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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 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
“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
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 that
Despite it being only a few hours of the morning, the city is abuzz, teeming with people, everyone seems to be in a jubilant mood. Large posters of Antonio and Carmela hang on almost every corner Leila turns her eyes to, posters announcing Antonio’s wedding to Carmela.“Who would have thought the king, who we hardly even see would someday be getting married and even invite all of his subjects?” A lady at a stall where Leila stopped to get water says to another one.“That phoenix Luna is really a blessing, she’s completely changed the personality of the king. It’s so awesome to see,” the other lady replies.“I already told my nephew who is a fabric dealer overseas to get me the best fabric. No one is going to outdress me for this wedding,” the first woman chuckles and they clap hands.Leila moves from there but every corner she walks through seems to be in a similar mood, hyped about the king’s wedding and it just makes her feel sick. Hearing the people talk about it, one would think
Leila stands to her feet and clenches her fists by her side, glaring at the six obviously trained guards surrounding her. She’s far away from any help and if they are here to kill her, this may well be her last day on earth but she won’t go down without a fight.“You’re supposed to be men but you continually gang up against a helpless woman, pathetic,” she sneers, extending her claws, the eyes of the men going wide at the blue and yellow aura surrounding her paws.She cannot risk shifting fully so she does not expose her secret of being the real phoenix Luna. Exposing her claws like this is already a great risk on its own but if she will ever reunite with Tatum and Amara, if their family will ever be complete and live in bliss, she has to survive and survive she will.“Come on! What are you waiting for!” She yells, snarling at them, losing every epitome of fear. Even if she dies here, she will not be the only one.The men all exchange glances, an emotionless look in their eyes but the
Leila frowns as the car speeds off in the distance, her heart sinking as she gazes at the expanse of land around her. She has no idea how to get around in the capital or what she has to do next. Does she return back to her pack? She could but that would only give Antonio an excuse to say that she disobeyed him and only the goddess knows what evil he’ll do to the pack as a result of that. Honoring his summon is suicide as well, he made it quite clear that his intention is to kill her with the order that he gave to Kelvin. If only she could reach Tatum, he would know what to do, he would help her. Tears pool in her eyes and she lets them fall, sitting on the dusty roadside, her heart clenching with pain and churning with bitterness. Every step forward seems like two steps backwards. Trent paying for his crimes hardly feels like any victory at all, her husband and child are still missing and she’s stuck in the capital of a murderous king who wants her dead and turned her best friend
Tatiana scoffs, “Antonio doesn’t need to cast a spell on me to make me do anything, he obviously has other methods,” she glances at Kelvin, “but that had nothing to do with him, I left and delivered his message of my own free will.” “And when you set me up at the border with the royal guards, was that of your own free will too?” Leila asks pointedly but her expression holds zero hostility towards Tatiana. “I didn’t set you up. I was only desperately trying to get help for Kelvin then but I knew my brother had eyes on me, so yes, maybe I knew what would happen if I contacted you,” Tatiana replies in a similar tone, not missing a beat. Leila purses her lip, feeling a slash in her heart. It’s hard to comprehend why Tatiana who rebelled against her brother for their sake would just change. When they worked together, they were able to get Kelvin free and get Antonio to leave the pack. Something came out of their cooperation the last time, why is Tatiana so against it now? Tatiana even
Leila quickly crouches above him, her heart pounding with fear. She grabs Kelvin’s hands and checks for a pulse, a slight shudder of relief taking her when she feels something. She gazes around but she sees no sign of anyone. What does she do? She cannot just leave him out here but at the same time, it is dangerous to be around him and she still doesn’t know who or what sent the beam that hit him. When she tried to focus to bring out her magic, she did not feel anything innate, so she knows this did not come from her. “You should be making a run for it, not kneeling there.” Tatiana’s voice makes her head snap up and her heart races when she hears it, the realisation hitting her. The red beam must have been sent by Tatiana. “Tatiana!” Leila springs up to hug her but Tatiana holds her hand out, pushes past Leila and mutters and incantation over Kelvin. “Is he going to be alright?” Leila asks, peeping the worry in Tatiana’s eyes. Kelvin was cold to her, cold enough to want to t
Leila’s heart pounds. Kelvin may have said the words as if talking about killing her is like talking about taking a walk but the sinister look in his eyes is enough to let her know that he means it. She bolts out of the car to make a run for it but Kelvin is already on the other side waiting for her. Her eyes bulge at his speed. His aura is definitely not the only thing that has changed about him. “You don’t have to make a scene right now,” Kelvin dips one hand in his pocket and retrieves a vile, “this is poison. You can make this easy by drinking it, I’ll watch you die and then I’ll dispose of your body or you can make this hard and I’ll have to use my…” he retracts his claws and smiles sadistically at it. Leila frowns, at the same time hit by a wave of sadness. The Kelvin she knows would never talk about her death in such an amusing manner. She may have to accept that her friend is gone but she has to try to reach him if he’s in there, one last time. “You’re better than this Kel
Outside the hall, one of Kelvin’s men holds the door to the back of the car open for Leila to enter when Kelvin shakes his head. “I’m riding with her in mine,” he says in a cold tone, glancing at Leila, “the rest of you, take the other cars.” The man shuts the door and nods. Leila’s heart races as she locks eyes with Kelvin. Perhaps the Kelvin she knows is still in there and he couldn’t just be himself around her in front of Antonio’s other men which is why he wants her to ride alone with him. Kelvin walks over to his car with Leila in tow and then he walks back to his men, giving them further instructions before he walks back to Leila. He stands close to her at the passenger side of the car and scoffs before he walks over to the driver’s side. “What are you waiting for to get in? Gone are the days when I always opened the car door for you, Luna,” Kelvin says in a sarcastic and cold tone, getting into the car. Leila bites her lower lip, feeling like a boatload of stingers were ju
Leila shoots to her feet, her teary eyes locking with Kelvin’s in the distance. He is looking directly at her but there is no warmth in his eyes and his gaze isn’t cold either, it just ... .is— void, without any emotion. “Uncle Kev!” A teenager in the crowd yells and runs towards Kelvin with her arms wide open to hug him but the royal guards with him block the girl off and Kelvin doesn’t even look at her, he just keeps sauntering forward, his unreadable but eerie gaze focused on Leila. A sore feeling wraps around Leila’s heart and she remembers what Tatiana said Antonio had done to Kelvin, that he was different. The girl his men just shoved aside that he showed no concern for is one of his young nieces in the pack. How far gone is he? “It’s quite a scene you’ve made here,” Kelvin says in a sarcastic yet cold tone, staring from Trent’s headless body to his bodiless head, a cold smirk forming on his lips. Leila’s heart thuds slowly as she climbs down from the podium to meet him. T