Dearest reader, Any guesses who it might be? xx
Kat POV“Not who you were expecting?” Damian laughed harshly as he pushed his way into my room. I stood by the door, my mouth slightly agape in a mix of shock and horror. I toyed with the idea of leaving Damian in my room and running somewhere else, but the look of rage in the man’s eyes made me second guess that option. “What do you want, Damian?” I asked, gathering what little courage I had in the face of his raw masculinity. He smiled slightly as he walked to the window - the exact spot he had held me mere days ago, probably remembering the way his body had claimed mine. But I wasn’t his, and I never would be. “I saw you with Enzo Castello,” he grumbled through clenched teeth, the anger returning to his gaze. “What were you doing with him?”I shrugged casually, brushing off his fury with a flick of my hand. “What has my being with Enzo got to do with you? You do not own me,” I enunciated slowly.He moved so fast that I had barely any time to gasp before he had me pinned up again
Kat POVI lay in my bed staring at the ceiling for most of the night, my mind restless as Damian’s words repeated themselves again and again. If I were to be honest with myself, they actually scared me. He seemed to be the kind of man who’s threats were always promises, and who would stop at nothing to see his goals accomplished - even if it meant destroying me. When I eventually fell asleep, it was a fitful sleep, and I woke up more exhausted than I had been the whole evening. Aurora lay on her bed, her head on her paws as she watched me. “Good morning,” I yawned, trying to summon all the strength I could to get out of bed and failing miserably. The wolf got up, padding over to me and nudging my hand before she grabbed the corner of the duvet and pulled it off me, the cool air instantly making goosebumps spread across my legs. “That’s not fair,” I pouted, forcing myself to get out of bed since it was no longer a safe haven. She looked at me smugly - if you can even say that a wol
Kat POV“Who would dare to attack a guest in our home?” my uncle fumed, pacing back and forth to the point that I was sure that he would wear a groove in the floor of his office. Vasilios stood by the window, blocking most of the light and leaving a gigantic shadow on the floor. “I don’t know, Your Majesty. But it strikes me as strange that whoever attacked Prince Dimitri and his supporter did not kill either of them. In fact, it appears as if this was a deliberate ploy to stop the union between Princess Katerina and Prince Dimitri.” I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to keep myself from blurting out that there was no way in this universe that I would ever be forced into a relationship with that brute. I would honestly throw myself off the edge of the earth before I could ever find myself in bed with the monster. “Yes, I thought that was strange too,” my uncle mused, scratching his chin as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. I froze, wondering what my uncle was planning.
Kat POV“My man has been severely injured by one of your rabid dogs,” Dimitri spat out as soon as we entered the room. Just like that, all eyes were glued to my uncle and myself, waiting like vultures for the showdown they presumed would lead to bloodshed between our species. Otis and another elderly man from the council called Yanis, sat with rather smug expressions on their faces, as if they were enjoying every moment of it.“Come, Prince Dimitri,” my uncle tried to reason. “Let us talk about this in private where we do not have such an interested audience.” Dimitri snorted and grabbed the bottle of vodka from the table, taking a swig straight from the bottle which was half empty. “And let you trick me more than you already have? You promised me a union with your niece, but instead she is willing to spread her legs for every man beside me.”A gasp ran through the room as the accusation reached the spectators’ ears, and I’m pretty darn sure that the whole kingdom would be told that
Kat POVI hid out in my bedroom for the rest of the day, not able to summon up the courage to face the vultures which made up the Royal Court. I was also terrified to run into Damian, suspecting that the man was most likely behind the attack on the bears. And even if he wasn’t, he unsettled me. The sunlight faded quickly beyond the horizon, painting the sky with brilliant pink and golden hues which faded into the darkness of the night. Winter was well on its way, the night air cool even in the confines of my bedroom. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around me as I sat on my bed, wishing that I had someone to talk to about everything - wishing that Giulia was there. Her absence hadn’t felt as profound before that moment, even with everything that I had been going through in my brief time in Slovenia. “I do miss the days when I was just Kat,” I said aloud to no one in particular - Aurora had slipped out of the room hours ago, probably sick of my moping around. I sighed and lay down,
Kat POVThe sound of screaming pierced through my dreams and tore me from the peaceful sleep I had been enjoying. It was a tortured sound, as if someone was in true agony and panic filled me. I reached for Enzo subconsciously, only the side of the bed he had lain on was empty and cold - Enzo was long gone. The screaming seemed to be getting louder, joined by men’s angry voices and the stomping of boots along the hardwood flooring in the hallway. “What on earth is going on?” I whispered to myself, switching the bedside light on and looking around the dimly lit room. Aurora lay in her bed, her head on her paws as she watched me, obviously not as concerned with the commotion outside as I was. I clambered out of bed, grabbing my dressing gown as I made my way to the door to investigate, and had barely reached the door when it was flung open. My uncle stood, gripping the doorknob so hard that his knuckles had turned white, his jaw clenched and his face pale. “What’s wrong?” I asked in
Kat POVThe blood in my veins turned to ice as Damian uttered Enzo’s name, confidence oozing from him which made me feel sick to my stomach. “There is no fucking way that Enzo Castello killed Yanis,” Vasilios ground out through clenched teeth, a slight growl to his voice. “Yes. Enzo wouldn’t have attacked anyone,” I agreed, trying to sound more forceful than I felt. Damian casually circled me, like a bird of prey circling its next meal and waiting for the best opportunity to pounce on it. “If Enzo didn’t attack Yanis, then why did he sneak into the castle in the first place? And don’t try to tell everyone that he didn’t sneak in - I have evidence.”He held up his cellphone and waved it about, indicating that something on the device would incriminate Enzo. “Oh, come on Damian,” Vasilios grunted. “You know Enzo well enough to know that he’s just not like that. He had another reason to sneak into the castle, and it had nothing to do with killing anyone.”Damian shrugged, “then it is
Enzo POVDrip. Drip. Drip. I pried my eyes open, but it didn’t make any difference. The darkness around me was so thick that it seemed to swallow whatever light tried to enter its domain, and not even my werewolf senses could decipher where I was. I groaned as I struggled to sit up, my head throbbing as if someone had taken a hammer to my skull. “What the hell happened?” I moaned, rubbing the spot on the side of my head that seemed to be swollen. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember. The last thing I recalled was making myself some breakfast, a grin on my face after the wonderful night I had spent making love to Kat. “Fuck, what if that had been a dream?” I whispered, panic suddenly flooding my body as doubt made me question my memories. “Had it all been a dream?”The damp surface I was lying on seemed too familiar, but at least this time there were no chains. I double checked, rubbing my hands down my legs to my ankles and breathed a sigh of relief when I found that there was
Jurgen POVI had expected a tough battle - I think we all had - but some part of me had envisioned it happening on the hills of the Slovenian countryside and not in the parking lot of Enzo’s nightclub. The rogues rushed at us in waves, hoping to overpower us by their sheer numbers, but they were untrained and their fighting was sloppy. Perhaps that was why the Council decided to send in their brainwashed drones.The first soldier who attacked me took me by surprise, his strength and technique so vastly different to that of the rogues. I barely managed to drop him when another launched at me, and then another. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears as I was confronted by three of the Council’s soldiers, and for a brief moment I doubted my abilities. “You are a blessed wolf, Jurgen,” I gave myself my go-to pep talk. “You were touched by the light of the moon, and you can get through this.” I guess it helped as my hands were soon coated with the blood of one of my attackers, the ot
Enzo POVIt happened so quickly that it was almost as if it had been practiced, like some choreographed scene in one of those cheesy action movies Luca loved. The whole room seemed to shake as the back wall of my club crumbled, and rogues covered in dust and building debris stormed in. I barely saw Jurgen and Vasilios exchange a glance, their unspoken commands to each other once again reminding me of why they were such a great team in battle. If it hadn’t been for the pair of them and their cohesive strength, I would probably have died back when I was being held prisoner by that band of sadistic humans. The sound of Vasilios’s battle cry yanked me from my memories, and I watched as he charged toward the sea of rogues, my brother close behind. “We have to get Kat to safety,” Jurgen shouted above the chaos, grabbing her around the shoulders and steering her back to the front door of the club. “If we can get her into the parking lot, we can hide her away in one of the cars.”Kat opene
Kat POVUnder the cover of darkness, Vasilios’s plane taxied down the short runway and came to a complete stop before the occupants moved an inch. I could see Vasilios’s phone light up as he dialed his mate, the phone ringing only once before I heard Cassie’s concerned voice on the other side of the call. “Are you safe? They haven’t laid any traps, have they? You’re all still alive?”Even in the darkness I could almost see Vasilios roll his eyes in response, and yet he still managed to hide any frustration with his wife as he reassured her that we had arrived back in Slovenia safely. “I still don’t understand why Elle and I have to sit this fight out,” Cassie huffed, and Luca’s head snapped in the phone’s direction at the mention of his mate. Vasilios let out a long sigh, as if he had been waiting for her to say something along those lines. “Love of my life, you need to look after our son. This is going to be a war, and I will not have you in the line of fire - just as Luca would r
Kat POVWhat Fabio had done to Guilia was beyond description, having abused her in absolutely every way possible. The look in her eyes as I had helped her shower, washing the months of filth off of her skin and out of her hair which had become a matted mess, it made me wish that I had stopped her from going with him so long ago. “He lied to me, Kat,” she whispered to me as she sat on my bed while I brushed the knots from her hair. “He said that we were soulmates, but he lied. He has a woman he is mated to, and she’s just as sadistic as he is - if not worse.”I frowned, having suspected that he may not have been her mate. I couldn’t possibly believe that anyone would be able to commit such vile acts against their own mate. “What actually happened?” I finally gathered enough courage to ask her. “You seemed well when I saw you last - but then maybe I wasn’t just paying attention to you with the whole ‘you’re a princess’ revelation.” Guilia turned slightly, taking my hands in her own a
Kat POVA gut wrenching scream filled my ears, and I wasn’t sure if the awful sound was coming from Cassie or Elle. Either way, I couldn’t focus as my body turned cold and I started to shiver as Fabio slumped against me and knocked me to the floor. “Kat!” I heard Enzo shout before Fabio’s weight was hauled off of me and I was scooped up into Enzo’s strong arms. My eyes met his and I could see the unshed tears which glistened in those deep pools of green, paired with that rugged scar across his eye making him look more like a battle weary warrior than the viking. “I’m ok,” I whispered, cupping his face with my right hand. My left hand? Well, it hurt like a bitch! I briefly glanced at it before I looked away, the blood draining from my face as the pain became more acute - almost as if the pain I had felt throughout my body had suddenly shifted to pure agony in my hand.“Fuck, you were shot?” Enzo’s voice dropped an octave as he noticed my bleeding hand. “Of course she was fucking
Kat POVI tasted the bile in my mouth as I watched Fabio’s weapon run up and down Cassie’s arm as he pressed his pelvis against her backside.“What’s wrong, princess?” Fabio chuckled, his hand reaching out to pull Cassie’s hair away from her neck, revealing her mating mark. “Are you jealous that your friend is getting all of my attention? Don’t worry, you will have your turn.”Fabio inspected her mark carefully with his eyes before he bent toward it and licked it, and Cassie reacted in a way any sane woman would. She spun around, her brain taking a backseat in the situation as her hand lashed out and slammed into his cheek in a loud slap.“You bitch,” he raged, pushing her away from him with force.Cassie tripped and fell, her head smashing into the corner of the decorative entrance table.“Cassie!” Elle called out as we watched Cassie collapse, blood oozing from her forehead as she lay on the ground.Elle darted to Cassie’s side and I was about to follow her when I felt Fabio’s hand
Kat POV“Luca has mindlinked me - they shouldn’t be too much longer,” Elle announced as she checked on the sourdough bread she was baking in the oven. Cassie sighed and picked up an orange from the bowl on the kitchen counter. “I still envy your ability to mindlink like that,” she said as she peeled the orange. “Although, knowing Vasilios, he would probably abuse that ability far too often.” She pulled a face as she popped a segment of the orange into her mouth and I bit back a giggle. “Oh, Luca abuses it too,” Elle replied with a wink. “But I guess he likes knowing that I am always there whenever he needs me.”I found myself smiling at the way she described their relationship. “You guys seem like the perfect power couple,” I gushed, leaning against the counter. “I can only hope that Enzo and I can build a relationship as strong and unshakable as yours.” Elle blushed prettily as Cassie smacked me lightly with the back of her hand. “And mine? I hope there is something in my relatio
Enzo POVWatching as that barn burned to the ground evoked dark emotions in me - emotions I had spent the last few years pushing down into the depths of my soul. Emotions of hatred, guilt and despair which ran so deep within me that I had stopped recognising them. But as the flames engulfed that barn of horrors, memories filled my mind and I found myself grappling with the overwhelming emotions once again. “Are you alright, child?” I felt a small hand touch my arm and I looked down at the bruised face of a woman, her split lip and blood-streaked hair a blatant testament to the strength the tiny woman had displayed at the hands of her captors. I nodded, unable to trust my own voice as I turned back to the flames.“You’re lying to me, young man,” she chastised, her hand gripping my arm tighter preventing me from walking away from her.“And what if I am?” I asked boldly.She chuckled lightly, drawing my gaze to her and I almost stumbled backward when my eyes met hers. It was as if she
Jurgen POVWe watched in numb horror as the helicopter set off, only for another two helicopters to join it - each massive machines which could easily carry twelve people. “They’re evacuating!” Enzo shouted, anger turning his voice into a harsh bark. “They would rather run away than face us and fight! Fucking cowards!” Vasilios kicked the barn door, the sound echoing in the silence of the night as he swore under his breath. Luca was equally frustrated by the turn of events, but instead of lashing out like the other two, he stood in silence, his hands in fists by his side as he watched the now empty sky. I sighed inwardly as I shifted back into my human form, the snow crunching beneath my feet and the cool breeze tickling my skin. “Well, what now?” I asked, stretching my neck. Luca shrugged, turning to face the barn and the atrocities that had been committed in its dark interior. “I guess we need to find out how many of their victims are still alive. We need evidence that this was