His eyes raked the letter Alba left behind again.‘Will arrive at the conference with Alpha Rhett-Alba’She lived with him, so why did she need to arrive at the conference with another man, especially one with a reputation as a manwhore.He couldn’t make sense of the note, and while the letter’s contents irked him, his hand scrunched it only to unravel it seconds later because he didn’t want to lose anything that had Alba’s mark.With his breakfast and morning routine complete, he made his way to the press conference venue, an area swarmed with more reporters than he wished to address. Yet even after settling in his seat, she had yet to arrive.‘I love you more’.His mind played her sound again, and rather than exciting him, the words elicited a stabbing pain in his chest.Christ, had he made a mistake? Should he have chosen her? But then, what would that mean for his image, for his mother?Choosing her would make him lose everything about himself, so…He took a deep soothing breath

What…in high heaven is going on? Why does the Alpha sound as if he is ready to throw hands?"Okay!"I yell, interrupting the preposterous scene unfolding before me.Marko will not leave until he has said his peace plus…there is more we need to discuss.“Alpha, could you give us a few minutes?”Alpha Rhett’s frown makes me uneasy, but he nods.I can guess it is because he fears us together, especially in a public space like this, but he shouldn’t. I know better.“I will wait for you by the car; you asked me to drop you at the temple, right?”Marko’s grip on me tightens; any more pressure and I might not have a wrist.Still, am I having a stroke? Why would he say that? Why would he imply he knows the Lycan is my mate?“Right.”I utter quickly before Marko’s tug of my flesh grows more aggressive.His car is empty, neither his driver nor security in sight, as if he had ordered them to clear out earlier.“Does he know?”I am not surprised that this is his first question, even less that he

Morning reached far slower than I thought it would; then again, tossing and turning only makes one accountable for every ticking second. The open dome-shaped room I am guided to after breakfast is spacious and devoid of excessive furnishings, merely two pillows on opposite sides of the altar at the centre. Light trickles in from the open roof. Typically moonlight pools in from the opening during mating rituals at night, but even light from the sun is enough for rejections. Marko enters the room with his father from the other door on the opposite side. He has on the same loose-fitting cream gown I do because, before the goddess, we must all present in humility, with no jewellery, makeup or fancy clothing. Yet even bare, he still manages to still my beating heart. In an instant, the turmoil inside me vanishes at the realisation that I still…want him, despite the pain he inflicts carelessly. I want to cry, wail, weep so the despair inside me at what I lose from this event lessens, b

Her words are spoken with such sorrow that they laden my heart.‘He is yet another to abandon us’.Yet if she were to count me, then I would be among her numbers, among those that would leave her behind to suffer in loneliness.But it was the relief of not caring for one who did not care about me that scared me; what kind of child is relieved at their parent’s death? A parent who could abandon them to live her fairy tale but didn’t.But would it not have been easier if mother cut ties with me in the name of her mate? Maybe then I would not be as twisted as I am. Maybe then I would have been softer in my speech and mannerisms, but whom am I kidding?If mother left me at Red Graw, I would be among Alpha Jax’s toys.So then when…when will I feel saddened by her death because all I feel is guilt at not being sad.I settle next to Kaisa; as much as I wish to comfort her, there is not much I can say to her statement except; ‘I know’ or ‘I was there’, so I say nothing, perhaps because the pa

The emptiness inside him did not yield even as he watched Magnolia discuss something of importance before him in the meeting.Something about a charity, or…? God, he couldn’t care less.Magnolia was beautiful, fluid and graceful, he should be proud to have one like her by his side as the future queen, but since he woke up from his long slumber, it was as if the world was in black and white, devoid of colour.Even food had lost its taste.The first few days after waking, he had a gnawing urge to leap off a bridge and meet his demise. A depressive cloud followed him, and where he wished it to yield to sadness so he could pour his heart out and hopefully gain perspective, it did not; everything in him made him believe that his life no longer held meaning.It was only after he heard the news of Alba’s wake that the feeling vanished. Yet, unfortunately, the emptiness remained because while he wanted to see her, he no longer held the permission to run to her side, and even if he were to ign