"We are gathered here to witness the great Encounter. The Chosen will see the god of light, face to face; they will become one body, one soul. This is the dawn of a new era..."Julia’s voice trailed off as I noticed a female figure enter. She should have been hard to spot in the crowd, but I easily found her. She was dressed in all black, a hood covering her hair and a mask shielding the lower half of her face, leaving only her eyes visible.Grey eyes.I had seen those grey eyes somewhere; I tried to pick out where I saw them from, and then I remembered.When I visited the Nightshade Pack with the other Empresses and regent, I had seen those same Grey eyes, it belonged to the Luna. I remembered how drawn I was to her; for some reason, I knew she was different. If this was indeed the Werewolf Queen Kaida, what was she doing here in the South, so far from her home?Everything seemed to go in slow-mode, her eyes stopped on me, she didn’t give me more than a glance, those grey eyes were
KADIA’S POVI searched for the light brown eyes that had stared at me from those pictures—and I found them. She looked younger than she had in the photos.Fury filled my chest. Anger burned through me. She was the one who had taken my parents from me.I fired. Three times.It was over too soon, too quick. It felt almost too easy..“You killed her, didn’t you?” Aric asked.“I think.” I responded but I wasn’t unsure. The silver bullets had dug through her heart, thrice, my aim was perfect, I never missed.“You don’t seem very content with your success; I expected more complications.”Me too.“I took her out too quickly; I could have captured her and made her death last longer; I should have put her through pain till she begged for death; my face should have been the last thing she saw before she died, slowly and painfully.”“She is an Empress. These people do not serve beneath the Alpha King or Queen; they are a city of their own. This was the smartest way to end her; delaying her deat
ALEXANDER POVThis was the last place they had been. It was an apartment owned by Aric.My chest tightened. Had she slept with him here?I could pick the locks, but I didn’t bother with that, I broke down the door. I was right, she had been here, there was no mistaking it, her scent filled the place and it was fucking intoxicating.I entered the apartment and searched the rooms. As expected, she was already gone. In the last room, her scent hit me stronger than anywhere else in the house. A few of her clothes were still left in here.That could only mean one thing—she was coming back. I returned to the living room and stopped when I saw the table. Pictures were scattered across it.I sat on the couch and looked through the pictures. They were all of the same woman—Cynthia. I knew her. Empress Cynthia.What the hell did Kaida have to do with this woman?There were many write-ups and notes too. I read through them all, not caring about the fact that this might be seen as intruding. Ther
A small frown etched on my face.“It is, that’s his handwriting.” I argued.“Maybe, but that last line… it’s not his words.”That had been my very thought, but maybe no one really knew my father.“He knew I could do it.”“He mated you to me and gave me his pack too—to keep you safe. Why in the world would he send you to kill the person who he was trying to save you from?” he asked and I stared at him, speechless.“Did you kill her?” he asked. “The empress?”I nodded.“How?”“Silver bullets. I shot her thrice in the heart.”“And you believe she is dead?”“I shot…”“I know you shot her thrice, but if bullets could kill them, they would all be dead now, don’t you think?”"What are you saying?" I asked. My hands shook slightly, so I clasped them together to steady them.“I’m saying there is a high possibility she still lives. I don’t believe in their god but I know that physical methods are hardly ever enough to kill any of those empresses. They’ve been blessed with the gift of immortalit
ALIYA POVWe pulled up in front of a house that resembled the one Trian owned in Aureonna City.“How many houses do you own?”He smirked, “You don’t want to know.”“I do, actually.”“A lot.” He answered.“Why do you need so many houses?”“I used to be a traveler, obsessed with owning houses.” He admitted, before leading me into the house. We didn’t stop at the living area; he led me to one of the rooms.The design in this room felt more masculine.“This is your room, isn’t it?”“Yes,” he answered.I ventured deeper into the room, looking around the place; my eyes landed on the king-size bed in the middle. Dark thoughts filled my mind, but I managed to force my eyes away from the bed.“Those three weeks that I was away… I thought about you. It felt like an obsession, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”“I thought about you too, every single day.” I admitted, walking back to him, I took his hands in mine. “I believe in you now, fully and completely.”“I haven’t earned it, Aliya.”“
Trian spread my legs wide, until I was completely vulnerable to him, I tried hiding away from him once again but he wouldn’t have that.That was the thing about Trian, he doesn’t asks for things, he demands for them, yet I knew all I had to say was a word and he would stop, but I couldn’t say the word, every right I had to make decisions about my own life had been taken from me by the Empresses, but this time I wanted this, I wanted him to be the one. My first.He kissed my nipples before taking them into his mouth."Trian…" I gasped, but he didn’t stop. His tongue flicked over my hardened nipple while his fingers teased the other. The moment he let go, he took the other into his mouth, repeating the motion. Heat surged through me—I had never craved anything more. Then, he kissed lower.“When I saw you, walking down that path, looking so fucking beautiful, I couldn’t wait to see you naked.” He whispered, his voice thick with lust and then he took my clit in his mouth. I jerked, moanin
I woke up to Trian by my side.After the bath last night, he brought me back to bed; I didn’t miss the fact that he had replaced the sheets with fresh ones. Despite the throbbing pain between my legs, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied.It was better than I had ever expected, and I was glad Trian had been my first.Now I lay there, staring at him like some creep while he slept, noticing how tense he seemed—even in sleep. Maybe that was something all soldiers had in common. The thought of tracing my fingers down his perfectly sculpted face was enticing, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, afraid I might wake him—and then things would get very… awkward.I managed to rise to my feet, certain I’d be feeling him down there for days. I limped out of the room, planning to take a small tour of the house, and made my way to the kitchen. That was when I realized something I had completely overlooked—I didn’t know how to cook. For most of my life, the maids brought me food, and I ate whatever
A smirk curved on his lips; his eyes, once full of emotion, were empty, cold, and… distant.Suddenly he looked like a stranger.In a blink, he was no longer in front of me. I felt his presence right behind me; my heart pounded as I slowly turned around, and there he stood only a few inches away from me.“You wanted to know how I got out of The Pit? Well now you do.”“What are you?” I asked, backing away once again.“Fortune tellers might be liars, but she didn’t lie. I do have darkness living and breeding inside of me. Your empresses, they were all fools; they couldn’t see that the very thing they fought against was living with them, under their very noses.”“You are scaring me, Trian.”“No, not Trian. Daemon.”That name was also familiar; it took only a few seconds for my brain to place it. Julia had told me about the demon that had been born into the world by the Luna Queen. The demon that was supposed to be dead, he went by the very same name Daemon.“No!” I gasped.“Now you're sca
“The others are very angry,” Kyiv said to me. “They think I’m on your side, and that’s why I killed Skale. It’s no secret they don’t like me very much, so they’ve requested something from me—to make clear where my loyalty lies.”“And I’m guessing this thing they requested of you somehow involves me.”“That’s right. Let’s look at the pros of this operation. You’d get to leave the cell for a short while—after days of being locked up, that has to mean something. But then the cons: you’d be paraded naked in front of thousands of rogues, bound, and many would want to… touch.”“I have nothing to be ashamed of, but I’m more worried about your little plan with the plane crash. Aren’t you worried the news that I’m alive will leak out?”“I too believe this is a bad idea. Even if I stand to benefit in many ways — I’d finally prove myself a capable leader to the rogues, and the other rogue leaders would have nothing on me. But I still don’t trust their promises to keep the rogues silent, so the n
I stared at the water in the wooden bowl. I was so thirsty.Could anything be worse than this?At least I would have one less thing to worry about—thirst.I reached for it. It was far enough to cause some strain on my already bruised wrist as I stretched for it, and then I took hold of it.Just before I could lift it up, the bowl slipped from my bloody grasp and fell to the floor, the contents splashing across the ground.Fuck.Well,I guess I really have no option now.Something captured my attention — a blackish smoke swirling in the air, growing thicker with every second.Then, through the smoke, Daemon stepped out.“There you are, about damn time. I was starting to wonder if I was at the wrong place,” he muttered.“How did you find me?”“I made a very wild guess.” “Kaida — how is she?”He tapped on the transparent glass, as if testing its strength.“She’s perfectly fine, and she knows you’re not dead. But she might not be too happy about the fact that I didn’t let her come with m
“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