We had to wait two days. Two whole days when I pretended to be okay while freaking out inside. Two entire days with Koa stuck in the dungeons with no one knowing how he was surviving. I could not see him or write to him. He was completely cut off from the world. Two days of me dying inside slowly.Thanks to Randal and my father, things did not drag on for more than two days. Left to the monarchy, those two days could have been two weeks or two months. The Luna Queen would have prepared to drag things out to agitate people and then go through biased sentencing and claim it was to satisfy the public.Well, the day came and I, like everyone else, trooped to the square where the trial would take place. I went with an entourage of warriors so it was not difficult for me to make my way to the front.Before long, Koa was dragged in. Even if I were not looking, I would know the exact moment he was brought forward. Perhaps because my wolf perked up or the screams and cheers that resounded with
“Alpha Raven,” my father confronted Cassius head-on. “Why should we listen to the so-called historian you have brought here when even the witnesses you brought are fake?”Cassius’ gaze burned with so much hatred as he stared at my father that my heart picked up speed again. It was the same look I saw in his eyes before he pulled his sword in my past life and cut off my father’s head. He was no fool. After bringing false witnesses in the presence of not only the Alpha King but a score of people, he would be the biggest idiot to pull a move like that on my father.“This – This must be Alpha Adelard’s doing,” Cassius did not back down. “These women have deceived me and I suspect someone must have sent them my way to derail the investigation but today, no matter what, justice must be served.” His tone and expression were hard.I chewed on my nails which were now nothing short of being unsightly. Cassius would not back down. I wanted to rest assured that Koa’s confidence was not unfounded
“Do you want to go on a run with me?” Koa, who had just gained access outside after several days, could not think of anything better to do right now but to go on a run.With Randal standing there after having run all the way here to see him, the only thing he could think of was going on a run.“Oh, um,” Randal took a step back, “I will see you another time, brother. Have fun.” He excused himself but I could not miss his droopy shoulders.“You could be nicer to him,” I said as I watched Randal’s disappointed back leave the room. “He went through so much to help you out.” I remembered his bleeding hands.“Shall we not talk about him?” He raked a hand through his dishevelled hair. “His existence alone has cost me a lot so am I not even allowed to resent him?”“It is not my place to say but he - he does care for you.”“Shall we go on that run or not?”He must have been stifled being locked up for so many days. Although he acted nonchalant about it, I knew him enough to know that he was bu
“Alpha Raven has declared war on his pack. He wants to keep the reins of power forever despite how bad of an Alpha he has been.”The next day, gossip flooded Deimos. Not only did the people in Blood Crescent talk about Cassius, but even those who were only familiar with his name cursed at him.‘What kind of Alpha puts himself before his pack?’“‘All along, he merely rode off the achievements of the Adelard. Without them, he ended up running the pack to the ground.’‘It is their fault for interfering with Blood Crescent. They made such a disaster the Alpha of Blood Crescent.’My father and I had a share of the insults. A lot of people had a lot of things to say about Cassius and me.“Misssss!” There was a shrill cry from the hallway before Hannah barged into my room and threw herself at me before I had time to react.“How many times do I have to warn you about keeping your manners?” Sylvia came running in after her. “Miss, I apologize for her rude behaviour.” She pulled Hannah off of m
KOA’S POV“Alpha Koa,” Alpha Kendry came to see me.He was the first Alpha who had openly come to see me since I silently started building my support. He was someone whose daughter I had saved from a bandit. She was not in that much danger but he treasured his daughter and thus regarded me as the savior of his jewel.“You must have shed your worries.” I welcomed him to my palace with a smile.He had come at the wrong time but Persephone would not leave me be if she learnt I had blown a potential alliance because I wanted to be alone with her.“Oh, I did not know you had guests,” Alpha Kendrick’s gaze widened when he saw Persephone sitting with her back straight and a cup of lukewarm tea in her hand. Did he notice that her cheeks were flushed and her dress a little rumpled?“Alpha Kendry.” She put down the cup she had been pretending to drink from as she rose with a tight smile. “Koa told me about you but I had thought you were too afraid to publicly hold hands with him”“Ahem.” He cl
CASSIUS’ POV“We should stop seeing each other,” I told the woman dressed to the nines despite having told her we were only going to a small coffee shop.“Why?” Her eyes immediately watered. “Do you not like me anymore?”It was not that I did not like her anymore but that I had never liked her. She was a vain woman who only knew how to talk being herself and what was even worse was that she had nothing of her own to brag about so every time I was in her presence, she was either talking about her father’s achievements or the Luna Queen. It was like hanging around a bug that could talk. Rather than being fascinated by the bug, I was annoyed at how much useless information about the bug family I always got.“Is this because of Persephone Adelard?” Whatever I had wanted to say died in my throat. “I know you have been meeting up with her in secret. Did she badmouth me? Did she tell you to break up with me?”Why? Why did that name come out of her mouth? Why did she only ever mention names t
I knew Koa would take things a step too far when I told him everything. Despite telling him I wanted to handle Cassius on my own, even though he nodded, the expression on his face let me know he was not being sincere.I did it. I told someone about my past life. It was a burden I did not know I had been carrying until I shed it. Now, I felt lighter in places that had been strung tight since I opened my eyes a week before my engagement to Cassius. I told Koa everything, even the embarrassing details of playing games with April and my final death. I told him everything and he did not laugh at me. He did not call me insane or doubt me. He believed everything I said like it was normal for people to turn back the hand of the clock.Now he knew why I hated Cassius and why he could never do anything right in my sight. He knew that Cassius had plunged a silver blade into my chest and less than twenty-four hours after I told him all this, Cassius stepped down as the Alpha of Blood Crescent pac
As expected, Elder Raphael did not waste any time but how did Lucas who just came into Blood Crescent manage to snag the position of Beta and why did my father think it was necessary to tell me this?“Is that a problem?” I asked him. “I had planned to ask the new Alpha to let us go. It would be best for us to go back to being the Adelard pack and not having to worry about an asshole of an Alpha.”“You are to be the Luna Queen and I am old and do not want to be burdened with more responsibilities or have you forgotten I was almost retired in the first place? What would happen to the rest of the pack upon my death?” He shook his head to show his disagreement. “I am not a man that can be messed with with ease so I do not mind remaining in Blood Crescent. After all, being an Alpha would be nothing but more work for me.”“Just – but…” In my mind, my father must have hated Blood Crescent and would be elated to leave. He just did not have the time to put in the work to get us out of the pack
The day had come. The day I had been looking forward to since I admitted my feelings for Koa. The day of my Mating Ceremony. My friends were gathered around me and we talked and laughed, gossiping amongst ourselves before the start of the ceremony.“Here.” Luna Evenly handed me a box. “I was going to give this to my daughter but I ended up with a useless son. Since I am on the verge of death, I would like to see it on display once before I die.”“Are you giving this to me?” I asked as I looked at the sparkling diamond necklace that had been finely polished and screamed of opulence.Its design was old, the intricate patterns on it something that the jewellers in our time would find difficult to recreate.“Why are you giving this to me? Your son has a mate.” I felt uncomfortable receiving something so precious.“His mate is not much better than he is,” she answered with a derisive scoff. “It is customary to receive things like this on the day of your mating. You have no mother to hand ov
You cannot run away from what is coming to you. Especially if Koa Deimos is the person delivering your retribution.I felt a shiver run down my spine as I watched his cruel smile while the enforcers in the hall sprung into action. The Luna Queen had her hands behind her in a matter of seconds while her mate swayed on his feet trying to stop the enforcers from dragging her away.“Leave her be!” He was shouting but the only bit of respect he could command had been stripped away from him now that he was no longer the Alpha King. He was merely a middle-aged man standing in the way of justice and it must have been the last bit of respect the enforcers had for him that stopped them from shoving him out of the way when he tried to obstruct their work.“Koa Deimos, how could you?” The past Alpha King was shouting.Everyone in the hall witnessed the fall of the haughty Luna Queen who made life hell for many.**After the official ceremony, there was a procession. Dazzling white horses pulled an
Rumours were a wonderful thing. They could create a monster that did not exist. I learnt this and used it to my advantage. Thanks to Hannah, Sylvia, Sonia and Hannah’s boy – friend who is a boy – who I never met, I was able to create monsters when I needed them. I was also able to stir the direction of the public as I liked. Thanks to the amazing people around me, I achieved everything I wanted. If there was one thing I learnt in the past, it was the power of people. Having people in my corner helped me.“As always, you are gorgeous.” Emma Rose took a step back as she admired the fitting of her latest masterpiece. “You make my designs shine, Miss Adelard. I am more than grateful that you made your father bully me into working on your engagement – eh –“ Sylvia gave her a pointed look that made her trail off.“You can mention my last engagement,” I said. “We broke up and he died. There is nothing to keep hushed up. I’m unlikely to feel anything if you suddenly bring it up so there is no
Even though I knew what the outcome would be, I was still pleasantly surprised to hear that Koa was officially the Alpha Prince of Deimos. He finally received the title his father had delayed giving him and I was one step closer to my ultimate goal.From the beginning, I promised to make him king and I promised myself that the people who served him would not die as they did in the past and make him lose all semblance of sanity. Now that he was the crown prince, there was little stopping him from finally ascending the throne as soon as the Alpha King stepped aside or lost his life. The throne could only ever go to him now.Satisfied, I got dressed and set out to see him. During the long journey to the palace, I went over the next steps. Would it be ideal to announce our relationship at his coronation as Alpha Prince? Would it be okay to hold a mating ceremony after? Now that the Luna Queen could not do much to discredit Koa and stop him from getting to the throne, she was much less of
KOA’S POV “We cannot give the Luna Queen time to act,” Persephone was saying.As usual, once I returned, she was back to scheming mode. I missed this woman so much, I was just happy to be in her presence. Since I touched her, I had been cursed to crave her and the months we spent apart, I had almost gone insane from the way I missed her. There was very little to hold onto as I thought of her constantly and wondered if something had happened to her or if she had found someone else. Now that we were together, even if all she was talking about was something else, I was content.She looked less burdened now. Even with the fatigue on her face, she moved with a carelessness that I had never known her to move with. Was it because Cassius Raven was out of the picture? Did he have such a great influence in her life? He must have. He had, after all, killed her in their previous life so she must have lived every day cautious of him. I could not explain how awful I felt coming to this realizati
“Fancy seeing you here, Alpha Cassius.”He was as wretched as I imagined. When I thought of my final retribution against Cassius, he was always like this, chained to the ground with dirty clothes and eyes that begged for mercy. There was not much life in his eyes when he raised his head. It was not the apologetic eyes I had imagined but this one was better. The look of resignation filled me with joy. “Perse,” he called my name with a choked emotion. “I am sorry you have to see me like this.”“Why? I am excited to see you like this. I love seeing you like this.”He was nothing but bones hanging inside clothes that were dirty and smelly. That beautiful face that had all the women falling at his face was gaunt and sickly. It had been months since he was captured, months where he tried to escape multiple times but failed; enough time for him to have suffered mental torture and repented of his sins. When I thought of how I spent seven days locked up by this man, I felt that this punishme
In the banquet hall which the Alpha King had prepared to welcome the warriors, Randal dropped a bombshell that ricocheted throughout the hall. He would not be the first prince to give up his title especially when there were other princes and he wanted to avoid a battle of succession but no one expected him to do this, especially not his mother.“Haha, the prince is tired,” the Luna Queen shouted over him. “Where are the servants? Come and help him settle in.”“Your Majesty, we are still in the middle of the welcoming ceremony,” Randal spoke to his mother with steel in his tone. Really, where did the Randal I knew go to? This one was too cold, too detached to be the same man that left just a couple of months ago. “Please, maintain decorum.”“Boy, you better get your wits about you.” The Luna Queen lost all semblance of falsities. “You were born a prince and you must take your duties seriously. How can you even think of throwing them away?”“I have an obligation to Deimos that is why I
“What do you mean I never wrote to you!?” Things got heated between us in no time. “I wrote to you every week. There were nights when I could not sleep, not because I was physically injured but because of the silence from your end. Even when you were not responding and my wolf was too embarrassed to keep sending letters into a void, I still wrote to you. You are the one who never responded!”“You never wrote to me. Even when you did not write to me, I wrote to you but you never responded. I had to stop when it became clear that you abandoned me!” I shouted at him. “I thought you had found a belle in Black Wolves and could no longer be bothered with me!”There were even days when I feared he had found his mate in the Black Wolves pack and he did not know how to break the news to me. There were also days I thought he had been using me and that he had found no more uses for me. I thought all kinds of things, mourned his death when there was no news of him for a while and celebrated when
“You are all set.” Sylvia took a step back to admire the work she had done on me.I looked into the mirror and the woman in front of me was objectively beautiful but I could not bring myself to care much. I could not bring myself to care about a lot of things. My mind was reeling and although the kingdom was jubilating, I felt hollow inside. The rebel leader of the Black Wolves pack had met his end, the rest were being rounded up as fast as possible. Everyone was celebrating the victories and anticipating when the Alpha King’s troops would return.“You are going to dazzle today as always!” The girls surrounding me who helped put me in this fancy dress beamed at me.The atmosphere everywhere in the kingdom was bright. The mood was refreshing. Everyone laughed at things that did not even deserve to be smiled about like they were compensating for the days we were too scared to laugh.“Right. I think this will sell out soon, also.” Dead inside but alive outside, I was still the biggest mo