My hips and legs were a bit stiff after I mounted Evander’s back in his wolf form. I was still in awe whenever I watched him shift in front of me. It was as if it were a very natural thing for him to do and I wondered if he still felt pain during that morphing process.Because every time I shifted, it felt as if I would collapse from pain and only had little enough energy to spare for the fight, which was a very dangerous thing if I was alone. I would be an easy target and it was hard that I couldn’t practice shifting when I was still pregnant with our firstborn.We left the car at the east border of the land that used to be the territory of the Ivory Pack.Carefully, I slid down my husband’s dark, shiny fur and felt it on my cheek before he stood on his four feet and scanned the whole area. I hooked the straps of a small backpack to my shoulders, where I secured my husband’s clothes so he could wear them when he shifted back to his human form.[How do you do it?] I asked him, full of
A snarl rumbled in my husband’s throat and I stroked his fur to calm him.[Let us wait, Evan. I have a feeling he personally knew Melinda. Hence, he won’t be able to get into that hole that easily.][I always know he is up to something.] Evander growled low in my head as we hid behind the thick bushes, far enough for Alec not to sense our presence. I kept stroking my husband’s fur until his breathing slowed and the massive, powerful muscle underneath that black coat relaxed.[We have to know what his connection is with her.] I breathed.Two minutes and Alec hasn’t climbed out of the hole. I started to feel worried. What if I was wrong and he didn’t really know Melinda? What if she kills him inside that dark, scary pit?[We have to go. We have to see if Alec is still alive in there.] I said to my husband with alarm and gave the bag of his clothes to him as he shifted back to his human form. I glanced in his direction and my heart skipped when my eyes scanned with hunger at that ripped
“Holly!”I heard Evander’s soft voice but all my mind was in a haze of pure anger—not for the scarred woman who was pressing herself against the hard, cold wall of her small hiding place but for the man who pretended he cared for me my whole life! The man who made me believe that he was my father and almost ruined my life if it wasn’t my mate who saved me from the darkest pit Randalf Ambrose dug for me.I tilted my head as I heard my husband whisper to me but my eyes were fixed on Melinda’s terrified face. Pale as moonlight. As if she had never seen the sun for a very long time. Scared that people might see her and report her to the man who made that horrible mark on her face. Her long, thin fingers went to her throat as if she were choking out of fear. No. It wasn’t fear. Those round, copper eyes were so wide that her eyes balls looked as if they were going to roll out of their sockets.“Holly! You are killing her!” Evander’s voice turned into a snarl as his body tensed. He was behin
I sharply turned to look at my husband from my shoulder.Even my mate went still as he gazed at Melinda’s copper eyes. “You want to join my pack?” He asked, his jaw tight and his brows meeting in a deep frown. He knew it was a huge risk to take a person like Melinda into his pack. A hybrid with a strange ability and the one who had been hunted by Randalf’s men—A smirk tugged on Evander’s lips and my brows raised as he continued speaking to the lady. “Fine. I can arrange it.”I turned around to look at my husband’s face. I knew what I was thinking might upset Melinda so I whispered it through our matebond. [You can’t be serious! The council—I don’t think they would agree with taking Melinda into our pack. They barely accepted me!]Evander’s eyes didn’t leave Melinda’s nervous face as he answered me. [We have no choice, love. I am still the Alpha of the pack. They shouldn’t question my authority.]The tension on my shoulders was released as soon as Evander’s emerald eyes went to gaze a
Melinda hesitated to go with me to the Snakewood Pack, but she had no choice. Her life was in complete danger now that she was being hunted by Randalf’s men and the only way to protect her was for her to come with me to my dad’s territory, where I could have my eyes on her all day, just as the Snakewood sentinels would do everything, even give their lives, just to make sure the daughter of their Alpha would survive the threat from the Ivory Pack.The Pack that was once my home—that was once I loved.Before the first ray of sun struck between the stratocumulus clouds covering the morning sky, Evander had already brought me and Melinda safely into the garden, and no one even questioned our disappearance, which made me a little curious.“When the lights went out, I asked Sheiyan to pretend to be you, sleeping soundly in your bed,” Evander explained after he shifted back into his human form.Alec was still dressing somewhere. He asked the sentinels that were posted at the gates of the gar
“Tell me, why are you here, Alec?”Evander’s irritated look went to the Alpha of the Agarwood Pack. I could tell how much he wanted to get rid of my former mate but Alec stood his ground and met Evander’s glare with a cold, ‘I don’t give a f*ck’ look.Alec raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t get me wrong, Edgerton. I don’t like being here as well. But I want to know what you folks are up to. I know this isn’t my sh*t but I can’t just sit down and watch all of you do something stupid. And you know what I mean.”“Alpha Alec is right. We shouldn’t make reckless decisions and hide them from the Alpha King. This is complete treason, Evan. And Holly is pregnant! She is in the very delicate stage of her pregnancy. We can’t risk any more plans, just like you did last night.”Sheiyan folded her arms around her chest with a worried look for me and his brother. I felt guilty that I dragged all of them into this and put their lives at risk. But we did it. We finally have Melinda and we know how to r
[ALPHA EVANDER's Point of View]“Goddess gracious! What happened here?!”I didn’t look at him. I just let my head hang on the backrest of my chair and breathed slowly. All I felt was this void swirling in my chest like a black hole in the middle of a pitch-dark infinity and the prickling, throbbing pain on the broken knuckles of my hand that was deliberately healing.I knew Kian was now furious after what I did to my office.Still dizzy, I pulled my heavy head back to look at Kian’s bewildered face. His jaw dropped while he scanned and calculated the damage I did. And then, with bleary, drunken eyes, I looked around and felt ashamed that I had totally lost every control I had left in me after what happened in the Snakewood Palace.After Holly and I’s argument.“For the love of the Moon Goddess, Evander! What are you doing with yourself!”I blinked. I barely remember what I did. But even I was shocked at the destruction I caused while being so drunk last night. Since Holly stayed in he
[HOLLY’s Point of View]“The baby is growing well. I can’t tell what the gender is yet but the fetus is strong.” Melinda murmured as her bony fingers felt my still-flat belly. “The baby is six weeks old, to be estimated.”“Do you think I can do it? That I can still fight and retrieve the pearl in my condition?” I asked Melinda with determination in my voice. “I don’t want to just stay here in the palace doing nothing while everyone is risking their lives to fight Randalf and his men. I have to do something to make things right.”Melinda lowered her face. Her dark, kinky hair covered the scar on her left cheek as she spoke softly, carefully, “Maybe the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack is right. Maybe you should just stay here and let them work on this, my lady. He is a very powerful Alpha, next to the Alpha King. I am sure he would do everything to retrieve that pearl for you.”“Yes. He is a powerful Alpha, Mel.” She looked into my eyes when I gave her a nickname that she must have never he