Rygan's POV I never knew that after Alana’s death, someone would make me feel so anxious and yet so obsessed that I had with Alana an innocent love, but I’ve never felt so intense and never wanted someone so much like how I craved Elise, and she was all I could think about. Since that very day that I took Alvira in my bed, my wolf had fought against me, thrashed my mind, and filled it all with Elise; she was who I wanted. But it all came crashing down when Alvira announced her pregnancy. I could see the look of betrayal in Elise’s eyes. I knew I was going to lose her, but nothing prepared me for the moment Kaide told me that she was gone that night. A clouding fear surrounded me and left me wondering if she had left me and left the pack, finally freeing herself from a messed-up old me, but the moment I found out she was taken, I became feral with a killing drive. My wolf had become mad with searching for her; I could barely sleep or eat after she was abducted, not until I
The moment Elise spilled those painful words to Rygan, forcing him to believe she felt nothing anymore, she hadn’t expected him to agree so easily. Something in her felt like it was breaking into small pieces. ‘You agreed to this? Letting me go? Are we doing this? Was this over?’ She thought. A part of her hated that he wasn’t fighting her words; she always did and finally heeded them. It hurt more than it should have to see he was giving up, but the moment she left him by the woods and he didn’t reach out for her, that was the moment she knew it was over. But what changed? She couldn’t even blame him when she begged for it, pleaded for her to be free of him, and he gave it this time so willingly, but why did she feel like her heart had just been ripped out? The moment she slammed the doors and walked back into the room where Vienna was, the last patient who was leaving, she turned to give a small smile to tell Vienna she was alright, but she could barely do it. “I’m sorry
“You have a date? With who El?” Bellamy whispered excitedly, and Elise didn’t know how she’d explain that it was Kaide. She felt Kaide's eyes were still on her as she turned to look at him, but Bellamy caught them staring at each other and saw her commander's gaze soften with affection for Elise, and she immediately clicked who her date was. "Oh, moons, it’s him?!” She said it out loud, forgetting to use her inside voice, which had some of the students turning in confusion. People were already looking over their shoulders and wondering what all the commotion was about and why Bellamy was shouting. Elise immediately placed her hands over Bellamy’s mouth. “Shhh! Not so loud, Bells!” She scolded, and Bellamy looked sorry. “I’ll tell you when we are done with training ,” she said to Bellamy, who got overly excited again. Bellamy was more than surprised, but she was all the happier for Elise that she finally found someone she liked in the pack. “I have to go tell Vienna.” “
“Let’s just focus on our date,” Elise called with a tight-lip smile. Kaide had tried to get her to talk about what was bothering her, but she brushed it off with a smile. They walked down the bridge leading to the pack's town, and Elise focused on letting her nerves go; she still had a tinge of apprehension as to how the pack would react to seeing her. She knew it was Rygan's orders for her not to be hated or treated differently because of who she was, but he was not here as she felt nervous about it. They reached the town a few minutes later. Elise was as anxious as she could be, especially since Alvira had managed to turn most of the pack against her to dislike her. She wondered how they’d react if they saw her now. But the first touch of Kaide’s hand encouraged her not to be afraid of them, so they went to different shops, tasting delicacies that Elise had never seen before since the Silver Night Market never traded outside the pack. Especially because Tazmins
Elise’s POV. What have I just done? Why the hell did I slip up and call Rygan’s name right at this moment? I felt mortified the moment I realized what I had done. An awkward silence ensued between me and kaide, we could only stare at each other in silence at my mistake. I felt so mortified by it. “Oh my... Kaide, I’m so, so sorry,” I started as I felt his hands loosen their hold on my waist. “No, it’s fine.” “It's not fine, oh gods. I can’t believe I just said that." I muttered, covering my face with my hands in embarrassment. “I’m going to leave,” I said, still flustered by the situation. “El, you don’t have to.” “Please, I feel ashamed of staying here already,” I said to Kaide. I pleaded with my gaze, hoping he’d see the utter humiliation I was feeling at that moment. Even right now, Rygan ka’al Andras still plagues my thoughts. “Let me walk you back then.” “No!” I exclaimed, still flustered from what just occurred minutes ago. “I can go myself, p
Elise's Wolf has been agitated all morning ever since she had that conversation with Rygan, and then she found out about the death of her abductor and the nightmare that she could barely remember, but all she knew was that he woke up sweaty and in a panic. And her wolf is on edge. She ended up puking her guts down the porcelain toilet bowl, her body clammy and wet from the cold sweat from her nightmare. It all went back to what Rygan said about her being her father's child, and now she dreamt of her father's chief, Dexton, choking her neck, and she couldn’t call out for anyone while her abductors watched in amusement. Even in a dream, she was trapped with a monster, and she felt like she was stuck. Only the sound of Rygan’s voice had calmed her enough to wake her from sleep paralysis. After that, she couldn’t sleep anymore; her night was spent tossing and turning till dawn; she couldn’t meet him after her nightmares; she stopped her heart from depending on him as s
“It’s an invitation to Alpha Rygan’s engagement,” Vienna explained, watching quietly to see how her friend would react, but Elise didn’t so much as bat an eye. She kept that pain hidden as she tried to think of something else than this harrowing pang in her heart as she stared at the invitation. “You knew, didn't you?” She asks Elise, who stands up from the kitchen bar stool, walking to the fireplace to stare at the open flame that kept them warm. “More like, I'm the person who told him to go ahead with it... to hurt him and me,” she muttered. “I think I deserved to be hurt; I mean, I was the one who broke it off; what was I expecting?” “You were expecting better, something he could not give when he is practically a mated man, but I don’t still get this honestly; you see the way he looks at you, how he...” “Stop Vienna, please,” she tells her friend with a whimper. She didn’t need to recall whatever memory she had been trying to push back down for a while now. “Hey, sorr
KYREN’S POV (BACK AT THE DARKNIGHT PACK) I was seething with rage that dreaded day, only one of my assassins made it back to the pack. I wanted to kill him there and then for letting Elise out of his sight and back to those Blackmoon bastards. “I should snap your neck for not fulfilling my task,” I snarled, slamming him against the wall. I didn’t care if his arm was dislocated—a wound he got from his escape. "Please, Alpha, we tried our best, but we were surrounded. We thought we had escaped to hide in the shadows and attack again, but ‘ka’al’ saw us. Rygan saw them; that was their excuse for leaving my most prized wolf in their possession. I was more than pissed. “Tell me everything,” I snarled. “The seer was right; she had fully matured into a wolf, the most magnificent creature I’d ever encountered. Never had I seen a female so majestic; she reminded me of the shadow wolves,” my assassin says. “Shadows, wolf?” I called, finally letting his neck go, and he fell to th