Icy water splashed my face. I gasped awake, coughing. Trickles of water raced down my body from my hair and face. My vision was hazy as I tried to make out the face hovering above me. A scream formed in my throat. I wanted to shout, but my lips were tightly sealed with duct tape. I let out a muffled groan instead as I squirmed in the chair I was sitting on. My vision finally cleared, and I discovered the face before me. Karl! Images of what happened flooded my mind instantly. Karl had pulled me close to him just like he had before. I tried to shove him away, but as usual, he was too strong. The next moment, he gently pulled a piece of cloth over my nose, and I lost consciousness, waking up in this dark room tied to a chair. “Hello,” Karl's lips curled into a sickening smile. He tried to stroke my cheek with the edge of his index finger. I turned my head away, my skin crawling at his touch. I tried to keep my expression blank, but I knew my fear was showing on my face. Karl's smile
I stared at the unconscious man, his head bent lazily. I was already bored of waiting that I felt like punching him back to consciousness. “Capo, this is getting us nowhere. He doesn’t seem ready to wake up,” Logan said. “I need information from him. I need to know every fucking thing about the Farem group and put an end to this madness soon!” I shouted in fury. “Leo, I need you to call Mirabel and inform her to assemble the men and meet us at the cross-section. Once I get my information, we’re off to execute plan B.” Leo nodded and took out his cellphone, moving to the other side of the room. I watched our captive as he moved his body and groaned in pain, probably remembering that a bullet had gone right through his kneecap. Slowly, he raised his head to look at me. I pulled out my knife and drew a chair opposite him. I began to clean the blade carefully to express the tension in the air. It was either he gave me the answers I needed, or I would torture him to death—well, either w
It was over. Neil was dead. My heart split into a million pieces, and I cursed the world for being so cruel. From growing up under a strict father who was a shrewd politician to marrying Lorenzo, robbing me of my dreams and freedom, and finally, when I was beginning to find love with my boss, Neil, he died. I felt so devastated. I didn't want to live if living was without Neil. It would have been better to die with him. Please, don't die, I pleaded in my head, almost as if I could feel something connecting my thoughts to Neil. Karl strode toward Neil, who was kneeling on one knee, deep green veins protruding on his face and neck from the pain of the bullets now stuck in his body. I couldn't bear to look at him in such a situation. It broke my heart. “Let's see if the true alpha can survive silver bullets.” Karl grabbed Neil by the hair and yanked his head upward while he pointed the gun at his forehead. I watched helplessly. I didn't know what to do to save Neil. I struggled a
In a few minutes, I found both bullets and pulled them out. I quickly pressed Neil's shirt against the wounds to stop any excessive bleeding that might occur. I looked up at Neil's face, and he seemed fine now—not as pale as a man with blood loss should be. I eased up on my pressure and checked the wound — no excessive bleeding, but strangely, the wounds had perfectly healed. There was no way this should be possible, yet I was seeing it with my own eyes. Neil was no longer bleeding; even the tiniest tear was nowhere to be found. It was as if he had never been hurt in the first place. I touched the spots where the bullet holes were supposed to be, to be sure I was not hallucinating, but it was smooth. Before I could withdraw my mind from its far places, Neil's arms curled around me. Yet again, I felt the rush of helplessness, the sinking yielding, the surging tide of warmth that left me limp. I didn’t know what to think — Neil's body close to mine as we sat on the floor; someone who wa
My arm remained tight on Neil’s chest as I held him in place. I could feel the tension in his muscles as he strained against my grip, but I wasn’t ready to let go yet. I knew this was the end of Amelia working in his company, but I still had to sound this note to Neil.“I am going to tell you this once,” I began, my voice low and menacing, “stay away from my wife. From today, she ceased to be your employee. I am not negotiating. This is not a request; it is a demand. She’s mine to protect.”“Yes. I can see that. Just like you protected her from that maniac over there.” Neil jerked his chin toward the body at the other side of the room, a sly smile playing across his face.“I am not going to ask you again. Amelia will be safe under my protection, and you are not going to interfere, even if her life is at risk. Otherwise…” I loosened my grip on his chest and stuffed my hands into my pockets while staring at his face. “Amelia belongs to me, and I am the one in charge of her protection. An
I tried not to cry after Lorenzo left, but I couldn’t hold back my tears. The fact that I didn’t know anything about Neil’s condition right now, or that Lorenzo had banned me from leaving the house, or that even if I died, it didn’t matter to Lorenzo, overwhelmed me. I kept shedding tears amidst my thoughts. I wrapped the sheets around me, holding them tight against me as I cried. Wasn’t it better to just die or dare to run away? Shouldn’t I have done that a long time ago?Just then, the door flew open and Lorenzo stepped in. I could feel his dreaded presence, but I didn’t look up.“Sit up,” his cold voice commanded, but I ignored him. He could do his worst; I didn’t care. It didn’t matter to me anymore. I didn’t know what he was back here to do. He already had me locked up in this room.“Amelia, I said sit up and remove your clothes,” he commanded again, and that was when the reality of what was about to happen dawned on me. Lorenzo wanted to force himself on me again. The thought mad
Amelia’s POVI covered my mouth with both hands as I watched Lily drop to the floor. My chest began to rise and fall in fear. I tried to stifle an incoming scream forming in my throat, but I couldn’t. I screamed out loud, trepidation mounting within me.I stared into Lily’s eyes. They looked nothing like someone in shock. It was as if she knew what she had just done—taking a bullet for me. I broke down in tears.Just as I was about to drop beside Lily on the floor, I felt strong arms grab mine. I looked up to see Leo’s eyes staring down at me. I turned to the door where the assailant had been; I followed it down to the floor, where I saw his body sprawled in a pool of his own blood. I didn’t know when Leo had succeeded in killing him.I reluctantly let Leo drag me behind him. Looking around, the entire room was a mess, and Lorenzo was nowhere to be found.“The Farem group has succeeded in finding the capo’s house, and we’re under attack now. The capo wants to get you to safety first,”
Amelia’s POVArms grabbed mine as I was pulled out of the water. I coughed out water and continued coughing as I felt warmth in his embrace, though my clothes were wet. When I was relieved from being underwater for some time, Neil helped me stand to my feet.“Are you okay now?” he asked, and I managed a nod.“We’re both wet.” He turned to look at the water stretched to infinity, and I followed his gaze; not even the slope that had launched us into the water was visible. “I’ll make a fire to get us warm. Stay here.”“Let me follow you.”“No, you’re wet, and you might trip. I won’t take long.”I nodded and let him go. “Please, be quick,” I said, a bit tense about being out here in the wild all alone.I heard the chirping of insects within the forest after Neil left as it started getting dark. A cold breeze brushed against my skin. I rubbed my arms in an attempt to keep myself warm from the unnerving cold, but it was useless. The biting cold made me so uncomfortable that I suddenly felt g
Neil's POV It had been almost a week and I had been mourning him, loathing myself for his demise. I felt empty, weak, and powerless as he was cremated six feet into the ground. I would bear this scar, this burden all my life, as the one who killed his brother. I couldn’t accept any other truth, knowing this would not have happened if I had paid attention to what my mother said a few weeks ago about my brother's disappearance. I should have gone in search of him; maybe I could have saved him earlier. But now, there seemed to be more to this than just losing him to the monster I was yet to understand. A monster that operated with shadows and was as dangerous as hell, capable of possessing the soul of a werewolf. I had to dig into this. Who were the 'they' that were coming? And why do they want to wipe out all werewolves? His voice echoed in my mind. A thin line of tears rushed down my face as I stared at his grave. Every werewolf in the Castros pack had come to pay their last respe
Neil's POV "Scythe!!!" I screamed in fury with everything in me. The hairs on my body rose in anger. My blood boiled, and the only way to stop this was to take Scythe down and make him pay for everything he put the werewolves of Castros pack through. "Scythe!!" I roared again. Heira paced angrily within me, and I knew any moment now, he would push out. The air suddenly went still, and an ominous silence fell among the ruins of the pack. Cold air rushed in from all sides, and strange shadows began to take shape around me. Scythe's power had increased since the last time. More larger and thicker lumps of shadow penetrated the air now, cloning themselves... more than one Scythe stood before me, ready to attack. "You called me." His voice was unusually deep and menacing, resonating like thunder in the environment. But I cared less; he could display an array of powers as much as he wanted, but he was going down today. With gritted teeth, I pounced forward on both feet, claws pointed at
Neil's POV One blissful, amazing night with my mate had left us both curled into each other's arms. Her head rested on my chest while she slept. She was my mate, my Luna with a wolf spirit—a healer. Not only was she a werewolf now, but she was also a healer. In that moment, I wished I had turned her earlier; Cole wouldn’t have had to endure all of those struggles in Europe to save me from silver. I felt proud of her. She had awakened her wolf successfully after one bite, which was very rare, and she had been blessed by the moon with such a unique power. I suspected that was just the tip of the power of blue wolves. As I lost myself in thoughts about what it would feel like to finally present my mate to the Castros pack, a voice suddenly screamed into my head through the mind-link. "Alpha! Where are you? The pack is in chaos!" It was my beta, Damien. "What’s wrong? What’s happening?" "It’s the shadow assassin! The pack members are disbanding in fear. So many werewolves have been k
Amelia's POV She was very focused and carefully navigated the woods as if she had been there before. Also, she was very fast; I could tell by the amount of wind brushing past her fur. Neil was behind us... wait, not Neil. It was his wolf! I chuckled in excitement. It was getting interesting. 'Lydia is beautiful', I heard Neil in my head as our wolves sprinted through the undergrowth. 'She's charming and very interesting. I love her already', I replied as I laughed. We were beating Neil and his wolf in the race. They couldn't keep up with us; Lydia was extremely fast. 'And she's unusually fast! Damn! Heira is struggling to match her speed!' Neil complained, and I took pride in that. I heard his wolf purr as he increased his speed. 'Catch me if you can,' Lydia screamed in excitement. We pounced ahead. But Lydia suddenly paused and turned to Heira. 'Okay, I think we have arrived at the end of the game.' I stretched my eyes and saw it was a dead end—a cliff. Heira swiftly transfor
Amelia's POV My whole body quaked even while Neil was licking the wound. His hot tongue flapped the bite marks, but that didn't stop the storm I felt within. He pulled away and looked into my face. I thought he was going to let go because he didn't know when my wolf would arrive, but instead, his lips found mine. My lips quivered in his mouth as he kissed me, lips first until our tongues almost set on fire. I could feel my thigh getting slicker as our mouths continued dancing together. Yet, my whole body was on fire; starting from the mark Neil had just placed on my neck to the very pit of my stomach. I began to feel so strange, so alien to my body. I gasped into Neil's mouth while he kissed me because the pains were almost choking me, but Neil's powerful arms held me steadily against his chest as he tried to ease the pains. My fingers dug into his back as it felt as if I could merge with his body. The pains throbbed in my head and pounded in my chest, as if my body would explode an
Amelia's POVI know my name is Amelia. I remember that face; the face I wake up with every morning, right on my mind. I remember his name; he is Neil Morreti. All the memories we ever shared all rushed into my mind; including the sex in the pool at Arkans. I remember he had saved me but I can't remember what happened that he needed to save me in Arkans. I remember that monster, Logan; he cut off my pinky and promised he would send it to Neil, which he did.One distinct thing I also remember is that Neil is not an ordinary human. He has a wolf; a dark haired wolf that is so strong.I couldn't stop myself from imagining what it felt like having a wolf that you could call on, even when you are in danger. I would speak to her, hear her thoughts and opinions and not a soul will know what we are discussing. I would make her my gist mate. I would smell things from afar, hear any little sound like I wish to, become terribly fast and my punch will be strong enough to break enough bones.That f
Amelia's POV I knew my name is Amelia. I remembered that face; the face I woke up with every morning, right on my mind. I remembered his name; he was Neil Morreti. All the memories we had ever shared rushed into my mind, including the moment in the pool at Arkans. I remembered he had saved me, but I couldn't recall what had happened that required his intervention. I remembered that monster, Logan; he had cut off my pinky and promised to send it to Neil, which he did. One distinct thing I also remembered was that Neil was not an ordinary human. He had a wolf; a dark-haired wolf that was incredibly strong. I couldn't stop myself from imagining what it felt like to have a wolf that I could call on, even when I was in danger. I would speak to her, hear her thoughts and opinions, and not a soul would know what we were discussing. I would make her my confidante. I would smell things from afar, hear any little sound I wished to, become incredibly fast, and my punch would be strong enough t
Neil's POV I was shocked to the bone marrow. Not once did Amelia stir as her eyes continued piercing mine inquisitively. "Is he the bad guy who cut my finger with a knife and laughed while I cried?" She raised her stubby pinky to me and pouted her lips, ready to tear up. I was short of words. She remembered Logan, Karl, me, and every other thing except Lorenzo. She didn't remember the man who was ruthless and cruel to her in the name of marriage. She didn't remember how he killed her parents or how he led her to the altar and proceeded with the marriage vows with her. She didn't remember the mafia boss of Chicago, the one who married her for an heir and made life hard for her. She didn't remember any of it. But seeing this situation, I was going to seize it. I would make sure she never remembered those horrible nightmares with Lorenzo. She would never remember that Lorenzo ever existed, that he ever lived in her life. And that he was her husband. I would make sure those nightmares
Neil's POV The first thing I did was get Amelia out of that hospital and take her with me back to America. Cole booked us a room in a hotel to stay and watch out for the time being. The situation in America about being the miscreant who took the lives of hundreds of workers in a refinery explosion hadn't been laid to rest yet. But I was not that bothered about it; now I had all that I wanted, an undisturbed life with my mate. It was late by the time we arrived in America. Amelia had been sleeping on my shoulder all through the flight. She looked so weak and sick. The kind that moved me to pity, but it wasn't pity speaking. I was not pitying my mate. I was deeply concerned about her condition and if Neil Morreti would survive if he lost her. I would become a shadow of myself, and I might not be what anyone expected me to be anymore—just a loner who had lost control of his emotions and his whole self. I let her freshen up alone and treat herself to a nice meal. I took her to watch the