Leila did not expect Tatum to not only defend her but also reprimand his precious pack members for her sake, even going as far as promising them a consequence for their action and as much as she does not show her shock, it intrigues her but openly calling off his enagagement with Carmela, she did not see that one coming. It seems Tatum really also wants to make Carmela pay but why won’t he just do it the proper way, expose her as the fraud she is? But even if he does that, it hardly matters, she’s not taking him back, she’s not going to be the phoenix Luna for a pack who are always quick to turn on her, not once, not twice. They already missed the blessings of the prophecy and that is too bad for them. Tatum glances at her after making his statement, as if to see if his decision would have any effects on her but she keeps her face cold and stoic, not showing any sort of emotion that may give her shock away. “You can’t possibly be serious,” Carmela says with a sneer on her face. “O
Tatum hears Leila’s grunt just as he feels the bond completely sever on his end and the constant pain he has been feeling leaves him, he realises he made a mistake by accepting Carmela’s rejection. He may have mentioned Carmela’s name but his wolf does not know who Carmela Eston is, his wolf only knows that they have accepted the rejection from their mate and the bond became severed. “Fuck,” Tatum mutters, turning to look at Leila to see her cradled in Kelvin’s arms, her hands on her chest, her face full of pain, her eyes red and teary, bulging veins lining her temples. His heart breaks because he knows exactly what level of immense pain she must be going through, it was what he was avoiding, he didn’t want her to experience it. As an Alpha himself, he could barely cope with it in the early days. He rushes over to kelvin and Leila as the guards take Carmela away from the courthouse too her house arrest and the crowd begins to disperse but Leila shoves him away from her. “Don’t tou
Leila opens her eyes, unsure of how long she has been asleep but the one thing she notices is that the pain is gone, she can no longer feel it anyway and her wolf is fully present but sad, very sad. She groans and turns to her left to see Amara fast asleep beside her and she smiles, her heart flooding with warmth and she kisses Amara’s hair. The whole world may abandon her but she is sure that her daughter will never leave her side. “How are you feeling?” Kelvin’s voice makes her turn her head and she sees him reclining on the couch adjacent to her bed, smiling at something on his phone before his gaze shifts back to her. “How long was I out for?” She asks in a weak voice, adjusting herself into a sitting position. “Two days, in and out,” Kelvin replies just as Leila’s stomach growls. Leila’s eyes almost coats with tears. What would she do without him? For those two days, though unsure, she remembers a man beside her, tending to her the few minutes that she could keep her eye
“What?” Leila asks, her eyes going thin in shock as she drops her feet from the bed, the sound of her heart thrumming reaching her ears. Tristan is her only solid evidence against Carmela, how did he end up dead? She kept him safe. Kelvin sighs, putting his hands against his forehead and he looks down before looking back at Leila. “I don’t know exactly how it happened but when I got there, he was without his head or any of his limbs, someone cut them off and considering he’s a fugitive, I couldn’t call or alert the warriors of the incident, I had to bury him at the base of the tree myself.” The horror of Kelvin’s gruesome description of Tristan’s death makes Leila’s heart sink. Tristan did say that his life is in danger, that the Lycan king is after him but there is no way Antonio would have found him, that treehouse has existed for years and has never been discovered by anyone, there are only two people who know about it asides from Tristan, her and Kelvin. She looks at him sharp
Leila did not think that Kelvin meant it when he said he won’t be in touch but apparently, he did. It’s probably the first time they are having a fight and she feels bad about it and about suspecting Tatiana at all. She did not know that healing Amara came at such a cost for Tatiana, Kelvin must have kept it a secret not to bother her and Tatiana on subsequent visits never acted bitter or showed any resentment for it and it only makes her feel worse about what she insinuated. She was only trying to point out the obvious but clearly, she overstepped and she regrets it. Kelvin is right, Tatiana is his woman, she is family, she will be on their side, she had no reason to doubt her but is that reason enough for Kelvin to just completely ignore her since that day? He won’t take her calls, won’t reply her texts, she even went to his house and apparently he moved to a new apartment a few weeks before they had their fallout and he did not even inform her. It’s the first day of the hearing
Leila walks away the moment Tatum walks up to them, completely ignoring him. It is the first time she is seeing him since the rejection became complete and the matebond completely severed but she still feels uncomfortable being in his presence. She cannot feel her wolf yearning but something about being close to him still pulls her. Despite her anger towards him, despite her hatred, Tatum seems to still have an effect on her and she doesn’t want to deal with him right now, not with everything that she is going through. “Let me help you Leila,” Tatum calls after her but she keeps walking ahead. He runs up to her and pulls her back by her arm, putting some distance between them when she scowls at him. “I don’t need your help, I don’t need anything from you Tatum. I’ll bring the divorce papers to you and we’ll call it a lifetime between us, just, fuck you Tatum,” Leila says, her eyes brimming with tears as painful sorrow washes over her. He is the architect of all her problems. Eve
“Good job Bass, keep me posted on how it goes.” Kelvin ends the call with Bass and stares at his phone with a confused expression on his face after Bass fills him in on the outcome of the day’s event. He grits his teeth and scrolls through his recent call logs, staring at Leila’s number. She has given him quite a number of missed calls and texts in the last few days but he doesn’t want to talk to her, not right now. It hurts a lot that she would even doubt him or Tatiana when he would never doubt her. He still has to help her but he can help without being in her presence, perhaps when this tightness in his chest begins to loosen up, he’ll show his face to her again and also apologise for ignoring her. Now is not just a good time. Tatiana steps out of the shower naked, towelling her hair, her boobs jiggling from the movement of her arms and Kelvin smiles at it, smiles at her, unable to believe that a goddess like her is his, to love, to hold, to cherish and to fuck. He tosses his
“Brother, what are you doing here?” Tatiana asks in a frenzy, shock and fear clear in her demeanour and Kelvin looks from her to the stranger, his heartbreak only compounding. Tatiana only mentioned sisters, she said she was an orphan and her sisters were the witches of her coven, some of whom he has met, invited into his home, wined, dined, shared jokes, laughed and had meaningful and thoughtful conversations with. How much more lies has she told him, does she even really love him or has he just been a fool? “We haven’t been officially introduced, I’m Antonio,” Antonio keeps his attention on Kelvin, completely ignoring Tatiana who flicks a dress on to cover herself, “but many call me the Lycan King.” Immediately the words leave Antonio’s lips, Kelvin feels a strong, lethal aura bearing down on him and never in his life has his wolf had a stronger urge to yield to the aura of an Alpha and he bows, shock and realisation hitting him at the same time and he looks sharply at Tatiana wh
“Welcome to my humble and temporary abode Angel,” Leo smiles at Leila, opening his arms for a hug. Leila keeps her face grim, her feet rooted to the spot, barely any amusement in her eyes as she stares at Leo blankly. “My bad,” he chuckles and drops his hands, “we’re not friends yet, according to you. I’m glad you took up my offer. Come, I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Leila narrows her eyes at him as she walks in behind him. His men do not bow or show any sign of respect or anything like that as Leo walks past them. Everyone is just going about their normal duty and activities as if they cannot even see him. Even Tatum who doesn’t force anyone to respect him will not have his men just lazing about when he walks in with a guest. Is Leo really this jovial with his men or is this all an act for her to drop her guard? Make her feel like he is a warm and homely person? She only has one mission here today and that is to find her daughter. Whatever theatrics and schemes Leo has up hi
“I think you should go Leila,” Jenny says later that evening after Leila tells her of her encounter with Leo and how he both directly and indirectly gave her an invitation to his camp. Leila looks at Jenny with shock, not expecting her to say that, “can you even hear yourself? It’s an obvious trap. He already has Amara, if he kidnaps me too, then what happens?” Jenny frowns, “you’re both invitees of the king and I know where you’re going, he can’t actually kidnap you if you walk in there with your feet. This may be our only chance to confirm if he really has Amara in there or not.” Leila sighs, a sad and conflicted look on her face. Jenny has a point but it is also risky too. The Leo she met is a far cry from what she thought him to be but of course, that too might just be pretense. “I have an idea,” Jenny’s face lights up as Leila raises her head to face her, “to ensure Leo cannot do anything silly when you get to the camp, we just have to make the king aware of your visit to Leo’
What does he want with her? Is he going to— “I thought I told you boys to back off, are you trying to scare the lady?” Leo’s voice breaks into her thoughts and she looks at him with eyes agape in shock, then squinted in suspicion. “Alpha, we’re only doing our duty, it’s not safe for you to roam these streets alone, considering our current standing with the king,”one of his men replies. “The angel here knows a thing or two about standings with the king and she’s roaming, is she not? Unless you boys think a woman can handle what your Alpha can’t.” “Of course not Alpha,” the guy immediately goes on one knee and bows to Leo. Leo rolls his eyes and frowns, “you’re always too serious Dexter, I meant that as a joke but if you thought so, you wouldn’t be wrong, this lady here is a special one.” The discomfort in Leila’s heart grows and a tinge of fear rises in her from the words of Leo. He was somehow able to find out that Amara is Tatum’s daughter, what else does he know? Does he know h
“This mysterious savior of yours seems to be one of a kind,” Jenny says after Leila recounts her ordeal at Leo’s camp to her. “I guess he is,” Leila replies, her eyes holding a conflicted look, her thoughts still unsettled about the probable identity of the man and his proximity when her life is in danger. “Jenny.” “Yeah.” “Is it possible for one’s wolf to change, maybe by magic or a spell?” “Why do you ask?” Jenny squints, her face becoming doused with scrutiny and a hint of sudden realisation, “wait. You don’t think it’s Tatum, do you?” “I don’t know…” Leila replies, her voice sullen and dry, her heart soaked in grief, “if such a spell was possible, I suppose I would think so. I mean, who else would come to my rescue like that but him and his choice to stay mute too. Plus Tatum has a habit of doing things and keeping me in the dark. I’m just so confused.” Jenny heaves a deep sigh, pity covering her eyes. She sits beside Leila on the mattress and drapes her hand around her. “D
Leila immediately takes off in the direction through which she came, the guard at the post takes a swing at her with the silver spear clutched in his arms but she ducks underneath it, her heart pounding hard and fast as more guards join in the chase. She reaches the fence and in one swift move, she leaps over it but the barbed wire tears into her back and the side of her arm as she lands but the pain doesn’t deter or slow her down. Leo already has Amara, no doubt to have an edge over Tatum, if she gets caughts too, it will only make things worse and judging from what she has heard about Leo, he could do much worse than just capture her. The sound of the dogs barking and men yelling gets louder as she takes off into the deep of the woods. She almost shifts so she can gain more ground on the dogs who she can see closing in on her from her peripheral vision when she remembers the dangerous spell cast on the capital, way before Antonio even became king. It is a tale every child growing
“If your mind's made up, give me a few hours, I’ll do a cloaking spell to keep you hidden when you get there, go get our little warrior and bring her back,” Jenny replies, giving Leila a hug. Leila feels a bit of relief hearing that. With a cloaking spell, she can easily move in and out of the camp undetected and hopefully, she can get Amara out. Armed with Jenny’s cloaking spell which Jenny channeled into a bracelet around Leila’s wrist, Leila heads to Leo’s camp. As long as she keeps the bracelet around her wrist and avoids water getting on it, the ordinary eyes of men will not be able to see her. Her eyes scan the camp’s walls—high wooden fences reinforced with barbed wire and guarded by sentries, their sharp eyes scanning the darkness for any movement. She can see their figures in the distance, shifting in and out of view as they pace. She holds her breath, listening for any noise that might betray her presence. Even with the cloaking spell, she still has to be very careful, o
The next day, Leila makes her way to the palace to officially answer Antonio’s summon. She would rather be looking for Amara or Tatum right now but it’s important that she sees Antonio too. The last thing she wants to do is give him an excuse to legally place any kind of punishment on her or pack using her disobedience as an excuse. “State your business,” a rough looking guard, a guy as tall as a mountain, confronts her at the gate. “I’m here to see the king by his summon. I’m Leila Cromwell, Luna of the blood oak pack,” she replies, staring at the gates that stand tall and imposing. The guard grunts and they his eyes change colours, showing he is mindlinking, possibly confirming if she was truly summoned by the king. “Wait here,” the guard frowns, before walking through the gates and into the gate house. Leila’s heart thuds nervously as she waits aside. A lot depends on the outcome of her meeting with Antonio but what would she even say to him when she sees him? The man singl
Leila’s heart races, her breath becoming unstable from Jenny’s revelation as she tries to make sense of it. “If it wasn’t for Amara’s power that caught him off guard, he would have captured us right there and then but she bought us enough time to escape and stay hidden until Tatum and his men arrived and the moment Tatum left with Amara, Leo and his men stopped their onslaught and went after him,” Jenny concludes. Leila sighs sadly and massages her temple. This endless cycle of torment and confusion just seems to never want to stop revolving around her. She knows Amara is alive but she still cannot ascertain her safety from what Jenny is saying. It makes no logical sense for Tatum to bring Amara to the last place that she should be and another thing is how far the North Star pack is from the capital. It’s a very long journey that would take travelling through different packs and despite the measures she put in place and people she had sent to different packs in search of Tatum and A
A terrific sigh of relief escapes Leila, her eyes going wide in shock and she hugs Jenny again, tears falling out of her eyes, a rush of relief filling her heart. For many nights and days she has prayed and hoped that Amara would be safe, that no harm should befall her but why the capital, why did Tatum choose here of all places to bring her, right under Antonio’s nose. What is his plan? She breaks the hug and tugs Jenny by her arms, “do you know where she is, can you take me to her?” She asks, her heart pounding wildly, nothing would bring her more joy right now than seeing her little girl again, seeing those shiny pretty eyes, her bubbly personality. The last time they saw Amara was withdrawing into a shell because of how different she was from kids her age and how they treated her. Will she still be the same or will spending time with her father have that effect removed? “Leila , calm down,” Jenny replies, a bit of a sullen look in her eyes, “I know where she is but it’s not t