ChiaraAlessio’s sudden action freezes me to my spot, my eyes wide and my hands clenched into nervous fists. I let out a breath, trying to control my emotions and keep them from spiraling, but then a sob escapes my lips. Followed by another.Before I knew it, I’m already crying in his arms.The pain from knowing that Dad abandoned me for good, the fear of getting violated by a man from a job I didn’t want . . . they all come crashing down, tightening into a lump in my throat. I find myself holding onto him for dear life, and he holds me tenderly, like he understands how breakable I can be.After what seemed like forever, he lets me go. I look up at him, but I realize that his gaze is fixated on the man who almost assaulted me.I swallow hard. “Alessio. . . .”Before I can say anything more, Gio and Fia appear at the other end of the alley.“Chiara!” she breathes out, and she runs towards me, hugging me and cupping my face. “Oh, god, you’re bleeding.” Tears start to brim her eyes. “I’m
ChiaraI slowly back away from the man, my pulse racing. I run my gaze over his face, and the more I look at him, the less his features make sense. He’s handsome, incredibly so, but there’s something different. Something that makes the alarm bells in my head ring.He closes the distance between us and steps forward, still grinning down at me. “Relax, beautiful. What’s the rush?”“Nothing,” I stammer. “I have to get back. My . . . friend must be looking for me.”“Friend who?” he asks gently, still taking slow steps forward. “It doesn’t seem like you have a friend anywhere.”I swallow hard. I’m scared beyond words. I can feel myself starting to shut down with fear, and he seems to be enjoying it. Subtly, I glance behind me to check if I have a clear exit, but when I look back at him again, our faces are only inches apart.With a small cry, I stagger back and nearly fall over. To my surprise, he catches me by the waist and pulls me close.All at once, I’m hit by his scent. Musk and amber
AlessioChiara’s hand gently traces the edge of my mask, and my whole body goes tense. Everything in my head tells me that I should push her hand away, but there’s this mall voice inside my head that’s urging her to happen, wanting it to be over. . . .But then the door opens and I jump away from Chiara.I face the door, ready to be either angry or relieved, then I see Gio walking in casually. When he sees Chiara and me, he stops and awkwardly winces. “I’m sorry, Master. I should head back out--”“No, stay,” I say, and relief takes over. I face Chiara, who is staring at the floor. Now I feel horribly awkward just standing here. “You may leave now, Chiara. We’ll talk again soon.”Without another word, she promptly gets out of my office and closes the door behind her. Gio stares at the closed door before turning to me. “What happened, Master?”“We just negotiated,” I say airily, but my face feels hot. Fuck. I shouldn’t have trusted myself to be alone with her. She does things to me. Rea
Chiara“Be my girlfriend.”The initial shock of Alessio just entering my room like some kind of rogue animal already had my heart pumping like crazy, but the words he said hit me in a different way entirely.I stare at him with my mouth wide open. He’s still holding my shoulders, which is keeping me upright pretty successfully, but I still feel like I need to lie down or else I will faint right by his feet and never wake up.Is this a fever dream? Am I imagining things? I didn’t have breakfast, so maybe I’m having a hunger-induced hallucination?“Chiara?” Alessio prompts, shaking me. “Did you hear me?”“Huh?” I say absently. “What were you saying?”He exhales and lets me go. “I said, be my girlfriend. Do you have trouble hearing or did I stutter?”“You did not stutter.” I swallow hard. “It’s very clear now. It’s just that . . . what the fuck?”“What the fuck, what?” he demands. “Do you think that is a request? Because no. I came here to tell you that you are now my girlfriend. Now com
Chiara The sudden impact of my head hitting the wall brings a wave of nausea down my body. For a moment all I can do is blink and try to get rid of the specks that dance in my eyes. Noemi and Vittoria loom over me, closing the door behind them. “You fucking bitch,” Vittoria mutters. “I don’t know what gave you this arrogance but I’m going to beat it out of you!” With that, she reaches over and pulls my hair, but I catch her wrist just in time. Noemi sneaks out of nowhere and grabs the back of my shirt, tugging it hard and causing the neckline to push against my throat. I start to choke, and Vittoria takes that as her chance to pull me to my feet by my hair. She slaps me once, and in a daze, I try to retaliate by doing the same. But this just causes her to pull my sleeve and rip the seams of my shirt. They both laugh, and Noemi starts to tug down my pants, stripping me against my will. I know what they’re about to do. This is something they always took part in at Monamour when the
ChiaraWhen I go back to the room with the dress in a bag, Alessio is no longer there. The one waiting for me now is Gio.“Where is he?” I ask, trying not to show that I’m disappointed.“I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” Gio just says in a clipped tone. “Let’s go.”With that, he takes me back to the mansion. Marie and Kana meet me by the door, and when I arrive at my room, I see that they already prepared makeup and styling tools. Wordlessly, as though they’re told to be quiet, they both begin to work on me, assisting me in the bath first.When I’m done, Kana curls my hair and twists it up into an elegant knot with tendrils framing my face. My makeup is done by Marie, and it’s subtle, just highlighted by the red lipstick that’s the same color as my dress.Before leaving, Kana hands me a box. “From Master.”“Thank you,” I mutter, caught off guard. I look up at her to ask when she talked to him and if she knows where he is, but she leaves promptly.Really keeping a tight gag on things, h
Chiara Am I dreaming?This is the question that keeps popping up in my head as I blink rapidly. I haven't seen Dad in what feels like years, and now it seems like his features are all wrong. The only thing I remember now is his beaten-up face from the last night we saw each other. The night he betrayed me and gave me away as payment.All the resentment and the questions rise up my throat like bile, but the only thing that comes out of my mouth is, "What the hell are you doing here?"He eagerly sets down the tray on the nearest table, gaping at me like a fish out of water. "Chiara. Oh, god I've been looking for you everywhere!"He tries to reach out to me but I slap his hand away. "Do not come any closer, or else I'll call the guards and tell them you're being a creep."Visible hurt flashes across Dad's eyes but I find that I don't care. Why would I? He literally tried to pay his debt by giving me away. He only ever cared about saving his own skin."I'm sorry for everything," he start
AlessioThe whole night is now ruined.I know that I basically just hired Chiara to be my pretend girlfriend for the night, but I feel oddly bereft when I watch her walk away. Everything inside me screams I should come and follow her, but Evelyn puts her hand on my arm and stops me.“She’ll be fine,” she murmurs soothingly, motioning her guards to stand back and leave us alone. “Stop worrying so much about her--”“She’s not exactly familiar with this kind of scene, Evelyn,” I cut her off, trying not to sound too cold. “I am her protector.”She grits her teeth but she disguises that as a smile. “Well, I do hope she’s alright with you having . . . private arrangements with me, like we agreed on.”I tilt my head. “I’m not sure I agreed to that, Evelyn. We did talk about me coming here, and I did. I think we both know what you’re asking for, but I am a committed man. You are a beautiful, wonderful woman, but my heart belongs to her.”I expect her to throw a tantrum because of that, but sh
ChiaraDays pass. Then weeks. Before I know it, a whole month passes, and when I wake up with this realization, I just feel like a gigantic weight has been lifted off my chest. Life goes on, I realize. No matter how bad the situation is, my life still goes on. And so do the lives of others. The past month proved that. Since the war between Cavaliere Ombra and Arcieri Luminari ended, so many things changed. Not only in the world of the Wolves, but also in the world of humans.Evelyn was the saving grace during the first week, when what we needed to do in the most urgent sense is to make sure that none of the humans are convinced or even remotely suspicious about the existence of humans that turn into monsters. She asked Gio’s family for help, and they were happy to oblige.She had to jump through hoops and use her connections just to get all the news outlets to convince everyone that it was just some kind of bomb exploding in Milan by an armed vigilante group. All the videos that c
ChiaraWhen Alessio tackled Alpha Salvatore all the way down, I felt so helpless that I immediately considered jumping down to his aid.But as I look down from above, I see Dad crawling on the ground, trying to get upright. That strengthens my decision. Instead of going down to the chasm where the two men are, I back away and remain at the edge, kneeling beside my father and touching his face.“Dad!” I say in a shaky voice, feeling his skin getting cold. “Dad, hold onto me.”He turns around and I see that there’s a big bleeding gash on the back of his head too, an injury that he must have acquired somewhere else.To my horror, his body looks ruined. Mangled. The fall that he took crushed him. My eyes well with tears. “Dad, come with me. Let’s get you to safety.”“No.” He tries to shake his head and blood comes out of his parted lips Miraculously, he manages to get to his feet. “No. You help your mate. Help him win. You can lend him your power. I will be right behind you.”I swallow ha
Chiara As quickly as I can, I get to my feet and intercept Alpha Salvatore before his claws can come remotely close to Alessio. I pull him out of the way, flinging him to the side where he cannot be touched, then I turn to Alpha Salvatore and try to deliver the strongest kick I can muster aimed at his chest. He steps back just in time and avoids my blow. That simple motion alone makes me realize how fast he can go. He ends up pressing himself against the wall, smiling at Alessio and me. Alessio positions himself in front of me, determined to put me away from harm as much as possible. This time, Isaac doesn’t seem all that interested in stabbing or wounding us. He’s just observing us from his spot, that smug expression prominent and his growing smile chilling. My skin gets covered in goosebumps. “I suppose I should be proud of you, Alessio,” he suddenly says, his voice a soft croon, the tone someone might use to refer to someone they are especially fond of. “After all, you’re my gr
Time seems to slow down right before my eyes at that very moment. My breath gets stuck in my throat. I can feel my mouth opening and from it comes a high-pitched scream, but it still takes me a while to realize that it’s coming from me.I collapse on the ground, clutching Dad’s body against mine. Alpha Salvatore just watches me, holding his hand up and freezing everyone around me like he did with me earlier.I know I should keep fighting. I know I should strike back. But seeing Dad bleeding and coughing blood against me is pulling me apart. It’s like my heart is being torn out of my chest, and all I can think about is that time when Dad told me about my mother.Now he’s here, his breathing getting more and more erratic as the seconds tick by. I hold him tighter against me, wanting to comfort him but no words come out of my mouth.But he turns to me, struggling to breathe, and when I look into his eyes, the message is clear.“Get him for me.”That’s when it all clicks for me.Without h
ChiaraThe energy in that side of the area seems to have shifted in an instant. Alpha Salvatore slowly advances towards us, and I can see that the women standing in front of me are all staggering to back away from him like his mere presence is causing some kind of disturbance.And I don’t blame them at all. I can feel myself getting compelled to do the same, to hide and avoid this fight at all costs. There’s something about his gaze that feels sinister, like there’s no single ounce of humanity left behind those eyes. There’s only the monster that he felt he should be like, powered by the spirit that he corrupted.Alpha Salvatore smiles at me, showing his sharp fangs. I couldn’t help but notice how much he looks like Alessio but at the same time how different he is.Chills run down my spine as he leisurely gets close, and even though I’m scared to death right now, I come forward, ready to block him from attacking.However, he just raises his hand as a signal.For a second I thought tha
ChiaraThe moment I saw Dad smiling proudly, my urge to slap someone has never been so strong. It’s like a demon possessed me, and before I knew it, I’m already pushing the others away to get to my dad.But instead of slapping him like I originally intended, I end up pulling him for a hug.Then I settle with slapping his arm.“What the hell were you thinking?” I demand, and to my horror, tears start to fall. I bury my face in his shoulder and reluctantly, he hugs me back, rubbing the back of my neck. “I thought something bad happened to you!”“Hey,” he says consolingly, holding me at arm’s length. He smiles at me and wipes my cheeks. “I wasn’t going anywhere, darling. I just thought that hey, maybe I could help. I mean, I’m the only human in this pack, even with your boyfriend losing his wolf and everything.” He looks at Amari. “I’m sorry for causing all of you this trouble, and I hope I didn’t overstep something by inviting everyone here.”For one tense second, it seems that Amari wi
ChiaraWhen I wake up, it’s like everything is submerged in a lazy, peaceful haze. It’s so warm and so good to be safe in Alessio’s arms after a night of making love that I almost forget what situation we’re in and what we’re supposed to face.I lay there with my eyes closed, purposefully forgetting it for a while.But of course, the world is just simply not built to let me have some peace because as soon as I close my eyes, commotion breaks out from outside the bedroom.There are loud screams and crashes, so loud that even Alessio flinches and sits up in alarm. Still in a groggy voice, he turns to me and asks, “What the hell is happening?”“I don’t know,” I mutter, at first feeling annoyed, but then I hear a blood-curdling scream that sounds like Savina. I turn to Alessio, who’s already handing me clothes.He dresses up as quickly as he can as well, basically wriggling into his clothes. We both burst out of the door at the same time, and that’s when we see about a dozen warriors tryi
AlessioI can feel myself zoning out as I slowly process the things that Savina just said. I stand in my spot, feeling sick to my stomach, propping my hand against the back of the chair to keep myself steady.Denial is rising in my throat like bile, and for some reason my brain could come up with a thousand ways to justify everything. I want to argue with Savina and tell her that Cavaliere Ombra couldn’t possibly come up with such a risky plan, with something so big it has a chance of being foolproof.But the more I think about it, the more my justifications seemed stupid.Of course Father would do something like that. Of course he would want to announce to the world that he’s the strongest, and of course he would do that by invading an entire city.And everyone in that city would be food for monsters.Meanwhile, everyone in the dining hall is starting to speak over each other, covering the fact that they are disturbed with attempts of denial. As I start to slowly emerge out of my rev
AlessioI step back, looking at the kneeling woman before me and wondering what the hell happened exactly, what moments led to this. It’s almost a dream, and I’m not entirely sure I can trust myself enough with this.Savina looks up at me and I see that her eyes are filled with tears. But I can’t hold eye contact for more than a couple of seconds. I look at Chiara and Amari, who are walking side by side heading towards me. Their eyes are both pinned on Savina, and I could tell that they are both ready to attack.Meanwhile I just stand there like an idiot, wondering if this is some kind of elaborate trap that I’m too dumb to see.Because everything just happened so fast. One moment, I was fighting with Rafael, who has turned into this monster human hybrid that didn’t seem vulnerable to any attacks. Then just as he was about to finish me off, he vanished into a puff of smoke because Savina stabbed him.I’ve never seen that before. Ever.So the only thing that I manage to ask Savina is,