NATHANI sat in my office brooding about Carolyn. She was still unconscious after everything Zelda had done. I deliberately steered my mind away from Faye, refusing to think anymore about her. Lannon sat across from me, talking into his phone, when suddenly his brows rose a little. He was amused, and that was an unusual sight. Nothing ever amused Lannon. He rarely found humor in anything. He got off the phone and settled his gaze on me."Your sister-in-law is here. Well stepsister in-law. She's been sighted in the hall.""Why is she here?" I asked him. "Says she wants to get to know you." Now I knew what had him amused. Erin was here to get to know me. This might just be what I needed to get Faye off my mind."Well, come on then. We can't keep the lady waiting." I said and walked out the door. Lannon right behind me.We got to the lounge and heard the sisters talking and from Faye's voice, I could tell it surprised her to see her stepsister here. She was also very unhappy with th
FAYE I knew that when Erin had said she wanted to get to know him; she wanted more than that. But I assumed Nathan would tell her off. I stood at the end of the stairs and watched as she called him by his name."Nathan!" she called to him, rushing to hug him. She pressed herself up against him boldly. Turning a hug into something provocative."Alpha Nathan," Lannon corrected her, but she didn't seem to care."Oh. You don't mind me calling you Nathan, do you? It's just that I feel close to you and that will be too formal, don't you think?" She said. I stood and watched numbly, and then my eyes met his over her shoulder. He knew I was hurting before, but this was just pouring salt over a wound."Of course you can call me Nathan." He grinned and answered her. I tagged along so it wouldn't show that it hurt me, but that was pointless. I followed as Nathan took her to his wing and gave her a room close to his. I couldn't take it anymore, so I left them and went to my room. I slumped on th
NATHANThe little games Erin was playing weren't fun anymore. I'd had enough of her getting into my personal space whenever she felt like it. It had only taken me a day to tire with her. I glanced over to where she stood over my bed again with an irritated scowl on my face. "What's wrong, Erin?" Meaning, what was she doing in my room so late in the night?"I thought maybe I could sleep with you. No, not sleep with you, but like sleep in your bed, with you." She amended with cocky assurance. Whatever had given the girl the idea that every man would fall for her attentions?"Why?" I raised a brow at the request. "Why would I let you do that?""Because I don't want to sleep alone in my bed. It's no fun." She pouted.I stared at her from where I lay on my back in bed. "You can't sleep in my bed, Erin. If that room isn't conducive for you, we can do something about it in the morning. Change your rooms or something.""Are you serious?" "Deadly, Erin. Now goodnight."She pressed her lips
FAYEShe came to a stop when she saw me. Turning with a flounce to face me full on. Her eyes flashing fire and ice. Finally, she was showing her true colors. Black. The Erin I knew had made an appearance. "Hello, sister."My eyes flew from Nathan's door to her again. Acrid anger burning in my chest. "What were you doing in Nathan's room?" I questioned. "I hope you don't mind, Faye, that your 'mate' seems to prefer my company to yours. He seems like he appreciates women who know how to properly fuck."My gaze fell to a space above her shoulder. They had had sex? I swallowed the hurt building in my chest."What about Jared, Erin? You seemed to love him a lot. He's your mate.""Yes, and he's gone. He's been gone a long time, so don't think to guilt me with your moral nonsense. I'm only moving on like I should." "And it had to be Nathan you wanted to move on with?""Isn't it obvious? Just look at him. A toad like you doesn't get to keep the prince, Faye. Just because of your stupid luc
FAYEI could've just stayed in bed and dismissed the idea of confronting Nathan. I couldn't even call it a confrontation. I'd lost my nerve in front of him. He'd basically told me to mind my place. I should know my place and make sure I kept to it. I sat on the floor in front of my bed, resting my head on the bed. Exhausted and tired, I slept off after a while. Late into the night, I felt someone carrying me to bed, but I was too tired to open my eyes. I woke up with a throbbing headache. My eyes hurt. And my throat felt raw and itchy. I realized I was in bed under the covers and not on the floor where I had dozed off. Trying to remember how I'd gotten to bed only made my head hurt more. All the heartache was taking a toll on me. I could barely keep my eyes open. A cold shower calmed the headache a little, but I could still feel the throbbing behind my left eye. I stumbled to the medicine cabinet and reached for the first aid kit, taking some aspirin for the headache. My body
FAYEI woke up early today feeling at peace with myself. I was going to escape. I just needed to figure out how.Funny how I'd never thought of leaving this gilded cage before. Like I'd thought it would get better at some point. And as much as I was becoming taken with the place and with just a few people, well, just Patrice, I still couldn't go back to my father. If I couldn't stay here,then I'd just leave. I took a shower and changed into a black dress with spaghetti straps pulling on a jacket over the dress. I laced my sneakers and before leaving for the dining hall. I was feeling oddly happy this morning. For once, I got there before the hall was full and settled down. Even Nathan wasn't there yet. They set the table and made breakfast available. Nathan came sauntering into the hall with his devil may care attitude. I sat in my usual seat at his side and had my omelette, taking an occasional sip of water. A satisfied smile spread on my face when Erin came later and saw that I
NATHANI watched as Erin went still; her face taking on a pale, shocked glow. That definitely confirmed that this was indeed Jared, her missing mate. The same male that I'd caught sight of in the warehouse, in the center of a ritual. I was absolutely sure I had seen this guy get a knife plunged into him. A silver knife. And he'd even let out a pained scream that assured me the knife had definitely hit its mark.What the fuck was going on?This was not a freaking movie. It was real life. And werewolves certainly died a fast death when stabbed with a silver knife.I watched as Erin seemed to recover from her shock. A brilliant fake smile spread across her face, her pearly whites gleaming as she ran to the guy with an excited squeal.She jumped on him, legs going around him. Playing the perfect mate. It was fucking amusing, really. Lannon and Carolyn were right beside me, watching the boy with keen eyes. Carolyn drew closer to me. "Is that him?" She whispered. "The one who's supposed
LANNONI watched Rhea from my table, slightly shielded by a boulder. Rhea went down to the bar most times. I already knew that. It was obvious she wanted her job back. She always just sat at the bar, a forlorn look on her face as she watched Darlene work. But I also knew she wasn't doing anything to get her job back, and that was the truly odd case. Why wasn't she getting involved with anything again in her life? She had been a party girl, never a dull moment in that one's life, but she definitely was having lots of dull moments now. If she was not enjoying this new life of hers, then that simply meant she hadn't chosen to live like this. Or she'd been dumb enough to actually get herself into this. Something was keeping her quiet and low-key. On a guess, I pulled back my chair from the table and stood up. I approached her from the back, but she heard my footsteps and turned around to see who it was.Her face turned down in displeasure as she kept her eyes trained on me. Probably
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