“Don’t be afraid; you’ve come to confess your sins and plead for mercy from the god of light; you have nothing to fear.” Julia said to me, and I nodded, but my eyes remained on the ground.High Regent Gregold rose to his feet and walked to my side.“Together, we are gathered here with the god of light’s Chosen; she has made a mistake and is here to atone for her mistakes.”“Go on.” Julia encouraged, and I finally looked up.“I had disgraced myself, this house, and everything sacred. I had brought shame and reproach; all the while I thought I was right; I thought I was missing something, but I was wrong. Everything I had ever needed was in here, but I failed to see it. I had been blinded by my own selfishness. Empress Julia helped me see my mistakes and…” I broke down, sobbing. Crying wasn’t a hard task for me; it was easy to let a few tears slide down my cheeks. “I feel so ashamed of myself; I was weak. I do not deserve the god of light’s mercy, but I plead for it. I promise to never
ALEXANDER POV**NINE YEARS AGO**My mother, Riley, stared at me from a distance. I could see the longing in her eyes—the need to be close to her son. I saw her almost every single day—except for the times she locked herself away in her room, and yet, there seemed to be this distance between us; we could never have a normal mother-to-son relationship. I knew that. The bruise on my neck still stung, a wound inflicted by her—but I knew she hadn’t been in her right mind. I could tell the moment the switch flipped and her demon took control. I was strong enough to fight her now, but I’d rather die than hurt my own mother. The pain from each bite was bearable, but the thought of raising a hand against the woman who gave me life—that, I couldn’t endure.I waved awkwardly at her, and she smiled, teary-eyed.I walked towards her; her eyes widened in panic, and she turned around returning to her room, fleeing down the passageways, but I followed after her, and before she could shut the door on
It had never gone this far before. This was the first time she had nearly drained me dry, and I knew it would not be the last.I awoke in the healing room; my vision blurred, but I could faintly make out my father’s figure standing beside me.“Where is she?”“She is in her room.” he answered.I felt a slight fear—not for myself, but for her. Something was about to go terribly wrong. And I was right.She didn’t visit, not even after I was discharged from the healers. The scar on my arms was another addition to the others, but I really didn’t care about the scars; if anyone asked, I usually came up with some crap story about how I had been bitten by a wild animal.After a whole month of not getting even a glimpse of my mother’s face, I went to visit her. I knocked on the door to her apartment, but there was no response. The bad feeling that had been growing stronger since I woke up in the healing room was even worse now. Stepping back, I broke down the door.I walked into her apartment
ALEXANDER POV**PRESENT**“Thanks for coming.” I said to Sebastian who had his arms wrapped around Kate’s waist.They hadn’t been hard to find—maybe because they wanted to be found.“It is my pleasure; I am glad you reconsidered.” Sebastian responded.“I am glad to see you once again, Ethan.” Kate said. She didn’t seem to notice her slip; she had called me by the very name I abhorred. Acting had never been difficult for me; in fact, it had become second nature. But for some reason, around these two, keeping my emotions in check felt like a struggle. Still, I had made a promise to get through this, and I intended to keep it.“Welcome to the Nightshade pack.” I said, forcing on a smile that didn’t feel at all welcoming.I led them into the pack house and straight to the meeting room.“An apartment will be assigned to you—stay as long as you need," I said. Just as long as you keep out of my way and I don’t have to see you.“Son…” Sebastian began, but he must have seen something in my ey
I returned to my private chambers. I wanted to see Kaida so badly; she only could take away the tension I felt.The moment I walked in, I spotted her; she stood completely naked, her back, or rather, her ass, to me. I felt myself harden instantly. All I wanted to do was bend her over and sink my cock deep into her warmth; I yearned for her, and damn, was she my darkest obsession.She turned immediately when she heard my footsteps.“You’re back.” She said with a smile, looking slightly nervous.“You’re naked.” I pointed out.“Yes, I am. Would you prefer me fully clothed?” She asked innocently, but there was nothing innocent about this girl, named Kaida.She walked to me, swaying her hips; I watched her breasts bounce with every stride she took. gods, she was going to be the death of me. All the tension I felt disappeared, and all I could think about was her. She had that power over me. I felt my wolf pushing at my boundaries; he wanted a taste of her too.She stopped right before me, a
I could tell she wasn’t sleeping—something was on her mind."You asked me once if I believed in you," she began, and I turned to her."I remember that," I said. I could never forget her words: 'I will always believe in you—even when others don’t, even when you don’t believe in yourself,' she had said.“Now I want you to do something for me; it might be too much to ask.”“What is it?” I questioned, there was only little I wouldn’t do for her, if only she knew that."I want you to believe in me too. I want you to trust that I’ll make the right decisions." I stared at her, wondering what she wasn’t telling me, before I could question her; she spoke on, perhaps to change the topic. “How did the meeting with your grandparents go?”“I spent half the time contemplating if I made the right decision inviting them in. Sebastian had a lot to say; he believes my ‘ability’ is somehow tied to my stepbrother, Daemon.” I paused, realizing Kaida might not know much about my stepbrother.“I know Daemo
The first thing I noticed when I awoke was the empty bed—Kaida was not by my side.So many times, I had spent my nights with women and left before they even woke; I had never once thought about how painful it was for them until now.Kaida wasn’t in our apartment either.The second thing I noticed was that it was already well past noon.I had been sleeping for hours—that was unlike me. I was never a deep sleeper; even the smallest noises were enough to wake me. The real question was, how had she managed to leave without me noticing? And how the hell did I sleep until noon?I rose from bed, putting on a new pair of pants and an ash grey shirt, and I walked out of my room.She was not in the training grounds either. There was only one person that would know where exactly she was. I stopped by Aric's room and knocked. There was no response.Well, I tried.I forced the door open, breaking the lock. I didn’t care that I was invading his privacy—I didn’t care what I had to invade to find her
KAIDA’S POVMy plan had worked perfectly, even though at every step I expected it to fail.I had taken a dose of the sleeping potion. I had drugged myself just to get to him, but I also had the antidote, a capsule hidden in my palm.I felt guilty even as I kissed him; he had given me so much that night, and I was going to hurt him in return. I had no right to do that, and yet I did. The moment we were on the bed and I felt the drug working its way into my head, making me warm and drowsy, I swallowed the pill, freeing myself from its grasp. Alexander, on the other hand, didn’t seem the least bit affected. I feared the potion had no effect on him.I forced my breathing to steady, forced myself to relax, and somehow drifted into a light sleep. I was still very aware of the time. Alex had finally fallen asleep, I didn’t think I would get a chance like this ever again.I slipped from his firm hold a few hours before dawn. He stirred—damn, the drug wasn’t as effective on him as I had hope
“There’s a slight chance we aren’t dealing with a pack,” Daemon said. “Thank you for this information.”“Wait, you’re leaving me here? I just proved how important I could be.”“Yes, indeed. If you get any other information, just reach out,” he said, then turned around. He was really leaving.“Fuck you.” I muttered beneath my breath.“I heard that,” he called out. “I intended for you to hear that!” I said, but of course he was already gone.My gaze fell on Sebastian, still standing on the other side of the wall. He raised both hands in surrender before backing away. Frustrated, I stomped off..Kate arrived at the pack a few hours later. This time, she brought along her luggage.“You won’t really need all those for a few days.”“No, I won’t. But I’m not planning to stay for just a few days,” she said, walking into her room. I followed with two more of her luggage. “I’m moving into this pack,” she said finally, and I couldn’t deny how surprised I was at that.“Really?”“Yes,” she said,
I walked past the patrolling soldier and Phil, who followed after me.“I thought you said you were leaving? I was worried you’d do something rash, so I came after you.”Good thing he and the other patrollers hadn’t witnessed what happened earlier.“Plans changed. Guess I was about to make a rash decision — but I changed my mind.”“Are you okay?” Phil asked, inspecting me.I knew I didn’t exactly look my best — I’d spent god-knows-how-long in the healing room, then ran straight to pack my bags, dressed in nothing but the white gown the healing wardens had supplied. My eyes must have been red from crying. But every other person in the pack looked the same, if not worse.They were all mourning Alexander—I realized.Many cast pitiful glances at me.“Why did he have to go?”, “He was too young to die,” “He ‘was’ the best Alpha the pack had ever had.”Everyone had something to say about Alexander.I could hardly believe I’d run past all these people without noticing a single thing. On the wa
KADIA’S POVI woke up in the healing room.A pair of blue eyes watched me — Daemon. He looked… different, and it wasn’t just the new haircut. There was something about him that made him seem more human."Daemon," I called; my throat felt so dry.He seemed to have already prepared for that. He passed me a glass of water, which I quickly emptied.Everything came flooding back — the news about the plane crash. It became harder to breathe.“Kaida. Calm down.”"He's gone — he was in the plane when it crashed."I yanked out the tubes attached to my arm and rose to my feet. The movement had been too abrupt; the room seemed to spin.I felt hands guiding me back to the bed. I couldn’t hold in the tears.“He shouldn’t have been there. I made him go, and now…”“Stop.” Daemon said, cutting me off. “He is not dead. I visited the site; I didn’t find anything that indicated he was among the ones that died.”“You were at the site?” I asked, my heart speeding up with renewed hope.“Yes. The moment I h
ALEXANDER’S POVMy blurred vision slowly cleared, and I realized I was in what looked like a small, empty room.The wall facing me was made of thick, transparent glass.I couldn’t tell how they managed to get me in here—there was no window or door, only a narrow slot likely meant for passing food and letting in just enough air to keep the ‘prisoner’ alive.I could only assume there was some kind of hidden entrance.My hands and ankles were bound with thick silver chains.The chains felt excessive—I could barely move a muscle.More wolfsbane than I’d ever consumed in my entire life had been pumped into my system, completely immobilizing me and filling me with this nauseating, sickly feeling. I hadn’t realized I was shivering until I noticed the tremble in my fingers.The room was chillingly cold, and with the wolfsbane suppressing my werewolf abilities, I was no exception to the cold. I tried to summon flames. Nothing.Maybe I was just too weak to summon the flames. The crushing feeli
1KADIA’S POVWhen I discovered the news of my pregnancy, I had been so happy. But I knew a lot would have to change.I had to be more cautious—for the baby. That meant I wouldn’t be able to keep training the pack soldiers for much longer. Of course, I’d have to give up that duty eventually and it had become a part of my life. I would have to watch my diet, too. And then there were other things. Like the fact that I would grow big, and I might not look the same. My toned stomach which I had spent years working on would be no more.This had been the type of life I once abhorred, but everything was different now—I wanted this. I could see a future with Alexander, filled with laughter and little kids running around, and the thought made me smile.Lara was the first person to find out I was pregnant.After I discovered the pregnancy test was unmistakably positive, I was as scared as I was excited.Lara happened to be visiting the pack, and we kind of bumped into each other. She was all s
KAIDA’S POVThe flesh-eaters were all gone. Packs that had been destroyed were slowly rebuilding; the chaos had finally settled. But there were still many things to attend to—like the few humans who now knew that dangerous supernatural beings lived among them.The human president had reached out to us; He was ready to pay whatever sum was needed to keep creatures like the ‘flesh-eaters’ away, as they could cause civil unrest among the people. He was willing to pay even more so things could return to the way they were when humans and supernatural beings lived separately.Alexander sent a letter back, assuring him that the ‘creatures’ were gone and that things would continue as usual. What they didn’t realize was that many werewolves and supernatural beings already lived among humans. They owned major companies and enterprises worldwide. From popular clothing brands to tech products, much of it was secretly controlled by the werewolf community.One constant worry lingered on my mind —
JADE POVEarlierI had chosen to spend my final hours in the little underground lair just beneath the small house I owned.At the other side of the room, trapped behind a magical wall, was a flesh-eater. I had captured it and brought it back here. If Aliyah does go through with her words, then the creature wouldn’t last until the next day.Hours passed, and the beast remained caged—still alive, still stupidly trying to push through the magical barrier I had created to contain it, no matter how many times it got scarred from trying.I wouldn’t blame the girl if she backed out; she had every right to make that decision. She was young and in love—it wasn’t easy to let go of everything for people who were mostly strangers.Beside me was a picture of Ralph. The only one I had, and the only thing that had accompanied me through the years. Many would say I lived a lonely life, but that was the only way I knew how to live—though it hadn’t always been that way.I thought back to when Ralph wa
DAEMONAliya was in the same silk white nightgown she’d slept in. A soft breeze blew through her silver hair. She looked surreal, like an angel. “I have to do this.” She said, and I could see the determination in her eyes.“No, you don’t have to do this. I told you I would find a way…”“There is no other way.” she said, cutting me off. “This is the only way. I can end the war, and this is what I have to do to end it.”I’d remember those words in the dream I had. She’d told me how she could “end the war.”Those eyes stared at me like she could read exactly what I was thinking.“Do you love me enough to let me go?” she whispered—and that’s when it hit me: it was never a dream. “The undead would be gone if Solene died. The war would end if I took my life—with this dagger.”“Tell me one thing, Aliyah. If you were in my place, would you let me go?” I asked. Tears spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t answer, maybe because we both knew what that answer was. “Why in the hell do you think
ALIYAHI stood watching the lake.The memory of what had happened here resurfaced, and I smiled. There were still so many things I had yet to do, so many adventures waiting out there.I looked down at the dazzling diamond on the engagement ring Daemon had given me. It must have cost a fortune, but that wasn’t why I thought it was beautiful. It would always be my most prized possession because of what it signified.Now I could see the truth—Daemon would have given up his title to be with me.I didn’t deserve his love. I didn’t deserve him. And yet, I wanted him.The best days of my life were the ones I spent with Daemon. Truly, he was the greatest gift life had given me, and I would always be grateful for that.But I had to make a decision.**FLASHBACK**“I need to speak to the girl alone,” Jade said, and I watched the others walk away, leaving me alone with the sorceress.“I remember it all,” I confessed. “I remember how many people died because of me… how many others I killed.”“That