BLAKE’S P.O.V

Running a rebellion is exhausting. There is so much that goes into it that I never knew about. I had to be in two places at once without letting both lives overlap. Jamal helped to keep things quiet and keep the men from acting too early and ruining our plans. We still hadn’t found a way to get Gregory alone, he was strong and he was paranoid and that seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive. He changed his guards every few hours in case of an attack and he didn’t follow a regular schedule.


He was the missing piece to finish our puzzle and I couldn’t wait until we found a strategy to get to him. He was all that was left standing between me and victory. Brittany was a great help to me in more ways than one. She hated my guts but she could never refuse when I forced her to speak. She fed me information at every turn and with each word she spilled, I could feel her hate burrow deeper and I basked in that feeling.

It would give her a taste of the kind of life she made others live. She was so used to being the best and being perfect and for once in her life, she had been outsmarted by someone else. For once in her life, she wasn’t the best anymore and it filled me with immense glee. There was also the issue of the bond between us and how it pulsed incessantly. Maybe it was because I had been using it to control her but something about it seemed to have shifted, almost as if the bond was trying to rectify what had been fixed.

I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her and not want to fuck her brains out. She felt the same way and she hated herself for it even more than she hated me. She was currently in front of me struggling to get dressed because the moment she walked into the room, I had pinned her to her vanity and fucked her.


“Stop staring at me,” she mumbled as she pulled on her shoes. “Have you not done enough already?”

“I’m not staring at you, there isn’t much to look at,” I shot back and her cheeks tinged red. She moved towards the door but I stopped her. “I didn’t tell you that you could leave.”


Hot anger fueled her and her face turned a violent shade of red as she whirled on me. “I have done everything that you have asked of me. The least you can do is let me keep whatever shred of dignity that I have left. I don’t know why you even force me to stay here. You cannot stand me as much as I cannot stand you.”

I rose from the bed and I saw her flinch as I got closer. I grabbed her chin in a bruising grip and it was a testament to her resolve that she didn’t try to pull back knowing that it would only spur me to grip harder.

“I think I need to remind you of who you are speaking to,” I drawled and I saw her swallow. “You have no control here and you have no say. If I ask you to sleep in the fucking stables then you will do exactly that and you will do it with a smile on your face, am I clear?”

“Yes,” the words sounded like they were ripped from her throat by force and as she stared at me, her eyes promised violence and death. I didn’t care about her want for revenge because I knew that her fear would always stop her.

“Good,” I shoved her back hard and she slammed into the door behind her with a groan. “While you are still here, there is some information that I need from you. Are you up for talking?”

“Do I have a choice?” she shot back and I pretended to think about it for a second before smiling.

“No, you don’t and it gives me great joy that you’ve realized that,” I walked back over to the bed. “Tell me about your father’s guards and why he made the sudden order to have them changed every few hours.”

“I don’t know.”

I knew she was lying so I reached down for the bond and pulled hard. She fell to the ground and clutched at her chest. I didn’t know what the pain felt like and I didn’t care to know but if it was bad enough that it brought her to her knees then it meant that it was doing its job well. I released the bond and she dragged in a heavy inhale.

“You have one more chance, Brittany and I suggest that you use it well,” I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “Tell me about your father’s guards.”

This time, she didn’t hold back, the words just started spilling from her lips.

KADEN’S P.O.V

I sat up with a gasp. My chest burned and my eyes watered. I had momentarily forgotten that Amelia was in my arms because I had unknowingly pushed her off. The sharp movement had her rousing too and she stared at me in confusion and worry. She reached out to touch me but I held out a hand to stop her. I couldn’t bear any physical contact at that moment.

I pushed myself out of bed and made my way into the bathroom ignoring the way my eyes burned from the sudden light. I splashed some water onto my face hoping it would calm me down as the remnants of my dream lingered in my head. It was a dream, but it didn’t feel like one, it felt more like a memory.

It was hazy and I couldn’t make out much but I could make out soft blond curls and bright pink nails grazing my skin. I didn’t touch the hair but on sight, I knew how they felt. They were ringlets framing a soft heart shaped face but the features were a blur. There was a soft voice as well although I didn’t remember what it sounded like now, it was all hazy. I tried to piece together the missing pieces of the woman in my dream but I couldn’t make it out.

“Is everything okay?” I heard Amelia say from behind me and guilt gathered up in my chest as I realized I had been thinking about another woman with my mate in the room.

“Yeah, it was a nightmare, you can go back to bed,” I couldn’t meet her eyes as I spoke.

There was silence for a second before I heard her footsteps but instead of receding, she came closer to me. She didn’t try to touch me again, but she stood close enough that I could feel her body heat and smell her sweet scent. I finally looked down at her and she looked exhausted but it wasn’t the predominant emotion in her eyes- the worry was.

“Do you want to talk about it? It might help,” she began but I shook my head.

I reached out for her of my own volition and pulled her into my chest. I felt all her worry dissolve as she folded perfectly into my arms. I pressed a kiss to the center of her head and inhaled her scent deeply. She muttered a few incoherent words against my chest.

“I am fine, Amelia, I swear it to you,” I pulled back long enough to stare into her eyes. “Come, let us go back to bed together.”

She obliged this time and within seconds of getting into bed, she was asleep. I waited until her breath had evened out before I picked up my phone and sent a text to Dr. Brown.

Me: I had a dream, blond hair, pink nails and a hazy voice. Am I remembering or is this just a fiction of my imagination?

I knew she wouldn’t be awake to respond so I just put my phone on the dresser. I wasn’t able to fall asleep all night.

As soon as it was an acceptable time in the morning, I left the house to the hospital. It wasn’t until after I left that I realized I hadn’t given Amelia a proper goodbye but I made a mental note to make it up to her. There was so much at stake here that was more than just the two of us. I didn’t know what exactly I was missing in my memory but I couldn’t help but feel like it was very important and it held a lot of answers.

Dr. Brown was with a patient but as soon as she saw me, she dismissed him. Once he was gone, I locked the door behind us to prevent any unwanted listeners and took the seat opposite her.

“Did you get the message?” I asked and she nodded. “Do you think it is working?”

“I guess so, there must be something in the new mixture that counters the effects of whatever it was that your mother gave to you,” she seemed pleased with herself as if she had made a ground breaking discovery. “I would suggest that we pace ourselves with this. We don’t want to bombard you with your memories at once. Perhaps we could reduce the dosage.”

“No,” I cut her off immediately.

Since we started, she had been trying to get me to slow down with the dosage. I figured it was because she was trying to avoid the inevitable- my mother finding out what was happening. She tried to appeal to the fact that the drugs came with fatigue and irritability as a side effect but I didn’t care. I could handle my mood and tiredness, I couldn’t handle the not knowing and each day I didn’t remember what happened, it felt like agony. I wanted to know what was so important that my mother wanted to keep it from me.

“We continue the way we started,” I ordered and she sighed in defeat. “I was wondering whether I should tell Amelia about it. She has been worried about me lately and I don’t want to give her a reason to doubt me.”

“You could but I don’t think it would be the wisest decision,” she began slowly. “Do you really want to inform her that you are having strange dreams about a random woman and you are going through such lengths to remember said woman? There is no way that you would phrase it that would seem acceptable to her. Take it from me- a woman- you are better off keeping it a secret.”

“Are you sure?” I asked and she nodded.

“Just keep your mate happy, Alpha, and leave this part of your life a secret. When you have all the answers then you can lay your cards on the table. It is too early to say anything to anyone. Your memories might not come back completely.”

“They will,” I didn’t doubt it for a second. “Since I’m here now, let us start with today’s session.”