“Don’t touch me,” I warned, but of course they rather obeyed Thane’s command.The guard dragged me away, and the little distraction was easily forgotten. The executioner continued, and I lost count.Thane seemed mad at me. I had made not only him but also Axel suffer, all because I couldn’t walk past the damn room. I got what I deserved.I felt slightly awkward due to Thane’s impolite words – he hadn’t spoken to me like I was his Luna, more like I was some annoying, clingy and bothersome person who didn’t know when to react and when to refrain. Still, I couldn’t help the surge of guilt I felt.Maybe Thane was right; punishing me will make things easier to bear. Lost in thought, I realized the soldiers had stopped before a room.I pulled away from them to walk in, only to get shoved into the room by one of the soldiers. I landed on my butt. I was mad at everything. I rushed for the exit again even if I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape them, only to have the door slammed in my face, a
Axel let my mother in.If only he knew that she was the last person I needed. “I would give you both some space,” Axel said.“Are you here to give me some more lectures, mom? There’s nothing you say that would change the decision I had already made, so maybe you could make this easy for the both of us and leave,” I said to her even before she could say a thing. Maybe Axel hadn’t picked up on the info the last time; my mother had been a total... I couldn’t call her a bitch, but she had acted very much so, making me feel like I was a naive and ignorant child who couldn’t see that she was headed in the wrong direction. Yet she knew that all I did - I did for her and for us.“Will you at least hear me out?” My mother asked“Depends on what you have to say, mother, if it’s along the lines of ‘he is too dangerous for you’ or your very favourite, ‘a life of slavery back in the Windborne pack is better than a life here’, then I’m sorry—but not so sorry, I wouldn’t be interested in...” “I am
I did need my mother’s visit more than I thought I did and after that, I was finally calm enough to fall into a restful sleep.I didn’t know how long I slept, but something awoke me; I felt like I wasn’t alone in the room. I snapped my eyes open to see Thane watching me, like practically sitting on a stool close to the bed and watching me like a complete creep. Thane was the last person I expected to see.My heart slammed fast against my rib cage, threatening to escape the walls.“You scared the living day light out of me, Thane,” I said. He didn’t say anything, still staring at me with those dark amber eyes. Could I still be dreaming?. I pinched myself to make sure. I did feel that. This was no dream.“I like watching you sleep,” he said, as if just realizing it. “I like so many things about you. I like when you are shy and embarrassed, but what I love most is watching you in tears. You cried for me, and it was a fucking turn-on.”“That’s very creepy Thane, even for you.” He was turn
I and Thane lay side by side on the bed in a comfortable silence.“I’m feeling very generous now. Ask me a question; you might get an answer,” he says, and I peck up. I had so many questions to ask, and he was finally giving me an opportunity. I might as well take it while it lasts.“Why did you pick me?, you would have had others easily... What is your intention, and what are you going to gain from this?”“So this was the first thing that came to your mind?. Ask any other question, but that,” he says. That wasn’t fair. But I quickly moved on, I didn’t expect an answer either.“Your parents had been present at the time you were being...” I paused; I didn’t want to say the word punished again, so I moved on, hoping Thane got the clue: “Freya did nothing. I feel like there is something you haven’t told me, something between your parents, particularly your mother and you.”Thane watched me silently. “That’s another question I can’t answer.”“Were you planning to ever answer a question?”
Thane paused. For the first time, I saw a flicker of emotion on his face.“She was dead. And in her hands, she held this paper. It was a message for me. She had explained the true reason she turned me down earlier: she hadn’t wanted me close because she knew I would be hurt in the end. She had this sickness, an issue with her blood; she said it could never be cured. I did notice how thin she got, but every time I asked, she came up with a story, maybe factoring it all to stress, and I believed her. I felt like a fool for not looking deeper. This illness had been eating her out for a while, and that was the reason she settled out alone; she didn’t want to hurt anyone. She said she had been selfish for wanting me and selfish for having me, even if she knew it would leave me broken in the end.I had been so furious at everything. At myself for not realizing it soon, at fate for pairing me with her as a mate, and at her for keeping it away from me, maybe I could have helped her if only sh
I could do anything just to see that other part of Thane again; the softness in his eyes had done something to me – something I couldn’t explain. But whatever I had seen two days ago was gone; now he was back to his cold self.Maybe he did regret telling me about his past, because for the past two days he had barely exchanged words with me, or maybe it was just me being paranoid and he was simply busy and stressed. His injury healed fast too, and now the marks looked weeks old, even though it had been barely two days. Axel hadn’t visited either, and I worried if something was wrong. Either way, I was not planning on remaining in our room all alone today; I was going to pay a visit to the training grounds and maybe explore a little too.I got dressed, ready to leave, when a knock on the door interrupted me. Axel?I rushed to the door and pulled it open, and my face fell visibly when I noticed who stood there. Beatrix.What the hell was she doing here? So far, I had imagined that this r
TRIGGER WARNING: CHAPTER CONTAINS EXPLICT CONTENTS!!“How long do we have to walk?” I questioned; the walk down the tunnels was almost fifteen minutes already. Where exactly was she leading me to? But I was too far into this to back out.“It usually doesn’t take this long if I am alone, but I have to match pace with you,” she says. “We are close.”Finally, we stopped before a huge door.“What is this?”“Very curious, aren’t you? You will soon find out.”She pulled the door open with some effort. And then she walked in.The room was the biggest I had seen so far, its size rivalling a hall. But that hadn’t been what appalled me.They were so many cages, as far as my eyes could see, lined horizontally and inside the cages where.... girls.“What is this?” I questioned again. It could be the dungeons – every pack had this, but I doubted it; something about this place seemed off. The girls backed away from the cage the moment we walked in, their silent cries filling the room.“The Nightshad
I had wondered why they were both absent for the past two days, if only I knew what they had been busy with.I sobbed silently. I would never survive here. Now I doubted that Thane would keep to his words of letting me go; maybe I would end up there, just like those girls.I had never felt so afraid in my life.I rolled over Beatrix’s offer in my mind; she was willing to help me escape this place, but she couldn’t help my mother. I shouldn’t leave my mother behind, but I was so afraid, I didn’t want to be here for the next minute.I jumped to my feet when someone walked in; it was Thane. I quickly wiped off my tears.“Why are you crying?”“Is nothing?” I lied, my heart pounding. Now I knew what he could do; I would never be able to sleep on the same bed with this man. Everything about him frightened me, but what was more alarming was how indifferent he was, because this was his life. Even after what he had done – what he had been doing, he could still sleep without being hunted. He wa
SIX MONTHS LATERThane lifted me up from the bed, carrying me bridal style to the bathroom."You know I can walk on my own right?""You are pregnant Riley, you should be treated like a princess, so now stop arguing and let me take care of you."I let Thane bathe me, after that he wrapped a towel around me."I'll get your clothes." he said, walking to the dressing room, he returned with a grey shirt and a pair of his sweatpants."This are your clothes.""Well I don't think anything in there would fit, I need to get more clothes your size.""Are you calling me fat?""No." he said with a smile. "You are beautiful and those breats keep getting deliciously bigger.""Thane!""What, I'm a guy i can't help it."I got dressed and Thane returned me back to the bed. "I am enjoying this more than I should." I admitted."Then enjoy it while it last.""No work today?" I asked him."I've covered all the urgent business, now I can spend more time with you and my baby.""Thane... I wonder if you are
I watched the soldiers as they paid tribute to one of their own, Axel. The pack members weren't the only ones present. Many from other packs came to honor Axel's burial, and despite how I had promised myself I wouldn't cry, I couldn't hold it in.I stared up at Thane, the sadness clear in his eyes, but never once did he shed a single tear."How do you do it?" I questioned him, "How could you be so strong even in a time like this?""If only you know how much I want even a few minutes of weakness, but look around you, everyone is mourning; in times like this we need to stand strong because it gives others hope." He said, and he was right.I spotted Alpha Zack, Alpha Cain, Alpha Pius, Alpha Trent, and Gabriel—the new Alpha of the Raven Clan pack. My mother had to stay behind to oversee the affairs of the Raven Clan.Nina, Axel's cousin's sister, who was rarely ever around was also present; her eyes swollen and red. I walked to her and stood by her side."He was a brave man." I said to he
Thane needed some time to digest everything I had told him; I could understand that.After I had explained to him everything that happened, he walked to me and drew me in for a warm embrace, but the moment ended too quickly, and then he... left.I didn't assume that the fact that he knew the truth meant I was forgiven, but at least I was able to tell him everything and it was a huge relief, now it was all up to him.There was a knock on the door and I headed to answer it, letting Daisy, one of the head healers in."The result is out," she says, a bright smile on her face.After the dream I had about Axel, I felt like he had been trying to tell me something when he said, 'If you go through the sacrifice, it wouldn't just be your life you would be sacrificing.Call me paranoid, but I noticed how weak and tired I had been feeling recently. I blamed it on everything that had been going on, but after the discussion I had with Thane, I went straight to Daisy and told her I needed a pregnanc
I walked into Axel's room; I hadn't been here since he... passed.I would have broken down in tears if I had any more tears left to cry. The longing in my heart grew worse. I pulled open his drawer, and a small smile stretched on my lips when I saw the book 'Barbara's fantasies'. He did find it in the end, but he never kept it in the library. I guess I wasn't the only one who found this book quiet... interesting.I took out his clothes from the dressing room, and I inhaled them deeply. I closed my eyes, and in that moment I could pretend he was still here; I could pretend that everything that happened was just a very bad dream.I couldn't let go of his clothes. I laid on his bed, his clothes fisted in my hand, and I fell asleep.Twelve hours more was all the time I had to make my decision, and still I hadn't changed my mind; Axel deserved to live....I knew I was dreaming, but yet it felt so real. Axel lay on the green grass, shirtless. I stared at him, and he smiled."Take a pictur
Axel lived on in my dreams but waking up to the painful reminder always left me in tears. There was this hole Axel had left behind, one that I feared even time couldn't heal.I didn't know exactly why I was paying the sorceress a visit, but I knew I needed to right my wrongs. This place was exactly how it had been when I and Nick arrived here for the very first time. I knew I shouldn't be here and yet... yet here I was. I pushed aside the tendrils, which came together to form a curtain. The sorceress sat as still as a statue on the moss-covered altar. "Welcome back, Queen." She said, turning to me. I stared into those ancient-looking eyes that seemed to know everything."You know why I am here," I said to her. "Yes, I do, but I am afraid I cannot help you.""Please...""You seek to fight fate, to fight nature itself. You cannot revive one that is already dead.""You can't or… you won't?""I can't give life, Queen.""But there is something you can do, isn't there? I will pay handsom
I sat in front of Thane's door the whole night, pleading and begging, but he never did come, and finally I rose.I had lost him, and it took me this long to see that. I hadn't only lost Axel; I had lost Thane's love too.How did my life turn into this? One moment it all felt like a fairy tale, one I didn't want to wake up from, and now it was a complete nightmare.Some days I questioned the point of my own existence; I had no use remaining here, and yet, I didn't want to leave, maybe because I still had hope that one day Thane would forgive me.I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, ignoring the knock on the door. I didn't want to see anyone right now, and I knew for a fact that it wasn't Thane. Whoever was behind the door persisted and it got annoying. I rose from the bead, heading for the door. I pulled it open, the frown on my face that disappeared the moment I saw my mother.She hugged me, knowing exactly what I needed. I couldn't help but be a child again and cry in her arms. "
I stared at the mirror; I looked like a mess. I sprayed some cold water on my face; a knock drew my attention.It was a maid."Can I help you?" I questioned."The Alpha sent me to pick up a file he left here. It must be that one." She said, pointing to the file on the table. She walked in, picking it up."You know what? I'll hand it to him." I said, taking the file from her hand. She seemed unsure."As you wish Luna," she said."Uhmm, where is he now?""The third room on the fifth floor," she said, and I nodded."Got it.".I knocked on the door to his ‘new’ room, and after a minute the door was pulled opened. Thane stared at me."What are you doing here?" He asked like I was some complete stranger, an intruder, but I couldn't blame him."I brought your files."He collected it, about to slam the door, but I placed a foot in the threshold. I pushed the door open and walked in."You've been avoiding me lately." I said to him, but he gave no response. He took a seat, opening the file and
The next few days I spent them with Thane; he was still in coma. The healers had to extract all of the toxin the elders had passed into his bloodstream; only then would the healing process begin, and from their report, he was doing well, but he still had a few more days to recover.I wiped his face with a wet towel; next, I gently brushed through his hair. I placed a kiss on his forehead and then his lips. I knew that when he awoke, things wouldn't be like they used to. I returned back to my room to take a bath before joining him once again.I couldn't bear the solitude of my room; I always ended up breaking into tears. I hadn't realized I was sleeping until the sharp intake of breathe jolted me awake. Thane was awake.The healers had said he would be down for a few more days, but he woke earlier than they had predicted; my heart pounded for the first time in excitement; I was so scared, I couldn't lose him too. "Thane!" I cried out, running to him to embrace him, but his cold star
A rock fell inches away from me, and I only managed to dodge it. Axel was losing a lot of blood. I knew what was about to happen, but I didn't want to think about it. It just couldn't."Riley, please listen to me." he said, and I turned to him; sweat coated his face and his breathing was laboured. "I can't make it, Riley. You know that, but if you go, you can save yourself and save Thane.""Please, Axel, we can make it alive, the both of us.""Look at me, Riley," he pleaded, and I did. "Kiss me."Tears rolled down my eyes as I leaned to him and kissed him. I wouldn't let him go; I just can't. "I love you, from the very first time I met..." he took a long breath. "But you were never mine, and yet that didn't stop me from wanting you. Don't blame yourself for this; you, Riley, were the best thing that had ever happened to me.""But Thane... he hates me.""No, he doesn't; reason with him; make him... make him understand." Axel coughed out blood. "Go now, get him, and leave this place.""