...‘Just some regular whipping’, Thane had said, but he had lied. The metallic steel-coloured whip was very much unusual. I couldn’t help but wonder how someone could create an object like this with the sole purpose of using it on people. The whip was a dark, shining metal, and the tip had been split into five. The elders passed the whip to the guards, the same ones that had too many piercings. They dipped the metal whip into the contents of a basin.“What is that?” I askedAxel was silent for a while, and that alone was enough to tell me that whatever it was, I wouldn’t want to know. “Wolf’s bane in its liquid form. Leave it up to the elders to devise things like this,” Axel said, and I could sense the anger in his voice.Thane was right; I wouldn’t be able to bear watching this. How could I stay and watch such cruelty?I knew what wolf’s bane was; it was one of those many things I’ve heard about a lot of times but never actually seen; it was rare for a good reason; this was a werew
“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
The dark blue dress would look beautiful on Kaida. That was the first thought on my mind when I saw it in the store. I knew I had to get it for her..Kaida was on the training field, she’d taken up Aric’s position. I believed it was another way to honor his memory. She trained the soldiers just as he had done… before everything went downhill. I had to admit, she was very good at it. Even the soldiers seemed to be enjoying the session with her."Your weight on this leg," she instructed, adjusting the soldier’s stance. I didn’t miss the way his gaze flickered to her ass for a split second before he quickly looked away, likely fearing he’d be caught staring. The possessive part of me wanted to pry out his eyes for even looking, then drag her into our room and fuck her all day long for looking so damn sexy.The longer I watched, the more something dark stirred inside me. She was too damn close to that guy, and those leathers—hell, they were so tight, her ass was practically on display. I
The Rogue leaders had waited. When the two days were over, I invited them into the meeting room.A maid brought over bottles of beer, and Edna was the first to take a deep gulp, the others following soon after. The maid excused herself.“Edna, Skale, Kev, Gal, and of course, Timothy. Welcome to the Nightshade Pack.”“I didn’t remember keeping you waiting this long when you paid us a visit.” Edna said to me."I’d hoped you’d get impatient enough to leave."Edna chuckled; it was silent and humorless. “Unfortunately, we’ve come to speak on an important matter.”“I assumed as much.”"We allowed a peace treaty with you once, and now we’ve come to discuss the terms.""I made you a promise, Edna. I told you that if you couldn’t keep the rogues under control, there would be war. This time, something tells me you were the brains behind the earlier attack.""Yes. I was. Like the rest, we believed you were gone, and we did what anyone would do—we attacked.""But I guess you were wrong.""Sorely.
ALEXANDER’S POVIt was almost unnerving how similar she had looked to Kaida. Her voice sounded so much like hers—I had hesitated, and in that moment of weakness, Cynthia escaped.It all made sense now. I could recall that incident. When Kaida had walked into the room, looking all seductive, I had given in so easily. And then—she ‘d lifted the dagger to my chest. I hadn’t realized it wasn’t her. For a fleeting moment, I had even thought the weapon was just another tease.But then she’d stabbed me, and too late I realized something different about her—something I hadn’t picked up on earlier. Her eyes. They were different, not because they weren’t the same grey I knew, but because it felt like they belonged to a stranger, not the woman I had known and fallen for.Kaida had taken the blame, but of course, she could never have done such a thing. She’d never have gone through with it, and I couldn’t believe I was just realizing that now."It’s not your fault. Cynthia excels at those kinds o
"I know the truth," I said to Julia, finally speaking up.“What truth? Don’t tell me you still fall for his falsehoods—you should have learned your lessons by now.”"He tried to protect me. He kept me safe. That’s more than you’ve ever done?"“Protect you—you really think you are safe here with him?”“Safer than I ever was back in the castle.”“I taught you better than this, Aliya. I taught you about bad people who would want to taint you, but you were always the curious type; I should have known.” She said, I didn’t miss the fact that she addressed me by my name."I remember everything you taught me, Julia. Thanks to you, I know more languages than I’ll ever have the chance to use in my lifetime. You spoke endlessly about good and evil—you painted yourselves as saints, but you all are far from that. I know the truth now. Your plan was to sacrifice me. That encounter—all of it—was a lie. I was nothing but a vessel to you.""And do you think you mean anything to him?" she asked, her g
My thoughts drifted to Ash. Could he have been stupid enough to come back here with Daemon present?Something told me Daemon wouldn’t be pleased about me seeing him behind his back.A small sense of relief washed over me when I realized the footsteps approaching weren’t from a man. There was something feminine, something familiar about them.It was Empress Julia.Of course, I would recognize the sound of her footsteps; I had spent over a decade of my life listening to them.Daemon seemed genuinely surprised. “How did you find this place?” he asked."I can't say. You see, it's a small secret, Trian—I guess that's the name you stole."Daemon’s eyes drifted from her face to the object she held in her hand: the Nexus Amulet. She had somehow gotten it out of the transparent glass container—perhaps that explained the noise that had alerted us we weren’t alone."Give it to me," Daemon all but growled."Tsk, tsk. Not so fast."Daemon looked like he was about to lunge for her."You won’t get t
I shouldn’t be thinking about Ash’s words, but I was. No matter how many times I tried to shove them out of my mind, they always found their way back."Dinner is served. Come eat," Daemon announced. Staring at him, I could almost forget that he was a demon; he just seemed so… human. But when you looked deeper into those dark blue eyes, that’s when you noticed something off—something that screamed predator.“I’m not hungry.”“That’s a lie. Come with me,” he said. I might be hungry, but I was in no mood to eat, yet I followed him. He had already dished out the food for me and, as usual, none for himself.“Thank you.” I muttered, taking a seat. The smoky scent of spiced grilled meat filled the air. On any other day, it would be enough to make my mouth water and my stomach rumble, but this time, I could barely force myself to eat more than a few small pieces.“Aliyah,” Daemon called, and I looked up at him. “I can make something else if you don’t like this.”“It’s not that. I’m just not h
ALIYAH’S POVI stared at the empty room, once occupied by the human girls. Now, the chains that had been used to bind them were the only sign that they had ever been here.After the incident with Tasha, Daemon wasn’t willing to take any chances. He had let the two cousins return to their homes.When Daemon wasn’t home, I had the whole house to myself.I returned to my room to take a quick shower before his return. I peeled off my clothes and walked into the shower. I was done in less than twenty minutes. I was about to step out of the bathroom when my reflection caught my eye. I paused, staring at the figure in the mirror that was mine.My eyes were the only thing alive; every other part of my body seemed to be fading away. My silver hair didn’t look as healthy, and my pale skin was even paler. I spotted the bite marks marring my skin. I didn’t mind them at all; maybe I was getting just as crazy as Tasha, but I liked seeing those marks on my skin; they reminded me of him, and so I ha
I watched as Aric’s casket was lowered into the ground.All the memories were buried along with him. Guilt ate at me, knowing he shouldn’t be down there.Many who knew Aric were also present. He had once been a beta to the Dawn pack, then a commander to the Nightshade Pack. He was loved by many, but the strangest thing about life was how fast people tend to move on.Two hours later, everyone was gone, back to their lives. A few months from now, some would forget him. In a few years, others wouldn’t even remember that a man named Aric had once lived among us. He’d be just another tombstone like the rest. No one was ever truly too important—life always moved on.I stood before Aric's grave, eyes puffy and red, tears rolling down my cheeks, and Alexander stood beside me. His eyes were on me.“You know, he had a sister. I had no clue about her; she was the reason he betrayed me; he wanted to save her.” I paused when I realized who I was talking to. “Sorry, I know you’d always hated him.”
Derek had been taken away from the pack after our fight. A small part of me felt bad for him. In his pack, he had been worshipped, but now… everything was about to change—especially the fact that he would have to rule as an Alpha with only one arm.If his story taught me anything, it was that we often fail to appreciate what we have. He had a pack, people who loved him, but like every other Alpha, he wanted more. He was an honorable man, and for that reason, I had let him go his way—even after his demeaning words about making me his ‘whore’ when he took over the pack.“I have to admit. You did very well with the pack.” Alexander praised, and I couldn’t help the swell of pride I had felt in that instant.We were currently in the bed, none of us wanting to leave the room or each other’s company.“Most of the time, I didn’t even know what I was doing.”“Well, that makes the two of us. You were born a leader, Kaida.”"No, I wasn’t. I might be the daughter of an Alpha, and I might have ha