FAYE My heels clicked on the concrete floor as I walked beside Axel to the car. We'd just finished a press conference where I'd officially become the head of our real estate agency. I was the CEO now while Yvonne was the major owner of her and my dad's law firm now. All this just meant more things on my plate. I had so much going on and after the press conference, my head hurt like hell. I slid in into my car as he joined me in the back; and the driver pulled away from the company. "Is it always like this?" I asked Axel. "Always like what?" "Busy. Exhausting and frustrating." He chuckled, handing me a bottle of water. "Here. You have to remember to hydrate. And don't overdo it. You're not a werewolf like the rest of us." "Meaning I'm weaker?" I snapped at him, not smiling. "Did I say that?" I sighed and relaxed into the plush leather seats. "No, you didn't." I answered like a glum child. "I know you're tired, that's just it. When you're fully rested, you'll feel better
NATHAN"A love child.""What?" I asked Jules, leaning forward to take part of the papers with their findings, so I could see for myself. He handed a sheet and I sat back."She's a love child. Maximus' love child."That was… that was a lot. I didn't know what I had expected, but not that. Faye wasn't Joseph's daughter. "When she left you… uh, when she escaped from the hospital…" he coughed self consciously."Get on with it, Jules. We don't have all day." Carolyn said, already impatient to hear the rest of it.I wanted to hear everything, but I wasn't nearly as impatient. Because the twins had found out some interesting but shocking information about my wife.Louis continued. "She's the Eclipse pack's dead Alpha's daughter."As if his brother's pronouncement didn't already clue us in on that. "And so they chose her to become the Luna of the pack. That's why Yvonne Crist sought her out after she left the hospital, and why they his her." Louis disclosed."This can't be possible. You'r
FAYEAxel stormed out and I didn't know what to do.Was it really that bad? I kept asking myself. I didn't want to get into a fight with Axel. He was only doing this because I had asked. And now he was mad at me. At the very moment we needed to figure out what to do with the… the things they'd stolen. He hadn't told me exactly where everything was stashed and I didn't want to know, but something had to be done before all hell broke lose. My phone rang in the dining room and I got up to go get it. Picking it up I saw it was Kate. My eyes shut in guilt. I'd been putting off a girls night out with her for weeks now, and I hadn't even spoken to Mira in like forever.I was definitely turning into the worst kind of friend. "Hello, stranger." She said as soon as I answered the call."Ouch! I'm so sorry Katie, I should have called.""Yes, you should have.""I swear I'll make it up to you. Right now though, forgive me." I pleaded, trying to keep the frustration and anger of a few moment
FAYEI gasped and lunged out of bed, running towards the open door.I reached out my hand to grab at the doorway and push myself out of the room, but it was too little too late.He caught my hand in his and drew me flush into his hard chest, staring down at me with his glowering red eyes."Why did you get yourself fucking betrothed to some other man? Why?!" He muttered in my ear ferociously.Staring wide eyed and breathless at him, I hadn't caught my breath yet from my sprint to the door. I watched as his eyes returned to their normal shade of honey brown.That seemed to knock me out of my inaction, and I started struggling to free my hand from his grip. When he wouldn't free me and my fights yielded nothing, the bastard was way too strong. I swung my free hand up, aiming for his face and hoping to wipe off the stupid, smug smile.He caught that hand too and brought both my hands behind my back in a painful hold."Ouch! Stop it, Nathan. Let me go!"I was pressed into him, my breasts
NATHANLooking into her bewildered eyes now made me want something I'd never wanted before.Something I didn't want to have to explain, or put a name to.I wanted her to answer my question.But she just stared at me, saying nothing."Do you love him?" I asked her, especially knowing that he'd been close to her for the last five years. Why hadn't she divorced me then and mated with him?Become his?And that guilty look in her eyes still lingered.With my hands gripping her chin, I urged her with a little shake. "Tell me. If you love him, then you should be able to say it.""My personal life is none of your business, Nathan. Don't you have better things to do than lurk about in another pack house?" Trying to change the subject, are we?"I'll lurk wherever the fuck I want to. Especially if the same place harbours my wife, who's pretending she's free to marry some other man.""Axel is not some other man. And I'm not your wife!""Yes, yes, you are. Those damned divorce papers you sent me
FAYEThe sun filtering through the window roused me from sleep the next morning. Rolling onto my back, I stretched, then winced at the various aches and pains making themselves known. The night before came rushing back to me and I sprang up to a sitting position, eyes shut as mortification rolled through me.No, no no!I hadn't done that, maybe it had just been a dream.Sometimes I had dreams like that. In fact, Nathan's stupid face had tormented me continuously in my sleep over the years. This was just one of those very vivid dreams.My eyes snapped open as I searched my room for any signs someone had been in here, heart pounding like a deer being hunted. Nothing.No sign of him.No sign he'd even been here. Except for my body. It felt different. I felt different.The aches and just a little feeling of soreness told a different story.I got out of bed and realized I was in my birthday suit.Which was weird cause I was certain I'd gone to bed in my PJs. I went to the bathroom a
FAYEAll around me, jewels glittered, dancing under the bright lights of the ballroom. Millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds and every other gemstone imaginable were draped around the necks of women who’d never had to work a day in their lives.I'd grown used to distinguishing those ones from women like Yvonne, and then myself. It wasn't a secret in this tedious high class society that I was some child Maximus had out of wedlock, with some woman. Some of them gave me looks but mostly curious ones. They knew better than to be anything but cautious and respectful around me. Lifting a glass of champagne that wasn’t worth the two-thousand-dollar-a-bottle price tag to my lips, I let my gaze travel the room, searching for my date for the evening. He'd been back to check on me like he'd promised, and then we'd both gone into work together, promising to meet up later.And now here we were, at the outstanding employee award ceremony for the Crist holdings.We all had to attend of course.
NATHANI left the Eclipse pack estate feeling a deep satisfaction I hadn't felt in forever.How could one night with her make everything better, different?I'd heard her heart race and I'd felt her soft silky skin against mine. And her moans. They'd been music to my ears. A balm to my aching soul. That last thought made me pause.What the hell was wrong with me?A little bit of sex and I was all up in the clouds?I grinned, feeling the lunacy fully take over me. This wasn't just some sex. It'd been fucking amazing and I couldn't wait to do it again.But I wouldn't get ahead of myself.That little minx had been having a fight with Axel by the time I'd been in her house.She probably thought I'd snuck in after their row. I'd been there way before that. On her balcony, just waiting for the hovering dick head Axel to leave.To think that weasel hung around her so much made me feel the need to hit something. Preferably said weasel. He'd be taken care of. After I'd handled my own faili
Faye"Yvonne, this place is too much." I glanced around the fully decorated condo, my excitement simmering with the idea of this space being mine to do with as I please.The place is amazing. More than I could have hoped for, and I’ve only made it to the living room. There is a huge fireplace and a big soft gray sectional sofa that looks fluffy and comfortable. Big pillows line most of it and it looks so cozy. There is light everywhere, shining in from the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over Vegas."That place is perfect." she told me on the phone."The security is top notch.You can order food whenever you want and they have a gym and a spa downstairs. Everything you need with only a call.""It’s safe," she pushed. "You could come stay with me if you’d prefer. I’d love to have you at home, but I thought you might want your own place."I'd started my post graduate studies, this time nearer to home and I'd gotten a whole condo to stay in for the duration of my studies. Staying wit
TWO MONTHS LATERFAYEI sat in front of Yvonne as she explained the dynamics of our business relationship with some other company.I wasn't listening to her. I was mostly just nodding, so she could continue to speak. "Faye? Faye? Are you listening?"I sighed and nodded, not knowing how to tell her what bothers me. "Faye tell me. You know you haven't spoken a lot about what happened in that forest with the Black Saint. I can't believe you went in there without letting me know." She still spoke of it frequently with anger l, but she was beginning to forgive me. It wasn't everyday a person's niece went to the forest of lost souls and made it out alone. I sighed again and she scolded me angrily."That's the fifteenth sigh today, fifteenth, and it's not even mid morning yet. Why do you sound like you lost a loved one, my dear?""Maybe cause I did lose a loved one?"I told her, my face falling as I remembered said loved one again. "Is this about Nathan?"I looked at her and nodded. I c
NATHANThe witch died how she had planned for me to die. A fitting end for someone who'd come with the sole aim of destroying me. Faye massaged her wrists where those damn fools must have tied her up before. I moved to her and held both her wrists in my hands, caressing them softly, so that the ache could go away.She wasn't responding to me. She just stood there, stiffly by my side. I looked into her face and I couldn't read anything.I missed the days when I would look at her face and see what she was thinking, what she was feeling. "Won't you go after him?" Faye asked, pointing in the direction Axel had run in. I shook my head. "Lannon will take care of him."Her mouth dropped open. "Lannon is here too?""Yes, Queeny. He entered the forest the night before we did.""I can't believe you have been lying to me this whole time. About everything!" She screamed in a hurt tone, stepping away from me. I rushed to her, brushing her still wet hair from her face and cupping her face in
FAYE"Briggs was my sister and you killed her!" she yelled, her voice rising on each word until my ears felt scraped by her shrill tone.Nathan looked bored with the whole thing. He didn't look as bothered by the fact that we were in danger, surrounded by our enemies who had upper hand."So that's why you want to destroy my pack so bad. Well I can't say I'm sorry, Vera. Your sister messed with the wrong pack, just like you're doing now, and she got what she deserved, just like you will." He said, with finality behind his words. She growled and screamed unfamiliar words at him, her magic sending him flying into the concrete wall. I winced as he landed with his arm and felt myself go weak for a second.I was still finding it an ordeal watching Nathan get hurt. It was a lot. "I guess we're done here."Axel said and shifted back from Vera."You can take care of them sweetie, do whatever you please."Vera smirked and strolled around to me.I saw Nathan's body tighten and get ready for a
FAYEMy heart broke at his words and I felt like a sham at his words. I'd believe I could be Luna because both Yvonne and Axel has stood by me and encouraged me. And now he said this?"Imagine my surprise when after years of devotion to the pack, Yvonne went in search of a daughter I had never heard about. A daughter that had never been around. I was passed over for you?" He said like he still couldn't believe it. "It's a fucking joke, my sweet." I felt sick at the stupid endearment.Tears formed in my eyes and I pressed them closed tightly.I knew Nathan's focus was on me, he would go ballistic of I cried. I wanted to hear all of it.No, I needed to hear everything."I didn't want Yvonne to go looking for you, prayed to the moon goddess that she didn't find you, but guess what? She did. Because this dumbass Buffon,"he said, pointing at Nathan, "threw you out. He couldn't even love you properly then and you still went back to him when you returned home. After all I'd done for you.
FAYEI was sitting in a chair with my arms tied down to the arms of the chair when I came to.The black bag over my face was still there, but it wasn't tight around my face anymore.I tried to look through it but all I could see was little light, peeking at me through the bag.All of a sudden the bag was yanked off my head and I found myself looking at Axel. I felt elated that I'd found him, but I also felt angry about what he'd done. And why did he send people to kidnap me?"Axel," I started.He raised a hand, cutting me off. "it's not just you I need to talk to. I want to talk to your lover too. I wonder what could be holding him back. Does he not love you as much as you think he does, perhaps?"I snorted and his gaze flashed with annoyance."Or maybe he's content to abandon you here. Not even bother coming to get you."I glared at him and said nothing.Axel laughed. "Well, either way, we've got more than enough time together. But first, I think your friend is going to want to mee
NATHANThere was a tinkle of laughter in the air when I woke up.The sound was pleasant to my ears and made me ache to find the owner of the laugh.My eyes slid open and rested on Faye. Something was making her happy this morning.I could relate too, cause I felt really happy too. Despite everything that had happened yesterday, it was great to see that we were okay.In fact, we were more than okay. We had finally talked about the part of me that I'd always locked away, never wanted to talk about with anyone, or show anybody.She giggled again, looking up at something I couldn't see and I had to ask her. "Heyy, Queeny." I said, wondering how she'd react this time to the nickname she was always irritated by. "Heyyy." She replied, not really paying me much attention. There was an excitement to her movements though, and a wide smile on her face. I could watch her smile all day, or just listen to her laugh and feel good when the day ended. "What are you doing?" I asked her.Not to
FAYEI held his bandaged hands in my hands. He'd scared the hell out of me when he had run out on me like that. I couldn't believe what I had heard. He'd said Dad, and then he'd started calling out mother.I didn't know what he'd been seeing but it sure felt very intense from where I had witnessed it.There was no one else in the forest except for me and Faye, everything else was false. I told myself repeatedly, trying to quell the worry I had now. What if I was the problem that needed to be stopped?What if I saw things just as clearly as Nathan had?I shook my head and refused to fall for it. "We need to keep moving." Nathan said to me and I agreed.We had to leave that area. We had both taken a drink of the potion now, and nothing more could happen to us for a few more hours.It was getting dark now. I didn't know if this was an effect of the forest magic or something else but we had to rest. We stopped and collected wood for a fire together.We stacked the wood and then s
NATHANI'd scared her badly.For her to have cracked and spilled those tears in front of me.She was so icy now, I doubted she ever cried infront of anyone.I had felt something change between us. She wasn't saying anything now, just walking stiffly beside me. I looked ahead, raising tree branches that hung low so that both of us could make our way through.We trudged on, the low bushes and weeds brushing against our thighs and lower legs.The roots that were off the ground were not easy to spot, and almost brought her down twice, with me reaching out to steady her and getting rebuffed each time.I could take that.For now. I would take it until she didn't want to throw me off anymore. Couldn't reject me.I walked around a tree and her eyes followed me sharperly, showing me she was watching me, even though she pretended not to be. I chuckled to myself, coming out onto the path we were walking.Something felt eerily quiet about the forest.It wasn't just that I already knew it was