"Leave," I ordered, proud that my voice didn't sound half as shaky as I felt. "Is that what you really want, Keera?" He asked in a whisper. Before I could muster a response, his hand raised mine, slowly bringing my fingers to his nose. The same fingers that had been moving inside of me only minutes ago. My heart thudded. He kept his eyes locked with mine as he inhaled the scent of my release before bringing my fingers to his mouth and dragging his tongue over the fingers, licking them clean. ---- Keera - They shouldn't exist. It was impossible. They were freaks of nature. That had been my initial thoughts about werewolves. And for years I believed I was right to think that because all the werewolves I met did nothing but hurt me. Especially him. I'd been drawn to him from the very first day that I saw him. Before I realized he hated me. I didn't want to admit it but he was the one who reinforced my hatred for werewolves. I didn't need to help them out. But I did. And I watched my life spiral out of control. From crossing every boundary I ever built by getting into a relationship with him to finding out I was his mate. Grayson - I despised her before I even got the chance to meet her in person. Our relationship was forbidden. Werewolves weren't allowed to mate with humans. I didn't think I could ever even be considering the possibility. But that was before her. I found out she was my mate. There was no way I was letting her go then. I didn't mind stepping down as Alpha if it meant I could be with her. Because whether she liked it or not she felt the same about me.
*Keera*
I've often heard people say on several occasions that the truth was bitter, but I've never once actually had a first hand experience to prove that the adage was indeed true. At least I've never had the experience up until now. For as long as I could remember I've always regarded myself as someone who wasn't scared of anything. There was almost no task I couldn't take on. No one I couldn't face. Nothing I couldn't do.
Or at least that was what I thought.
I stared blankly at my supervisor, wishing with every fibre of my being that I hadn't actually heard him right. My heart seemed to crash against my ribcage and my palms were a little sweatier than usual. I swallowed forcefully, realizing that this had to be the closest I'd come to knowing what fear felt like. I couldn't recount any instance where I'd ever been genuinely afraid. Not even the day I'd found out that werewolves existed and I had been living with them my whole life.
I remember being surprised, even in a bit of shock as my mind struggled to grasp what was before me at the time. I had felt a lot of emotions but I had never for once felt fear. Which was very unusual because I should have naturally been terrified to find out that some other species existed besides us humans. Especially since I'd only been seven years at the time.
But I hadn't.
If anything else I'd been fascinated after getting over the initial shock. That fascination had quickly morphed to irritation, disgust and finally resentment. Now anything related to werewolves made me recoil in anger and hate. Except when it came to one particular werewolf. The rest had proven to be such manipulative and violent creatures and there was nothing anyone could say to convince me otherwise.
Trevor snapped his fingers in front of my face, jolting me out of my reverie. I startled, turning to fix my attention back on him. Sometimes he proved to be a decent supervisor, always making sure I didn't make any mistakes with whatever it was that I was handling. Other times, like now for example, he was simply a pain in the ass.
"Are you listening?" He asked, staring at me expectantly. I looked at him from across the large brown desk, wondering how exactly I was going to get myself out of this mess. He loosened the buttons on his shirt, his eyes leaving me for a while to look for a file. He placed the file in front of him, raising an eyebrow as he waited for me to give an answer to his question.
I nodded, clearing my head. "Yes, of course." Against my will, I was listening. Listening to him tell me he wanted me to go to the home of those beasts. Did he not care about my safety? They saw me as the enemy. One slip and I was sure their barbarian Alpha was going to order them to finish me off. He placed the file in front of me, gesturing for me to go through it.
I picked it up, my mind racing. Sometimes the fact that I knew that werewolves existed seemed to be a curse. For one if I didn't know, there was no way my supervisor would have sought me out for this job. And to think I'd been in the middle of a very serious laboratory test. It was times like this that I envied the other humans who were still living their lives thinking that werewolves were simply a myth. I rubbed my slightly sweaty palm on my lab coat before opening the file.
My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to make sense of what I was looking at. There were reports, I realized as I flipped through the pages. Reports of werewolves that had died. I raised my palm to my mouth, shocked at the number. There were almost twenty of them and they had all died within the last two weeks. I reared my head back in surprise. That was quite a large number for such a small time frame. I frowned when I noticed the most recent death was only a few hours ago.
They hadn't caught the killer yet?
The cause of death appeared to be unknown, and the times of death were so random, I didn't think the killer was bothered about what time they died. I roamed my eyes through the files again, trying to appear disinterested while my mind ran a mile per second. From reports, I didn't think the killer was also concerned with their ages. A few were the same age, but mostly their age differences were also random and disoriented.
It was no secret that werewolves were immortal, supernatural creatures. It wasn't completely impossible for them to lose their lives but it was extremely rare that they did. Whoever it was that was behind the killings had obviously done a thorough study of them and was successfully killing them in a way they wouldn't be able to recover from even with their superhuman capabilities. I pushed the file back, refusing to let my sympathy reflect on my face before Trevor preyed on it.
"I don't understand why you're showing this to me," I highlighted in confusion. I got the hint of what he was trying to say, but I wanted him to spell it out plainly. He'd only been beating around the bush since I got here. He clasped his hands together and placed it carefully on the desk, staring right at me. I leaned forward, bracing myself for whatever it was he was going to say.
"As you can tell, there's a crazy werewolf serial killer on the loose," He began, leaning back into his chair, his eyebrows forming an obvious v shape. "Whoever it is either knows or has studied everything there is to know about werewolves," He explained, drumming his fingers rhthymically on the desk. "Because for some reason despite their healing abilities they're still dying off like chickens."
I swallowed, prepared to cut in. I wanted him to go straight to the point. "I'm sorry, but I don't exactly see how this concerns me." I reminded him. He narrowed his eyes, irritated that I was to hurry him up. I gestured at my lab coat, arching an eyebrow at him in return to remind him that I'd been in the middle of a test before he'd asked to see me urgently. For all I knew someone might be trying to alter the test result for some reason. I had to hurry up and get back.
Trevor released a calm exhale and I almost smiled. If there was anything I'd learnt from him it was how to keep my emotions in check, though I wasn't exactly successful most of the time. On his good days, he was like the older brother I never had. On his bad days, he was like the older brother I never wished for.
"The point is that they've tried everything they can but they've still not been able to find a solution for their problem." He continued patiently. "So they sought our help." His eyes met mine and held. "They need someone who would be able to find out what's going on and put a stop to it...and I didn't know any better person to suggest than you."
Than me.
He was trying to tell me that not only was I going to go to the territory of those malicious creatures, I actually had to help them sort out their werewolf shit. I was already shaking my head before I even gave myself time to really think about it. There was no way I was going to offer them any form of help. Not when they've put me through a whole lot. I didn't care if it was childish to be vengeful, there was no way I was doing it.
"I'm sorry, Trevor but I'm not going." I informed him, standing to my feet. I pushed my hair behind my ears, taking my hair net out of my coat pockets as I readied myself to go back to the lab. "There are way more experienced forensic scientists than I could ever dream of." I stated honestly. "And they already know of the werewolves. I would suggest that you please have one of them go instead."
Trevor shook his head, refusing to heed my advice. He also got to feet like he wanted me to understand the gravity of what he was trying to say. "You won't be going alone," He informed me, his tone almost pleading. "You'll be working with a team but you're going to be the head of it." He took a few steps towards me. "Listen, the werewolves are worried that someone is after them,"
"Gee, I wonder why," I retorted sarcastically. He gave me a knowing look, already aware that I was simply trying to piss him off so he would angrily ask me out of his office. I released a deep breath, deciding to hear him out. How hard could it be? I already knew that no matter what he had to say, my reply would still be negative.
"If they're right," He continued. "Which they obviously are, then it means we're also not safe." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "If this person is able to take down immortals, how much more humans?" I hated that I was beginning to see reason with him. "I've been asked to appoint a team... and I want you to lead that team."
He gazed persuasively at me. "I was sure to emphasize the fact that everyone needed to keep you safe." He stated, successfully making my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. My eyes bulged at his words but he didn't seem to notice. "As much as I care about the rest of the team, I care more about you." He said, warmth evident in his tone. "The Alpha assured me he would personally ensure your safety."
I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach.
Andrea Deciding that I was going to skip a day at work so I could have first time sex with my boyfriend seemed like the most absurd decision I could ever make. Or at least that was what I'd thought. Until I'd walked in on my said boyfriend cheating on me with some redhead and decided to get my revenge by losing my virginity to his wealthy billionaire father instead. Crazy, right? Trust me, I know. Like that's not enough, things take a drastic turn for the worst after I realized I was in love with him and pregnant with his child. Before I could get the chance to come clean about every including my feelings formhim and the pregnancy, he finds out about my trickery. Alejandro's not one to condone being lied to and deceived so he immediately tells me he doesn't want to see me again. So what do I do? I pack up and leave the country. But it seems like the universe isn't done with us just yet. . . Alejandro I should have known better than to get involved with someone way younger than me. It was something I've never done before. But like the saying goes, there's a first time for everything. The first time I met Andrea I was captivated by her beauty. More than that there was this innocence in her that called out to me like a moth to a flame. I ignored all the warnings in my head and went after what I wanted. And what I wanted was her. Unfortunately what she wanted was revenge against my son. I told myself that it had to be some kind of mistake. There was no way she had been playing with my feelings and planning some silly revenge this whole time. But she had. It had taken a surprise visit from my son for me to find out her true intentions. Even then it had been hard to believe it. But I couldn't deny that she'd fooled me real good alright. So naturally I cut ties with her. And that's supposed to be the end, right? Wrong. Turns out that our story was never destined to end just there. . .
(ADULT CONTENT) Lucia - I had gotten to the point in my life where I could totally understand why people felt the need to take their own life. It was a need a lot of people thought they understood but in reality didn't even know the half of it. I would know because it was a need I constantly battled with. My life was complete shit. I'd lost my parents at a young age, been tossed from one abusive chaotic home to the other until I'd finally decided I couldn't take it anymore and had run away. Only running away had made it worse. Way worse. Because living on the streets I witnessed a lot of things no young girl should ever witness. Then for a moment it seemed like I'd found love. He was kind, caring and sweet. But even that didn't last. I told myself then that I was completely done. At first I didn't want to live at all. Later on, I just wanted to live long enough to get my revenge on everyone who had dared to make my life miserable. I never expected I would want to live for him. Bruno - Inheriting a ruthless top mafia gang at a very young age did a lot of damage to someone. It certainly did a whole lot of damage to me. Fucked me up so bad I could no longer tell what was right from what was wrong. I could no longer separate what I needed to do from what I wanted to do. And it was fine, really. I didn't give a flying fuck what anyone thought about it. It was who I was now and there was no going back. At least that was what I'd thought. Until I'd met Lucia. I still couldn't explain it but seeing her up there, hands tied above her head as she waited for whatever asshole was going to buy her at the auction caused some kind of reaction in me. It was enough to tell me that I should probably let someone else buy her so she could be their problem. Unfortunately I'd never been one to stop myself from making a wrong decision. So I bought her anyway. And who would have guessed? She turned out to be the best decision I'd ever made.
Three years ago, Cecilia was left battered and alone by the man she loved most, Alston, yet she bravely completed the wedding ceremony while pregnant. Three years later, although they were married, they grew apart over time. Cecilia focused on her career, no longer foolishly believing in love. But her transformation instantly threw Alston into a panic... And what is the secret from 11 years ago that Cecilia has always been reluctant to reveal? *** "She went to a law firm, met with a lawyer..." A lawyer? Is Cecilia suing someone? Who? Is there any recent litigation against the company? Alston suddenly chuckled coldly, "Who could she sue? I'm the CEO of this company. How come such a matter doesn't come to me first?" The assistant swallowed nervously, speaking softly, "Sir, there's no litigation against the company. She met with... a divorce lawyer."
After catching her fiance in bed with another woman a few days before their wedding, Emily Waston was devastated and angry. In desperation, she walked into a bar where she had an unforgettable one night stand with a stranger. To her ultimate shock, she discovered the stranger was her fiancé's uncle. And to make the matter worse, she got herself into a tacky situation where she couldn't leave her fiancé's life completely. By working as John's live-in secretary, she began to fall in love with his uncle. And John in particular noticed the closeness between them and began to get jealous and wanted her back. How would Emily handle the desire which the two alpha relatives have for her?
Andrea Deciding that I was going to skip a day at work so I could have first time sex with my boyfriend seemed like the most absurd decision I could ever make. Or at least that was what I'd thought. Until I'd walked in on my said boyfriend cheating on me with some redhead and decided to get my revenge by losing my virginity to his wealthy billionaire father instead. Crazy, right? Trust me, I know. Like that's not enough, things take a drastic turn for the worst after I realized I was in love with him and pregnant with his child. Before I could get the chance to come clean about every including my feelings formhim and the pregnancy, he finds out about my trickery. Alejandro's not one to condone being lied to and deceived so he immediately tells me he doesn't want to see me again. So what do I do? I pack up and leave the country. But it seems like the universe isn't done with us just yet. . . Alejandro I should have known better than to get involved with someone way younger than me. It was something I've never done before. But like the saying goes, there's a first time for everything. The first time I met Andrea I was captivated by her beauty. More than that there was this innocence in her that called out to me like a moth to a flame. I ignored all the warnings in my head and went after what I wanted. And what I wanted was her. Unfortunately what she wanted was revenge against my son. I told myself that it had to be some kind of mistake. There was no way she had been playing with my feelings and planning some silly revenge this whole time. But she had. It had taken a surprise visit from my son for me to find out her true intentions. Even then it had been hard to believe it. But I couldn't deny that she'd fooled me real good alright. So naturally I cut ties with her. And that's supposed to be the end, right? Wrong. Turns out that our story was never destined to end just there. . .
"Love is blind!" Lucinda abandoned her beautiful and comfortable life because of a man. She married him and slaved off for him for three long years. One day, the scales finally fell off her eyes. She realized that all her efforts were in vain. Her husband, Nathaniel still treated her like shit. All he cared about was his lover. "Enough is enough! I quit wasting my years with an ungrateful man!" Lucinda's heart was shattered into many pieces, but she summoned up the courage to ask for a divorce. The news caused a stir online! A filthy rich young woman recently got divorced? She was a good catch! Countless CEOs and handsome young men immediately swarmed to her like bees to honey! Nathaniel couldn't take it anymore. He held a press conference and begged with teary eyes, "I love you, Lucinda. I can't live without you. Please come back to me." Would Lucinda give him a second chance? Read to find out!
Everyone was shocked to the bones when the news of Rupert Benton's engagement broke out. It was surprising because the lucky girl was said to be a plain Jane, who grew up in the countryside and had nothing to her name. One evening, she showed up at a banquet, stunning everyone present. "Wow, she's so beautiful!" All the men drooled, and the women got so jealous. What they didn't know was that this so-called country girl was actually an heiress to a billion-dollar empire. It wasn't long before her secrets came to light one after the other. The elites couldn't stop talking about her. "Holy smokes! So, her father is the richest man in the world?" "She's also that excellent, but mysterious designer who many people adore! Who would have guessed?" Nonetheless, people thought that Rupert didn't love her. But they were in for another surprise. Rupert released a statement, silencing all the naysayers. "I'm very much in love with my beautiful fiancee. We will be getting married soon." Two questions were on everyone's minds: "Why did she hide her identity? And why was Rupert in love with her all of a sudden?"
Traversing back to the ancient Prime Martial World from modern age, Austin finds himself in a younger body as he wakes up. Yet, the young man he possesses was a miserable dimwit, what a bummer! But it doesn’t matter as his mind is sound and clear. Possessing this younger and stronger body, he will fight his way to become the God of martial arts, and rule the whole Martial World!