Jasmine quickly led the mystery girl—who had finally returned to her senses—over to the couch and made her sit. Jasmine’s drunkenness had taken a backseat it seemed. She appeared intrigued and amused. Something Zayden could only roll his eyes at. “I bet you thought I was some crazy voodoo lady about to sacrifice you to some deity,” Jasmine chuckled with humour in her voice, reaching for her purse and returning with a green stone in her hand. “Won’t you?” that was what the mystery girl asked, a frown tugged at the corner of her full lips. Zayden took his seat back at the minibar counter and pushed the empty glass to the side, resting his elbow against the flat surface and watching them with anxious curiosity buzzing throughout his bones. He would have laughed at her conclusion of being sacrificed if he hadn’t been a witness to such gore himself. Even though it didn’t happen so frequently anymore, he knew the witches who practised dark magic still made a living out of it. Of course,
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Jasmine thrust her long, manicured fingers through those ebony locks and tugged hard to get this prickly and icky feeling out of her system. She felt like she was drowning in a pool of thick, red blood and no matter how much she tried to get some air in her lungs, couldn’t find her way up. It was all too messed up. And the entire array of events she saw so vividly in her head was messing her up even more.“What the fuck does that even mean?” Zayden snarled, his entire face contorted so precariously enraged that it fired a shiver down her spine. And that was saying something. Because usually, she couldn’t be bothered to give a fuck about how much she drove him crazy. It was a part of her personality. She thrived on getting on people’s nerves.“It means that you’re a jackass and you need to care about the feelings of others,” she snapped, her head still spinning, her heart ricocheting underneath her chest. She couldn’t push the resentment and frustration bo
During the entire ride, Dhara couldn’t stop thinking about what Jasmine had said.“All your life you’ve tucked yourself away from the crowd, with a fear that you’ll put your faith in the hands of the wrong people and they wouldn’t think twice before crushing it underneath their feet. It’s a constant fear that you live in. But you never let it show.”Constant fear.Never let it show.It was all too personal for someone to know so much about her. It felt wrong. On so many levels. It was as if someone barged into her privacy and left her bare. No one had ever said something like that to her. No one ever read her like an open book. And the thought alone pushed her to the edge. Perhaps that was the sole reason she couldn’t stay a second longer in that god-forbidden place.She felt exposed.Vulnerable.As if someone had broken down the walls built around her heart and now there was no way to protect herself.However, there was also a part of her that wasn’t convinced enough. Perhaps what Ja
The questions leaving her sister’s mouth stunned Dhara to the bones. Of course, Dhara wasn’t about to pretend about whom she was being questioned. It was obviously the man from the previous night. The one her sister had caught her within a super awkward position.Gosh, her cheeks warmed and probably turned as red as a tomato. How was she going to explain something she didn’t understand herself?Tensing the grip of the steering wheel, her knuckles turning pale, Dhara sucked in a shaky breath and gaped ahead. She knew how it would sound if she admitted she met the guy for the first time. She knew it would give Nina a wrong impression, the one her sister might use as an excuse before tossing herself into yet another trouble.“You remember that animal shelter I used to volunteer, right?” Dhara swallowed, aware of the two pairs of curiosities upon her. Pinpricks biting at the back of her nape.“Yeah? So what?”Dhara licked her dry lips. “Well, I know him from there. Nice guy. Helped with t
*An episode from the past life of Dhara and Zayden. There will be more such episodes.*------“What’s the rush, father? Are you so tired of your daughter that now you’re keen to bind me with simply any stranger on the streets?” Selene rebutted, the graceful maiden exhausted and hurt from being slandered by her own family and friends. Just because she hadn’t found her mate yet, didn’t mean she deserved to be treated as a traitor. It wasn’t her fault the moon goddess was taking so much time to match her with her soulmate. Was it?“You don’t understand, Selene!” Her father, the honourable Beta of the Silvermoon pack, growled, irritated and distorted by the outbursts of his only daughter who hadn’t found her mate yet. How shameful was it—did she even know? She had reached the age of 25 and was yet to be mated. How long could he keep her with himself? In the past few months, she had become the gossip of the town and their pack. Everyone looked down at her as if she was stained and curse
The pungent smell in the bar was nauseating.What kind of place was this? It looked shabby, smelled horrible, and the few men gathered around the tables and seats across the counter looked nothing less than goons, ready to pounce on people left and right.There were rats scurrying in the corners, and spiderwebs clung to the walls. All the wooden work looked old and creaky.Not to forget the woman behind the counter; God, she looked like an old hag, a minute away from kidnapping kids and saving a burst of villainous laughter for the end.“Don’t look so miserable,” Zayden chuckled, moving his hand around Dhara’s back and giving a firm squeeze to her waist.She tensed. One, because even through a decent layer of fabric, his skin felt hot as hell. And two, because she ended up gasping so loud, a few heads turned their way, none of them looking happy or even remotely welcoming.“What the hell is this place?” she whisper-yelled, shoving his hand away and tugging at the hem of her top, sudde
Ripping herself away from his arms, she turned around with an annoyed huff, trying to suppress the jolt of electricity his touch had set in motion. She pushed a dark curl out of her face.“You said we are here for answers,” didn’t you? He assured her this was the last time he would trouble her with such a request. “Let’s… let’s not waste time.”“Right,” she heard him mumble with a frown, his gaze hard and harsh on her. “Come on, this way.”Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any more interruptions this time. Once they reached the counter, Zayden helped her sit on one of the swiveling stools before taking a seat next to her.Viraj, the other guy with him, continued to stand a few feet away from them, his stony gaze set on everyone and almost everywhere in the room.“Zayden!” the old woman behind the counter hailed, a wild Cheshire-cat grin curving her lips up. “What brings the Alpha of the Alphas to our crappy dwelling?”Again, that Alpha thing. What the heck was it?“When you know it’
It was hard to keep his hands off her. It was… it was killing him.But understanding the fact that someone could have rigged the attraction between them—the thought that bothered him all night long—he pushed himself to control the fierce desire boiling in his veins. He had to clench his fist as tight as he could, letting the nails sink into his flesh and enduring the sharp twinge of pain instead of granting them the freedom to roam over her tempting body.Damn, she was gorgeous.And he was so wickedly miserable.Since last night, he had received nothing from Jasmine. That girl simply disappeared with whatever information she had garnered with the mind link she performed with Dhara. He knew she had stumbled upon something significant. His natural instincts were screaming at him that she was trying to hide something. Something, if turned out to be true, he needed to teach her a lesson for it. That’s why, when he woke up this morning, he decided to seek the opinion of another witch. One