ONE MONTH LATER"Isla, you're reading too much into this. You need to calm down. Nothing is going to be perfect.”"No way, this is going to be perfect. It has to be perfect." I cut Harry off, and he rolls his eyes."Isla, no one here is going to care if the lights are too bright or the snacks are too salty," he reasons, and I gasp."Oh my goodness, you're right! What if the lights are too bright? What if the snacks are too salty? What if they're not salty enough? What am I going to do? It's going to ruin everything?!" I cry out, flailing my hands in midair."I'm calling Oliver right now and telling him to cancel the ball. We're not ready yet, and I'm not ready yet." I start to hyperventilate as a million things that could go wrong start swarming around my head.I don't know when Harry decides to place both his arms on my shoulders, but I feel it, which causes me to flinch a little, but I relax when he uses his hand to caress my shoulder."Take a deep breath, love." He says, and I do i
This is not possible. How come we're being attacked? We've been living peacefully for months now; what went wrong?While I have an internal monologue in my head, Harry has already disentangled from me and grabbed the nearest sword from a guard near by. He makes his way outside of the ballroom, and it takes me a few seconds to regain composure.I rip off the lower part of my beautiful gown so that I'm able to walk freely. I tell those who aren't able to defend themselves to stay put in the ballroom while I assign guards to watch them.Then those who can handle a sword all trail behind me as I make for my husband. When I get outside, I see that we're being attacked by wolves, rogues in particular, but most are in human form.They seem to have come prepared as they launch arrows from their bows at my people, striking them with perfect aim and having them fall to the ground. I take action, grabbing a sword from a soldier and joining the fight.From a distance, I hear, "Isla, what are you
"I know what happened." Harry says in a low voice, and I crease my brows."What ha—" a distant voice causes me to cut my sentence short and turn my attention to the source."Let me go! Let me go, you bastards!" one of the rogues that attacked us argues as my soldiers drag him over to where Harry and I are standing.The other one is more silent. Though he's struggling, he's not yelling all over the place or laying down curses. He seems more put together, and so I focus my attention on him. Perhaps he'll be the one to explain what's going on later.The two men are thrown to mine and Harry's feet as they snarl and make displeased sounds that fall on deaf ears. The soldiers tie their hands behind their backs and strip them of all the nonexistent weapons and shields the rogues possess."Who are you people?" Harry asks the rogues, and the unstable one answers."Your fucking ruination!" He spits out and doesn't forget to actually spit on Harry.Oh oh.I know that Harry is a changed man and a
Everything comes to a standstill after that. Especially Harry. I use the opportunity to jog up to where he's standing, and I fling the sword away from his grip."What is wrong with you?" I sneered at him before pulling him away from the crowd a bit."If you kill them, how are we going to find out who they're working for?" I raise my nose, and Harry grinds his teeth."We'll find that out later, but for now, we have to get rid of them. What if they attack us?" Harry says, and my lips part."Are you thinking straight?" It's a rhetorical question, but he shakes his head, answering it."Of course I'm not. These people—what if they're the ones who have been sending me those letters?""What? What letters? Harry, I thought that stopped." I take a step back from him, and I hear him let out a defeated sigh."I didn't want to worry you." He says in a calm tone, and I frown."Well, I'm worried now!" It comes out harsher than intended but passes the right message as Harry flinches at my pitch."I'
"Lauren..." The man trails off, and everything comes to a standstill as I gasp along with everyone else.But that means the man who planned the attack and hired the rogues must be the councillor. I knew it! I knew that that man was untrustworthy. I've always felt it in my bones, and now...Now he showed his true colours. He tried to overthrow the pack and kill Harry and me. Speaking of Harry, this must come as a great shock to him.I know how much he values the councillor and sees him as his father. I'm about to reach for Harry and check how he's doing, but I see his body stiffen as he hardens up his expression.Oh, no. He's pissed. Heck, he's beyond pissed. He despises traitors and betrayers. Heavens, I don't think that I'll be able to watch all this happen."Guards!" Harry's voice booms all over the courtyard, and I flinch at his tone. What if I was the one?If he finds out that I've been keeping him in the dark about the kids, what would he do to me? I try to erase all negative tho
"We found Lauren." Oliver says in an unethical tone."Oh," is the only thing that I can say."Where is she?" Harry inquires in a buff tone."Soldiers have her rounded and handcuffed in the courtyard," Oliver answers straight-forwardly."Good," Harry says, and without wasting anymore time, he walks out of the office, stomping every which way, leaving only Oliver and I alone.I let out an awkward laugh. "How are you?" I ask him, and he summons a smile. It's a pure sad one, but at least he's still smiling, so that counts for something, right?"Today did not turn out how I thought it would," he tries to joke, and I let out a small chuckle as we both started to walk out of the office and down to the so-called courtyard where Lauren is being held captive."Same," I say, and as we step outside, I realise that the sun has fully risen and that it's now another day.I hear the voices before I see the people. I can distinctly hear Lauren begging for mercy, though I doubt she's really sorry or de
Councillor Will is here.The men holding him from both ends keep on shoving him over to where Harry and I are standing. The councillor keeps on struggling and yelling out profanities, but no one pays attention.They finally get him to kneel in front of us beside his daughter, and I don't miss the look of fury on his face when his pieces came out, indicating that his daughter must've revealed his location.Lauren, unaware of her father's rage, turns her attention back to Harry and me. Harry especially, to be specific. She puts on a docile and repentant face, probably thinking that she'll be able to thaw Harry's heart.Either she's incredibly stupid or she actually believes that she and Harry still have a chance together. I would've pitied her, but she doesn't deserve it in the slightest way."Harry, let me go now. Please..." She pouts, and for the first time today, Harry really looks at her.Is that pity I see in his eyes? It must be my imagination, so I just let it go. And even though
HARRYI've done a lot of bad things in my life, and I know that karma is real and a raging bitch. I, of all people, know that you reap what you sow, and I sowed a lot of bad seeds, which I'm still reaping to this day.But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared me for the councillor's betrayal. I told him things that I could never and would never tell my father. Councillor Will has been my role model since the beginning of my life.He's always been there. Always. Even when everybody left and I became a shell of my old self, he was there. He was there through thick and thin, curvy, bent, and everything in between.And Lauren—I've never cared for Lauren that much, so her betrayal didn't come off as shocking as it was supposed to. Instead, I even kind of predicted it.I knew that she was a very clingy and possessive person who didn't like things slipping away from her grasp, and I got away. I was the one who got away from her, and she didn't like it for one bit.I've also known that Isla i