(Ashley’s POV).“Why do you want that bracelet, Helen?” I walked towards Helen who was clinging on Philip’s arms like her life depended on it.I wondered why she wanted that bracelet which was supposed to be mine due to my birth right. I wondered why that bracelet was on sale. Did my mother hate me so much that she sold it off to someone?I hope the latter was not the case.“I don’t know. If you are not Ashley, why are you interested in that bracelet? Are you admitting you are Ashley now?” Helen asked and looked at Philip with a smile.Of course, she wanted to look smart in front of Philip. The truth was Helen was never the smart one. She was a slow learner in school and barely graduated with her grades not on the high side.I helped her to study most of the time.But, I wondered how she took everything away from me so easily. Now, who is the dumb one? Fingers seemed to point at me.“When is the auction, Helen? Don’t make me ask again” I said with gritted teeth with an angry tone.Ph
(Author’s POV).In order to get the invitation to the private auction event, Ashley had to agree with Nikolai’s requests. She knew he was enjoying those moments controlling her. Making her do what he wanted her to do.For a moment, she felt like his puppet. His beautiful doll.Before the auction started that night, Nikolai picked her up from Moonlight Hotel to specifically take her to dress up for the event. It was a place that Ashley had been to quite often in her past life as the Princess of Averna.An exclusive boutique with clothes designed by the famous designer called Tommy Heiser.What made it worse was Tommy was the best friend of Ashley’s cousin, Phoebe Strauss. Ashley hoped very much that Tommy would not recognise her.Walking around the private boutique, Ashley was surprised to see the elegantly dressed shop assistant showed the latest and finest dress that Tommy had design.‘Nikolai must be good friends with Tommy. I just hope Tommy would not be around today’ Ashley thoug
(Ashley’s POV).Why did I feel he was taking his own sweet time to win this game? Whatever this game was with cards.It seemed they made their own rules which I never heard before. A winning number was set to get the entry of the private auction for exclusive products.Everyone was looking at Nikolai whenever he folds his card as a sign, he was not going to bet on it. In other words, he called it over as a lost. It was odd. I could tell he was good at this game.Was he losing on purpose?“What is taking you so long to win this game? Are you that incompetent to win this game?” I said with gritted teeth while pretending to smile. There were eyes watching me.Some smiled, some gave me a stare. I did not have to be psychic to know everyone in the room thought I was perhaps, one of Nikolai’s mistresses. I was sure they wondered where his so-called girlfriend, Pamela big boobs, was.I wondered too. Did he not love Pamela?I would one day find out the truth. But for now, I need him to win!
(Ashley’s POV).What was happening to me? I got nervous when he flashed that beautiful smile at me. Those damn dimples were making my heart beats wildly.If he was playing a game to seduce me, I was terribly losing it.The auction room was dark with dim lights on the floor. The only bright light visible was on the stage which had several glass cases with I assumed to be the auctioned item placed inside it. My eyes were trying to find which glass case had the bracelet.“Mind you step” Nikolai said which I was too late to respond. I skipped a step and fell on his chest. He caught me just in time before I embarrassed myself further.Under the darkness, I could sense he was smiling at me. Perhaps, he was laughing too.“This is our booth, sit here” he helped me to sit at a small individual space which could barely fit two persons. I hoped I do not have to sit on his lap again.“Nikolai, is there a bigger space for us?” I whispered while seated so close to him as if we were magnets. My God
(Author’s POV).Nikolai helped Ashley to fix her dress that was exposing part of her breast. All the while, Ashley was holding her breath seeing how close he was seated next to her. She could even feel his breath on her cheeks.Something she came to like lately. His warmth close to her made her feel safe.She was moved by his gestures to make her presentable. Fixing her dress, her hair and even wipe the lipstick stain on her cheeks after the passionate kisses they had.He was a true gentleman to her, unlike how others had described him to be like a monster who had killed many for wars he fought for many years. A war that Ashley knew, her grandmother as a Queen, could have prevented it. Many deaths could have been avoided.Despite their age difference of close to ten years, Ashley did not mind that age gap. Age was just a number to her. And being a Witch as powerful as her, she could live much longer than Werewolves.Her hands moved to place gently on his chest which she knew he was t
(Ashley’s POV).“Nikolai?” I called his name several times in the dark room. Before I could whisper a spell to lit the room out from darkness, I felt his hand grabbing my wrist. I just knew it was him.“Follow me. Don’t use your powers to turn the light on. Not yet” he whispered closely to my ear. Something was not right. It was not just the electricity failure that happened, I could sense it was more than that.“Nikolai, where are we going? We need to get my bracelet” I could see within the darkness on where he was heading. It was the opposite direction to where I wanted to go to get my bracelet.Suddenly, he dragged me to a corner and tightened the hold he had on my wrist. “Nikolai! What are you doing, I don’t –“‘BANG! BANG!’Before I could scream, a hand was placed to cover my mouth. I could hear Nikolai’s erratic breathing close to me. Then, he whispered, “Tiana, I can’t see”What was he talking about? Can’t see as in it was dark? Or can’t see because he can’t?“I think I was dr
(Ashley’s POV).I stood still at the same spot, like a statue. My eyes were watching his transformation into his Wolf form. His body twisted in an unnatural manner that looked excruciating painful. The sound of his bones cracking made tears falling down my cheeks. It was as if, I could feel that pain he felt.A pain that transformed him into a beautiful creature. The infamous big black Wolf of Xevia.It was him. I could not believe it with my eyes.I had heard about the large black Werewolf with red eyes being the strongest in the North. The one they called the future Alpha King. Never did I imagine it was Nikolai Wulfgard.The father of my son. F*ck!It took a while for me to accept his shift. But, it was going to be longer for me to accept that I had slept with the Wolf that they called the Dark Alpha.He was no ordinary Wolf. He was said to be cursed.Why did I not see that coming?I should have known that I was destined not to have an easy life. Happy ending was far for me to rea
(Ashley’s POV).By the time the car reached Nikolai’s penthouse, he was already unconscious in my arms. I could not move as I did not want his wound to worsen. I wondered why he was not healing. Was it not one of Werewolves’ abilities to heal fast?My hand was placed on the wound as I whispered a spell to ease his pain. I hope it worked. At least, I managed to stop the bleeding.“Follow me, Miss Winters” the man known as Drake opened the door to help me exit the car. He offered me his hand which I refused to take.I did not know who he was. I did not know who to trust among Nikolai’s Wolf pack.What if someone within his Wolf pack was the one who had planned the attack? I had so many questions.We should not trust people that easily. I learnt my lesson from being friends with Helen Ross, who took everything from me. A person I once called my best friend for more than a decade.Walking behind Ivan who carried Nikolai in his arms, I could not help to think what would happen if Nikolai
(Ashley’s POV).A month later, I had another wedding.To be exact, it was indeed a dream wedding planned for me. Beautiful was an understatement. It was gorgeous and unbelievably fairy-tale like. I could not believe Nikolai would do all that for me. A dream wedding it was.The wedding was held at the Palace of Averna, as what my parents wanted. I was introduced back to the society as Princess Ashley. The name Tiana Winters was only used for business, no longer my name.A garden themed wedding with live music sounded simple but turned out magical. Sparkles, so many of them. Teddy had some involvement in making it colourful. His obsession with shining objects and sparkles were an influence to the wedding theme.I loved every inch of it. In fact, my little boy had even helped me to design my white wedding dress in such short notice. Crystal had helped us too. A Princess like dress that matched with my little crown.I was indeed over the moon and at some point of time, I thought I was dr
(Nikolai’s POV).The day of the final stage of the competition has arrived. I sat next to my son, Teddy, as we watched one by one of the contestants presented their design with their models on stage. Not bad looking I would say.In the past, I would have totally slept with those sexy looking models. They were some who would bed me after I shower them with money. No strings attached. Simple.Those days of my one-night stand sex with random women were totally gone. I had turned into a monogamist. My eyes and heart were only for my Ashley, my Luna, my wife.We got married through a Werewolf ceremony almost a month ago and my life had never been better. Having her by my side when I woke up every morning was all I had wished for since the first day I laid eyes on her pretty blue eyes. I loved her with all my heart and soul.Our marriage was done with full Werewolf tradition. My mother had spent time teaching Ashley the ways of the Werewolf, preparing on what was coming soon in our life, w
(Ashley’s POV).Fast forward three weeks later, I sat on a table as I looked at the dress that Cindy and I had worked on for days in preparing for the final stage of the most anticipated design competition in Paris. I sighed of relief seeing the masterpiece placed on the life size mannequin.“What do you think, Teddy?” I asked my son who sat on my executive work chair with his legs folded in a seating position. Holding his teddy bear Kiko, he looked up and smiled at me.“More sparkles, Mommy” he smiled showing his cute little teeth. Then, he placed his little chubby hands on his chin as he studied the dress again, “Are you going to wear that? I don’t think Daddy would like it, Mommy”I chuckled and pinched his cheeks, “Mommy will wear whatever she wants and Daddy will have no say in it”“Daddy will burn the dress to the ground if Mommy dares to go out parading that piece of cloth” I looked at the door seeing Nikolai walked in the studio, frowning while looking at the dress. He gave m
(Nikolai’s POV).“Ashley, please don’t do this. I’m sorry” I kneeled down by her side while placing a hand on one of her hands. I then palmed her cheeks gently as I whispered my words to calm her sadness, “Honey, I’m sorry. I did not mean to say those words. I just could not lose you again and again. I can’t. I would rather die than living in this life without you. Please look at me”She opened her eyes and stared at me. I pecked her lips and pulled her body closer to mine, “I love you, Ashley. Please, this is enough. You need to rest. Loraine is finding a cure for our son. You must not use all the energy you have left in you. Save it for the babies”Loraine had accidentally slipped from her mouth that Ashley would be carrying twins. I was overjoyed with the news. But, after knowing how difficult her pregnancy would be with twins, I did not know how to react.I was not going to lose her. I needed to find a way to save her and our babies.But first, we needed to save my son.“I’m so s
(Author’s POV).Red. Bodies. Death.It was everywhere around the warehouse, except for two little souls.One was standing in the middle of a puddle of blood, while the other blindfolded and tied to a pole. She heard noises. The kind of noise that was sending shivers down her spine.Not being able to see what was happening was making her anxious, “T-teddy.. w-where are you? What happened?”She whispered with her trembling voice. The sound she heard earlier was frightening to her.There were the sound of Wolves howling in pain. Cracking of bones in a painful and excruciating ways. Cries for help was heard followed by the sound of the doors and windows locked.“T-teddy, are you.. are you still there?” Crystal whispered her words being afraid on what was there around her.She could not see or move much. Despite trying to get free and hurt her hands more, it proved to be useless as the rope was far tighter around her wrist, “Help me. Someone please, help us”It was then Crystal heard the
(Nikolai’s POV).“Oh, look. Your Wolf is here, Ashley. And he thinks he could save you” I saw this b*th named Helen turned to face me with that stupid smile plastered on her ugly face. I wanted so much to punch her but then she spoke something I did not quite understand the meaning of it, “You can’t stop what I’m doing next. Oh, you can kill me. I have nothing left in this world to live for. But, I will come back. Stronger and I will find you”“What are you?” I growled and was surprise Helen could understand my language. She smiled and suddenly revealed herself on what she was. A Demon.Her eyes turned pitch black, and I could see it hollow. The sound of the cries of pain was heard as I stared into her blacken eyeballs. It was probably those souls she had destroyed to make her stronger.Evil being she was. And I needed to be careful on what she would do next. Not fearing her, just careful.“You sold your soul to evil. Let Ashley go. Or suffer the consequences” I said as I moved close
(Ashley’s POV).In the fast-moving car, I asked Frankie to turn the car to the left as what was shown on the locator map. “Hurry! Why are you driving so slow!”I took a glance at Frankie who had his eyes only on the road. His hands on the steering wheels were shaking. Was he afraid of me? He did not even look at me after I forced him to drive me to the point shown in the map.“Someone took my son, Frankie. Does Nikolai know about this?” I asked him as we entered what looked like a road going up the hill. “I was asked to come here alone. You can stay in the car. I’ll get there by foot from here”“No, Miss Winters. It is not safe there for you. I’ll watch over you from far. Whoever you are meeting would not notice my presence” he said as he parked the car at the signage stating, “Private property”“This is a dead end. Walking up there would only lead you to a cliff. This does not look good, Miss Winters. We better call Alpha Nikolai” he turned to look at me with a look full of concern.
(Ashley’s POV).I woke up on Nikolai’s ever so comfortable bed. Soft and feather like feeling of the white sheets. It smelled pleasant too. I smiled and moved to my side thinking he would still be there next to me.But the bed was empty on the other side I sighed and pulled the warm and soft duvet to cover my body completely like being in a protective cocoon.I missed him already. Wished he would come back to me soon as he promised me earlier. Closing my eyes again, I rested my head on the pillow that still have his scent that I came to love.Love. Never thought I would fall in love again with another man, after what Philip did to me five years ago. But, Nikolai was different. Being with him was exciting and he made me feel special.As I drifted back to sleep, there was the sound of knocking on the window. It was disturbing my rest. Definitely annoying and had forced me to get up from my sleep.Nikolai had helped me to rest after our shower together. It was a quick one. It seemed tha
(Author’s POV).In a room with only a small window allowing the dim light from the moon to shine its brightness, two children were heard sniffling their tears of fear and regret. Their small little hands were tied on their back with a tight rope as they rested their back on the wall. Eyes were blindfolded.. mouth taped.. it was terrifying to both of the little children.“Teddy, w-where are you?” little Crystal whispered as she managed to free her hands from the rope tied around her hand. Her brothers once taught her that skill. She sniffled a tear seeing the cut and graze around her wrist. It had hurt her a little too much.At that time of despair, she recalled her elder brothers told her to be strong. Being the only girl among her siblings of three strong boys, had set certain expectation for her to toughened up like them. Despite her age of eight years old, Crystal was stronger than her peers at the same age.She was also smarter than average kids in her school. And that was what l