AURELIA~~The six elders of the hidden Pack; Mia Lu, Jeremy Dunns of the Beta family, Susanna Rios of the Gamma Family, Ross Hart of the Tracker family, Lori Hale of the Mender family, and Otis Bay of the Elemental family; allowed Raiden to be brought into the hidden pack. Although Jeremy, a headstrong man in his forties, and Otis whose personal ability has something to do with green life didn't stop grumbling about Raiden’s presence in the pack. “Lori can mend him. She can heal him faster than all of us combined.” Otis seethed as Raiden was placed into the purifying lake. The Menders were superior to regular Healers. While Healers and medical doctors in other packs work hand in hand to repair, sometimes leaving scars, Menders heal in a way that leaves no scar. For instance, if a wolf loses an eye, healers can just stop the bleeding and heal the wound but Menders can give the eye back. Of course, their ability is limited and takes a lot of energy as they weren’t the goddess.Lor
LARISA’S POV~~Despite getting crowned as Black Fur’s Luna, I still wasn’t a mate to Alpha Tristan. Heck! He wouldn’t even look at me nor has he tried to touch me after the last time he tortured me. Why do men have to make me beg them to make me their woman? It was easy with Jake and the mate I sacrificed to get initiated into the witches' coven when I was in the human realm.But it had never been easy to get Raiden to fuck me. The few times he took me to bed after I separated him and Aurelia, I had to charm him heavily as seducing him wasn’t enough to make him want me.It would have been easier to do the same with Alpha Tristan who thinks I’m just his puppet if my power hasn’t hit the bottom. I was low on power and I needed a charge. A boost. In fact, I yearned to have a permanent source of power and that could only happen if I killed someone and used their blood or got marked by a strong Alpha Male. And Alpha Tristan was the next available option. “How do I make him sleep with
ALPHA TRISTAN’S POV~~I knew what I had to do yet I couldn't bring myself to do it. After the mating Ritual, all I had to do was complete the ritual by being intimate with Larisa but I had never seen myself in bed with her. Aurelia was the only woman who had caught my attention like that. She was the one I yearned to take to bed, make love to, mark, and hold in my arms.It has always been Aurelia.I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss her or that I haven’t been thinking about what life would have been if she was the one I got married to… the one I made my Luna, instead of the witch I had to settle for. Dolf had also stopped talking to me ever since I tied the knot with Larisa and I could only imagine what would happen to us if I took the next step and mated with her–“Alpha…” Louis's voice resonated, disrupting my thoughts as he entered my home office.I sighed, “What now, Louis?” I presumed he was here to disturb me like he had been doing these past few days. He has tried to get
LARISA’S POV~~Aurelia? I was so close to losing my mind when I heard Alpha Tristan call for that wretched soul when he set his eyes on me. Well, I did ask Louis to get a strong sedating drug from the pack healers and make sure Tristan consumes more than enough. As an Alpha, his metabolism was more active and if he didn’t have enough, he would snap out of this trance before I could successfully make him mine forever.I didn’t want that. “I’ll distract him and get him to the room. You’ll have to take it from there and if you fail and get caught, the cross will be yours to bear.” Louis had warned me after we concluded on how to set Tristan up for what he believed was the greater good. Who cared about that? Not me. All I cared about was riding this gorgeous, deadly, and huge chunk of an Alpha until my legs shook and I crashed against him. As that thought flashed through my mind, I could feel myself getting excited while Tristan held me tight against his chest, kissing my neck as
ALPHA RAIDEN~~I didn’t know how long it took my unconscious mind to finally register the soft and small hand on my face. I didn’t know how long my eyes had been closed but I remembered my crazy experience in the forest while I was searching for my family. I recalled getting bitten by a snake after exhausting my strength and I remember ripping the damn creature apart but that didn’t stop its poison from weakening me even more… I knew that much, however, I didn’t know what or who the hand on my face belonged to.Could it be another creature? Was I still in the wild? I thought as I tried to open my eyes. I believed I was still in the wild all alone and maybe with another dangerous creature until my eyes fluttered open and my fuzzy gaze met with a familiar face.“Ka-Katie…” I muttered, my dead daughter’s name rolling off my tongue as I looked at the illusion before me. Snake poison could do that to one’s mind?I was hallucinating–“Mama, he’s awake.” My son’s voice smacked my eard
AURELIA ~~ Hurt flashed through his eyes but I didn’t fret. Saying no to him was the right thing to do– “Even though you have been nursing him for the past four days? You didn’t leave his side and the kids had to be brought here because of that.” Inara called me out. “Caring for a sick man doesn't mean I’d leave with him, Ina–” Inara scoffed, “He isn’t just a sick man, though. He’s our ex-mate and the father of our kids.” “Emphasis on Ex, Ina.” I retorted stubbornly. The kids have been just as worried as I was ever since they found out that their dad was in the pack and unconscious. They stayed with him while Lori did her best to mend his soul but she couldn’t. Lori said to me, “You are the only one who can heal his soul. Just like you’re the only one who can heal your soul.” She told me that two days ago after she assured me that Kyle’s lung disease would no longer be an issue and that my heart was getting better by the day. I had abandoned my training since I coul
AURELIA~~Katie and Kyle were beginning to get used to the uniqueness of this pack. They weren’t exactly surprised when Raiden’s eyes closed and his body went limp together with Susanna’s. My heart was racing as a result of curiosity but it was more of uncertainty. To my surprise, Katie held on to Raiden’s free hand, caressing it with gentility. Clearly, she was no longer mad at her Dad but it was quite the opposite for Kyle who wouldn’t leave my side. “Can we let him stay, Mom?” Katie asked a question I knew she would throw at me. However, before I could answer, Kyle grumbled with a pout of his own, “We agreed not to forgive anyone that hurt Mama, Katie. Why are you breaking our promise?” “Because Mom taught us to forgive and Dad is sorry, Kyle. Can’t you feel it?” Katie muttered with conviction which made me look at Mia Lu with questions in my eyes. Since when did Katie start feeling Raiden's emotions? That’s highly impossible unless holding Raiden's hand while he was holdin
ALPHA TRISTAN’S POV ~~Anger was the only emotion I had been feeling for the entire week. It was zapping through me and eating me up, leaving no space for any other feeling or thought. I felt disgusted and couldn’t look at myself in the mirror–“But you still enjoyed the sex.” Dolf scoffed. My wolf had become the biggest opponent I had to deal with but the feeling of betrayal was bigger than the tension between my wolf and me.“Oh, you feel betrayed?” Dolf chuckled with mockery. “I wonder what Aurelia would be feeling–” “She is dead, Dolf! She died. She can’t feel nothing.” I snapped at my wolf. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I have been a mess since I woke up in my bedroom with a smile on my face and with the assumption that I had just made love to Aurelia, only to open my eyes and find Larisa snoring softly and peacefully in my bed… In my fucking arms. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I actually enjoyed the sex with her… In my defense, I thought she was Aurelia. Throughout
AURELIA~~A loud cry escaped my lips as my body and mind woke up. Or so I thought. I recalled crying to bed and I understood why that happened but nothing prepared me for the kind of cry that slipped past my lips as my eyes fluttered open, taking in the darkness in the room. It wasn’t morning yet. My body stiffened as I considered the possibility of this being a dream.But as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I felt the sensation that made me cry in the first place. I felt it again. In the same spot and just as prominent as the previous one. Rather than cry this time, my breath hitched and raw pleasure traveled up my spine, leaving me panting like I had been swimming laps in the longest pool in the realm. Was there even a pool–My thoughts, mind, body, soul, and spirit froze at that moment as realization hit my core, dragging me into reality as my eyes adjusted to the dark room. Inara resurfaced in my mind and uttered one word I thought I would never hear her say again… I m
AURELIA~~“Why can’t we spend the night here at home, Mama?” Kyle asked with an attitude that he definitely got from his sister.“Yes, mom. Why do we have to spend the night at grandma’s? I want to stay here with you and Dad.” Katie backed up her brother. Iris who was standing behind the twins placed one hand on her heart, “Ouch. Grandma has feelings, you know?”Together, they muttered an apology to Iris who stared at them with the same love she had in her eyes the first time she saw them. Despite Raiden’s state, Iris had maintained her confident aura. Although we all knew she was struggling, she didn’t let it consume her like I once did. I gazed at my kids, thinking of a better and less 18+-rated explanation– something that doesn’t say “I’ll be having sex with your daddy tonight in hopes of waking him up so we can all live happily ever after.”I eventually settled for telling a white lie to protect my kids' innocence. I told them, “Grandma miss having you guys over for the night
AURELIA~~Today makes it eighty days since the war and eighty days since I failed to wake Raiden up. Today also made it five days since I found a way to stop blaming myself for Raiden’s condition. I had gotten to the stage where I accepted and affirmed that I did all I could to save him and his beating heart was evidence. Heck, I gave him more than half of my own soul and didn’t recover for weeks after the war. Heck, he was the one choosing not to wake up and I was so over blaming myself. “Say something, Lori,” Iris stated, urging Lori who had come into the house to examine Raiden after I cleaned his body and dressed him up.I had given the responsibility of examining Raiden to Lori. After all, at some point, I thought he wasn’t waking up because I was doing something wrong. Lori sighed, her gaze shifting from me to Iris and then to the other people in the room– Andrew, Susanna, Tamia, Seth, Otis, Benji, Jeremy, and Pheobe. She looked at every one of us before she chimed, “This
AURELIA~~“I thought we would take it all out on him?” Inara etched into my mind as I slowly made my way home after seeing Tristan. She was referring to the anger still very much alive within me. “You have so much left. I suggest we visit the witch tonight–” I stunned myself and Inara when I said, “I think I’d rather stay at home with my family tonight.” Usually, or more accurately, most nights, I visit Larisa’s cell and our at my anger on her. But I didn’t have the will to hear her cry tonight, not that she has suddenly become less deserving of torture but my kids deserve to see me before going to bed tonight. They deserve their mama.“They do, don’t they?” Inara affirmed sadly. I knew my wolf was worried I would break down when I saw Raiden just lying in bed again but I was determined to be with Katie and Kyle even if that meant I had to stare at Raiden– evidence of my failure. A part of my consciousness pumped these words into my mind, “Doesn’t Raiden deserve to feel your p
ALPHA TRISTAN~~“You should take your leave.” The he-wolf who smelled like a strong gamma seethed at me. “She doesn’t want to see you.”Although I had been standing by the border of Dark Moon Pack for hours, I intended to remain there until I got to see Aurelia. “C’mon, Gamma Seth. You know we mean no harm.” Louis, who had officially resumed his duties as my Beta after I was reinstalled as Alpha, said to the strong Gamma. “This is a peaceful visit.”I simply listened as my Beta negotiated with the Gamma, feeling more like Louis was the Alpha. I would be lying if I said I haven’t felt useless these past few days. After regaining consciousness, I found out that Louis had become more influential, not only in my pack. Obviously. “Your ego is bruised?” Dolf mocked me. But his assumptions weren’t exactly the case. I just couldn’t wait to get back my strength and become myself again. “This isn’t about your intention, Beta Louis. It’s about my Alpha and Luna's wishes.” The Gamma answere
AURELIA~~Perhaps it was anger or hate, I couldn’t tell. Or maybe it was both. I was angry that Tristan was back to his feet even though I permitted Lori to send some Mender to Black Fur Pack to help him after Beta Louis took the oath, signed the peace treaty, and pleaded for help. I was so angry that my mate had to fall and Tristan got to rise again even though he didn’t deserve it.And for the hate, it was simple– I hated Tristan.Although my hate for Larisa was greater, Tristan wasn’t far from being another Larisa to me–“Talking about that bitch. She has had enough peace, don’t you think? It’s time we pay her another visit.” Inara snarled into my mind, fueling the hatred in my heart. My wolf had taken a hobby in tearing Larisa apart since she had become our prisoner– one that I wasn’t ready to kill just yet. Each time we pay her a visit in her cell, we torture her until death flashes before her eyes, leave her to healers to heal her, and return to start the process all over
AURELIA~~Life was different now. Before the war, I simply trained to get better and increase our chances of winning, but now, I am the leader of two packs and have more duties than I could have imagined. Life was different but one thing remained constant– my life was difficult.“Are you with me, Luna?” Andrew’s voice called me out of my self-pitying thoughts. I blinked rapidly, composing myself despite my desire to just go home, be with my kids, and–“Do you want to take the day off? I can handle the pack affairs while you recuperate.” Andrew offered and Seth who was sitting on the chair beside him nodded in agreement.But to be honest, I have rested enough. It’s been two months after the war and while a lot still needed to be fixed, the pack was recovering better than I thought it would, thanks to the help I have gotten from both sides– White Shade and Dark Moon.Andrew and Seth have been helping with Dark Moon’s affair and the elders of the White Wolves have been very helpful
ALPHA TRISTAN’S POV~~As my eyes fluttered open, I could have sworn that my body had forgotten what it meant to be alive. Opening my eyes was harder than it should ever be for anyone but adjusting my eyes to the brightness around me was way harder than opening them. I let out a groan when I tried to lift a finger and pain consumed me. My entire body ached. I felt so heavy.“Alpha. You are awake.” Louis. That was his voice but it sounded more like noise to me as his voice sent a sharp ring through my aching head, making me groan again. At the moment, I didn’t feel like an Alpha. It took forever before I could see clearly and Louis's face was the first thing I saw. He was hovering above me, looking at me like he was scanning me for damages. “Thank the Goddess. I was beginning to worry that you might never wake up–” Louis stated, smiling. But seeing him so close to me sent flashes of what I knew was the past through my mind. I recalled everything. How he joined forces with Larisa
AURELIA~~“We can’t give up like this, Relia. You shouldn’t give up like this. Mend him. Do something.” Inara uttered, urging me even though Raiden was gone. Do something… I couldn’t count the number of times I had heard those two words today and I hated the sound of it, mostly because I couldn’t do anything. “Yes you can, Alpha.” Tamia’s voice echoed in my mind. I didn’t know how she managed to reach me despite the turmoil my mind had become but she did and her voice would have given me some sort of peace if I wasn’t mourning my mate… My teary eyes found Tamia and Lori beside me, making me wonder how long I had sat in the dirt with Raiden’s body. For how long has his heart been crushed right there in my presence? For how much longer can I keep this devastating news from my kids–“Oh, my kids.” I cried out, undiluted misery settling within my being, making itself at home. They just got their father. How do I tell them it would be just us from now on? How do I manage this rea