Trista’s POV I looked at Dagny in shock! Shifted? She knew I was a werewolf? But how? Before I could ask though, she waved her hand dismissively, changing the subject. “You’ve had a long day. Take a long hot shower. Relax. I’ll have your dinner brought to your room.” Then she patted me affectionately on the arm and walked away. The room was really nice. A four-post bed sat in the middle. There was a private ensuite bathroom. I walked to the giant picture window and opened it. A fresh breeze blew wafted into the room. Serafina yawned lazily. I hadn’t felt her in awhile. Seeing Liam had been too overwhelming for her. She still remembered the pain of being rejected, so she’d gone into hiding. But now, here at Johnson’s family home, she awakened. “Dagny knows I’m a wolf,” I told Serefina. “But how? Is she a werewolf too?” Serafina shook her head. “I didn’t pick up any werewolf scent on her,” she admitted. Hm.
Trista’s POV “What?” I asked. We hadn’t mentioned Liam since we left. Why was he bringing this up now? “Seriously. A first class dick. I know you don’t want to talk about him, but I just wanted you to know how I feel. I hate the guy.” I didn’t respond. What was there to say? I wasn’t exactly too fond of Liam either. Not after what he’d done to me. “I don’t get it.” He shook his head. “How could any man cheat on a woman like you? I mean, come on. You’re beautiful, and smart.” I blushed. There was tension in his words, a seriousness. It was making me feel uncomfortable. Then he fixed his eyes on mine. “If you were my wife, I’d never even LOOK at another woman again.” My cheeks flamed a deeper shade of red. I desperately wanted to change the topic. “I really am sorry,” I said. “For all the trouble I’ve caused your parents. Your father seems…upset…by the fight. And I don’t blame him. My chil
Trista’s POV I tossed and turned all night. My dreams were a messed up mix of fragments, bordering on nightmares. But one dream in particular scared me so badly I couldn’t go back to sleep. In the dream, I knelt in the forest while Liam laughed maniacally at the tree line. Rogues crept in from the trees, their eyes glinting in the moonlight. They held knives, ready to stab me. I begged Liam for help but he only kept laughing. Then the rogues all shifted, to tiny little wolf pups. They yipped and ran in circles at my feet. “Eat her!” Liam instructed the wolf pups. They nipped at my ankles. Then Dagny appeared, dressed in a blue robe. “Oh no,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “Don’t eat her. She’s a WEREWOLF!” Then she glared at me; her eyes were fire red. I bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily. The dream filtered away. I could still hear the little wolf pups, yipping and my feet. Could still hear Liam’s maniacal laugh. Could still see Dagny’s red eyes.
Trista’s POV “Good morning, sleepy head,” Johnson called to me when he saw me. Both the children looked so happy. It warmed my heart. How did I get so lucky? My life was like a fairy tale, a real live dream. The complete opposite of what it had been five years ago when I first came to Milan… Five years ago, I stepped off the plane with one goal in mind – to get hired by JL. I went straight to the head office. I was going to tell them about how I’d been treated back in the United States. I’d been fired for no reason! I would explain it all and then convince them to give me a job. “I’d like to see the CEO,” I told the receptionist when I’d finally found the building. She peered at me from over her glasses. “Do you have an appointment?” She looked annoyed. “Well, no,” I said. “But I can wait. Or I can see someone else. A hiring manager?” “I can’t let you in without an appointment,” she said. Then she went back
Trista’s POV“Look out!” I hollered to the man in the suit. The man in the suit had no idea he was being followed! I had to warn him. My voice echoed through the parkade.The man in the suit turned around, his eyes quizzical.The man with the gun quickly fired a few shots at the man in the suit. But the man in the suit was already alert and he dodged the attack.The man with the gun turned to me. He narrowed his eyes with anger in it. Then he pointed his gun and shot me.My visual impairment didn't allow me to move as swiftly as I would have liked. Even though I had my glasses on, all I could do was watch the bullet fly towards me.Pain ripped through my arm.“Oh my god!” the man in the suit yelled, running towards me. I crumpled to the ground, holding my arm. The man with the gun took off.“Just, just stay calm,” the man in the suit said, taking out his cell phone. “I’m going to get you help.”There was so much kindness in his eyes.Yes, it was Johnson.Before I knew it, he was liftin
Trista’s POV My heart lurched. Billy was thrown from the back of the horse. The trainer lunged under Billy and broke his fall. The horse reared up, kicking its front legs in the air. It neighed loudly. I ran to them. Johnson got there first. He dismounted and then lifted Belle from the horse. Belle wailed. She was terrified. Johnson wrapped his arms around her. Billy was on top of the trainer on the ground. I lifted him off the trainer. “Momma?” Billy asked, his face pale and his eyes wide. “I’m….I’m so sorry,” the trainer stuttered, getting up to his feet. He cradled his left arm. “I don’t know what happened. Something spooked her.” “Is Billy okay?” Johnson asked. The horse continued to kick, its nostrils flaring. “Yes,” I said. I checked him over. He wasn’t hurt, just shocked. The trainer, however, didn’t escape the ordeal so easily. His arm was bent in an unnatural way. “Your arm,” I said to him
Trista’s POV A Lycan?If my face was shocked before, well….“Well, I suppose I better fill you in,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Would you like more tea? It’s a bit of a long story.”I shook my head. My thoughts were reeling. She was…she was a lycan? But..but how?“I come from an old Lycan family,” she started. “We were based in the United States, on the West Coast. It was a very, very powerful family, too powerful, actually. We had a lot of enemies, other werewolves that wanted to kill us to stop our power. So, my parents, Johnson’s grandparents, came to Europe to go into hiding. They figured it was the safest thing to do.”I nodded. I had heard about lycans going into hiding. Lycan always had a lot of enemies; werewolves are jealous of their power so they hunt them down. Dagny continued.They first settled in Paris, but it was too big and busy. They longed for the peace and quiet they’d had for so long. So they moved out this way, to the South of France. I lived a ver
Trista’s POV Suddenly, my mind flashed back to the day I met Johnson. The parking garage.The man, with the gun.“You said people were hunting Johnson’s father,” I said. “I think…maybe someone was hunting Johnson, too.” I told her about the day in the garage. Her face turned serious, and a darkness washed over her features. “Do you think…maybe…There might be the connection between these people?”She pressed her lips together. “Because it probably is,” I continued. “Who are these people? What did they want with Steward?” She looked down at her hands. “Were they…were they trying to kill him?” I asked.Then she looked up at me, with a fake smile on her face. “Thank you for the information, Trista,” she said. “I will speak to Steward about it. I’m sure it was nothing. He’ll sort it out.”I snapped my mouth shut. She clearly didn’t want to talk about it. I was offending her -prying into her personal life. Her normal expression returned. “No need for apologies,” she said. We
Trista’s POVHow was this possible? How could they be ripping off designs I’d sold in Milan? And they were calling them ‘custom designs?’ My mind reeled as I stared at the picture of Moon Mates. I’d been SO proud of that design. I’d worked myself to the bone in Milan to create it! With Lucian’s help, I’d procured just the right material that had worked perfectly for the design. It had been risky, using Moon Mates for the competition since every other design had featured glittering jewels and high-end gems. But I’d taken a chance and it had paid off. My mind flashed back to the competition and the rush of pride I’d felt when the crowd had gasped, in awe, at my special design.And now it was being sold in some crappy brochure? Under someone else’s name? A new level of fury bubbled inside of me.This was unbelievable!“I can buy this?” I asked, pointing at Moon Mates. “I can order it? Right now?”She nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes,” she said, a wide smile plastered on her face.“How mu
Trista’s POVI was furious.My designs had clearly been leaked, but how did this? The only people that had seen my designs were the board of directors at HS. I’d given a presentation and showed them some of my concept drawings. I’d told them about what I wanted my store to look like, and my dreams for my jewelry line. My ideas had been well-received but after the presentation, whether it was a press conference or during the production of the product samples, everything had been strictly confidential.I’d made sure of it, since I’d been worried that someone would steal my designs. So to ensure that no one could, different product series and different parts of the production were assigned to various processors, but not a single one of them had my complete design drawings.And yet, this store was full of exact replicas. I didn’t understand! Clearly, my designs had been leaked to someone. But how? Hazel had been in charge of everything. She’d overseen the process herself and there was NO
Trista’s POVI swiped the tears from my cheeks. There was no use just sitting there, crying. It wouldn’t solve anything. Until I heard from either Johnson or Dagny, there was literally nothing I could do to help either of them, even though I wanted to so badly. I’d come to work to distract myself, so that was what I had to do. If I let myself dwell on this, I’d become a nervous, emotional wreck. I couldn’t let myself get so sentimental. I had to stay strong and calm.I decided to take a moment to collect myself before I dove back into work. I pushed back my chair and went to the window to get some air. I propped it open to allow a fresh breeze waft through my dusty, stuffy office. But as I glanced down at the busy street below, my eyes fell on the jewelry store across the street.I was stunned to see that it had already opened for business. That was quick! When I’d left two months ago, the store had still been under construction. I assumed it would be several months before the store o
Trista’s POVThe first thing I noticed was a thin layer of dust on my desk. It made sense, since we’d been gone for almost two months at that point. Everything else was exactly as I’d left it, and it felt really good to be back in my little office.I dusted my desk and then sat down. I organized my draft designs while I booted up my computer. When I logged onto my email, I was surprised to see an email from Johnson. At first, a swell of hope gripped my heart. Was he reaching out to me? I quickly opened the email, hoping that maybe the email would let me know where he was and how he was doing. But then I realized that the email had been sent two months ago.I scanned the email. In it, he told me that he’d found a shop for me in New York. He’s also included some pics of the shop. The tone of the email was excited, optimistic. I slunk back in my chair.He’d sent it right before Hazel and I had decided to go on our European adventure. I’d been so busy right before we left that I hadn’t ch
Trista’s POVI woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming through my window. It was just Billy, Belle, Jules and I in the house now with Liam and Hazel gone. We asked Jules to stay under the ruse that we needed his help looking after the kids. The truth was, Jules had to stay with me for the time being so I could protect him, just in case. Liam and both felt Jules needed to be with me.Jules took his job as a pseudo nanny very seriously. He was already in the kitchen making the twins breakfast when I wandered in. He had one of my old aprons on and he was flipping pancakes like nobody’s business.“Uncle Jules is taking us to school,” Belle said happily.“After pancakes,” Billy added.“If that’s okay with you?” Jules asked. “I want to see their school and I thought you might like to rest.”That was really sweet. I didn’t have the heart to tell Jules that I wanted my car today while the kids were at kindergarten so I could go and check in on my office.“That’s great,” I told him. “I
Trista’s POV “What?” Liam asked. “Red Moon Pack? Are you sure?”“Of course I’m sure,” Hazel said. “I was surprised too. I thought our cooperation with Red Moon Pack only started in the past three years or so. But these contracts said otherwise. They were much, much older than that. I don’t understand though. I thought Blue Moon Crescent and Red Moon pack had a poor relationship until recently. So why do they have contracts from years and years ago? I assumed you probably didn’t know about this since you never mentioned it. I guess your parents must have signed those contracts and not told you about them. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with those contracts, Liam. The whole thing just seems fishy to me. So, I came over here to tell you myself. Luckily, I came just in time for dinner.”Hazel winked at me while Liam sat in stunned silence. Apparently, Hazel had been right – Liam didn’t know about those old contracts with Red Moon Pack.“I don’t know what to s
Trista’s POV“Your parents are back,” Hazel blurted out, a cookie poised in her hand. My pot of vegetables began boiling over so I rushed to the stove.“What?” Liam asked coming into the kitchen fully. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked Hazel.“I am telling you. Now,” Hazel chuckled. “Besides, you’ve been a little busy.” She glanced down at the bandage around his stomach under his shirt. “I didn’t think it was pressing.”“You didn’t think it was pressing,” Liam sighed, repeating her words in an exasperated tone. “When did they get back? What do they want?”If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was an edge to Liam’s voice. I thought he’d have been a little more excited to hear that his parents were back. But his tone said otherwise.“A few days ago,” Hazel shrugged.“What have they been doing?” Liam asked, pulling up a chair while I drained the vegetables. We heard Jules explode into a fit of laughter from the living room, followed by Billy and Belle. “Other than following me around
Trista’s POVWe walked back into the house. I was really glad I’d had that talk with Liam, but now that all those things were out of the way, my mind went back to the problems at hand. The children were in the living room, crawling all over poor Jules.“Let’s play pony, Uncle Jules,” Belle exclaimed, clapping her hands.“Yes! I want to ride Uncle Jules!” Billy laughed.I was anxious, but I tried not to let Jules or the children see.“Oh, all right,” Jules sighed, rolling his eyes playfully. Then he got off the couch and went down on his hands and knees. “Pony Jules at your service,” he said. Then he lowered his front half down to the floor and Belle climbed on. He paraded around the room with Belle on his back. She cheered and laughed with delight.It warmed my heart, seeing the children having so much fun. And honestly, it looked like Jules was having a great time as well, which made me happy since the poor man had been through a lot in the past few hours.“Perhaps he missed his call
I hope he can read my mind.In fact, I also need his support.I know that the current situation may not be optimistic, and I can't just leave them alone and pretend nothing is happening; On the other hand, I can't put the children in danger if I’m helping Johnson and his family.If there is someone else here I can trust and who will protect my children at any cost, then that person must be Liam, their real father.“Liam, not just Johnson, but the whole family are wonderful and decent people. They helped not only me, but you too! Liam is the one who saved you by throwing you out of the VIP room window and told me to leave. And Johnson is the reason we were able to escape and come back here, to the United States. He distracted the black-clad men. If he hadn’t done that, who knows what would have happened? And Dagny, she healed your wounds. I know you feel she is unfriendly. But if you knew their family history you would not say that. They are Lycans. For many years they have been hunted