TYRIONA few hours earlierI stood still watching Aria leave the audience hall. Her haunted and painful expression broke my heart in two. I was trying to control myself. I didn't want to level those dickheads and restrain every murderous intent I had within me, but what had I done? I allowed them to humiliate MY MATE. She hadn't deserved any of this. She had never asked to be poisoned. She was a survivor and the strongest she-wolf I had ever met. If the council wanted to attack someone, they should have attacked ME! They proved to be a bunch of cowards, and what they had done could only be considered the lowest of all low moves."You see? No woman is fit to rule. Luna's sole purpose is to bear Alpha babies. If she can't do even that, she ought to be rejected." Dante Greco must have had a death wish. He had tested my patience long enough; he and the rest of those council cunts.My wolf was close to surfacing. My aura was emanating in lush waves, thickening the air. None of those assbra
ARIAI slept in Tyrion's and mine chamber for about three hours. Tyrion didn't join me in bed and went straight into his office instead. He told me briefly about what happened in the council meeting after I left the audience hall and that he had given the council word and promised to find and kill the witch in three months. I wasn't too pleased with the idea of Tyrion looking for the one who was trying to kill him, but we couldn't sit and wait for her next attack either.I stretched my arms, sitting in bed when Tyrion walked into the room and brought me breakfast. He brought it on the bed tray and adjusted it so I could eat the scrambled eggs, veggie salad, and toast comfortably."Have you already eaten?" I asked.He nodded. "I have an ex-council member to kill. Greco chose to fight me, and I still try to figure out whether he is that brave or that stupid. He couldn't possibly think that he has any chance against me, could he now?"I chuckled and reached out my hand to touch his cheek
ARIA "So, do you know where he's taking you?" Nova sounded overly excited as we talked on the phone. "We're going to the Moon Mountains again," I told her. "Oh, the rustical, romantic mansion you told me about?" she sang happily. "Yes." I swallowed hard. "And I am freaking out!" Nova giggled. "But why? You had sex with him before, and you get intimate… a lot. So why the sudden panic?" "Because we are going to mark each other! We are going to complete our bond! It will be something totally different!" The agitation turned my voice into a squeaky, high-pitched sound. "It's going to be fine, and you will love every minute of it," she assured me. "What if I won't…? Or worse! What if he doesn't like it?!" I was dangerously close to a state of panic. "Aria, take a deep breath," Nova instructed. "I envy you, you know that? You get to share a mate bond with someone. Now you and Tyrion are going to seal the deal. I don't understand your sudden anxiety." The deep inhale that filled my
TYRIONI probably couldn't look any dumber as I lay beside my mate with my mouth stretched into a full grin. The bliss. She was finally mine, and I belonged to her entirely. I had never thought that the mate bond could have such power. I felt everything she felt with insane intensity, and I knew that it was the same for her. If it weren't for the fact that our bodies needed to regenerate, I would forever stay buried inside her, exchanging the heat and pleasure in never-ending ecstasy.I could now fully understand those mate couples, burning in lust long months after they mark each other. Amusing... I had always detested them. The thought of having someone I cared about felt like a burden. I was a fool. Aria wasn't a burden or responsibility. She didn't weaken me. She was the strength I desired without knowing it. In the swirl of emotions, confessing to her felt like the most natural thing to do, although I was more than convinced that this simple "I love you" couldn't convey how I fel
TYRION"Where's this footage?" was the natural thing I asked Aziz after what he had just said."I have it with me, but it hasn't been fully checked yet. The specialist I've given the camera to said that he recovered the five-hour footage, so it had to capture at least fragments of the fight, but perhaps someone else should—""The fewer people know about it, the better," I assured him. "We should watch this footage just the two of us."After everything that had happened, I became more cautious—and more paranoid. Thanks to Harriet, my office was now spell-protected against most of the magic tricks, and I had also installed jamming devices, just in case more fuckers like Ulisses Cordeiro decided to spy on me.I told Aziz to lock the door while I turned on every security mechanism I had. Then he handed me the flash drive where the whole footage was, and I put it into my laptop. He stood next to me while I played the first file from the drive. It was distorted, with only flashes of the foo
ARIASix hours earlierHad I ever mentioned how much I hated bureaucracy? The second Tyrion left his mark on me and I marked him, the two of our packs merged by a blood oath. It would have been perfect if that sealed the deal, but unfortunately, it also required a lot of changes. The Moon Blade Pack was much bigger and more advanced than my one-town territory, the Bright Haven Pack. Tyrion and I had already talked about resetting the hierarchy in our merged pack, but we still needed to figure out what to do with the doubled positions of the ranked wolves. For now, Tyrion decided to leave it as it was, which meant that Aziz had officially become his second Beta while our freshly appointed Gamma Logan would naturally share that position with Zane.It took me a while before I made several calls to inform everyone about Tyrion and my decisions. Then I had to sign tons of documents that suddenly appeared in the chamber as if I had just agreed to sell my soul. My hand hurt when I was done l
ARIA"Shit," Nova said exactly what I was thinking.I pushed her behind me, fully extending my claws as I scanned my opponents. The one thing that struck me was that they weren't wolves. Their eyes were bloody red, and they had sharp, pointy teeth in their ready-to-bite jaws, but I couldn't sense any wolf spirits."What are you?" I hissed, staring at their mocking grins."Demons," Nova replied. "They were summoned here by a powerful spell to possess some poor rogues or humans and use them as their meat suits.""Demons?!" I shrieked, causing the three snarling creatures to release a peal of wicked laughter. I had never fought with anything other than wolves or humans before. I glanced at Nova over my shoulder. "How do we kill demons?"Before Nova could reply, the demons lunged at us. I pushed Nova back while dodging their blows and shoving them away. They could have been innocent people I was fighting with. But how in the hell was I supposed to fight those creatures without seriously h
ARIA"Get inside the house!" I yelled, turning around and running to the door.Nova followed me, and I slammed the door shut as soon as she passed the threshold. A second later, the demons started hitting the door, trying to ram it. I grabbed the chair that placed its back under the handle to block the door, but I knew that it wouldn't be long until those demons broke it and barged inside."Do you know any protective spells?!" I shouted at Nova."What do you think I am doing right now?!" she snapped.Then I briefly turned around and saw her stretching out her arms and chanting something as she stood by the window. Then she moved to another window and did exactly the same thing. Suddenly, we heard the sound of broken glass and then saw one of the demons trying to get through the window on the other side of the house."Fuck!" I shouted, leaving the blocked door and rushing toward the demon.I grabbed him by the neck and made him fly out through the same window. Nova ran toward me and qu