It's a double day.
ENZOThere were gasps and laughs heard throughout the crowd.I barely contained my snarl. The only reason that I suppressed it at all was because there were humans who worked here too. Otherwise, I’d show everyone what happened when you crossed an Alpha-born to this extent.Embarrassment, pain, and sadness flowed down the bond. She couldn’t honestly believe that I’d say any of those things, could she?“WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” I shouted as loudly as I could since I couldn’t really snarl.‘Kill them. Kill them all,’ Titan raged within me, seething that someone dared to hurt our mate like this.As much as I wanted to side with him on this, I couldn’t just up and kill them.‘Sven, find out everything that you can about the pictures and video that’s being displayed in the cafeteria please.’‘Right away, boss.’Niccolò rushed into the cafeteria with Lilac in two. They had clearly gotten interrupted, but I was glad that they were both here right now. He looked murderous as he saw what
VIOLETReaching my hand out, I turned off the hot water before wrapping a towel around my body and one around my head.The steamed mirror hid my reflection until I wiped a spot off. Looking back was a woman who was still odd to see.I looked the same but not at the same time. My features were more defined. More mature. Amber eyes held a happiness that I had never experienced before he came into my life. I had just gotten by day to day, but he showed me how important it was to also live for me.There were currently dark circles under my eyes that I had been covering up with magic known as makeup. Each day that passed by brought us one step closer to dealing with the Appersons.Sleep never came easy to me unless my mate wore me out in the best possible way. I would be so tired that I wouldn’t be fully conscious of Ava waking up in the middle of the night. Enzo would get up to take care of her each time. He was always quick to reassure me that he loved to have that one-on-one with her, se
CANDICEMy mind ran through all of the potential possibilities of what Violet’s vision might have entailed.She called me an hour ago and told me that she had a vision about Zaxyn and needed to have a meeting with all of us. Whatever she had seen was enough to shake her. I could hear it in her voice as she spoke.“Can you get Daph so that we can head downstairs,” I asked Eli.“Sure thing, Mom,” he said before freezing, cheeks pinkening with a blush.I could tell that it hadn’t been intention and just slipped out. Honestly, it made my heart swell to think that there was a part of him that saw me as a mother figure. He had accepted me immediately and had mentioned how happy he was about the bond between Max and me.Embarrassment and hope warred inside of him for dominance – embarrassment because of his slip, and hope because he secretly wanted me to be okay with it. Layla had done the basics to appear as though she loved him, but it was clear that love wasn’t the case once she sent peopl
VIOLET“Here you go,” I told the table as I set their order down.I didn’t miss the way that the guy’s eyes drank me in, and I found myself once again cursing Greg for choosing these uniforms. I had absolutely no idea why we had to have skintight uniforms that put our assets on display. It was degrading, especially when the customers were constantly undressing us with their eyes.The woman sitting next to him shot me a death glare because of the idiot’s shameless display. It wasn’t my fault that he couldn’t control his gaze. Sure, blame me for his bullshit.“Thank you,” he said, flashing me a grin.There was something in his gaze that unsettled and irritated me, but I had to push that aside. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the luxury of telling customers to fuck off no matter how much I wished to do just that.“You’re welcome. Enjoy your meals,” I said before turning on my heels and leaving.I hated this job. The hours, dealing with ridiculous bullshit from customers, and the lack of resp
VIOLETThe phone stopped ringing, and a text message came through. It was our signal to tell me that whatever she needed to say was important.I pulled it out and cursed when I read her message. ‘He’s drunk again and pounding on my bedroom door…’Fuck. I texted her back that I was on my way home and took off running. Thankfully, the diner wasn’t that far from our house. It was also a good thing that I was a fast runner. I was panting by the time that I ran up the porch steps, but at least I made it.He was still pounding on Daphne’s door. God, I knew that she had to be terrified right now. Daphne was a brave person but felt emotions deeply. It infuriated me that he was scaring her. That girl didn’t fucking need to deal with his shit.I would love nothing more than to run away with her, but I knew that he would stop at nothing to get us back simply because he refused to let anyone else have control in life. No fucking idea why he kept us around because he hated us with a damn passion.W
VIOLETSomething woke me up. It took a minute to orient myself and remember what had happened earlier.Daphne had stopped crying after thirty minutes and had been embarrassed about breaking down, but I was able to put her at ease. She didn’t want to stay in her room, so I took her over to my room after making sure she had something to eat.My sister had clung to me even in her sleep. Her whimpers hurt to hear because it showed her distress even in the land of dreams.I gently extricated myself from her hold and pushed my pillow into her arms, hoping that it’d be enough to keep her asleep because she definitely needed it after the night that she had.I heard the front door shut and footsteps that were clearly from more than just Ron.My heart was hammering away in my chest as I opened my door and slipped into the hallway. Something was compelling me to find out what was going on. My gut twisted just like it always did when something bad was going to happen. I had learned long ago to alw
ENZOI was on my way home from work when my Bluetooth alerted me to an incoming call. Part of me wanted to ignore the call, but I hit the button to accept it instead.Was it too much for me to wish that the outside world didn’t exist for the rest of tonight? All I wanted to do was grab a shower and drop onto my bed, finding sleep after another exhausting day. It was a little after 10 at night.“You need to get your ass over here. I’m sending you my location,” my brother, Niccolò, said the moment that the call connected.The urgency in his voice gave me pause because Niccolò was rarely like this unless something serious happened.His location came through to me. I wasted no time in clicking it on the display so that it would pull up the map to get me there. It looked like I was fifteen miles away so not that far.“Tell me everything,” I demanded.I knew that he hated it when I demanded shit, but I didn’t care right now. This was the time for me to know what I would be walking into.“I w
ENZO“You know her?”He moved in for a closer look and lifted her arm up, looking for something. He sucked in a sharp breath when he saw a deep bruise on her arm.“I met her today. The altercation that I mentioned earlier happened when we stopped at a diner for lunch. No idea what in the fuck had happened, but her boss was already holding her arm tightly, as can be seen for it to bruise that deeply, and had his other hand poised to strike her. I intervened and promised that I’d break his wrist if he tried striking her. He ran away like a pussy. She thanked me and told me her name.”The growl this time wasn’t from Titan but me. Niccolò looked at me in surprise at my reaction. Yeah, get in line because I was just as surprised. He just cleared his throat and continued.“This morning, I had gotten the feeling that something big was going to happen today. That’s why I had the guys with me today. I think that I was led to that diner for more than just protecting her from her boss but because
CANDICEMy mind ran through all of the potential possibilities of what Violet’s vision might have entailed.She called me an hour ago and told me that she had a vision about Zaxyn and needed to have a meeting with all of us. Whatever she had seen was enough to shake her. I could hear it in her voice as she spoke.“Can you get Daph so that we can head downstairs,” I asked Eli.“Sure thing, Mom,” he said before freezing, cheeks pinkening with a blush.I could tell that it hadn’t been intention and just slipped out. Honestly, it made my heart swell to think that there was a part of him that saw me as a mother figure. He had accepted me immediately and had mentioned how happy he was about the bond between Max and me.Embarrassment and hope warred inside of him for dominance – embarrassment because of his slip, and hope because he secretly wanted me to be okay with it. Layla had done the basics to appear as though she loved him, but it was clear that love wasn’t the case once she sent peopl
VIOLETReaching my hand out, I turned off the hot water before wrapping a towel around my body and one around my head.The steamed mirror hid my reflection until I wiped a spot off. Looking back was a woman who was still odd to see.I looked the same but not at the same time. My features were more defined. More mature. Amber eyes held a happiness that I had never experienced before he came into my life. I had just gotten by day to day, but he showed me how important it was to also live for me.There were currently dark circles under my eyes that I had been covering up with magic known as makeup. Each day that passed by brought us one step closer to dealing with the Appersons.Sleep never came easy to me unless my mate wore me out in the best possible way. I would be so tired that I wouldn’t be fully conscious of Ava waking up in the middle of the night. Enzo would get up to take care of her each time. He was always quick to reassure me that he loved to have that one-on-one with her, se
ENZOThere were gasps and laughs heard throughout the crowd.I barely contained my snarl. The only reason that I suppressed it at all was because there were humans who worked here too. Otherwise, I’d show everyone what happened when you crossed an Alpha-born to this extent.Embarrassment, pain, and sadness flowed down the bond. She couldn’t honestly believe that I’d say any of those things, could she?“WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” I shouted as loudly as I could since I couldn’t really snarl.‘Kill them. Kill them all,’ Titan raged within me, seething that someone dared to hurt our mate like this.As much as I wanted to side with him on this, I couldn’t just up and kill them.‘Sven, find out everything that you can about the pictures and video that’s being displayed in the cafeteria please.’‘Right away, boss.’Niccolò rushed into the cafeteria with Lilac in two. They had clearly gotten interrupted, but I was glad that they were both here right now. He looked murderous as he saw what
ENZOThere was a storm on the horizon. As the days passed, we prepared to face off against the Appersons.Violet’s idea for the video was the perfect opening move. It turned out even better than we had thought it would. Sven, being the mastermind that he was, had been able to push the video to specific people.The problem was that Fae had no centralized governing body to rule over their people. That was what gave the foothold that the Appersons used to climb to the top of the totem pole.It was important to have someone that everyone had to answer. Pushing aside the recent Werewolf Council’s fuckery, it was easy to see the importance of having a hierarchy within a species. Everyone was held accountable for their own actions or inactions. It also provided structure, stability, and protected its people. We had to get creative with how we put the truth out there. Anastasia, Darrel, Candice, and Kaia worked really well together. Specific families and clans received video and subsequent pr
VIOLETIt was amazing to witness these family members reuniting with each other.Enzo held me from behind, chin resting on my shoulder. I leaned against his body, loving the way that I could feel his heart beating against my back. It mirrored my own.Darrel Steele’s parents also showed up. They fell to their knees when they saw him for the very first time after all of these years. He rushed over and wrapped his arms around them. His cries broke my heart. He had lost the innocence that he had as a teenager when his life was ripped away from him.It renewed the fury that I had felt steadily growing ever since I had learned just an outline of what the Appersons were responsible for doing.Nobody should ever have to feel the pain that these beautiful people have dealt with all of these years. I could not even begin to imagine the toll that it took on them. All of the uncertainty, hopelessness, and helplessness.Tears rolled down my cheeks as their emotions rushed into me. It felt like I wa
VIOLETThe days passed by in a flurry of activity. Some of it was overwhelming, but some of it was incredibly beautiful as well.Our home was almost too silent after weeks of having hundreds of people living here. I wasn’t complaining though.Enzo and I grew even closer than we’d been before. It was long overdue, but the entire house was finally christened. Talk about fun! I couldn’t get my fill of him because it was never enough. My body, and our bond, always demanded more. Titan and Reika, likewise, couldn’t get enough of each other either.Our bond with Ava also continued to grow and strengthen. It was amazing to see the fatherly side of my mate. God, was there something that he didn’t excel at? She had him wrapped around her little pinky and didn’t even realize it yet. He made a fantastic father just like he made a fantastic mate.Niccolò, Lilac, and Raelynn moved into the guesthouse so that they could still be close enough to fulfill their duty as my Dreatirs. However, they’d have
MAXWELLMy mate’s life had never been easy. I wasn’t surprised that she turned out to be such a strong warrior.Goddess, I’ve heard many examples of fucked-up families over the years, but I was certain that the Apperson family ranked up there in the top. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it had to have been for her over the years. She always had to look over her shoulder and make sure that she covered her tracks.One’s family should be the biggest source of support. The same people who should’ve loved her unconditionally brought her nothing but pain and heartache. I was just thankful that she’d been able to get away from them.Worry churned in my gut, knowing who they’d been in contact with. They also knew that Reika was a Golden wolf. I couldn’t imagine them being willing to give up that level of power, leaving me wondering if they’d just been placating Alpha Bradley.‘Bradley,’ Thorn corrected me. ‘He doesn’t deserve the respect that his title provides.’He made a great point. It had
VIOLETI couldn’t wait for the Apperson family to get what was coming to them. They’d destroyed far too fucking much and would pay dearly for it.It broke my heart to hear about Mom’s friends just like I knew that it still broke her heart. Time didn’t heal all wounds. This would be one that she’d carry for the rest of her life. I just prayed that she could carry it a little bit easier, knowing that her friends would be protected one way or another.They lived in a single-family home inside of a gated community. It was supposedly a perk of the jobs that Mom had arranged for them all of those years ago. In reality, Mom had purchased the house and had their boss give it to them as a perk. Mom had also ensured that it was retrofitted with plenty of security to keep them protected.Mom, Dad, Enzo, and I would go to see them. Marco would remain outside while being invisible. Lilac and Kaia would use their glamours to keep some of our warriors hidden from view as well but would be further out
CANDICEZaxyn. It was a name that I could live the rest of my life without hearing.Learning that your family was evil incarnate would do serious damage to anyone who didn’t share their same beliefs. I was seventeen when I found out the truth, and it broke me even more than I’d ever thought was possible.There’d been whispers along the wind about missing Fae. The community that I was raised in had a multitude of Fae clans that lived together in harmony, or so I thought. I never believed that the threat was so close to home until some of my friends disappeared. It was all thanks to overhearing Nahilak that the truth was finally known.[Flashback]“Report,” Father barked.I was hiding out in a room on the second floor that shared a vent with my father’s office. I wasn’t sure what led me here, but I knew that it was important. My gut told me that everything was about to change.“The three targets were successfully acquired, stripped of their magic, and placed into the Warden’s custody. Th