Eva
When Head Priestess Bathsheba banged on the door to wake us up in the middle of the night, I could hardly keep my eyes open long enough to look at the closed door. My eyelids were glued together with sleep. It was only when she knocked a second time that my roommate Danna and I opened our eyes.âGirls, wake up! Alpha Cyrus is here!âWe both sat up at the same time, looking at each other in confusion. Head Priestess Bathsheba must have grown impatient with us because she opened the door and didnât ask for permission to do it first, like she usually did.âDidnât you hear what I said!?â she asked desperately. She was dressed in her full attire, and even had the veil over her head.âWhatâs he doing here?â Danna asked, sleep lacing her voice.âIt hardly matters!â she exclaimed. âI need two juniors with me right this instant. We must accept the Alpha of our beloved pack with the greatest respect. Dress up as quickly as you can, and meet me downstairs!âShe closed the door, leaving us alone again. We exchanged a glance and quickly slid out of bed. My clothes were washed and hanging in my small closet, so I had no trouble getting ready for the event downstairs.Danna was still stumbling into her dress, and grumpily commented, âItâs two in the morning! Why would he want to pay us a visit at this ungodly hour?âI sighed before responding, âThereâs no right time to make a confession and live by the rules of our goddess, Luna.âDanna rolled her eyes. âYeah, sure. The goddess has no right time to be spoken to, but we do!âI ignored her ramblings as I walked over to the mirror and put my head covering over my head before using the veil to cover my face as all juniors did. I only stared at the mirror for half a minuteâstaring longer than necessary would be a sin. When I was done, I turned to Danna and announced, âIâm ready.âShe seemed to be in a terrible mood because she said, âYouâre not going to get an award for that, you know? They can wait.âMy cheeks flushed, and without allowing myself to get upset with her, I said, âIâll wait for you outside. Please, make haste.âDanna was ready in five minutes, and together, we walked down the wide dimly lit corridor before heading to the stairs right at the end of the hall. Our feet made light noises on the stone steps, which were dark because all the lights had been turned off for bedtime. I was careful not to trip, and made it successfully down the stairs.We walked into the chapel, and I saw that Head Priestess Bathsheba was with Priestess Juvia and our teacher, Priestess Lila. She smiled when she saw usâsheâd always been kinder than the othersâand in a hushed voice, said, âI specifically requested the two of you. Youâre my best students, and Iâm sure youâll represent us to the best of your abilities.âI colored with pleasure, but Danna appeared ashamed, probably because of how reluctant she was to wake up.âNow that weâre all here,â Head Priestess Bathsheba began, turning to us as well, âwe can start. The Alpha was kind enough to wait for us at the door. Eva, grab those scented candles and hold them up. Danna, you too. I will open the door for him, and allow him to enter. You will both bow to him when you see him, and I will then accompany him to the confessional. Afterward, we will utter a small prayer for himâthe Hail Lunaâand he will depart. Understood?âI nodded eagerly, and Danna grumbled a yes.In all my years of training, this would be the first time I would attend such a ritual. I was still a student, but when I turned twenty-one in two weeks, I would be old enough to take my vows and swear fealty to Luna. Iâd become a Priestess.And then, Iâd be the one to perform rituals like this, and hear confessions from those who wished to repent their sins and worship our goddess in the correct and traditional way.I was glad that the Alpha of our Silver Crescent pack was a devout man.He had such a bad reputation, and I was beginning to wonder why when he clearly cared about the fate of his soul.I waited anxiously for the door to open. My face was hidden behind a veil, so I couldnât see all that clearly, but I was excited and wanted to observe as much as I could. Iâd cherish this moment until the rest of my days, and couldnât wait to share it with the other girls tomorrow.Theyâd be so delighted to hear about how I helped the Head Priestess save the soul of our beloved Alpha!When the doors opened, and I heard Head Priestess Bathshebaâs voice welcoming the Alpha, shivers raced down my spine. She said, âThank you for being here, Alpha Cyrus. Words cannot describe how pleased I am to receive you into our blessed Holy Lunar Convent. I am Head Priestess Bathsheba, and I will be taking your confession today.ââThank you, Head Priestess,â the Alpha responded, and upon hearing the sound of his voice, I shivered unnaturally, so much that my teeth clenched together and the candles wobbled in my hand. Danna stole a glance at me, probably because we were both supposed to stand perfectly still, just as we practiced countless times in the past.But I couldnât explain what happened to me. For a moment, it was like I lost control of my body.Besides, Iâd never heard the sound of a manâs voice before. Perhaps the depth of it was what caught me off guard.Their footsteps were growing closer to us, and I prayed to Luna for strength. I didnât want to make a careless mistake, not when Priestess Lila was counting on me to portray a good image to the Alpha.He contributed generously to our Convent every year. If it werenât for him, weâd all starve to death, or worse, the Convent would never exist, and our faith would be forgotten.In other words, we had to impress him, and I knew this without having to be told.They stopped right in front of us, and I didnât dare to look up even though I wanted to. A strange sensation took over my body, and it felt like hundreds of spiders were crawling on my skin. Even so, I kept still I didnât move an inch.âThis is Priestess Juvia, and this is Priestess Lila. They will be leading the prayers today. And behind them are the priestesses-in-trainingâEva and Danna. They will be the ones toââShe was rudely interrupted by something, and when I sneaked a glance at them, I saw that the Alpha had put a hand up to silence her, and he was looking around in alarm, his nostrils flared.That scent. It was so strange and foreignâŚwhat was it?Was it him?I couldnât take my eyes away from him once my gaze had settled on him. I was mesmerized, both by his presence and his appearance. Iâd never heard the sound of a manâs voice before, much less seen one, but something within me suspected that this wasnât the reason why I was so entranced by him.When his gaze met mine, his eyes widened slightly, and a single word left his lips. âMate.âI was too stunned to understand what was happening, but when heâd said the word, it suddenly made sense to me. Our eyes met through the veil, and a few seconds passed. Maybe more. I didnât dare to look at the Priestesses. I was afraid of what Iâd see written across their faces.The silence in the chapel was deafening.âMate,â he repeated before stepping forward. Ignoring Head Priestess Bathshebaâs cries, he closed the distance between us and ripped the veil from my face. They gasped. I gasped. I was so horrified by what heâd done that I dropped the candles and stepped away from him. He noticed this, and stepped on the flames growing between us to prevent them from spreading everywhere. I watched my veil burn right before my eyes, and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.âAlpha Cyrus!â Head Priestess Bathsheba exclaimed. âWhat have you done!? Youâre not supposed to look into her face! She is a priestess!âAlpha Cyrus arched a brow at her words, and without looking at her, retorted, âI can do whatever I want, Head Priestess. I am the Alpha, and this woman standing before me is my mate.âCyrus My mate. I could hardly believe that I was looking at her. After years of looking expectantly and failing to find her, who would have guessed that Iâd find her here, in a Convent of all places? When I became of age, I never stopped looking, until I eventually stopped some years later, coming to terms with the fact that perhaps I didnât have one. That the goddess or whoever was up there took that privilege away from me because of the things Iâd done. The crimes Iâd committed. The lives Iâd ruined. It was ironic how I managed to find her in the place I avoided my whole lifeâIâd never been a religious man, and it was never my intention to become one. I came here tonight because Iâd lost a bet with my fucking ungrateful Beta, and as a dare, had to confess my sins to a Priestess.Of course, Iâd never tell her my true sins. Iâd only make a few of them up. Telling her the extent of my sins would probably make them tie me to a stake and burn me to the damn ground. I was the comp
Eva Nausea rolled in my stomach, and the feeling was so intense that I couldnât sleep a wink the whole night. Goddess Luna. Give me strength. Finding out that I had a mate wasâŚshocking, to say the least. It was perhaps the worst experience of my life. I was deeply ashamed of everything that had happened, even though none of it was my fault. That horrid man stormed in here and disregarded all our rules, and neither of us could stop him, both because we were defenseless and because he was the Alpha of our pack. Our leader.We owed him respect, and perhaps that was why he felt the liberty to treat us the way he did. I couldnât forget the words heâd said to me as he walked away, so arrogant and pretentious. I said âpretentiousâ because he acted all mighty and high and untouchable, but he had no faith or religion, and so that made him a lesser man. But the truth was that even if he was a religious man, I still couldnât be with him. I made a promise to worship the goddess until the res
Cyrus When my Gammas put Eva's belongings in the back of the trunk, I felt a lot more relieved. All the priestesses, big and small, were standing in front of their sacred convent with looks of despair and disappointment. Eva stood beside the Head Priestess, wearing that veil over her face. She was doing it to challenge me, but I'd won one battle today. I'd finish the rest later. For now, she could have her veil. For now. "Ladies," I said with forced politeness. "I do hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me for this minor inconvenience."I was offered no reply, and took it as my cue to remove my checkbook from my pocket. I wrote a fairly large sum on itâcertainly more than this dump costâand ripped out the check before handing it to the Head Priestess. She accepted it readily. "For your troubles," I pointed out. It was time to leave, and I was glad. I gestured at the car, and Eva seemed to hesitate before taking a step forward. Her face was downcast so I couldn't get a
Eva Once I was settled in my room, I didnât dare to venture downstairs. This Daxen family were insane, and I wasnât sure how I was going to cope in this environment. Already I was missing the quietude of the Convent, and how each day was as predictable as the last. We had routine, and most importantly, religion binding us all together. These people didnât seem like they were religious to me. I sat on the edge of the bed dressed in my full attire. I didnât dare to remove my veil, mostly because I didnât know if the Alpha would venture into my bedroom whenever he pleased. There wasnât a key in the lock, so locking my door to enhance my sense of privacy was out of the question. What was I going to do now? Going back was not possible, not only because heâd just go back and burn the rest of the Convent, but because the other priestesses probably wouldnât want me there anymore. I was trouble, and I got the chapel burned down. Someone could get hurt because of me, so returning would be
CyrusWe were all seated around the table, yet for some reason, Eva wasnât down here with us. I wondered why that was, especially because Iâd already ordered one of the maids to inform her that dinner was ready. After our conversation earlier, I believed that there would be no such misunderstandings between us. I was wrong, it seemed. Vivian sighed heavily and asked, âWhy should we wait for her again?ââBecause sheâs family,â I answered. âAnd we donât start eating when someone is expected. Itâs rude, Vivian, and our parents taught you better than that.âMy sister made a face before staring at her empty plate with her arms crossed. I glanced at Brock, and he arched a brow at me. It was a question. Is she coming? I didnât have the answer to that question. I believed she was, but it had been twenty minutes now, and she still wasnât here. âMaybe sheâs asleep?â Vivian suggested after a while. âWhat weâre doing is ridiculous, you know?âI sighed heavily before sitting back in my chair.
EvaNo key. Knowing I wouldnât be able to lock the door was slowly driving me insane. I prayed to the goddess for strength regarding this, but my faith must have been failing me because I never felt calm. Mine. That was what he called me. The audacity of that man. The longer I remained in his presence, the better I felt about my decision to be a priestess. Were all men like him? If so, then I was ready to swear my fealty to the goddess and swear them off for good. Perhaps it wasnât a choice that would be easily made by others, but for me, it was the perfect one. I hated being in Alpha Cyrusâ presence. The thought of him getting anywhere near me made my skin crawl, and not in a good way! I hated him more than I did anyone else in this entire world. In fact, I hated him more than I hated the Devil, who made good people turn away from the light of Luna, our wonderful goddess, and made them forget their werewolf tradition. I was hoping that Marcia would return with the key, meaning
Cyrus âIf we lived in one of the more religious parts of this country, youâd be hanged for what youâre doing, you know?â Brock said. He raised his hands when he caught my sour facial expression. âI donât mean any harm; Iâm just stating a fact here.ââThereâs no truth in that. Sheâs my mate, and she belongs here with me.âBrock scoffed. âSheâs a priestess, and youâre keeping her here against her will.ââSheâs not here against her will,â I argued. âShe can leave whenever she wants.ââSure. Youâll just burn the chapel down again if she does.ââCorrect.âMy uncle shook his head at me. âBastard. I donât know why you ended up such a scoundrel. My brother raised you well, you know.âThe mention of my father made me sad, the way it usually did, so I changed the subject abruptly. âI canât send her back. You wouldnât either.ââI know sheâs your mate, and that being around her feels magical or whatever, but youâve got to respect her choice in this. What youâre doing is wrong.âI exhaled sharpl
EvaIt was completely late, and I hadnât been called down for dinner yet, so I assumed that I wouldnât have to. Mealtimes were the absolute worst for me now, mostly because Alpha Cyrus was there, naturally, but also because his entire family would stare at me eating as if it was the most ridiculous/comical thing theyâd ever seen. My knees hurt from kneeling for so long, but I felt relieved for having spent my day praying. This was an all-time record because we had other responsibilities in the Convent, so we couldnât spend all our days praying. It was an integral part of our lives, but weâd limit it to three times a day only, and then privately at bedtime if we wished to. I didnât have anything better to do, and besides, I was tired of getting lost in my thoughts. Nothing good ever came of it. I walked closer to the window in my room to see if I could get some fresh air. I could see a part of the main entrance from up here, and so I was surprised when I saw many cars parked outsid
EvaThe sound of Jace calling me interrupted my train of thoughts. I looked over my shoulder and saw him running toward me, holding something. It appeared to me like his toy superhero was broken again, and he sounded like he was going to cry. âMommy, look!âI took the toy from him and offered him a gentle smile. âWhen Daddy comes home, heâs going to fix it, okay? I donât know how to.âMy son looked at his toes and made a disheartened noise in the back of his throat. I knelt in front of him, grabbed him by the arms, and said, âHell be back soon. He just went to get something.âHe huffed an, âOkay.ââWhy donât you sit down and Iâll bring you something to drink,â I said. âWhat do you want? Some juice? Soda?ââJuice!âJust like that, he was cheerful again, the broken toy completely forgotten. I lured him some juice and snacks, and then he sat down and amused himself with eating. I watched him from the kitchen, happy beyond reasoning. The last few years werenât easy for any of usâbut the
CyrusI stopped in front of the door to the shitty apartment. I knew somebody had to be inside because the baby was crying. I could hear it. They didnât leave him alone, though. They never would have. By now, Kolton was dead. When Brock stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life, Iâd backed away but not without giving it much thought. He guaranteed me that he would kill Kolton as he should have years agoâthe way he said it was a confirmation of everything. Our whole story. The reason why Nox left. Why things turned out the way they did. Nox had been right. It was all Brockâs fault. I wasnât sure how to feel about that for a while. Now, I was sure that I didnât hold it against him. It happened a long time ago, and maybe I was too grateful for everything he did for me to judge him for something he clearly regretted doing. Maybe I always knew that Nox was right. Deep down, Iâd suspected it. But Brock had always been a solid figure in my life, even more than my parents we
NoxAll around us, there was chaos. I could positively say that neither of us expected an ambush from Kolton. Heâd taken everything from me, so what else did he want? He wasnât here; only his men were. The one thing that saved us was that we still had a few weapons left or we wouldâve been screwed. Also, Vivianâs people joined us right on time. I could tell by the way they were fighting that they had been thirsty for Redwood blood for a long time. Men. Women. Kolton didnât discriminate. He had every able-bodied person in his pack fighting us. The only person that wasnât here was him. Coward. What else did I expect? He loved to watch shit burn from afar. He always had other people doing his dirty work. âWhere are you Kolton!?â one of the guys who had been with Vivian asked out loud as he slammed someoneâs knees in with a baseball bat. âWhere are you hiding!? Come and face us, you fucking rat!âCould I say we were winning the fight? I wasnât sure. Many of the people here were strang
Eva I cracked an eye open and saw that the sun had risen. I didnât move for a very long time. I was so tired. Tired of feeling pain. Tired of having to wake up with horrible memories of the night before. It was then that I prayed to the goddess for strength. I couldnât do this anymore. There was only so much one could take and Iâd reached my limit. For a moment, I lied on the hard rocks of the mountain and wished for death. Iâd never done it before because all my life, I was raised to believe life was a gift, but my body was tired of fighting. I wasnât sure how much time passed. I was fully conscious of everything going on around and within me. The sun was high in the sky but it was a bitterly cold day. I knew that my only solution would be to shift and I had to do it quickly or Iâd die of hypothermia. However, I couldnât find the strength to even roll to my side. Then, something incredible happened. I thought about the baby that had been inside of meâthe baby Iâd been carrying f
Nox Time was going very slowly in this house of horrors. Someone must have injected me with poison and left me sitting on this bench to die because how else could this burning be explained? No, I remembered now why I felt this way. It was when Vic told me that Eva had been taken that I became paralyzed with shock and fear. Despite all our attempts to make sure she wasnât recognized and found by Kolton, we lost. The baby hadnât been taken, and Vic was organizing to have him taken home. He was a healthy boy, so why not? The doctor didnât have any protests. What it sounded to me was that Kolton wasnât interested in the baby. If he were, he wouldâve been gone too. As for the doctor, I couldâve crushed his skull in with my cane and wasted time interrogating him, but there was just no guarantee that he was the one who even placed the call. Maybe it wasnât him. In fact, there was a very high likelihood that it wasnât him but someone else on his team. Maybe one of the nurses. He knew wha
CyrusI couldnât believe my fucking eyes. DidâŚdid this man just push Eva off a cliff?I looked at him slowly, shock rooting me to the spot. I felt like I was losing my fucking mind here. There was no way that I just witnessed this. I looked back at Leonora and saw that she was walking toward us. I watched her stride past me and peer over the edge of the cliff. She looked around and then nodded, seemingly satisfied. âGood. Now, we can get going.âSomething about the way she said those wordsâmaybe it was how casually she said themâmade me break away from my trance and race toward her. The man noticed this and immediately rushed to intercede me. Leonora peered back at me with unbothered eyes. Once the man touched me, I made a fist and punched him directly on the face. He staggered backward, getting closer to the edge. It was then that the malignant thought to push him crossed my mind, and I felt every muscle in my body force me to do it. I lunged at him and shoved him as hard as I cou
EvaOpening my eyes was a painfully slow process. I had such a hard time figuring out where I was. Every time my eyelids parted just a little I was being blinded by bright lights. I tried to put a hand over my face but found that I couldnât move. Why was this so familiar to me?I also had this feeling like I was moving even though my feet werenât touching the ground. It was so strange that I felt a sense of urgency that helped me insist on opening my eyes despite the brightness. I looked to my left and saw someone grabbing the side of the bed I was on while looking straight ahead. This person was wearing a dark denim jacket and a beanie. I didnât recognize this person. Then, I looked to my right and saw shoulder-length hair and a familiar build. Cyrus?The fear I felt was enough to make me open my eyes wide and realize that I had to get away from him. I tried to turn on my side and felt a lot pins and needles all over my body. I felt no pain, so that was the good thing. However,
Nox Fear was a living, breathing thing inside of me. I couldnât focus on anything else other than getting Eva to the hospital safely. At first, it hadnât been an option. We all knew how Kolton was well connected to the hospitals in this city. It was the one place where he had the chance to catch his enemies in a vulnerable state. However, Eva hadnât regained her consciousness and she was still bleeding. It was enough blood to stain her clothes but at least it wasnât like she was hemorrhaging. Even so, we didnât know what was wrong with her and Kyra didnât know how to help us. I wasnât going to risk her life. When it came to keeping her safe and healthy, I was ready to face anything. Besides, there was a chance that Kolton wouldnât know about this. âHurry up, Vic!â I said, agitated. He was in the wheel and I was behind with Eva. Ursula was in the front seat. Only one car filled with our people was following us. It was crazy how our numbers had been reduced so drastically. Sweat w
EvaA few hours earlier...Nox had been getting better and better with time. In the first week, he could only stand, now, three weeks later, he'd been taking several steps without falling. He claimed that he was now feeling sensations in his legs, which meant that he was finally healing. This was a miracle. I was so busy helping him that I barely noticed the time flying. Every day was an accomplishment and I was so proud of him. My heart swelled with pride. Nox wasn't a quitter; every time he fell, he'd get back up. It was so inspiring, watching him achieve this. It brought tears to my eyes every time I thought about it. Everyone was happy for him and supported him in any way they could. It was great to see everyone working as a team. It was clear that they respected him very much. All his fears concerning people looking down on him because of his condition disappeared and I hoped he understood that he was wrong. We never talked about it, though. It was better to leave those fears