"The scrolls didn't say anything about how it's been used." Isabella said to me. I took the flower from her hand and tore it open; it immediately turned black. Its inside stored a strange blackish liquid. I had this weird feeling like I had seen this before. "Maybe I'm supposed to drink this," she muttered. I gave a shrug. She took it back from my hand, and I watched her drink of its sap. This was even weirder than I thought it would be. "How do you feel?" I asked. She stared down her body like she hoped to see some kind of instant change. "Nothing. I feel the same." "That means it isn't quite it. Let's get going." "No, we didn't come all this way to leave with nothing." "What do you suggest we do? Drink of all the flower's sap till we find the 'chosen' flower that cures?" "That is a smart plan." "I meant it as a joke." Just then she coughed. She bent over and threw up dark blood. "Are you alright?" I asked; she shook her head. "I don't know what is happening," she cried.
I awoke with a start. It was already morning.Gods, it had only been a dream.The tears falling down my eyes were tears of relief. I wasn't alone — I realized; slowly, I turned to see the other person on the bed, it was Thane, and he was very much awake."You seem to be having a nightmare," he said, but there was something different about him."You scared me. When did you return from your trip with Isabella?" I asked, watching him; I couldn't push away the strange feeling, like something was very wrong and yet his scent hadn't changed."A few hours ago. I didn't want to wake you," he explained."Did you... did you get the cure?" I asked him, and he nodded."Yes, I did.""So Isabella was right; there is a cure.""She is, and now you don't have to worry about me losing control; I have been cured completely.""That was...""Fast?" The word on my mind was unbelievable, but I nodded, with a smile on my face."You know I am really glad to hear this." I say, rising to my feet and heading t
THANE I woke up on the cold ground, my surroundings dim and unfamiliar—was this... a cave? I hadn't been chained; there was no need for that; I couldn't move. Everything flooded back, Isabella's betrayal—I shouldn't have trusted her. "You are awake," the voice called. Speak about the little devil. "It isn't wise to be this close to me, don't you think?" "You can't harm me; at this state, you can't even hurt a fly." "Did Logan keep you here to babysit me?" "Ah, you figured that out too; of course he is in on this too." "I guess this is revenge for sending you away from the pack?" "No. I would never do that, but that action did change everything." "I guess this is where the big revelation comes in?" "Yes, it is and there is a lot to be revealed. I didn't lose my memories. I knew who awoke me, and it was Slade, your father." "Slade?" I asked, surprised. "I think I'm done with your lies; you can keep your little explanations to yourself." "Do you really think that ghosts are r
"I'm guessing there were no truths to all you told me." "Actually, the part about me not being your father was true." Slade responded, clearly enjoying this."What is the point of all these? Kill me; one of the biggest packs in the world will be left without their Alpha.""No, I would be there to fill the space.""As a ghost? Come on, you've got to think better than that.""You are a lycan, a powerful creature; also, you are the Alpha King and that's why you are here.” he cuts his sentence off, not wanting to give out too much information. “You know it had once been me, and it could be like that again. You don't know what it felt like watching you take over my pack, what it felt like watching you take my place, what rightfully belonged to me. You were just the bastard son, and yet, the goddess gave you the crown. I think Logan is a bit jealous. He had to spend his whole life hiding while you were out there, you became everything he wanted to be and much more.""The longer I stay miss
The history books said nothing about the curse, and everything else was in there. She had brought up an explanation for that. I should have known she was lying, but I had no idea of what was happening; at that point, I would have believed anything."Flynn gave her a potion; she managed to slip it into your meals before they got delivered.""That doesn't sound very convincing; my meals are only handled by the cooks and maids; they know better than to try poison me.""Of course they do, but then again, there is… Pricilla." Realization dawned on me almost immediately. I had let her back into my pack for Axel's sake; she was his mother despite everything she had done, I wanted to give her a chance. That was my mistake. "You don't have to hate her; it wasn't exactly her fault. She was simply the easiest option. When she came to you, she never planned to betray you or the pack; she had pleaded a whole lot about how she wanted to be a changed person and how she didn't want to disappoint you
ISABELLA"He's out there in the cold; he's not being fed, and it has been a whole week; he is going to die!" I said to Logan, who only shrugged. He never did like Thane; he didn't really care. "You know what? I'm going to him." I headed for the door, but in a flash, he was already by the door, right in front of me."Should I remind you what this 'Thane' did to you? He wouldn't have cared if you drowned to death; he doesn't really give a fuck about anybody but himself and his little mate. Any other person becomes a nuisance—you became a nuisance. He rejected you, sent you away.""I betrayed him! I deserve everything I got and more.""He didn't know about your plan; he wouldn't have cared if you were innocent." I attempted walking past him, but he blocked my path once again. "After what had happened, all he would want to do is kill you; you don't need to worry about him anymore; focus on yourself and what makes you happy."Logan picked me up, his palm massaging my thigh, going higher; h
I could hear the disappointment in his voice, and for a moment I wondered if there was another way; what if he didn't have to die?"When you rejected me, I had felt so broken; I... attempted taking my own life just to end it all. Logan saved me.""Bella, once I did love you. I was willing to do anything for you. After you passed, a lot happened. I couldn't recover from your loss, and at a point, I lost myself. Years later, I met Riley, and she saved me from the monster I was becoming. I can't love two at the same time without hurting the other.""But you've always loved her more.""Yes. I do."Every time he said those words, they broke me, maybe because I knew it was true: Riley wasn't his fated mate, and still he loved her. I, on the other hand, have the benefit of the mate bond; his wolf would always be drawn to me, and yet, he didn't want me. What he felt for her was more than love; it was devotion, obsession, admiration, and so much more. Not even what we shared in the past could
He didn't give a response; that's exactly what I had expected. "I guess you would rather they die than for Riley to get hurt. We aren't much different after all.""No, I would never hurt her, and maybe you are right; we aren't much different after all, but let's not pretend like you can actually get me out of here, because I know you can't."He was right; I couldn't do a thing. I could not help him, and yet I wanted to hear his answer, maybe because I wanted to remind him that I wasn't the only selfish person here or because I wanted to feel less guilty about what I was doing. "You should eat something." "Bella?""Yes," I answered, hopeful. "Go to hell.""You jerk. Do you know what it took me to come here? I was worried about you; Logan didn't care if you died.""I'll die anyway, but I wouldn't wish your face to be the last I see before I die."I was completely speechless. I couldn't hold back the tears; I turned away from him and walked away..I returned to Logan's. He sat on his
"Is there anything else I should be aware of?" I questioned my advisors. Once again, they seemed to be holding something back—I could tell."We worry about what will happen when the news reaches the other packs," Austin says, giving me a look that suggests I read between the lines and figure out what he isn't saying. When he realizes I’m not catching on, he speaks up. "There has never been a female Alpha before. There will be a lot of opinions—especially with you being the… Alpha Queen. The others might not accept this change,"“We should be ready for anything. The other packs might see this change as a sign of weakness and think it’s the best time to attack. The Nightshade pack might have been enjoying peace for years, but it would be foolish to think that that would continue.”“When they attack, we will be ready, we will go to war and I will take the front lines and prove to them how wrong they are.”Phil nodded, and with that, I dismissed them.As I stepped out of the meeting room,
Austin helped me back to the pack house. I was filthy, covered in mud—but I didn’t care.“Gather the council of advisors.” I instructed him.“Now?” he asked, surprised. “You should rest, Luna. You are in no condition…”“I gave you an order.” I said and that seemed to surprise him too, he nodded before turning away.I stripped off my filthy clothes, took a quick bath, and stepped into another leather outfit—identical to the one before. My hair, still damp, was twisted into a bun before I headed to the meeting room.I had expected to be bombarded with questions from the advisors; I had expected some of them with frowns on their faces. I was ready to take all the disappointed looks casted at me, but what I wasn’t ready for was to find all the seats unoccupied—all except two.Austin and Phil.“Where are the others?” I questioned.“Erh… Luna, I really don’t think this is the right time…”I cut Austin off for the second time. “Where are the others?” I repeated.“They left.”“What do you mea
The bond was gone, leaving a void in my chest. But what I felt for him didn’t change. Despite the fact that we were no longer mates, I still loved him. I was right—what we had was beyond the mate bond.I had given up far too quickly, I realized. I wasn’t willing to let him go just yet.The crowd was gone by the time I returned to the healing room. I stood by the door of the room where Alexander had been kept, contemplating what to say. I could apologize again, but something told me it wouldn’t be enough. He believed I could ‘move on,’ but he needed to see that I never would—that I could never love another. My heart belonged to him, mate bond or not. Nothing had changed. And maybe, if he saw that, he would change his mind.Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. No response. I lifted my hand to try again when the door creaked open.I pushed it fully open—only to find the bed empty.His scent in the room was still strong, enough to tell me he hadn’t been gone for long. I walked int
The disappointment in his voice was even harder to bear than the betrayal I had suffered from people I once called friends."I should have told you, but I knew you would’ve kept assuring me you were fine—even when we both knew you were dying inside. She said you were going to die, whether you stopped or continued with the doses. I just… couldn’t lose you.""Who is this ‘she’ you are referring to?” he asked, and I immediately realized my slip."I… it doesn’t matter. You’re alive, and that’s what’s important."Slowly, he let go of me, and I instantly missed his warmth. “How does it feel?”“What?”“To be so close to achieving your dreams?” he asked. I wanted to tell him I didn’t care anymore about the goddamn title; all I wanted was to have him by my side. I wanted him, but before I could tell him just that, he spoke on. “I hope it was worth it.”Those final words had felt like some kind of goodbye.“I, Ethan Alexander Darkwood, reject you, Kaida Dawn, as my fated mate.” He said.Seeing
There was something different about the way he looked at me—the way he regarded me. I saw it in the way his body tensed the moment I stepped inside. He saw me as a threat, and it took a moment to understand why. Cynthia had taken my form when she approached him, making him believe it was me. The moment his guard dropped, she struck.But what he remembered was me stabbing him—my face, my hands, delivering the blow.“Alexander,” I whispered, unable to say anything more. He only stared at me, as if trying to read me. I had wanted to see him so badly, but I hadn’t stopped for even a moment to think about what I would say to him when we met.“The Cursed Weapon—how did you find it?” he asked.“I don’t understand.”“The dagger you used on me.”The cursed weapon, I’ve heard about that too. History says the Elders had been the original keepers of the steel; that had been before they were killed. The weapon had the ability to take away one’s wolf. It made more sense now, what Cynthia was saying
It felt surreal—the blood on the sheets, the body—Alexander. I couldn’t process any of it.“No!” I cried.Foolish, foolish girl.I held him. “You can’t die, please, you can’t die. I’m here, look at me, open your eyes, dammit!”I had never felt this afraid, not even when I received news that my father had passed.Soon, I heard footsteps approaching—the door was still open. They were coming to find the source of the noise. I hadn’t even realized how loudly I had been screaming.“I didn’t mean to… She said she wouldn’t kill him.”More people gathered, and soon, our room was crowded, every face frozen in shock.A hand pressed against my back—Phil. He was saying something, but I couldn’t understand him. Austin was there too, along with some of the other advisors.A woman stepped forward.“I have to take him, Luna.”I let out a snarl. “Don’t touch him… No one touches him!”There must have been something in my voice because she stepped back immediately—so did some of the other pack members.
“There must be another way to cure him.” I insisted."There is no other way. It’s either this or he dies. We don’t have much time. If you refuse my offer, I won’t be generous enough to grant it a second time. You will have to watch him die—knowing you had the power to save him, but you refused."I held back the sob, threatening to escape my lips. They would not see me cry, especially not the woman who killed my parents.“You want a puppet; someone you can control.”“I only have one request from you, the very same one I had already mentioned. Other than that, I won’t make your decisions for you. You will rule.”“When you take away his wolf. What would he become?”"He won’t change; he will be the very same man," she said, a small smile curving on her lips. "And since I’m so generous, I’ll leave your Beta Aric, and Sarah with you to do as you wish. Punish them as you see fit."“No!” Sarah cried out, falling to her knees before the Empress. “I did as you asked of me. I did everything you
"Let me help you, Kaida," Cynthia said, her voice only a little above a whisper."I told you, I don’t need your help. Alexander will find me, and none of you will get away with this."“You’ve only been here for a few hours; besides, Amanda would hardly be considered a threat, and all the camera captured was the little girl leading you in here. He wouldn’t think you are in any form of danger.”"So, you aren’t here for the missing girl. You’ve revealed all your secret plans to me… I can’t help but wonder—why are you here? If you wanted to make me pay for what I did to you, you would have done it a long time ago."“We are getting to that. But I believe there is something you need to know. Addiction to wolfsbane may be dangerous, but stopping is even more dangerous.”For some reason, I believed her. I had seen what the withdrawal symptoms did to Alexander; it was slowly killing him, but his response remained the same anytime I asked; ‘A little while and it would pass.’ The question was, w
Empress Cynthia had read the question in my eyes before I could even ask it."I know you're curious about what your Beta wanted in exchange for betraying your trust," she said. I refused to meet her gaze—I wouldn’t let her see that I wanted to know. “He loves you; that much is clear. There were times he was willing to turn his back on his own family just to keep you safe. You were the one person he would never hurt. But when it came to choosing between you and his little sister… the choice wasn’t easy. She was the leverage I held over him. I have her locked away, far from his reach, until he completes his assignment. Everything he did—he did to keep her alive.”That was a lie.“Aric never had a sister.”"You say you cared about him, but I don’t believe that. You were always caught up in your own little world, blind to what was happening in others’—even those you called ‘family.’ You know, I wanted to reward him for his service, I believed he deserved more, but he never cared for mater