CHAPTER 57
Manuel's POVI seethed quietly as the old man stared deep in my eyes with an insulting smirk on his face.My reign is over?I scoffed lightly as I did my best to match his wicked gaze.“And do you already have a candidate to be the next Alpha King in mind?”I said, rubbing my left thumb against my other fingers while my right hand gripped the arm rest firmly.“That would be me”, a voice came from within the other council members.The person who had spoken stood up gently and faced me, trying his best not to seem intimidated by my eyes that were peering directly into his.“Alpha Stefan “, I snickered, sitting up on my chair.This should be an interesting meeting.His facial muscles tensed as he breathed heavily, refusing to be affected by the amusement that I did not even bother to hide. I could not hide it, even if I tried.“Of course. I'm sureCHAPTER 58Manuel’s POVA soft, chilly breeze snuck its way into my room and caressed my face lightly, straightening out the wrinkles that had formed on my forehead as a result of the dream I had gotten the night before.I felt the memories of what I had sought in my dream slipping away as my eyes snapped open quickly, welcoming the fresh sighting of the morning.Without moving from my position, I moved my eyes to the window of my room.The curtains had been released from their cuffs, allowing them to dance around freely as the cold breeze pushed its way in.The routine movements of the curtains caused the dim light from outside to peek into the room a few times, but since the sun was barely out, there was not much light disturbance to be let into the room.I sighed and reached behind me, hoping to feel Natalie's warm body while she lay quietly asleep beside me on the bed.Instead o
CHAPTER 59Roberta’s POV It was a beautiful day.The sun shone brightly into my room as I lay down on my bed, facing the window.The view outside the window was breathtaking. There were countless flower vases lined up by the window pane. The sun's light helped to accentuate the beauty of the flowers as their sweet scent filled the atmosphere. They looked and smelled just like the ones Vincenzo had planted in the garden at the palace for me.A small smile drew itself across my face as my mind began to bombard me with the fond memories that Vincenzo and I shared in that garden.“They are just like the ones I planted for you, aren't they?”, I heard a familiar voice ask behind me.It cannot be.I rapidly sat up on my bed and turned my head a few inches to the left of my bed where I had heard the sound for.True to my suspicions, it was Vincenzo standing there, lookin
CHAPTER 60Charlotte's POV I walked into the small, dirty room where we kept Lucia contained.Two nurses sat beside her on the bed, one of them stroking her hair gently.She had a blank, almost dead look in her eyes. Her eyelids looked frail, like they had not moved from their position for a couple of days.“Where are we with the treatment?”, I said loudly, walking towards the bed.The nurses immediately sat up, the second one pulling her hand out of Lucia's hair sharply.“Luna, you're here”, the older one of them said, passing a glance at my eyes before looking down immediately.I rolled my eyes and looked down at Lucia.Her eyes were wide open, but it seemed like she could not see or sense anything around her.“That's not what I asked you”, I said sternly.I reached out to her pale face. I had almost touched her skin before my hand stopped in mid-air and snapped backwards.I sighed and removed my focus from her, taking it to the two foolish nurses standing in front of her.I ought
CHAPTER 61I trodded carefully to the further end of the courtroom, where my chair stood pretty at the centre.I dropped my body softly into the comfort of the seat before sighing and looking up at the six men spread out before me.“Gentlemen”, I started softly. They all looked at me with keen interest on their faces.“Tomorrow, you will leave me and be on the road to protect a package that I plan to deliver to an old friend”, I said.They continued to stare at me with blank expressions on their faces.“Also, I need you to know that possessing knowledge of my whereabouts is a very delicate thing, and you can easily give it up by telling people where you have been, since you follow me everywhere “, I said, studying them closely.I watched as a couple of them shifted uncomfortably after my last statement. I bit my lip and sighed wearily. “Okay, let's make this easier. How many of you told
CHAPTER 62Declan’s POV I watched with a small smile on my face as Roberta walked shakily from the balcony and fell beside me on the bed. Her face was divided by a wide grin that sprung from one corner of her face to the other.He heaved a deeply happy sigh as her back bounced in the bed.“I'll be walking all over this place soon!”, she said happily.I raised one side of my lips and smiled.“You're doing very well. I knew you would heal”, I said, turning my face to her. Getting Roberta to heal quicker and walk again was not at the tip of my prioritie, but at some point, it became a mandatory thing.She was sulking so much over Vincenzo’s death, I had to give her something to be excited about, so she wouldn't jump from the balcony.She had been very happy in the past days as she taught herself how to walk afresh and pushed on her own pain to get her desired results. Her resilience was almost adorable.I did not care much for the state of Roberta's mental health. In fact, I did not ca
CHAPTER 63Vincenzo’s POV I walked slowly through the scorching sun and the dry, sandy, lung-biting wind. My entire body was so dry, I believed that my blood had powdered.The days that followed my being ambushed by Charlotte's men were rough for me.I had written to Manuel several times after my life was threatened. He had not sent any ravens back to me, even though I had sent about a dozen his way.Then, I began to hear whispers of my death amongst some of the other outcasts, including the ones who had banded together to form little packs of their own.At first, I thought of attacking them and beating them to a pulp for even daring to insinuate that Charlotte's unweaned soldiers were enough to kill me, but when I really thought about it, I realised that whosoever started the rumor had given me the greatest weapon anybody could have in their revenge plan; The element of surprise. If the news of my death had reached the outcasts, it only meant that everyone in all the packs and all
CHAPTER 64Declan’s POV I kept my eyes tightly shut and stayed still as I felt Roberta’s eyes glide steadily over my face.I could not see her or what she was doing, but from her stillness, the prolonged silence and the occasional sighs that disturbed the peace, I could tell that she believed she was watching me sleep.I needed to get more information and precise directions from her, but I had to remain still for a few more seconds.If she watched me that way for long enough, it would make her feel more comfortable around me, and she would not have cause to retain any information from me.My eye twitched as she reached out and brushed my cheek lightly with the tips of her fingers.Seeing as I had already fluttered my eyelids, my eyes flew open, staring deeply into her face that was positioned directly in front of mine.“Good morning “, I said croakily, smiling at her.
CHAPTER 65Roberta’s POV “No, Berta. We're not going to infiltrate Manuel's palace”, Declan said, rapidly getting off the bed. He had a very annoyed look on his face.I felt like an awful person for asking him to do something like that for me, especially since it was really for Vincenzo, and we were both just trying to explore a new dynamic to our relationship, seeing as he had died.On the other hand, I kept feeling like there was a gigantic, Vincenzo sized hole in my heart, and to fill it, I had to do something that I knew Vincenzo would have wanted me to do.If all the facts Declan had provided me with were true, then Vincenzo would have wanted nothing more than to rip Manuel's head off his neck for the huge betrayal that he went through.I had no reason to doubt a word that Declan had said to me, because he had no reason to lie to me.I could feel that the feelings he had for me were ge
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,