Louve left her cousin's study with a choking feeling in her chest. Immediately she closed the door behind her, she slid to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, sobbing. First my mate and now my cousin, she thought.She knew that Logan could be very stubborn about a lot of things, including sharing information about his personal life, much less the life he shared with his mate. But she did not expect him to say all those hateful words. People said things they really mean when they are angry or sad. And she knew that Logan had been very angry with her.She would help him get the warriors he needed. Not because she had completely forgiven him for his hateful words, but because she knew how many lives would be at stake if she refused to call her father for help. She thought about the little children and women of the pack and sighed. They should not be let to suffer because of their alpha's stupidity.She raised her head as she heard voices and stood up abruptly before anyone c
Logan rushed through his breakfast hastily. It was the day he would travel down south to Texas, where his uncle's pack was.The room was devoid of Aella as Logan walked into it. He sighed with relief and closed his eyes as he viewed the empty room. He had been praying not to meet her in the room; it seemed that the goddess had answered his prayers today.He was not ready for the emotional strain he knew would be present between them if he had met her in the room. In fact, he wasn't ready for her at all. He wasn't sure he could hear the hurt and anticipation he would see in her eyes if he came in. She would want him to hug her, give her a kiss or at the very least, a nice parting word. But he was not capable of showing her any form of love now. He wanted to create as much emotional distance between them as possible. He did not want to get hurt by her again.He walked over to where his brown traveling bag stood, already packed by a maid. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulders,
Once they were through the driveway, the road curved, like an artist wielding a pen. Logan could see a fence that stretched for kilometres on both sides. Inside the fence was more flat, grassless land. However, evergreen trees and different species of cacti had been planted at intervals. Several gardeners were at work on the trees, pruning their leaves with shears.Logan could imagine his cousin as a child, running through the sharp cacti and other evergreen plants. No wonder she loved dangerous things and enjoyed taking risks, he thought.Here and there stood small stone fountains from which flowed water. The fountains were shaped like rearing wolves, and the water spilled from the wolves' mouths. Logan's sharp wolf eyes could pick up some inscriptions on the side of the fountains. They were written in Latin, but Logan knew enough of it to decipher what it was saying."For The Greater Good of Lycans. Wow." Casper whispered beside him.The driveway ended in front of a large mansion pa
Aella's POVThe days were going as terribly as Aella had anticipated after Logan left for the south. On the night after he had left for Louve's home pack, she had skipped dinner, locking herself up in the room to cry herself to sleep. Fear and hopelessness had gripped her heart with its merciless claws, and she had felt like she would never be right again.Even in her dreams that night the fear hadn't let her go. She had tossed and turned on the bed as nightmares had populated her dreams. Black swirling smoke had morphed into faceless beasts hunting her down in a dark wood, and the face of the beasts had in turn transformed into Logan, standing far away from her with a deep dark chasm between them.Her tattoo had burned like that day Logan had been torturing the rogue wolf. And coupled with the fact that she was feeling the physical strain of having being so far away for him for so long, she felt as though she was hanging by a very loose thread.The next morning, she had woken up feel
The same chauffeured car that had driven Logan and Casper away brought them back. It was on the same day that the maid had seen the tattoo on Aella's shoulder.Logan quickly stepped down from the car with his beta Casper. He was in better spirits than when he had left. The mere two days that he had spent away from his pack had left a physical and emotional strain on him. And the strain he had gotten from being physically separated from Aella had been worse. On the journey down south, he had suffered a terrible headache and moodiness. The physical strain had reduced tremendously the moment the chauffeured car had driven past the border of the pack.Right now, it felt good to be back.He crossed the pack house lawn from where the car had been packed and walked to the front door, where Jesse his gamma was waiting for him."Welcome back, Alpha Logan. And a good afternoon to you." Jesse said, all smiles."Good afternoon to you too, Jesse. I trust you're good?" Logan asked."Yes, I am, Alph
Logan watched in utter disbelief as the rest of the Head Wolves stood up from the foyer chairs and stood behind Elias in support. He looked into all the faces of the men behind Elias—some of whom he had helped at one point or the other in their lives— and for the first time ever, the hope in his heart died. What was the use of trying to protect people who would turn on him the moment they heard a scandal?Within two days that he had been away, Elias had managed to gather the majority of the Council to his side, to poison the hearts of the pack members against him. Logan knew that Elias was a very dim-witted man, but he almost admired the man's courage and smartness at this point. Only a smart man could manage to do that within the space of a few short days."We, the people of this pack have come to a conclusion that having you as alpha will only do us more harm than good in the long run." Elias said, his face lit up in a confident smirk. "We urge you to step down, Alpha, and to do so
Logan woke up the next morning feeling like he had been run over by a tractor. His whole body ached, and his head was banging like a tribal drum. His eyes were prickly with unshed tears and his throat was extremely dry. He groaned and rolled to the other side of the bed. He flung his arm out, searching for any warmth from Aella but he felt none. He frowned and opened his eyes which had been gummed shut by sleep, and sat up. The arm which he had flung to the side was stiff and full of pins and needles. He groaned and flexed the arm a little bit, trying to resume blood flow to it. "Fuck it." He muttered under his breath and tried to move out of bed but was attacked by a sharp pain to his head. His vision swimmed as vertigo came over him and he closed his eyes for some seconds, trying to regain his bearing. He felt like a narcotic patient going through withdrawal symptoms. Perhaps, I am going through withdrawal symptoms, he thought. One of the few things he really cared about was the da
Aella's POVAella quietly left the room after Logan fell into another sleep. She realised that she needed a bit of fresh air after her cuddle with him. Being his mate and sharing in his emotions had taken a huge toll on her own emotions. It was an automatic thing, almost unavoidable. If Logan was feeling pain, she would feel it too. She'd had to set aside her own burdens and carry his own. Now that he was asleep, she was free to organise her thoughts again.She walked downstairs to the foyer while looking around warily. Since her tattoo had been discovered by that buck-toothed maid, she had been extra careful and wary, carefully watching and guarding herself against danger. And so far, she hadn't heard or seen anything that could point to her tattoo becoming public news.But it seemed today was going to be a different story, because as she came down the staircase into the large glossy foyer, she saw some maids moping the floor and discussing amongst themselves. Her alert wolf ears cau
Everything was peaceful again.Logan stood at the border that separated his pack from bare land. He slowly looked around, taking in the scene of the battle that had happened so many months ago now. The sight was still as vivid as though it had happened just yesterday. He could still see the Rogue King and all his numbers standing mere meters from where he stood, the sounds of clashing metal and yelling men, so familiar and neverforgotten, the scent too, of blood and fear and adrenaline. Everything still looked and smelled and sounded the same, yet so much had changed since then.He sighed and looked up into the sky, raking his hand through his ponytail. It was almost springtime already; the whole forest reminded him of the change in season. The tree trunks dappled in the morning light and the shadow of the leaves on his face. Some of the trees were already bringing out leaves and flowers. The air smelled of over-ripe berries, fading blossoms, and a thousand or more flowers dazing hi
Logan screamed, and several things happened at once."Attack!" Casper yelled, and the whole of Logan's warriors roared and raced toward the Rogue King and his army. The rogue army equally chanted in a loud voice and beat their weapons against their shield, then ran at the oncoming warriors.Both armies met in the middle of the grassy land. The sound of their collision was terrible and harsh to the ears: the screeching of iron on iron as shields met, the barking and snarling of the frontline wolves as they tore at each other, the painful yells of dozens of Lycan warriors as they were stabbed or speared or torn apart to death.The bodies of Logan's gamma and the spy from the rogue pack were lost in the commotion. Logan barely had time to access the situation of the battle or go after the Rogue King. He had eyes only for his mate. He spotted her in the middle of the stampede, lying on the floor as her life seeped out of her body.He ran towards her after she slipped to the ground before
Logan dismounted from his stallion and walked forward to the edge of the border in preparation to meet the Rogue King. Every angle of his face was set in determination as he looked forward, the spring air caressing his regal face.Then suddenly, he spotted a speck of black coming forward from about a mile forward. The whole army behind him was so silent that the alpha could hear his beta breathing lightly beside him.Casper looked at his alpha. “Logan—” he said, then broke off, stiffening all over. A moment later Logan heard it too—a heavy, rhythmic pounding, and laid over that, a sound like several bonfires crackling. The speck grew and elongated little by little until it was a line of army, running towards Logan and his pack. It took the alpha several long moments to understand the noise.“The Rogue Army.” Casper whispered. Following his gaze, he saw them, coming closer and closer like a spreading shadow, the Rogue Wolf pack in all their numbers. There must have been hundreds of th
Logan had been waiting for a long time.He was standing in the part of the woods that faced the border, with a hundred and fifty well-armed warriors. The whole forest was silent and tense, almost as though all the animals were joining in the wait for the arrival of the Rogue King.He had sent Casper ahead with a couple of other warriors to scan the land ahead and send word when they noticed the arrival of the Rogue King. He had told his beta to wave a red flag when coming to indicate that battle was near. So far it had been four hours since he sent Casper out, and he was feeling as harried and on edge as a father expecting his newborn child.He was seated on a white stallion, bred specially for the use of alphas in the pack. His hair was packed up in a man bun and he was dressed in black fighting gear. He had smeared black paint across both of his cheeks, as well as all the other warriors that stood behind him. He raised a hand and pulled at the tight material on his neck uncomfortabl
Aella's dreams made no senseFirst, she was in the foyer of the pack house in Logan's pack, walking down the makeshift aisle that was meant for Louve. She looked sideways at the crowd of well-wishers and instead of the faces of Logan's pack members, she saw grins and sneers from the members of the Rogue Pack. She looked down and instead of a white dress, she was putting on a black one: lacy and tattered, like a Bride of Death. Someone was leading her by the arm, and when she looked up, she saw that it was her dad.Impossible, she had time to think before they got to the makeshift altar, where the Wolf Priest was waiting for the both of them. She heard low chants from the members of the Rogue Pack behind her but she paid little heed. All her attention was focused on her groom who was standing with his back to her, looking very much like Logan. Maybe this dream isn't so bad after all, she thought. But when the groom turned to her, she was staring not at Logan but at the face of the Rogu
Logan and his gamma walked back to the pack house in relative silence. Several thoughts kept running through the alpha's mind. At least now, Aella's name would be cleared, albeit not completely. She would still be seen as a rogue wolf that was sent to spy on them, and the only reason Jesse was assigned the position of a spy in the pack was that Aella had failed at it by getting herself mated to him.Jesse was the last person he had expected to be the spy though. He stole a sideways look at the man as he dragged him forward by the collar. He was one of those silent, sidelines people, those you'd never know they were there until they spoke. Logan had seen a lot of himself in the man and had admired his knack for staying level-headed even in very tough situations. That was the very reason why he had made Jesse his Gamma.Logan's mind flashed back to when they had been younger. While Casper had been his best friend, Jesse had been that boy that sort of tagged along anytime they went on th
Staring at Logan was the familiar face of Jesse, his Gamma."What the hell are you doing here? And hooded too?" Logan asked. There was a nagging, almost uncomfortable feeling about this situation, but he tried to push it off. Jesse's deep blue, almost black eyes that stared up into his were wide and full of everything suspicious. His eyes kept looking behind Logan's back as though he was expecting someone else to show up."Can you get off me, alpha?" Jesse said, squirming uncomfortably. Logan stood up with a grunt and even stretched out a hand to the man, who took it and stood up from the forest floor, dusting his clothes.Everything about this screamed suspicion, but Logan paid no heed to it. He wanted to trust his gamma beyond any reasonable doubt, but the man kept giving him every reason to doubt him. The hands that dusted his clothes were shaky; only someone who felt guilty about something would fidget so much. And the clothes—Logan hadn't noticed them before—he had a black turtle
The flashlight in Logan's hand illuminated several meters of the cave stone, upon which hundreds of intricate drawings had been scrawled. Logan quickly closed his mouth as it had been hanging open in shock, and moved further inside the cave.The sight that met his eyes was unbelievable. He truly had never seen them before. It wasn't really the fact that they were unique that intrigued Logan so much, but the fact that this cavehad stood right in the middle of his pack's borders and he hadn't noticed it, not once.Granted, the cave was hidden in the side of the mountain, but not once had a wolf from his pack ever stumbled upon the cave entrance. It was baffling and confusing to Logan.Wow. This was so not what I was expecting, his inner wolf said in amazement.He raised the flashlight high and looked around. The wall to his immediate right had more inscriptions than drawings. Logan moved closer to the smooth cave wall, trying to decipher the writings. The writings had been made with a p
After their short meeting, the three of them walked out of the study. Logan's spirit was much lifted after talking to his two best friends. His mind was still full of worry about Aella and how she was doing, but he was also happy that he seemed to be making progress on one thing at least.He remembered something that his father had once told him, that the fastest way to forget about something painful was to drown that pain in work. He had been extremely sad about Aella's kidnapping and had worried for her safety, but at least he had been able to do some work with his beta and cousin and make headway in the process. It had drowned his worries about his mate for a few precious minutes.But now thoughts of Aella had returned and had started haunting him again. He felt as though he would lose it if he didn't find a way to clear his head.Logan escorted Casper and Louve to the door of the dining room, where they were to have dinner. Louve turned to her cousin. "Come and eat dinner with us.