“Be careful with Valens,” Clover said once she pulled into a parking spot.“Why? What do you mean?” The ride had been silent until she turned up the radio halfway to our destination.“He is complicated.” As if I didn’t know that already. “He is not someone you question.” I frowned at that. It wasn’t as if I didn’t think or know that even.“I never questioned him,” I said to which she smiled.“Not directly but when I told you he wanted to see you this morning, you asked ‘what for?’ Valens isn’t a man you ask to explain himself.”I’d only asked on reflex. He’d never sought me out for anything before so I didn’t expect him to send his former lover to me out of the blue.“I didn’t mean it that way.” I was actually questioning her but I didn’t add that part.“And he’s also not someone you argue with.”“That’s unavoidable, isn’t it? We can’t live together forever without an argument.”“Oh, you’re argumentative.” She grinned as she said that. “Valens likes it when people agree with him but I
“I – he gave it to me!” I exclaimed when the store manager came out to see what caused the ruckus in his place.“What is the matter?” The man was a slim and tall man with a stern face and a sterner personality.“She’s trying to make a purchase with a stolen card!” People around exclaimed. The cashier handed him the card and once he saw the name on it, his brows went up. He looked from me to the card then his countenance turned ugly.“This is the prince’s card, omega.” The way he snarled my title made my wolf angry. “How did you get a hold of it?”“He gave it to me!” I snapped, feeling my heart race faster as I spoke. I didn’t want things to escalate further than they already had because I could see some phones coming out of pockets and more people trooping into the store.“Why would the prince give you his card?” One girl piped from behind“He probably told her to buy him something and she’s here to buy clothes for herself.”“Can you imagine the audacity?”Voices from everywhere raise
*VALENS*I watched as my mate walked out of my office and it took a great deal of control to restrain my beast from keeping her glued to my side. With each day that passed, I grew less and less concerned about her past behaviour.She seemed too innocent to have tried poisoning me or betraying me. The person she seemed to be was not the same person I’d known her as and I kept trying to remind myself that she was more than met the eyes.She’d worked her way into my life in a matter of weeks to the point where I couldn’t string two thoughts together without her intruding into one of them. She occupied my mind on a daily basis. I knew it was the mate bond doing all these but no matter how much I tried to separate what was real and what was a projection by the mate bond, it became harder each day. I didn’t know where my true feelings began and where the mate bond ended. It felt like everything blurred together into one.One thing was certain. Mate bond or not, I would readily tear down any
I turned in the cocoon of warmth around me, trying to burrow into it. It felt safe and comforting, as if it stood between me and something unpleasant. I pushed closer into the heat as it wrapped around me."If you keep moving, I'm going to assume you're trying to get something in you." The warmth moved but it felt as if it was pulling away."Don't move." I grabbed the warmth, stopping its escape."You're giving me orders?" Something tickled my cheeks as it pressed against my face."You talk too much. Let me sleep." I turned around to hug the warmth instead of having it hug me. I heard a deep chuckle as my cocoon vibrated. It was so unfamiliar yet familiar and soothing that it made me open my eyes.The room was dark and the cocoon around me was Valens."You're awake." The prince's words were calm as he pulled away from me. I reached out and grabbed his hands to stop him from leaving."Sorry," I apologized when he paused. I let go of his hand when I remembered the embarrassing situation
LUCIEN"Are you certain she would want to do this?" I asked Skylar while we waited for Clover. She had this master plan and I swore to help her through everything as long as in the end, I had my mate back in my arms.It felt like someone poured acid in my stomach yesterday when I watched her walk hand in hand with Valens. My wolf clawed at me and fought to get out but I promised Skylar I wouldn't do anything to blow our cover. I had to make it seem like I'd given up on her so Valens would take his eyes off me."I saw the look in her eyes when Valens arrived yesterday," Skylar replied, tucking her hair behind her ears. She looked subdued today. As if it only just dawned on her the hurdle we had to scale to get what we wanted.They'd gone public with their relationship. The next thing would be to make it official with a ceremony. If they went through that ceremony, they'd be bound together as mates and more."What look?" I asked her."The same look you have in your eyes. The look of som
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
“… I now crown you, Alpha Valens Thomas Castillo I, the king of werewolves.” The temple reverberated with applause as the oracle crowned Valens. She placed the crown on his head, took a step back, and curtsied. Applauses followed after that and I was grinning from ear to ear. I looked at the smaller crown which had been sitting beside the king’s when the oracle stepped towards me. I had a smaller one that was a replica of it. It was the same one Valens’ mother wore on the day she died. He’d let me wear it on our Mating Ceremony and it meant everything to me. I didn’t know it then but him giving me that crown was the best way to let me know that he had let go of his past. He had left the path of vengeance and chosen to look forward to a future with me. He let me, a daughter of a traitor from a line of traitors, wear the crown his beloved mother wore in her final hours and he was able to smile and laugh with me as I wore that crown. “Do you, Luna Aysel Valens-Castillo, swear before
*VALENS*“I promised you would feel my wrath, didn’t I?” I looked down at the girl I once called my friend. I looked down at the girl that I once favoured. She made numerous sacrifices for me. She fought for me and with me but at the end of the day, she did not know not to mess with me. “I have prayed for forgiveness,” she said, looking up at me. “I have prayed away my sins. At this point, Vee, I don’t care what you do to me.” She sat down, her feet trapped underneath her. “If you had not come back, I would not have known. Do you know what you took from me?” Why did I quiz her still? I wanted to reconcile the Clover I used to know with the one before me. I wanted to see if there was anything left of the other girl, a person to mourn, perhaps. I never loved her the way she wanted me to but I loved her. She was my friend. My confidant. Now, she was my enemy. “How do you even know the child was yours?” She looked up at me. “All I ever wanted was to protect you, Vee.” “No, you wanted
“I don’t care what happens to the rest of them. I want Zavier hanged. He will be an example to this pack of what happens when people challenge me,” Valens was saying to the Elder who was to conduct the trial of Zavier, Skylar, and all who aided them in invading Redville. So the trial started. It took two weeks for us to work up from those who were minor parties in the insurgence before we made it up to the trial for Skylar and her father. They would all be tried on the same day and their verdict was already settled.I sat in the front row with Valens beside me. In the past two weeks, things had been strained with him. I wanted to pretend it was because we had so much to do, getting the pack together after the invasion and preparing for trials every day, but I knew I was wrong. I told him everything the moon goddess told me about my mother and since then, things changed. He had simply said he’d suspected after I got my magic, but nothing more than that. “The Alpha will pronounce the
AYSELArtemis wasn’t bluffing when she said the magic was stronger when we shifted. I hadn’t shifted in a while so I hadn’t noticed but the minute I changed from human to wolf, I felt like an entirely different person. Artemis was stronger. The little training we’d received was certain to make a difference in confronting Skylar but the magic we now had was everything we needed and so much more. When she moved, she moved with better grace than ever before. Skylar’s wolf and Artemis met midair, rolling off to the ground but not before Skylar smacked the edge of Valens’ desk. I was atop her when we went down, my claws digging into her brown wolf. She tried to wiggle out of my grip, tried to get my claws dislodged from her neck but Artemis had a far superior grip than she expected; it was evident in the surprise in the wolf’s eyes. I wasn’t the timid girl she used to know. I was not where I wanted to be, having barely hit half of my full potential, but I was far, far away from the per
VALENSI should have destroyed this pack from the beginning. I should never have let their disrespect and brazenness mount to the point where they thought they could defy me once, twice, and then start an insurgency. Redville did not matter until I took over the pack. They would not have lasted another fifty years as a pack without going bankrupt or succumbing to rogue attacks considering the two idiots they had in line as Beta and Alpha. I saved Redville because it became mine but Zavier and his men had no honor. I would teach them. “He is somewhere around here,” the warrior who alerted me to Zavier’s presence on pack lands said, pointing to a dark alley. I could indeed scent Zavier. I did not need him to be pointed out. He carried the stench of one who would soon turn rogue. The scent pricked my nostrils and made my wolf edgy. What the warrior beside me didn’t know was that I was not born the previous day. I could scent an ambush from miles away. Did he think I had no nose to sme
“I’ll go get it,” I volunteered. Several pairs of eyes turned to me as I spoke. Throughout the night into the day, I followed Valens around, rallying the warriors and trying to keep their spirits high while Valens discussed strategies with their commanders. Not unexpected but we hadn’t seen Skylar when we expected her. I knew she would prefer to make a sneaky entrance than arrive when she was expected. I felt like I knew her schemes better than these strategists but they had won numerous wars while I had no experience. We were at the southern borders where we expected would be the easiest part for Skylar to enter the pack. The elders had decided there was no point going out to find her. We could lure her in and have the upper hand that way since we would be battling on familiar grounds. “Gavin will drive you.” Jabari threw his keys to a burly warrior who I’d come to know was named Gavin. “You are sure you know where it is?” He asked me. “Yes, it’s in his office. I’ll be back soon.
“What do you mean you let down the security? We are just going to let her walk in?” I almost pulled at my hair. I didn’t because he hugged me, cutting me short mid-rant. “Stay still a while. I have to be out of here soon.” He pressed his cheek into my hair. “I’ve missed you today.”“Valens, is this a good plan?” I asked, my hands going up to wrap around him. “Are we certain it’ll work?” “It will. I know who she is working with.” He pulled me closer to himself, squeezing me for a second before he let go. “Who?” I asked. “Some guy I thought I ended last year. Alpha Callan. He is Skylar’s mate.” My mouth rounded in surprise. She’d found her mate? Of course, he would be someone that had a bone to pick with Valens. The world always seemed to align for Skylar when the time came for her to do evil. She didn’t even have to try hard, there were always people to do her evil work while she lurked in the shadows, dishing out commands. “An alpha mated to an alpha? Nice,” I said, trying to fo
“You are coming with us,” the taller of the two men said. He was right beside my bed. There were guns pointed at me from two different angles. One wrong move and it would be adieu. “I’ve been instructed to stay home.” I shrugged. There would be no wrong move. I felt a deep calmness inside me and it had nothing to do with the short sleep I just woke from. There would be no wrong move. I could almost see how everything would play out. Magic whispered in my veins, secreting through my system. It helped me stay calm, giving me a sense of control. My wolf stirred and she too felt the calmness. She did not pace, did not ready herself for an attack. She was relaxed as if we didn’t have guns pointed at us. One of the men cocked his gun. I smiled at him. “You have a lot of nerve coming in here. Did Skylar tell you how dangerous it would get?” I stretched in bed. “Get out of that bed!” One of them hissed when I continued to grin at them. “Or what? You shoot and miss, and I promise, you w
‘Come in if you dare,’ I replied the unknown number and set my pocketed my phone.“Celeste, I have to find Jabari,” I said to my friend, standing. She rushed to her feet to block me. “No, wait. You can’t leave until you promise you’ll spare my parents,” she grasped my shoulders. “Please, Aysel.”“Your parents are traitors. As much as I would do anything for you, this is outside what I can do. Except they aren’t part of this, there is no way I will let them walk free.” “I – I know they will be punished but maybe – maybe a sentence? I don’t want to lose all my family, please.” “When the time comes for that, I’ll see what I can do.” I tried to sidestep her but she blocked me again. “You promise?” “I promise.” I was starting to get impatient but she was adamant about getting a promise. “Now, let me pass. Skylar is here.” Her eyes widened and she looked around as if expecting Skylar to be sitting in the room with us. “Where is she?” She asked, still looking around. “She just texted