Madeline Wilkinson has always been the unwanted twin — overshadowed by her sister and cast aside by her kingdom. When her fated mate turns out to be Felix, her closest friend and her sister’s boyfriend, heartbreak drives Madeline to make a bold choice: she rejects him first. But her decision sparks deadly consequences. Now hunted by those determined to silence her, Madeline flees with nowhere to turn. Desperate and alone, she stumbles into Demonmaw territory — a ruthless pack known for their brutal ways. Taking on a new identity as Adeline Hansford. But with her paths crossed with Keiran, the cold and powerful Alpha of Demonmaw, she realizes that danger may be far closer than she thought. With her enemies closing in and her secrets threatening to unravel, Madeline must decide who to trust — or risk losing everything.
View MoreMadeline’s POVI clenched my hands tightly at my sides while I tried to steady my breathing and force my racing heart to slow down. But damn, was it still so loud that I could almost swear he might hear it thudding in my chest if he listened closely enough.After all, I could even feel my pulse pounding on my temple.“I don’t!” I blurted out way too quickly, and his eyes narrowed, suspicion flashing through his sharp brown eyes.I forced myself to breathe and let out a light, dismissive sigh. “At least, not the one you’re thinking of,” I added with a casual shrug, acting and trying to sound unfazed. “But… I grew up near there. That’s all.”He leaned in a little toward it. It wasn’t threatening, but I could feel the curiosity behind his probing gaze. His voice came out slow and deliberate, almost cautious. “It’s strange how much you seem to know about it.”I raised an eyebrow at him while my lips curved into a teasing smirk. “Strange how you know the same things.”He let out a low laug
Madeline’s POV“You’re slipping, Adeline. That last swing was pathetic,” Helena commented with a huge smirk spreading on her face behind her raised arm while she was still in a defensive stance.“Maybe you’re just punching faster than usual.” I panted as I stopped and rolled my eyes at her.Shaking my head, I turned around, silently signalling the end of our little spar.Grabbing a water bottle and towel, I dropped to the ground with a thud and wiped off the sweat from my face before gulping half the contents of the bottle in one go.“Or maybe,” Helena said as she sat down in front of me, and continued, “you’re just distracted.”I scoffed but didn’t answer. Still, her silent stare lingered, making me feel tense. Only when I looked back at her did I realise that her stare turned into teasing.She wiggled her brows and flicked a glance toward the other group of trainees, where Keiran stood, towering, and barking orders like a drill sergeant from hell.“Thinking about a certain brooding
Madeline’s POVHe didn’t respond. He just sat there, staring at me like he was trying to read my thoughts, like he was trying to memorise me.And despite everything he’d said, his walls hadn’t fully crumbled. There was just a crack in them.And somehow, I was standing right in it.Whether that was fortunate or not… only time would tell.“Don’t make the mistake of caring for me, Adeline,” he said quietly after a long silence.I shrugged and stood up, smirking faintly. “Too late.”As I walked out of his office and into my room, I couldn’t stop my mind from replaying everything that had happened between us. The shift was so sudden, like whiplash. One minute we were at each other’s throats—or more like, he was at mine—and now this...Maybe it was the anger that made him snap open. Maybe it was hearing about Francine. Or maybe it was an accident. A moment of weakness.But whatever it was, it left something behind—something raw and quietly terrifying. That little crack between us... It was
Madeline's POVThe air was heavy with silence engulfing us in a warm but tense embrace. The silence felt unbearable as I sat in front of him, watching him look troubled.His elbows were on his desk, hands clasped together, supporting his bowed head. He looked so much in pain, guilt radiating all over him.Seeing the inner struggle he seemed to be putting himself into, I sighed and extended my hand, squeezing his. “You let him go. The pup… You did great, Keiran. You’re not the monster everyone sees you to be.”Everyone looked at him like a monster, despite the respect they had for him as their Alpha. He might have done well in the pack, which they saw, but the fear they had toward him from what happened that day was still embedded in their hearts.An alpha feared by his own pack… How hard could that be?He looked up at me, shaking his head slowly. “It wasn’t mercy either. I was just… afraid. I didn’t want to face him.”His face was tense, his jaws clenching and lips pursing. “I didn’t
Madeline’s POVI looked at Keiran pointedly as I offered a small, sympathetic smile, continuing, “I worked my ass off to master combat skills so I could protect the man she was so worried about until her last breath. The same man she feared would drown in his own sorrow.”His eyes dropped to my hand, still resting gently on his arm. Slowly, he followed its trail until our gazes met.“She was always so selfless,” he murmured with a hollow laugh, though the pain behind it was as loud as a scream. “How... How could she still be thinking about me while she was dying?”“Because that’s how much she loved you,” I said softly, trying to offer comfort. “And I know for a fact she wouldn’t want to see you closing yourself off from the world, hurting and dying on the inside.”But he flinched at my words like I’d struck him. Stepping back, he pulled away from my touch.Right. I must have overstepped.He had opened up, but that didn’t mean we were close—not after everything I’d seen in that archive
Madeline’s POV“Ouch! Can’t you be more careful?” Despite the fear building up in my heart, I still managed to let that sarcastic remark, which seemed like it had already become my defense mechanism.I rubbed my wrist, which had a red mark around right now, after he gripped it so tightly as he dragged me along the hallway and into his office before throwing me onto his couch. Without mercy or any care, if I may add.“Explain,” he uttered with gritted teeth, staying at the doorway as he slammed the door closed and locked it.To say that it didn’t add to the building fear in my heart would be a total lie.“Are you going to tell me why you are digging into my past, or do you want me to dig the answer fr
Madeline’s POVI watched from a distance until Helena vanished from my sight. I was deep in my thoughts as I played with the bottle of water, jiggling it from one hand to another.When I heard rustling coming from the forest, I subconsciously hid in the side of the training wheat straw. My eyes narrowed at the sight of Keiran walking out of the forest with dirty claws and tiny bits of tree bark.“I believe I told you to go back.”I closed my eyes in annoyance as I felt a presence behind me and heard Keiran’s voice. Turning around, I looked up at him and shrugged my shoulders. “I did go away from your sight.”Raising my hands up in the air in fake surrender, I walked back to the pack house, dramatically showing it to him. “Here I am, alright? And have your hand look up by Mara before you scare more of your people than you already did.”With that, I pretended to go to my room, but then took a turn after making sure he wasn’t looking at me anymore.Following Helena’s gesture, I went to t
Madeline’s POV“Why are you still here?”I was surprised to see Helena still in the outside field and punching the hell out of that wheat straw mannequin on my way back to my room, which was now officially inside the pack house like the rest of the other pack members.I guess that’s an upgrade for me. A sign that I was slowly being accepted into the pack. Or at least, that’s what I was hoping for.Halting, she swiftly pulled the towel hanging from the arms of the wheat straw and wiped her sweat.Pointedly looking at her. I gestured at her drenched shirt. “So…”Smirking as she continued wiping off her sweat, she shrugged her shoulders. “What can I say? After training with you for weeks, it now feels less like training someone who isn’t on par with my skills.”“Maybe go to Jonax or one of his goons,” I joked, but went to grab a hand bandage. I needed some exercise anyway to put my mind off Keiran’s weird reaction to those stupid carvings.Helena snickered. “You mean the one you kick the
Madeline’s POVAll day long, Keiran was acting weird, and the questions within me were getting even stronger. When our eyes met after what I heard from the warriors, he entered the academy, and I didn’t see him again.Since I was on patrol now, I changed clothes as soon as we were dismissed from the academy and sprinted to the forest, letting the evening air crips brush through my skin while my fingertips glided to the rough tree trunks I passed by.It was a lovely night. After the stressful night I had yesterday and the day I had today with Helena over my shoulder and Keiran’s stress, I started to feel relaxed.When I looked down at my wrist watch, I realised that there was only half an hour left before the border patrol started. I slapped my forehead for being out of it and turned to meet Leo and the others.However, as I passed through the bushes, I caught sight of something behind… or more like someone.My eyes narrowed, and I moved carefully, trying not to scare off whoever it wa
Madeline’s POVMy hands trembled beside me as I took long strides in the hallway, rushing towards who knew where. I let the pull of the bond follow my mate’s intoxicating scent, which made my wolf and me go crazy.It’s my 18th birthday. I expected to find my fated mate soon, but not this soon. It turned out he had always been around me.I should have been happy, ecstatic even… but I couldn’t help but feel the threatening tears in the corner of my eyes as I felt exactly who it was and where this hallway was leading me.With heavy breathing, I halted in front of a massive wooden door with engravement on it, feeling rejected even before I could see his face.With my hands holding the cold knob of my twin sister’s bedroom door, I heard muffled voices inside. Mixed with my sister, Amanda, was the voice of that man I thought I’d be with even before the mate bond told me he was my fated mate.“You need to reject her, Felix! She’s nothing compared to me. You know that.”My heart stopped cold ...
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