“He told you that!?” Rowena exclaimed in disbelief and I nodded. We were at my apartment. I sent her the location and she passed by after I returned. “Yes.” I nodded, taking a deep breath. I held Elena on my lap as she played with my hair. “This wasn't his intention from the beginning, Ayla,” Rowena said. “He was determined to get you back. I don't know what happened.” She frowned. “I told him what happened to me at my pack when he sent me back,” I mumbled, wondering if I made a mistake by doing that. “Was it terrible?” she asked in a low voice. I nodded, not looking at her. I kept my attention on Elena who cupped my cheeks before playfully pinching my nose, making me giggle. She was so playful. “We’re sorry for being too late. Maybe if we came for you earlier, things would have been better. Maybe if we didn't send you back at all, we'd be living together happily,” she said. “Why are you saying we? You didn't do anything,” I reminded h

I had committed the same mistake again. When I was on the beach with Ayla, I could see it in her eyes. If I stressed more and showed her how sorry I truly was, she would have come back with me, but I couldn’t do that to her. I was a criminal just like all her family. I hurt her. I terribly hurt her when I sent her back. I remember experiencing unbearable pain during the three weeks she was at her family’s pack and I thought that it was because of the mating bond, because of Mirk not being able to handle her being away, but man… I was so wrong. What I felt was a reflection of what she was going through. Guilt had been eating me alive since what she had told me. She was being tortured and I was at my pack, contemplating the whole idea of her being my mate and if I had done the right thing by pushing her away. I should have been faster, I should have listened to Mirk and the pain in my soul. That was why I couldn’t tell her to come back with me because whenever I looked

Once Dinah saw me, she attacked me with a bone-crushing hug. I missed her so much. Her son, Cayden, was adorable. It was hard for me to believe that the two girls I partied and spent late nights on the roof with had become mothers. Time did fly. “You’re back for good?” Jorah asked me and I nodded with a big smile on my face. “Welcome to the family,” Declan told me. The words felt genuine and I didn’t know that such words would make me this happy. “Thank you,” I said, smiling at him. “So we need to throw you a huge party,” Rowena told me, and I frowned in confusion. “You’re our Luna. Silver Moon finally has a Luna and we need to announce this news properly!” she seemed pretty excited. “Is it necessary?” I wondered, looking at all of them and they nodded. “Who is going to be there?” Was it going to be as big as the annual Crescent ball? I wasn’t ready yet to meet any member of Crimson. I wasn’t ready to meet my so-called family. “Just me

“I don't even think that ‘lazy day’ was in my vocabulary,” Xander chuckled as I pulled him towards the pool. It wasn't easy to convince him to not work today, but eventually, I managed to do it. He had been working nonstop for the past week and I wanted him to have fun. “This isn't my definition of a lazy day. We are going swimming and at night you are taking me on a date,” I said, descending the stairs of the pool and sat on one of them where the water covered my waist. “Lazy day means we’re not doing anything throughout the whole day,” I clarified as I watched him sit beside me. “My bad,” he teased me as he playfully shoved me, making me fall more into the pool. “I really need to work out,” I huffed, pushing my wet hair away from my face. “Aren't you already doing that?” he wondered, swimming towards me. “Apparently I'm doing something wrong because one shove from you sent me into the water,” I exclaimed, splashing him, causing him to gasp.

For the past two weeks, Jorah had been training me and I could tell that there was progress. My body was stronger and I felt better about myself. Today was off even though I had things to do; however, Xander had another opinion. According to him, I was working nonstop for the past fourteen days and I needed to take a break, so when Rowena called me to tell me about having a girls’ night, he decided to agree on my behalf. I had to check on the new houses the pack built for the she-wolves who lost their mates. There was an entire department in the Silver Moon system dedicated to them. He told me I could do it a day later or he could do the check-up. He was persistent, so I gave in. It seemed like a plan between the male leaders of the pack to give their ladies some free time because Declan and Keith decided to take care of the kids and let Dinah and Rowena enjoy the day without them. So here we were, four ladies, enjoying our night. “Which week are you in?” Mel