RAELYNN "There have been new cases of the infected in the past twenty-four hours. There's a high chance that one of us is infected right now," Austin, Rai's beta said from his position by the door of my office. "What do you think, Alpha Rai?" I said, folding my arms across my chest.Rai leaned back on his seat, his face stoic. "If anyone is infected, it's most likely Austin," he said and his beta scoffed. "Have you learnt anything new about the infection?" Rai asked, his voice tight with tension. Anyone who saw us seated in my office would sense the edge cutting tension swirling around us. I had expected this, especially after the words we'd exchanged the day before, in his study. It was clear that we both planned to pretend that we were unaffected by each other's presence. But this was my office. My territory. If anyone was going to be uncomfortable, it had to be Rai. Even so, he was pretty good at keeping his features blank. "The illness has different stages. There hasn
RAELYNN "Thank you," I said and the stranger's smile widened as he picked up my pepper spray bottle to hand it over to me."What's your name?" I asked. "Kyan. You?" He said softly. "Raelynn. Nice to meet you, stranger," I responded and his smile widened."Are you having trouble with your car, Raelynn?" He asked and I eyed him with uncertainty. Even if he had saved me from a threat, there was a chance that he was a bigger threat himself. "It's okay not to trust me. I just want to make sure you're alright," he said, moving towards my car. I stared at him, watching him as he shrugged off his red suit jacket. He tossed it at me, startling me. He winked at me when I caught it midair. It was odd to see him working on my car while he was dressed in an expensive looking attire. His clothes appeared to be neatly tailored to fit his leanly muscled physique. This meant he had to be on the same level as Rai. "Enjoying the view?" He suddenly said and I looked away from him, biting m
RAI A few hours before, "How is she, doc?" I said to Alexander, my family's private doctor as he shut his briefcase and turned away from Nadia who was lying on the bed with an unusual pale tint to her face. When she'd called me a few hours ago, I didn't think she was in such a bad condition until I got to her apartment to see her lying on the floor, panting and sweating."She'll be alright. She just needs some rest. Her heat period got to her, that's all," Alex replied and I furrowed my brows, puzzled."You didn't know? She's been in heat for three days. She needs to be properly attended to, she's your chosen mate after all," he continued and I sighed, my gaze resting on Nadia who had her eyes closed. "I understand. Thanks, Alex," I said and he beamed, patting my shoulder. "Just take care of her as you should," he said and left the bedroom. Letting out a sigh, I turned away from her bedside only to pause when I felt Nadia's grip of on my hand."Stay with me," I heard
RAELYNN "I'll scream," I deadpanned, my gaze locked with his. His frustration was evident all over his face and I enjoyed every second of it. Seeing how riled up he was becoming made me feel a sense of accomplishment. "Don't test me," he spat and I smirked. He was always like that. Underestimating me and ignoring me. He'd never looked my way while we were married. He'd always made sure I was subdued under his authority. "Try me," I said. The look of disbelief on his face pleased me more than anything at that point.To him, I was meagre.To him, I was merely an empty shell, a weakling, a pathetic damsel in desperate need of salvation and attention.But he was wrong. I would make sure he knew that. "What are you going to do? Leave or I'll scream. I can be petty too, you know?" I said, cocking my head. He cursed under his breath, a mask of annoyance shadowing his features.He walked towards me and halted in front of me, searching my eyes momentarily."Why are you doing th
RAELYNN "Nadia?" Glaring at me, she stormed towards me, her eyes blazing with fury. She raised a hand to hit me and I grabbed her hand to stop her. "Stay away from Rai, you hear me?!" She screamed at me, her eyes bloodshot.She looked like she'd been crying. Knowing her, she’d probably just thrown some childish tantrums."What were you thinking bumping into my car like that?" I demanded and she sneered at me."This is merely a warning. The next time you try to seduce Rai, it will be more than a mini accident," she hissed and I pushed her away from me. She stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, her limbs askew. She smirked at me and suddenly began to sob. Amused, I folded my arms across my chest. "What is this? How are you so good at pretending to be innocent?" I said and she sobbed harder, tears rolling down her cheeks. "What the hell happened here?" I looked up at the sound of Rai's voice but before I could say anything, Nadia stumbled to her feet and limped toward
RAI The pain in my head raged on and I felt sick to my stomach. It didn't help that I was burning up. I'd never felt like this before and for a moment, I wondered if I was infected. When Raelynn brought a hand to my forehead, I almost let out a moan. Her hand had an odd cooling effect. This was the first time I was truly witnessing the reason she was a healer. When she pulled away, my vision blurred and the raging heat flared up. I could feel my sweat dripping down my spine. "Can you walk?" She asked me, reaching out to touch me again. Instinctively, my body leaned towards her. It was not my intention to get too close but I could barely hold my body up anymore. So I fell forward, my head resting on her shoulder. A tremor racked my body in that instant and the excessive warmth in my body started to fade. I could vaguely hear her calling my name while the the sound of my own erratic heartbeat filled my head. Raelynn brought a hand to the back of my neck, and I shivered. She sa
RAELYNN I stared at the palm of my hand, my eyes narrowed as I recalled the sudden burst of blue light that had emerged from my palm right when Rai had leaned into me. It had never happened before. The more I thought about it, the more I became puzzled. There was a knock on the door of my office. So, I looked up, my frown deepening. "It's me," I heard Nadia say. The corner of my mouth tilted upwards and I leaned back on my seat, the frown on my face fading away. "Come in," I stated and she walked in with a small gift basket containing some fruits. I folded my arms across my chest, eyeing her with a blank look on my face. "What brings you here?" I asked and she placed the small basket on the desk, right in front of me. Although she wasn't smiling or frowning, the malice in her eyes was unmistakable. "I apologize for putting you through so much trouble the last time we met," she began. I raised a brow, amused. "You didn't have to apologize," I said and she scoffed, plan
RAI She stared up at me, her chin raised in defiance. The flames in her eyes did not vanish as we engaged in a heated stare-down. All of a sudden, she slammed her forehead against mine, startling me."What the hell, Raelynn?!" I growled, and she blinked at me like a child caught with jelly all over her mouth. In that instant, my frustration died off. So I pulled away and straightened."Fine. Put on your seatbelt," I said, and she glared at me before grabbing her seatbelt. I slammed the door shut and settled down in the driver's seat."Since when did you get so petty?" I asked, and she scoffed at me."I've always been petty," she mumbled. I blinked at her, surprised by the sudden flutter in my chest when she made that statement."What happened to Raelynn, who was always calm and cool headed?" I said, and she turned to look at me, a smirk curling her lips."She died a long time ago," she replied, and I looked away from her, tightening my grip on the steering wheel.Perhaps I'd push
RAI I couldn't sleep that night. Nadia had threatened to print wedding invitations and send them out without my approval. It shouldn’t have bothered me but it did. I'd planned to avoid Raelynn as much as I could. However, she'd called me the next morning, asking me to come to her office. Sitting directly opposite her in her office, I couldn't look away from her for a second. Whatever attraction had been growing between us seemed to have escalated. My wolf was just as unsettled."What is this sudden meeting about?" I said, trying to distract myself from thinking about how good she smelled."I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for Izzy," she said, rising to her feet. I frowned at her, puzzled."Izzy asked me to examine you. She thinks there's something seriously wrong with you," she stated. I scoffed, leaning back on the seat. "Sure."Raelynn halted in front of me and bent over a little. Then she brought the chest piece of her stethoscope to my chest. I stiffened, startl
RAI Kissing her again for the first time in five years made my heart pound in excitement. I hadn't felt like that in a while. Nothing else mattered in that moment. It was petty of me to stake my claim in such a tense situation. I had no excuse. I had reached my limits at this point. When I pulled away to see the emotions in her brown eyes, I realized what I'd just done. Her eyes were clouding up with moisture and a spark of rage enveloped her beautiful brown eyes and my chest tightened. Against her will, I'd just kissed her. "Rae..." I started to say, reaching out to hold her. But then, she slapped me across the face. It stung but I knew that I deserved something worse. Even so, I couldn't stand the fact that she'd just been on a date with Kyan. Kyan lurched forward, grabbing me by the front of my black shirt, his eyes fired up with fury. "How dare you? You are her ex-husband. You have nothing to do with her," he growled. "I'm leaving," Raelynn said through gritted teeth.
RAELYNN The concern in Kyan's voice brought a smile on my face. "I'm okay. I didn't get hurt," I said to him. I didn't think he needed to know about Susan's death or how I was barely keeping myself from mulling over how she'd died in front of me. "That's a relief. You've gone through so much," Kyan stated and my smile widened."I appreciate your concern for me, Kyan. I haven't done a lot for --""I'm inviting you to dinner. Tonight," he said and I went still, tightening my grip on the phone. The last thing I wanted to do at the moment was attend a date. Especially not after everything that had happened within the past few hours. "Kyan, I'm not really interested in any of that," I said to him."Come on, Raelynn. You've been through a lot. You should relax and unwind. Trust me, you won't regret it," he stated and I heaved a sigh."Fine.""That's great! I'll send you the address of the restaurant. I would have invited you to a private dinner at my home, but I don't want to co
RAI I narrowed my eyes at the monitor in front of me. Displayed on the screen was a live video of Raelynn confronting Susan. I should've known that she would try to do something like this. If she wanted to satisfy her curiosity that badly, she shouldn't have let me find out about it. However, the moment she turned away to leave, Susan called out to her and I stiffened. Listening closer to their conversation, I fixed my gaze on Susan who was visibly trembling. "Who was it, Susan. Don't be afraid. You can tell me," I heard Raelynn say. Susan started to back away, shaking her head vigorously. All of a sudden, her neck got twisted in a gruesome manner, blood splashing all over the wall. A muffled scream escaped Raelynn's lips as she stumbled backwards, her hands clamped over her mouth. Shooting to my feet, I instantly mindlinked Jared. 'Get her out of there, right now.'He responded immediately. 'Yes, Alpha.'My blood boiled in my veins at the thought of whoever was responsible
RAELYNN I stared at the screen of my phone with a heavy pressure lingering on my chest. I'd told Austin that I didn't care about whatever happens to Rai. But there I was, wondering if I'd done the right thing. My phone suddenly rang out and I picked up the call the moment I saw the caller ID."Hey, Theo," I said."The twins are missing," he said and I froze. "W-what?" I breathed, stuck with terror. "We're still searching for them but it appears that they have been abducted. We found an ominous note in their rooms," Theo said, his voice trembling. "No. Not my babies. Please find them. I can't lose them--"The sound of an ear piercing gunshot rang through the air and I instinctively went down on my knees as the glass window shattered, eliciting a scream from me. Trembling, I lowered my head as another gunshot echoed in the room, a bullet embedding itself in the wall of the hotel room. The whole place went silent but I remained hunched over on the floor, my heart threatenin
AUSTIN "What the hell happened last night?" I said to Nadia who was was sitting by Rai's bedside. Rai on the other hand, was lying on the hospital bed, unconscious. When I first heard about his fainting episode in the elevator, I'd been worried that something was terribly wrong with him. But, after a few days passed, and nothing happened to him, I was convinced that he was fine. "Will you not say something?" I said to Nadia and she glared at me. "I don't like that tone," she said through gritted teeth and I narrowed my eyes at her. I'd never seen her with such dark expressions before and even though I knew she'd always displayed a false image, I was still surprised. "He was perfectly fine yesterday at the office. What the hell happened to him?" I asked again and she lowered her gaze to the ground, tucking a few strands of her hair behind an ear. "Are you trying to say I did something to him. It's unbelievable but...father called him and asked him to marry me. Rai was so a
RAI Rosy cheeks and bright chestnut eyes. I doubted that I would forget how she looked tonight. When I leaned in with the intention to kiss her, Kairos growled in my head in anticipation. He had pushed his way to the surface and was eager to mark her. But I knew better. She wasn't my mate. Not anymore. The loud honking from the car parked behind us snapped me out of the haze that had kept me irrational. So I slowly pulled away and cleared my throat. Without a word, I turned on the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. Raelynn remained silent as I continued to drive. She kept her face turned away from me as she gazed outside the window. Her shoulders were slumped and her overall body language indicated how exhausted she was. "Raelynn --" I start to say and she interrupted me without looking at me."It didn't happen. Nothing happened tonight. Let's keep it that way," she said in a monotonous voice. Clenching my jaw, I sharply exhaled through my nostrils. The bitter burn in
RAELYNN "Why are you really here? Why did you return after five years? Who the hell are you?" Rai demanded, his voice laced with irritation. I wondered why. We'd always been hostile to each other but it seemed to have become much worse. "I already told you. I only returned because you asked for my help," I said and his gaze darkened. "Are you sure? Are you certain that you did not show up just to exert your revenge on me?" He demanded and I scoffed, picking up my bag from the couch. "Is this really why you called me to your office? To accuse me? You're just as shameless as always," I said, and he narrowed his eyes at me."What? Shameless? Stop trying to change the topic. Admit it, you have malicious intents and --""That's enough," I spat, tightening my grip on my handbag. His expression faltered as I approached his desk and halted right in front of it. "It was my day off yesterday. You called me out of the blue and I went out to you. I didn't abandon you when I saw you
RAI As soon as Izzy left my room, I suddenly felt drained and regret sank into me. I knew she truly cared about me, but I couldn't bring myself to accept it because I knew. I knew I didn't deserve to be happy or cared for. I was better off embracing my own karma. I didn't want to get my hopes up. Returning to my bed, I sat down, burying my face in my hands. My phone buzzed and I picked it up from the nightstand. Raelynn had just sent me a message. It read:'Listen to whatever Izzy has to tell you. She cares about you. Also, make sure you set up an appointment with a healer. You're not in good shape. Don't ignore it or it'll only get a lot worse'I stared at the screen of my phone in disbelief. "What's it to her anyway?" I muttered. Glancing outside the window, I took a deep breath. Perhaps, Raelynn was right. Maybe there was something wrong with me. Closing my eyes, I tried to get myself to relax. An image of Raelynn's face appeared in my mind's eye and I sighed. Was it re