Leila stares at herself in the mirror wearing a blue crystal down with black heels adorning her feet, her auburn hair clipped to the side with a tiny diamond tennis necklace hanging around her neck.
She smiles a satisfactory smile at how she looks but she heaves a worried sigh for what she is about to do.
“My world….Selene must have thought she was creating two people when she gave you this much beauty,” Tatum says from behind her and she turns with a full smile on her lips.
There he stands, gallant as ever, handsome as the devil with the smile of an angel on his lips, adorned in an all black outfit. Black pants hanging off his waist and on his brogue shoes, a black short sleeve shirt that hugs his dangerously sexy biceps tucked into his pants.
Just as Leila planned, Tatum’s back barely touches the bed before he falls asleep, he had already been dozing off in the car on their way back home.Leila lies, cradled in Tatum’s arm for a while but her eyes are wide open , her heart racing with many emotions, her mind clouded with a plethora of thoughts.She feels comforted being next to Tatum and she would not trade this life for anything else but tonight she drugged him, even if it is for the greater good, she cannot shake off the guilt that is slowly and painfully clawing at her heart.When she feels Tatum is deeply asleep, she carefully wriggles free from his arms and waves her fingers across his face and Tatum feels it but he doesn’t move.H
“Yes! That’s how you do it!”Tatum jumps to his feet, fist pumping the air, he jams his hands together with much excitement, chuckling with the look of a proud father in his eyes.It’s another day of the contest and one of his warriors has just taken down another wolf that was almost twice his size in wolf to wolf combat.“Did you see how he did that?” He asks Leila, touching her shoulders with excitement.Leila jerks at his touch, like someone jolted out of a trance by his touch. Her body is present there, perhaps her spirit too but her mind is already far gone.“What? Who did what?” Leila replies, glancing f
Humming a tone to herself with a little smile on her lips, Leila pours out two glasses of orange juice. She stares down at her stomach and her bulge is becoming quite noticeable.Her smile morphs into a full one and she runs her hand down her stomach, her heart feeling fuzzy, before placing the glasses on a tray, retrieving a box of cookies from one of the kitchen drawers and placing some on a plate which she puts on the tray and makes her way to the living room.She has already sent over a letter to the pack witch to inform her of her intention to have a meeting and all that remains is for it to be scheduled.“Here,” she hands Tatum one of the glasses and he slowly takes it, barely saying a word or really even looking at her.
Leila rolls her eyes at Carmela and practically storms upstairs to her room. She cannot ask Carmela to leave, she doesn’t want to upset Tatum.She doesn’t even know why she mentioned Carmela to him in the first place, it was her jealousy speaking.What woman would be happy that the man she is crazily in love with is thinking of another woman?She slams the door shut, crashing on the bed, seething with a scowl on her face.She feels so much rage at the mere sight of Carmela with everything that she has discovered so far. She needs to find a way to quickly expose Carmela for who she really is.When will Kelvin get back to her on the assassin? That
“So what if I am?”Leila’s harsh words slash through Tatum’s heart ferociously, inflicting a gruesome pain on him. He was hoping she would deny it, that she would lie to him but she didn't.“Why did you even banish him? What did he ever do to you?” Leila raises her voice as tears break forth from her eyes and it breaks Tatum’s heart even further.What is so special about Kelvin that she loves so much that she is not willing to let him go?What does Kelvin have that he lacks?What does she see in Kelvin?“He attacked the head warrior of the pack, I can
“Do you love Carmela, do you want to be with her?” Leila fires his very own words back at him.How many times does she have to tell him that Kelvin is just her friend? There is only one man she has ever had feelings for and that is him.If Tatum and Kelvin both had guns to their heads and she had to choose one to survive, as much as it would hurt her to make the hard choice, she would painfully choose Tatum because life without him would be meaningless.Even if she knows deep down in her heart that Kelvin would willingly give his life for her.Sadly, she cannot say the same for Tatum.Instead of owning up to his mistakes and
“Is this really necessary mom? I don’t think I want to do this,” Leila grumbles.She steps out from the front door, clutching her fur jacket with both hands against her neck, seeing nothing but tiny rays of light in the misty fog.“You’re the one who sent my son on a fool’s errand. If he was here, he would carry you through the hike but I am not breaking tradition and endangering my grandchild because of that,” Adaline replies curtly.Leila doesn’t miss the subtle eye roll Adaline gives to her but she knows she deserves it. It’s been a week since Tatum left in search of Kelvin after further pleas from her and she hasn’t heard from him at all.No
“Walk ahead,” Leila says to Carmela, squinting at her as they trudge up the small hill.There is no need to hide it, she doesn’t trust Carmela at all, this is a woman that had her locked up, tirelessly tried to poison her and eventually tried to kill her, there is no way she can walk with her back turned to Carmela.Adaline may be here and so Carmela may not try anything but she cannot take that risk. The fact that Carmela knew the assassin that attacked her on two occasions still baffles Leila’s mind.What she cannot make sense of is why Carmela would stage an attack, fake her own kidnap and then return now to try and kill her so she can become Luna when she could have just stayed and married Tatum naturally.
“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