocky swagger. His nomad eyes lit up as he roamed them over my body and I took a deep breath. I was not afraid of him, but he has been one of those guys who constantly expressed an interest. “May I have the pleasure of enjoying your company or am I too late?” He stood too close to me with a taunting smirk as he gazed at my rose-mauve-coated lips. “I’ve been looking for you all evening.” He
One year and some months later……………… - -VALEN’S POV- "Enough, Vaheed!" We tumbled out of the back door of the bar into the drenched, cold, drab alley and landed in a pool of water. Rolling around in a tussle on the hard urban street, we aimed to score a blow once one of us took the top position in the struggle. Unbothered by the chilly night’s drubbing rain, our wrestling prolonged through the commotion of our wrath. Quickly, I flicked upwards to land on my two feet, while Vaheed was on his back. My soaked abalone button-front shirt clung to my sinewy body, missing a few buttons. My hands automatically cleared the curtain of dripping black strands from my face, tossing the long hair slick back. The steady shower that doused the two of us could not extinguish the enmity between us. “I don’t want to fight you!” I hated raising my fist against him and I watched him rise to his feet, glaring at me with contemptuous harlequin green pair of eyes. He wasn’t drunk, but he was not thinki
-VALEN’S POV-When Raina lifted her left hand from her shoulder, a deep red print of my palm blistered her honeyed skin. Her doleful blue eyes questioningly pierced into mine so deep that my heart prickled.Simmering with rage, I decided to draw the line here. I went closer to her and roughly nudged Vaheed out of the way with my shoulder. I took her hands into mine and she screamed again. It was a cry of pain.“Ahh!” Her shrill echoed high and wild through the noisy rain as she tore herself from my grasp as though I was acid or a contamination.Thermal heat from my hands burnt her wrist.Although I fumed with suppressed anger because of Vaheed, bewilderment superseded and I gazed at my palms and wondered what had happened. All I did was touch her. Why is she being bruised by my contact? This was not how it was supposed to be. We are mates and our touch created the most superb sensation. How is it that my hands burned her, instead? It baffled me. “What’s wrong with you? Stay away from
-RAINA’S POV-"No fucking way!" Vaheed argued with me all the way to Wolverson Hospital.He insisted on carrying me in his arms because of my injuries. I managed to convince him that I was physically fit to walk, not crippled. He parked his silver Porsche in front of the illuminated twelve-story hospital building.There was no rain here, just the moon shining bright in the natural black that hugged the glittering stars, splattered but never falling. It was around five in the morning that we arrived at the central area which is called Central City and I felt weak and burning up with my heart in tatters. The fire raced through me like an amplified jarring jolt when Valen touched me. The shock hadn't dispelled that my own mate inflicted wounds on me.My pained strides held balance and gave no indication of a limp. I was concealing from Vaheed the extent of agony that I truly experienced. Dauntingly, my entire skin was a picture of chili-red rashes that pinched. Giving the impression that
-RAINA'S POV- I was confused about Valen’s actions. Vaheed returned to the examination room with a beige t-shirt dress for me. As I took the clothes from him, a dizzy wave spilled from the headache. My legs went weak, my knees buckled and I fell into something hard. He swiftly appeared in front of me with hands wrapped around my waist to steady my balance. Resting my head on his pectoral for ten seconds allowed the dizziness to pass. When I gently pushed against his chest, his grip remained and he looked down on me with concern. He was also wearing a different top and blue jeans. “Raina, I can help you.” He uttered serenely, “I know that you are covering how deep in pain you are.” “The dizziness comes and goes.” Stubbornly, I brushed him off with my hands. Taking a few staggered steps back, I firmly demanded. “I’m fine, but you need to tell me why you ran away from your birthday party and why you were fighting him.” Obviously hiding the underlying factor of their grapple, he grim
-RAINA’S POV-"Valen, don't be mad at Raina….." Venus' voice trailed off when I placed my index finger over my lips to shush her. She raised a brow quizzically."Out!" Valen snarled in a way that made everyone jump in their skin as his aura tripled out. Wanting to hear no further objections. He percolated an energy that was so raw and animalistic that you would forget there was anyone else in the surroundings.In contrast, his deep irate tone sent a pleasurable shiver from the nape of my neck and down my spine. To others, he was fearsome and ruthless. To me, he was handsome, sexy, and pretty much a Greek god that was intricately designed to make women swoon. My vagina was shouting for my virginity to be stolen by him. He was dishy and the ideal man of my dreams. The man whose babies I wanted to have.Horrified, Mom clearly thought that Valen was angry and here to chastise me for sneaking out of Central City. Dad's mouth opened to beseech leniency but quickly closed it when his alpha wo
-RAINA’S POV – Unrequited love. Unfortunate souls. A myth. Heard of it throughout generations and thought that it did not exist. How could the deity of all werewolves take my mate from me? Valen was my crush. There was not a day that my heart did not climax with love for him. Howbeit our bond was ludicrous. A laughable tale. A deep clawing pain wedge in my chest. The bond had us on two distinct plateaus with a massive cleft between us in the middle. The second grievous truth was that on Valen's eighteenth birthday, everyone was anxious to know if he had sensed his mate. He told them "No." As a result, it made my sweet sixteenth birthday bittersweet. That was the day, through the early arrival of my wolf, I discovered that my childhood crush did not want me as his mate. The poignant memory affected my brain like poison. Just fucking great! I unfurled several reams of anger at my deity. Eye water trickled out. I did not conceal my wails. “How can this be?” “I wish I knew the answe
-RAINA’S POV- Valen threw his head back and released a rumbling, sonorous laugh. What was the joke? I thought that he’d be mad at me. When he finished laughing, he intently gazed at me, pulled his lips into a lopsided smile, and sneered. “You know my feelings so well, Raina.” What should have been a silent battle between us transformed into an activation of passion. Depth cried out to depth as the venereal mate bond did tug-of-war through our locked eyes. “Valen!” Luna Sianna vehemently demanded a direct answer, breaking up our fervid tussle. Gingerly, his deprecated emerald orbs met the challenging gaze of his mother. “Of course not.” His enunciating tone abetted me to question the stark assurance of the declaration. He was really frustrating, but still, I simpered in self-satisfaction. His obsessive gaze was fixed on me in a way that stated he was going to make me pay for it. It was unfair to put him in the spot, but it was time for me to step out and demand that he claim me. H
RAINA'S POV-“When your Grandma said she would keep my snow globe safe, she really wasn't kidding,” I muttered with sarcasm as I walked down the dark passageway. Our feet thudded on baked black mud with its walls decorated with brown-black, twining, trunky vines.Leading with a torch in her hand, Pennelope chuckled and then uttered with dramatic emphasis, “Grams never—and I mean never joke around.”“Your home is creepy as hell,” I swear the big vines moved sometimes.Witches' houses were truly a haunted horror for intruders. You could get in, but only the goddess could help you to get out. A modicum of dread weaved through me, but with Penn here, I thought I would be alright.Get it together Raina.It's amazing how the home could transition from a lovely spacious cottage on the upper floors and then descend from the basement into a whole murky forest with thin, white smoky ghosts popping up here and there, whooing around. Ancestors, Pennelope called them.Marlena told me the snow glob
VALEN'S POV-Zeus' volcanic rage was swarming me. It was hard to control him like this. I never expected Devin's revelation to propel my wolf into a hissy fit. Vaheed's attack on my best friend left a bitter taste of betrayal.Not to mention, his actions with Raina were incomprehensible because he was marked by his own mate. Once again, my brother was after my mate. Why? I thought we passed this stage, but no. He’s a damn dickhead who has gone off the rails.“Alpha, did you get the new location?” Jason’s voice came through the communication earpiece.“Yeah,” I replied in a not-so-nice tone. “We’ll move in five.”Nuuk, Bahia Blanca, and Isiro were fruitless. This was the last sanctuary that was on our agenda to investigate. However, Heidi had found that this one in Waipu had a branch in the United States. Pennelope also confirmed high amounts of camouflaging magic that were widespread across the town. All of its energy waves pulsed from that synagogue.I stood to the side with my rifle
VALEN’S POV-I caught Jason standing from his chair with his head down. He was scratching his forehead with his palm blocking most of his eyes, but I saw them sneaking upwards to watch out for my reaction.Guilty as sin. He had to be the culprit who provided the girls with everything they needed, including war gear, despite that he knew how we felt about our women on the battlefield.I growled at him.“We're coming on the mission.” Venus was always the boldest to speak first.With hands on my waist, I rebuffed, “No, that's a negative. You've been up all night, and it’s two a.m., plus the Howl De Lune cannot be planned by itself. The team and I will be gone for days.”“Cleo and Mom are here,” Raina argued, failing to see my point. She shrugged and emphasized, “I’m safest when I am with you.”“Mom left you in charge.” As I spoke, my feet crossed the space to draw closer to her. “Everyone else has to be here to assist you. Besides, the Bolivian and Ugandan wolves rely on your presence. Y
VALEN POV-“This coffee is shit,” Theo’s deep grumpy voice complained, almost spitting the liquid from his mouth after taking his first sip from the cup.“Too bad, I thought it was the perfect flavor for you,” Jason sassed with a cocky grin from around his grand U-shaped desk with the multiscreen computer system up and running.“You are the greatest hacker I know, and you can build the most advanced techno shit. That you can do, but you can’t make a damn good coffee?” Theo exaggerated, gesturing to the hot cup in his hand.Jason huffed and turned his head back to the computer screens, typing away on the keyboard. “Screw you.”“I would, but not today. You’ve got to buy me a beer first,” The Gamma twin jested back and stepped over to Azara with the coffee in his hand, giving it to her.We were at the IT Hub, which was Jason's domain. It was a fawn-colored, single-story federal house located across from the Training Center. He worked hand in hand with the Gammas, being our eyes from the
VALEN’S POV-I side-eyed Gamma Blayne furiously. He immediately bowed his head and averted his gaze.The stench of blood got stronger, permeating my senses, causing my legs to speed up. I can't stand the thought of any more of our members getting hurt or killed."What the hell..." I trailed off as I inched closer, crouching down and examining the line of dead bodies. It was just downright sick and twisted to use them for a ransom note effect.A chill entered the air that made everyone shiver. Raina’s eyes widened at the gruesome sight.Venus gasped, going pale with a hand flying over her mouth. “This is barbaric.”All their necks were slashed by claws and two of the deceased were used for the punctuation marks. Reading from left to right, it stated: ‘We have not forgotten, and we are coming for her.’Gamma Blayne crouched at the lifeless body next to me. He touched the wound on the man’s chest, inspecting it. “The gashes aren’t as deep as you’d expect, but this one got a double tap en
VALEN’S POV-Together, Theo, Thaines, Jason, and I pushed forward in our wolf form. Leaves and twigs crunched under our pounding paws. The sight of the full moon took its turn in the sky and the faint wind skimmed my fur.The grim sound of battle reached my ears long before we reached the outskirts of the station. We arrived united, skidding to a halt as we met the bloody scene with hard eyes and fangs bared. The air was thickened with the stench of sweat, blood, and death. Gruel residues of combat.Looking around the field for a target, the sounds of gnashing teeth, angry snarls, and painful shouts that had previously filled the air vanished with the rogues that swiftly fled through the tree line, leaving an eerie silence.“Cowards!” I roared internally, anger filling my veins.“Go now! Don’t let them get away!” Gamma Blayne shouted orders to a specialized team of elite wolves to pursue the escapees. He stood naked, heaving and curling his hands into fists, and his head whipped to spo
VALEN’S POV-“What’s my Alpha doing in a place like this?” Albert the old bartender had the nerve to joke as he wiped down the triple-fronted bar counter with a chuckle.“It’s a bar. What crime have I committed?” Although he was jesting, I was in a foul mood.Arbitration Day with those bumptious Alphas has finally ended. Things at Alpha Camp were going well with Valiant. Devin’s still in his coma and Raina seems to be in a bad mood. She was madder than a fucking hornet and shanghaiing my mental space.Yesterday, everything went downhill. Devin’s condition showed no change and I did not find the damn Worgen. I came here to clear my mind from the weight of failure that settled over me.All I wanted to do was head to Raina’s room and hug her. But knowing that she’d probably bring up Mercedes again, I detoured here. The thought of her name made the beer in my hand so damn distasteful. Out of panicked desperation, I’ve been spinning my wheels all day to come up with a way to get through to
RAINA’S POV-Theo bent and picked up the folder. He placed it on the desk and fell back into position.The file contained four candidates. Me being one of them. It depicted the Alpha cabal, who represented seventy percent of the werewolf kingdom, voting on whom they advocated to be Queen. Mercedes gained the highest votes, while I had a meager one percent. I saw Tallulah Rumer’s photo, an Alpha-Female from the Rym Greyback Pack in New Zealand. Next was Kristen, the Alpha-Female Valen pitted me against in the sparring competition for the world to see.Then there were pages of signatures and pack seals to officiate the petition in demonstrating which candidate held their favor. This was the beginning of an uprising. It could plunge the kingdom into chaos if Valen’s choice upset them.My heart chipped away at the daunting situation. Mercedes bowed her head to hide the gloating smile that curled on her lips.Okay, I see you Mercedes.“Your Royal Elders marshaled me for the task. Their old
RAINA’S POV-"Oh, goddess!" Venus squealed at us, after entering the loft with Mercedes, dragging her by the ear. She dramatically threw one hand over her harlequin eyes while maintaining her hold on the girl."Damnit Venus! Can't you knock?" Valen snapped, clearly still riled up from the hormones stirring between us. He quickly yanked up his sweatpants, though the bulge was quite prominent."How was I to know that this would be going on in here!" Venus yelled back, keeping her hand over her eyes. “Who would ever bang in their kitchen?”“People with mates, little sis,” Valen replied low and gruff, and I sensed the shift in him.My face blushed bright red in embarrassment. I reached over and grabbed my shorts, clumsily slipping them on while sitting on the counter. Once I was mostly covered, I was ready to jump down. Valen's large hands gently grasped my waist and quickly helped me down to my feet."Of all the people in the world, why would you bring Mercedes here, Vee?" Valen asked, t