-Kira-We’re all in the living room, waiting with bated breath as Andreas pulls up outside the mansion with Kaia in the back seat. Anxiety ripples through each of us when we hear the door closing and the amount of pounding heartbeats nearly renders me dizzy.Uncle Kon, aunt Lily, and Luka are standing closer to the door, aunt Lily has one hand clasped against her chest while my uncle has his arm around her waist. My father and mother are looking at each other intently, while my other aunts and uncles wait just as anxiously. Creed is standing off to the side next to Arkyn; they’re chatting in low voices, but I can tell by the look in Creed’s eyes that he’s actually listening to Arkyn. The night before, we walked in on him brushing my parents off, and Arkyn took him to the forest for a run; they seemed to have bonded after that.I sigh, then walk towards the door to open it for them. Kaia sees me and smiles, then she rushes towards me, capturing me in an embrace.“I’m scared,” she whis
-Kira- Kaia’s welcome home banquet goes on well into the early morning hours. The pack gave her a welcome to remember and my father gave her his bite to make her a BloodCrest pack member formally. Before her induction, my mother discovered several parasites planted within Kaia and her wolf. She promptly banished them and implanted a tungsten stone underneath her skin; tungsten repels magic of any kind. My mother did this to all the members of our pack to stop the parasite problem during the war. Luka and Alexei had theirs removed by Marle in order to imbed the parasites, so she had to redo the tungsten implantation on the two of them. During the banquet, Arkyn was quiet, and it made me wonder what his father spoke to him about. He’s adamant that it’s nothing, but I know Arkyn better than that. We’re walking alone through the forest after the party has died down; he’s holding my hand and looking ahead, still not saying a thing. I decide that I’ve had enough and stop abruptly, pulli
-Kaia-I was too scared to go to sleep last night, terrified that if I woke up again, then I’d be back in my bed in Las Vegas. Because this must be a dream, there’s no way my name is really Kaia Volkova. There’s no way that I actually have a family who has been looking for me, there’s no way they didn't abandon me at birth.All my life, I felt like the only person who loved me was Alpha Azura. Her daughter always saw me as a threat because I was stronger than her; as if an orphan could ruin her plans to become Alpha. The Beta's hated me as well; they all thought I didn't belong with them - little did they know I didn't.Now, as I sit in the backseat of the SUV Alpha Kai is driving, I know this is no dream. This man is not only my Alpha but my uncle! His wife, Luna Caterina, is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met; she’s so timid and soft-spoken, but so strong. How can any woman in this pack not look up to her?“We’re close,” she says, turning her head slightly. “She’s still in town and kn
-Kira- It’s been nearly four hours since my parents left with Kaia in tow. After four hours of not hearing anything from them, and now my anxiety has kicked into overdrive. “They should have been back already,” I grumble, pacing the floor. “Why aren’t they back yet?!” Arkyn sighs again and pinches the bridge of his nose. “For the tenth time, calm down, Blue. I know you’re worried, but have some faith in your parents, okay?” My head snaps toward him, and I shoot him a glare. “Easy for you to say-!” “The gate’s opened,” Uncle Nikolai says and gets to his feet. “It’s them.” My heart comes to a literal standstill at my uncle’s words and I rush forward, looking down the paved road while holding my breath. If they’re here, that means they eliminated the threat. If they’re here, it means Marle is dead. Right? Their black SUV rolls into view and I see my parents wearing wide grins on their faces. Kaia peeks through the middle and smiles, while next to her I see the profile of someone
-Arkyn-“Do you need to go?” “Blue…” I shoot another warning glance at her pout and stifle a growl. Why does she have to look at me like that? “Yes, you know I need to go; Vega Corp isn’t going to run itself.”She releases a little sigh that makes me want to kiss her just so she can shut up and stop her bratty behavior. My father called me back home since he cannot reschedule any more business meetings and everything here seems sorted out, there’s no need for me to keep Kira safe. “I know. I just got used to being around you so much, that’s all…” she trails off, then she takes my hand and gives me a mischievous little smile. “But I think it’s good for us to be separated until the next full moon.”I raise an eyebrow. “Oh? And why is that?”A slight blush covers her cheeks, and she bites her bottom lip. “You’ll see after being away from me for a while,” she says cryptically, then stands on her tiptoes to kiss me. “I’ll miss you.”“I’ll miss you too,” I respond, then I pull her closer
-Arkyn- I can hear the blood rushing in my ears and take a step back from my mother; if she said anything else, it’s lost on me because I’m halfway to my father’s study. I throw open the door and stalk inside with a shattered heart, looking at the man who has always been my rock. He looks up from his laptop when I barge in, then he frowns. “Arkyn?” “Pappa, I…” I start off with my heart in my throat, not knowing what else to say. My mother just said his beast is dying and that, in turn, it is spreading to my father. My father is dying. My mother rushes in behind me and I see his eyes flicker to her, then back to me and he breathes out. He gets to his feet and walks over to his entertainment area. Gesturing to the leather sofas, he starts pouring us each a glass of bourbon, then he looks up at my mother. “Can you please give us some privacy, min elskling?” He asks her, and she nods, but before leaving the office, she gives both of us a kiss on the cheek. After she leaves, he pi
-Kira-I haven’t really felt comfortable since the last time Arkyn called - my stomach is constantly coiled tight with anxiety and stress. There’s something wrong. I can hear it in his voice when he calls me and as usual, he won’t tell me what it is. When is he going to realize that I know him better than he knows himself? Okay, I know I can’t push this with him because he won’t tell me if I push, so I’ll just pretend to be dumb. You can’t really force a man to tell you something, especially not a man like Arkyn.It’s been nearly three weeks since I last saw him. My mother has me on constant Luna training while she has aunt Nova and five other witches training under her. Since she’s been back, she’s fortified the pack even more and decided to take on more witches. Under her guidance, of course.During her training, she discovered a witch can remove the tungsten, like with Luka and Alexei before; so she’s figured out a way to attach it straight onto our wolves. However, a Mate Bond is
-Arkyn-There it is; the look of disappointment I’ve been dreading to see, and she’s aiming it right at me. Her eyes narrow and her mouth forms into a cute pout, but the situation is everything but cute.“Alpha? When… how did this happen? I thought it’s only supposed to happen tomorrow evening!” she exclaims, the confused look throwing me off again. “I wanted to be there for you on your big day. What is going on?!”I take a step toward her and draw her hands into mine; the fact that she wants to pull away causes my heart to painfully constrict. “Blue… something happened, and it forced me to take the role of Alpha. We did not plan it at all.”That disappointment immediately falls away, and her eyes widen. “It just happened?”I nod. “Yeah, it did. My father…” I trail off, pushing my emotions down, but it’s difficult when I’m right in front of her. Kira is the only person I can’t lie to. She’s the only one who sees through me. “His Lycan is on the brink of death, and the sickness is spre