Selene
“How do I look?”
Sophie grins at me, “like a queen.”
“A very tired queen.” I joke.
“That is why the Goddess invented makeup.” She replies, dabbing concealer on the dark circles beneath my eyes. When she’s finished, even I have to admit that I look pretty good. Make no mistake, I’ve looked much better, but at least this way I look the part of an Alpha’s mate. I’m wearing a simple wrap dress cut from pearlescent white fabric, with my dark hair flowing in waves around my shoulders and a thick layer of mascara framing my blue and violet eyes. Hopefully the camera lights will make my fair skin look porcelain, and not the pallid gray I’ve been sporting lately.
“You look lovely Selene.” Dr Kane appears in the doorway as I slip on a pair of gold pumps matching my simple jewelry, “Are you sure you’re up for this?&rdquo
ArabellaDamn it! I internally shriek, staring in horror at the news broadcast filling the television screen. Selene and her brat are parading across a stage, charming the crowd and giving a flawlessly sympathetic performance. What the hell are they thinking? This is the last thing I need! Bastien has been watching the news like a hawk, pacing like a caged tiger in front of the TV and alternatively scouring the newspapers for any scrap of intel. I’ve been carefully screening both before he gets his hands on the remote or the morning post, but until now we haven’t come up against this kind of crisis - and that’s undoubtedly what this is. If Bastien sees the press conference footage I’m absolutely screwed. They are too convincing, too lovely, and that child is obviously his. For all she resembles her mother, when she speaks to the reporter it’s as if the words are coming from Bastien himself - albeit a very young Bastien.
Aiden“Odile was spotted again.” Donavon informs me urgently. “In Newtown.”“When?” I reply, alight with excitement. “Just now.” He shoots me a predatory grin, and I know we’re already on the same page. “We need to move now, before it’s too late.” I announce.“I’m already on it.” He assures me. “Every enforcer we have is currently deploying, we’ll have the entire neighborhood on lockdown within half an hour.”Donavon is as good as his word. In no time at all, Newtown is crawling with enforcers and sentries, all concentrating around a single focal point: Paws and Claws, Elysium’s most exclusive nail salon. As betas, we stand at the center of the law enforcement melee, frantically going over every last detail of the raid. We’ve yet to notify anyone but Drake, defaultin
FredericBloody typical.I leave the house for a few measly hours and the dumb bitch goes and gets herself caught - and at a nail salon no less. Of all the stupid, thoughtless things to do! I swear, I could strangle the woman. It doesn’t take me long to find her. I know they wouldn’t take her to the pack house, and while they might want to lock her up, the idiots are too noble to completely bypass the system. They’ll take her to the enforcement headquarters to interrogate. They won’t actually lock her into a jail cell until they have something with which to charge her. I know my mother isn’t foolish enough to tell them anything intentionally, but I need to get to her before they trick her into revealing some detail of my plans. Clearly I’ve been overestimating her intelligence if she let herself get caught this easily. I watch the headquarter’s entrance until I see the betas
SeleneWith every day that passes, the more worried I become that Bastien hasn’t called. I’m certain he’s alive. With our bond, I know I would feel it if he weren’t, no matter how far away he may be. Still, the continued radio silence is enough to make me fear any number of other tragedies. Is he hurt? Is he sick? Sitting in a dungeon somewhere?Don’t jump to conclusions. Luna advises in a soothing tone. As far as we know, no news is good news.I hate it when people say that. I reply silently, no news can be just as damning as bad news, especially when the person you’re worried about is literally facing death. The worst part of all of this is that I know the others are worried too, but they aren’t telling me because they’re worried I’ll fall to pieces. I’m sick of being babied this way just because I’m pregnant. I mean, I know there are some things I p
SeleneThe moment the car door closes and Lila is secured in her carseat, I demand, “alright, we’re in the car. Now tell me what’s going on.”“Selene.” Donovan sighs, “I’m sorry if we got your hoped up but we haven’t heard from Bastien.”“But-” I object, replaying our conversation in the hospital over in my head, “Aiden said the orders were coming directly from him.”“We didn’t know you’d gone back to Dr. Kane.” Donovan explains gravely, “Bastien told us before he left that he doesn’t want you anywhere near the man.”“Now tell her why.” Drake instructs grumpily. “Honestly, how do you expect her to know she’s supposed to stay away from people if you don’t tell her.”“Bastien told her when he was here.” Aiden argues. &ldquo
SeleneI’m amazed at the difference one little pill can make. I feel like a completely different person now that I’ve thrown out Dr. Kane’s (if that’s truly his name) placebos. Dr. Lee’s medicines have reduced my morning sickness so much that the condition actually lives up to its name and only strikes in the morning. I’ve even put on a pound!It’s only been three days since leaving the hospital, and I couldn’t be happier to be home, even though everything else in my life is a bloody disaster. I keep trying to call Bastien every morning, but he never picks up, the line never even rings. It goes straight to voicemail.In addition to my mate’s absence and my pup’s continuous questions about where her Daddy is, the pack is all in an uproar. Apparently while I was stuck in the hospital Aiden and Donovan captured Odile, then immediately lost her. The worst part is that I think
Selene“You can’t be serious.” I drawl, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at Drake.“What?” He counters in exasperation, “She’s a powerful witch, why wouldn’t you seek her help?”“Because she’ll never work with me without knowing the source of my power.” I exclaim. After the almost kidnapping at the zoo, the Beta’s placed Lila and I on lockdown, while Drake holed Sophie up in his rooms and presumably showed her how grateful he is that she’s safe. Every time I’ve seen either of them since, they’ve been wearing dopey lovesick smiles and Sophie’s been wearing long sleeves and long pants that tell me she’s trying to hide more than a few hickeys and lovebites. On the other hand the betas were true to their promise and immediately began searching for a teacher to help me with my powers. After everything calm
When Drake and I return from meeting Helene, Lila seems like the only one who’s happy to see us. She runs over and leaps into my arms, kissing me on the cheek and immediately rattling off stories from her day. Unfortunately everyone else is gathered on the couch in front of the television, looking very somber indeed. “What’s wrong?” Drake asks, striding over to his mate and lifting her off the couch, before sitting in her spot and settling her in his lap. Sophie simply nods towards the television in answer.Oh no, I think, this must be about the kidnapping. The attempt on Lila, Sophie and I has been headline news ever since it happened, particularly because Bastien has still not reappeared. It turns out it didn’t really matter whether Frederic’s latest attempt - and we’re all certain he is the one who was behind the plot - succeeded or not. The almost disaster was plenty damning in the eyes of the pac