TWO MONTHS LATERFAYEI sat in front of Yvonne as she explained the dynamics of our business relationship with some other company.I wasn't listening to her. I was mostly just nodding, so she could continue to speak. "Faye? Faye? Are you listening?"I sighed and nodded, not knowing how to tell her what bothers me. "Faye tell me. You know you haven't spoken a lot about what happened in that forest with the Black Saint. I can't believe you went in there without letting me know." She still spoke of it frequently with anger l, but she was beginning to forgive me. It wasn't everyday a person's niece went to the forest of lost souls and made it out alone. I sighed again and she scolded me angrily."That's the fifteenth sigh today, fifteenth, and it's not even mid morning yet. Why do you sound like you lost a loved one, my dear?""Maybe cause I did lose a loved one?"I told her, my face falling as I remembered said loved one again. "Is this about Nathan?"I looked at her and nodded. I c
Faye"Yvonne, this place is too much." I glanced around the fully decorated condo, my excitement simmering with the idea of this space being mine to do with as I please.The place is amazing. More than I could have hoped for, and I’ve only made it to the living room. There is a huge fireplace and a big soft gray sectional sofa that looks fluffy and comfortable. Big pillows line most of it and it looks so cozy. There is light everywhere, shining in from the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over Vegas."That place is perfect." she told me on the phone."The security is top notch.You can order food whenever you want and they have a gym and a spa downstairs. Everything you need with only a call.""It’s safe," she pushed. "You could come stay with me if you’d prefer. I’d love to have you at home, but I thought you might want your own place."I'd started my post graduate studies, this time nearer to home and I'd gotten a whole condo to stay in for the duration of my studies. Staying wit
FAYEI fluffed the pillows on my bed again, looking around the room to make sure everything was perfect. I wasn't about to risk my father's ire again. He always found a reason to punish me. Even for the littlest things. I wished I could fluff my sorry life to perfection, just like the pillows. I looked around at the room. My room for the past six months. Father had demanded I left the main house. He was finally tired of me being there with his perfect little family. All my life, it had always been the three of them; Dad, Erin and my stepmom and then me. The pesky little responsibility that dad had to look after. My stepmom and stepsister despised me, anyway. They always have, and they've never hidden it. I walked down the stairs, leaving the arcticEven though he was my father, he hated looking at me; hated hearing any mention of me. I could tell on some days when I had the misfortune of running into him. The mere sight of me was a torment to him. He always said I looked too much lik
Pain weighed my eyes down. I felt someone turn me on my back and the pain zapped across my whole body as a pair of strong arms lifted me. I was a wolf. An Alpha's daughter, but still I didn't have a wolf's fast healing abilities. I was latent. My wolf was basically non-existent.When my eyes fell open, I was being put in the backseat of a car. I could smell something very masculine and hot. As I was still being arranged in the backseat, I pinched an eye open again, but for the briefest moment, I saw a sardonic smile on the stranger's face. It was gone the next minute, but I wondered if I was seeing things. Maybe the pain had made me delusional. He was also very beautiful, but I couldn't watch anymore of him as a dreamless sleep took me.•••I woke up in a very unfamiliar environment a while later. My body felt battered but much better. I wondered if it was from the whipping, then I gasped. Slowly, it hit me. A car had run me over. The last thing I remembered was being put in the backs
Nathan stepped out of the study and the look I gave him was obvious. Fear"What, beautiful?""There's a portrait of a black rose in your study." I glanced at it, then at him. "What does it mean?""It's just a painting, Faye. Might as well fill the space with something, right?" he said, raising a brow at me. I fell silent, not wanting to talk about it any further. He had said it was a portrait, purely for aesthetics, and I would believe him.We went up the stairs and he led me to another room, a different one from what I'd been lying in earlier. "Here. I prepared another room for you. I had you in the other one because you were unconscious and I wanted to monitor you. But this room is decorated with lighter colours. Softer tones for you, I guess."So that had been his room. I wondered how to tell him I wanted to sleep in his room with him. I liked the darker shades. And I wanted to lie on the bed with his fragrance on it. "I'll be back at intervals to check on you. But you should ge
I shut the door after the gorgeous lady had gone, sliding to the cold floor as I trembled softly. How had she known my name? I wondered as I sat there, worry creeping up on me. She'd called my name. In full at that. She'd known I was an Eastwood. No one here should know. I'd only told Nathan my first name, Faye. I chewed at my nails as I wildly scavenged through my thoughts, checking to see if I'd said anything about my father. Maybe, I reasoned, I might have mentioned to Nathan about my family when I was still in pain. Said something. He'd have asked me if there was someone close to me, a relative he could contact to come get me. He would have, right? I raised my head as I nodded to myself. Of course. That's the only way he could have known my father's name, too. Maybe he has even checked them out.Only he already promised me I wouldn't have to go back, so that's why I'm still here. But the lady, I thought again. Remembering how she'd said my name in warning brought out the goosebu
I woke up on the cold, bare floor. I opened my eyes and saw that I was still in the dark room. I had been in here long enough that I didn't know the time. If it was still nighttime or morning already. The closet walls were all lined with shelves and huge storage spaces. There was no window in sight. The air conditioning is extremely high. The entire room was far too cold. How long was I asleep for? My head hurt like hell. I could feel my body throbbing. I'd cried for a while until I saw that he really wasn't coming back. I'm well used to sleeping on the cold floor down in the basement back at home. It isn't something I hope to continue with Nathan. I sigh wearily. Everything felt hot and sweaty, it was painful to breathe. I held my face in my hands and closed my eyes tight. There was no way this was happening. I really shouldn't have brought up the girl. I slowly got up from the cool floor and walked towards the doors. Rubbing my arms and trying to get some sort of feeling back in
NATHAN I stared hard at Carol. Wondering what I'd do with her. We were in the pack meeting room. And she was standing a few feet in front of me, a stubborn pout on her face as she sulked in the middle of the large study. I leaned forward in the huge chair I was sitting in, just in front of the fireplace. I dropped my forearms on my thighs, stapling my fingers together as I observed her grimly. She'd gone and done it again. "Carol." My voice is barely above a whisper. Nothing. No movement or reply. Just the sound of her laboured breathing. She didn't even twitch. It was like she had turned into stone. "Look at me when I talk to you." Her head snapped up to look at me. For the first time since she arrived in the room. "Now explain yourself." I ordered, sending her a hard look. She straightened out her shoulders and huffed with an incredulous tone, like she couldn't believe I was doing this. "I only went to see what the girl looked like, Nate. Nothing else." I leaned back in