Vanya's POV:"We're sorry Miss Emily," The boys said in unison, their voices sounding sincere enough. "We won't try to hurt you in the future."Oh my goodness. Boys and their expensive pranks. That ball would have hurt a lot if it had hit me right in the face. And maybe Emily was right, maybe they would have loved her weapons. But there's no way I'm introducing four year olds to a world of real guns and knives. We all sat in the living room the boys huddled together and having solemn looks on their faces. Emily sat close to them, her eyes watching them curiously. "Here's some snacks," Emilia's voice called out. She emerged from the kitchen with a tray of tea and lemonade for the boys. She placed it on the centre table, her eyes moving to Emily. "Emily?" She called, shock in her tone.Emily rose to her feet. "Emilia," She said with a small bow. When she raised her head she had a terrified expression on her face but it was gone faster than light, maybe I had imagined it. "It's a surpr
Vanya's POV"Oh no, we're all out of pasta." Emilia groaned, staring at the empty cabinet. "Looks like dinner will come late today." "It's fine," I washed my hands off, putting a lid over the chicken I had finished seasoning. "I'll run to the store real quick and get it. ""Thank you vanya," She said with a grateful smile. "You're a love. Could you also get some wine? We ran out.""Oops," I chuckled. "That would be my fault."She Shook her head, a smile on her lips. "Go now. Or else the twins will tear down the house and demand to be fed.""I think you spoil them too much, aunty Emilia.""What can I do? I love them as my own."Her words had me thinking a lot. I hadn't ever bothered about it before, and it's like it's just hitting me now that Marco and Emilia don't have children of their own. I don't dwell too much on it. Instead I left the kitchen and headed to the grocery store. The closest one is a good thirty minutes drive away, courtesy of Marco's house being in the middle of t
Vanya's POV"Are you okay?"I lowered the bottle of wine from my lips and turned to look at Marco. He was dressed in pajamas, probably about to go to bed. "I'm fine." I replied, bringing the bottle back up to my lips. He walked out and came closer to me. "That's a lot of bottles," He said. I turned and looked at the bottles of wine strewn on the floor beside me. "I'll get more tomorrow." I said, chugging down more wine. I could barely taste the wine against my numbed tongue. I can't tell how many bottles I've chugged down. I can't even feel the alcohol. Sometimes I wish it was easy to get drunk. But unfortunately I have high alcohol tolerance. "Can I join you?" Marco asked."Sure" I replied with a noncommittal shrug. He sat beside me on the floor, leaning his back up against the wall. I passed the bottle to him which he kindly declined. I turned my gaze back to the night sky filled with stars. My thoughts are everywhere and nowhere at once. I can't even start to process what I f
Cian's POV:I watched the search bar come up empty for the second time even after I had used a different set of keywords this time.Vanya Jacob. I couldn't find her online. No Instagram, no Facebook, nothing. It's like her life didn't exist online. Or maybe it had all been wiped away, I couldn't be sure.I searched again, to be sure.No search results found.I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. This is really annoying. Why can't I find anything about her?! Anything at all!Behind me I heard the bed rustling, a sign that Josephine was awake. "What are you doing up this late?" She asked, her voice still sleepy."Working." I answered, typing out a new set of keywords. "Go to bed. I'll join you soon.""You said that fifteen minutes ago." Josephine whined. She tapped his side of the bed aggressively. "Come on baby, come to bed with me."I didn't reply. Again no search results found. I sighed in frustration and slammed the laptop shut. I knew I should have gotten her contact that
Vanya's POV:I shovelled a large spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. The cold numbed my tongue, it's sweetness invading my senses to the point all I could taste was cold and artificial strawberry flavour. I looked down at the bowl, it was half empty. The ice cream had began to melt, the neat halves of strawberry and vanilla blurring into one another.It's still night. I still can't sleep. After I had cried like a baby in Marco's arms, I felt very hungry. So I went to the kitchen and raided the fridge. All I could find was food items, milk, tea, lemonade. I was fully ready to go out by one am and buy ice cream until I found a bucket of it stashed behind all the boring food items. I rejoiced inside of me and took the bucket out. I made a mental note to replace it tomorrow morning. But for now, I get to give in to my indulgence.I ate another large spoon. My head started to hurt, the freeze going up to my brain. I hissed in pain, my eyes squeezing tightly. I waited a few seconds for th
Vanya's POVI thought the mall would be empty today, being it was a Sunday afternoon. To my greatest surprise it was bustling with life. Couples and families were spotted all around. The hum of conversations hung in the air along with the crappy mall music that blasted through the speakers. I had intended to get some groceries done and maybe get some small gifts for the twins too.I had stayed up two more hours before I went to sleep. After two and a half hours, I woke up from a nightmare I can't remember. This morning I concluded I looked like shit. I had dark circles under my eyes, and my skin had lost its rosy hue. I felt sick from the alcohol I had chugged down all evening. Plus the excess sugar from the ice cream. I feel terrible right now. Which is why I wore the baggiest clothes I had, a t-shirt that I snuck out of Marco's wardrobe when he wasn't looking. On my head was a baseball hat that hid my unbrushed hair. And on my face were huge sunglasses.I hadn't expected so many
Vanya's POV"Well, this has been very nice. But I have to go." I said, clapping my hands. "So soon?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "But I've only just met you. How about this, we have lunch together?"My stomach twisted. Whether in disgust that he was asking me out to lunch, or in nausea from the indulgence I had last night, I wasn't sure. All I was sure of was the fact that my stomach twisted at the mention of lunch."No thank you," I said. "I'm not hungry. And I don't want to have lunch with you.""Which is it?""What?""Which is it, Vanya? You're not hungry, or you're still mad at me?""Whoever said I was mad at you?" I asked. I finally folded my arms, and I could only imagine what I looked like right now. With the baseball hat and the glasses and the baggy clothes. "Why don't...hold on," He reached out and grabbed the sunglasses off my face. Before I could protest, he held it behind him. "Finally I can see those lovely eyes of yours."My face turned bright red. "Cian,
Vanya's povI sat down on Marco's bed. It felt stiff. I pulled a pillow to my chest and held it close. Inside the drawer I had just opened were three thick leather bound books. I picked out one of them.Engraved in gold letters on the cover page of the thick brown leather were the letters; "Journal of Jacob King."My father.My eyes widened. I had never imagined that my father would have kept journals. Isn't that the fancy word for diary? Like an older people's kind of diary?Still I opened up the journal. The first page of it was just him talking about normal mundane stuff. Until I turned the page and kept turning it.Each new page I turned to, make my heart drop even more and my eyes widen even more.Everything I thought I knew about my father was being questioned right now. I had no idea he kept a record of this part of him. I had completely no idea.A loud noise startled me, causing me to slam the journal shut and jump in fright. I jumped out of Marco's bed. I hadn't even realized
Vanya's POV "I know this may sound cliche but I mean every bit of it." I nodded, waiting for him to say what he wanted to say. He cleared his throat, his gaze holding mine. "There are moments in life that stand still in time, the moment where everything that once felt uncertain becomes crystal clear. The moment I first laid eyes on you was one of them." I nodded as he continued. "From that first glance, I knew in the deepest, most unshakable part of me that you were destined to be mine, and I to be yours. But the truth is, I could not have known then just how profound and complete you would make me, how utterly transformed my soul would become because of your love." My eyes widened as I took the hint of where this was going. But he carried on. "Every day I spend with you is a gift, and with every passing moment, I am reminded of how precious you are to me. Your strength, your kindness, who you are... It all pulls me to you—not as an Alpha to his mate, but as a man to the woman who
Vanya's POVA few minutes before the start of the event, Marco appeared with the kids in tuxedos looking so handsome. As soon as they walked. Into the sitting room of the pack house, I hugged them."Aren't you looking so handsome?" I smiled at the both of them ruffling their hair. They smiled at me, scanning the room for perhaps Tristan. When Ryan whispered to me that he was hungry. "Uncle Marco didn't give you food?" They shook their heads."I'll take care of that," Angel said from behind me, making me jump."You may as well pass for a stalker," I said when I realized she was the one. She shrugged. "Would be honored." She grinned squatting to meet the kids at eye level. "Hi. I'm Aunty Angel Tristan's sister." Their eyes shot up at me, then back to Angel."Daddy's sister?" They asked in unison."Daddy?" She turned to look at me with a wicked grin, but I was already scurrying off. "Aunty Angel would take care of you," I said to them. "Be nice okay?" They nodded while Angel's gaze sti
VANYA'S POV"That's because all they know about is the initial gate and the border guards' buildings. You would have to go beyond those buildings to get to the main pack but most of them just stop at the entrance. So it's their fault for classifying me there. Not mine. " He shrugged as a gate opened on its own accord, letting us in. "It's works with DNA and personal info." He motioned to the gate. "If yours isn't stored, you can't get in.""Then how am I getting in right now?""Because... You're with me. Anyone with the alpha can get in. Stored or not stored." He killed the ignition as he drove into the garage that held more cars than I could count. I knew Tristan was rich and powerful and influential but not to this extent.I looked at him again, wondering how someone of such caliber could be so humble and down to earth and yet so powerful and dreaded, all at the same time. He got out of the car, coming to open the car door for me."Thank you," I whispered as I walked out, not tearin
Vanya's POV"My father died." I helped him complete the sentence. "Yeah. Marco isn't a friend type of person. It's good he found one." I smiled at both of them as Tristan and I continued walking further into the pack. Looking around one more, and taking in the buildings again, I asked. "But with these buildings, what more do you need?" "Actually..." He paused, his hands going to the back of his head like a child who was about to boast about something. "These are just the border guards' quarters." "What?" But my other words were cut off as we got to another gate I didn't know the pack had. A gate higher than the buildings we had just crossed. And when it was opened by the six guards that stood by it, two I remembered from my bodyguard encounter with Cian, everything round about me stilled. My eyes couldn't take in everything at once as it slowly moved from place to place, taking in the scenery. The laughter that sprang from children and women alike into the air. The smell of fresh
Vanya's POVEither a monkey or a piece of trash. As usual, even after all the torture, he was still proud and arrogant, and that was what Angel loved the most. His pride and arrogance because it was only then that the mental breaking would be fun for her. "Angel..." I called out as soon as I picked up the call. "Vanya!!!" She screeched, clapping her hands on the other side of the call. "I've missed you." "We talked less than a week ago." I reminded her. "I know, just play along okay?" Play along for what? "How are you and Tristan?" Was her next question. "Me and Tristan? We're good." "That's it?" Her voice was one of shock and utter surprise. "You're good?!" "Were you expecting to hear something else? " "Yes and no." She sighed. "By it fine. How's the preparation for the merge going?" "Well, Maureen is on her tiptoes doing most of the planning with Emilia. I'm doing the best I can although Tristan says not to worry about it... And well... Your father and Marco are being b
Vanya's POV "Hello, Stranger."I raised my head from my laptop where I had been reading the news to who stood at the door. My eyes widened as I leaped up from the seat walking towards her as she walked toward us. We embraced each other in a bone-crushing hug as if we hadn't been in the same hospital and seen each other a couple of times before I was discharged. I pulled away from the hug to take a good look at her and couldn't stop smiling. "You look... Oh my God!" She burst into laughter, throwing her hair back."And I can see that you've already gone into business mode." "Pfft! Oh please..." I groaned as we pulled away from the hug. "I've always been in business mode even back at the hospital." A big fat lie."As if." She scoffed, letting a smile peer over her lips before her attention worked itself to my laptop. "You seemed happy while viewing that." She pointed to it. "Good news?" She raised a brow, showing me that she knew what I had been looking at. I called to my desk, "If
Vanya's POVThat night, Emilia could finally go home with Marco and the kids. Marco offered to drop Tristan's dad which surprisingly he agreed and then they left leaving Tristan and I together.We laid in bed together, enjoying each other's presence without having to speak a word. The last time we had spent in bed played on repeat in my head. And it wasn't long before our hands began to wander each other's bodies. That night, I slept like a baby. I think it was the news that Cian had been taken care of but not even a single nightmare plagued me.I woke up to the sound of twittering birds and bright sunlight streaming into the room. It took sometime for my eyes to adjust to the light as I stretched myself out. I turned to the sight only to be greeted with a kiss on the forehead."Good afternoon." He mused smiling. "Congratulations, you slept through the entire morning." I smiled at that, ruffling his hair. He ruffles mine back, covering my face with it. My stomach growled in hunger."
Vanya's POV"You seem to have forgotten me." I froze then turned sharply to Tristan. I had forgotten him. I was so engrossed in studying Marco and Emilia and his dad that I had forgotten he was there. "I take it..." "You take nothing. " I said in a hurry, before exhaling. "I'm sorry I forgot you were here." I apologized with a smile. He nodded. "Do you want to get away from here or sit with the oldies and talk about old people things?" "I've missed you." That was enough answered for him. "We'll catch you later." He said to the three of them who had begun to laugh and enjoy each other's company all so fast. We left them, heading to the rooftop again. We giggled as we took the elevator to the last floor of the hospital and walked the stairs up the roof. Thankfully, the afternoon sun wasn't harsh today, so we stood in it rather than go to the shade that was built on the roof. He brushed away strands from my hair before he covered his lips with mine. The kiss was one of longing f
Vanya's POVNo word, nothing. I shook my head. "What about you?" I questioned. "You said your friend and partner, were separated for more than ten years yet you're here." "Well... He's an alpha." He replied making Emilia choke on her water, her eyes wide as she stared at him. It wasn't a surprise in her face. It looked like shock, almost like... The fear disappeared when she noticed I was looking at her. "He had alpha duties, as Vanya would say, to attend to, so he had to leave.""Sad," Emilia replied pouting. Marco glared playfully at her, going for the second box of pizza we hadn't opened. We both hit his hand, shooting daggers in his direction. "That's mine." I scowled. "Keep off.""But I haven't eaten.""That's because we never knew you'd return so early," Emilia spoke handing him the last triangle of thrones we were eating."How's this going to be enough." He grumbled "You don't want it?" We both asked him, reaching to grab it.He sucked in his breath to make a point. "I never