THANEI never did tell Riley about Axel. He wouldn’t have wanted me to; he would have wanted her to move on. She was dealing with a lot, but I was going to stand by her through it all.She didn’t like me watching her drinking blood; if only she knew I found it… sexy..I stood before over twenty Alphas, many of whom had frowns on their faces. I had to tell them the truth and try to make peace with them.“Thank you all for coming. I am glad to see you all well.I had gathered you here to address an issue, in which some of you had no clue about.”I went ahead to inform them that there had indeed been a demon ruling in my place; I didn’t go deep into that. Despite everything, I still owed Daemon big time. I explained our plight with the Demon Overlord and how he is being held down now. By the time I was done, I noticed the change, the way they stared at Riley with an eye of respect. I guess they were finally adding the dots.“All of the previous rules made will be canceled.” I informed
I had to make sure I was fully covered at all times; we couldn’t risk people discovering what I was, and my cold skin would give the clue.“How is Ethan, your son?” Mom asked the moment we were alone in the room.“I had entrusted him to one of the healers; he wasn’t safe in the pack, and so I had to let her take him away. He stayed amongst the humans, but I had sent for him. Things are better now, and it’s time I gave him my full attention.“Why didn’t you tell me anything about what was going on? I would have helped.”“You would have been in danger; I didn’t want that.”“Oh Riley, always thinking about others before yourself.”“Gabriel seems to be treating you very well.”“He is, more than that, I love this pack too; this place feels like home.” She said,“So when are you going to show me the dress?” I asked, and she chuckled like a teenager; for a moment we both laughed over nothing..“You look beautiful in that dress.” I complimented. My mother had gone for a white wedding dress;
I had found my mother an hour later at the farm; she was dressed in a regular gown.“What are you doing? The ceremony had begun, and people were getting very worried.” I said to her, but she gave no response; she had her back to me. “Mom!” I walked to her, and only when I saw her face did I notice something was wrong. Tears streamed down her eyes.“I can’t do it,” she says. “What do you mean you can’t do it? Gabriel is the love of your life; you wanted this. What changed?”“Everything. Everything changed.”“I don’t understand you—what is wrong? Why are you crying?”“You never told me. You knew, and you never told me.” She says, and that silenced me. “You knew that your father, Sebastian Bruce, was alive. You always hide things from me, and I had to go on with it because you are the queen, and you can’t always share things with me like you once would do, but this wasn’t about you—this was my life, and you never uttered a word. You were going to leave me in the dark.”“Bruce had left
Thane and I returned back to the Nightshade pack. I couldn’t stay at the Raven Clan pack even a bit longer. I couldn’t look into Gabriel's face and see how shattered he was. Mother had broken his heart, not just his’ but the whole pack's, and all she left was a letter. No one deserved that treatment, and yet, there was nothing I could do about it.“So she ran away with the warlock?” Thane asked.“Seem so. I had checked his place; he burnt the whole building to the ground, possibly because he hated the house or maybe…”“He wanted to start afresh.” Thane completed.“Yes, I can’t trace him; he is gone and maybe… I don’t want to find him. My mother says she would visit to see Ethan, but that could be in months or even years.”There was a knock on the door. It was Meredith; she had Ethan in her arms.“Your son is well and healthy.” She said before passing him to me. I held him in my hands; he had grown considerably, and he stared at me with big blue eyes, and in that moment I fell in love
PROLOGUE.Kaida’s POVI was not like the other girls; I knew that even as a little child. My father had found it strange that a girl of my age was more interested in watching the pack warriors train rather than playing with toys like the other kids her age did at the pack.I had one dream, and though it may sound impossible, I held onto it. I believed that I could one day become an… Alpha. The first Female Alpha.My father had no male child to inherit his title and take his place, and so each day, I trained to be the best at everything. I was twenty and five years of age and yet to find my mate. To be honest, I hadn’t even been searching for him—whoever he was; on the contrary, I dreaded finding my mate, because that would only bring an end to my dream of becoming an Alpha. I believed it was all fate pointing me in the right direction; this was my destiny.That had been what I thought until everything changed right before my eyes..My father, Alpha Trent, of the Dawn pack, summoned
Kaida’s POVWith each passing day, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd made a mistake, if I'd doomed myself with my own words—but it was too late to turn back now. I had never met Alpha Ethan before. Though we were neighboring packs, my father and the beta had always been the one going for the meetings, I didn’t do well with meetings and parties and maybe my father was right. Being an Alpha was about more than just being a warrior.I got dressed in my usual clothing, leather pants matched with a black leather jacket and a glove to cover my missing pinkie finger. Had I forgotten to mention that some little 'accident' had cost me a finger? As if that flaw wasn't enough, my body was also marked with a number of scars, so while I had always despised wearing fancy gowns and pretty little dresses, it did make sense why I had to cover up.The men carried their scars with pride, like it was some kind of proof of how fierce they were; scars on a woman had a completely different representation;
It was time, I would have to pay a visit to the Nightshade pack. Beta Aric was nowhere to be found. I stopped in the courtroom to inform my father that I was leaving, but I noticed he wasn’t alone, Aric was there too. I stopped by the entrance, they hadn’t noticed me and so I hid away from view. “You are marrying her to the Alpha King?” Aric asked, this was indeed the first time I had heard him question the Alpha. “Yes, my daughter will marry the Alpha King.” “You know that’s not where she belongs.” “I will be having no discussion over this matter, it is already settled and done.” “You know who he is…” My father cut Aric off. “He is ruthless, every powerful Alpha is, fear is sometimes power.” “The Blackwood lineage is a powerful one, but it’s cursed – that’s what I think. How else would you explain the mysterious deaths? Slade had been killed by his own son, Thane who wanted the throne – there had been other rumours too, that Freya, his mate, had actually been the one behind
The room was just as elegant as everything in the Nightshade pack; it was bigger than my room back in the Dawn Pack. I spotted the dress on the bed. A flimsy thing. If it had been any other day, I would've been attending the Grand Feast in my leather pants and jacket—I hated parties and public gatherings, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t invited to a few back at my pack. I was the Alpha’s daughter; it was required of me. My father tried to force me into dresses more than once, but of course, I never did wear them. It was different now; this was not my pack, and here I was a stranger. Wearing my ‘usual’ clothing would only make me stick out in the crowd.I didn’t want that, but that didn’t mean I would wear the dress he had picked out for me. “It will be amusing to see you in a dress.” Aric said, a smirk playing on his lips.“I’ll be in a dress alright, but just not this one.”“Rebellious as always, let’s hope the Alpha King doesn’t notice.” He said with a smile.“I really don’t give a d
Kaida’s POVI paused at the door when I noticed the brunette whore—the same one I had helped get to the healers—sitting on one of the couches with her legs crossed and a bright smile on her face. She was dressed in a very revealing black gown.I might have thought that saving her life would bring about a change, but I was wrong.“Did Alexander ask you to come here?” I questioned.“No.”“So why are you here?”“I wanted to see you… alone. He cannot know about my visit.”I chuckled. “You don’t want the Alpha King to know you’ve been here, and yet you come to the very room he spent his nights in.”“I’m not stupid, I know I shouldn't be here; but this is the only place I could meet you without having prying eyes on us.”“So, why do you need to see me?”She rose to her feet. “I want to thank you for what you did for me. I would have died if not for you.” She said,I was tempted to ask how she had gotten poisoned with wolfbane, but perhaps it was better I didn’t know. I didn’t like to pry in
The one in the middle approached us, and I backed away.Vera didn’t; she held the knife in her hands, ready to fight. He took out his handgun, and before she could make a move, he shot.She fell to the ground, a bullet embedded in her forehead.“So tell me, Chosen. Have you ever been… fucked?”“I did you all no wrong.”“You didn’t, but the Empress did. It’s our brother she sent out there to be killed.”“My condolences. But these men swore oaths; they swore to serve and protect; they weren’t forced.”All three burst into laughter. “My condolences.” One of the men mimicked. “Your condolences don’t bring back the dead, do they?”“Why don't we leave the Empress a message, one she would never forget? Let’s find out how pure the Chosen One is, shall we?”“When we are done with you, you will wish you had never been born, but don’t worry, we won’t kill you. You are too pretty to die.” said the third man.One of the men pushed me to the ground; before I could rise, his weight upon me held me d
ALIYA’S POVI didn’t think Empress Julia liked the way things had gone with the Alpha King. No pack had disregarded us like the Nightshade pack did. I had reasons to believe the other packs were afraid of us, but I couldn’t say the same for the Nightshade pack.My maid, Vera, brushed through my hair.King Alexander was an intriguing man, but I had my focus on the woman seated by his side. There was something about her—something fierce, something I hadn’t seen in other Lunas—and she kept on staring at me; it was like she knew exactly what I was thinking.The Chosen One. That’s what they called me; they say I was a gift from the god of light’s,and that I would lead the people of Aureonna into victory.One would think of me as a powerful person, but I was nothing more than a mortal woman. Empress Julia believes everything would change on my nineteenth birthday, when the god of light herself would pay me a visit. Julia refers to it as ‘The Encounter.’.For the past thirteen years of my li
One of the council members, who I believed was named Austin, was the first to speak up.The Alpha is as alone as he can be,” he said, eyeing their soldiers.“Leave us.” Alexander said, and for a moment no one made a move. “Now!”“Are—are you sure?” another of the advisors asked.“They are my guests; it will be rude of me not to hear them out.” Alexander said, and the woman smiled. The smile might have seemed a little flirty, but she was old enough to be my mother, so maybe that was just me looking too deep into things.Our soldiers left first, followed by the council of advisors, who seemed to be everywhere Alexander was.The woman's eyes turned to me.“She is my Luna; she stays.” Alexander says, and the woman only nods.One of the men in blue passed the woman a wooden box, she took out a key and unlocked it.“May I?” she asked, and Alexander nodded.She walked forward, up the stairs, until she was only a few feet away from where we sat. She placed the wooden box before his feet.Insi
I had never heard of them before, and for some reason, I felt… ‘humbled’ by that knowledge. If they were such a large community, why had they never been mentioned in all the conversations I had with Aric and my father? I was going to have to speak to Aric about this. “What do they want from us?” I asked.“I am yet to find out; perhaps they just want an alliance or a pact.”“Don’t you think it’s dangerous making pacts with them? What if they have other plans?“Like what? Ending the werewolf’s cycle?” Alexander asked, a smirk playing on his face.“They aren’t werewolves; they are different, and no doubt they would only grow stronger; it’s all a matter of time.”“You don’t have to worry about that. They will never be able to beat the werewolves—not in numbers. So would you please put on a dress?” he asked.I would have liked to argue some more, but I was very curious to meet these people. I picked out a purple, long-sleeved dress that stopped a little above my knee; it was just perfect.
“Where have you been?” Alexander asked the moment I entered the room.“Not your business.”“You must keep me informed about your whereabouts.”I turned to him. “I must not. I don’t try keeping up with your whereabouts now, do I?”“You are mad at me. I shouldn’t have said what I did earlier.”“Oh, an apology from the high and mighty Alpha king; that should solve everything.” I said, rolling my eyes.“Usually, it does solve everything most of the time.” He said with a smirk. “And I do like the term ‘high and mighty.’.” He added.“Unfortunately, pretty boy, your words don’t mean shit—not to me.”“I expected my Luna to be less profane”I flipped him the middle finger.“I spent the day with my Beta. I plan to be out there more often; I get sick of this place and also—you.”“Come on, let’s not lie to ourselves. I don’t infuriate you—I scare you, and that’s what’s got you all riled up.”“You would have liked it, wouldn’t you? If I was afraid of you?”“I mean, I’m liking it now. But that’s
I hadn’t spoken a word to Alexander in days, and I wasn’t planning to. I shouldn’t have let him touch me; I should have endured the pain longer, but once again, he won..“So you could come visit me, but I can’t do the same?” Aric asked the moment he saw me by his door.I pushed past him and walked into the room.“Not bad.” I say, looking around. It was smaller than the one I shared with the Alpha King, but elegant and nicely furnished.“Why are you here, Kaida?”“Do I need a reason to visit my beta and friend?”“I’m not the Beta anymore; I am a Commander and Chief.”“You will always be the Dawn’s pack Beta.” “Well the Dawn’s pack is no more; you are a Luna now…”“Okay, what the hell is wrong with you? If you don’t want me here, all you have to do is tell me.”“I’m a man who had just been rejected by the woman he had been in love with for years; how do you expect me to react?”“Aric… It can’t work.”“I know that—at least now I do. I’m not a fool; I know when to draw back, and you wer
Slowly and gently, he slipped a finger into me, going in and out. A moan escaped my lips. He added in a second finger and this time he went a bit faster, I moaned out, the pleasure was unlike anything I had ever felt and then… he pulled out.I wanted more and this time I let him take me to the bed. I took off my clothes, stripping naked, but he didn’t take his off.He kissed my collarbone, and then he took my nipple in his mouth; my back ached as I gripped his neck. With his other hand, he caressed my hardened nipple. He proceeded to kiss down my stomach, my belly button, and… lower.I stilled. “No.” I tried rising, but he forced me down. At this point, I wanted him so bad and yet… I didn’t like being so exposed to him.Then I felt his tongue.I couldn’t hold back the sensual sound that escaped my lips. He nibbled at my clit, and I spread my legs even wider. His tongue slipped into me, I gripped onto the slick sheets; he went in and out with his tongue, and slowly I began matching pac
A day passed, and I hadn’t cracked—that’s what I made him believe. The few hours of sleep I managed to get were the only escape from the pain, and even then, I dreamt about him.Now I couldn’t help but wonder how people were so in love with the idea of finding their mates if this was what they had to bear. But I guess many of them won’t see this as torture; they would give in easily.I had an idea, quite a crazy one.I had never touched myself before, but perhaps… I could try.I slowly lowered my fingers, watching as my hands slipped beneath the waistband of my panties. I rubbed my finger around my clit.I groaned, frustrated; it wasn’t working either.The knock on the door drew my attention. Aric. I just knew it had to be him.I didn’t make a move to go to the door but he didn’t go away either, he knocked once more.I managed to rise to my feet, stagger to the door and pull it open.“Kaida, are you alright?” he asked, alarmed.“I do remember telling you to send a maid, if there is an