Not everyone's mate takes them to the sparing ground and arms them with knives but mine had to be special. "If I came at you with a knife, is this how you'd defend yourself?" I kept my mouth shut to keep myself from drooling. If anyone came at me with a knife, they wouldn't have such a magnificent chest on full display to distract me. "What was that?" His brow raised. "What?" "What is it you said about my chest?" My eyes darted to his face in time to catch a flash of a smirk which made my heart sink. I took a step back, burying my face in my palms when I realized I'd said the words out loud. Mortification made me burn from the inside out."Am I distracting you?" His voice was thicker; perhaps from holding laughter or something else. "Oh no, it's just –" I took another step backwards and tripped on thin air. I flayed about for a second before strong arms caught me and pulled me to a magnificent, sweaty chest. "Fuuucck," He exclaimed and let me go almost immediately. I steadied a
The men carried the scent of the Alpha Pack but I had never set eyes on them before then. Valens came up behind me and the men echoed their greetings in loud, cheery voices that were far divorced from their scary, domineering builds. "Alpha! Luna!" The largest man in the group echoed, then he stepped forward and on instinct, I stepped backwards, leaning into Valens. "A hug?" The big man asked. "I thought we all agreed on not hugging strangers?" Jabari stepped out of the mall. I frowned when I realized I'd been so caught up with Valens that I barely paid attention to Jabari materializing at different places around the mall, almost as if he was following us. Or me. "The Luna is no stranger." The big man took a step forward and I pressed into Valens. He casually moved me to his side, his hand draped around my shoulders and his actions plainly telling the newcomer to back off. "I see how it is." The man chortled before taking a step back so that he fell in step with the other men who
"What pain?" Valens demanded but the oracle did nothing more than cry, tears streaming down her face faster.I felt I knew what she was talking about but the more she cried, the more I doubted I understood this lady.I'd been through hell and back in Redville. There were days when I did nothing but cry from the beginning of the day till the end. I'd gone days without food, been broken in every way a person could be broken. Mentally and emotionally, I'd been traumatized. There was little cause for living and I'd found no use for my life. On many days, I wanted out.It was a sad story, one that spoke of my weakness. I'd lost every bit of strength over the years. Teenage rebellion went out of me, childhood curiosity died early in my life.If he knew all this about me, if he knew that my weakness extended past the physical, how would he take it?"I see it," the oracle whispered. "I feel it." She flinched as if someone struck her, making me wonder if she was reliving one of my run-ins with
"Just listen to me even if it's for one minute." He grabbed my hand as I turned to leave. "I know I've hurt you but I have so much on my chest that I want to say to you.""Why should I care that you have so much on your mind? How is it my place to help you get things off your chest?" I pulled my hand from Lucien's grasp, grateful for the things Valens had taught me. Before then, I always found it hard to get out of Lucien's grip but now I did it with ease.As he spoke, I assessed his obvious physical weak points. I pictured how I would go for them if he did anything funny. I didn't have the strength to take him down but Valens told me I had speed and I trusted him. I could deliver a swift attack before he knew it."For old time's sake? We were best friends. Doesn't that count for something?" I scoffed at him. At three a.m on a night I found it difficult to sleep, the last thing I needed was to take a trip down bitter memory lanes with a man that ruined me."It didn't count for anythin
"What can I help with?" I asked as I took the seat opposite his. Rather than reply, he walked around his desk and buried his face in my neck. His breath tickled my skin until he froze. I knew without a doubt that he had scented Lucien on me with the way he froze and slowly withdrew. He went back into his seat without a word, anger pouring from his skin and filling the room."Lucien was my best friend," I started when he dove into his work."I don't care." His quiet words were little more than snarls."You do. You're jealous of him." I challenged which I shouldn't have.I jerked out of my seat when things on his desk went crashing down with a sweep of his hand. Ink rapidly spread across the screen of his system as it lay on the ground."You're mine." He pushed the desk out of the way as if it was made from plastic and not high-quality wood."I'm yours," I answered in a small voice, taking steps back as he advanced upon me."I shouldn't have to be jealous of another man." My back hit th
"Stop following me!""Celeste, will you stop for a minute?" I continued following her. "We need to talk, please.""I can't talk to you, can I? I don't want to mistakenly put my hands on the Luna and earn myself a death sentence!" She snapped, walking faster. The people on the street openly stared at us as I chased after my best friend.A large mass appeared from nowhere and blocked her path. She almost ran into Jabari as he blocked off her movement."You! Why have you been following me about?" She exclaimed at him, not minding the fact that he could crush her skull with his palms. Turning to me with a glare that made me step back, she asked, "Did you put him up to this?" I raised my hand in surrender."I never mentioned anything about you to him," I said truthfully but I didn't think she believed me.It seemed our friendship had been ruined after all because the way she looked at me, it was clear that she hated the air I breathed. I suspected she would reproach me for hiding my mating
VALENS"She is moving towards the dungeons," Jabari's voice called through the phone. The people at the meeting tried not to stare at me as I took my call. "She wants to release the douche.""He's allowed to leave. Take him to his family and make sure Celeste sees him. After that, I want him to disappear within the next twenty-four hours." My fingers drummed on the table as I awaited confirmation that he understood what I meant."Where do you want him?" Jabari asked."Dead if I find him within ten feet of my mate in his lifetime." I clicked the end button and went back to my meeting.The men and women around me wanted me to consolidate the packs under me into one. It wasn't something I had not considered before but I put off a lot of things for when I found my mate. Now, I'd found her.It would take a lot of work to combine all packs, considering the fact that they were spread out in different parts of the world and none of them was close to another. I put in my men to rule in my stea
I waited for Valens but he was taking longer than usual to arrive.After I surprisingly succeeded in freeing Beta Strauss, I ran into Lucien. He was frankly the last person I wanted to run into in this lifetime or the next. I tried to pretend he wasn't there but he rushed at me and engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug that made my back crack. Thankfully, training with Valens taught me how to get out of his hold. I wriggled free of his hold just as Jabari showed up. Jabari glared at him so hard that he scampered off.I tightened my robe around myself as I waited for Valens. I wanted to get into my pyjamas and just go to sleep but I felt I had to appease him for releasing Beta Strauss against his orders. I had to soften him up for when I broke the news to him and if I knew Valens, the thing he liked most in the world, more than his duty and his pride, was sex.At around midnight, when my eyes were dropping from exhaustion, I heard our suite door open. I sat upright, my skin heating in the