Derek looked infuriated, to say the least, but I was just as upset.“How could this happen?“ i demanded to know from Derek, my eyes piercing into his. “What the hell have you been doing all these two years to deal with Sebastian? Let me guess… nothing, right?”Guilt flashed in his eyes as Benjamin cleared his throat.My eyes snapped to the warrior as he said in defense of his best friend, “To be fair, a lot happened then.”Mischa spoke heatedly, ”That’s true, a lot happened, but what has he done to stop Sebastian?”I knew she was thinking of all the things she faced - her father dying in the cell, having to hide and pray to the goddess that Sebastian wouldn’t find out who she was, and the escape plan. It was all because of that which I understood very well.I remembered the days we still had nightmares regularly because we feared Sebastian or the Silver Moon Pack warriors would find us somehow. Those dreams slowly faded but Sebastian never disappeared. He only got stronger, and I hate

DerekAttack… HER?My eyes went round with surprise as she aimed her claw at my neck, not moving still.“Go on,” she dared me, her eyes cold and words heated. I couldn’t remove my eyes from her. Surprisingly, she was nearly as fast as I was. I had no doubt she was hardly a match for anyone, and would be able to surpass even Benjamin.I was the only one who was made for her.“Go on!” She yelled at me and I raised my two hands.“Alisha… I can’t do that,” I said to her. I could see our children watching us, their eyes round at seeing their parents fight. This wasn’t what I wanted.It brought up bad memories for me.I didn’t want this for my children.“Alisha, let’s talk about this-“ I tried to request from her, but then she charged at me again. I began my task of dodging once more. This time she was faster than before and I found I had to hold myself back from responding to her attacks with a blow of my own.I couldn’t hurt her - it would kill me inside to do so.Soon I found myself back

DerekBenjamin sniggered as he read the letter Alisha had sent to me that afternoon.He looked mighty amused, more than my mother had been when she found out about it.“Are you done?” I asked my best friend who only coughed lightly, his laughter still at the back of his throat. “You’re supposed to sympathize with me.”“Oh come on, Derek. By the goddess, you should be happy she agreed to let you have the twins over at all,” he argued. “But really? I’m just thinking of how you plan on meeting her every condition listed out here. I mean… the meal plan is one thing. I can understand her specifications for their bedrooms. Getting the twins new clothes is fine. But special silverware for each meal? Removing all red and yellow flowers from the garden? Clearing out the mansion of all guards and maids anytime they’re around? That’s just her trying to fuck with you.”“I know that,” I ground out, my hands clenched into fists on the table. “But I can’t deny her that, now can I?”Alisha was never

MischaI dodged the blow, hissing from the force that knocked the wind out of my chest.Damn, I thought. Alis was always hard to beat in a good day, and impossible on other days.I shifted back to my human form and charged directly at her black wolf, which dodged seamlessly, jumping up in the air and shifting back to her human form. I blinked; and that was all it took for her to plant her foot on my face.“Argh!” I growled, tumbling on the floor. I found my footing and came face to face with her pointer finger extended out into a razor sharp, curved claw.“Call,” she said, barely panting, while I sweated buckets.I felt the sting of defeat again, but it left a smile on my face nevertheless.“Damn,” I said with laughter bubbling up in my chest. “You win again, Alis.”She smirked at me, “I always win, Misch. But you’re getting better.”The compliment made me preen a little, while I wiped the sweat off my brow.Benjamin had been able to use his status as one of the strongest warriors in

AlishaI fell silent. Everything that Simon had just told me rang through my head but I still felt uneasy. It was as if my emotions were on overdrive and I had to struggle to keep myself in check.Derek had done this to me. If I had never seen him again, I would have felt better. It had been a numb existence without him but at least the memories of pain and hurt I had been through because of him had become relegated to only my nightmares, instead of them plaguing my waking hours as well.I let out a sigh and felt Simon pay my head gently in the manner that he liked to.“Why don’t you take a long break?” He asked. “Clinic day’s over, so you can go on and rest until the twins get back, hmm?”I silently glanced at the wall clock on the corner and saw it was only 5.30pm. The twins were supposed to be back by 6pm, as Derek had promised.It might be a little early but…“I’ll go pick the twins up now,” I stood, making up my mind. I felt like I would overthink if I ended up staying on my own