Almara’s PovGrace loves her new home. We all do. It only took a few extra months working with the interior designer to get the house of our dreams all set up and now it’s ready to show our friends and family.“Almara, where do you want the charcuterie board?” Arthur asks and I turn from placing sunflowers in a vase and point him in the direction of the sunroom.“I think on the glass table, next to the family portraits, would look nice,” I tell him.
Almara’s PovI shouldn’t have had that last vodka shot. Unfortunately, it’s too late now so I might as well go with it! Where is Arthur? I lean against a wall in the living room and try to think through that last shot. Why is the wall moving? Oh wait, that’s just me. I laugh at myself.Wow, I haven’t been drunk since . . . I don’t know. Where is Arthur? I count off the original guests in my head, this is how I’ve been checking in with myself. If I can recall the original guests and our last encounter then I&
Almara’s PovI definitely shouldn’t have had that last shot. I lean over the toilet and vomit nothing but bile. Chills run up my spine. The cold tile of the bathroom floor cuts right into my bones, causing me to shiver.It’s 10:00 am and I’ve been hugging the toilet bowl since seven this morning. I haven’t even seen the downstairs yet. I don’t even know if I want to.“It’s hard being mad at you when I also feel really bad you’re so
Arthur’s PovDownstairs the kitchen is sparkling, you’d never guess there was a raging party here. “Thanks, Clarice,” I say to the maid who bows in respect as she passes by carrying a rag. “Did you bleach that one spot I told you about?” I ask, referring to the spot where Robert and that random girl were lusting over one another.“Yes, yes. All clean,” She responds and I nod a thank you. As uncool as it was for Robert to invite over my old friends without first talking to me or Almara, which of course would inevitably lead to more and more people finding out, it was a pretty fun party.Except for the part of Almara accusing me of something that I would absolutely never do. On one hand, it was pretty hot seeing her get jealous and protective, something primal in me got stirred. But on the other hand, she has to know that I would never betray her like that.I reach up in the cabinet to grab the kettle. I guess I’ll have to prove to her that I'm better than she gives me credit for. Just
Almara’s PovI wish Arthur told me a war was pending. I would’ve held off on showing him the pregnancy test I bought. Then again, I really didn’t want to take the test by myself, only to get a positive result also by myself. I can’t believe we’re having another baby. I’m ecstatic, truly and I know Arthur is too, but what we’re not admitting is how terrified we are. Tension between the Vampires and the Wolves has been growing and it seems inevitable that a war is going to start.All the major media platforms are reporting on this and it’s all anyone can talk about. Apparently, the Vampires have come into some kind of new power and are eager to flaunt it. At least that’s how it appears.I am two months pregnant now and the morning sickness is keeping me bound to my bed so all I can really do is flip through the T.V channels or scroll on my phone which is slowly driving me crazy.My phone also hasn’t been the same since it’s been hacked, and apparently, I’m not the only one. Across the
Author's PovI dig my claws into the ground and crouch down low. The cold slanted rain hits my back, dampening my fur, and through short hot exhales from my snout I can see my breath. Nothing else moves, no sign of life seems to exist anywhere on this barren land until something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.By the scent, I know it’s Robert. “I told you to stay back,” I growl making sure to keep my voice as low as possible.“It’s time to move in deeper,” Robert says back. At least he has the common sense to keep his voice down.“As your Alpha, I’m giving an order,” I snap. Robert is only beta because my father turned him back into a werewolf when the petty attacks by the vampires kept persisting. He’s technically family and born into it.I only agreed for him to be beta because he was also once a vampire, he knows how their twisted minds work. Now that he’s full werewolf and the oldest, he thinks he should be the Alpha and after this war, I’ll fight him to the deat
Almara’s PovIn only a month, the state of my life has completely changed. Not just mine, but everybody’s. This realization paralyzes me as I stand in a white lab coat, feet glued to the aluminum tile that’s been scuffed by squeaking gurneys drenched with the blood of the dying.“Almara! Get back to class!” A doctor racing past me yells. Still, it takes my legs a minute to regain their mobility.The bathroom door shuts behind me and I cross the hall of the hospital, careful to keep an eye out for gurneys carrying a wounded soldier screeching past. I already got hit by one once and no one batted an eye as they hurried the poor victim off to the intensive care unit.Since then I try to hold off my bladder’s demands to be released for as long as I can while in class, but as I progress in my pregnancy the urge to pee is getting harder to ignore.Since Arthur made that risky step of entering vampire land, the war has expedited, and at a bloody cost.No one blames Arthur for sending a pack
Almara’s Pov“You’re going to be okay,” I tell the poor wolf being hurried off to the operating room, though I have no idea how he’s going to fair. This time, I’m not standing in the way or out of the way of the gurney- I’m the one pushing the wheels faster than they’re built for across the tiled floor.The solider groans in response. “Don’t,” I order him. “Save your energy, you’re going to have to fight if you want to stay alive,” I tell him. This is what we were instructed to tell the patients that come in here.If we can convince them all they have to do is exactly what they were just doing on the battlefield to save their life, their chances of survival double. Except this time, it’s not physical combat they’re doing, it’s a mental and emotional war they’re up against. Mind over matter.The solider closes his eyes and lets his body relax, despite the shakes and bumps of the flimsy cart that’s wheeling him. We burst through the doors leading to the operating room, I’ve stopped coun