[Tyler’s POV]I kept stealing glances at her, unable to take my eyes off her ever since we had set off on our journey back to the Crescent Pack.“Careful. Don’t make us crash,” she warned, motioning at the abandoned vehicle that was lying in my path.I quickly turned my attention back to the road. A lot of thoughts were going on in my mind, and I had a lot of questions to ask, but I didn’t even know how to begin the conversation. She just sat quietly, staring out the window and not paying me any attention.“Why?” I finally asked.She turned to face me slowly. “What do you mean?” she inquired.“Why did you save my life?” I asked. “Don’t say it’s because you felt obligated to since you’re my mate. I’ve been nothing but horrible to you, so why did you save my life?” I asked.She shrugged. “Perhaps, I would have felt relieved if you had died, but I would never have forgiven myself because I had a chance to save you. Besides, I was only returning the favour you gave me eight years ago,” sh
[Tyler’s POV]Just like that, Nivera had turned into my personal bodyguard as she was always walking behind me and I didn’t let her out of my sight for one second, well, except for at times like these when she needed to use the bathroom.I glanced at my wristwatch. What was taking her so long? I wondered.Suddenly, I heard voices. She was speaking to someone, and I hurriedly tapped on the bathroom door, feeling more apprehensive than I thought I would. It was as though I wasn’t afraid of her leaving the palace, but more afraid that she went back to be with the vampire. How they had met each other, I still didn’t know, but he was the first man to bring me to my knees and I despised him with so much passion. I could only hope for an opportunity in future to get rid of him.Nivera opened the door and stepped out. “I’m sorry I took too long,” she apologised upon seeing me.I looked away from her and opened the bathroom door wider, trying to see if anyone was in there, but no one was.“Who
[Nivera’s POV]My eyes shut close the moment the Alpha stepped inside the bedroom and I pretended to be asleep, when truly, I had waited till he got back before deciding to go to bed.“I know you aren’t asleep,” he said in a husky voice as he stood directly in front of the mattress where I laid.I could tell he was staring at me with that piercing gaze of his and gave in, opening my eyes instantly and sitting up. “Good evening, Alpha Tyler,” I greeted.“Why did you pretend to be asleep?” he fired at me instead of responding to my greeting.“I thought you wouldn’t want to see me awake by this time of the night,” I replied.He said nothing in response and merely sat on the edge of the bed. “You know what tomorrow is, right?” he inquired.I nodded my head in the affirmative. “Yes, your highness. Tomorrow is the full moon, the day I would say yes to your rejection,” I answered, appearing unperturbed.He stared at me for quite some time before speaking again. “You don’t seem sad about it a
[Nivera’s POV]At the mention of my name, I jumped and looked up at the Alpha with fear and worry.He smiled. “There you are,” he said, coming close to me.I looked to my side and discovered that Lucien had disappeared into thin air right on time and I had been worried over nothing, but before I could sigh in relief, I realised I had reached a decision and he couldn’t just go since I hadn’t given him an answer yet.“I… um… I’ll be right back,” I quickly said, unable to think of anything else and was about to dash out when the Alpha pulled me back.“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, looking infuriated.“I have something to take care of. I’ll explain it to you later,” I said in an urgent tone.“Is this about the vampire?” he asked, taking me aback.I stammered, unable to say a word and just looked up at him with a perplexed expression.“He was here, wasn’t he?” he demanded, but I didn’t respond. “Answer me!” he yelled so loudly that the walls shook and the sleeping horses awo
[Tyler’s POV]Since I could do so much as walk, I had always gotten anything I wanted. In any room I stood, I was the best. Whoever I wanted to crush and step on, I did. Whatever Pack I wanted to destroy, I did it. So, it wasn’t strange that I always expected things to go my way every single time, for me to be better than everyone else and for me to always bring my enemies to their knees.However, I experienced a setback like no other after setting off to go and find Nivera in order to kill her and make sure I was free from her. For the first time, I had met someone who I would admit to only myself that was better than me in every way I could think of. Height? He stood at four inches taller. Wealth? He obviously had much more judging from his expensive taste, huge mansion and luxury cars. Strength? I hated to say it, but he was better. For the first time in my life, I was brought to my knees by an enemy and not just that, I was made into a joke and tortured mercilessly to the point wh
[Malia’s POV]Tears trickled down my eyes as I puffed out smoke from my nostrils and mouth. Tyler had betrayed me. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t seen it coming, but I had just chosen to be blind and had ignored the warning signs.I poured more whiskey into the glass and gulped it down all at once. I closed my eyes, trying to forget the abominable act I had just seen with my two eyes, but the harder I tried to forget, the more it all replayed in my memory. I couldn’t just forget about it, I couldn’t command my mind to focus on any other thing. It was clear and vivid in my memory… everything; the moaning, the grinding, the screams, and I had just stood there by the window in utter dismay.It wasn’t just sex; he had made love to her, and my heart ached because I knew that we had never shared the same kind of raw passion or intensity despite the number of times we had slept with each other.The sky had darkened and the full moon was slowly emerging from the clouds. I looked up from my bedr
[Lucien’s POV]As I put the bottle of alcohol on my lips, Celeste snatched it away from me and I looked up, throwing her an infuriated glance as if to ask her what her problem was.“Give it back,” I said, stretching forward my hand.She tossed it in the trash can and glared furiously at me, but it was I who should be doing the glaring. I ignored her and just stood up from the stool and went to the refrigerator to take out another bottle of the bitter alcohol.“Is this why you cut short our mission in Manhattan? To stay here and drink yourself to death like a poor pathetic loser?” she inquired, with an underlying tone of disgust.I ignored her and walked back to the stool, belching loudly.She frowned and looked like she wanted to puke. “Lucien, snap out of it. Forget about the alcohol and go and speak to your woman right this minute,” she said in a commanding tone, standing in front of me with her hands akimbo.“I don’t have a woman,” I replied, opening the bottle and taking a sip fro
[Tyler’s POV]I sat in the throne room, trying to read the report the warriors in the West had sent to me, acting like everything was okay and pretending to be calm as I waited for Malia to show up. It had been nearly an hour since a guard had been sent to get her, and I was getting extremely anxious since she hadn’t shown up yet.“Malia, I know this would sound annoying, but…” No! No! No! I shouldn’t start that way, I said to myself, practicing how to break the news to her.“Um… there’s something I need to tell you.” No, that sounded terrible. Perhaps, I should be exact and direct instead of speaking like I lacked confidence.I was still in the process of coming up with a suitable way to speak to her when I caught her scent. I quickly composed myself, rested my back and sat up straight on the throne, acting all engrossed with the report book even though I couldn’t comprehend anything that was written there at the moment.I heard her come in and raised my head, then as she met my eyes
[Nivera’s POV]Six months had passed since Tyler had died and our lives had taken a turn for the best. I no longer had nightmares because I knew he was never coming back, and I got to spend the rest of eternity with the only man that had ever shown me love, even when I didn’t deserve it.“You’re deserving of much more than my love,” Lucien said, planting a kiss on my lips as he rested his head on my thighs, as though he could read my thoughts.I smiled, running my fingers through his hair, as my eyes scanned the beach, wondering where the kids were.“Mum, dad, look what we found!” Luca and Lucille chorused, running towards us with their hands full of shells.Lucien sat up, and we both stared at Lucille in disbelief.“Mum? Dad?” Lucien asked, surprised, even though I nudged him not to say anything.She fiddled with her fingers nervously. “Is… is it okay if I call you guys that?” she asked, wide-eyed.“Of course, we’re your parents after all. We’re just… we’re just shocked becauseit’s
[Lucien’s POV]There was fury evident in my eyes, and even the ever-so courageous Tyler knew he was about to taste my wrath, as I charged towards him with my claws out and fangs bared, ready to tear him limb from limb before my rage could reignite.“Stay away from me,” Tyler barked, and nodded at his people who had been staring the whole time to come to his rescue.“For Alpha Tyler,” his most trusted warrior yelled, but the people looked away.“How many have died? How many more will die? We just managed to start getting our lives back together, but for some reason, our very own dear Alpha wants us to risk our lives for him. Hell no! I have children and I must stay alive to protect them,” the Gamma stated.The crowd murmured in agreement with her statement.“Once I get out of this, each one of you would die in the most painful manner, I promise you that!” Tyler raged.Elder Gaius laughed. “That won’t be possible. Thanks to the witch, Jocelyn, we now have our separate lives and identiti
[Lucien’s POV]It had always bothered me… how people asked who my son bore resemblance to even when Nivera and I walked down the streets together, but the fact that Luca wasn’t biologically my son hadn’t hurt me like the way it did today. It hurt worse to see the smirk on Tyler’s face and he seemed extremely excited. Why wouldn’t he? No matter what I do, he’ll always be Luca’s father.“Careful now, do you think Luca here would forgive you for getting rid of his true father?” I heard Jocelyn’s voice ask, and I looked up to see her holding Luca tightly by his hand.Instantly, I became numb and stopped dealing Tyler with blows, as I staggered towards where he was and ran my hands all over him to make sure he was okay.“What are you doing here, big guy? Are you fine?” I asked him.“Yeah. Mummy followed after you when you left and some ladies came to forcefully take Uncle Ryle and myself,” he explained.Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me, and before I could turn around, I was injected w
[Tyler’s POV]It was an open arena, just within the estate. I paced around in full-blown panic. I didn’t mean to, but somehow, I was afraid. The vampire had been the first person to ever win me in a fight, and till date, I could never forget about how he had mercilessly tortured me and had only let me go because of Nivera.A whiff of her scent caught my nose, and I turned around. Malia was standing right behind me, wearing a flowing red dress, with a worried look written on her face.“Greetings, Alpha Tyler,” she said, with a small bow.“What do you want?” I retorted in a low growl.“I just… I just wanted to wish you good luck,” she said.“You’ve done that now. You may go,” I told her.She didn’t leave, but just kept staring at me. “Must you engage in this fight? It’s been several years and we just started having peace. Can’t you just not fight the vampire?” she asked.I knew it came from a place of concern, but I was infuriated by her words. “Why? Do you also think that I won’t be ab
[Lucien’s POV]I just got off the phone with one of the surgeons and was informed that the date of Celeste’s surgery had been fixed and all the preparations to ensure the surgery was successful had been put in place.A smile spread across my lips as I skipped up the stairs and knocked on her door gently, waiting for her to usher me in. I could perceive that she and Ryle were inside, and unless they were making out or something, they should have answered and opened the door already.“Hello, I know you’re in there. Can I come in?” I asked.What seemed like ages passed, and there was still no response, so I simply just opened the door and walked in.To my surprise, Celeste laid on the bed, looking like a completely different person. No, it wasn’t just the ugly third degree burn scars that still looked hideous despite all the treatments she had undergone, including steadily taking her potions. She looked older, and wrinkles were slowly starting to show on her face, particularly on her for
[Tyler’s POV]“How is my precious Carl Washington doing today?” Jocelyn asked as she stepped into the study room. I had been expecting her presence after seeing the terrestrial ball she called a portal dancing next to the door.I shrugged. “I’ll never get used to that name,” I said.“It’s okay. I can just call you Tyler if you’re more comfortable with that. It’s not like the authorities are always present to monitor everything we have to say,” she explained, then sat down on a stool beside me and eyed the map I had been working on.A month ago, all the documents had been processed and finalised, and I had been able to move to New Orleans with my family, as well as the other members of the Crescent Pack who had also acquired new identities.The estate I had been able to acquire was more than enough to house the remaining members of our Pack, and slowly, we had been adapting to the human way of life and maintaining our territory.In the near future, we were going to transform more human
[Nivera’s POV]“Let me fucking go. Do you even know who I am and what I can do? I’m a fucking hybrid, you psychopath,” I said, as the stranger with the familiar hand grabbed my arms and forced me to go with him.“Oh, shut up. You’re nothing without that useless vampire, and guess what? He’s no more. I’ve gotten rid of him, and you’re mine now,” he said.“Bold of you to assume that you can easily get rid of Lucien O’Hara. And I don’t belong to you. I am no one’s property,” I said to him.He pushed me to the ground, making me fall to my knees, so that I now knelt before him, after which he began to drag me by the hair and kick me for no reason. I didn’t know why, but at that point, I was unable to make use of any of my hybrid abilities despite how hard I tried to.“What did you do to me? Why am I so weak? Why can’t I use my abilities?” I asked, trying to break free from whatever was holding me back.Even in the dim light, I could see a smirk appear on his face. “You should stop trying s
[Tyler’s POV]Meeting with the witch, Celeste, had made me understand how I could save the lives of the people I had left. If the other werewolf communities could find a way to go through my Palace gates, it meant that we were not safe even in the Palace that was expected to be a safe haven.When she spoke about Lucien, the vampire whose face still haunted me in my dreams from time-to-time, I remembered the world I had gone to when I was in search of Nivera. It was a whole different world, beyond the knowledge of any of my werewolf counterparts, and it got me thinking. If I could get my people to that world, they would be safe.Since it appeared that they were mostly humans, nothing was stopping us from migrating there and pretending to be one of them, while we were werewolves in secret. I had no idea on how to go about it, but it seemed to be the only way out for all of us.I couldn’t just let the Crescent Pack go extinct like that. I needed to do something, anything at all, to save
[Lucien’s POV]I was stroking Luca’s hair as we watched an episode of his favourite cartoon while Nivera made Mac and cheese in the kitchen. All of a sudden, I began to perceive smoke; like something was burning.“Babe, are you on the phone? Check on the food. I think it’s getting burnt,” I yelled from the living room.“The food is all right, but I can also perceive…”“Lucien! Nivera! Help!” It was Ryle’s voice and it came up from his bedroom upstairs. Luca and I exchanged glances and Nivera dashed out of the kitchen, looking as confused as I was.“What’s wrong?” she asked.“I don’t know, but let’s find out,” I said, then told Luca to keep on watching the cartoon while his mum and I went upstairs to see what was going on.The door to Ryle’s room was wide open and the smell of smoke grew even stronger. Words cannot explain the horrid sight I met once we both stepped in, which registered a kind of shock in my brain, and I knew instantly that I would never get over the painful look on Ce