Beneath Our Scars – N Slater

I shift the lunch bag higher in my arms, careful not to crush the sandwiches inside, and keep Rosalie close with one hand on the back of her sweater. Blake didn’t answer Grayson’s last two messages, which means he’s either in a meeting, working through one, or ignoring his body with the intense focus he usually reserves for system failures. Grayson packed food anyway, sealed everything in neat containers, and looked at me over the kitchen island with the kind of patience that meant he expected me to succeed where texts had failed.

Samuel walks a few steps ahead of us with his hands folded behind his back because I told him three separate times not to touch the keypad near the development wing. James stays beside me, his notebook tucked under one arm, his gaze moving over the vents and ceiling panels with quiet concentration.

He’s been watching hands more lately, not faces. I don’t think he knows he’s doing it. I do. Rosalie holds her crown against her chest instead of wearing it, and every few steps she looks toward the conference room doors as if Luther might appear by force of wanting him enough.

I almost turn around before we reach the end of the hall. The impulse comes without warning, sharp and bodily. My feet slow. My fingers tighten around the paper handles of the bag, and the warm weight of Blake’s lunch presses against my ribs. There’s no obvious danger. No raised voices. No scent strong enough to explain the cold prickle under my skin. The hallway’s bright, the carpet clean, the office quiet behind glass walls, and the children are calm enough that leaving now would feel like teaching them fear before anything’s happened.

So I keep walking. “Papa,” Samuel says, his voice lower than usual, “when we get to Blake’s office, can I knock first?” “Yes. Softly.” “Softly like with sleeping people or softly like with angry people?” James looks up before I can answer, his shoulder brushing mine. “Those aren’t the same kind of soft.” “No,” I say, and I try to make my voice steady enough to hold both of them.

“Today we use the kind of soft that lets people know we’re here without startling them.” Rosalie makes a small sound and tucks herself closer to my side. I look down at her just as the conference room door opens. Dorian Vale steps into the hall with a tablet in one hand and his suit jacket folded over the other arm.

Victor’s behind him, speaking to someone still inside, his attention already moving past us the way powerful men often look past rooms they assume belong to them. Dorian stops when he sees me.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Without limiting, the author’s and publisher’s exclusive rights, any unauthorized use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited.

This book has only been authorized to be published in full on Amazon in paperback and Kindle by N. Slater or their publishing company, Slateresque Infinities. Should this be found in its entirety on any other site in any other form (other than amazon.com or welcometothemadness.com), it is a pirated copy. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, events, businesses, or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

1kitap1.com/en Contents Author’s Note 1. Luther 2. Blake 3. Luca 4. Maceo 5. Grayson 6. Luther 7. Blake 8. Blake 9. Luca 10. Luther 11. Maceo 12. Luca 13. Blake 14. Luther 15. Blake 16. Blake 17. Luca 18. Dorian 19. Grayson 20. Luther 21. Blake 22. Luca 23. Luca 24. Grayson 25. Blake 26. Luther One Last Ride 1kitap1.com/en Author’s Note Beneath Our Scars is the first installment in the second part of the Always Yours arc (Book 4 – The Later Years) which means this book starts the next part of Luca & Blake’s journey.

Please note that this book includes many of the same content and trigger warnings from the first arc (Books 1-3) with a few additional ones. Also to note that their three kids are a huge part of the story and will be through book 5. mpreg references, pregnancy/family-planning discussions, breastfeeding/lactation references, health scares, cardiac-related medical emergencies and scares, lack of self-worth, survivor trauma, unwanted advances, coercion, gaslighting and manipulation outside of the pack, corporate exploitation, threats involving children and family privacy (no harm comes to any of the children either physically or mentally), use of survivor stories without consent, references to Omega trafficking, violence, assault, attempted kidnapping, and discussions of sanctuary/safe-house trauma.

~ This Omegaverse follows all the general rules of heats and knots, the hierarchy of Alphas, Betas, and Omegas while allowing each person autonomy regardless of their designation. Unless they’re mated. Mated Omegas have fewer rights than unmated ones, cursed to submit to their packmates according to the law. Certain laws have been set in place that give Omegas, both mated and unmated, a voice; however, it requires that Omega to speak publicly in a court of law or to law enforcement.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: f5779afa1fce1975
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,477,609 bytes (2.363 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 268
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 456.44 minutes
• Total Words: 91,288
• Total Characters: 512,501
• Average Words per Page: 340.63
• Average Characters per Page: 1912.32

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