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“What is this?” Antonio sneers at an envelope that an omega drops on the stool beside him where he is sitting with Carmela on his legs. “The Beta of Alpha Tatum brought it,” the omega bows, speaking cautiously. Carmela stares at the envelope, doing her best to keep her heart from racing but her heart sinks to her gut knowing fully well what the envelope contains. She adjusts herself on Antonio’s leg and picks up the envelope, rips it open and skins through it before tossing it back absentmindedly. “The pack wants to throw us an engagement party. Since the Lycan king found his mate in this pack, they see it as an honour and would love to do this for us,” she says, watching Antonio’s eyes carefully. “Engagement party? A day after Tatum comes here? What did he say to you in the garden? I know of your little tête-à-tête,” Antonio says in a cold and suspicious voice, squinting slightly. “Don’t tell me the Almighty Lycan king is jealous of a common alpha,” Carmela replies sharply with
“Meet me at our cave tonight, make sure no one follows you.” Tatum’s words from his mindlink to Leila earlier keep replaying in her head as she gets closer to the cave, her heart pounding hard in her chest. Why did Tatum ask her to come here of all places? This was where she first confirmed that Tatum had feelings for her when they were still kids and it was where he confessed his love for her years later before the unfortunate incident of her arrest and departure from the pack. What does he want to tell her that he has to bring her here? She sees the lamps hanging along the walls of the cave and she can smell Tatum heavily, her wolf’s excitement as well is going off the roof. Even if technically, she cannot say that Tatum and are as back as fated mates, bearing each other’s mark means there is a bond between them and she is dying to see him, just like a little girl excited to go on a first date with her crush. Even if the bulk of the feelings are her wolf’s because of the mark,
Tatum spared no expense in hosting the engagement party evident from the lush and expensive decoration, several montages displaying pictures of Antonio and Carmela, the beautiful lighting of the venue and the impeccable colour scheme. Almost every werewolf that has come of age is present at the party and are having fun in one way or the other, some young lovers are making out on the dance floor, some in the corner, some people are dancing and grooving to the music and others are indulging their appetites, eating and drinking. Tatum sits in the midst of the crowd, slowly sipping on his fourth glass of whiskey, intentionally spilling some on his dress so the smell is heavy on him. From where he sits, he stares at Carmela with a fake longing in his eyes, a part of his act and only when Antonio or Carmela herself look at him does he look away, making sure they know he is staring at Carmela. He glances at Leila who is in the company of Amanda and a couple of other women. Their eyes meet
“First of all, she didn’t make the choice to marry you, you claimed her and made her your Luna. She was a bright beautiful girl with dreams of her own and you made her give it all up to be your bride and it was all for nothing. The moment your phoenix Luna returned, you kicked her to the curb,” Amanda fires at Tatum, glancing from Tatum to Carmela. Tatum sneers at Amanda, realising she is playing Leila’s role in their original plan. He chuckles lightly, wobbling as he walks closer to Amanda to amplify his drunk act. “What did you think? That I would pick her over Carmela, my fated mate? I only married her because I needed a Luna, not because I had any affection towards her. I’m not the first Alpha who chose a mate in the absence of their fated mate and I picked her not because she is special or anything like that, she had a good lineage, and came from a family of strong Betas, that’s all. She is nothing and will never be anything compared to—” he turns and looks at Carmela with tha
While the party is going on in the hall, Tatiana drags Leila’s unconscious body into a dark room and lays her on the bed. She stares at Leila for a while with a sullen look in her eye, a pinch of regret in her heart that she had to drug Leila as instructed by Antonio.She heaves a deep sigh, takes one last look at Leila before she leaves the room and makes her way back to the party but when she gets there, everyone is already leaving and she cannot find Carmela, Antonio or Tatum either.She frowns and turns to leave herself when Amada suddenly blocks her path.“Where have you been?” Amanda asks, eyes squinted at Tatiana in a very suspicious gaze.“The restroom?” Tatiana replies sharply, making a face at her. “What happened?”“Your brother happened,” Amanda repies with a sneer. “Also Leila’s missing, Tatum’s gone in search of her. I’m staying out here incase she pops up. Can anything in your witch arsenal help us find her?”“Do you have any of her persona effects on you? I’ll need–” Ta
Tatum pushes the door to a room open, the actual room where Leila is. Tatiana had drugged Leila, according to Antonio’s wish but she never took her to the room Antonio wanted. She knew her brother would have eyes on Leila throughout the whole party waiting for her to drug Leila so she had no choice but to use a minimal dose of the drug and lure Leila away to make it appear real. In addition to giving Antonio the drug, she added a spell that filled the room and Carmela, who is actually the lady in Antonio’s room, with Leila’s essence. She knows with her brother drugged, his magic would be dull and he would be too dazed to notice but she also knows it is a risk to her life, one that she willingly took. Tatum stares at Leila laying on the bed. She stirs awake from the heavy sound of his footsteps, her eyes hooded as she turns to face him. Tatum looks away, his heart heavy with guilt and sadness. Everything Amanda reminded him of tonight bearing heavy on his mind. He has done her s
Leila grips his hand that is latched around her throat, spreads her leg open quickly to give him room, the anticipation of what he plans to do to her heighting her desire and her heart pounds with ease. She moves his hand away from her throat and places it on her boobs, squeezing it against herself and her body vibrates when Tatum pinches her nipples, at the same time, slides her panties aside underneath her gown but he hesitates again. “Leila, are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you,” he says in a shaky voice, the struggle between his desire to take and pleasure her and the need to respect her sounding clear in his voice. Leila looks into his eyes, desire and hesitance fighting inside them, she bites down on her lower lip, finding it hot that even now that the roles are reversed, Tatum still respects her; he won’t touch her even if she wants it and that makes her want him the more. She clamps her lips against his, sucking on it passionately and Tatum gasps into her mouth as she cup
Antonio groans in his sleep, with his eyes closed, he searches for Leila on the bed and pulls her close to him, snuggling her tight against him but then he suddenly opens his eyes, shocked by the smell of the woman beside him and he sees it’s Carmela “What the fuck?” He says in shock, shoving Carmela away from him. “Baby, what’s wrong?” Carmela yawns, stretching her limbs and gazing around the room, “when did we come here last night?” Antonio sneers at her, anger bubbling in his chest. Did Tatiana deceive him? She wouldn’t dare, not with the life of her beloved in his arms. He knows his sister too well. When she’s in love, she’ll do anything for that other person, she wouldn’t dare to put Kelvin’s life at risk. That only leaves one explanation, Carmela must have found out about his plan somehow and sabotaged it. He knows she has a witch working for her but it’s never been an issue for him because there’s no trick up that witch’s sleeve that he wouldn’t know but how did he let hi
Tatum decides to accept Leila’s invitation even when he doesn’t think it’s the safe thing to do but if she’s inviting him over, it’s more than a step in the right direction and he doesn’t want to fumble it and he also misses Amara so much. Dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a white shorts sleeve shirt, with a bouquet of flowers and a bag of toys in his hands, he knocks when he gets to the door but there’s no response the first time. He knocks again and the door slowly opens. “Good evening sir,” Amara greets him with no smile on her face and no enthusiasm in her voice. Tatum looks down at her, shocked by the cold and blank expression on her face. Amara is always happy to see him. What could be wrong? “Hey sweetheart, how are you doing?” He crouches to her height, showing her the bag of toys, “I got these for you.” “I don’t want them,” Amara replies, folding her hands against her chest and turning away from him just as Leila steps up to the door. Tatum looks up at her, mom
“Has anyone seen the Alpha?” Theo asks no one in particular, walking into the pack house cafeteria.He’s been to the office and he can’t find Tatum, neither is Tatum taking his mindlink which is very strange considering it’s the morning and Tatum is usually the first one around.“I think I saw him at the training complex,” one of the guys replies and Theo squints his brows, a confused look on his face.Tatum hasn’t been to the training complex in years even if training people is one of his favorite things to do. Well the only person he gave special attention to training then was Leila but after the incident between them and she left, he hasn’t stepped a foot in the complex.Theo scoffs, a thought crossing his mind as he waltzes through the corridor of the pack house that leads to the back where the training complex he located.“Harder! Is that all you got woman?” Tatum’s excited and taunting voice is the first thing he hears as he gets closer to the complex.Woman? Tatum is training
Carmela stands up slowly, looking at Tatum and Leila with shame and anger in her eyes, tears pouring out of them. She grabs her purse off the table, sniffing and sobbing before she practically runs out of the restaurant.“I’m really sorry about that,” Tatum says, pulling a seat back for Leila, “she just showed up out of nowhere.”Leila gives him an unsettling look before her gaze turns cold which sinks his heart. “Whatever,” she rolls her eyes in the direction Carmela just went, “like I said, she’s irrelevant,” Leila pauses and gives Tatum a look he can’t quite read. “What is it she needed help with?”“A fake pregnancy test,” Tatum replies, “but it doesn’t matter. I was only going to help her so Antonio doesn’t figure out the truth. Believe me Leila, she was only trying to stir up trouble between us,” Tatum’s voice comes out nervous.“I heard you the first time, Tatum,” Leila replies in a curt voice, sliding her purse off her shoulder and she drops it on the table with a bit of forc
Tatum turns his head in the direction and the moment he sees Leila, the look in her eyes as she sees the two of them that close makes his heart jump and he pulls away quickly from Carmela.He cannot afford to have her thinking otherwise or anything wrong. He wants her and her alone and he doesn’t care that Carmela is here, he’ll let her know that he has eyes only for her.Leila stays rooted to the spot, clearly confused about what is going on.Tatum dashes towards her as she spins on her heels to leave. He holds her hand and turns her to face him, looking at her with passionate eyes.“It’s not what you think. I didn’t invite her here, she came on her own asking for help and when I refused, she was willing to confess a secret. She was just about to whisper it to me, I swear, that was nothing,” Tatum says in a panic voice, hating the judgemental eyes Leila is looking at him with.“Okay, carry on then,” Leila replies, pulling her hand away from him and it breaks his heart that she doesn’
Tatum frowns, sneering at Carmela as she walks over to his table, a poise smile on her face as she locks eyes with him. “How did you know where to find me? What the hell are you even doing here?” Tatum fires at her, holding back the chair in front of him as she tries to pull it to sit. “Really?” Carmela rolls her eyes at Tatum. Tatum glares at her, feeling deeply irritated by her presence. A part of him wants to blame her for everything that went wrong between him and Leila but he knows that those events only happened because he allowed it one way or the other. He shares a part of the blame, if not the brunt of it. “I’m only going to say this once and I'm not going to be nice about it either. Get the fuck out of here,” Tatum points to the door, his voice cold, his Alpha aura rising in a dangerous manner. Carmela’s eyes widen and she takes two steps back, the confident look on her face falters and her eyes turn sad. “I need your help Tatum, please, Antonio’s going to kill me if y
“This is the best offer we can give, Alpha Tatum. It helps your pack and our company. Let us have those acres of land develop it, rather than allow it to lay in waste,” A man says to Tatum in his office later that day. He is part of a group of investors who are interested in developing a parcel of land sitting on the outskirts of the pack territory. Zane frowns, “I already told you gentlemen, if you can’t meet my ask for the lease, forget about it. I am not negotiating the terms of our deal.” “Alpha, I think you should consider their price, it’s fair and it greatly benefits the pa—” “I said we’re not selling, a lease is all we can—” The sound of Tatum’s phone vibrating on the table cuts him off and he arches his neck to look at the caller. Leila’s name displayed on the screen immediately makes his heart race. Why is she calling? Does she finally want to talk about last night? Has she forgiven him and wants to take him back? The butterflies in his stomach suddenly go on a rampag
Tatum smiles at the sleeping figure of his one true desire in his arms, beautiful as the sun, peaceful as a dove. He wonders how she’ll react when she wakes up and realizes what happened yesterday. He shouldn’t have done it but it was hard to hold back. The most control he could exert over himself was not to fuck her. He wants to earn that, he wants her to want it when she’s completely sober, he wants the desire to come from her heart and not from her body alone. He heaves a sigh, his guilt pricking his heart once more. This guilt will stay with him forever, even after he earns her complete forgiveness. He has a lot to make up for, so much more than he thought. Leila groans softly, her eyes fluttering open and Tatum shuts his eyes, waiting to see what her reaction would be. He feels her gently pry herself away from his arms as carefully as she can, not wanting to wake him up and then he feels her hand waving across his face to check if he is awake and he almost smiles at what she
Antonio groans in his sleep, with his eyes closed, he searches for Leila on the bed and pulls her close to him, snuggling her tight against him but then he suddenly opens his eyes, shocked by the smell of the woman beside him and he sees it’s Carmela “What the fuck?” He says in shock, shoving Carmela away from him. “Baby, what’s wrong?” Carmela yawns, stretching her limbs and gazing around the room, “when did we come here last night?” Antonio sneers at her, anger bubbling in his chest. Did Tatiana deceive him? She wouldn’t dare, not with the life of her beloved in his arms. He knows his sister too well. When she’s in love, she’ll do anything for that other person, she wouldn’t dare to put Kelvin’s life at risk. That only leaves one explanation, Carmela must have found out about his plan somehow and sabotaged it. He knows she has a witch working for her but it’s never been an issue for him because there’s no trick up that witch’s sleeve that he wouldn’t know but how did he let hi
Leila grips his hand that is latched around her throat, spreads her leg open quickly to give him room, the anticipation of what he plans to do to her heighting her desire and her heart pounds with ease. She moves his hand away from her throat and places it on her boobs, squeezing it against herself and her body vibrates when Tatum pinches her nipples, at the same time, slides her panties aside underneath her gown but he hesitates again. “Leila, are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you,” he says in a shaky voice, the struggle between his desire to take and pleasure her and the need to respect her sounding clear in his voice. Leila looks into his eyes, desire and hesitance fighting inside them, she bites down on her lower lip, finding it hot that even now that the roles are reversed, Tatum still respects her; he won’t touch her even if she wants it and that makes her want him the more. She clamps her lips against his, sucking on it passionately and Tatum gasps into her mouth as she cup