- VALEN'S POV “Harder! Yes!” A naked Cheryl knelt on our long brown leather couch with her palms on the armrest, doggy style with nude Devin ramming into her from behind. “I'm going to cum! Oh, Devin.” Slapping sounds of my best friend’s sexual exploits in our cabin at sunset weren't what I wanted to hear or see when I teleported from Dark Wolverson. Tits, hair, and ass cheeks bounced in a frenzy as moans and grunts filled the living room. Instead of going home to our pack, my Beta decided to stay in Wolkrane Fortress to spend time with Cheryl. I knew what it meant, but dammit, we had house rules. “Eh-hem.” I cleared my throat with my focus on my best friend. Cheryl's eyes widened when she whipped her sight at where I stood, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she tried to push Devin off her. “Damn it, Valen!” Beads of sweat rolled down his temples as Devin exclaimed his displeasure and paused with his cock deep in his fuck buddy's cunt. “We agreed that you'd use the door.”
-VALEN’S POV Neither my parents nor the Elder Council mentioned hosting a claiming ceremony. Mercedes was probably trying to swindle her way to get me to be mellow with her. “Don't beat yourself up because you didn't find Vaheed. He'll fight to stay alive until his big brother rescues him.” She soothed and crossed her legs. Then she took up the bottle of whiskey and poured more into my glass. “I'm sure he'll be back for our coronation.” Now that caused me to shoot her a ruthless gaze. Her face contorted into an ugly frown, and she kept the bottle in her hand. The very bottle that I really ought to slam down her throat. “After that tiresome mission, why don’t you let me help you relax those big, strong muscles tonight?” Dallying, she brought the bottle to her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and swirled it around the opening. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.” Right now, I was just as nauseated as my wolf who was still playing dead. Turning my head, I sought other options of liq
-RAINA’S POV- Five missed calls from Venus and two from Azara. It's not that I was treating my friends badly, I just didn't want to talk about Valen to them. The girl talk would magnify the drama that I was having a hard time dealing with. I guess I was hiding from all that stuff. Anyway, when Valen left, I dived into my schoolwork. The pile was already half completed since it took me hours. Thank goodness. After ignoring my phone all day, despite its buzzing and chiming, I finally packed up the books and laid on my bed, going through my messages. -SMS Venus: I know that you are going through a hard time, but how about pizza and a funny movie? Let us be there for you. I’m your best friend. I want to help. -SMS Azara: Those shitty people are so disgusting. Raina, do not pay them any mind. They don't know what they are talking about. All that trash, ugh! Keep your chin up, pretty girl. Call us ― please, please, please. SMS Peaches: Raina, how are you? How did you find the tea? And
- VALEN’S POV- “Did you delete the account from Gramlynz?” Raina blasted over the phone. Damn, she sounded extremely angry. “Yes.” I scratched my forehead and swallowed, staring down into my tumbler of bourbon. Devin leaned against the bar counter, slowly sipping his drink and waiting to see how our conversation would end. He, too, had been pissed over the last social media post of the kiss with Mercedes. However, my concern was mainly Raina. “Why?” She hissed. “So that you won’t be hurt by the media. I was trying to protect your feelings.” I nonchalantly explained that it was a damage control measure. “Jason will delete anything that harms your reputation.” “You and Mercedes.” Accusations overlaid her furious tone and I heard her sniff. “I saw that one. How could you lie to me?” A bit of my heart swelled in pain that she could have been crying. It saddened me. “Raina, those posts were altered to distort the truth.” I firmly insisted, frowning. “There is ‘nothing’ between me a
-RAINA’S POV- An individual is self-accountable and responsible for the quality of their life. I wanted control over mine. My life felt like someone else had the handles. It was exasperating to live like a chicken in a coop. I soaked in my tub for a while to clear my mind. Right now I would rather feel emptiness than the travailing emotions that were tumble-washing me. After that, I threw on drawstring checkered shorts, and a white blouse to match. Sliding my feet into my bedroom slippers, I yawned, squeezing my eyes shut with a fist at my mouth. The day’s events made me exhausted. Omega Meera brought me breakfast that I picked at. I missed lunch, and now it was past dinner time. Hera wanted to see Valen. She thought that we should talk face-to-face about the media instead of over the phone. She whimpered even more when I hung up the phone on him. For me, I think there's more to the situation with Mercedes than he was willing to admit. The kiss explained her infatuation. “He’s
- -RAINA’S POV- “Jakub, go home.” Dad grouped the documents together to put them into the beige file jacket. “I’ll deal with these in the morning.” The lanky warrior bowed and left us. I eyed him suspiciously. I attempted to keep my breathing regular to not alert the others of how flustered I was. “The girls keep bugging me to see you.” Mom put the doll on the empty chair at the table and cut into her chicken. My heedful sight refused to leave the doll. It sat there, adorable and innocent while my insides tied up, feeling like it was the notorious Chucky from that American horror flick. This message was not child's play. It was like a lurking monster lumbering out of the dark and brooding to bring to light what I wished to keep hidden. “Raina?” Mom rent me out of my reverie. I gulped down hard and muttered, “Not yet.” I kept putting off Venus and Azara. Sometimes it was better to go through shit without your girls constantly gnawing me with things about Valen. “The bonfire’s
-RAINA'S POV- “Jason, I want to know who the culprit is before you disclose it to anyone else.” I approached the witches’ off-white farmhouse-style cottage, ambling down the gravel walkway to the sprawling porch with the snow globe in my hand. The phone conversation was meant to be short since I was at my destination. After waking up with my panties soaked from orgasms in my sleep from the copious erotic dreams of Valen, I quickly had breakfast and rushed to see the tech team. I had faith in the pack’s head technology wizard, Jason, to track whoever was targeting me with the messages and social media bashings. “I will let you have that after dinner,” Jason promised. “Sounds good.” I hung up. Before I could ring the doorbell, the door swung open by a golden-brown-skinned, slim-thick pretty woman with lilac eyes. I did not know this girl. "Hello there, my gracious Luna." She chirped brightly, smiling. Turning sideways, she gestured with her hand inside the sitting room. "Welcome
-RAINA’S POV- The minute I entered the pack house, I received Jason’s call, “Did you find out who it is?” “Well, the device that the message was sent from belongs to Jiya Kaur.” The name shocked me. “She was a rogue we took in a few weeks ago.” The day I met her came to memory and my blood ran cold. She was the girl who came to my room and was rubbing in my face that Valen had kissed that other girl, Zurri. That nosy rosy skunk! She also had that obsession with my Dad. “She is living in the pack house. I’ll find her.” I told Jason and compressed my anger. “Raina, you need guards to face this girl.” Jason cautioned, in the event that she was a danger to me. “I’ll be reporting this to Alpha Valen, Gamma Blayne, and Delta Raj. I have a duty to do so.” “Yeah-yeah,” I replied dryly and disconnected the call. Wasting no time, I rushed to the lower floor with rage infused in my veins. I searched the entire square foot and did not find Jiya. Where could she be? I was getting more and mo
RAINA’S POVStiff as a petrified log, I couldn't scream as my world exploded in a kaleidoscope of stars. My heart thrashed a million miles a minute.The agony caught into a knot in my throat. My body tried to curl in on itself – to replicate a spider's dead dusk, but he kept my flailing limbs pinned. My body heaved.Then, Valen pulled his fangs out, licking the punctured flesh and clearing the blood. Sparks erupted. Fucking sparks shot all the way to my toes.Each lick of his tongue was like morphine. Like a kick. I basked in it. I loved it. The bond was like being controlled by an entity. It was making me want him. Dammit.My body tightened, lungs squeezed and butterflies raged uncontrollably inside of me as he flicked his sinful tongue and dragged it wetly across my sensitive flesh.Focus, Raina! Don't let him swoop you in again. This can’t go on. I must bust out of here.“I want to fuck you, overstimulate you, edge you on until you're in tears, chanting your safe word,” he crooned.
RAINA’S POVYanking my injured right hand, Valen twirled me around so that my back slammed against his hard chest. His large hand came straight for my face to rip the goggles off.The room, like my fate, suddenly got darker.“You’re not so bad without your sword now, right?” Valen said mockingly. “But you certainly aren't vanilla and innocent either.”Once he crushed the goggles, he flung it into the wall. His robust right arm circled my waist while his left hand settled above my breast, slowly traveling up to my throat. Electric sparks exploded everywhere our skin touched.“Let me tell you something, Bluebella. You've unlocked a dangerous side of Zeus that even I feared,” he whispered huskily into my ear, gripping my neck. “But since you want to keep this bratty behavior up all night, challenging me, that part of him is going to burst out of his cage.”All the while, his emeralds were fixated on mine. He dipped his head over my shoulders. My flitting eyes watched him as my heart drum
RAINA’S POVSlinking inside the Alpha suite with night vision goggles, I crept up to the king-size bed to see Valen tossing and turning in his sleep.Why wasn’t he dead yet?Moving surreptitiously to the side of the bed, I was thankful that my black leather catsuit blended well with the darkness. As quiet as ever, I held my sword tighter, angling it in a left-plow position with the long edge up.Committed to the assassination task, my blow had to be quick and precise, piercing the heart. I cannot miss this golden opportunity.Standing exactly beside the nightstand, I glanced down at the ripped muscles of his heaving chest. Grunting, his sweaty head shifted from side to side. His face twitched, and his closed eyelids flexed as he breathed jaggedly in his sleep.Cardamom and amber surrounded me, the potent scent wafted straight from the source into my nostrils. A mouthwatering scent, so maddening. Perilously beguiling. The bond beat against my chest like a bone-crushing drum. The physica
VALEN’S POV“Raina is hurting.” Penn interjected, finishing up and discarding the cotton in a bin.“I saw the pain in her eyes when she saw Snow with your baby.” She gazed sadly at Devin and added under her breath. “I can imagine what that feels like.”My Beta averted his eyes to the side of the room, avoiding hers, suddenly unsettled as he scratched behind his ear.I blew out a hard breath. I did not care about what was up with these two. Raina was priority. The mate bond wrenched at me in a silent cry from her that only I could hear. Missing the softness of holding her hands and basking in her endearing presence, hugging, touching, gazing—I just can't go on without it.“I'm pissed too because the future hasn't changed and at some point, you'll give the dick away.” Devin aired bluntly. “How could you? After all those times you swore to me…”“I'll never cheat on Raina.” I cut in sharply, darting daggers at him.Unconvinced, he huffed. Then he spoke again, his voice quieter. "She loves
VALEN’S POVMy eyes snapped open, looking up at the wooden beams in the ceiling in confusion.This was Wolkrane.I can’t be here. Not when I promised Raina to be home by 9 P.M. daily. My head pounded with hazy memories, and I missed her pleasantly cool scent so badly. With her beautiful burgundy...Oh, fuck!I bolted up from the bed, and pain exploded on my side, spasming up and down my torso. Immediately, I glanced down at the three stitches that I just accidentally ripped, blood trickling down my side and into my gray sweatpants.Angry at myself for not knowing how long I’d been asleep, I yanked the IV line from my arm.Cursing silently while gritting my teeth against the agony, I barged out of the bedroom, ignoring the trail of blood I left on the umber-weave pattern of the vinyl plank flooring.Dizzy waves swept over me as I descended the stairs, determined for someone to tell me that it was a damn nightmare. That I imagined it all.“Where is she!” I roared, bulldozing into the sm
RAINA’S POV“Kókkino, I don't know,” Gustav replied with understanding in a low voice. His words lingered, heavy with an edge of doubt. “The sword should have taken his life.”I swallowed hard and confessed dejectedly, “I wanted to believe him, but he can’t be the real Valen.”Gustav hummed thoughtfully and moved to the foot of the bed to remove my shoes.Flashes of the harrowing hurt in the last Valen’s eyes made my forlorn heart sink deeper and deeper. It seemed nearly genuine, yet it was not. It was a mask to get me to lower my guard. I was glad that I didn’t let the bond derail the mission this time.My eyes trailed to my guardian, and I expressed, “The timekeepers were so cruel. This is my ninth trial, and if he's not my Valen, he'll kill me again. As an anomaly, they've cursed me to die over and over.”“Then I will protect you,” Gustav swore, putting down my shoes at the bedside while his gaze met mine. The sincerity and promise were clear in his voice.“How long do you think I
RAINA’S POV I lingered behind Gustav as we arrived by teleportation at a sprawling lakeside manor. With urgency, he stalked off down a corridor that cut straight through the house. I broke off into a little jog to keep up with his large strides. Walking by his side, I felt curious and apprehensive about where he had taken me. Warm tones guided me through the great hall. Feeling antsy, my head pirouetted in the unfamiliar environment. Gaping archways revealed sitting rooms, recreational rooms, a grand dining room, and others. Each was filled with soothing terra cotta tones from walls painted in red earth color. “Nice safe house,” I remarked as he led me up the winding stairs, overwhelmed by the sheer size of it.Layers of vintage finds, painted artwork, and houseplants created a classical, inviting effect across the spaces. Together with white and green accents, the wall's reddish tone produced a muted color scheme that brought a diverse range of furniture pieces in a harmoniously b
VALEN’S POV“Grrr! You are not needed here,” I growled, feeling my skin ripple, pinning the man in place with a murderous glare.“The nerve of that Worgen,” Zeus snarled in my head.Nyx and Zuzu swayed their attention to the obnoxious intruder, waiting for my command to attack him.“Stand down, Nyx. Do not attack him, Zuzu. Hibernate,” Raina commanded them, her back constantly bumped into my chest from her struggle against the grasp I maintained on her arms.It was a shock to see my guardians revert to a leisure position, debunking their fight mode.Raina averted her eyes to the man in full white. “Get me out of here, Gustav.”“Careful, Bluebella. Do not deliberately make me jealous. My wolf is unsettled as it is. You are mine,” I muttered into her ear, and she flinched with resistance.Swinging her sabre-rattling eyes sideways, she expostulated, “I’ll chose him a million times over you, you fake bastard!”What the hell was this?She was protecting him—choosing him?Wanting to go with
VALEN’S POVThe portal spat her out with a thud on the floor of my sanctum in a disheveled mess.“Mate! Mate! Mate!” Zeus purred, going into overdrive to touch what was ours.Thank fuck.“Ugh!” She groaned, landing face-down, and something clattered on the floor.My body jumped to life as her rich scent wrapped around the entirety of my being like thick vines.“She came back to us!” Zeus’ rear end started to twitch and wiggle in excitement to see our beautiful mate.Gladness pumped my heart wildly, and my feet moved briskly before my wolf shouted at me to go to her. Zuzu flapped her giant wings in flight towards her regular spot on a custom-designed tree branch in the corner.I rushed towards Raina, dropping to my knees and gently grabbing her shoulders to help her to stand. My heart danced with delight when the sparks erupted across my palms from the skin-to-skin contact.“She’s back,” Zeus howled in my chest with joy and enthusiasm, jumping up on his two hind legs.Raina's legs gave