-RAINA'S POV- The malevolent presence stood still. My trembling, weak hands covered the wound. Blood geysered through the cracks of my overlapping fingers, intertwining with them as they pressed on the severe gash on my right leg. The thick, warm, sticky, dark crimson liquid coated them, crawling under my nails. It would not stop bleeding. Consciousness was dwindling. Reality blurred. The agony was extremely excruciating. The pain and sorrow of the pack amplified in my chest and I clenched my teeth grunting, drowning under a tidal slaughter that felt like it would burst out of me. “Are you going to watch me bleed to death?” I hyperventilated, focusing on the need to control the leaking flow. Yet, the hellish man made no move. Whenever I blinked, my heavy eyelids wanted to stay shut. My heartbeat decelerated to a thready pulse. My lifeforce will end in a matter of time. Terror and despair put a pit in my stomach. Several low voices projected into my head: “Raina, where are you?
-RAINA'S POV- The vile Worgen teleported me, again! As the wind whooshed by the mouth of a cave, I could hear the opera of susurration produced by the bonny waves below the precipice. He strode inside the dim den and I surveyed the surroundings. The mossy-gray walls were lighted with luminous lichen. The air was humid, moldy, and a bit cold. Ew! I cringed from the scent of bat droppings. My stomach convulsed as vomit threatened to burst out of my lips. I pursed them. Once he put me down from his bulging shoulders onto the rough, basalt ground, my fists punched him in several hard spots. Quickly, he snatched my hands, jerking me to stop. Panting laborious, I demanded. “Where am I?” I have had my share of caves. Ahead of me was darkness that went deeper into the hollows. Behind me was the white, bright light of escape. He stared at me silently. His red predator’s gaze was unwavering and the heat of them emitted radio waves of a murderous intent. I saw only blood and death in them
-RAINA’S POV- The Worgen sighed and put his hands into his white pockets. “It’s a long story.” “Well, isn't it obvious that I won't leave my mate for you?” I retorted, putting too much force behind it. I had to bend over and put my hands on my knees to reinforce my body. “Nonsense. Why would I be here with you and not him? Where was he to take care of your wound? He was not there when you kept having nightmares in your sleep and I took them away. Neither was he there when you were dying,” he replied sardonically with a flat gaze. “I deserve you more than he does. So, tell me I have permission to court you and I shall.” “People are dying and you want to flirt!” My blood boiled and I straightened my posture to send him the heat of my eyes. “I feel their pain in my heart.” I clutched my chest. “Everyone deserves to live.” I didn’t miss what he said about my nightmares, but I wasn’t going to get into that. Not now. “My obligation is to you. No one else,” he commented, hard and rigid.
-VALEN’S POV-“Val, hurry up down there.” Devin mind-linked me using his teleportation ring.“Well, it’s a great summer party down here. Want to come?” I was annoyed and couldn’t help the sarcasm.Inside the abhorrent funnel-shaped sinkhole was like a trip to hell. Diving through the fathomless, gloomy void and plunging into a deep sputtering fire pit, I struggled to get beyond the volcanic flames. It compressed against the invisible force field that Zuzu enshrouded me in, threatening to end my life.The magical energy shield kept me safe from the hostile crustal movements and any toxic scents that were fusing. Nyx ensured that my oxygen revolved in the protective barrier. Otherwise, I would have died.After an almost never-ending journey down the macabre inferno, I burst through a thick nebulous fog that thinned out into a craggy, turquoise-blue cavern. This was another dimension and the portal ahead of me resembled a swirling geode with crackling, red electrical streaks that whipped
-RAINA’S POV-“Why do you want a war? Can’t we negotiate?” I stalled. My mind scrabbled to think of a way to get out of this.“The war is revenge against Selene. It's about being the black sheep and wanting to kill her favorite children.” He explained with one arm folded and he tapped his nose. “Murdering all of you hurts your goddess. Maybe she’ll have to come herself to stop the war and save her wolves, Raina.”“So that’s your agenda ― to force Selene to show herself?“You are my agenda and I know all of your secrets. I also know things that might interest you.” Gustav gloated while flicking the mussed veil of white strands from his forehead.“What good is a bond with me when I lost my wolf?” I realized that his ultimate intention was to use me as leverage against Valen. I bit my lip, writhing in suppressed fury.His hand froze and then he stooped before me. “There are remnants of her within you. My brother will still come for you because you will have to tell them what happened, an
-RAINA'S POV- “You’ve been avoiding me,” an angry voice came from behind after I descended the glass-bifurcated stairs of the exquisite Saturn Striders Hotel. “Alpha Kain,” I acknowledged when I swung around to the six-foot man with hands crossed that made his biceps appear larger and ready to crush me for neglecting his messages. I said coolly, “I didn’t know that you were coming.” “You would if you had replied to my recent messages.” He dropped his hands to his side and his vexation toned down. The seventeen-year-old Alpha of an external pack licked his lips as his steps approached me with a cocky swagger. His nomad eyes lit up as he roamed them over my body and I took a deep breath. I was not afraid of him, but he has been one of those guys who constantly expressed an interest. “May I have the pleasure of enjoying your company or am I too late?” He stood too close to me with a taunting smirk as he gazed at my rose-mauve-coated lips. “I’ve been looking for you all evening.” He
One year and some months later……………… - -VALEN’S POV- "Enough, Vaheed!" We tumbled out of the back door of the bar into the drenched, cold, drab alley and landed in a pool of water. Rolling around in a tussle on the hard urban street, we aimed to score a blow once one of us took the top position in the struggle. Unbothered by the chilly night’s drubbing rain, our wrestling prolonged through the commotion of our wrath. Quickly, I flicked upwards to land on my two feet, while Vaheed was on his back. My soaked abalone button-front shirt clung to my sinewy body, missing a few buttons. My hands automatically cleared the curtain of dripping black strands from my face, tossing the long hair slick back. The steady shower that doused the two of us could not extinguish the enmity between us. “I don’t want to fight you!” I hated raising my fist against him and I watched him rise to his feet, glaring at me with contemptuous harlequin green pair of eyes. He wasn’t drunk, but he was not thinki
-VALEN’S POV-When Raina lifted her left hand from her shoulder, a deep red print of my palm blistered her honeyed skin. Her doleful blue eyes questioningly pierced into mine so deep that my heart prickled.Simmering with rage, I decided to draw the line here. I went closer to her and roughly nudged Vaheed out of the way with my shoulder. I took her hands into mine and she screamed again. It was a cry of pain.“Ahh!” Her shrill echoed high and wild through the noisy rain as she tore herself from my grasp as though I was acid or a contamination.Thermal heat from my hands burnt her wrist.Although I fumed with suppressed anger because of Vaheed, bewilderment superseded and I gazed at my palms and wondered what had happened. All I did was touch her. Why is she being bruised by my contact? This was not how it was supposed to be. We are mates and our touch created the most superb sensation. How is it that my hands burned her, instead? It baffled me. “What’s wrong with you? Stay away from