RIFTAN POV “I asked you a question, Khalil. And you haven’t very much honored me with the answer, yet.” I asked through a strain of faked calmness. Everyone who knew me intimately knew I was very much on the edge of losing it, yet I looked all poised and composed on the outside “Pardon me, brother. But I was too busy relishing the feeling of being home. After all, it's not a privilege all of us can afford. Seeing as how you banned me from returning to my own home.” He responded with an underlying tone that told everyone in this room that I was a dick of a brother who chased away his own siblings for no apparent reason. “You and I both know exactly what you did to yearn for that kind of punishment. So quit playing games and tell me what the hell you are doing in my house and within MY PACK BOARDERS?” I pushed on while gripping the suddenly tiny silverware as I stared down the long dining room table with indignation in my eyes. I hated the back-and-forth bickering with every cell ins
EDEN POV “I shall look into the vacancies with Kylek,” Venice said as she closed her iPad and placed it flat onto the table, then took her tea cup and elegantly took a calming sip. I nodded my response and took a biscuit, then bit into it before chewing softly. “I will also put in a good word with Riftan. He’s got to support the idea.” The conversation had quickly veered into the Pack’s matters as soon as the ladies gathered around. Riftan had just left for work after that disastrous breakfast with his brother from hell, and I figured it was time I stepped into my Luna role and acted accordingly. Things were going rather smoothly, and I loved the support I was getting from everyone even though I was not officially Riftan’s wife and a Hawk yet. The previous she-beta seemed to like the company of us youngsters more than she led on, and she was quite fun to hang around so I didn’t mind. Besides, she was a great help, alongside her daughter-in-law who talked about everything and not
RIFTAN POV “Because he’s Riftan’s brother. Family, no matter how rotten it is, is still family. And as Riftan’s mate, I have got to uphold the peace in this family. Khalil isn’t going anywhere; because he is my mate’s brother.” The words seeped through the cracks of the door and into my soul like a white fog, clouding my senses with a foreign sensation. I had just arrived from Moon Logistics when I couldn’t find Eden anywhere, and the rage climbed to the peak when her rosy scent led me to the guest room she first lodged in when she arrived here. I mean, we were way past that, and it didn't make sense why she had to choose the guest room when she could have used my chambers, her chambers. But hearing those words as I stood before the door made me realize one thing; Eden was more than I bargained for. She was a holy grail in my blemished world and nothing I could ever do would ever make me worthy of her. She was everything perfect; from the color of her unusually black eyes to th
EDEN POV Serena took my words literally and took it upon herself to disappear into thin air somewhere inside the house; making it an impossible mission to find the perfect dress for dinner. Riftan only managed to kiss me till my toes curled and stopped himself from jumping onto me and shifting my insides with his undoubtedly thick and monstrous third leg, leaving me dripping wet, very dissatisfied, and on edge. It was right after seven when we stepped into the common room where everybody else was gathered. My body was tingling from the memory of my naked body against his very clothed self and I was so wet I bet everyone present could catch a whiff of my arousal. For some apparent reason, the mere act felt sinful, and I don’t know what was in my mind when I stood in front of him without so much of a cloth onto my body. But what I could remember was the determination to watch him uncoil, and unravel. And uncoil he did. “I could smell you, you know.” He leaned down just a bit to w
RIFTAN POV I never thought i would see the shape of fear in all my life. After all I was Riftan Kai Hawk; the greatest Alpha and ruler of the south, and the king of every soil I stepped my foot on. Thousands bowed at my shadows, and I delivered death with a grin on my face. I was afraid on nothing; not even life itself. But in that very moment, watching Eden convulse and wrench as a foreign substance impaled her entire body, kicking blood and having it pour from every hole on her face- crammed my chest with the greatest trepidation i have ever known. It was suffocating. It felt like I was trapped in a bubble where I was the only one to taste my own fear, to hear my own screams, and I fucking wanted to get out. “Eden..” I groan led weakly as I leaped towards her, my voice a cross between a controlling growl and a defeated sob. I watched on a broken loop as her body went limp and her head rolled on her shoulders. Coldness settled inside of me with a haunting weight at the sight a
EDEN POV The first taste of life came with bitterness that haunted my subconscious. I found my mind breaking over the happenstances of the life I never knew I was a part of; a life where the sun rose with chaos and descended with bedlam. I found myself stuck between a rock and a hard wall; not knowing what to do, or who to save. I found myself in a world where the heavens and the earth depended on me, a life where I was a deity meant to save the very ratchet, bitter world. And in all of that bitterness, I was alone, with no one by my side to carry the burden with me. And the heaviness of it trampled over me and stacked me to the solid ground. But what killed me worst was the voice that came after: ‘This is what small comes if you do not fulfill your destiny!’ And I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to run away from this place nightmare; this hell. With that, a silver cord yanked me forcefully before dumping me inside my body which was lying facing upward in Ashford, Blood Moon
RIFTAN POV My smile refused to die as I watched Eden breeze into the bathroom and slam the door behind her. I cracked my numb knuckles before rolling my heavy head on my stiff neck and shoulders, then stood frozen in one spot as I mind-linked her second in command and her maid. ‘Eden is awake. Send dinner through to our chambers.’ A tiny current crackled through my mind when Venice half-squealed in my brain, undoubtedly ready to fall into a break dance. ‘Right away, Alpha. Can I come see her?’ ‘No, Venice. She needs her rest. You have all the time in the world with her. Just have our dinner delivered, and the room cleaned up.’ I hated cutting her off, especially because she had the best intentions at heart. But tonight belonged to Eden and I, and nobody else! After five days; five gruesome days of sitting next to her motionless body and wondering when she will open her eyes and dazzle me with that smile of hers. Five days of wondering how my life would be if she never woke up.
Chapter 21 EDEN POV The touch came innocently. His large hands locked my torso against the vanity table where I was dawning myself with the world’s finest lotions for the night, loving the softness and the slippery cream against my skin. The warmth that came with his presence made me feel like I was basking in the meadow where the sun wouldn’t be blocked by anything, and heat curled in my core. “Have you eaten?” His voice came low and deep, the baritone doing strange things to my stream. “Not yet. I was kinda waiting on you.” I responded in a breathy tone, refusing the urge to bite down on my lip and give him the satisfaction he sure as hell needed. The man was like an inferno, scorching me with his heat though he had barely touched me. As though my thoughts had conjured his actions, his hands came and landed on my shoulders, casually at first, but then started moving up and down my arms slowly, so carefully like he was afraid he would flake the skin! “That’s good. Starting