That night I hardly slept. I couldn't stop thinking about the ring and the letter and how it got to the doorstep.

Leo was right next to me and had promised not to fall asleep until I did. But I felt terrible keeping him up, especially as he was so busy with being Alpha at the moment, so I had closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep until I heard his gentle sleeping breaths.

Lying wide awake in bed was beginning to drive me mad so I got up and wandered down the moonlit hall. It was a clear starry night and I stopped by one of the long windows. The forest was perfectly still and peaceful but I couldn't bring myself to look for long before I shivered and had to shift my eye away. There was something unsettling about the darkness that the branches created.

My throat was dry and I was craving a glass of icy water so I went downstairs.

As I stepped across the threshold into the kitchen, I felt my stomach sink. There was a scent and I knew it immediately. Too afraid to even switch on the light, I stood silently, praying that at some point I had fallen asleep and this was just another nightmare.

But then somebody else switched on the light and everything was nothing but real.

"Don't scream," his accented voice said. "Not unless you want Pablo here to shoot your little kids."

By the light switch was a burly man with a gun poised in his hand. His face was stony and harsh but I stared straight at him, unable to turn to face the other man in the kitchen.

I heard his footsteps step around the table and slowly up to me until he rested his fingers under my chin and lifted my head so I had no choice but to look into his eyes.

"It's good to see you again, Blanca," he said.

He wore the same black suit as always with the same pristine white shirt. His hair was as combed back in the same way it usually was and his eyes as menacing as ever.

He lifted up my hand and inspected it.

"I'm disappointed to see you're not wearing my ring," he said.

"How did you get here?" I asked pulling my hand out of his.

"Your Alpha has control over the borders, the airport, the docks.copy right hot novel pub