Here you go, lovelies. One more chapter before they storm the guild.
LILACI looked at Mom and was completely stunned by what she’d done to my cousin.How could she treat her like that? There was a difference between pushing someone and being unnecessarily cruel. Never once had she done that to me while I was training, so why did she do it to her?Enzo had every right to feel the way that he did. On this, I certainly sided with him. I’d be taking over her training. There were ways to teach her emotional control that didn’t involve Mom’s method. No fucking matter what the stakes were, I wouldn’t do what she had done. It was beyond fucked up.“Why?” I asked her, seething at the memory of what Violet looked like as she destroyed herself.None of us were able to get through that barrier. I was thankful that my mate had called Enzo because only he’d been able to. He suffered to get through it, but he accomplished what we couldn’t. It was crazy how powerful that barrier was. Not even Mom’s magic and mine combined had done shit to it.My mate wrapped his arm a
VIOLETRaelynn giggled as she ran away from Niccolò. He had embraced her from day one.It was great to see them together because you could see how happy it made them both. The scary ass Vittori turned into a cuddly teddy bear whenever she was around. She already had him wrapped around her little fingers. His eyes lit up every time she called him Papa. Apparently, both Cara and Zayne had spoken to them respectively, and it was exactly what he and Lilac needed to be able to move forward with their bond.I was a sap for happy endings. Sure, it was a long way off, hopefully, for any of our life stories to come to an end, but the sentiment was the same.It had been five days since I had the breakdown and ended up snapping. Everyone else was pissed off at Aunt Kaia for what she did. I was more hurt than pissed off, especially when I heard about her reasoning. I had spent two years being at someone’s mercy. Ron didn’t want to use me as a weapon, but he did use me for his own benefit. Then th
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
VIOLETThe accident, glass being crunched as someone walked over it, and the voice saying to take care of them were the last things that I remembered before everything went dark.My body felt like it had been through hell, but I supposed that it had given everything that happened in such a short period of time.I attempted to take stock of everything that I could before I opened my eyes, uncertain about what would be waiting for me.My body was laying on something soft, surprising me because the assholes hadn’t seemed to care about my comfort when they manhandled me. It would appear to be a bed that I was laying on if the silkiness of its sheets was any indication. At least they were good quality. That right there was a plus.Why would they care about placing me on a bed? I got the impression that they were elitest bastards that thrived off of the pain that they inflicted on those they deemed to be unworthy.I was focusing on their glaring lack of personalities that could be at least s
VIOLETRaelynn giggled as she ran away from Niccolò. He had embraced her from day one.It was great to see them together because you could see how happy it made them both. The scary ass Vittori turned into a cuddly teddy bear whenever she was around. She already had him wrapped around her little fingers. His eyes lit up every time she called him Papa. Apparently, both Cara and Zayne had spoken to them respectively, and it was exactly what he and Lilac needed to be able to move forward with their bond.I was a sap for happy endings. Sure, it was a long way off, hopefully, for any of our life stories to come to an end, but the sentiment was the same.It had been five days since I had the breakdown and ended up snapping. Everyone else was pissed off at Aunt Kaia for what she did. I was more hurt than pissed off, especially when I heard about her reasoning. I had spent two years being at someone’s mercy. Ron didn’t want to use me as a weapon, but he did use me for his own benefit. Then th
LILACI looked at Mom and was completely stunned by what she’d done to my cousin.How could she treat her like that? There was a difference between pushing someone and being unnecessarily cruel. Never once had she done that to me while I was training, so why did she do it to her?Enzo had every right to feel the way that he did. On this, I certainly sided with him. I’d be taking over her training. There were ways to teach her emotional control that didn’t involve Mom’s method. No fucking matter what the stakes were, I wouldn’t do what she had done. It was beyond fucked up.“Why?” I asked her, seething at the memory of what Violet looked like as she destroyed herself.None of us were able to get through that barrier. I was thankful that my mate had called Enzo because only he’d been able to. He suffered to get through it, but he accomplished what we couldn’t. It was crazy how powerful that barrier was. Not even Mom’s magic and mine combined had done shit to it.My mate wrapped his arm a
VIOLET “Focus, Violet! You can hold it longer,” Aunt Kaia shouted from across the yard.I growled loudly, my frustration spilling over. We had been at this for hours already today after dealing with this particular training method yesterday too. I was at my breaking point.She was a damn good instructor and had taught me many things about Fae and what we could do. Our magic could be used for so much good but also equal parts evil. It was all about the person’s intentions. Magic was neither good nor bad. It was the wielder that decided its purpose and direction.They explained to me how ancestral magic, like ours, worked. Not every Fae lineage had access to ancestral magic, but the Appersons did. That was precisely why they wouldn’t stop looking for all of us who didn’t fall in line with them. There were ways to siphon someone’s magic. It was very dangerous and very dark but not something that they had not done before. Fuck them. They had another thing coming if they thought that we we
ENZOIt had only been hours that she had been here, but the environment felt completely different. This place had always just been a place where I lived and where I slept – a pitstop if you wanted to consider it as such. Now, however, I could envision filling this place with proof of our love, leaving behind a lifetime of memories.I leaned against the wall, arms crossed over my chest. I smiled as I watched Violet clean up the kitchen. She was humming and dancing around as she worked. I loved getting to know her and learning all about her unique quirks. She didn’t have to do the kitchen, especially since she cooked, but she insisted on doing it.Who was I to ignore things that made her happy? This was something mundane, as she put it, which gave her a reprieve from all of the craziness lately.An important side note was that she was an amazing cook. I’d never tasted food as good as hers, and that was saying something because I’ve eaten plenty of food in my lifetime. I would say that it
LILACMy heart started pounding against my ribcage the moment that Violet mentioned my daughter. I wouldn't be surprised if it broke straight through the bone. Mom and I had done everything in our power to ensure that the three of us would never be found, but it seemed like it was futile in the end. Every sacrifice that we had made meant nothing in the end. The Appersons were downright fucked up. They skirted the line of Light Fae and Dark Fae. See, our kind originated as one with pure magic and pure purpose. Some Fae became greedy, wanting more and more power. They sought outside means to get it, which turned out to be dark magic. The magic fused with the light inside of them and corrupted their entire being. It even changed their appearance, turning their eyes dark, bodies dull gray in color, and black veins formed on their skin. The Appersons had powerful magic that kept the physical manifestation from taking hold. It allowed them to have their cake and to eat it too. Each new g
ENZOMy family had always wondered why I’d put so much time and thought into the design of my house, especially considering the fact that I lived alone. Perhaps there was a part of me that hoped I wouldn’t be alone in the end and would be able to build a life and family here even if I hadn’t put too much thought into a future mate.Three stories, ten bedrooms, eight bathrooms, library, gym, theater room, home office, heated outdoor pool, sauna, and jacuzzi. There was also a separate four-bedroom guesthouse that was also fully-furnished.I heard Violet’s soft gasp when the gates opened up, allowing me to drive in. There was a deep sense of awe running through her as her eyes swiveled around from side to side, taking it all in.There were ten acres of land associated with this property. The woods provided plenty of area for Titan to run and hunt whenever he was in a mood to do so. It also had plenty of coverage to hide the security devices and boobytraps from prying eyes. Security was on
LILACI had no idea why fate paired us together, but I had to believe that there was a reason for it.A part of me worried that Niccolò might not feel that I was worth fighting for. What if he couldn’t accept my crazy life? What if he’d rather just go and find a she-wolf, one that could give his wolf a wolf mate?My eyes burned when I thought about that happening. I clenched my hands into fists and focused on the blurring scenery, hoping that everything would work out in the end.Sparks broke me out of those thoughts. I looked down and saw that his hand was clasped with mine.Niccolò leaned over and placed a kiss on my head. I didn’t know why he did this, but it was exactly what I needed. I scooted closer and rested my head on his shoulder. His emotions felt much lighter right now, which helped to soothe my frayed nerves.After another hour of driving, we pulled up to a large gate. Enzo placed his hand on a scanner and spoke a command. The gate swung open, and he drove inside.The land
ALPHA BRADLEYI walked over to the bar cart near the window and poured myself a drink. It was premium A-grade stock that was more potent than typical alcohol. The burn slid down my throat, coming to rest in my chest. Looking out the window, I wanted to scoff at the scene. People walking around the grounds without a care in the world, believing that they were safe and completely unaware of the danger that was hiding right in plain sight. My eyes scanned the Sentinels that were on duty, tasked with keeping everyone here on the Council grounds safe. The irony brought a smirk to my face.I wondered what the rest of the Council would think if they knew the truth of what had been occurring right underneath their noses for the past five years. I had to give it enough time to get my bearings once I was inducted into one of the highest positions in the werewolf world. A year after I came here, the long-awaited plan was put into motion.One might think that doing anything nefarious with six fel
ENZOMy mate had been pissed off ever since she got done speaking with Daphne but had yet to share anything. The emotions within her were concerning, but I knew that she needed to work through it all before she could open up. So, I gave her the peace and quiet that she needed. Me, Alpha Maxwell, Eli, my brother, Kaia, and Lilac were all gathered around, watching Violet pace. We had bets going for how long it’d last. I was currently winning with twenty-five minutes. She let out a loud growl and punched the wall after another seven minutes.Violet turned around, as if just realizing that we were all still here. I went over and took a look at her hand. It was a hard punch, but Niccolò had taught her how to do it without fucking up her hand. The knuckle on her middle finger had split open, so I kissed it. Then I tipped her chin up and kissed her. It was soft and quick, but it helped to relax some just like I’d hoped that it would.‘We’re all here for you,’ I promised her.She smiled and n