Violet POV
Next morning, the bed was empty and cold when I woke up. No doubt Dane had gone to be with Emily. The thought left me wounded and depressed. A heavy weight rested on my shoulders that he would never accept me fully.
I saw a little note on the bedside table. It was from Dane and read:
“I will be back by night. Eat food. Don’t think of leaving.
— Dane.”
I dragged myself out of the bed and went to the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror, it reflected back a very despondent girl. My eyes were puffy with crying and my lips were swollen. There were strains of tears on my face. Everything hurt, but my heart hurt the most.
The whole day went like a whirlwind as I charted my escape. I had lost my appetite, but I still ate. I found a satchel in the lodge and started stashing important things in it like a pair of clothes, food and a torch. I was going to escape during the night.
Dane had sent more warriors to guard the lodge as a warning that I could never run away from him.
I looked around the whole lodge and counted the number of guards patrolling it. I studied their movement. I found my window to freedom soon.
Zena was frustrated that I wasn’t eating properly. When I went to the kitchen for coffee, I found her sitting at the island table. She was surprised to see me. Pouring myself black coffee, I asked, “Is Emily a very famous model?”
“Yes, she is very popular and soon she might be seen in movies as well.”
As I sipped coffee, Zena’s gaze bore into me. “Are you well?” she asked, her voice sounding full of doubts.
“Yes,” I breathed. No, I wasn’t. I felt like a road roller had gone over me. I felt wrung out.
“Do you want to eat more?” She got up and brought some grilled cheese. She started serving it to me.
“No, I am fine,” I resisted, but she still served me.
“You must eat well,” she said with a mysterious smile. “It is important. You need a lot of energy.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked, not particularly interested in her fussing over me. She was a sweet woman, but I wasn’t used to such care. I was used to abuse and… betrayal.
As she opened the fridge to take out strawberry yogurt, she said, “Because you look pale.” She peeled the aluminum foil from the cup and brought it to me. “It seems like you have vomited. Have this.” She handed me the yogurt. “This will soothe your gut.”
I frowned, but I took the yogurt from her. The minute it went inside my stomach, I moaned. It actually soothed me. Probably she was just concerned about me.
Zena left for home after dinner. It was 8 PM. Dane hadn’t returned, which was good. I had to hurry. I went upstairs and picked up my satchel when my gaze went to Dane’s wallet. He must have left it in a hurry. I took a deep breath as I opened it. I wasn’t surprised to see a large amount of cash in it.
With shaky hands, I took out a few thousand dollars because right now I had to think with my brain. There was no time for my heart to take over. It had been trampled over and over again, and I refused to listen to it anymore.
Opal was restless inside me. ‘Don’t do this,’ she whined, as the anticipation of leaving her mate gnawed at her.
‘I have to,’ I replied.’ Else I will go insane.’ I tucked them in my pocket. Opal whined again and then became quiet. Deathly quiet. I sat down and wrote a note to him.
“Taking some cash from you. Consider this as a loan. Will return when I can.
Hope you have a happy married life.
— Violet.”
While all the time I was planning on escaping, when the time came, I was crestfallen. Leaving Dane was like going against earth’s gravitational pull, but I had to take this leap.
With a lump the size of a pea in my throat, reluctantly, I climbed down the window of the backyard. There was no guard. I took off. I loped through the forest. It was dark and dense and all I wished was that I didn’t find any other rogue. Honestly, after staying like a rogue for most of my life, I wasn’t afraid of the darkness that shrouded the forest at this time of the night.
It did not surprise me when I didn’t encounter a single rogue. Obviously, no rogue dared to come near the White Fur pack territory for the fear of Alpha Dane. I focused ahead, shoving those thoughts away. I relied on my instincts to reach the main road. I turned to the east and thankfully hit the highway.
I was panting and sweating, but I whooped in joy. I didn’t know which direction I should take, but I chose to go south because one thing I knew from my life as a nomad, there were many packs in the north.
As soon as I spun on my heels, my head became dizzy. I clung to the air to stop myself from falling. “What was that?” I said aloud as I stumbled backward.
Sitting on a fallen log, I took the water bottle out of the satchel and drank some, allowing it to cool me. I felt like sitting down and relaxing, but I was afraid that Dane’s wolves would come and catch me. I didn’t know what I was going to do next. Everything was uncertain, but I was sure that nothing could be worse than the life I was leaving behind. I was a werewolf, and I knew I could handle myself well in the human world because that was where I was going.
I continued to walk on the highway, hoping to come across at least one vehicle that would drop me to the nearest town. I thanked the Moon Goddess when a small truck pulled over. I tensed, ready to attack. The windows lowered and a burly, kind looking woman peeped out. “What is a girl like you doing on a highway alone? You want to bum a ride?” she asked with a smile.
Relieved, I nodded with a smile. “Can you drop me to the nearest town?” Why was she looking and smelling so familiar?
“Sure. Hop in at the back. But girl—” She grinned. “We are going far south. We won’t stop until morning. It’s 11 PM already!”
“Suits me!” I threw my satchel on the truck’s floor before hopping in. The truck sped away. I looked at the forest that I was leaving behind for a new life. I curled in the corner and pulled my hoodie up. For a long time, I watched the forest that passed like a dark blur and then closed my eyes. Dreams of wolves with green eyes that gleamed golden with fury made me shiver.
I must have slept long, because I woke up with a start when the truck pulled over in a parking area. The woman came over and smiled. “We are in Georgia. A long way from Idaho. You are on your own here now.”
I licked my dry lips. “Thanks for the ride,” I said, picking up my satchel and getting down.
“You are welcome!” she said. “But be careful when you ask for rides next time. Who knows, you would encounter rapists?” She pointed towards a small motel. “There’s an inn over there. You may want to rest.”
My lips curled up at her concern. “I feel like I have seen you,” I said, forcing my brain to remember where I had seen her.
She chuckled. She sat back behind the wheels and revved up the engine. Her face turned hard. She warned, “I am Irene, Dane’s aunt! Don’t come back, else Ilene, Dane’s mother, will bury you alive!” Saying that, she pressed the accelerator and sped away, leaving me gaping at her.
I saw the truck disappearing on the horizon, as my thoughts were full of unanswered questions. Did Dane’s mother, Ilene, keep a watch on me all the time?
A shiver rippled through my body. Ilene orchestrated my escape. Biting my bottom lip, I walked towards the small inn, into the unknown.
Dane’s POV For the whole day, they bogged me down with meetings. I wanted to go back to Violet as soon as possible but my Beta Jackson came up with a relentless schedule of meetings. I remembered that after drinking my blood, Violet recovered pretty fast. An Alpha’s blood was like an elixir to his mate. All her curves filled in the right places. The black and blue marks faded and her skin glowed. I gritted my teeth, recalling that mother had done something too nasty yesterday. She had announced my engagement to the pack without consulting me. She had invited all the guests. I wanted to wriggle out of it by calling it off, but when Alphas from other packs started pouring in, it was impossible. Emily was extremely happy. She had called many of her human friends from the fashion world. She also invited the paparazzi which I hated. I had a long fight with my mother and she ended up crying, so I agreed to the ceremony. Even though I wanted this to be a simple affair, my mother and
Dane POVShe was sitting right in front of me. It had been five years since I had been finding her. I had spent thousands of dollars on spies and private agencies, but no one could trace her. She haunted my dreams every night.It was me who had rejected the mating bond between us, ever since my heart felt like a shrapnel in my chest because it knew what it wanted. And it wanted its mate. My wolf wanted his mate. I realized that I couldn’t stay without her, but it was too late by then. Regret swamped me all these years.And here she was — looking beautiful as sin. Gorgeous as sunshine. She had dyed her sandy brown hair to blond that cascaded till her shoulders. But why were they appearing like they were natural? She had no makeup except pink gloss on her lips and white kohl in her eyes.I couldn’t help notice that her hips and breasts had swelled even more. She was a thin girl and now she exuded womanly grace. Suddenly, every feeling that I had fought to keep inside surged like a tsuna
Violet POV I had never been this flustered and frightened in the last five years, ever since I escaped the White Fur pack’s Alpha. Seeing Dane brought back every memory that haunted me over the years. His sharp green eyes, his midnight blue hair… His had tousled hair and bags beneath his eyes, but that didn’t do a thing to minimize his Alpha aura. Even now, he looked like a God, commanding and sucking up all the air of the room, his tall and muscular presence looming over everyone else. His rejection twisted like a dagger deep inside my soul at that time. Even now, it carried the same acrid feeling, though I had come so far ahead in my life. Dangerous attraction and bitterness warred inside me. I hate to admit that seeing Emily with him brought forth hot and ugly, rage-filled jealousy that I struggled to suppress. But that was least of all the problems. My two major problems were: First, my wolf that had slept inside me for so many years inside me and who I was sure would never w
Violet POVJayden got up. “I am not taking a ‘no’ for an answer. If you don’t want the new assignment, you are coming on a date with me.”What kind of deal was that and how did it solve my problem? But I knew Jayden. He would surely force me to go to Emily if I didn’t agree. I took a ragged breath and nodded reluctantly. “Okay, but you shouldn’t put your hopes high. I don’t want any man…”“Finally!” He grinned, his blue eyes beaming with a twinkle. “I will book us a reservation at the Ginger Hotel’s rooftop and will pick you up at 8PM sharp.”I sighed, nodding at him. Jayden got up with that hopeful look and exited my room while I plunged into a bit of researching about Emily so that I could feed Martha, reasons not to take her. An hour later, I had enough material about Emily, but everything was good. I wanted one bad news desperately. It was as if those around carefully crafted her career. She was truly a successful model. So why was she changing her modeling agency? At the same tim
Violet POV I clenched her teeth to stop them from chattering and focused on Jayden, even though Dane’s presence in the room sucked all the air out of me. I think the goddess allocated the entire shitty luck quota of my entire life today. “Is anything the matter?” Jayden asked when me. Surely, I was looking lost. “Nothing,” I smiled, unable to stop the blush on my cheeks. I could feel Dane’s heated gaze on me, but I kept my eyes on Jayden. Jayden smiled back. “Thank you for coming for a date with me,” he said, taking the napkin and spreading it on his lap. “I wonder what it would be to have you by my side forever.” I picked up the glass of water and sipped it to wet my dry throat. “I wouldn’t keep my hopes high,” I explained to him for the hundredth time. “Please don’t push me away, Violet. Give us a chance.” I shook my head. “You are a good catch, Jayden, but—” “Violet,” he said, placing his hand over mine. “Don’t reject me. You are a beautiful woman who is very talented and an
Dane’s POV After I had met Violet in the morning, my wolf was restless. He wanted to chase his mate, and he chased. Out of anger, on my way to her office, I ended up buying ropes and other bondage material to tie her to my bed once I got her.When I parked the car in the basement parking area, I clenched my jaws, wondering if I should make my presence known right now or later. After the way Violet reacted upon seeing me was, I wasn’t sure if she would flee again. She might cause more chaos at the office. So I waited. To get a glimpse of her.Emily’s modeling career was nosediving. She was blaming me for it and not because she was getting old. She put me on a guilt trip, saying that she almost gave up her career to marry me, but I didn’t marry her. So it was difficult for her to get good modeling assignments any longer. Load of crap. But anything to keep her off my back would do. Since Emily’s career was going down, she wanted to take one last chance with a modeling firm in Miami wi
Violet POV Last night was like a tornado that passed over me, leaving me confused and anxious. It was 5 AM, and I was sitting on the beanbag in my living room, sipping coffee because I couldn’t sleep at all. I had tossed and turned in my bed thinking about Dane. Jayden had dropped me back home after the disastrous date with him. I was sure that he had lost a bone or two of his spine because of the offer that irresistible Dane had made. Throughout the journey, we were both sitting in uncomfortable silence. He knew that if he breached the subject of me taking up Emily, I would burst. But the fact was that none of us was addressing the elephant in the room. My mind was in havoc, so I texted Jayden that I won’t be coming to the office today. I was taking a day’s leave to calm myself and, more importantly, to spend my day with Dave since I had promised him I would go to Disneyland with him. Mimzy had never been to Disneyland and when I was making a promise to Dave, I could see hope in
Violet POV I rolled my eyes to get down, but he grasped my hand. The staff came and slammed the lock in place with a grin. “Enjoy your ride, Mr. and Mrs. Llyod!” What the hell? “Did you tell them we are married?” I asked, shocked. “I might have,” he shrugged with a cocky smile. I clenched my teeth and looked away. It was not because I was angry. I was angry, but his nearness turned me on. Heat pooled in my belly and reached my core. Delightful tingles ran down my body. Opal got up from her slumber and was wagging her tail. After all these years, she decided to get up every time Dane was near. As the wheel went further up, I continued to look away, but he pulled me towards him and locked my waist in his grasp. “You look beautiful,” he said, leaning over and inhaling my scent. I stopped myself, but a moan escaped. He licked the skin of my nape where he should’ve marked me and my juices spilled. “Fuck!” His nostrils flared. “You are so aroused!” Blush crept up my cheeks. “Dane,” I s