Maria’s POVMy eyelids fluttered open and I looked around my surroundings, I was in my bedroom and I was lying on my bed, when had I lost consciousness? And for how long was I out?I looked at the window and realized it was dark outside, it was morning when I lost consciousness, I must have been out for a very long time.I tried getting up but my body felt weak and tired but I managed it, I pulled myself into a sitting position, my head was pounding and I felt extremely dizzy.I was wondering why I was alone when the door opened and Ethan walked in looking rumpled, his hair was a mess, I knew that he had been running his fingers through it all day, it was something he did when he was worried or nervous, his skin looked drawn and I realized my sudden fever must have really gotten to me.He rushed over to me when he saw that I was awake “You should not be sitting down, you need to lie in bed and rest, that is what the doctor said” he said as he helped me back into a sitting position.I
Chapter 38Alexander’s POVI was somewhere I did not recognize, the walls were a ghastly shade of green, I had no idea what it was called but I was sure I hated it, the windows were a shade of burnt and the chairs were an even worse of orange, I had no idea who designed this room but the person needed to take on 7 year course on the art of mixing colors.I was standing in the middle of the horrible room, standing barefooted and dressed in some sort of ridiculous white shirt and faded blue trousers.Where the hell was I and where was everyone? The last thing I remembered was the mansion and if my memory served me well, I had a nasty fever which was weird because I don’t recall ever having a fever in my life.“Zara” I called out but the only reply I got was a resounding silence.I did not recognize anything in this room and why the hell was I here all alone.I decided to walk around the rest of the house and check if someone was in here to explain the situation.A locked door made of po
Chapter 39Ethan’s POVThe last few days had gone by in a blur, I was still trying to process everything Sharon had revealed to me, the part that really got to me was the part about Maria being destined for my bastard brother, I knew that I had told my father when I was younger that I was in love with Maria and he had promised me that he will make sure I got the heart of any woman I sought.Looking back now, I realized that I had really lived a greatly sheltered life, my father had been a man of great power, a leader to the bone but he had always been weak when it came to me, I did not have a childhood memory of my father ever saying no to me or scolding me for something.But I remembered how he had been towards Alexander, he was hard on him, I remembered that he had sent Alex to the barracks too train with the soldier when he was very young, Alex had grown up in a very difficult and though it may have been done as a form of punishment by our father, that life had shaped him to be the
Chapter 40Alexander’s POVI had seen the attack even before it came, I could tell by the way the vein in his forehead was jumping, it was a miracle, it did not try to burst out of his head and the looks he kept throwing my way were not exactly, I could tell from his looks that he wanted to rip me apart and use my skin for a throw rug.I leapt in the opposite direction, he crashed to the floor, his claws scratching on the marble floors making a sound that made me feel as though my ears were going to start bleeding any second now.Murmurs and panicked shouts went up from the council members, I could hazard a guess at the thoughts that were currently racing through my minds right about now, were they supposed to handle their rampaging Alpha or simply watch the Dupree sons fighting? It must have been such a hard decision because they simply stood watching like a bunch of freaking statues.Ethan was up in a flash and coming at me, it was hard to deflect this attack, he crashed into me and
Chapter 41Ethan’s POVI had arrived home after the scene at the council meeting, I decided it was best to go in to the house through the back entrance because I could not handle the looks the maids will give me when I walked in looking as I did now, all this because of that bastard brother of mine.As I walked in through the gardens, I heard Maria and her mother discussing and talking, it sounded serious and I also noticed that Maria was crying, whatever it was, it sounded pretty serious.I stood there listening to their conversation, each word sounding like a blow to me, I could not believe this, I was even sure if I was to be grateful to my father or hate him, he had truly taken everything from Alexander for my sake, blood was rushing in my ears, I could not breathe properly, Alexander had every reason to hate me as much as he did if he knew this part and I doubted he knew about it yet.Which was even worse? Trying to kill him or stealing his mate away from him? I turned away from
Chapter 42Zara’s POVSince the incident with Silas, I always had half a dozen guards watching over me, they were always outside the house and Xavier stuck close, sometimes he was inside with me like today.I was making lunch and he was lounging on the sofa watching cartoons on the TV, when I asked about it earlier, he said he loved cartoons and was pretty much shameless about it.I made us each a burger and drop his on the table and fell into the couch beside him before I began munching into my burger.We ate in silence watching the wacky cartoon Xavier had settled for, it turned out to be pretty nice.“I believe you may have been right all along” Xavier said all of a sudden.I turned to look at him, his long brown hair was tied on top of his head in a man bun and his black eyes were staring straight ahead at the TV screen even though I doubted he was really seeing anything.“You are talking about Xander right?” I said.He simply nodded his head and then he said “I saw how mad he was
Chapter 43Alexander’s POVI had received a call earlier from Xavier, he had told me Maria came to visit Zara and since then Zara had been herself, she shut herself in her room and has not come out since, I was currently on my way to see Maria, I had to know what she said to Zara before going back home, Xavier will take care of her until I returned.I dialed Maria’s contact again and it went to voicemail once again, a string of colorful words escaped my lips, this was the third call in 10 minutes, I hit the redial button again and thankfully she answered this time around.“Where are you Maria? I need to you” I said.“Perfect I need to speak to you as well, meet at the lake close to the abandoned mansion” she said.My heart suddenly froze, how did Maria know of that place? It was a good thing most of the guys had returned home since their work was done now, there will be no more attacks, the part that was left was to destroy them from within, the reason I had asked to be on the council
Chapter 44Ethan’s POVI had gone out briefly to attend a meeting and when I returned home, the maids informed me that Maria had left the house and they had no idea where she had gone to and it had been hours ago since she left the house.I immediately pulled out my phone to call her, Maria had no even left her room since she had that conversation with her mother, she basically spent her day in bed, drinking one bottle of wine after the other, she has been a mess so where did she go today.Her phone went straight to voicemail, I tried again and the same thing happened again, I felt panic begin to rise deep in my heart, had she perhaps gone to see Alexander? Did she decide to leave me and go back to him, he was her mate after all, I turned around hoping to find her somewhere around, I hoped that she had not stumbled somewhere and fallen into a ditch or something like that.Immediately I got to the door, I saw her car driving into the compound, I watched as she stepped out of the car a