~ Adeline ~

Four days are finally over. I watch Valerie walk down the aisle in her beautiful white dress to my ex mate, Corey. This time, more than heartbreak, I feel something else–coldness. While he happily marks her, I am being taken to the airport, and it isn't before long until I arrive in the country of Love, France. They say this country is full of so much love that everyone feels it, but all I feel as I breathe in the air is the sense of impending suffering. My freedom will be at stake, and my brightness will dim. That's if I even get to see another day with the Blackmoor brothers.

The bodyguards don't come to pick me up from the airport like I normally read in books. Instead, a pale looking maid rushes over.

“Miss Morris, I've been asked to pick you up,” she states, and I look behind her to see if she was alone, and indeed she was. As expected, I wasn't someone of importance. Not here, and not even back in Seattle.

I offer her a polite smile before following her to the black Mitsubishi that has been parked, waiting for us. It looks cheap, and I can't believe people as formidable as the exiled brothers would own something so cheap. But I don't mind though, I get in with my luggage, and soon the city is passing like a blur in my eyes.

It didn't take longer before we drove into a huge mansion. It is ten times bigger than the Morris family mansion will ever be. I feel my heart drum against my chest, and I try to calm it.

When I step out of the car, the maid doesn't offer to carry my luggage inside, so I do it myself. As I take two steps forward, I collide with something hard, making me wince. And when I look up, I freeze.

The person in front of me looks familiar. His long nose, thin lips, and piercing blue eyes were just like I remembered. Four days ago, I met him in Seattle. He is the same man who drove me to the hospital, but what is he doing here?

I want to ask, but one look from him renders me speechless.

Just as I am about to speak, another man rushes over. He looks just like this man in front of me, but the only difference is that he has a grin on his face.

“Is she here yet?” His voice rings out, and I can feel a headache coming on. Are these the exiled brothers?

My question is answered immediately when the last man wheels himself out. His gaze is cold, and unlike the remaining two men, he looks different. He has jet-black hair instead of blonde, and his eyes are mismatched—One was pale blue like the sky, and the other was gold. I am instantly captivated.

*You can't deny that they look good,* my wolf says in my head. I have almost forgotten that she exists. For the past four days she has not muttered a word until now.

“Took you long enough to get here,” The man says, and I flinch before turning rigid. I could now tell them apart from the stories I have heard before. The man who saved me back in Seattle is called Ronan, the brutal enforcer. The second man is Uriel, the strategist, and the man in the wheelchair is Cassian, the silent predator.

“You think this was my fate?” I scoff. I know I shouldn't be hot headed right now, but I can't help it. I can't be pitiful in front of them.

“My father arranged it, yes. But fate didn’t choose you, I did,” I say, with a boldness I don't understand, yet only myself knew how nervous I was.

“If I’m going to be possessed, it will be because I gave myself willingly.” I say, thinking about every incident that has occurred in the past years as well as the last four days. I look into each of their eyes. I'm a terrible liar. In truth I have no choice but to do what my father wishes or I'll be exiled. I didn't come here willingly at all, and I know they can sense my lie, because Ronan's lips curl up amusingly in the next second. He was mocking me, I knew it.

Ronan grabs me first—rough and firm like he has been starving. The once easy going Uriel curls his arm around my waist as Ronan leans into my ear while Cassian watches in his wheelchair. My breath hitches.

“You're ours now, Little mouse. Willingly or Unwillingly”