“I never pegged you as the type to drink tea over coffee,” Lila said, leaning casually against the counter, her eyes scanning Fidel’s movements.“And I never pegged you as someone who’d admit to judging people by their drinks,” Fidel replied, a teasing grin playing at his lips as he set the kettle on the stove.“I’m not judging, just observing,” Lila shot back with a playful smirk. “It’s what I do.”“Oh? And what exactly have you observed about me so far?” Fidel asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter across from her.Lila tilted her head, pretending to consider. “Well, let’s see... You’re confident, charming, and far too smooth for your own good. Definitely trouble.”Fidel laughed, the sound warm and inviting. “Trouble? That’s a bold assumption for someone who just met me this morning.”She shrugged. “Call it a sixth sense. Besides, you’re not exactly subtle.”“What gave me away?”“Everything,” Lila said, chuckling softly. She couldn’t help but notice the way his gri
Lila POV The next day, we ran into each other again. I wanted to shove away and watch him from afar to see what he has on his sleeves but he already saw me from afar and calling for my attention."Wow, wow, so we meet again. Okay, thank God. I was thinking of calling you," Fidel said, flashing that overly confident grin. "You said you were just passing through, didn’t you?" I asked, keeping my tone light as I set down my drink. Fidel nodded, leaning back in his chair like he owned the place. “That’s right. A quick stop on my way south.” “South?” I repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Funny, you don’t strike me as someone familiar with these parts. Most travelers don’t start conversations by asking about pack territories.” His grin faltered—just for a second—before he masked it with a shrug. “What can I say? Old habits die hard. I like to know who’s around. It’s not every day you find yourself in the middle of a warzone, after all.” “A warzone?” I echoed, tilting my head like the i
“Is that him?” I whispered to myself, leaning closer to the monitor, my voice sharp with curiosity. I folded my arms, studying the grainy footage. Lucas King stood in the hotel lobby, commanding attention without a single word. His dark eyes swept the room with calculated precision, and his tall, muscular frame exuded power. “Impressive? Please.” I rolled my eyes, scoffing at my own thoughts. “Just another overconfident Alpha with too much swagger and not enough humility.” Still, I couldn’t deny the magnetic pull of his presence. There was something about the way he moved—deliberate and controlled—that made my wolf stir uneasily. It annoyed me to no end. “Why’s he here?” I muttered under my breath, narrowing my eyes at the screen. My chest tightened slightly as the answer formed in my mind. He’s looking for me. That much was obvious. The timing, the precision of his movements—it wasn’t a coincidence. Lucas King didn’t strike me as the type to leave anything to chance. “Let
“Fancy seeing you here,” Fidel said, his smooth voice cutting through the gentle hum of waves crashing against the shore. I glanced up from my cup of coffee, feigning surprise. “Fidel,” I said, letting a smile play on my lips. “This is starting to feel like fate.” He chuckled, sliding into the chair across from me without an invitation. “If it is, I’m not complaining.” I tilted my head, studying him as though I hadn’t already analyzed every move he’d made during our last meeting. His posture was relaxed, but his dark eyes betrayed something more—a mix of interest and calculation. It amused me to no end that he thought he was in control. “Is this your favorite spot?” he asked, gesturing to the café’s open terrace overlooking the sea. “It’s peaceful,” I said with a shrug, swirling the coffee in my cup. “Good for thinking.” “Thinking about what?” “Oh, you know,” I said airily, leaning back in my chair. “Life. Choices. The usual existential stuff.” Fidel smirked, leaning f
Lucas POV Where is he? I muttered under my breath, my voice edged with irritation as I glanced at the clock mounted on the lavish wall of the private lounge. “Late, as usual,” my wolf grumbled. “Fidel doesn’t respect your time.” I exhaled sharply, my jaw tightening. Delays grated on me, especially when Fidel was involved. The man could be efficient when it suited him, but his tendency to indulge often led to a lack of punctuality—a trait I had little patience for. “Fidel will show,” I said aloud, more to reassure myself than my wolf. Even as the words left my mouth, doubt lingered in my mind. My goal is for us to capture this intruder and deal with her without mercy.“We should be out there, not wasting time at this circus,” my wolf growled. “This party is beneath us.” “I know,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. The atmosphere of the gathering grated on my nerves. The room buzzed with idle chatter, laughter, and the clinking of glasses, but none of it resonated with m
“You’re really going through with this?” I asked myself aloud, glancing at my reflection in the café’s window. The question carried a mix of amusement and skepticism. “Why not?” I answered myself with a smirk. “It’s just a party. A chance to have a little fun, shake things up, and maybe learn something useful.” “Or make a spectacle of yourself,” I countered in a dry tone. “Hardly,” I said with a flick of my hair, my voice dropping to a confident whisper. “I don’t make mistakes.” My wolf stirred at the edge of my consciousness, her energy sparking like static electricity. She wasn’t speaking, but her restlessness was enough to catch my attention. “Don’t start,” I muttered under my breath. “I don’t need your commentary right now.” Her response was a soft growl, more inquisitive than combative, like she was teasing me for my flippancy. I sighed, straightening my posture and brushing imaginary lint from my jacket. “Fine, fine. I’ll admit it—tonight is… important.” ---Toni
Lucas POV I forgot I had a goal and a mission to catch up with when I saw Lila; even the thought of confronting Fidel faded away.“She’s not like the others,” I murmured to myself, my voice low and gruff, nearly drowned out by the hum of the crowded bar.“What are you talking about?” my wolf replied, its deep voice echoing in my mind.I leaned back in my seat, my sharp gaze fixed on the woman at the far end of the room. “Her,” I said simply. “The one with Fidel.”My wolf growled in response, a sound both possessive and intrigued. “She’s ours.”“Don’t,” I muttered, my jaw tightening. “We don’t know anything about her.”“I know enough.”The claim in my wolf’s voice sent a shiver through me. I shifted uncomfortably, unwilling to acknowledge the truth behind the statement. My instincts were screaming, a primal recognition surging through me the moment I saw her.But I wasn’t ready to accept it.From my vantage point in the dimly lit corner, I could see everything. The way her laughter li
The next day was another day like the previous day, having fun out with Fidel.“Is this really the best use of our time?” Lila muttered to herself, her fingers absently tracing the rim of her coffee cup as she sat across from Fidel at the café.“You’re wasting energy on trivialities,” her wolf growled, its voice distant and strained, as though speaking through layers of static.“What’s your problem?” Lila hissed back under her breath, her frustration mounting.“You’re not listening,” her wolf snapped. “Something’s wrong.”“You’ve been saying that all morning,” Lila replied sharply. “Care to be more specific?”Silence.Lila sighed, gripping her cup tightly. Her wolf’s unusual behavior had thrown her off balance. Normally, the creature was a steady presence in her mind, guiding her with clarity and purpose. But today, it felt erratic, agitated—almost disconnected.“Lila?” Fidel’s voice broke through her thoughts, pulling her back to the present.She looked up to find him watching her wi
You’re overthinking this.”“I am not.” Lila’s voice was sharp, her eyes flashing with irritation as she paced the room. “Rikkard isn’t telling us everything. There’s something bigger going on, and if we don’t figure it out soon, we’ll be caught in the middle of it.”Jake exhaled heavily, arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe. “I get it, Lila. But you’re pushing yourself too hard. You need to slow down.”“I don’t have time to slow down,” she snapped, raking a hand through her hair. “Arika could be orchestrating something even worse, and Rikkard might be hiding more than he’s letting on.”Lucas, who had been silent up until now, stepped forward. “Lila, we hear you. But your stress isn’t helping. It’s making everything worse.”Lila shot him a glare. “So what? You want me to just sit back and do nothing?”“No,” Jake said, pushing off the doorframe. “But I do want you to breathe, maybe sleep for more than three hours a night. You’re running yourself into the ground.”She clenched
Lila stood in front of the map, the glowing pins marking their route to Venut flickering in the dim light. The cold wind outside howled like an unrelenting beast, but inside, there was only the quiet hum of machines and the tension that hung thick in the air.Jake and Lucas moved swiftly around the room, gathering equipment, checking weapons, and securing supplies for the journey ahead. Each movement was purposeful, and yet, there was an unspoken understanding between them all that nothing about this mission was guaranteed. No one knew what awaited them in Venut, not even Lila.As she scanned the map, her thoughts drifted back to the moments after the explosion—the cold, the smoke, the feeling of being utterly alone. But now, she wasn’t alone. She had them. She wasn’t going into this battle without a plan, without support.“Everything’s packed,” Jake said, glancing up from his gear. “We’re ready to move.”Lila’s lips pressed together as she met his gaze. “Hopefully, I’ll find Arika th
…“She’s not just another rogue,” Lila said, her voice low, her fingers gripping the edge of the cold metal table in the makeshift strategy room. “She’s human.”Jake paused mid-step, turning slowly. “What?”Lila looked up, eyes burning with a fire she hadn’t shown since before the explosion. “Arika. She’s not like us. She never shifted. Never showed signs of a wolf. That’s why she’s been able to slip through pack territory without triggering the usual alerts. She’s off the grid.”Jake let out a long breath, and Lucas swore under his breath. “That makes things… complicated,” he muttered.“More than complicated,” Jake said. “It means she could be anyone. Anywhere.”“But not anywhere,” Lila snapped. She straightened and stepped toward them. “She’s in Venut. That log was real. I know it. She accessed the system from a terminal in the city. I’ve verified the IP bounce pattern three times. It matches regional routing unique to that district. It can’t be faked.”“But what if it’s a trap?” Luc
“She’s in the system again,” Lila muttered, her voice tight with tension as her eyes flicked across the scrolling lines of code.“What?” Jake pushed off the wall where he had been leaning, stepping beside her screen. “I thought the firewall updates from yesterday sealed everything.”“She bypassed them,” Lila snapped, fingers flying across the keyboard. “She’s good, Jake. Better than before. This isn’t a brute force entry—it’s precision. She’s slipping in, taking what she needs, and vanishing before the trace completes.”Lucas leaned forward, studying the flicker of data. “Is that a decoy? Look—see that line repeating every seven seconds? She’s looping a command. It’s masking real-time action.”“Exactly,” Lila confirmed, zooming in on the blinking code. “But she slipped up. Just a millisecond too long in the core sequence. I caught it.”“Can you isolate it?” Jake asked, voice now sharper, posture rigid with focus.Lila’s lips tightened. “Already did. She cut the connection before I cou
The Code She Left Behind"“That’s not one of ours, is it?” Jake’s voice cut through the hum of monitors, low and urgent.“No,” Lila muttered, eyes darting across the screen. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. “It’s Arika. She’s in again.”“What’s she trying to do?” Lucas leaned over Lila’s shoulder, his expression tight but composed. The green light of the data streams reflected in his glasses, casting sharp lines across his cheekbones.“She’s poking around the restricted files. Again,” Lila replied, her tone clipped, tense. “But she didn’t get through. Not yet.”“And if she does?” Jake asked, stepping closer. His voice was quieter now, edged with concern. “What exactly is she after?”“The archives,” Lila said flatly. “Our core research logs. The stuff we’ve buried under fifteen layers of encryption.”Jake swore under his breath. Lucas straightened. “She knows where the keys are hidden?”“She doesn’t have them, but she’s close.” Lila exhaled, dragging a trembling hand through her h
LILA Several sunrises came and went, yet I still found myself empty-handed—no real lead, no breakthrough, and not a single clue that could steer me in the direction of my vile sister. She remained elusive but continued stirring trouble everywhere she went. The mess she was creating didn’t stop with random people anymore—now she had boldly turned her games toward the powerful Werewolf Council. That bold move only made my nerves rattle more fiercely. Although my mates tried tirelessly to bring me comfort, their efforts barely made a dent in my rising unease.Instead of resting or taking a break like they suggested, I locked myself away even more in the massive, dusty library, surrounded by flickering screens and endless codes. I poured my energy into trying to uncover anything that could point me toward her. The brothers often had to come in and literally pull me away from the setup to remind me to do basic things—like eat, sleep, and breathe like a normal person.Jake, ever the invent
Jake didn’t stop.Even after she collapsed beneath him, her body quaking from release, he kept her pinned with his weight. His breath was hot against the nape of her neck, teeth still clamped possessively into her scruff. His growl was low, vibrating through her ribcage like thunder ready to rumble again.And then—he moved.His hips shifted, slowly at first, deliberately drawing out the tension. Her wolf whimpered, sensitive and overstimulated, yet greedy for more. Jake's dominance wasn’t just primal—it was unrelenting. He didn’t wait for permission. Didn’t coax.He took.With a vicious thrust, he buried himself inside her again, harder than before. Her body stretched to accommodate him, torn between pleasure and pain, between resistance and surrender. Her claws scraped against the snow-packed ground as she writhed, barely able to brace herself against the feral storm that was Jake.His rhythm was punishing.Rough. Wild. Untamed.Where Lucas had claimed her with control and reverence,
Lila’s fur bristled with anticipation, her breath misting in quick, excited puffs as her wolf scrambled back to her feet. Snow clung to her flank from the fall, but she shook it off with a huff, head turning sharply to glare at Jake—still smirking from where he stood on the ridge.She bolted.No warning.No hesitation.Just the raw, fluid grace of her wolf launching back into the forest, cutting through the trees like moonlight through mist.But this time, Lucas was ready.His massive black wolf had been watching her movements, every twitch of her muscle, every subtle shift of her gaze. The moment her paws left the snow, he surged forward, cutting off her path with startling precision.She twisted to dart around him, her heartbeat pounding like war drums in her ears—but he anticipated the move. With a growl, he lunged. His body collided with hers mid-stride, knocking her down hard into the snow. Her wolf let out a sharp, startled yelp, limbs tangled with his, snow spraying around them
Lila's breath came in visible puffs as she stood in the snow-covered clearing, the moon casting a silvery glow over the landscape. The forest was silent, save for the distant hoot of an owl and the gentle rustling of branches weighed down by fresh snow. She turned to Jake, her voice barely above a whisper."Do you ever wonder what it's like to be truly free?"Jake's piercing blue eyes met hers, a hint of a smile playing on his lips."Every day."She glanced at Lucas, who stood a few paces away, his gaze fixed on the horizon."And you, Lucas?"Lucas's golden eyes flicked to hers, his expression unreadable."Freedom is a state of mind, Lila."She sighed, her breath forming a delicate cloud in the frigid air."I want to feel it. To let go of everything that's been holding me back."Jake stepped closer, his hand brushing against hers."Then run with us."Lila hesitated, the weight of her past fears and insecurities pressing down on her. But as she looked into the eyes of her mates, she fe