CHAPTER 39
Vincenzo's POVI sat on the bed as soon as Manuel's knocks woke me up from another one of my nightmares where Roberta died right in front of me with both of our children."Vincenzo, you need to come out now, please", he said, hitting the door steadily.I turned away from the door and stared at the window. Heavy drapes hung lazily across the pole on the wall, making it impossible for any light to get in or out of the room.I had closed the curtains in hopes to trap whatever remained of Roberta's scent in the room. I didn't even know what the time was, or if it was morning or evening."Vincenzo, I saw a council member's spy today. They are definitely plotting something”, Manuel said.His voice had been muffled by the heavy door and the thick wall that surrounded the room.I could, however, hear what he said clearly.I slowly got off the bed and walked toCHAPTER 40Vincenzo’s POV “What are we going to do?”, Natalie asked.After she brought the news of the council's visit to see me and pay condolences, we knew we needed to have a game plan if we were to keep the peace and order in the colony.Manuel paced up and down restlessly. He stared at the ground in deep thought as his mind wandered and tried to find ideas to evade the covetous councillors.“We're just going to play it that way. We can say I've been calling the shots from behind the scenes, and that I am finally ready to run the colony in person”, I said.Manuel stopped in his tracks and stared at me.“There's no way they know that I haven’t spoken to anyone since I got back. You just have to follow me closely. There can't be that many new things in the pack. Anything that I do not recognise, you can speak up for”, I said.He sighed and stepped closer to me.“No probl
CHAPTER 41Roberta’s POVI blinked slowly and wiggled my toes eagerly as the evening breeze caressed my face. Dark locs of my hair were thrown around carelessly in the air.I sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of all the activities that went on in the city beneath me.I had healed nicely in my first week at the stranger's house. The pain in my body had definitely lessened. I could move my upper body somewhat freely. I was even able to take a few steps, although with much difficulty.I had asked to be moved from the bed inside the room to a comfortable looking hammock outside on the balcony.I ended up appreciating the scenery a lot more than I expected to.I had no idea which city or pack I was being held in, but from the balcony where I sat, I was very amazed by its beauty. I could see the lamps lit in straight lines on the streets.I could see the beautiful floral patterns formed on the roofs of the bungalows while light shone through the windows of the taller buildings.I
CHAPTER 42Charlotte's POV The huge doors to the courtyard flew open as I walked inside, ushered in by the guard who held the door for me.I turned back to look at him in confusion when I realised that the room was completely empty.“My Alpha will be with you shortly”, he said before he turned around and walked out, slamming the doors shut.I scoffed in disbelief and turned away from the door to take in the full view of the courtyard.It was a very simple design, yet it appeared to be practical and sophisticated too.The place was covered in drawings and paintings of various flowers.It looked regal in a manner that seemed soft to the eye, and maybe even to the touch.However, there was a certain feeling in the air that sat a little too well with me.The place only looked innocent, coated in all those flowers. In reality, I wondered if anyone had tried counting how many times they'd have had to wipe the blood off their pretty flowers.Before my mind could go totally off the rails, I
CHAPTER 43Vincenzo’s POV The sun scorched my face as I trodden up a sandy hill with a small bag of my possessions hung over my back.There was a dry, dusty wind circling about the hill as I climbed steadily. The scene seemed like it wasn't an actual day. It felt more like it was a sick attempt to recreate one of my countless nightmares about everything I lost to the wastelands. I sighed in relief as I spotted the top of the slope I was climbing.Just like I had suspected, there was a small cave there.It was small enough that it would not draw attention or get me overly comfortable. It was just my perfect fit.I hummed in relief as soon as I stepped into the shelter of the cave, away from the blazing sunlight.I walked deeper, looking around to make out where I would lay down to sleep.As I was about to sit down to get my breathing right, I heard a foot shuffle echo into my ears.My head shot up as all my hairs stood on high alert.Someone had followed me and they were probably in
CHAPTER 44I took in a deep breath of the sweetly scented air that filled my nostrils as I walked through the garden.With my arms crossed behind my back, I inspected the flowers around me. Their sweet scent rose steadily, filling the atmosphere with an assorted perfume.I paused and closed my eyes immediately I sensed the guards strategically positioned around me.“I want to be alone”, I announced loudly.They stayed still, pretending that they were not there in the first place.When I was just the commander, I trained all the Alpha's guards to secure him from a short distance at all times, making sure that he was never alone and that they were never detected around him.They mastered the stealth enough to be invisible to an untrained eye, but Vincenzo was always so observant, so he always knew when they were around, how many they were and where they stayed hidden.I had also been trained with the same stealth and lightness as them, and I had even trained a few of them myself, but it
CHAPTER 45Charlotte's POV “How many days has it been since I sent men to the wastelands to kill Vincenzo?”, I asked lowly.“Answer me”, I yelled, my voice thundering through the hall.Denzel, my second commander, stood in front of me, shivering like a pig.He had been stripped down in the courtyard to only his underwear. Two hefty guards stood behind him with a drum of water and a small bowl which they used to scoop the water and pour it on him as he shivered.“It must feel so uncomfortable, being made to stand naked and have cold water repeatedly thrown at you, especially since it's freezing outside”, I said.He shivered nonstop and just looked at me. He was unable to even mutter a word.I sighed wearily and nodded slightly at one of the guards.He turned to the drum of water and plunged the bowl into it, taking up a lot of water with him.Just as he was about to throw it all at the man who stood quietly and shivered in the middle of the courtroom, the doors flew open and one of th
CHAPTER 46Manuel's POVI sat down in front of my mirror as I stared at the blank piece of paper in front of me.I held a feather pen over it, chewing on my lips and tapping away at the table, not knowing how to even begin my composition. After Vincenzo had left the palace in defiance of my appointment, I had sent him a message just to be sure that he was safe.He wrote me back after that, letting me know that he had found a place to settle for a while. He took the time to express his support for me and how sorry he was that he had lashed out at me in that manner.After that, we had sort of continued to send each other messages back and forth on ravens, talking about everything we could.I wrote to him about the happenings in the pack and how it was going for me as I tried to lead people fairly.He in turn, wrote about his challenges in the wastelands, the outcasts he came acr
CHAPTER 47Manuel's POVI looked at the faces of the Alphas who sat in the courtroom and studied their expressions. They all had the same look on their faces.They were all angry. They felt like I had robbed them of something they had been waiting for so long to claim, yet none of them had the balls to lead the rebellion against me.It was comical that they looked at me with disdain, like I had committed the biggest sin against them. It was very big of them to think that even if, for some reason, I were to throw in the towel and let someone else have the mantle of leadership, they would even be considered for it.“Well? Why are we here?”, I asked again.I sat up and subtly flexed my muscles in an attempt to instil intimidation amongst them. A few of them had started to gain a little confidence, but after my minor display, I could see their resolve sink back into their stomachs.
CHAPTER 112Charlotte's POV I stirred awake as was immediately greeted by the harsh, dusty wind that found its way into my lungs as I took a deep breath. I immediately rolled over and coughed loudly, at the same time realizing that my soft and comfortable bed had been replaced by the coarse and hard sand which I found myself lying upon.I gasped and sat up speedily, only to realize that I was sitting in front of a huge expanse of land. As far as the water covered the ocean, that was as far as I saw nothing but sand.“You finally woke up”, I heard someone announce behind me.I turned back swiftly to meet Roberta standing behind me. She had an unreadable expression on her face and I felt the panic rise within me as soon as I realized that my hands and legs were bound by strong ropes.“What's going on? Where am I?”, I asked, struggling with the ropes that were on my hand.She sighed and looked around us.“We're in the wastelands”, she said, smiling down at me. I frowned at her, not unde
CHAPTER 111Hazel's POV As I walked back into the dining room, I felt a tear threaten to crawl its way out of my eyes, but I hurriedly blinked it back before it got the chance.Hearing Charlotte whine about Vincenzo not running into her lovely, open arms was the reality check I needed to realise that whoever I thought about when I pictured Charlotte, she was entirely different. She helped me to realize that she was not a victimized child who struggled to survive, she was an entitled brat and she felt like her difficult childhood gave her a free pass to the things that belonged to other people.Her character was clear from her attitude. The fact that she was daring enough to demand courtesy from a man she had stolen everything from showed me that she did not think twice about a person's misfortunes after she had caused them.I knew for a fact that she did not remember the names of my father and brother whom she dragged to an untimely, poorly dug mass grave.Unfortunately for me, some
CHAPTER 110Charlotte's POV I sat up right at the head of the dining table, waiting patiently for Vincenzo to walk in. He and Hazel had arrived at the palace together just a few minutes prior to dinner time, and they went straight to their assigned rooms to get dressed.As much as I hated to admit it, I had missed Hazel, but the idea of having Vincenzo on my side while I fulfilled everything I wanted for myself was a little more thrilling than I expected. I could not bring myself to focus on anything else.My breath hitched in my throat as I heard the doors to the dining crack open and Vincenzo walked in, looking as dashingly handsome as he always did.He looked different, though. He had shed a few pounds of his bulk and traded them in to be taller. His lean, tall figure caused my mouth to water as he walked confidently towards me.My eyes diverted from him shortly as I noticed Hazel also slip in through the door and walk towards us. She smiled as soon as her eyes met mine and again
CHAPTER 109Charlotte's POV I smiled widely as I read Hazel's letter aloud to Roberta.“Hopefully one of these days, I will come back to you with Vincenzo. Yours truly, H”, I read aloud, beaming like a child.Roberta sat down on the floor with her hands crossed in front of her as she looked up, frowning at the darkness above her.“It seems that Vincenzo will agree to join me as my partner. He's even willing to put behind that nastiness of me killing you and the kids”, I scoffed.She let out a small sigh and closed her eyes.“I told you, Roberta. Men are easy to win over. There is no love in this world. Love means equality, whereas there are only those who lead and those who follow”, I said.He opened her eyes back and looked down to me.“You're wrong. There is love, and you only keep thirsting after power because you know that you'll never be good enough for love”, she said weakly.I felt my anger bubbling up as I looked at her. “Look at that. You should have just let me know that y
CHAPTER 108Hazel's POVI wiped the tear that crawled its way out of my eye as soon as I crossed the door to Alpha Vincenzo’s room.I sniffed lowly and blinked rapidly as I walked away, trying to make my whimpers as discreet as I possibly could.As soon as I reached the servant's quarters, my pace sped up and before long, I ran into my room and crashed my face on my bed.I sobbed softly as the recollection of all I lost surfaced to me.My father was one of the members of Alpha Elijah's council. When Elijah supposedly died at the hands of Vincenzo, Charlotte came back like the most mournful bride anyone had ever seen.She rallied around for the support of the common folk and the councillors in the pack, but my father saw right through her. He knew that the new policies she promised would not stand the test of time and that the pack, like her, would end up becoming lawless.When she was trying to become the Luna of the pack, the rest of the councillors showed her support, but my father
CHAPTER 107 Vincenzo’s POV“Tyler is not in this palace, and you know why. If you want to keep your round little head on your neck for much longer, you are going to start talking”, I said angrily.She kept up the innocent girl facade until she realized that I was not buying it, then she sighed and rolled her eyes at me.“Fine. I'll tell you where he is. I don't even care anyway”, she said, gently nudging the knife away from her neck.I moved back a little and watched as she snatched the bottle away and filled the cup with it. Without looking away from me, she downed the entire cup of wine and dropped the cup.“He somehow thought it was a good idea to go to Charlotte's territory”, she said, rolling her eyes as she slammed the cup in the tray.I frowned and stared at her intently with confusion on my face. Even though Tyler and I were in the middle of our conversation about Charlotte's letter, we never said anything about going to her territory just yet.“Why would he go over there?”,
CHAPTER 106Vincenzo’s POV I slowly strolled past the entrance to the dining room for the hundredth time in the past thirty minutes. I peeked in and sighed in frustrated resignation when I realized that Tyler was still not inside.The delicious aroma of the steak served on the table did very much to water my mouth and lure me in, but I did not want to sit through another breakfast without figuring out where Tyler had gone.“Are you alright, Alpha?”, I heard a voice behind me.I startled in shock at the proximity of the voice to my ear, since I had not noticed anyone walking towards me.At once, my head snapped back to see Hazel standing behind me and blinking her eyes innocently at me. I let out a small breath when my eyes came into contact with her familiar face.“I didn't mean to scare you, sorry”, she said, looking sincerely apologetic. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at her.“Don't bother. I'm just slightly on edge”, I said, turning around to survey the dining room once more, as if
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,