Karica's POV
(Three Years Later)Life couldn't have been more blissful as I gazed up at the well-lit ramp where model after model paraded along, displaying the winter collection by a famous designer.The confidence oozed from them as they took sturdy steps and walked along with ease. My eyes longed for someone and finally, he stepped on the ramp.Burgundy slim-fitting turtle neck hugged his body and toned out his steely chest and ribbed abs. A checkered muffler, black corduroy pants covered his infinite-toned legs and a pair of chinos completed his winter attire. His reddish blonde hair was neatly back-combed and his hands were in his pockets.With a defined jawline, an aristocratic nose and gazelle-shaped ocean-blue eyes, he stood at 6'1. A perfect model. No wonder he was one of the leading male models in the industry and not only the girls but also boys drooled over him.He confidently walked the ramp, his poker face staring ahead but his eyes slightly drifted and fell where I sat in the back watching him. Our gazes met for the briefest of seconds and I saw a subtle hint of a smile tug at the corners of his cupid-shaped lips.I nibbled at my lower lip as his sharp eyes took all of me in before turning at the end of the ramp and walking away. My heart turned into a drum, beating and creating its own music, music of contentment, music of the feral desires he ignited in me. The desire to gobble him up bubbled inside me.No no, I don't have cannibalistic urges, it's just that Adiyan is delicious.I waited for the event to be over and then slowly slipped away from the crowd and media, keeping a low profile. Making my way to the nearby hotel, where I had booked a room. Using my access card I made my way inside.The night had spread its darkened wings and the celestial body with silver hues didn't adorn the skies today as I stared out the window. I waited, must I say impatiently.The door finally opened and he emerged in all his glory. I could feel his presence behind me. Taking confident strides he closed the distance between us and grabbed me by my waist before turning me around to face him."Adiyan!" my breath hitched in my constricted throat. My hands landed on his ripped chest. One must think I would get used to his subtle handsomeness by now. We had been dating for a year now. But, I didn't. He had that effect on me and I did on him."My beautiful girl!" His gravelly voice had my body in tingles. He pressed his forehead with mine and closed his eyes. His cupid lips were inches away from me, his hot breath fanning against my cold skin.My hands instantly moved and clutched his hair and he slowly opened his eyes, those curved lashes made him even sexier. He was everything a girl could dream of, charming, loving, deeply caring, patient and sexy with a flawless body."Are you ready?" he slowly asked in a baritone. He had been extremely patient with me, we hadn't been sexually intimate with each other. I hadn't been with anyone, at the age of 23 I was still a virgin. Not that there was something wrong with me.I wanted time and he gave me all that I needed. But, tonight I yearned for him to claim me and make me his own. I was ready to take the next step with Adiyan."I am," my cheeks tinted the shade of his turtle neck and his head dipped before his lips claimed mine in a soft kiss as we moved back until I was pressed against the tinted glass window. My hands landed on his silky black hair and I tugged them.His lips had become ferocious, his tongue danced on the tip of my teeth, wanting access while his hand had slipped down inside my pants, and his deft fingers were playing with the ridges of my panties.He was setting me on fire, soon I would be reduced to ashes and my core had already started throbbing with anticipation as the tip of his index finger carefully pushed aside thin material of my panty and touched the tiny nerve bundle, making me shudder with pleasure he was igniting inside.His lips moved to my ears and he sultrily whispered:"I am going to make love to you, all night long. This first experience will be the one you will never forget because I am going to gobble up every figment of your being."My heart blatantly thudded and the tips of my ears began to scorch in answer to his naughty words. His lips had found the ridges of my neck and he was nipping, grazing, and leaving feathery kisses on it. He removed his hands from my core and began to fumble with my shirt buttons. Openinh them slowly, one by one as he revealed my skin below and traced it with the tip of his pinkish tongue.Adiyan removed my turquoise shirt and tossed it aside, leaving me in my lacy push-up bra. His lusty eyes landed on my heaving chest as they invited him, peeking out. Opening his mouth he devoured a substantial part of it in his mouth and sucked."Ahhh!" the sensation and small electric currents roamed the entirety of my being and my grip tightened on his hair, tugging him closer, my back arched, giving him more access to my skin.His skilful hands dropped down to my pants and he opened the button and pulled down my zipper. I stepped out of them as he kicked it further away from me and straightened up so he could stare into my eyes.His both hands on my cheeks as his luscious eyes bore into mine and he spoke in that deep voice of his:"You know how much I love you and this means so much to me. You chose me to be your first, I can't explain how happy I am Karica. I promise I will never break your heart and will be there for you whenever, and wherever you will need me," his hands caressed my cheeks and I leaned into his touch."I know, that's why I chose you," I whispered back. My heart was content with this man, there are always small things which tell a woman if she had chosen the right man.When he cooks for you.When he opens the car door for you and helps you settle in first.When he makes you the centre of his attention.When he makes the time to call or text you even from his busy schedule.That's what Adiyan did for me. Elevated me to the point where he declared I was his queen and he treated me like one too."I love you, Adi," my words were from my heart but there was an impending fear with them. The fear of my past and I only hoped it would not catch up to me."I love you too. Now let me make sweet sweet love to you and eat you up like my favourite candy. Savouring every bit," his words made me deeply blush as his lips found mine yet again and I moaned in his mouth.My hands grabbed the ends of his turtleneck and were about to push it up when the door of our room was banged open with such force that it rattled on its hinges and flew to a few feet and landed with a loud thud.Before we could register the shock of what had happened, a strong pair of hands grabbed Adiyan from behind and flung him across the room as if he were a ragdoll and not a person. His body hit the opposite wall with so much force that a scream elicited my throat seeing the blood coming out of his mouth. Those beautiful eyes of his were registering the shock he had received and had widened to twice the size.My eyes roamed to the intruder as my hands flew to my open mouth. I found myself face-to-face with the tallest and largest man I had seen, he wasn't a man he was a beast with eyes so dense and ebony like a black hole, which had engulfed all my happiness. The icy glare had fiercely impaled me where I stood.His nostrils flared and his large hands balled at his sides making the veins pop out along his tanned skin, like blue streams. My heart was about to jump out of my chest at the dangerous aura he was emitting to make me submit. I was too transfixed by his gaze. When his plump lips moved and a single word wiggled out. A word that made my legs wobble and I almost slumped to the ground:"MATE."Karica's POVThe danger alarms began sounding in my brain and I knew exactly who he was, although I had never seen him before just heard about him. The fear of what he would do to me coursed through my veins like a river of pain and I tried to put some distance between us. His sturdy hand moved and grabbed my arm, the skin which came in contact with his sizzled and a tingling sensation began which travelled to my naval, making my whole body shudder. I knew what this meant, he was my 'mate' and he had found me after three years. I felt Laila stir in my head and my lips moved of their own accord as she struggled for control and announced loudly to him:"Mate!"The angry contortions of his face slightly softened at that mere declaration of the fact that our souls had been conjoined by a higher decree. But that softness vanished in a split second."Don't you fucking move," he spat out, his ebony orbs swirling with loathing and disgust for me. Two more men entered the room and his head w
Karica's POVHis voice echoed in the room loud and clear and the two men instantly halted and turned towards us. My eyes darted in their direction. The confusion marred their sharp features and eyes held questions but they dared not speak. Adiyan's mouth was bleeding unstoppable, the blood covered his chin and front of his turtleneck. My heart screamed in pain and I wanted to shred those butchers into pieces. I couldn't even blink seeing the horrified condition of the man I loved. "We are leaving. Get the cars ready and leave him here," the beast-type man echoed from behind me in that steely voice of his. "Just let me call someone, we can't leave him here like that, he will die. Please," every part of me that was human wanted to rush to Adiyan and take him in my arms but the wolf part of me was content with being held by my mate. This was so conflicting as if I was being painfully torn into two individuals, it was excruciating. "I don't care," he calmly added from behind me before
Karica's POVThe partition in the car was flipped aside and the blonde-haired man's voice filtered through:"We are reaching the airport." He simply nodded at him, his lips forming a thin line. The car stopped near a pure white private jet and opening the door he got out. Crossing over to my side, he opened my door and grabbed my arm before yanking me out with such force that my right foot almost twisted against the hard ground. 'Fu*king brilliant, just break my foot, Hercules,' I yelled in my head and sucked up the discomfort as he dragged me along towards the private jet. It was chilly outside and I was glad he had lent me his coat. We climbed the stairs and I noticed how neat and posh the interior of his jet was. Everything was almost white and too clean. He threw me onto a comfy-looking leather seat. My hips landed with a small 'thud'. "Fasten your seatbelt," he sternly instructed and I obeyed with a sigh. Squatting on the seat opposite me he did the same. The two men with h
Karica's POVI tried to wriggle out of his iron hold, my eyes taking in how close his heaving chest was to me. His scent filled my nostrils, making it difficult to push him away and I almost wanted to give in and lean forward, to bury my nose in his chest and take a deep breath. His hand tightened and now it was hurting me. "L…let go," I breathed out with difficulty. "You better stop fantasising about him or I will return and finish what I started," he snapped, jerking my head away, his anger blazing like an uncontrollable inferno. Those pools of darkness radiated an untamed ferocity, like uncoiled black mambas ready to strike me. Instilling terror in my rapidly beating heart but my tongue couldn't hold itself. "At least he never hurt me in the time we spent together. On the contrary, the man who is supposed to be my mate has already done that countless times in the past few hours," I burst out, unable to control my anger at his demeaning behaviour. He was still hovering over me a
Karica's POVHis need to berate me every time he opened his mouth was beginning to drive me nuts. I stayed quiet so he could get this over with. "Rule no.1: You will show utmost respect to my family members and anyone I will ask you to. Rule no. 2: You will stay in your allocated room and will only leave it with my permission. You are not allowed to roam around freely.Rule no. 3: You will not try to tempt any more men. This is not the outside world where you can sleep around.Rule no. 4: Don't ever talk about any of the men you have been with, in front of me or anyone else for that matter.Rule no. 5: You will do exactly as I ask you to.Failing to follow any of these rules and I will punish you severely." The anger rose inside me like molten lava and I felt like a fu*king volcano, ready to burst open. Who the hell did he think I was? A cheap slut who wanted to sleep around. "I am not a whore," I spat back at him, the bitterness rising inside me with every second, leaving a bad t
Xynathius's POVI stood there, outside her door after closing it. My legs wouldn't shift even when I wanted to walk away, they seemed to have been glued to the floor. Her sobs echoed from inside the room and I knew the bold front she was trying to maintain finally shattered. The fucking bond pulled me towards her, to take her in my arms and provide solace and comfort as a mate should. But the way I had found her still made my blood boil, almost nude and in another man's arms. It had taken every ounce of willpower I possessed to not kill the f*cker. How could she abandon and disregard the mate bond and get sexually involved with a human? I didn't even know how many men she had been with. I clearly remembered the day three years ago when I received the call that I had found my potential mate. The sense of elation and satisfaction I experienced at the news was beyond explainable. Not only was she alpha born but her stats were off the charts. She broke the record with her results. No
Karica's POVI gathered my broken self and finally mustered the courage to leave the floor. Wiping away the tears that trickled down my cheeks. Crying was for the weak, I wouldn't cry anymore, especially for this pathetic excuse of an Alpha. Kicking away my heels, I rubbed my feet and then slowly took off his fur coat. A chill ran through my semi-naked body as his warmth left me and I stood there holding his coat for a while. Looking around, I found a wooden closet in the corner. It had been painted violet just like the other furniture and walls in the room and had silver vines adorning its frame. Walking over to it I threw open the doors and found a few hangers, casual dresses, and nightshirts, nothing fancy. I took out a hanger and hung his coat on it before placing it back on the rod. Then I began shuffling through the dresses, all of them were oversized but at that point, I didn't care. Grabbing the front one I took it off the hanger, it was a plain flannel night dress in navy
Karica's POVThe next morning I was woken up by someone shaking me awake. Groggily opening my eyes I found it was Tacy. "You have to get up now. Alpha is waiting for you at the breakfast table, he doesn't appreciate tardiness. Get dressed and come downstairs quickly."Tacy sternly added as if it was not my first day here and I was accustomed to all their rules and routines. She could have informed me yesterday night, but of course, they had to do it in the nick of time. I rubbed my eyes before throwing away the duvet covering me, although all I wanted to do was stay bundled up underneath it. Scrambling to my feet I was about to make my way to the bathroom when Tacy handed me a black uniform, similar to what she was donning. It was a knee-length loose-fitting dress, made from high-quality black fabric. The design featured clean lines and minimal embellishments, reflecting a professional and sophisticated style.The dress had a slightly A-line silhouette, with pleats. The neckline w
(Three years later) Author’s POV “Mommy! look, butterfly.” Minerva pointed to the blue butterfly that was slowly flapping its wings over the multitude of flowers. The apple pendant rested peacefully around her neck. Karica sat on the fresh grass and happily watched her four-year-old daughter play in the small meadow that used to belong to the witches of Black Forest. Most of them were buried nearby after Vildus’s attack had killed them. Including two of her mentors, Gwardia and Arasia. The efforts of reconciliation had failed between her and Xynathius and she had moved here two years ago. He visited every week to meet Minerva and carrying hopes that Karica might decide to return but she never did. This place calmed her down, she could sense powerful magic running deep into the very ground and air. It pulled Karica and Minerva too. Her daughter was already showing early signs of possessing magic and this place helped channel that in a peaceful environment. The protection charm
Karica’s POVReturning to my former pack and going on a limb to talk to the man I thought was my father all my life, was not easy. With my state of mind, I just wanted to get this over with and he needed to hear me out. Kaina was overjoyed to see me and so was Selia. We hugged and sat down to talk. “We were so worried about you. It was a relief when news of your return arrived.” Kaina held me close and I sat with my head resting on her shoulder. Selia was holding my other hand. “Yes, indeed. And Kilran told me about Adiyan. I am sorry your friend is gone,” Selia sympathetically said not knowing he meant so much more to me and I was no more afraid of talking aloud about him. “He was also my mate. I am a part witch and so was he. Adiyan was the best thing to happen to me and I lost him because I didn't value him enough.” I spoke my truth and both girls were a bit taken aback. Two mates were unheard of and I didn't want to burden them with the likes of Vildus. He was no mate to me.
Karica’s POVHow I made it from the cemetery to his home was all blurry. Xynathius held me all along but he didn't say much and if he did, I didn't remember. His family was kind enough to let me go to his room. I slowly opened the door and lingering whiffs of his scent blanketed me. I paused, closed my eyes and got hold of my emotions. Flicking on the light switch, I let my eyes roam his sanctuary for one last time. Everything was immaculately laid out, neat and in its place. His bed, where we had cuddled so many times. His gaming area, where we had endlessly played video games. His closet filled with his clothes, ones he would never get a chance to wear again. I traced my fingertips on everything he had owned while heavily sighing. The empty feeling in my chest grew. The echoes of his laughter still persisted from the moments when he used to tickle me. All that was just reduced to his loving memories. Stepping closer to his bed, and there between his pillows, I found the wolfie st
Karica’s POVXynathius’s words were like gasoline on my already raging self. The loss of Adiyan had torn my heart into so many pieces that I couldn't put them back together anymore. Every breath was torture for I was reminded of him. I had no clue how to cope with such stifling emotions. Barely holding on and now this revelation further shattered me. Adiyan had felt me, he had reached out to me but Xynathius never even gave me an option to choose. He knew I would choose him. I silently shook my head at Xynathius so disappointed. He had not only taken my free will he even snubbed my rights to choose my mate. His presence and scent which should soothe me in such a moment was nothing but torture. “Because I am selfish when it comes down to you. I wanted you all by myself. It was wrong, I admit it but I was desperate. Sharing you was something I could never do.” His words blazed me and I flipped. All the pent-up anger inside me emerged like a poisonous snake and bit him. “It was not y
Xynathius’s POVVildus was gone from our lives as well as our world but so was Adiyan. The prophecy was completed and fulfilled, leaving my mate broken. She wouldn't let go of Adiyan’s body, she wouldn't hear me, Laila or Zilver. Everyone had been shut out as she mourned the loss of her mate. I touched her shoulder letting her know I was there for her but she just sat there dazedly, staring blankly at his face. The guilt dug its tentacles deep into my heart. Adiyan was a better man than me in every aspect and he would have made an exceptional mate to her. Karica was right about him when she first met me. And yet he was gone and I was partially responsible. The guilt will never fade. I owed my life to him, he died protecting us and this was a kind of debt which couldn't be repaid. She bent down and kissed his lips and then his forehead. Her lips stayed there in a final goodbye as she hugged him to her chest, a scream and a tremorous wave of energy burst through her and hit us all
Karica’s POVThe most horrendous scream escaped me as my body jerked forward, the whole world blurring around me. All I could hear and focus on was Adiyan’s slowly beating heart. He was still alive but for how long?My own seemed to have been crushed under a boulder and there was only one thought on my mind. I had to save my mate. I slowly watched Vildus reaching out to him, the time seemed to be progressing at a snail’s pace for me. Vildus was about to slit his throat. “Noooo,” I cried out in desperation as a surge of spiked air with frozen thunderbolts shot out and were hurled in Vildus’s direction. His hollowed-out laugh erupted and clung to my sides as he disintegrated into bats and tried to fly away again. “No, you won't,” I screamed out with all the disgust and rage I carried. Halting, I converged my hands together, the blackened energy I carried inside rushed out in gigantic swirls and wrapped themselves around Vildus’s bats like writhing snakes. This was my piled-up hate f
Karica’s POVAdiyan’s words took away my ability to form words. The blood in my veins stood frozen at his revelation. ‘Mate?’ We were also mates, but how? I was already mated to Xynathius. How could I have two mates? Or if I was to believe Vildus’s claims. Three. It didn't make sense but it never did when it came down to me. Two years ago hybrids didn't exist as well and here I was. No, cross that out. I was a tribrid with a vampire gene in me as was revealed yesterday. Both of us shared the element fire and among witches, having the same basic element raised one’s chances of ending up as mates. Now it was becoming abundantly clear. The attraction I felt for Adiyan. Why I never forgot him even after finding Xynathius. How a part of my heart seemed to have been crushed the day I left Adiyan. Why I thought of him when I was wrongly accused and imprisoned. He was mine too and I was his. And here he was to prove it. I had so many questions to ask him but circumstances were not favou
Xynathius’s POVThe continuous blasting of spells by our witches resulted in burning away the cloaking spell and the dismal-looking castle came into full view. Howls of victory went around as witches cheered. Adiyan seemed proud of himself as I saw him running towards the castle. He was going for Karica. As much as I wanted to, I needed to hold the ground here and lead everyone. We fought the hellhounds keeping them away from the witches when Vildus released his army. It had mind-controlled humans which were nothing short of zombies. Their eyes were dazed as they slowly walked towards us. ‘Don’t kill the humans,’ I mind-linked my group as we tore apart the hellhounds. Witches and vampires followed the humans but their number was not too big. I saw Xui Lin taking charge and Aegir growled beside me. ‘She is mine,’ his angry voice floated through the mind-link. ‘Bring her down, but be careful,’ I advised while dodging a spell from one of the witches. Aegis leapt towards her while sh
Karica’s POVAll my thoughts and feelings were jumbled up, turning me into an emotional wreck. Hearing that the man who turned out to be my biological father actually tried to help me.When Vildus wrenched his heart out, it hurt. It made me wonder how different the situation would be if we didn't live in a dystopian society but an ideal one. I would have a loving father and so much suffering could be avoided. But that was not the reality, this was where I tearily watched my biological father lying dead in his pool of blood. Vildus grabbed my arm and steadied me. “Let’s go, we need to leave, this place is no longer safe.” His eyes flashed with anger but before he could take me anywhere, the whole castle shook as if something like a cannonball had hit the castle walls. “Damn witches! They are here” Vildus growled in annoyance. When Xui Lin came running, her face aghast and her horrible hair flying in all directions. “We are under attack, they found us and are trying to bring down t