Bryan's POVAs I made my way back to my car, I fought the urge to turn on my heels and run back to Ciara. She hadn't been happy to see me leave but she didn't say anything but I saw it in her eyes. Seeing her like that tore at my heart but I needed to leave. Some things were going down at the pack that I had to take care of. If only I could reveal my identity as her mate and take her with me then all this won't be happening but I just couldn't. Now that her wedding to Orion had been announced publicly, announcing that she was my mate would only make people believe that I was against Orion and his happiness. But why did the moon goddess think it was a good idea to pair me and Orion like this? What happened to give me my mate? Why out of all the werewolves did she pick Orion to share a mate with me? It just didn't make sense.I sighed as I climbed into the back of the car and leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes. Thinking about the situation was frustrating as well as draining and I
Ciara's POVIt's been two days, 2,880 minutes, and 172,800 seconds since Grandpa was admitted to the hospital, and nothing has changed. He is still unmoving, and the machines are the only things making noises. Grandma has been awfully quiet these last two days, and I almost feel sorry for her, almost.The doctor isn't saying anythig and no one is telling us anything. All that happens each day is that a nurse comes in to check his vitals every morning and then sends us pitful glances as she's walking out. This repeats itself at night and honestly I am this close to snapping her neck.Also we haven't had any more surprise visitors. ORion and his brother, Bryan ahve been no shows in two days and while I don't care much about Orion showing up, I have longed for Bryan to show up. He had a way of relaxing me with his words and just his mere presence. I found myself wanting to reach out to him but then that would be strange since we had no actual realtionship. And the last thing we needed wa
Ciara's POVI let Lucas walk me back to the ward and then we stood outside while we talked some more. In that moment, he was the best friend I had made when I arrived in the pack and I badly needed to hang onto him because with so many changes in my life, I needed something to remain as it was. After a while, he patted my shoulder and sent me a sad smile. "Old Man Heartfield is a strong man, you should know he'd never let this thing keep him down for long. Before you know it, he will recover."I nodded, clinging unto his every word wanting it to be true because I wanted Gramps to be okay. We stood like that and then his hands went around me and I hugged him, grateful for his presence. I didn't realize how much I wanted someone to reassure me that everything would be okay until he showed up today. Even though ideally, I didn't want to talk to him, I was happy he had come to show his support. It showed that despite everything he cared about me and I couldn't count on him.He pulled bac
Orion's POV"Son, how is Old Man Heartfield doing?" My father asked as he walked into my office. I sighed and sat up, looking away from the documents on my table. Since the last time I had been at the hospital, I hadn't gone there again and my father's question suddenly made me feel guilty but I shrugged it off. He sighed as he took a seat and eyed me thoughtfully. "Are you really going to throw away your future over a woman. Why don't you accept this woman you have here and who knows?" he asked and I looked at him like he had lost his mind.Was he really asking me to forget Sophie? To ignore the memories nad future I had imagined with her?"I'm not asking you to forget her," He continued as if hearing my thoughts. "I'm only asking you to start living your life after all she did run off with another man.""I'm sure there's a perfect explanation for that Father," I told him coming to Sophie's defense and he shook his head. "Look father, i am neck deep in paper work."He eyed me for a
Ciara’s POVI turned on my side and yawned, feeling comfortable for the first time in two days. The chair had never been comfortable and I had never woken up feeling so relaxed and soft all over.Just as my eyes cleared, I frowned as I took in my surroundings. This wasn’t the ward and I wasn’t in a room in the hospital either. Fear immediately gripped me as I looked around frantically. The last time something like this had happened, I had been, I had woken up in bed with Orion and then my life had taken a whole 360-degree turn. I went from being just a stranger to being an almost Luna.“Calm down,” I forced myself to relax as I scanned my memory for what happened last night. The last thing I remembered was sobbing on Lucas’ body and him comforting me. I was so sure we had been together yesterday so how did I end up here?Just as I tried to make sense of my situation, the door burst open and Orion walked in. Frowning, my eyes widened in shock as I misinterpreted the entire thing. I pee
Ciara’s POV Shock reverberated through my body as I felt his warm lips on mine. I had never thought this day would come because Orion had always acted so disgusted of me. Now with his tongue trying to force its way down my throat, I couldn’t take it anymore so I fought against him. His hold on my waist didn’t let up so struggled against him for a while longer before he finally let me go. Frowning, he looked at me but I didn’t meet his eyes. I took a step back, my mind fuzzy and clouded. “What is going on?” His frown deepened but I was done with his games. Just a week ago, he was irritated with my presence, he never gave a shit about how I was feeling or what I was doing and now suddenly he found me irresistible? “What do you mean?” “Don’t play dumb Orion, please answer my question. Are you drunk?” I asked, my eyebrow raised. An unknown look entered his eyes and before I could ask him about it, it was gone. His face became expressionless and I shivered. Were we suddenly back to t
Ciara's POVOrion kissed me."So I was thinking a mild pink and then some white for the flowers......."Orion kissed me."Then a touch of blue for......Luna, are you listening?"I flinched and gasped as a hand brushed against my shoulders. I spent a few minutes taking note of my surroundings before I sighed and turned to the over-the-top wedding planner, Luna Stone who insisted we hire for the wedding. She wasn't bad looking, okay she was pretty with brown eyes and a soft pale skin that drew your eyes the second you saw her. Her black luscious hair flowed down her back and whenever she moved, some of it came forward and covered her face."Luna?" she called again and I sighed, focusing my attention on her."Sorry, I got distracted for a second there," I muttered sending her an apologetic smile but she shrugged it off, her grin big and almost fake."I understand how intense these planning details can be but that's why I was hired by Luna Stone so I can take the weight off of your should
Chapter 31Ciara's POVI was still reeling from the shock of what had just taken place in that room a couple of hours ago. Every time the memory popped into my head, I found myself glancing at Luna Stone who was back to her usually reserved self at the table. She had barely said two words since Lunch started.Was that who she was? Why was she keeping a facade and for whom? I shivered again as I remembered everything.A hand touched me and I shook in shock before relaxing when I stared at Orion's worried expression. "Are you okay?" He asked, his eyes filled with concern.The concern in his heart warmed me up from the inside but if I voiced out what was bothering me, how would he react? Would he believe his mother was a two-faced mean bitch?"Hey, you're scaring me," he whispered and I sighed, forcing a smile hoping he didn't see through it."I am fine Orion, I don't have much of an appetite," I told him and then turned back to start eating but as I picked up my fork, I felt the hairs o
Chapter 142 Orion's POV “He's still not picking up?” I asked and James shook his head. “No Alpha. It keeps going to voicemail,” I sighed and banged my fists on the table repeatedly. What was going on with my brother? Surely he wasn't still mad at me because I called Sophia's bluff? We were both mature adults and we could harsh it out like men. James had informed me that he had been here to see me a couple of days ago but I never received him in office. I had been confused when James told me about it. Why had my brother come to see me but then changed his mind last minute? My heartbeat picked up as I remembered that the same day, Lucas and I had been discussing something sensitive in my office. A gasp left my mouth before I could stop it and I nearly tumbled out of my chair. Could he have heard our conversation? “Alpha?” If he had, surely he'd have barged in and challenged me for lying right? He wouldn't just storm off like that. At least that's what I wanted to
Chapter 140 Ciara's POV It's been two weeks since I found out I was pregnant and so far I have been doing a horrible job at hiding it from James and Brianna. The maids have stopped serving me since Brianna took over making it easier to hide since Brianna is as oblivious as they come. In a couple of months from now it would be rather difficult to hide it because then I'd have a noticeable bump. If I was home and had access to my wardrobe then I'd have selected a couple of maternity gowns. Here I'm stuck with shirts and my single pair of jeans that I had on when they kidnapped me. Now there's a slight bump that isn't noticeable except I take my shirt off which I would never do in the presence of these people anyway. I had to think of a way to ask for more clothes or find a way to get myself out of here before my child would be at risk of being used for Sophia's dirty games. It was getting close to noon and since Brianna had already fed me once for breakfast, my next mea
Chapter 141 Ciara's POV “Hey,” I raised my head and rubbed my sleepy eyes to see James standing at the door, one foot in and the other outside. With a frown I sat up as my mind began to race. “Did something happen? What's going on?” What time was it? He shook his head and walked in fully, closing the door behind him. “Good morning to you too,” he teased with a smirk and I raised a brow. “Okay okay, I know this might be weird for you,” “Weird? Try strange, uncomfortable amongst other things,” I sighed and slipped on a smile. “What can I do for you?” His smile grew bigger. “Oh it's nothing I just came to keep you company that's all. If you don't mind of course. I could leave if you don't want me…” He turned his back to me and started to move towards the door. I flew off the bed and grabbed his arm. “No, sorry,” I let my hands fall to my side again and took a step back, my cheeks flushed pink. “What I mean is I'd love to have another human being besides myself in this room
Chapter 139 Bryan's POV “How could you do something like that?” “You weren't thinking clearly,” The heavy words I had spoken to my brother yesterday without thinking came back to haunt me as soon as I laid down to rest for the day. Guilt and a sense of loss filled me. When he had walked out after bowing and calling me ‘Aloha’ I should have realized how much I had screwed except I chose to turn a blind eye and kept fumming. But as I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes, images from that moment started to replay like a film in my mind ripping my peace away. In truth I had been the one who told him to stand up to that dreadful woman and when he took my advice, I had turned my back on him. How could I have been so stupid and judgy why all he had done all these while is trying to protect our mate? He had been forced to sleep with the enemy literally and wine and dine with her while I got to live my life free just without Ciara in it. If I was being completely honest, h
Chapter 138 Orion's POV “Alpha,” James greeted me as I walked past him but I didn't respond. My head was clouded with different thoughts all centered around Bryan and his reaction when I told him how I stood up to Sophia. For someone who didn't want to entertain Sophia from the beginning, his reaction had been less than satisfactory. I had gone there with my head held high feeling extremely proud of myself for sticking it to Sophia and I had expected he'd be proud and pat me on the back. Instead he lashed out at me as if I were a little kid. I hadn't been expecting the completely different 360 reaction he dealt me today and it was still a bitter pill to swallow. My office door slammed behind me but I didn't flinch as I made my way to the chair. Setting down on it, I shook my head as if to expel every negative and hurtful thing he had said to me. Even if he was angry, he shouldn't have spoken to me in that manner and tone. Not even my mother would speak to me the way
Chapter 137 Bryan's POV “Since the killings have stopped, our people have grown more secure and more confident in your leadership Alpha Bryan,” one of the elders said and I almost scoffed at his attempt to flatter me. We were having a council meeting that had started since 7am but my mind was divided. After Old Man Heartfield's visit yesterday, I found myself thinking a lot about Ciara and her wellbeing. I wondered how she was doing and if Sophia was treating her right just like she promised Orion she would when they made their deal. I was going to keep being strong and not give Ciara any reason to worry about me. The less she worried about us, the better for her. All she had to do at this point was focus solely on staying alive and eventually getting out of there in one piece. Once she was safe in my arms again, she could go back to being the worrywart she always was. “Have we found the cause of the killings?” Another elder asked and I looked at Ryan. He flushed an
Chapter 136 Orion's POV “Hey babe,” Sophia whispered as she walked into the dining room. I grunted and turned my face away when she tried to kiss me. “What's wrong? Did someone upset you?” She asked and I scoffed. Was she really that oblivious to the disgust I felt for her? I motioned for one of the servants to set the table and pushed Sophia away lightly. She huffed and went to sit down but she kept touching me and leaning over to put her hands on me. “Don't you take a hint? I wish to be left alone,” I yelled, unable to tolerate her behaviour anymore. “Why are you reacting like this? I always do this,” I shook my head and stood up. “Have breakfast by yourself.” I stormed off, fuming and shaking in anger. I made my way to the room and slammed the door hard behind me. She ran after me and walked into the room after a few seconds. “What is going on? What did I do wrong Orion?” I shook my head and pointed to the door. “I just want to be on my own. Is that too m
Chapter 135 Bryan's POV “How long have you known?” The old man made a sound in the back of his throat but didn't respond. I shifted in my seat feeling very uncomfortable. After a while of silence, I cleared my throat. “I didn't mean to keep the truth from you. I was just hoping I'd have found Ciara by now.” He grunted but still kept quiet. I cleared my throat. “Please say something,” I begged, almost about to fall on my knees before him. “I know I should have told you. I was wrong to keep something as important away from you but I thought I was protecting you and her family from the pain.” He nodded and finally spoke, his words shocking me. “How have you been holding up?” I blinked, wondering if I had heard him right. “You…” He sighed. “Look Bryan,.I get why you did what you did. Am I angry you hid the truth from me concerning my granddaughter's situation? Yes I am. But at the end of the day, you did what you thought was best and I can't fault you for that.” My eyes
Chapter 134 Bryan's POV Turning on my side in bed, I opened my eyes and yawned. A smile slowly made its way to my lips as I recalled the events planned for today. Ciara would be coming home today after several months of being held hostage by her crazy relative Orion had been so sure that Lucas and his men would come up with better results than the other men we had assigned to the job a while back. I had my doubts but with no other options available, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Lucas didn't disappoint and gave us the first major clue. He had managed to do what we couldn't do in the months since we had been conducting the investigation. The best part was the place had been infiltrated with our own people who knew that Ciara's life was the top priority. I had repeated it constantly to Lucas that I'd rather have Ciara held hostage but alive than dead and gone. Despite having all this set aside, I couldn't brush off the nagging feeling in my mind tha