Time passed by quickly, and we were allowed to rest when the sun started setting. I looked around the area, memories of when I was younger playing around my head as my eyes darted towards areas I used to go to.The blacksmith’s stall where Nathan and I used to hang around was still there, and instead of the old and blackened walls it had that I remembered, it was now bigger and well developed. People came in and out of it, unlike before that barely no one goes there.My eyes darted towards the line of houses that led to the small plaza circle we had. It was near our house and the forest. I smiled, remembering how we used to play all the time in that place. It was also there that I became friends with Nate when he was being bullied by some other kids.The huge trees, the farmlands and the colorful flowers were also my favorite part of Eden. Dad used to collect them and create a small garden in our small yard. He said Mom loved it when he planted flowers near our house.I inhaled deepl
“Let’s all take a seat, shall we?”Not one of us took a seat when Nancy said that. Everyone watched Titus at the head of the table, waiting for him to move first, before everyone else followed.I sat, tensed, as I avoided looking at him. My eyes went to Nancy and she still had a polite but huge smile on her face, seemingly excited about the fact that the king was with us, in her home.“I hope you don’t mind all the cuisines we’ve prepared for the night, King Titus. And I apologize we really weren’t able to prepare much.” She started initiating the conversation. “We really didn’t expect you’d be coming since we were told you were too busy to come.”“I understand. You don’t need to bother yourself too much, Mrs. Salvador. It was my decision to come here unannounced,” Titus said, sounding all formal yet calm.I looked his way, but he also turned to me at the same time, making our eyes meet.I quickly avoided his gazes, the image of him holding my cheek and neck while he devoured my li
“Sabrina my dear—oh, Your Majesty!”Our staring at each other stopped when someone suddenly came inside the De Luna’s dining area. And when I saw who it was, bowing at the presence of Titus in the house, I smiled brightly.“Nana Naia,” I breathed.The elderly woman turned to me, and that very familiar huge and warm smile quickly plastered on her face. “Rina, my darling.”I stood up from my seat and walked towards her, getting inside her now wide open arms. “I missed you,” I said against her neck when she wrapped her soft and warm arms around my body. She rubbed my back, reminding me of all the comfortable things in my childhood.“My dear, I missed you more.”I hugged her tighter and then let go. I beamed. Nana held my chin and surveyed my face.“Beautiful, just like your mother.” I held her hand. “Always have been beautiful, with that brave and good heart.”“It’s all because of you,” I said. Naia shook her head and raised a finger at me.“I bet it wasn’t me nor anyone else when you
“Do you wish to go to your house later?”My head turned to Julian, one of the trainees and our squadron leader, who was beside me when he asked that.First day of official training will be just a couple of minutes from now. The sun had just risen and everyone was already up on their feet, all dressed up and ready for the start of our training as a new set of the kingdom’s warriors. The cold wind breezed through us, but instead of making me feel cold, it woke me up and gave me a much calmer feeling.“Yeah,” I smiled a bit. “Later when we finish. I guess we can tour around,” I said casually, despite feeling strongly about going there.I have been really excited to see my home again, but after what happened last night—that last conversation about the kidnapping with Titus, I don’t know why I suddenly feel nervous about going.“I’d like to see the rest of Eden,” Julian said, oblivious of what I was feeling about the subject. “I heard they have great gardens and farmlands.”I nodded. “Th
I sighed, not knowing what was happening to him.We had just smiled for the first time at each other last night, hadn’t we? “That was a bloody fight.”I looked up at Nathan and didn’t make a move. I made myself comfortable on the ground for a while, not wanting to receive his hand for some particular reason. Seeing I wasn’t willing to move just yet, he crossed his arms again, but that strict and Alpha presence was exchanged to a smirk and a teasing glint in his eyes. I groaned when I tried scratching my arm and it hurt. A lot.“Were you all trying to kill us on our first day?” I grimaced and tried standing up. Nathan stretched his hand again, taking mine as he guided me up.“Killing, no. Training your reflexes and instinctual responses, yes.” I just rolled my eyes at him, but I do understand what he’s trying to do.“How was it?” I asked more seriously this time. I want to know how well we did in general. He said first assessment was important for all of them to know which trainin
I sat on the couch, staring at the lampshade that I turned on the moment I came inside the living room a couple of minutes ago.Or hours. I don’t know.The moment I ran away, the first thing that came to mind when I thought of a safe place was our house. My Dad and mine’s house.I intended to come here under different circumstances. Under circumstances that I wasn’t feeling this bad about some other things that have nothing to do with Dad nor my past life.I wanted to come here, dedicating all my mind and heart for whatever I’d feel or experience once I come back after years. But here I am, coming here on a whim. When I stepped inside the house, I thought I was going to be scared, being the first time to get back here after everything. That I’d remember every vivid memory of the last day I was here. But all I remember were the happy memories I had here with my Dad.After all that’s happened, I didn’t even expect I’d think of this house as a ‘safe’ place anymore. But as soon as I cam
Silence filled our space as he just continued cleaning the wound in my fingers.I stared at the dark raven strands that went loose on his forehead, almost covering the thick brows he had framing his gorgeous eyes.He was kneeling on the ground but he was still basically face to face with me with how tall he was when I was sitting on the sofa. His whole attention was just down, on my hands that he was meticulously cleaning.I sighed a deep breath and once again spoke.“Why are you here, Titus?” With the mention of his name, his movements paused for a while.His pair of orbs went to me, and even when I’ve just seen them not a minute ago, I was once again surprised at how they looked in this kind of lighting.He stared at me as I waited for him to speak. And for a moment I thought he was going to ignore me again, but as he leaned down to take the wrapper on the first aid kit, he spoke.“You didn’t clean your wound. I saw you running opposite of the quarters,” he said as he started wrappi
I looked at him, wide-eyed and gaping, not knowing what to say.Silence stretched around us as we both continued staring at each other.Titus’ eyes usually had gold specs when we both talked about our matebond. I recognize that as his wolf taking part of his thinking and his urges about our relationship. But now, it was just him and those drowning dark hazel orbs of his.They were watching me, as if being very careful and observant of what I might react and how he’d deal with it. But all I could do was gape in shock. I don’t even know whether I’ve already took that in. He was putting the blame on himself for what happened to me and to the rest of the people that his forefathers have wronged. He was apologizing for something he wasn’t directly responsible for. He was ignoring me because he was guilty.And he wasn’t supposed to have a mate as a curse to their blood, but he has me. Still not able to say anything, I just blinked up at him. After a short while, Titus’ hand fell from my
“Make sure you’re right about this…” Nate exhaled loudly and mumbled, “the king is gonna kill me.” I sighed and nodded. “I’m sorry.” I looked at the empty entrance way of the dungeon. “And thank you for allowing me to be here. I swear I won’t be long.”Nate just nodded. Since I told him I wanted to see Lana and told him my reason, something changed in his demeanor and in his eyes. There was a bit of hope and something I couldn’t quite decipher that flashed through them but immediately went away. “I’ll look for you in the mansion after 15 minutes. If you’re not there, I’ll come back here and get you out.” I nodded. I know he’s just being careful.”Okay.” Nate once again nodded at me before he urged me to go. I turned my back on him and started walking inside the cold dungeon. The last time I was here, I was terrified. I saw probably the worst state any wolf could be in. Samuel. The last news I heard about him was he was taken to a facility to get checked. I don’t know his whereabout
“What are you thinking?”My hand that was immobile on his toned stomach flinched when he suddenly broke the peaceful silence around us. Titus looked down on me as I laid on his arm. He looked magnificent as his dark eyes reflected the sliver of sunlight that went through the glass window. It was still afternoon and the bright sun had finally braved its way through the thick clouds that had been darkening the skies of Vamos these past few days.“Hmm,” I exhaled a breath and looked down on his bare chest. My hand traced its toned skin. He caught my hand and intertwined our fingers. “Tell me,” he urged, knowing I was holding something back. The buzzing in my head never stopped since my headaches came. I realized that this also happened to me inside the laboratory just when I was starting to hear some other wolves. My head was still hurting a little, but I know now they were effects of hearing somebody else’s wolf.And I feel like there is a certain connection to that to what has been
”She was mad that all their plans were not followed. They said that Lady Lana dropped everything she had before she was betrothed to the king, even leaving her mate, but then you suddenly came into the picture… and that was the reason why she decided to betray the king… all of us.”I just listened silently at Maddie as she explained to me why Lana was arrested after seeing her the day I was abducted. I just continued staring at the large clearing of the pack before I faced Maddie who looked quite a bit down as she narrated to me what happened during the arrest.”Do you believe it?” Her light green eyes went to me. “Do you believe that she is the traitor?”Hesitation immediately flashed in those kind, green eyes before they looked down again. “I… I am in no position to disagree with the king and the Council’s judgment.”I stared at my best friend as she basically did not answer my question. “Tell me the truth, Maddie. Do you believe the accusations against Lana Wintour?” I asked agai
“Can you please tell us, what happened when you were conscious in that lab, Miss Ringwood?” One Councilor wasted no time and asked. I looked at all of them, seeing how serious everyone was. I have always felt kind of intimidated by this group of men and women, but there was something more somber and sinister in their presence today. The kidnapping and the discovery of what those rogues were up to really changed it for them.”When I…” I paused, feeling my heart in my throat. I don’t even know what I’m so nervous about.”When I became conscious, I was able to speak to one of the leading rogues inside that lab,” I said.”What’s his name? Do we know him?” I shook my head as an answer to another one of the Council people’s questions. “I didn’t get his name. But he was tagged as the leader inside that laboratory. Though, I heard him say they had a master. And I personally recognized him from years ago.” I added, wanting to be very transparent and honest about this. It’s the only way I kno
As soon as we stepped outside the Andreyev mansion, I immediately felt how different the atmosphere was. Vamos has always had this somewhat filled atmosphere around. Hundreds of years of history has already etched itself in this very land, and it housed the greatest lycan kings in history so I understand. Its atmosphere could sometimes be light, most of the time, it could be quite heavy. But this heavy was different. I looked around the wide clearing and saw many Warriors walking around. All in complete uniform and armed. Most were on lines and some were speaking as if meeting for some important mission one last time before they went out and did it. The scarce normal packmates of Vamos were merely passing by and getting back inside their homes. No one was there to walk around leisurely like how most usually do. Everyone was busy. But it wasn’t the typically busy grounds of Vamos. It was buzzing with tension. With an eager force to attack. With men in uniforms occupying the grounds
“I’ll be back before the sun gets down.””Okay,”He leaned in to give me a kiss. But what I thought was going to be a peck became a deep smooch as Titus pulled my neck towards him. I held on to his shirt as he devoured me. And I couldn’t complain as I loved everything he’s been doing to me. “Don’t go out without me, Sebastian or Nathan, okay?”“Okay,” I nodded, knowing he’d need my assurance that I will be safe. I don’t want to defy him with that again. It has been our issue, and something grave has already happened to me. It’s the least I could do to help him and to be safe. “I love you. I’ll see you later.” He once again gave me another kiss before he started walking out of the room. I watched him in his usual black pants and black long-sleeves. He said he was going to have numerous meetings today for all the investigations they’ve been doing after getting some evidence in the rogue lab they got me from.“I love you, too,” I said and waved back at him before he closed the door to
“W-why…” was all I could say as I gaped. Maddie just looked down, sensing how confused and worried I got. I closed my mouth and turned to the window once again. Titus was no longer there. Sebastian was left and he was commanding the now divided troops into who-knows-where. “You’ve basically been in a coma for the last month, Rina. And according to Sir Ben, it was least likely you could recover. We could barely feel you. When the king heard that, the troop mission to annihilate every rogue in our lands intensified. King Titus could no longer be stopped, even when it was already hurting some civilians.”My figure just froze there. Not knowing what to feel about it.The last conversation I had with Titus, he opened up about his worst fears and experiences. He had finally opened up to me and I also did to him. So, I know this must have been very hard for him. I couldn’t imagine what must be going on inside his head as he thought he was going to lose me. It was his worst fear. It was e
“… wait. She will recover. She’s strong.”I stirred, hearing voices around me.”She has too many rogue venom in her. I’m just afraid…”The voice sounded so troubled. Like they were crying. But I couldn’t recognize who’s voice it was.“You did well, Maddie. You were just in time. It’s not your fault.”Sobs echoed around the room as the girl started crying. I couldn’t move myself nor do anything. That went on for how many more minutes until the voices faded away. It’s either they went away, or I just started drifting away again.Sounds came back to my senses when I heard a loud beeping sound. It wasn’t exactly irritating to the ears, but I was bothered by what it was. I started opening my eyes.Bright light immediately greeted my vision. I was looking at a cream ceiling—my vision was still quite blurry. I blinked, adjusting to the light.I slowly looked over my shoulder, following the beeping sound that had me woken up. It was a machine that monitored my breathing and heart rate. I imme
My vision became hazy as exhaustion got to me. Sweat dripped on my forehead. I took huge breaths. I watched everyone outside—seeing Maddie getting taken away by the doctor beside her out of the bed as a fight broke inside. A constant ringing blared on my ears. I could see the people outside fighting with another group. I could make out how messy everything has become. But I couldn’t hear them—I couldn’t hear anything besides the sharp ringing in my ears and the compliant whimpers from other wolves inside my head. What’s happening? ”M-Maddie...¦” I mumbled as I saw her getting hauled up by the doctor who had been constantly beside her. After taking out the last needle in her body, he immediately ran out and took her away. Away from me. Where I couldn’t see what they’d do to her. ”M-Maddie...¦” My voice broke as tears fell hard on my cheeks. Whatever remaining strength was left in me was given to the act of just watching everything unfold. The doctors inside the lab, includ