ANDERSI opened my eyes in the morning and stretched my body. I was in a much better condition, fit to resume our journey and I knew Zara was too. I looked around me but there was no sign of her.I came out of the cave but I still did not see her. I knew she must be around. If anything had happened while I slept, Zara would have made me aware. We also had some fruits left with us so there was no need for her to go out looking for food.I followed her scent and it led me back into the cave. I kept going deeper and deeper until I noticed an opening on the other end of the cave. I heard the sounds of water falling and quickly went out through the opening.I was greeted with the sight of an amazing waterfall but much better than that was a perfect sight; an unclad Zara. Having become aware of my presence, she turned and smiled at me before turning her attention back to the water. She looked exquisite as the water trickled down her body and when she turned once again and stared at me, I
ZARAI turned when I heard my name and realized that more werewolves had arrived. I recognized a few of them from the last time I came to the waterfall with Brandon. The werewolf who called my name stared at me in surprise and asked again, "Zara, right?" I smiled and replied, "Hi, yes, it's me."The werewolf who was about to confirm if Anders was a werewolf as well turned and asked him, "You know her?" The other werewolf said, "Yes, I know her very well. She has been here before. Actually, she came with a different werewolf from her pack. I think his name was Brandon. am I right?" I nodded and said, "Yes, it was." The werewolf smiled and continued speaking to the others, "I learned from him that he is the leader of all the warriors in her pack, and she is the daughter of the alpha.I was really impressed to see the daughter of an alpha being a warrior. That was why I was very friendly and got to know their names." The werewolf who wanted to check Anders finally nodded as he seeme
ANDERSWe arrived at the werewolf pack and I took out some money from our bag. We still had enough since we hadn't spent much of it. Zara and I bought a lot of foodstuffs to carry us for the next two weeks. I bought different fruit seeds, got another bag, and filled it with the foodstuffs we bought. When we were done at the market, we were about to leave when many werewolves who were warriors began to arrive from outside the gate.Zara let go of my hand instantly as we noticed that everyone who was in the market square was gathering in one corner. Zara said, "Let's back up, Anders, and move inside the crowd so no one will notice us." Zara and I began moving deep into the crowd to avoid attention. There were many warriors and they seemed to be very strong.Zara was moving right behind me when I heard a voice say, "Stop right there." I continued moving, but Zara stopped. When she turned, the werewolf who was leading the other werewolves pointed at her. When I turned and saw him, I in
ANDERS"I'm surprised you refused to bring him along with us," I said to Zara. "What do you mean?" She asked. I replied, "I mean, for a moment there, I thought you were going to say to that rogue, 'Alright, come on and be a part of our team'." Zara smiled and said, "Okay, we can continue to run now."So, we began to run again, and this time, we didn't stop until we finally crossed the bridge that led to the East. We had been running for three hours and were both very hungry. Zara stared at me and said, "We are finally here. What do we do?"I sighed, "Those werewolves that you killed earlier, I mean those three sons of the alpha. Their pack might be out for revenge, so they might be searching for us. We still need to be very careful. What I'll advise is that we run along the bushes and avoid the roads." Zara nodded, "Okay but, I need to rest for a little while. I'm tired."I stared at her and became worried, "You seem to be getting tired lately. I mean, I know we're running, but c
BRANDONWe had been traveling for days, but we had yet to get the results we were looking for. After thoroughly searching the North, we finally stumbled upon a scene of dead werewolves with arrows embedded in their bodies. I instantly recognized them as Zara's because each pack had a different head color and a different way its arrows were designed. Now I knew we were headed in the right direction.Since we had almost covered the North, I was worried that Zara wasn't here and we weren't going to find her. But now that I'd seen her arrows, I knew that she wasn't far away. We began to search all around. Finally, we saw a werewolf in the bushes who was recuperating.The moment I saw him, I knew he was stabbed with an arrow. I moved closer to him, but he was so afraid. "Don't worry. I will not harm you," I said to him because I realized he was a rogue. "I just need to know about the werewolf that shot these arrows. Where is she?"He stared at me and asked, "You're a werewolf too?" I sai
ZARAAnders and I finally arrived at the cliff. I looked around the deserted area in surprise. There were many cliffs around here, but the one Anders took me to seemed to be the most dangerous. The cliff was very steep, and when Anders had told me that it was about five hundred meters deep, I didn't really understand until I saw it for myself. I wondered how we were going to survive in this place. I stared at Anders and asked, "Anders, is this the place where you want us to set up our pack?"Anders smiled and replied, "Don't worry, Zara. I told you I had a plan, and I'm going to see it through. Let's do it just as we've agreed" After speaking, Anders picked up some sticks and quickly made a shade for me, asking me to wait. He looked at the cliff and said he wanted to descend it.I stared at him in surprise, "What? Anders, you just confirmed to me that this cliff is about five hundred meters high, and you want to descend it? No, no, no, Anders, it's too dangerous. What if.....""Rel
BRANDONI and the other werewolves waited outside the lycan pack while the lycans went in to search for Zara and Anders. After a while, they came out and said that there was no sign of them. Even after asking, no one agreed to have seen them. It became obvious that they must have left the North and headed to the East. I stared at Avery, who had earlier told me that it didn’t make sense for Zara to have come here, and wished that I had listened to her. Now it was going to take us a few more days to make the journey back to where we came from and follow the bridge to the East. We had been away from our pack for weeks while searching for Zara and Anders, but our search hadn’t been successful. Yes, we knew we were headed in the right direction, but I was hoping I would not have to return empty-handed. I looked at the chain in my hand. This was the very chain I had used around Zara’s neck when she disowned her people, in front of the square and her father. I intended to use this same ch
ZARAAnders and I were about to climb up the cliff when we noticed three rabbits running around. Anders stared at me and asked, "Would you like to have one?" I recalled how we had suffered the last time and said, "No, let's not go through the struggle." But he said, "I can see you want it. Don't worry, I'll get it for you." I knew we weren't leaving the bottom of the cliff anytime soon, so I sat down and waited for Anders as he chased the rabbits around. Eventually, his efforts paid off, and he caught one of them. I smiled at him and said, "Wow, really impressive." "But of course," he replied, "Did you think I was going to let you down?" We began to climb out of the cliff gently until we finally got to the top.Anders killed the rabbit and kept it by the side while we repeated the same process over and over until I was completely exhausted. Anders was also exhausted as well. We searched for a nearby river and washed up before coming back to the shade Anders had built. As it had
ZAANWe stood—all four of us—at the edge of the cliff; Me, Walker, Zander, and Rey. The past month had been rough initially, but it turned out to be eventful. At first, breathing the same air as Rey seemed impossible, given her ill intentions toward us from the start. However, witnessing her genuine efforts to please everyone and seeing the happiness she brought to my brother, I decided to let go of my resentment and be free.However, that did not mean I would turn my back on her. I remained wary, just as I would be with any untrustworthy person. My mom had also become more accommodating. She occasionally smiled at Rey and engaged in conversations, but I knew her watchful eyes never left her. Rey was aware of it too. The pack had come to accept that she was likely to be the next Luna. She was my brother's love, and thanks to her, he had become more lively, socializing more and spending less time sleeping.Carter had also changed since his fight with Walker. Realizing he was no matc
ZANDERSeeing Rey so injured and bleeding, broke my heart completely. I didn't know who was attacking us or why, but something occurred to me. Perhaps these were enemies who had been lying in wait for me.Over the years, a few had actually attempted to come against us, but they always waited along the roads. So either these were sent by someone who knew that I was leaving, or they had been keeping watch over us.It was an attack, and the fact that they were using arrows meant they were werewolves. As I stared at Rey, I was upset that they did not mind that she was one of their own. Perhaps they saw her as a worthy sacrifice for a great cause, but I wasn't one to let go so easily.I came out of hiding as more arrows were shot at me. I jumped, and all the arrows passed below me. Afterward, I began to crawl on the ground.Seeing I had gotten close, the men who were earlier shooting; who were now close to me but could not see me because I was concealed by the bushes, turned around and wan
WALKERI knew that Carter was going to confront Zaan, and I wasn't wrong. It was better he found out the truth. That way, he would back off and know his place.It was funny hearing him talk about how Zaan was his mate when I had just marked her the night before.If not for the promise I made to Zaan, I would have shown off in front of him. He stomped away angrily, and I walked after him. But I kept a little distance between us. I stood somewhere, watching as he confronted Zaan, and I heard the words he said to her. I shook my head, knowing that his words were the rambling of a man who was angry because he had lost. It wasn't my fault. I was just fortunate that he was too stupid to let go of something as precious as Zaan.After he left, I came out of hiding and walked up to Zaan, but I saw that she was unhappy."What is the problem?" I asked.She ignored me and turned to walk away, but I held her hand and pulled her back."Are you upset with me, Zaan?""Why wouldn't I be? I clearly to
CARTEREver since that night, I threatened Walker, I noticed that Zaan had been avoiding me. The following morning, I walked toward the cliff hoping to talk to her, but then I saw Walker. His eyes were gleaming, and his face held so much joy. I felt sick to my stomach. What was he doing here?If anyone was allowed to be there, it was me because I had been in this pack for years. The fact that he kept lingering around Zaan made me so upset. I knew what he wanted, but I was convinced that Zaan would never give him the time of day, not when she had such strong feelings for me. So, I wanted to ignore him. However, something surprised me. Zaan's scent was all over his body. It was so strong, as though she was the one standing in front of me.This could only mean one thing. As I realized what had happened, I rushed toward him, grabbed him by his collar, and pushed him to the ground."Hey, what do you think you're doing?" he asked, getting up. "You know you're lucky fights are not allowed h
ZANDERAfter my mom left, I kept hiding but continued staring at Rey as she conversed with the man whom I believed was her father. The way he treated her, though, and the fact that she did not react to his actions, showed she had a lot of respect for him. I kept clenching my fists in anger.When he finally turned and walked through the gates of the pack, I realized Rey was crying. I came out of hiding and walked toward her, and right at that moment, she turned. When she saw me, I could see the surprise and fear in her eyes. She stood for a while, staring at me in shock.I thought about what my mom had said. The best punishment at this point was to take her life. That was what she deserved, and that was what was expected of me.She remained rooted where she stood and couldn't take another step while tears kept falling from her eyes. But I walked toward her slowly until I was standing a few inches away from her. I stared at her for a while before grabbing her neck with my hand as though
REINAEver since that first night, I spent in Zander's room, something in me changed. I became a different person. Not that I had become a saint overnight, but I had become someone who genuinely loved Zander. Each moment I stared at him, I convinced myself that I would not be able to part from him, much less be the cause of his demise. He was patient, kind, loving, and everything wonderful I never thought I would find in a man. What were the chances that if I successfully destroyed this pack, I would be able to live with myself? No, if I destroyed the pack, how would I be with Zander? And if I destroyed Zander, how would I live?I had fallen head over heels in love with him. I was a hopeless case. There was a way he stared at me sometimes as though he had something to say. Other times, he looked at me with so much love and so much faith. I could not imagine ruining the faith he had in me.I soon became scared. Each time I was outside, I would look around the pack. I would see the ch
ZANDEREver since my mom exposed Rey to me, my life had not been the same. I was constantly thinking about it, wishing and hoping that somewhere there was a mistake. Each time I looked at Rey, her eyes held so much love for me. She spent most of her time by my side, and at night she was always in my room.Sometimes, I was tempted to get upset at her for playing me for a fool and treat her the way I thought she deserved. But I couldn't bring myself to do so. I didn't know why I loved her so much despite knowing her for such a short time. I was restless, and it kept eating at me.There were times when I would make eye contact with my sister when addressing the warriors, with Rey by my side. From the look on Zaan's face, I would know what she was thinking. There were other times too when I made eye contact with my mom, who always had her eyes on Rey. I knew what she was thinking as well.Though my mom had told me not to expose anything to Rey, I kept my eyes on her. Not because I wanted
WALKERFor the first time in my life, I felt as though the universe was within my reach and I could grab it and give myself the life of my dreams. This was all possible because of Zaan. Her confession made me feel on top of the world, although there was turmoil in my heart. It made me believe that this moment was surreal; somehow, it felt like a dream.Zaan had just met me, so her confession that she also loved me was a miracle. Yes, I had come after her with hopes that she would accept my proposal, but hearing her admit everything without holding back, I didn't know how to react. I wanted to be sure that this moment was real. I held her cheeks and said, "Look into my eyes, Zaan, and tell me that you aren't joking. This isn't a plan or a trick, right? Do you truly love me just as you've said?"She smiled, "Will I joke about something as important as this? This is how I feel.""So, for how long have you felt this way?" I asked, still not believing it."Well, ever since I realized th
CARTERI knew what Walker was up to and it scared me. I loved Zaan, more than I could imagine and I hated myself for pushing her away from me. At the time, I had not realized how deep my feelings for her ran. Also, I had been under the impression that Zaan was madly in love with me but did not know how to back down when she needed to.Now I had to compete for her attention. Walker wanted her and as a man, I could tell. I was threatened by the fact that Zaan seemed to have a soft spot for him. This was evident in the way she gave him preferential treatment.I had been searching for her for a while, only to see her coming out from the direction of the unclean river and Walker did the same almost immediately.It was at this point I decided to have a conversation with Walker but he was too arrogant for his own good. I was merely marking my territory but a rookie like him dared to disrespect me. He was about to learn how things really worked around here.I watched him walk away and had a