CHAPTER 19
Vincenzo’s POVI stared into Roberta's crystal eyes as she took in the view of the scene I had prepared for her on the roof of the palace. She looked surprised. It was a simple table setting with heart shaped firefly lamps suspended on the four pillars that surrounded us. I watched her carefully as the reflection of the light made her eyes seem as if they were glowing.“Why are you staring at me like that?”, she said shyly, her eyes meeting mine only briefly before she stared down at the table. She never ceases to amaze me from the day I met her. She had borne two of my children and delivered them in front of me while I held her hand, yet a little eye contact still made her turn pink.“You look beautiful “, I said, reaching out to touch her jaw.She finally found the courage to look up at me. A bright smile was tattooed across her face as her eyes met mine, even thouCHAPTER 20 Charlotte's POV “Welcome to Char-la-la-land”, I sang mockingly as I walked towards Natalie. She had just arrived at the palace with my mole, Edward, and Roberta’s stupid twins. I asked him to bring her to my courtyard as soon as they dropped the twins off in our spare room. “It's a bit of a dump”, she said. She looked around with pretentious disgust in her eyes as she walked towards me. I chuckled as we both embraced each other warmly. Our hug was so tight, you would think our hearts weren't ice cold. “So, what's our next move?”, she asked as soon as we disengaged from the hug. Her eyes studied me closely, suspicions clouding them. I couldn't have her starting to feel like something was fishy. I still needed her to take the fall for me. “Relax. Edward told you the plan, right? We want to lure Roberta here”, I said. She paced around for a few seconds before turning back to me briskly. “How? What if Vincenzo decides to come instead? He won't let he
CHAPTER 21 Roberta's POV “When did you get this?”, Vincenzo said angrily as he stared daggers at the note I handed him. It was the message I had received from the raven in my room. “Right after you left my room”, I whispered. My heart thumped loudly in my rib cage. My children had been kidnapped, and I was helpless to do anything about it. Vincenzo was right. Not the one that stood in front of me, too enraged to even breathe normally. The Vincenzo I saw in my dream. The one who supposedly strangled me to death. He was right to say that I was useless. My children were with an enemy, whose intent was not made known to us. “What if they kill them?”, I said in a hushed tone. I didn't even want to hear myself say it because then, the possibility of it happening would be real to me. “They would never dare”, Vincenzo said, enraged. I sighed and blinked back the tears that pricked my eyes. He was angry at the moment, so he was in no position to be making promises to me. “Do we know w
CHAPTER 22 Manuel's POV I grunted in pain and the sunlight pierced its way through my eyes like it was trying to burn through to my soul. The rhythmic thumping of boots did not do much to soothe the pain that I felt. I closed my eyes to shut out the lethal rays and my vision was immediately clouded by a beautiful familiar face. I watched her green eyes glow as the sunlight passed through them, causing them to come alive with the leaves in the beautiful garden where she stood. Her rich, auburn hair bounced around freely as she twirled happily. I watched her with a wide smile on my face as she raised her hands to me, gesturing me to join her. She continued to laugh and twirl in her magical world which I was sure I did not deserve. I had always been a selfish person, so I grabbed her hand. Her sweet laughter rang in my ears as we both spun around, touching flowers here and there. She stared at me, her eyes promising a freedom that I could not even begin to fathom.
CHAPTER 23 Roberta's POV It had been a little more than a week after my children with Vincenzo were officially pronounced dead by their own father. Members of the pack flocked in relentlessly to express their sympathy and offer comforting words. I hated it. I felt like I was being robbed of the only thing I really wanted; to grieve my babies on my own and cry my eyes out for them. Instead, I had to get up every day to countless women in my room. They always dolled me up in the saddest make-up, presenting me as the perfect image of a mourning Luna. I sometimes had to smile at the guests, even when smiling was the last thing I wanted to be doing. I would sit on their big, gothic chair and accept gifts and condolences. I hated having to go out there. The condolences were from people I didn't even know. Except if anyone was going to walk into the courtyard with both of my children, there was nothing those people could offer that was useful to me. The worst part of
CHAPTER 24 Roberta's POV I breathed steadily as my fingers traced imaginary lines on Vincenzo’s shirt. My eyes were only slightly open as I stared at the space in front of me. My head rose and fell at a steady pace because of the movement of his chest as he breathed in and out. His hand roamed through my hair softly. The silence between us seemed comfortable, yet it ate at me from the inside out. I wanted us to talk about the death of our children, but instead, we sat there, staring into space. I was in Vincenzo’s arms and his company, but I was still utterly alone with my thoughts and with my grief. “Can we talk?”, I asked croakily. He stayed quiet for a while, his hands still paying much attention to the strands of my hair that he played with. I heard him heave a sigh before his body began to prop upwards. I raised my weight off him, looking at his face as he sat upright. “What would we say?”, he asked blankly. “I don't know, but I don't want to feel like I'm losing yo
Chapter 25I whimpered as soon as he mentioned that my children were kidnapped by someone. I could understand the rivalry between Alpha and packs, but kidnapping infants and separating them from their mothers for so long just seemed cruel.Whoever had taken my babies, they were either the devil, or they were sleeping with him.“They? Who is they? Who is holding my children?”, I cried out.The man shook his head vigorously and groaned in pain as Vincenzo dug his boots deeper into his chest.“You heard her. Who the fuck sent you?”, he thundered. “I can't tell you. Please, you have to understand. They will kill me”, he said shakily.“And you think that I will not?”, Vincenzo scoffed.The man breathed quietly for a while. He was probably weighing his chances of surviving if he didn't tell us who sent him.I watched his eyes drop in resignation as if he had just realized that no matter what he did, he was doomed.At least he stood a chance at escaping whoever sent him, but not Vincenzo.
CHAPTER 26Vincenzo’s POV I walked stealthily into Roberta's room and quietly closed the door behind me.Everywhere was pitch black, except for the pale moonlight that crept in through the few spaces between the curtains.I walked closer to her bed where she lay asleep peacefully. I stared at her face as she took slow, peaceful breaths.A smile grew across my face.It made me feel like a weird stalker to watch her like that while she slept, but I missed her.It was good to be able to stand in her presence again, to be intoxicated with her smell.I noticed her begin to shift with discomfort as I approached her bedside. She must have sensed me walking to her.I paused in my tracks and observed her, waiting for her to relax.Instead of calming down, she began to move more vigorously. I immediately realised that I wasn't the problem. She was having a nightmare.“Lucia”, she muttered. Her voice came out sounding extremely troubled.I stepped closer to her and watched as her expression gre
CHAPTER 27Roberta's POV “Roberta, wake up.”I slowly blinked my eyes open to see Vincenzo hovering over me.His bulky body stood between me and the dim sunlight that was coming from my window, which I noticed was open.The light rays bounced around the edges of his body, giving him a glowing effect as his hands caressed my cheeks to wake me up.“I'm awake”, I groaned tiredly.He smiled and reached down to kiss my lips but I turned my head to the side immediately. I didn't mean to. It was just a quick reaction.He raised his eyebrows at me in confusion. “I just woke up”, I said, blinking at him.“And?”, he retorted.I rolled my eyes and raised my upper body, causing our lips to jam against each other.He smirked against my lips as he kissed me passionately, his tongue sweeping against every corner of my mouth.“We need to get ready”, I muttered lowly. He groaned inside my mouth before finally letting go of my lips.“Fine”, he sighed in defeat.I stood up and walked away from the be
CHAPTER 105Tyler's POV I tried to be as quiet as possible as I walked into the hallway that supposedly led to Charlotte's room.I adjusted my pace and marched slowly every time I came across a group of soldiers who were also marching around at a slow pace.I had managed to beat up a soldier and had taken his uniform as a disguise. My problem was with getting into Charlotte's room, since she was Luna and it was practically out of bounds for anyone to be in her room uninvited.I could still recall the conversation that I had held with Hazel the day before, after I outed her as Charlotte's sat.“Now you're going to tell me, is Roberta still alive?”, I asked and looked at her. Her eyes dashed up at me swiftly before darting away like I was a plague they needed to avoid.I felt my heart rate slow down as she nodded her head gently.“Yes, she is”, she said lowly, avoiding my eyes still.I sighed wearily and stepped away from her again. I stared at her with my eyes bare, letting so many of
CHAPTER 104Tyler’s POV I walked confidently into Vincenzo’s room as soon as I heard his voice inside announcing that it was okay for me to enter.As I walked in, I noticed that he was just sitting up on his bed, staring into space. His countenance made it seem like the reality of a new day has yet to dawn on him.As I walked in, his eyes followed me lazily from the door until I gently took my seat on one of the sofas in his room. As soon as I seemed to have settled down, Vincenzo looked away from me and back into the endless abyss that he had been staring into before I interfered.“You don't look so well dude”, I joked, trying to lighten the mood. He completely ignored my efforts as he continued to stare into space with no sign of a thought forming in his head.I sighed and nodded as I turned my face away from his own. As I gently dropped my head in embarrassment, I heard him let out a long, heavy sigh beside me.“Look, Tyler, I'm sorry for acting like a dick. I am not mad at you,
CHAPTER 103Charlotte's POV The crowd remained engulfed in total silence as Stefan's body fell limply to the ground.Declan let out a very loud, eerie yet victorious roar as he looked around the arena where the people sat.He flexed his muscles and yelled non stop, trying to rob his victory into the faces of all those who hoped against it. There was no stunt he did not pull to celebrate the fact that he had beheaded a person with his bare hands, and that he had also managed to put an end to the entire family line.I watched him with irritation on my face as he moved around endlessly. Before Declan even became the Alpha King, he had already begun to clear out entire family trees.I was certain that if he continued to rule steadily for about ten years without having a change of heart, he would singlehandedly orchestrate the end of the werewolf species.Just as the referee was about to walk to the centre and announce that Declan had won the duel, to everyone's excitement, Declan lost hi
CHAPTER 102Charlotte's POV The training arena was packed to its limit with citizens of the colony.They filled the seats and even more, waiting to watch in hopes that their vicious Alpha King gets beaten to death by a vengeful simpleton.I, like them, wanted to be ambitious enough to hope for that, but I knew that it was practically impossible. The duel, like everything else that involved Declan, was just a dumb display.If I was going to get Declan to fall to his knees in defeat, I was going to have to take matters into my own hands, both literally and figuratively. As I stared into space, the crowd suddenly began to roar wildly with women screaming and children jumping and pointing at the centre of the arena.There stood Stefan. He was not exactly the perfect hero. His muscles were severely underdeveloped. He was not lacking in height, but his bowed legs made it easy to tackle him to the ground, and he was definitely lacking in confidence too.However, he had the right motive, he
CHAPTER 101Tyler's POV I sighed and dropped my head on the pile of books open in front of me. I had spent a good portion of my day in the library, studying through all the books on mate bonds.I was looking to find any phenomenon where the mate bond still lasts after one mate had died, but I found none.As I felt the coarse brown paper on my face, I worked up the courage to accept what I already knew a while ago.Roberta was still alive, and Vincenzo had still been feeling her bond. I had a little skepticism about it because according to him, the feeling was shaky. Sometimes he could feel her, and other times he could not.However, in one of the books, I saw that werewolf mates going through some kind of emotional trauma could subconsciously lessen their bond with their partner.I believed that to be true because from my conversations with Darla, she sometimes could not feel anything for her mate, even though she was already marked.I sighed sadly and closed my eyes as Darla's pictu
CHAPTER 100Declan’s POV “I don't appreciate being summoned”, Charlotte called out to me as she walked noisily into my meeting room at the training arena. As I heard the obnoxious clicking of her shoes against the tiles from a mile away, I wondered how she managed to stay as crafty as she was when her shoes kept making all that noise. Her enemies had to hear her coming from a million miles away.“I'm the Alpha King. I can do whatever I want”, I smirked as she closed the door behind her.For the first time since I ascended to my new position, I was truly alone in a room with another person.I watched her glare at me while she walked all the way around the table to stand beside me at its end.“I think we both know now that that is not true”, she said with a hint of satisfaction in her tone.She looked at me with a coy look on her face. Her countenance itself was boastful.
CHAPTER 99I walked around Hazel, making sure that she did not tremble at my presence. I only wanted to prove to myself that whatever she was saying to me was genuine.“Good, good. He has to kill Elijah, you know. If he doesn't, then this was all for nothing and we will all die if Elijah gets back. You know that, right?”, I said, walking towards my closet.“Of course, Luna. We're not going to mess it up”, she said after me.I smiled slightly and nodded.I turned around and noticed that she was still in the bedroom. She had not followed me into the closet.“Come on in here”, I called out to her.She did not respond, but immediately the words left my mouth, I could hear her walking towards the closet gently.She reached the door and just stood there quietly, looking at me.I carefully took off the robe that I wore, leaving my bare, naked body out for her to see. I sighed as
CHAPTER 98Charlotte's POV I yawned and stretched lightly on the bed as I could feel the last surviving bit of sleep vanish from my eyes.I stretched tiredly on the bed, I felt my hand press against a hard body. I startled awake and opened my eyes to see Elijah smirking down at me. I gasped lightly at the proximity between our faces, but then relaxed when my mind began to take note of my environment.“Elijah”, I called wearily, fluttering my eyelashes at him. He moved closer and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I stayed still, enduring the way his horrible morning breath grazed across my nostrils.“How was your sleep?”, he asked sweetly, brushing my hair away from my face gently with the tips of his fingers.I nodded lightly, pursing my lips as I stared at his face.His fingers trailed down to my cheeks and without warning, he pressed them painfully, causing me to wince in pai
CHAPTER 97I looked on curiously at the man in front of me as he returned my gaze with a great vendetta brewing in his eyes.I was used to getting hateful glances. Everyone I came across usually had one to spare before they moved to kiss my ass. However, he looked at me differently. He stared at me like I had wronged him in the deepest, darkest parts of his soul.“Do I know you from somewhere?”, I asked, tilting my head at him and squinting my eyes, trying to find out if I had ever seen his face before and where.He looked even further annoyed by my question as he clenched his hands into fists beside himself and gritted his teeth, while obviously seething.“You don't even know who I am”, he scoffed, looking back at the crowd of followers beside him.Even though they felt slightly empowered by his display of strength and bravery, the people behind him were too afraid to even shake their heads in his support.I chuckled lightly as I looked at him. I sat upright once again, studying his