Sophia’s POV“My name is Alcmene, and Zaine’s wolf, Amphitryon, was my husband many lifetimes ago.” My wolf begins telling me the secrets of her past as she runs at a dizzying speed towards the western border of our land.I listen, half convinced I’m going mad, as she tells me about Zeus’ deception and the way he tricked her and many other women, before and after her, into bed. Zeus, the most high and mighty, sired bastards left, right, and centre all over the old world. Everywhere he sewed his seed his crazy, jealous wife, Hera, wasn’t far behind with whole ‘hell hath no fury’ shtick. The swirling vortex of rage, hurt, fear and disgust, that I feel inside my wolf breaks my heart. How can one person live through so much and come out the other side unscathed?“I wouldn’t say unscathed exactly.” She sighs woefully. “I became known as the embodiment of the power of the moon, for good reason. Selene and Artemis were the deities on everyone’s lips when they looked skywards at night, but I
Luca’s POVWell, fuck me sideways.Heracles.My wolf is Heracles, or Hercules as the romans came to call him.I accepted not knowing his name ever since the night he came to me. I wasn’t the only one whose wolf was playing his hand close to his chest. Abernathy, George, Zaine, and a few of the guards, all came out with it once I opened my mouth on an ill advised drunken night out. Bonding time, that’s what Zaine had called it.It was when he first stepped into his father’s shoes and was finding his way as a leader. The first order of business was getting to know the troops. Those days are all a bit of haze, but the night I spilled the beans about my wolf, I remember that night as if it was yesterday.Abernathy was the first to speak up when I blurted out that my wolf had no name. I was sick of hearing the men around me talking about their beasts and calling them by name. It hurt that my bond with my beast wasn’t as close as theirs. If it was a strong bond, he would tell me everything,
Mrs Crook’s POV I hadn’t intended to have to tell the entire story of how we all ended up in this situation again, but none the less, the entire tale comes gushing out of me, like the dam of thousands of years of silence has been broken. Eleven faces gawp at me in horror and astonishment, and I have barley even scratched the surface of the depravity that sparked their rebellion in the first place. Zaine, George, Luca, Abernathy and Torrin are marginally less taken aback by what I have to say, but still, it’s a lot to take in. By the time I have finished explaining how Sophia’s wolf is actually Alcmene, the mother of Heracles, who was conceived when Zeus came to her bed disguised as her husband, and that Zaine’s wolf is Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon, there are a lot of puzzled faces in the room. It’s really not that difficult to understand once one realises Zeus was a pig. If he saw a woman he wanted he took her, by force or deception, he saw it as his divine right. Perseus, Thomas’
Sophia’s POVMrs Crook has been there my whole life. If there is one person in the whole world that I know I can trust, it is her. When she made it clear that she wanted to speak to us without our wolves, or companions, or whatever we are calling them now, I didn’t even think twice before putting up a wall in my mind.The soul inside me, Alcmene, has many secrets. I can feel it in the way she speaks to me and how she fidgets inside my mind. I’m not sure what to make of all this, and by the looks of it, I’m not the only one.Zaine wants the wolf he was always meant to have, I can feel his sense of loss and it is hurting him deeply. I feel the same, but to a lesser degree I suppose, after all I have had my intruder for only a couple of weeks. Zaine has been without the wolf that was meant for him for thirteen years.Some of these other men have had ancient souls living inside them for decades. I have no idea what effect that would have, but knowing what little I do about these men, I wo
Zaine’s POVI have always felt a kind of disconnect with my beast. I thought it was because of the pressures of leading the pack from such a young age but I didn’t become Alpha until I was twenty-one, and I had had my beast for three years by then, so I guess I have been kidding myself this whole time.The walk back to the pack house is cold and long but not a single one of us feels like shifting to shorten the journey. The icy nip in the air stings my skin and I’m grateful for the mildly painful distraction. The mental block keeping Tryon from my thoughts is still up, and I have no intentions of letting him back in any time soon.“What do you think about all of this?” Sophia slows her pace until she is walking beside me at the back of the group. She has had a sceptical attitude about everything ever since I told her who she was. Things seemed complicated back then, if only they had remained so simple in hindsight.“Honestly? I think a part of me always knew there was something amiss.
Mrs Crook’s POVIn the past, I have tried to end this ridiculous feud, and every time I have watched them fail. This time needs to be different. This time I will make sure they have no body to return to. If I can get them to reject Alcmene, Amphitryon, Heracles and the rest, their spirits will be cast down to the Isle Of The Blessed with no means of future escape.Can I do that to them? When it comes down it, can I see them banished to the underworld with no way to return? It’s not like I haven’t tried everything I can think of to avoid this. I’m clutching at straws here and this is the only thing I haven’t given a shot.They won’t suffer. Hell, I wouldn’t mind ending up there myself. The pace and tranquillity I have longed for for so many years is what awaits them on the other side. Of all the places they could end up, the Isle is the best and most fitting place for them.I have every sympathy for Alcmene, her hardships have not been easy to endure, but there comes a time when you kn
Zaine’s POVWalking through the lavishly decorated grand hall did nothing to lift any of our moods. Usually the annual coalition dinner and dance would be the perfect thing to take our minds off the shit that seems to happen every other day around here. As a pack, we don’t usually need much of an excuse for a party. Drinking, feasting, playing foolish games and running through the pack lands until the sun rises, those are the things that lighten the burdens we all carry, even if only for the night.The guards need that time most of all, and until tonight they had been high on the anticipation and promise of the visiting packs and the females they would bring with them. It’s not uncommon for mates to find one another when so many packs come together. And even if mates are not found, company for the night usually is.Not shitting on ones own doorstep is common sense, and I have to say that I haven’t had to deal with mate and mistress dramas since letting go of the reins a little when vi
Sophia’s POVScalding drops of water hit my bare skin, but I am numb. I cannot trust the voice inside my head. The wolf I waited for so long is not a wolf at all, and worse than that, the person living inside me is hiding something she doesn’t want Zaine or Tryon to know about.“What are you thinking about little moineau?” Zaine lifts my chin with his finger until I’m staring up into his sapphire blue eyes. The rough pad of his thumb grazes my cheek as he swipes away the tears that have been silently falling and washed away by the water pouring down on top of me.“When did life become such a mess? I don’t know what she wants, but I can’t get rid of the feeling that no matter what happens, someone is going to end up getting hurt.” The nauseous feeling I’ve been fighting threatens to take over and a cold that won’t leave my body spreads down my arms.Zaine has become the one person who keeps me from drowning in the tidal wave that keeps trying to pull me under. His arms wrapped around m