Wicked GamesLeanderI'd dealt with some messed up shit in the past but never pain like this. My heart felt like it was going to explode from my chest. My head was pounding, and my Wolf was howling mournfully, his agony echoing mine. So that was it. She told me everything I needed to know. And she had a foolproof plan to make everyone happy- everyone except me.I'd told her how I felt- I wanted her as my real mate.And she told me how she felt she was never going to be capable of loving me.Fuck, those words hurt.I looked up to find myself in my office. I didn't remember walking there. Robotically, I headed toward a $600 bottle of Bourbon I'd been saving for a special occasion, opened the top and turned it up to my lips, drinking straight from the bottle. It burned as it went down -it was precisely what I needed. Right now I needed to be numb to the world because if I unleashed the chaos inside of me, I knew I had the potential to do a lot of damage in some form or another.I settled
HYACINTHS'S POVHe'd said yes.He'd agreed to my deal.I couldn't believe it. I was going to have my freedom in a little more than a month from now! I was going to get to walk away and never look back. I wouldn't have to run from him anymore. I'd made him promise last night, swear on his life to stick to the arrangement once I was gone. He'd agreed. He'd sworn he wouldn't try to look for me. He would let me go. His only other condition of our arrangement was complete secrecy. The pack could not know about our agreement until it was over. He didn't want them to worry. I was fine with that.I was getting everything I wanted, so why did it feel like a large part of my heart had been ripped out of my chest?I pushed the feeling away. I couldn't dwell on it. I didn't have time. Most of the wolves were already gathered outside. Shockingly, they had pulled together all of the arrangements for our Announcement Ceremony in less than eighteen hours.I looked out the window, down at the wide ope
LEANDER'S POV As soon as I walked into the room, Hycinth got off the bed and faced me. She stared at me for a long moment, expression contrite at first. But then it slowly transitioned into fury."What the fuck happened?" I snarled. The Ceremony she'd just recklessly ruined with her hot-headedness was meant to give the wolves in the pack an outlet to express their appreciation and thanks. That certainly wasn't how it turned out.I couldn't believe she'd put me in that position! An open challenge always required a public punishment. There was no way that she was ignorant of that fact, and yet instead of talking to me, like I asked her to do, she decided to issue an openhanded challenge right across my cheek!If she'd done that in private, I would've handled it differently. But she didn't. And my Wolf would never allow that disrespect to go unpunished.So here we were, glaring at each other, and I was hoping for an explanation soon, which didn't look like it was forthcoming with the wa
Ever had told me she owned a tattoo parlor, but for some reason, I never anticipated she would have tattoos, primarily because pure silver extract had to be added to the ink. Otherwise, our bodies would reject the ink and heal around it. But using silver made the normal pain of getting a tattoo about a hundred times worse.And she didn't just have one cute little heart or flower on her belly. No, she had a stunning Phoenix nestled between her breasts, its wings fanning out over her pert mounds, but designed so that the flesh around her nipples was left untouched- looking as though they were peeking out alluringly from behind the bird. And if that were not enough visual titillation, the tail of the bird curled around the entire left side of her torso and flared out into beautiful swirls and tail feathers covering her belly. Like her nipples, the skin around her belly button was left untouched revealing an enticing belly button piercing.The design continued low on her stomach, flowing
She studied my expression, eyes boring deep into mine. I was shocked when she didn't immediately shoot me down Or at least try to slap me again or something. She drew her soft lip between her bottom teeth again, warring between the desires inside of her. I held my breath and waited. After a long minute, still not releasing her captive lip, she finally whispered, "Okay."It was all I could do to keep the lust filled growl contained in my chest.I spread my legs wider to make room for her. My voice so gruff, even I didn't recognize it as I said huskily, "Take a step back closer to me."She did as instructed, stepping back so that she was nestled right between my thighs.It was a chore to keep my hands steady and not let them roam everywhere on her skin. I focused on the task at hand, extracting some of the crème from the jar with my fingertips. "It's going to feel a little cold at first," I warned before pressing my fingers lightly against the beautifully rounded cheeks of her backside
Heart of the StormHYCINTH'S POVThe words left my mouth, and the atmosphere changed. It darkened. The temperature dropped. The air thinned and crackled with electricity, churning and chaotic, silently screaming a warning for anyone wise enough to listen-it was coming.No, it was already there.The thing of nightmares and dark fairytales had been unknowingly unleashed. It was free.I waited for the flash of lightning and boom of thunder. It was inevitable. I was going to be struck down by it. There was no way for me to avoid it. No way for me to come out unscathed because I was the heart of the storm.Leander stood unblinking, his face wiped clean. No trace of emotion as if struggling with the impossibility of the words that had just come out of my mouth.And then he blinked.His expression darkened, the eyes of his Wolf front and center, no longer a brilliant violet blue. Now, they glowed flat black. The timbre of his voice dropped, gruff through his vocal cords, "He touched you?"M
"Everything I wanted first?" Leander repeated flatly, his brows furrowed. And then understanding lit his expression. "And this...this is what you thought the entire time? That I was going to use you and then pass you around?""Yes," I whispered, fighting back tears again."Motherfucker," he swore under his breath. Instantly, he was right in front of me, one hand on my hip, the other cupped my cheek. His onyx eyes bore into mine. "You saw how I reacted with Luca. Never would I have allowed any of my wolves to touch you! And as far as what happened yesterday, I'll admit I thought about sleeping with Sydney. I was drunk. You'd made it clear where you stood, so when she offered, I followed her to her room. I sat on the edge of the bed. She pushed me back and climbed on top of me."Pain crashed over me as the images play through my mind. It was too much to take. I didn't want to hear all of the nitty-gritty details of their sexual escapade. I tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let me. He
Leander ignored him and walked over to a nearby wall, mounted with various weapons, and selected a ten-inch blade. He twirled the knife casually between his fingers as he made his way back to Dagger. Without another word, Leander grabbed Dagger's cock with his free hand and held tight. Dagger jolted and pressed his naked butt as far into the wall as he could, trying to wriggle out of the grasp Leander had on his manhood.Oh shit!Flashbacks swam behind my eyelids. Leander's animalistic expression as he threatened Luca. I'd believed then that he was capable of it. Now, I was almost certain I knew what was going to happen.But I couldn't have been more wrong.Because it was so much worse.Never in my wildest nightmares, had I ever imagined what Leander was about to do.Leander's mouth curled into a wicked smirk. "Do you have a preference? Would you prefer if I yank it off or would you rather I sliced it clean?" Leander continued to play with the knife, waiting for his response.Dagger j
A shiver ran down my spine and suddenly the hunger left my stomach. "What do you mean?" I clicked my eyes to Leander. "Have you seen her?""No." He shook his head."Then?""I'm assuming she's the one that might have poisoned the man and that man belonged to the pack, which means that Sydney is somewhere here." Не continued, speaking slowly and cautiously.I wanted to hunt Sydney down, find her, question her and force her guilty for all the terrible things she had done. I wanted her to be punished, not just for today but for everything she had done. Over the year, I had grown to resent her, hate her more than I could possibly hate anyone.I pursued my lips and gripped the knife on the side of the table while taking in heavy breaths.What did she want now?"Why do you think she is here? D-do you think you can find her?" I asked him while stammering on my words as the thought of my mother made me quite nervous."I think she's going to find you. Her appearance here after poisoning me only
Tears after tears spilled from my eyes uncontrollably. I placed my hand over my mouth to hold in my sobs but the sounds still made it through. The pain was terrible and the fear was greater than every. I had barely ever been afraid of anything but tonight I was.The clock was striking to midnight and an hour had passed by since the horrific events yet I couldn't get any sleep.I wasn't going to.Whatever had attacked me tonight and killed people- Leander was that. He was the same monster as that man was and that monster was most terrific thing I had ever seen in all my twenty years of living.I wanted to blame someone for this, I wanted to be furious over Leander and pin my finger over him for everything but I couldn't. This wasn't his fault, it wasn't anyone's except for Sydney. My hatred for her was so much. After another hour of sobbing and bruising my eyes, I stood up from the bed and walked over to the washroom. Warm water flooded down from the tap and I used to wash away the dr
After Leander parted from me, I placed my hand over my mouth, holding in the urge to scream and snap at him. He just had to do one thing and he couldn't do that.All he had to do was kill the monster.The warriors were still running around the camp, trying to find their way out. After a minute of walking around, I figured the way out from the forest and back into the town. There were wet tire marks from the car that had left earlier with the injured boy. The tire marks were going to lead everyone back home.I told as many people as I could and guided them out from the camps while a few of them remained on the ground, injured. Some of the injured ones were getting carried away by the other warriors while the rest were still there.It was a monster that had tore through this forest, nothing more."You should come with us," One of the warriors whispered to me. "It's not safe for you here either." He continued.I looked over my shoulders, finding the rest of the tents getting on fire. The
I lined my lips straight, "Take him to the hospital before I rip your head off."The man quickly grabbed the boy off my shoulders and turned around to command the warriors in training. A few of them got into the vehicle nearby and they began driving out of the forest while the rest of them remained surrounded around me.Whispers began to rise between them.The ones that had gotten a sight of the boy and the wound on his neck were gossiping among themselves. I could hear it all."Did you see that? It looked like a bite. I think she bit a boy." One of them whispered to another and I rolled my eyes before turning around and walking back into the same path I came from.I needed to find Leander. The silence was eating me up alive. There was no sound of him or the monster we both had encountered. The night was getting darker and I was getting uncomfortable.I parted myself away from the camp and none of the warriors followed me. They remained there even though I had warned them to leave the
The skies began turning dark just when the sun began disappearing completely. The golden hues were gone in just a couple of minutes but we did get lucky to see the sun setting from the hills. My heart thudded loud and hard in my chest, I felt enthralled and wild and so did Leander. We took lead over one and another after every minute, we fought hard and bruised each other's wolf's slightly. We raced and tracked each other's scents across the forest.Until...The air became stiff and the atmosphere changed. We stopped on our tracks in the middle of nowhere, both of us sensing something unusual. There were wolves around, tons of pack wolves running around and some training but this was different.'Do you smell it?' I asked Leander while my nose wrinkled. It was strong-the stench of death and blood. If I could sense it, so could he and if we both did, it was somewhere near us.'Yes. It's a lot worse. It's coming from somewhere around. We need to shift back. 'He quickly said before turnin
The lunch meeting lasted for another long hour. I didn't keep track of the time as I engulfed in hearing the chatters between strong, powerful Alpha's. It was the first time I had been in a place packed with Alpha's. It was different this time.The meeting was concluded soon and the Alpha's began leaving. They began dividing, and parting ways, entering their own vehicles and soon taking the highway out of the town.So many thoughts swirled around in my head. What were they doing here? I knew for certain one of them was helping Leander with the poison but the others. What were they here for?"Did you find out if any of them has the poison?" I asked, hands inside my pocket while I stood outside, under the cold, chilling air and watched the skies change colors and the Alpha's leave the town.The gates of the house were widely opened, showing the paved roads outside. The sun, nearly setting, shone it's golden light onto the road and the several trees surrounding the house.If Leander had
Leander gawked at me with his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring. He blinked slowly, waiting for my response. The word blurted itself out of my mouth. I didn't think about it correctly. The damage couldn't be reversed now but I had to try."I don't mean it like that-" I began and he got dangerously close to me. Every step he took toward me, I took one step back. "I meant, I just want to find her and she's the one who did. She must've something going on in her head and I'm the only one who can find her." I tried to come up with something quick, before he grew any more furious.I had an idea to where I could find Sydney. She probably must be laying low in someone's pack. I now wanted to search for her again.She couldn't have ran to far. She was probably around waiting to see how the posion will affect leander."You're not leaving this place and if you do so, I'll drag you back myself and the next time, I won't be so gentle." He threatened, once more. It was the first time he had said t
Sydney had reached a new low and it was way too low for her. Why would she have given the poison to anyone? Why did she give the poison to Leander?What did Leander do to her when she came back to him?! Leander didn't tell me everything that happened when she came back in his life but I think Leander didn't treat her right. At this point I wasn't even jealousy that Leander allowed Sydney in his life even after her killing our pup. I was worried about him."But I overheard you speaking to this other man- l suppose the Alpha of the Silvertail pack about the new strain of the poison and something about his healers." I quirked my brow at him, remaining confused."He's not the enemy. I asked him a favor to figure out a way to reverse the affects of the poison and in return, I would offer some of my army to him whenever he's in need of it." Leander explained to me. "Though, his healers haven't come up with anything yet.""What about the healers in your pack?""Nothing. No one knows about i
The shower was running when I woke up. I traced my hand over the bed, hoping to feel Leander but he wasn't here. He was in the shower. Inhaling a deep breath, I pulled the duvet off my body and sat up straight on the bed. The sound of the water dripping continued as I hung my legs over the bed, waiting for him to come out of the shower.I waited for a couple of minutes but nothing.What was he doing in there for so long?I groaned and rubbed my eyes before dragging myself away from the bed and toward the curtains. I parted the curtains, letting in the morning sun which forced the sleep right out of me. Once the room was brightened, I stepped toward the bathroom and wrapped my hand around the door knob.Should I go inside? Was it right?Just before I could make a decision, I ran my free hand around my body, examining myself. I thought I would be hurt somewhere but I wasn't. There were a couple wounds on my shoulders and stomach but they had healed over the night, only leaving me with a