“I manage,” Leila replies, her heart sinking to her stomach and she gives Carmela a sullen look but Carmela keeps a straight face like losing your wolf wasn’t such a shameful thing.“I’m sure you do. Now, how about we go make some cold drinks and let the man work?” Carmela’s straight face lights up with a beaming smile as she replies, glancing at Tatum but Leila is too uncomfortable.What else does Carmela know? Is her secret still safe? What if she tells it to the other pack members? The consequences will be too dire for her. The pack members will blame her for Tatum’s actions just like they did when Carmela disappeared.Fear, worry and anxiety all flood her heart at the same time and she stands up abruptly, feeling too self conscious and shameful in front of Carmela.“I um- I have to go, I have somewhere else to be.”“But you only just got here, I was hoping to get more stories about your reign as Luna,” Carmela replies with a subtle coyness in her tone.Leila gulps, becoming more wo
Kelvin’s brow creases with worry for her. A deep frown contorts his face and he walks over, taking the seat next to her. He gently takes her hands in his, squeezing it gently, making Leila’s sad eyes meet his affectionate ones. “What happened? Is he treating you poorly?” he asks in a soft and worry laden voice. Is Tatum treating her poorly? Does sleeping in another woman’s bed and spilling their deepest secrets to her count as being treated poorly? “No….” Leila shakes her head, feeling a tug of pain in her heart. “Carmela is back, Kev, you know what that means.” Kelvin scoffs softly, raising a brow at Leila, looking a bit relieved to know she wasn’t suffering at the hands of the Alpha. “You disappoint me Leila, you’re just going to throw away your marriage and position because of that bitch?” Kelvin asks in a curt tone. His dislike towards Carmela is well known to Leila and Kelvin is not one to mince words or hide his feelings, except the ones he has for Leila. Telling Kelvin
She smiles bitterly at him, holding his gaze, letting the pain in her heart take full control of it. Her legs move with a slow tremor under the table and she bites back her tears, hoping her pain is not so evident in her voice.“If I am STILL your Luna, when do I stop being her, Alpha?”“What do you even mean by that?” Tatum looks at her weird.“I mean, your true mate has returned, obviously my days are numbered,” Leila manages to keep her voice from trembling as she speaks.Something that looks like guilt fills Tatum’s eyes and he shifts his gaze back to his laptop screen.“What I choose to do with her shouldn’t concern you,” Tatum replies passively with an aloofness to his demeanour.The tiny sliver of hope that Tatum may yet keep her flicks through Leila’s mind but she quickly pushes it away. He only said not to concern herself with it, he never said it won’t happen.“I’m just asking because-”“Leila, drop it,” Tatum snaps his laptop shut, his tone becoming stern. “Trying to change
A nervous pit settles in Leila’s stomach as she reads through the divorce papers, shaking her feet under the table. She stuffs it back into her bag, frowning at the other item in there, the test result of her pregnancy. One of them will be in the Alpha’s hands tonight. She picks up the cold glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from the gold plated table of the restaurant's VIP section where she is sitting and as she sips, her eyes scan the space and she can see the eyes leering at her. In a VIP section with ten tables that can sit up to forty guests, she is the only one sitting there. Tatum either booked the whole place out for their surprise date night or the pack members who can afford it are just avoiding her as usual. Tatum has barely said two words to her since their argument about Kelvin, in fact, she barely sees him. He leaves the house very early in the morning and returns far into the night, heavily reeking of Carmela’s smell but Leila doesn’t dare to complain, she is qu
Leila looks away from his eyes. How dare she endear him when it brings pain to her heart knowing it only gives her a hope she shouldn’t have. Afterall, the names were only to amplify their act to everyone and now the gig is up.“Leila…that day when I married you, I meant every word, every promise,” Tatum says in a calm voice, his eyes carrying an emotion Leila can’t quite describe.He promised a lot that day. He promised to always be there for her, to help and to protect, even though...they are not mates.They aren't. Tatum knew that, and lied to the pack for her.She once thought it might be the result of somewhat a small but real affection in his heart for her, but now...she realises it's only because her life was saved by his Luna. She is just a symbol of Carmela in his eyes. Nothing more.None of them thought Carmela would come back. Only he did, only he kept searching for her.The signs are there since Carmela returned, she cannot allow herself to hope, he will break his promise f
“Good evening Alpha,” The three chorus, smiling from ear to ear when Tatum breaks the hug.“I didn’t hear you greet the Luna.” Tatum’s voice is cold and with a command, his eyes flashing red, a sign his wolf is also agitated.“Good evening Luna.”The three quickly bare their necks to Leila, feeling terrified by their Alpha’s dominating aura.“Evening ladies,” Leila replies passively, grabbing her glass of juice and looking mindlessly away, knowing Tatum’s full attention will be turned to Carmela. She may just as well pretend to be a ghost at the table.“Can we sit with you Alpha?” Tracy eagerly says, smiling down at Tatum.A deep growl from inside Tatum’s throat is the response she gets and Carmela quickly pulls her back, smiling at Tatum.“Forgive her Alpha, we’ll take another table,” she says, leading her group to the table behind Leila and Tatum.“The Alpha was going to allow us to sit with him, you shouldn’t have pulled us away,” Philomena says the moment they sit down, frowning
Tatum didn’t return for the rest of that night.Leila stares outside the car window as she makes her way to Tatum’s father’s house, seeing a bunch of kids engaged in a fierce water gun fight and she smiles as a distant memory comes to her mind of her and Tatum always being a team at this sport when they were younger.Sometimes, she wishes Carmela never got the phoenix mark because that is when everything changed, when Tatum’s attention shifted from her as a friend to Carmela as his future Luna, only for her to discover as puberty hit her that those fun moments as kids had sown a deep seed of affection for him in her little heart.She hardly sees Tatum now, he doesn’t even come home some nights and it hurts because she knows exactly where he is and why and tomorrow, Carmela will move in permanently with them so whatever they get up to will be right under her nose.Carmela’s panic attacks have gotten worse instead of better and the Alpha of the Blood Oak Pack is the only one that can cal
Cheers, jokes, smiles, laughter, everyone seems happy, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, enjoying this lunch but not Leila, she is just stabbing her food, occasionally giving comments when she has to and keeping that placid yet fake smile on her face.She used to be the centre of attention whenever she visited Alpha Darren, his questions and riddles to test people’s wit used to be directed at her but now, it’s like he doesn’t even see her, no one sees her, not him, not his wife, not even her own husband.“Saving Leila’s life came as an instinct to me. I always thought I was going to be Luna since I was ten and I thought of it as my duty to save the life of a subject,” Carmela replies to a question from Alpha Darren and the room goes silent, all eyes falling on Leila.Leila keeps her head down, avoiding the many eyes leering at her, knowing Carmela just put her on the spot.“But of course, Leila wasn’t just any subject, she was also my best friend. I’m glad she’s the one Tatum
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