APRIL I looked at the open package in my hand again and smiled, then threw my hands around his neck, hugging him tightly. “Thank you so much,” I peppered his cheeks with kisses as I pulled away. I don’t know why I didn’t think of changing my phone number, but it was so sweet that he thought of it and got me new sims, which allowed me to switch numbers as I pleased so his friends wouldn’t bug me anymore. “Anytime, sunshine,” he beamed at me as he started the car. We rode to the cinema while singing along to some rap songs that he was absolutely shocked I could sing. The fact that I knew every lyric was all thanks to my photographic memory, but I teased him by saying it’s because I was smarter than him, even when it came to memorizing lines. By the time we got the the cinema, I was fresh out of laughter from how he kept whining each time I knew a lyric that he’d forgotten. We held hands as we walked into the cinema, and as usual, every staff that attended to us commented on how g
NICK She had to be furious after hearing that confession. Right? Unsure of what to do, I found myself searching for an a explanation to justify why I’d stuck my nose where it didn’t belong without her permission. “I just… I couldn’t watch them treat you so badly and do nothing, I know it wasn’t my place to infringe on your privacy and make that decision, but I had to help somehow,” I rushed out the words, hoping they made sense to her. I couldn’t read April’s emotions even through the mate bond right now.It was just blank, but sometime around when she was questioning me, I’d felt uncertain if hanging in the air around her. Now, there was nothing, almost like her ability to feel had vanished into thin air. “Thanks for your help and your honesty,” she said in a robotic tone and started on her way out of the cinema, not holding my arm like she was before that fool stormed in and ruined a perfect night. Unsure what to make of her reaction, I just followed quietly behind her, and ev
APRIL Each time I thought that Nick couldn’t possibly outdo himself, he proved me wrong. Even after all the amazing ways he’d had my back of late, realizing that he’d paid off my debt was the most flooring realization. I knew that he would go to endless lengths to make me happy, but I never thought anyone could spend thousands of dollars on me and keep quiet about it. He truly did it from a good place because anyone else would have flaunted it and held it over my head. The burden of being indebted to those loan sharks for years and being treated like a literal slave just so they could keep mooching of me was something that kept me up at night and had made me cry several times. The fact that he’d finally relieved me of it was literally the best thing anyone had ever done for me. When he said that he was now my family, he truly meant it, and he’d been proving it at every turn. However, when he admitted to being the one that had paid my debts, I wasn’t sure how to react. I just fel
APRILApril! April! The sound of my name being called from a distance made me shift in my sleep, wondering who dared to disturb me. “Wake the hell up, April! You need to see this!” the alarm in those words made me practically jump out of bed to find an awfully worried and pitiful look on Natalie’s face. “Wha… what’s wrong? Do you need something? What happened?” I rushed out, failing to see the cause for the alarm she’d raised. Natalie’s lips dropped open in horror and then she placed her phone right in my face before hitting a play button that was over a blank video. I frowned in confusion at first, but when the video buffered and began to play, I was shocked at what was staring right back at me. I opened my mouth to speak but it was too heavy and no words came out. My heart was drumming in my chest and I felt sweaty in all the wrong places. “No,” I muttered in disbelief under my breath before pinching my arm, praying to all the gods in existence that this was just a really bad
APRIL I couldn’t believe my ears. It was taking everything in me not to lose my balance while the hateful words abound.Some of those nasty comments were whispers, but most of them were said right in my face as I tried to maneuver through the crowd and each of them was a blow to my reputation that I knew could ever be reversed. But I tried my hardest to soldier on and keep a neutral expression until I was safely in the backseat of Nick’s car. “Baby,” he sighed once he got in and shut the door behind him, “I’m so so sorry my baby,” he sounded like he wished he could turn back the hands of time for me. And frankly, I knew that he would if it was possible. “I… why? I ju… there’s no… I don’t… it’s not…” I tried to speak but I ended up choking on my words and losing my train of thoughts each time. “Come here,” Nick pulled me into his arms and immediately my head made contact with his chest, the floodgates opened and I found myself wailing like a widowed woman who’d just lost the love
APRIL In the blink of an eye, it’d all gone to dust. My reputation had been dragged through the mud so brutally and it didn’t take a soothsayer for me know that the damage that had been done was beyond repair. Everyone had turned against me and I felt like dying each time I saw the influx of hateful and derogatory comments targeted at me on the school’s website. Usually my student profile was filled with people clamoring to be tutored by me, or they were gushing about the several trophies I’d bagged for Enigma college. But now? It was just a complete mess of degradation and heartless taunts. My heart shattered completely when I started to stumble across the provocative edits that were being made using clips from that strip video. The sexual comments from guys were crude and disgusting, while the slut shaming from ladies was harsher than being left to freeze to death on a winter night. The more I looked, the more new edits seemed to be popping out of the blue. It felt like someone
APRILIt was the strength I got from Nick’s encouragement that allowed me freshen up and decide to acknowledge the meeting. He made sure that there was a formal wear laid out smoothly on the bed when I stepped out of the bathroom, and when he noticed how weak and down in the dumps I was while I dressed up, he stepped in and helped me dress up faster so I didn’t get to the meeting late. If I was hoping to appeal to the judges on the disciplinary board, arriving on time wouldn’t hurt my chances of getting a light sentence. Luckily, there was no groping or sexual acts being flaunted on the screen so I hoped that would help my case. I knew how much they frowned on their students being openly sexual, so I thanked my stars that that’s the video that had been chosen. Trust me, with the way men used to go crazy over me at that strip club, there were much worse scenes where they repeatedly groped me or spilled cum on any parts of my body that was in their line of view when they jerked off
BROOKESince the very first moment I met Ace, I’ve always known he hated women. It was in the way he treated every woman around him, he never hid the fact that he didn’t give a fuck about any of them, including me of course. It’s not the best thing learn that about the man you’ll be shackled with for the rest of your life, but I decided somewhere along the line that I could tolerate it. I mean, all I needed to do was tell myself that his hatred for women meant he’d never develop feelings for anyone of them that would jeopardize this engagement that my mom valued more than my life and hers. And for a while, that sufficed and I was never jealous of the women that flocked around because he just used them for sex and never recalled their names, barely ever saw anyone twice. That was I felt like my position was somewhat secure. Well, until…He jerked off and came hard in the shower while repeatedly saying the name “April.” I’d felt so horrible, especially since he was just unable to ge
PROLOGUEAPRIL“Sandy, stop making your brother cry. You promised that you wouldn't do that today, remember?” I groaned as my oldest child terrorized her little brother. She shrugged, laughing, the mischievous glint in her eyes matching that of one of her dads whose character she’d inherited; Ace. “It’s so easy to make him cry, I promise I wasn't even trying. I’m just being myself,” she flipped her dark lush hair over her shoulders, the glossy and stunning sight also resembling that of her fathers. She was such a daddy’s girl that she took every last bit of her being from them; her drop dead gorgeous looks and her fearless, stubborn personality. According to her dads, she got her stubbornness from me and not them, but I refused to believe that. “Sweetheart, putting a worm in your brother’s shoe doesn't count as being yourself,” Nick stifled laughter as he walked into the living room, dressed handsomely in suit that was identical to our son Samuel’s. “I’m a prankster and an anima
APRIL“Well, it’s a good thing I know exactly where that asshole is,” Nick’s mom said, the anger in her voice superseding his.At least Xenia’s trip across the world had proven to be the answer to our problems. But now, we had yet another broken hearted mate to add to the mix, and just like me, the pain sprung from parental issues. However, there was no time to dwell on that. The moon goddess had given us an opportunity to reclaim the peace in our city, so we had to focus our all on that. After the city was secure, we'd find a way to tend to our broken hearts and find the emotional healing we all deserve.But for now, all that mattered was find Nick’s monster of a father and putting and end to his evil attacks. “Are you sure this is the place, mom?” Nick asked as we pulled into the empty driveway of an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere. “I'm certain. I'll never forget it because I traced his assets all over the city in a bid to uncover proof of his evil agenda, but he cau
APRILWe all followed behind him, running until we stopped outside what seemed to be a prison cell. There was a woman dressed in tattered clothes and covered in dust cowering in a corner and hugging her knees to her chest, and something about her was oddly familiar. My mates also seemed shocked by her presence, but not in the same way that I was. The look in their eyes told me that they knew something about this mystery woman that I didn't know. Before I could even ask about it, Nick grabbed the iron bars and broke them off with a deep growl before running into the cell and wrapping his arms around the woman. That? That was the most confusing thing I’d ever witnessed. And I needed answers right now.I started to stomp towards the cell when Nick said a word that made me freeze in place, understanding washing over me in a thousand waves. “Mom! It’s you!”I blinked repeatedly, awfully confused. “Mom?” Ace and Xander looked away from the emotional reunion unfolding before us and nodd
APRILGlinda was confirmed to have been dead for good, but our hellish experiences still didn't cease after her death. Personally, I was still grieving my mother and the wonderful life I would've enjoyed with my parents if she hadn't swooped in and turned things upside down. My mother’s burial was an emotional moment for me and I broke down completely while delivering the eulogy. The guys even had to come upstage and keep from falling apart some more. The days that followed weren't any greener, especially with the dark void around the city worsening and swallowing us into a vortex while I was still grieving.Of course we were terribly confused as to why the spiritual attacks had carried on even after Glinda’s death, but no one had a reasonable answer to that. It was fucking frustrating having to watch people in pain almost every damn day. It sucked the humanity out of one’s soul and replaced it with nothing but bitterness. The only thing that was clear to me about the pattern of
APRIL“You rotten lads, you couldn’t just mind your damn business? This is your fathers’ karma, why did you have to dig your stupid snotty noses in it?” she hissed angrily, overly displeased that she’d been found out by us.“We should be asking the questions,” I responded, upset that she hadn’t even made an effort to explain herself, “we came here thinking this whole fiasco was orchestrated by Glinda, only to see that it’s you, mom?!” The disappointment in my voice was thick, but she obviously didn’t give a shit about my feelings because she broke into hysterical laughter. “Mom? I’m not your fucking mom you idiotic little whore,” she rolled her eyes, and then she snapped her fingers, causing her face and physical appearance to warp instantly. Suddnely, she was a silver-haired woman with countless ancient tattoos of the moon and a shiv stuck in her heart that told us more than we needed to know. Later on, the Alphas had given us a more detailed tale of the day they finally took dow
APRIL It’s been almost a month of back to back horrors breaking out in the city.We’d successfully chased the rogues out of the city and the sorceres were stationed alongside the armies by the borders, making sure that no more enemies were able to breach our defenses and get in.Heaps of bodies had been buried over the weeks and the entire town was reeking of grief. Loved ones were being mourned in different corners of the city were candles were lit beside framed photos and bouquets of flowers. Each photo of the dead that I saw brought me close to tears, but for children’s photos, my heart literally ached and felt like it was going to explode. Living in a place that was shrouded with pain and darkness was suffocating. Even though the sun came out each day, it felt like there was a dark void enveloping the city because everyone was in a sunken mood. We had to find Glinda and put an end to her attacks before the city was ruined beyond saving. Our search for her so far has proven fu
APRILThe ticking clock in the ICU waiting room was the only audible sound.Xander had been taken in for an emergency operation a while ago and we were still waiting to hear back from the doctors.When we arrived at the hospital, he was barely breathing, and it seemed like they might’ve stopped his heart for the surgery because I couldn’t feel even a shred of his presence through the bond. On our way to the hospital, we’d dropped Natalie at one of the safety bunkers where security and magic borders were keeping people safe. If she was here, she’d have been a great distraction for me. And god, I’d do anything to be distracted from this godawful unending pain. My chest fucking hurt. Every nerve in my body was on literal fire. My head was pounding as though a line up of high school bands were in a competition. All I could think of was the pitiful state we’d found Xander in a while ago. The way he looked helpless and near death’s door. The way his blood was like a second skin masking
APRILThe city was a mess. A bloody one.“Natalie, stop using your fucking phone or you’re going to get us killed,” I whispered to my best friend whose face was a mess of dry tears. She glared at me. “If I’m going to die, I need Hector to know that he was the best sex I ever had and I always wished we became more.” I frowned at her, both disturbed and confused that she’d picked that as the most important thing to put in order in a life and death situation. What a freaking clown.“Nat, I’ve told you a thousand times, you’re not going to die,” I bit out, “Nick asked us to stay hidden here and he’ll come get us, and I know he will.”I reminded her of the instruction we’d gotten almost an hour ago when chaos broke out in the city.Apparently, some rogues breached the city’s gates and began to brutally attack every living thing in sight. They've been killing anything in their way and no one is exempt from their wrath.Not women. Not innocents. Not children. Not animals. It was a battle
XANDER Today, just like every other day for the last two weeks, we’d split up to search for Brooke. April was able to fully recover from the effects of the poison she was heartlessly fed by Brooke after a full day or more. Once we were certain that she was in a perfectly healthy state, we decided to go on a hunt for Brooke to make her pay for hurting our precious mate.No one seemed to know where she was. No one had seen her since she ran off that day. Even the city cameras had no footage of her since that day. It was almost like she’d vanished into thin air after that day, but we refused to give up on our search.We even had the authorities officially interrogate everyone she knew, especially those she worked with at her modeling agency, but no one had any reasonable information to share with us that would narrow her search.Even her personal assistant only heard that she was missing from us, he’d assumed she was taking a mental health break when she didn’t come to the office for