Alpha Ian's POVThat was how the Penthouse came into Ezekiel's possession. And Great Aunt Elizabeth was right. It has only been a mere five months since my best friend's sixteen birthday and here we were, hiding from the world, secluded in the huge space as we were.Also, I should probably stop referring to Ezekiel as my best friend in my head. He was so much more now, so much more than I ever thought he would be. But that was the way of things. Life had an amazing way of taking unexpectedly turns.The first night I spent in the penthouse after Ezekiel had gotten me off and I watched him reach his own orgasm, we'd spent the rest of the night kissing like there was no tomorrow.It was electric in a way that kissing never had been. That much I could say with absolute certainty. There was a level of excitement that was new, and as scary as it was, I was also very much already addicted to it.We'd slept in each other's arms. And the next morning had come with something as unbelievably un
Alpha Ian’s POVAnd so, the days bled into one another, undistinguishable for one simple reason; they were all blissful.Ezekiel and I were the definition of young, wild and free. There were nights we spent exploring the French Quarter, smoking desirable with the witches and their vampire lovers; getting high on the magical substances and each other’s kisses.We hid in alleyways, raced through streets, and giggled into hot chocolate drinks because we couldn’t last two seconds without touching each other in some fashion. It was madness, if you considered everything else we were ignoring. But living on borrowed time was something you needed to learn how to do and Ezekiel and I excelled in it in those days.***“Oh fuck, that feels good… dammit, it’s unfair how good you’ve gotten at this, Ian…ahhh… right there!... fuck it, this is so unfair, it’s literally bee five days!”The more Ezekiel blabbered above me, the more determined I was to give him the best blowjob of is life. He was righ
Alpha Ian’s POV “So, what happened was Ezekiel did something I never thought he was capable of,” I said the four pair of eyes staring at me.”“Even after he murdered someone in cold blood in front of you?” Denise asked.I nodded, feeling the familiar shame well up in me. “Watching him kill that man shouldn’t have even been my wake-up call to who Ezekiel really was. It should have happened sooner, like three years sooner when we were thirteen-year-olds.”“You mean the night you tried to summon the Moon Goddess?” Domini posited.“Yeah, that very night. Ezekiel’s act of cruelty was despicable,” I said, shaking my head as the memory assailed me. “You see, he’d started raising three white rabbits and all of us were happy thinking his nurturing instincts were finally manifesting. He was finally going to be less self-absorbed and care about something else other than himself.”“So, I guess that wasn’t what was happening with the rabbits?” Francesca chipped in.“No, of course, Ezekiel being E
Alpha Ian's POV"So that was how it went down," Dominic said, looking like someone who's entire world has been tilted on its axis. "Man, you kept all of that inside you when you returned, and pretended as though you merely failed in convincing Ezekiel to come back with you and plead his case.""Yeah... pretty much. that's what happened.""I bet he was impossible to be around when he returned," Francesca wondered."Oh yes, he was was," Denise replied to her. "It was worse than when Ezekiel had just been banished. The Ian who returned was a completely different person.""He seemed to have shoved all his emotions in a box, locked them away and and threw them in a raging volcano," Dominic said."Hey, I wasn't that bad," I said, tone defensive."You so were," Dominic and Denise said at the same time and then they started laughing as they stared at each other."You were worse than bad, big brother," Dominic said. "You were frighteningly cold. It seemed as though the only emotions you allowe
Francesca’s POV“What did you just ask me?” Alpha Ian said in a dangerously low tone, his eyes narrowing as they gazed into mine.“You heard me very well,” I said, “But I can still repeat myself: are you still in love with Ezekiel?”This time, he seemed unable to form words. He opened his mouth several times but ended up closing it again. I guess one can say, he wasn’t expecting that kind of question from me, or from anyone for that matter.Even I wasn’t completely sure why I asked it. Okay, I did know why. The root cause wasn’t jealousy. It was a true desire to help him sort through any lingering feelings he might have had where Ezekiel was concerned because a love that intense doesn’t just disappear altogether. I wasn’t even sure I could decipher all the different kind of feelings and emotions that I experienced while listening to him go into depth about his relationship with Ezekiel, the bond they shared, their subsequent honeymoon in the penthouse, and ultimate rupture.At some
Francesca’s POV“So, what’s the verdict?” Alpha Ian asked after I hadn’t uttered a word after his vulnerable confession. “Am I still in love with a monster?”I fixed him with an intense stare then, really looking at him. There was a vacant look in his eyes, it seemed as though he was bracing himself for the worst. It was kind of tragic, the entire situation was, if I was being entirely honest.And I couldn’t bring myself to feel any sort of jealousy toward Ezekiel. Maybe, it would hit me later and I would hate him even more for being my fated mate’s first love. But now, I was more concerned with helping Alpha Ian sort through his emotions and any lingering feelings he might still harbor for the king of the rogues.“Well?” Alpha Ian prompted. “Will you say something?”“I don’t know,” I finally said.“Excuse me?” Alpha Ian sat up then, and fixed me with a disbelieving stare. “What don’t you know?”I shrugged, breaking eye contact. “I don’t know if you’re still in love with him or not.”
Alpha Ian’s POVIt was a different kind of torture, having to narrate practically everything I told Francesca and the others to my wife the next day. She listened to me with the same empathy and compassion that I received from everyone who was present in my Study the night before. She didn’t cut me off necessarily, only asked questions when she felt that I had mentioned something too important to skim over.By the time I was done with my narration, Jessica let out a loud sigh and said, “I’m afraid Francesca is right on this one, Ian. You do need therapy.”I nodded, she took my hand in hers and squeezed it in comfort. We were sitting side by side on a sofa in our bedroom. I’d alerted her we needed to talk about something right before she turned in for bed. Jessica wasn’t one to dwindle when her specific time to sleep arrived.“I know, darling,” I said to her. “I’ve already accepted that this is something I need. It’s high time I dealt with this unfinished business so I could move forwa
Alpha Ian’s POVThe idea of going to some cold and lifeless office of a therapist was enough to make me want to puke. If I was going to cut my skin open and bleed for a complete stranger, I had to do in a place I felt safe and comfortable in. The sessions had to take place in my Study and nowhere else. And this was how the therapist that had been chosen for me by Jessica found herself sitting on my high-backed chair facing me, as I reclined on the sofa. Her name was Valentina. She was a beta wolf, and the energy she gave off was of someone kind and capable at the same time. She had honey blonde hair that was cut in a bob and it framed her oval face in a flattering way. She wore red lipstick, and had a nose-ring.It was the nose-ring that threw me off when she arrived. It didn’t match the image I had of the look of a therapist in my head. But somehow, that injected this chill vibe into the atmosphere. And I could almost delude myself into thinking I was about to have a conversation w