Willow. I sat in my vanity, my reflection showing straight on the mirror. I'd been like this for the past one hour, but was I tired, not at all. Could I even see myself in the mirror, I couldn't answer that either. I let a tired sigh slide past my lips. I'd been doing that for as long as I can remember and it wasn't helping matters. My mind was a literal mess and right now I wasn't sure anything could be done to clear it all out. Even if there was, wasn't it already too late? I pressed my eyes shut and despite how hard I fought, the memory came rushing by. I'd had it all planned, from the beginning to the very end, so I had no idea how things had managed to go south. Even in my wildest dreams,I never saw it panning out the way it did last night. If I needed any more confirmation that the moon goddess hated me, I'd definitely gotten It last night and it was in the form of none other than Olivia. I didn't see her reaction coming. What hurt the most, was the fact that my gut fe
Willow It was messed up, everything was messed up, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how doomed I was, and it was all thanks alpha freaking Carter.I had no idea why he had done what he did. I really didn't ask him for help. All I asked him for, was a week to do things my way, so I could make Asher see what he was missing and he would come back to me. He'd agreed to it, but apparently, it was too much of a big deal for him to keep. Now, not only had he pulled me back in achieving my goal, I had no idea what Asher thought of me at the moment. I wasn't in his head, but I was sure he felt insulted. How could Carter even think of doing that in the first place? Did that even make any sense to him at all? I shook my head slowly.Carter was fond of doing this. Always meddling into things that weren't his problem and eventually doing them. Then when he was done with the damage he'd wanted to wreck,he would come to you for validation. Such a loser. I blinked back a c
Carter “And that's what I told her.” Colin's hearty laugh reached my ears, but it didn't take too long for it to slip out the other ear. “And in a fit of rage, she stormed off.” I made a weak attempt at laughing at his jokes when Colin burst into another round of laughter. I'd been doing that for a while now, and he hadn't caught on to it. Yet. Honestly, I was hoping it stayed that way because I wasn't in the mood to explain anything to him. “Carter?” Colin's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “You're not listening, are you?”“I am.” I shrugged, before turning to face him fully. I'd just lied and if there was anything Colin was good at, it was sniffing out lies, especially from me. “I'm a hundred percent with you.” “Really?” Colin crossed his hands across his chest. “What was the last thing I said then?”s “You were talking about a lady.” I nodded. Colin was always talking about one woman or the other, so there was no way this would be an exception. I hoped. “Right?”“What di
Carter I snuck a glance at the woman on my bed one last time. I guess it was true that the statement, “she slept like a baby”, because right now, I wasn't sure I'd seen Willow more at peace than now. With the side of her face pressed gently against the pillow, and the way her hair spread out around her like waves from the ocean, she could easily pass as a goddess who'd decided to take a rest from the duties of the day. Like this, she could easily enter into a contest with the goddess of beauty, and still come out as the winner. I took another glance at her, before coming out of the room and shutting the door behind me. “Is she okay now?” I had barely taken one step before someone's voice reached my ears. My heart leapt into my throat, but I did a good job hiding it. “ Shit, did I scare you?”“Maybe a little heads-up would be nice, Colin.” I snorted. “Did they not teach you not to sneak up on someone?”“I didn't sneak up on you.” Colin retorted. I threw him another glare, before
Carter I stood rooted in my spot for the next couple of seconds. Maybe if I could pretend I hadn't heard them, they would leave right? It always happened to me. Most times when I was too preoccupied with a thought, so much that it bothered me, if I ignored it for long enough, it would just leave. And if anything could be possible in my mind, it definitely meant it could be possible in real life too, right? I hoped. But I was wrong. The nervous glance that Colin threw my way was all the indication I needed to know that my imagination hadn't worked this time. The mystery person who had interrupted us was still there and I couldn't help but wonder if they'd overheard us or not. “Excuse me?” The mystery person spoke up again and if I was being honest, there was something off with their voice. “What's going on there?” Colin and I locked gazes again. I wasn't the only one who'd heard the uncertainty in his voice, Colin didn't miss it too. But what if I was wrong? What if it was al
Willow A small groan slid past my lips as I slowly drifted back into consciousness. For the first few seconds, I couldn't feel any part of my body, nor could I feel the very surface I was laying on. If I was laying down, that is. Slowly, I turned to my right and only when I was done did I realize I had probably just made the worst mistake ever. Jolts of pain spread through my body. Like a really sharp needle had pricked the most sensitive part of my body, I pressed my eyes shut in nothing but pain. The sensation went on for hours, or if I was trying to be more accurate, a maximum of twenty seconds. I had barely recovered from the shock when a dull throb at the back of my head began to form. This time, I did nothing to mask my groan. With everything in me, I let out a gutteral cry. Tears pricked the back of my eyes and with the huge lump lodged in the base of my throat, I wanted nothing more than to scream my lungs out. Apparently, screaming had a penalty of its own. Not knowing
Willow For the second time in what seemed like forever, I gently peeled my eyes open. Unlike the last time, this one didn't hurt. If there was anything that felt weird, it was how heavy my eyelids were. The more I tried to keep it up, the more the weight seemed to want to press my eyes shut. A wave of panic washed over me immediately. Why? Why did I always have to wake up in the worst possible ways? If I wasn't trying desperately to feel my bones, I would be trying to keep my eyes open. This was only the second time, but I was fed up. I muttered a quick prayer to the moon goddess, and she must have heard, because I felt slightly better after a couple of minutes. I still felt groggy, but at least I had my eyesight now. After blinking a couple of times, another wave of panic rushed in my veins. From a quick glance at my surroundings, it was obvious I was no longer in my room.Despite how groggy I felt, I managed to get up, and only when my hands had come down on the sofa's armre
Carter. I knew I shouldn't feel bad, that was the only possible outcome after I had spiked her drink. If I was being honest, I knew that was going to happen. What I didn't expect, was me feeling bad after seeing Willow passing out again for the second time. It was different this time though. Why? Because I was the sole cause of her slipping into an unconscious state this time around. I knew it wasn't right. If you wanted, one could even say it was a cruel thing to do, but in my opinion it was a necessity. It was mandatory even. After I had watched Willow's body topple onto my bed, I roughly counted up to five. I needed to make sure she was no longer conscious for me to be able to do what I had planned. After a full blown five seconds and some extra minutes, I tiptoed towards Willow. When I got to her, I brushed her hair away from her face as I let out a small sigh. If only she had agreed willingly but she didn’t. And Willow’s abstinence forced my hand. She made me do this. I told my
The night was dark, with only the gentle light from the moon shedding and casting its warm glow over the earth. Stars littered the night sky, and against the pitch black backdrop of it all, the scene above looked nothing short of a beautiful painting. The sound of leaves crunching underneath someone's feet cut straight through my thoughts. Immediately, I turned to the side, and standing a couple of feet away from me, was a black wolf, tall and mighty with its beady eyes staring down at me. A couple of moments passed as we both stared at each other, none of us daring to move. Something swirled in the pit of my stomach and before I could make sense of all that was happening, I found myself transforming back into my human form. My fear heightened when I realized whoever it was, was still in its wolf form. I didn't have to think too much because I'd barely mumbled the rest of the questions, before the wolf morphed into his human form, and the moment he did, a huge smile made its wa
I gently pushed the door to my bedroom shut. When a small click reached my ears, I heaved a sigh of relief. I had no idea why I'd just done that. Mum was probably halfway to slumber town now, so why was I so worried that I would have woken her?I sighed again, before gently clasping my hands together. A slight tremble rocked my fingers, but I kept them together, going they would stop soon.Luckily for me, it didn't last long. The moment I witnessed the last of it, I headed to my study desk in the corner of the room and pulled out my books. I had a test in the morning, and AP Chemistry, isn't something you just waltz through with an empty brain. I knew there was trouble the moment I read the first line and was unable to grasp anything. After trying for the second and third time, and still nothing had changed, I just knew I was cooked. There was no way I could focus on studying, not when there was something on my mind. No, not something. Someone.Zayn.No matter how many times I t
Silence filled the air, except for the tip of my fingertips drumming against the steel table in front of me. I had no idea why this man, Shadow, had gone with steel tables. Did he not have any class? I understood that he ran an underground business and was trying to keep things tough and scary, but who said the affairs of the underworld couldn't be spiced up with some class?Take for example. I was a perfect fit Or perhaps the steel table wasn't such a bad idea. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't exactly useless. Let's say Shadow's warehouse happened to get raided by a rival group right now, this steel table could actually come in handy. Just by flipping it over, it could actually give Shadow ample time to bring out his gun and attack. “Why don't you take a picture?” I let out suddenly, causing Shadow to flinch. I watched as he blinked back a couple of times, obviously trying to readjust his eyes to his surroundings again. A sly grin made its way to my face immediately a
I stood rooted in my spot, my blood boiling. I didn't even bat an eyelid when the sound of Alessandro's car driving out of the compound reached my ears. My mind whirled with a million questions and a thousand more thoughts. How dare he? How could he even do such a thing?I'd always perceived Alessandro to be a heartless and ruthless monster, but the last thing I expected was him bringing a little boy into the equation. Leo was still a little child for fucks sake!I pressed my eyes shut, and the moment the darkness engulfed me, I regretted it immediately. Leo's bruised back and face filled my vision, his wounds taunting me. I shook my head as I imagined his wails and sobs.Leo was a delicate boy, the best kid in the whole world. He didn't deserve any of that and that wasn't even the worst part. The part that made my blood boil and crack at the same time was the fact that it wasn't his fault in any way. I'd brought this up on him. Me, I did that. Strip. Alessandro's authorita
My heart leapt to my throat as the sound of something scurrying along the floorboards reached my ears. I sucked in a deep breath as I sunk deeper to the edge of the wall, my back coming in contact with the bed's fluffy headboard. As I hugged my knees, I rocked back and forth, hoping the little gesture would calm my thumping heart and calm me down a bit, even if it was in the tiniest of ways.It didn't work. It wasn't working. Not at all. Not yet. I sucked in a deep breath as I allowed my heartbeat to return to its steady pacing. I heaved a sigh when it finally stabilized. I was tired, tired of living like this. But did I have any other choice? I wasn't sure. I didn't think so. It'd been two days since I walked out on Alessandro. Tao days since I'd locked myself in my room and refused to come out, and even as time ticked by, I still wasn't sure if I regretted my decision. A frown appeared on my face at the thought of a sour memory. No matter how hard I'd tried to forget a
Fear raked through my body as my heart steadily picked up its pace. Cold chills raced up and down my spine as I stared wide eyed at the scene in front of me. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I was cursed or something. Cursed to always find myself in situations like these. But that wasn't the part that bothered me. A little curse here and there never hurt anybody. Hell, maybe I'd even cursed myself. I did have a knack for messing around with Ouija boards and all when I was little. The part that bothered me was how I always managed to find myself in situations like these, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. After Dagger had dropped the bombshell and given me an ultimatum, I was stumped. I went blank. He couldn't get my attention until he poked me with something. I didn't think much of it, but now that I did, I couldn't shake off the feeling he'd done something. Ejected a tracking device or chip into my body maybe, or perhaps he'd even poisoned me. The ideas were end
I watched as the blue flames lit the tip of the cigar that was tucked in between my fingers. As I pushed the flames closer to where I wanted it to be, something caught my eye. How the hell I was able to notice it was strange to me, but now that I'd seen it, I just couldn't ignore it. Just in between my fingers where the cigar sat, Red hue tainted my skin. I wasn't exactly sensitive and I barely bruised, so this was definitely a discovery. A sly smirk made its way to my lips. I didn't even have to think hard to figure out why the skin in between my fingers was pink, or better still, turning red. For the past hour, or more, I'd been replacing rolls and rolls of cigars the moment I exhausted the last one. At some point I'd lost count of how many of the smoke machines I'd inhaled, but I knew they were a lot. I was pushing myself and maybe if I didn't hold back, I would finally know my limit. If I actually had one, that is. I exhaled a huge puff of smoke, after inhaling for a coup
My mind reeled with a million and one things all ar once and I swear if I didn't find a way to stop it, I just might run mad on the spot. I'd just told them I knew Alessandro. Shit. If I was being honest, I had no clue if I'd done the right thing or not. I suspected foul play the moment I realized I wasn't Alessandro’s captive. Who else knew of my existence? Papa had taken a wide step back from indulging in businesses that were a norm in mafia families, so there was no way I could be in someone's radar. But the moment he knew I recognized Alessandro, I just knew I was in deep shit. I hated Alessandro, literally everyone did, even Antonio. But as I stared at the murderous glare my captor wore as he arranged an array of weapons I didn't recognize, I quickly came to the conclusion that there were more people that hated the man. Even more than I did. And it shocked me to the bones.Who the hell was he? Was he working alone? What was his relationship with Alessandro? And what
Chapter 82Destiny's POV I was anxious, and literally nothing I did was calming me down. Instead, the more I tried, the more I failed woefully at it too. There wasn't any technique I hadn't tried. I had tried counting to ten and back again, and even making a conscious effort at trying to regulate my breathing, but it just wasn't working. It was a surprise how Carter hadn't noticed how fidgety I was. Or maybe he had, he has just decided that he wasn't going to comment on it, and even that didn't sit right with me.My stomach churned, pulling me out of my quick monologue. Before it could let out another sound, I folded my fingers in front of my belly. I wasn't exactly sure it was going to do anything, but it was too late to try to take back what I'd just done. So instead, I fixed my gaze as I tried to remove the invisible dirt that had found their way underneath my nails. The car was silent, save for the gentle hum from the engine. The civilization that whooshed by also seemed to