ELIANA.“Hi Cory”My lips curled with a whisper as I leaned my back against the wall. “Have you…uhm have you heard from Denver?” I asked the one person who would know where Denver was. Regrettably, I wished I’d done this sooner. And luckily, he picked up. So that would mean he and the Pack were safe. The most of them left for Tombsdale right after the wedding. “Actually,” Cory heaved. “I just spoke with him. He was here not so long ago but he already left” His words forced a breath of relief out of my lips. “Oh my God” I ran my hands through my hair.“What is it? Any problem?” Cory asked. My saliva moistened my dry throat as I muttered. “I’d been calling him all morning and left even a hundred voicemails but he hasn’t replied any. I was just beginning to worry” Beginning…I had no idea how worried I already was.“Oh well, yes” Cory paused. “He hasn’t really been with his phone.” “Typical Denver” I scoffed beneath my breath, taking a seat by the edge of my bed. “One might think he wo
ELIANA. Ivan's hands gripped the steering wheel as he zoomed across the highway. The car was awfully quiet and every second that passed drew slower and slower while my heart pounded louder and louder in my chest.I gazed out of the windows, in search of anything other than this deafening silence because it forced me to confront the million things that were racing through my mind. I didn’t want that. Not now.Now, all I wanted to do was find Denver and know that he was safe.I wanted nothing more at that moment. The car jerked forward, turning into the junction that brought us closer to the Hadder Highway but it was still like half an hour away. A hard lump slipped down my throat.I couldn’t survive the quiet for that long. So I turned to my right, and there was my Grandma who had persistently argued her way into following us. Throughout the ride, I noticed her hands never left mine.They clamped over my fingers with a steady grip and each time I looked at her, she had that comforting
ELIANA.My eyes glimmered beneath the glow of the moonlight and I clutched my chest. I felt my heart skip a beat the moment I saw Denver’s car. His Benz was unrecognizable, dented, wrecked and destroyed. From the looks of it, he seemed to have swerved off the highway, only to come tumbling down the hills with as much speed as he was running.And he’d rammed himself between the ground and the trees.Ivan was several feet below, already scavenging through the messy debris but I just needed a moment to get myself together. A hard, painful lump slipped down my throat at the sight of the wreckage.“Oh my God” Nana was just as shocked. The both of us weighing the chances of his survival. A million thoughts raced through my head at that moment and there was a sudden surge that coursed through my veins.“Denver,” His name escaped my lips. I jerked myself back from the state of shock and now, all I wanted to do was get down there. So, I kicked my feet forward, jumping down the hill without a
ELIANA.Till the earliest hours of the morning, we were still out there, ravaging through the depths and corners of the forest that was bound between both Tombsdale and Oakland. A score of Blood Hound guards led the search and on the other side, Beta Cory and his men took charge. For the past few hours, we’d been at it but unfortunately still, there was no trace of Denver yet. I’d tried everything including a locator spell and our mate bond but nothing worked. However, as I wavered through the wild trees with my hands, I refused to give up hope. As long as we hadn’t found his body, I was confident he was still out there. No one knew Denver more than me, which is why I refrained everyone else from losing hope.He was a fighter. Escaping that ghastly accident was proof enough of that. Now, I assumed the next thing he sought was help. Which meant he wasn’t far after all. That glimmer of hope was what propelled me, through the first hour, the second, the third.And now, the fourth.My
GERALD JACOBS.MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO.The forest was always my safe space.Each time I found myself getting more and more overwhelmed and angrier with everything, which was a lot of the times this past few weeks, I would come here to find solace. Among the towering trees, their branches stretched out like open arms and it was only here that I could truly breathe. It was only here that I didn’t have to be just the Alpha. I didn’t have to be anything. Just exist.No responsibilities, no Pack duties burdening on my shoulders. Not for the few minutes I’d spend in the forest. I’d known no other life than being an Alpha, it was either that or being the Alpha’s son. But my father died a year ago, I was twenty when I was reinstated as Alpha of the Blood Hound Pack. I had to give up everything for my duty. I had been told ever since I was a little boy that it was destiny to rule. Nothing more, nothing else.And I had done that the past few months, even though nothing could’ve prepared me f
GERALD JACOBS.MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO.“I met a girl!” I stormed through the chamber doors, eyes wide and my face bright with a smile. My most trusted Beta, Phil turned to me. He was the only one I trusted to ever come close to me and he had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. So of course only he could understand the next words I said.“I met my mate!” My wolf growled free at my attestation and Phil’s jaw dropped open. “Your mate?” He echoed with disbelief. As I took off my jacket, I turned to him. My hands fell to grip his shoulders, out of excitement.“It’s a very funny story.”“I was walking in the forest, on my break when something struck my feet. It was an arrow—“ “An arrow?” Phil asked. “From a hunter. Behold the culprit was her. Susannah, she said” I smiled, recounting that single moment that changed my life.“And she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen” I said softly.“But she’s a hunter?” Phil was just as perplexed as I was earlier. “That’s not even th
GERALD JACOBS. MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO.“So she was mated before?” Phil asked as I sat there, damp by the edge of my windowsill. I looked out through the fog at nothing in particular. It was raining that evening when I got back. And I crossed my arms over my chest as I wallowed in my thoughts—where I had been for the past few hours and where I would remain for even days to come. Her words kept echoing in my ears, over and over again. The thought of being a second chance mate was something that never crossed my mind but it was my reality now.And the mate bond between Susannah and I was undeniably strong. It was palpable, that even each second that passed that she wasn’t here, I was torturing my mind—my wolf. Because it was no longer that I didn’t know. It was that I did and I was only just hesitant.Which meant my Wolf had already scented her, tasted her and wanted more so each second that I stayed away, I was only hurting my wolf which in turn was hurting myself. That’s how being ma
GERALD JACOBS.MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO. I sprinted into the forest with halting labored breaths escaping my lips. I threw looks over my shoulder as I stood there, right where we first met. I halted, desperation etched across my face as I looked at the trees.Shafts of the morning sunlight filtered through them and I had to narrow my eyes because my vision dimmed. Suddenly, I couldn’t see so clearly but you see, the moment that I scented her again. The perfect Vanilla cologne with a stint of woodsy mint. She spelled like nature herself, like blooming flowers and a crystal clear sky and then my eyes cleared. It was fate, no one could tell me otherwise because I wasn’t even sure I would see her again. But there she was, standing in a small clearing, bathed in a soft, ethereal light. Our eyes locked into each other and time seemed to pause for a moment. I lifted my feet to walk towards her and Susannah did the same. Tears stung the back of my eyes as I fell into her embrace, holding her