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Kaya’s POV.
“Has there been any proclamation since our neighboring packs sent their letter of declaration?” Kade asks, chewing an apple in his mouth. His other hand is drawing at his chevon beard.
Kieran shakes his head, “not another since then.”
“And what else are we to be prepared for?”
Kieran responds again, his voice a bit tightened. “For now, I have prepared the commanders to build a campsite at the borders linking us with the other five kingdoms.”
“That sounds like everything that we need for now while we await their preparedness.” As Kade speaks, one can tell there’s a suspicion in his tone. Something is going on that contrasts his spoken words.
“And why do I feel like there’s about to be a but in there?” Kieran observes as well.
&nb
47Kaya’s POV.“...whatever it is, I shall not fall for it.” Kyle stops midway in his words, his eyes charging towards me as I enter their room.My eyes scan their faces, catching the sight of bewilderment there. They couldn’t have expected me to be here.“What are you doing here?” Kieran asks, his face shifting to one side, unveiling an interrogation born of suspicion. “We hadn’t called for your presence, so speak.”My throat is dry. It feels like my tongue no longer secretes saliva, and it makes the back of my throat feel like it’s gummed together. The thought scares me, but it’s not like I’m bothered anyway.I’m drunk.I’m free.My laugh is hysterical and hypocritical. “What am I doing here? You sound like an ass-wipe.”
483RD POV.The sound of the horses whining soars into the wind, their stallion thumping and grazing into the field as the brothers ride three of them to the private camping site that they’ve created for the upcoming war.It is situated close to the borders leading their territory with the five neighboring packs. Since the five neighboring packs are working together, it is only common sense that they’d attack together, so that is the best place to have their camping site built.The brothers alight from the horses, and while the squires close by take over, they walk into the tent of their two commanders, who are planning the war strategy.“Tell me, soldiers. What’s the plan?” Kieran speaks the moment he walks into the room, breaking into the ongoing conversation between both commanders.Their attention shifts over to the brothers,
49Kaya’s POV.My fingers hurt as I’ve been working since this morning. I have the triplets to thank for that.“Oh, it’ll be over soon, Kaya.” I have been repeating this in my head like a mantra. And trust me, it’s only the truth, because I’m about to get out of this hell of a place.My escape is soon—tonight, finally. The brothers have been so occupied with the war coming up that they have no reason to think about me, and having gotten the key this morning, I shall make use of it tonight. May the sun set soon.I grunt lightly as I open the door, its annoying sound reaching into my ears. I’m inside the triplets room with a mopping stick and a bucket filled with water, which is already mixed with soap.Since I was lowering my gaze, it took me a while to notice the stress evident in their eyes. It’s so
50Kaya’s POV.I’m lying on the bed with my hands entwined as they rest on my stomach. My back is against the bad with my orbs counting the ceilings. By now, I know practically all details about it.But that is of no matter, anyway. Ever since the event at the triplets’ room, I have locked myself in here, fearful of what they have become. It’s one thing to know they are my archenemy but to know that it is coming from a place of sadistic love is nothing I never could have imagined.It scares me more than they like me so much that they would kill anyone or go against even their mother and uncle or fire their sex slaves from the kingdom or fight all five neighboring packs just because of an alter affection they’ve got for me, which in turn they barbarically punish me for.It’s not just saddening but frightful to the very core of my being. Plus, th
Kaya’s POV. I’m awake, but my head hurts. My eyes remain closed for reasons best known by my body, and I am glad because I felt my own nerve pausing after a sudden wreckage when I heard the triplets’ mother’s voice. Emilie is annoyed at someone as she speaks. “How could you have been so careless? You said what?” She speaks as though whatever discussion they are having is meant to be hidden, kept away from anyone else hearing them. Her voice is tight, and I think she is pacing because I hear her heels tapping against the floor continuously. “There’s no way I could have guessed. Well, perhaps we shouldn’t have underestimated the girl. She is maybe not as week as she looks.” He disagrees with her. Who are they talking about? While I eavesdrop, hoping that I still look un-alive to the naked eye, I wonder why my head hurts. I can’t remember anything, and it hurts even when I try to recall it. It’s almost like my memory is a needle trying to pierce through a wall. Impossible to achie
3RD POV.Kaya’s pain is a reflection that shreds the existence of the triplets. With every shattering in her heart, burning in wants for help is a replication that the triplets feel too but hides deep down like it isn’t of any affection.In one sentence, they could feel Kaya’s pain, and as much as it hurts them, their pride wouldn’t let them stop her suffering. With each scream that she makes when the whip lands on her skin, ripping her skin like it’s silk clothing of crimson red colour, they feel the betrayal in her heart.And confusingly enough for them, they aren’t even there. The triplets remain in the room with their uncle and their mother, and anyone could feel the tension in the room.“I did warn you, guys, but you wouldn’t listen to me. I said she would betray you. She’s a witch, for heaven’s sake, and that’s what they do. They are cunning, delusional about being smart, and shits like that.” Jared speaks with much confidence before he folds his arms over his chest.“Uncle, we
53Kaya’s POV.The cold has gotten worse in the past few weeks. I’m standing on the balcony with my hands spread out, my eyes trailing the stitch line of the blue glove, and consciously, I come to realize that my lips are naturally curved downward.Well, there’s no reason to smile. Everybody who has ever made me smile has been taken away from me. Oh, isn’t that even a fair way to say it?They were snatched! Robbed from my hold, from anywhere I could reach them, and it still hurts.I close my eyes for some time, enduring the way the breeze prickles my skin, and it does hurt mildly, anyway. The sun is high up in the sky, but it almost doesn’t do anything to stop the cold.Even as the universe still changes, the earth rotating perfectly, everyone else well, and the season shifting to winter, my days aren’t any better.Having had enough of the cold weather, I hurry back inside and close the sill window. It’s been about a month since my last attempt to escape this hell hole, and I haven’t
54Kaya’s POV.My eyes are closed, and there’s the sound of a child giggling in the distance. For some reason, I am familiarized with the sound of the girl.As she seems happy, her giggling gets nearer and nearer, and my own cheeks pump as my own smile elevates too. Her happiness is my own happiness, and I can’t even see her. At least, not yet.My senses are sharpened. I seem to be alive, but it’s all dark. My body feels heavy, and my eyelids are like a block that I can’t force myself to shift open.In the course of all this, I feel calm. The aura of the mildly blowing breeze is a utopian feeling. Also, there’s a feeling of happiness, etherealness, and joy. I feel all bubbly and perfect. I have never felt like this before, not in a long time. Not since I lost my parents.Yes! My memories serve me well, even here.Suddenly, someone hit me, and my eyes snapped open as I tried to catch the little girl that my sight came to accommodate.“Hey, careful, little one.” I say to her, but she’s
EPILOGUE ~A Few Years Later~ Following the sound of Kaya’s footsteps up the stairs, Yara and Nala snap their eyes open. Their sense of hearing is super heightened for seven-year-old pups, and knowing that their mother is coming for them, they jump out of bed. For Yara, she focuses on making the bed. Hurriedly, as she hurls the bedsheets into the air with such precision that the sheets fly in mid-air in their square shape, she hurries about gathering the pillows. Gravity makes the sheet fall, letting it settle back on the bed. Hastily, she has tucked it into the sides neatly with no roughness to be seen, then she places the pillows back on the bed. On Nala’s side, after she has run to lock the door, she’s using her legs to kick up their dirty clothes from the floor and her hands to pick up other dirt as well. Within a few seconds, she had finished cleaning the floor. The both of them smile at each other, two young wolves yet very powerful. Close to the room, Kaya senses the door
97Kaya’s POV.“Kaya,” my ears pick up on eerie voices, sinking into my head. A furrow wrestles on my face as I awaken to reality, and suddenly, I gasp when I feel the intensity of the voices when they call again. “Kaya.”My head snaps to the front, and there are three women at the end of the bed. They are in robes with the hood covering their faces, so I have no way of knowing if I recognize them or not.That aside, the aura they release sends chills down my spine, shaking me to my very core.“Who are you?” I ask with the nerves around my neck poking out.The women speak with raspy voices, an intent of darkness lurking behind each word. “You have seen our presence, great witch, because you made yourself come to our attention. Await your doom, for we shall come for you. And we do; the curse shall be back. You haven’t paid the right price, and we shall come for what is ours.”“Who are you? What do you want?” Although they dress entirely black, at the left chest area of their robes, I s
96Kaya’s POV.“Has anyone never been mated to three werewolves before?” I ask Luna Olivia, and she tsks in disagreement right before she glances at my reflection through the mirror.Olivia begins with a laugh, which results in a fixation of cease on the skin of my forehead. “Truth be told, a fidelity of love you are. I may be a Luna, but I learn a lot from you. I, for one, would have rejected three mates. It’d be a fucking confusion for me.”She isn’t being offensive, though. For the past few hours, we have been having a conversation about how I manage to accept the triplets, but for me, I just can’t say. I think it all has to do with love. Well, they say love is blind, so perhaps that is what I am.Perhaps unlike her, I do not see them as three beings but rather as one, and so far, each time I see the triplets, my inside runs with my heart beating fast. They make my hormones anxious, and my stomach erupts with blue butterflies.It is an intoxicating feeling.“But today is a big day,
95Kaya’s POV.The cold air fans onto my skin, seeping chills that would have my body shaking any other day, but lost deep into my thoughts, my senses aren’t very caring about my body.Disregarding the harsh weather, I remain on the balcony, staring ahead into the forest. Because of the absence of the moon in the sky and no light to reflect any radiating rays, it looks like a block of wall.Ever since I heard about the triplets dying on their thirtieth birthday, I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy today. There’s something about the feeling that has arisen since that time. It’s now deep into the night, and I just had to distance myself so I could attempt to cleanse my thoughts.I’m troubled. Honestly, a few months ago, I would have been happy. Hell, I even recall some times when I wished that the triplets never came back; that was the darkest time in my life when I wished them death. Now that I feel like that prayer is being answered, I’m worried why nature keeps punishing me, or better y
94Kaya’s POV.It’s a big night.The triplets are throwing a feast in celebration of their pack and the neighboring ones, working together to attain more peace and harmony. Every day, we walk closer to a blissful moment.The kingdom is thrown into disturbance, with maids running about to get things rightly done. I can feel the heat in the atmosphere, as something like this has not happened before, and the triplets must have given orders to have their plans executed without any flaw.Presently, I am standing in front of the mirror, staring at my own reflection, and something seems missing from my dress.“Elegant and glamorous.” I state the theme of the night according to the instructions given to me by Chester. That guy always finds a way to inconvenience me one way or another.My dress is eye-catching, and I have no doubt I’d capture all attention in the space. However, I can’t exactly place where there is a fault as I stare at my chest, narrowing my eyes from my forehead to my nostri
93Two months later.Kaya’s POV.Shuffling on the bed as my consciousness awakens back to life, my hands touch the side of the bed and feel nothing there. Then, I shift to the other side, still feeling no presence on the bed with me.My eyebrows furrow deeply as I rub my eyes and sit with my back against the headboard.“Kade?” I call into the muteness of the room, only to be replied to with silence. Pouting just before I yawn, I blink rapidly and want to roll down the bed, calling once again, “Kieran?” There’s still no answer, “Kyle?” And that’s when I realized that I was naked.“Oops,” I laugh at myself and quickly take off the robe next to the bed on a bedside table. The weather is chilling this morning, so darting my eyes to the end of the walls, I cast a whispering spell whose effect lit up the candles.My eyes are still wandering around the room, looking for the triplets. It’s been two months now, and almost every night, I find myself back in their bed after many times of having
92Kaya’s POV.One month later.The rays of the sun shine into the room, blessing me with an aura that is needed for the day. Each day is like one that I have never seen before.Each day that passes, I find more peace inside me, and my mental health has never been finer. I smile and open my eyes on the bed, having woken up for the past few minutes or so, but I’m too tired to get out of bed.And then, I suddenly remember that there’s a meeting today, and the triplets have asked me to be present. Although, they didn’t tell me what it was about, they did agree that I’d be surprised, and I shall like to be surprised today.“Who doesn’t like surprises?” I howl as I roll out of bed, replying to my own thoughtful question.Giggling as I walk into the bathroom, I head to take my bath and finish with the morning routine. There’s much to do to get myself ready for the day.Soon, in a few minutes, I am ready to go outside, but I take one last look in the mirror to see my reflection. Squinting my
913rd POV.They don’t know what to do or how to receive the truth. When people say that the truth hurts, it’s never been something that the triplets experienced because they were never weak.But these last few weeks?It hurts so much ever since they gave their hearts out for love. “Love is indeed a punishment that we accept because we are defaulted to,” but the triplets have never been the ones to retire to that.“Love is a weakness. Love is a curse, portrayed as a gift. Love is a pain that disguises itself as pleasure, just so we don’t realize how hurtful it has wounded us until it has broken our hearts. Love hurts us continuously, yet we embrace it. Love is a pain. And most of all, love is so powerful it locks you in continuous pain of betrayal and dependence, and you still crave for it.”“Why?” Kieran whispers as they all stop in front of their dying uncle.Jared’s body is still wilting, becoming more and more dead over time. He can’t move any part of his body anymore, and he’s ju
90Kaya’s POV.“You bitch. What the fuck are you doing here?” Jared curses at me, his teeth gritting, and I raise one of my brows.Wow. I’m surprised. I know he’s got a big mouth naturally, but after what he has just done to his nephews, he has acquired a very big mouth at that.He doesn’t seem to have any remorse or something of the sort. He looks perfectly okay, and if I hadn’t appeared here, he might still be flashing his teeth as the triplets walk one step closer to their deaths.“You don’t seem bitter at the fact that your nephews are dying?” I say as I shift my eyes to them. Kade’s body has weakened like the other time when Chester and I saved him from the hands of Olivia and the other alphas. His eyes are reddened from being strained by the poison.It must have been a strong one, and I wonder why Jared would be keeping such poison all this time just to get rid of the last ones he could call family. I don’t expect less since he was even the one who killed their mother, and I sha