-RAINA’S POV- "I am only interested in the white-haired woman. I must find her.” Valen-look-alike slowly prowled down the side of the bed to come around to me. Shit! He was really in my head. My throat tightened with my eyes never leaving him. "Yet you came here to harass me." My hands dropped to my side and I panicked breathlessly. Sweat spread between my breasts. "Because she was last here." He grated from the foot of the bed in a flat, emotionless voice, but his piercing eyes were the opposite. "Well, she's not here anymore. Leave!" Rattling, I recoiled as he got menacingly closer. “I am of no help to you and you won’t share what you know about that hussy.” He snarled. “Don’t you fucking call her that!” His deep baritone rattled my entire being. “Grrr!” Defensive much! Angry vermillion eyes sized me up. The ill-laden air stilled for three seconds. I hoped, wished, and begged for this face-stealing troll to disappear. Growling, he took up a pillow and ripped it in two. Fluffy
-RAINA'S POV- Great puffs of air blasted from his nostrils as his vision tunneled with black rage. Fangs peeked through his sinful lips like a hellhound. Stalled in all movements, my chest felt like it was splitting in two as his palm pressed hard into me. Clinching my teeth, I grunted in agony. The weight of his hand served as a reminder to me of his indomitable masculinity and my impotence to stop him from physically abusing me. "Since everything is out of hand, I need to do something with you.” He raised his thick eyebrows and spoke so sinisterly slow that I quivered with dreaded anticipation. "W-what?" I sputtered while trying to bore my body through the wall. Damn this careless tongue. I digested the pain, bearing it silently. With his face lowered so close to my breathless one that I thought I might faint, I turned my head sideways to avoid my mouth being in his direction. With the hand that rested on the wall, he dragged his sharp claws in a descent, digging into the conc
-RAINA’S POV- "You have history books to learn about the Worgens." Hellhound Valen palmed his forehead. "I have already said too much. I shouldn't be here, Raina." "No," I argued. "You have all the knowledge inside of you. The least you can do to really help is to tell me what you know and how to defeat them." “You have the snow globe.” He removed his hand from his face, staring intently at me like a fire-breathing dragon. "Do you know about time manipulators?" "Like Snow. I know she has the ability." "Snow?" "Your mate, the white-haired woman." I deliberately asserted to see his reaction. It was an inkling that I wanted to confirm. He scoffed and was gruesomely silent for a few seconds. What? Did he dislike my nickname for her? He did not deny her being his mate. So that's who she was to him. I hated it. My stomach twisted. A cruel anguish burned my heart. "Is that all you can tell from interacting with her?" He sounded like a teacher in the classroom who was grilling me for
-RAINA’S POV- Cardamom and amber. The sweet scent wafted around me. At first, I couldn’t open my eyes when they felt so heavy like they’d been closed for months. Sparks and tingles cushioned me with warmth as I laid in bed on my right side. Feeling too comfortable, I was unable to move. My body was extremely exhausted. Yesterday. Memories crashed into my head. I shoved them away. I did not want to think about it. It was so surreal. Impractical thoughts reeled in my head that kept me twisting and turning all night long. I did not remember at what point I fell asleep after crying my eyes out about learning my dismal destiny. Thankfully, I drifted off into a slumber. Now, I squinted my eyes at the blinding morning rays that blasted with intense illumination through my bedroom windows. My headache worsened. How could I not have drawn the curtains last night? The beams picked on my eyelids, making it difficult to sink into another nap. Damn, I’ll have to get up. I groaned and jostle
-RAINA’S POV- With his dominant grip around my neck, Valen roughly pulled me into him and smashed his lips on mine. Silencing me with a rough feverish kiss, one that forced my lips open and stole my breath. Undaunted, he lifted me up and sat my rump on top of the dresser. His lips did not cease sucking mine as the kiss deepened, taking over my coherence. Crotch against loins. He eased up on the kiss, being more sensual and passionate. Then his hands coasted down my neck to settle on my lower back. The mate bond flared up with each intimate contact, stretching its leathery binds to further entangle us. Like a lightning bolt charging my skin, every fiber of my being became a conductor for him. My arms wrapped around his thick neck. He stroked his tongue inside my mouth with sensual licks, tasting and savoring. Our tongues twined in a chase game. His raw masculine scent of cardamom and amber settled over me. Slipping, sinking and drowning. It was one hundred degrees Fahrenheit in her
-RAINA’S POV- Casting an irate glance at him, I blinked twice and retorted. “You alpha-commanded me while you were in my mind. You prick!” I slapped his hands from my temples and the headache heightened its volume. “Uh!.” How am I supposed to reject him now? I hissed as the lancing pain overpowered my bubbling rage. It was this minor issue that obstructed my fists from ramming at his chest. Was I truly stuck with him like a stream of bad luck? It seemed that the moon goddess was fully drunk and overdosed when she decided to write my story. Because, like an uno reverse card, everything in my life was going in the wrong direction. A smirk tugged at his lips and his slyly glinting emeralds darkened with arousal and intrigue. “I figured that would be your next move.” He chuckled, and placed his thumb under my chin, tilting my head up. “The guy that came to your room wasn't me. That's not the future we'll have.” Positioning both hands on the dresser to cage me, he leaned down and averre
-RAINA’S POV- Valen’s grip-locked entrapped me in the same sitting position on the dresser. The intimacy was obvious. Candid embarrassment prickled heat around my ears and my throat bobbed once. The forty-nine-year-old omega floor supervisor stood at the threshold with a plastic yellow serving tray in her hand. “Luna.” Meera greeted me with a lovely smile and I shyly nodded. “Alpha, I brought what you requested.” “Come in.” Valen broke his hold and I almost whimpered at the loss of his touch. Meera approached in her black and white maid’s tunic. Valen took the small bowl of grapes, almonds, and tangerines pulps along with the cup of warm cocoa from the tray, and an artfully folded yellow napkin. To hide how awkward I felt, I brought a large section of burgundy hair over my shoulder, mindlessly raking my fingers through it. Meera winked at me and I managed a half-smile. Apparently, she liked our pairing and the sight of our intimacy pleased her. Giving a shallow dip of her head,
-RAINA’S POV- Putting a pause on the grinding, Valen devilishly smirked, leaving a teasing small space between us. “If I touch the entrance of your pussy, and you aren’t wet, I’ll leave and never bother you again.” “W-what?” I breathed out, but the desire betrayed my aghast expression. I would lose for sure because my panties was already soaked, and he could very well smell it. “It’s a stupid deal.” His jaw flexed into a smug grin as his stare regarded me with such immense power. “Then you have nothing to lose.” Shaking my head. “I won’t accept.” Something was tugging on my heart, whispering naughty things that my body understood. “You are playing dirty.” "Maybe I like playing dirty." He smirked ardently and pushed his lips so close to mine that they grazed with every word he spoke. “Why shouldn’t I want to be dirty with my mate, hmm?” “Fuck you, Valen!” I blurted out in an attempt to kill the chain of thoughts rising in my head, as well as to offend him. “When you talk so dirt
-RAINA'S POV“I can't stop. I won’t stop. Not until I get my wolf.” I replied with all seriousness, showing my determination. Then sadness overcame me when I thought of everything that crashed into my life. My voice dropped, softening. “I'm scared, Valen.”This doppelgänger was as impassive as the first time I met him. This was the Valen who was incandescently in love with Villainess Snow, also known as the nefarious Mercedes.Scanning his features, his edgy mohawk had gotten a lot whiter with a sleek shine. From this angle, the loose black strands were barely noticeable with the bulk of his long hair combed over to the right. This time a thicker, short beard covered his sharp jawline, and he pinned me with a hateful glare. Strapped and overpowered.“Then find your mate.” He simply said, annoyance still palpable in his demeanor.I shook my head stubbornly. “I need some answers, or I'm stepping through.”His eyes hardened at me. Anger, like stone, set in his features.“Why did you try
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