~ Zora Ironically, the moment Tyler walked away from me into the thick dark woods, a yearning to go after him, came upon me. I stood rooted to the spot, overwhelmed by the fact that I was still mated to Tyler, and he just betrayed his wife for me. Could this be it? Could this be what we needed to win against Emilia? I should feel excitement but instead I was plagued by a negative emotion - the kind that felt like a mixture of pity and concern. I realized I was worried about Tyler and I wondered what he would do when he got back to Emilia. Would he confront her? Would he break off their marriage? In all the time I'd been with Tyler, I had known him to inherit the same temper as his father - if not a fiercer one. Leaves crunched behind me causing me to turn around sharply. "It's me, relax." Hailey said as she came out of the shadows fully clothed and also carrying my clothes in her arms. I sighed a breath of relief and took my clothes from her."What took you so long?" I grumbled a
~ Tyler I didn't go straight home. If I did, I'd be homicidal.So the moment I drove into my pack land, I parked my car in front of a motel and turned off the engine. During my recent training, I had learnt that the best thing to do when in a position that requires an emotional reaction, is to retreat and regroup. Emotional responses rarely solve a case, instead they make a regrettable mess and I knew if I went home with the way my anger boiled within me, I'll surely make a bloody mess. What I wasn't sure about is if I'd regret it. So I switched off my phone instead and spent the rest of the night at the motel but I couldn't sleep. My mind stayed awake generating thoughts and analyzing the memories playing over and over in my mind. Walking in on Emilia and her Beta now made sense. Although I had suspected that they were having an affair, I guess I was in denial - the kind that makes one delusional. I remembered a time I was like that. I was thirteen years old when I was informe
~ NoxI slowed down to a jogging pace for the fifth time this morning. When I looked back, I found my mate looking half dead as she half walked, and half jogged behind me before reaching a tree and collapsing against it. Stifling my smile, I backtracked towards her. She had one arm leaning against the tree, and the other perched on her waist. By the time I got to her, she was a wheezing mess, breathing through her mouth, "You shouldn't be resting," I said coldly, "You still have five miles to go." She took one look at me, and crinkled her nose in disapproval. "How did you not even break a sweat?" She frowned. "I have years of training and discipline under my belt, soldier, and if you want to make it in this training, you better get your ass on the road and keep jogging now." "Is this really necessary?""Yes." She gaped at me. "What does running have to do with mental strength?" "Without a sound body, you can't have a sound mind. Both go hand in hand. Besides, you also want to lea
~ Zora “But why?” I asked as I drew my pants up and reached for my t-shirt. I had been working my way up, summoning courage to tell him about Tyler when he suddenly informed me about Mabel. Immediately, our sexual mood turned sour and I swam out of the river. Nox also immediately followed after and now we were drying off in the sun and getting dressed.“Maybe she wants to negotiate the release of her father.”“That doesn’t seem like enough reason to discuss with you in private.” I replied. Nox sighed. “I have no idea why she requested privacy from you," he began, "but I want to hear what she has to say."I glanced at him, with defensive words on the tip of my tongue. but I swallowed them down, shook my head and looked away. "I agree. You should hear her out." I said, pulling my top over my head and wearing it. Deep down, I wasn't in agreement. It was as clear as day that Mabel had a thing for Nox and her insisting on privacy with him irked me. The judgemental voice at the back of
~ ZoraI turned back with a nervous laugh. “I must have slept through my alarm.” Abigail didn’t look the least bit amused. “Your Highness, your staff had been waiting for you for hours."I immediately felt mortified. Way to go, Zora! I mentally groaned. "I am so sorry." I began, rambling on, "My training…it really took a strain on me." My words trailed off. That wasn't the only thing that took a strain on me though. Nox and I had engaged in some spicy extracurricular activities which I initiated in the first place and it had almost kept me up all night but I wasn't about to tell Abigail that!Abigail's gaze softens a fraction. "Since you’re now officially crowned Queen, you can't afford to entertain tardiness and negligence.” She said, slowly and calmly like she was talking to a child. I couldn't even be mad about her tone. I knew I deserved it. “You can’t be sleeping on duty.”“Yes! Of course!” I cleared my throat. “I will do better next time. Could you give me a moment to get
~ NoxBy dawn, I was out of the house and on my way to the Barracks. The real one. The barracks close to The Palace is what outsiders believe to be my one and only and I put a good amount of soldiers there. To any spy, they would think those soldiers made up my entire army and would report wrong defense numbers to their masters. I liked it that way. My father had told me it was better to be underestimated than overestimated. I had taken his words seriously and they had shaped my rule over the years. The real Barracks was a massive estate well hidden between Sector Two and Sector Three and half a mile from the Underground. My father had intentionally and meticulously designed every aspect of this territory himself. When I had asked him about the reason behind the situation of the Barracks, he had said, "Never make it easy for your enemies to know the true measure of your power. At every point, fool them. When they think they've got you, fool them again."And that's what had led t
~ Nox Mabel looked at me with a straight face like she had just said the most reasonable thing in the world. For the fourth time, I looked Roman’s way and he looked just as baffled as I was. Maybe I didn’t hear her well. “Come again?” I prompted. Mabel chuckled. “I know how ridiculous it is and you both might be thinking I’ve lost my damn mind but I haven’t. I really want your Highness to father all my unborn children and since there’s no law against that, I feel there should be no problem.”Leaning back in my chair, I studied her. Her cat green eyes were trained on me in hopeful curiosity. I listened for her heartbeat which ran at a normal pulse rate so that meant she wasn't under duress. So why in heaven’s name would she make such a daring request. “Why would you ask such of me?”Mabel cleared her throat and sat more upright in her chair. I wondered if she had steel for a spine the way she sat up so straight. “My family, the Callisters, have prided ourselves for being purebreeds f
~ ZoraBy the time I was done for the day, the sun had just begun to set. Abigail introduced me to all my home staff before she took me to the other wing of the manor where I had never been. There she showed me my own home office linked to a ginormous library where Abigail said all records of lycan and werewolf history resided as well as other knowledge. She showed me my routine. Every morning after breakfast, I had to read the Daily Wolf - a newspaper publication that carried all current events happening in the werewolf and lycan community. Then I was supposed to also read a newspaper from the human world to keep abreast of current events that may affect lycan properties and assets in the human world. After that, she showed me a ginormous collection of letters that had poured in from people in the lycan community and even outside of it. Letters from the noble and high ranking were kept in a red box, while letters from the commoners were kept in stacks of white boxes. Abigail info
~ ZoraSeveral Months Later"Let me help you with that." My husband said, collecting a wedding present from my hand and taking it to the car. I stood in disbelief. "I'm just pregnant, you know? I'm not an invalid.Nox closed the car and gave me a shrug. "Well you have no choice." He bends down and holds my big belly before giving it a kiss. "As long as you're carrying my babies, you will do as little as possible." He came back up to kiss me and at first, I had my mouth closed refusing him entry. Then he tickles me in persistence causing me to laugh and give in. I wrapped my arms across his shoulders and leaned in deep into the kiss, letting him explore my mouth and ravish my tongue. He never ceases to amaze me with how much he could get my body to respond to his touch and make me want more and more of him. I felt a fire starting within my core and I quickly broke the kiss. Breathless, I stared at him and found him grinning to himself. "We can't continue or we'll miss the wedding."
~ Zora By the time I arrived back in Parsivia, driven by the man Roman left behind, I could see my people already in the process of packing their things. I wondered where we would go now that Emilia was getting her lands back. Once I arrived home, I sprinted out of the car and into the house. I was surprised to find that servants had begun packing as well. They bowed to me with smiles and I acknowledged them before asking about Nox. They told me he was upstairs in our bedroom so I ran up the stairs and.dashed straight for the room. The moment I came in, I found him standing at the balcony behind billowing silk curtains. He turns and finds me standing by the door and he crosses the floor to me while I do the same. By the Gods, he smelt so much stronger and looked so much better, that by the time he touched me, my body came alive like wildfire.I pulled his face in for a kiss and moaned into his mouth when his lips sent delicious warmth down my mouth and straight to my throbbing cor
~ ZoraIn a flash, Tyler steps in front of me and takes the knife in his chest. "NO!" Emilia yells and everything else happens so fast. Nox moves towards Troy and in seconds has Troy's head removed from his body.Tyler fell back on me and I had to hold him gently as I sank to my knees. Emilia rushes to his side to check his wound.Someone calls for a Healer we were told that yet they were tapped out and even Nox was spent too. Fortunately, Tyler's wound wasn't immediately fatal so he was quickly carried to one of Troy's cars. There was a pack closer to the scene which also turned out to be an ally of the Moonrise pack, we decided it was best that he was driven there for treatment.Roman offered to drive us and I had to go meet Nox, "I have to go. I need to make sure he's okay.""Go." He said but there was a certain sadness to his demeanor. "I'll watch over your family." I approached him and despite the blood he had splattered on his face from killing Troy, I kissed him on the lips.
~ ZoraIn shock, she grabs his wrist trying to get his hand off her neck as he slowly lifts her off her feet but he wouldn't budge. "Hey!" Tyler said running in but was soon stopped by about half a dozen wolvescoming out of nowhere, almost surrounding him and snarling at him to go no further.“It’s a damn ambush!” Roman mutters, stepping back while staring at something from afar. I look in time to see wolves coming out of the woods around us. They surround Nox, Roman and the other lycan soldiers. "What are you doing?!" Emilia chokes out from Tyler's grip. I could see the fear and the disbelief in her features as she looks at the man who once meant something to her.. "You dare come here barking orders at me? Who are you to believe you can be a ruler over me?"Emilia fumbles for words, clearly speechless! Her face suddenly became red as her eyes slid to mine. “Help me, please!”"Zora, get away from there right now!" Nox mindlinked me and I see him walking towards me despite wolves sn
~ Zora"I can't do that!" I immediately responded. "I can't kill Nox!"Troy gave me a sympathetic look that was meant to be mocking. "I guess your sister will have to die then." He said and turned to leave. Behind me Hailey coughed and I had to make a decision in a split second. "Wait!" Troy stopped in his tracks and half turned. "Yes?" He drawled with a malicious grin. I used that moment to try and invade his mind but I was instantly met with a blinding white light followed by a great pain hammering through my head. I cry out in pain as a result,, falling to my knees and holding my head in my hands!Troy’s laughter echoed towards me as he came closer. “I knew you would do that! Now, ain’t that a bitch?!” He chuckled. “You think I’d be dumb enough to come down here without fortifying my mind and that of my men against your power? Come on, Zora. You should give me more credit than that.”My head continues to hurt as if an electric current just passed through it. “What you just expe
~ Zora"Zora, wake up!" A groan escapes me when I feel hands on my face and open my eyes. My vision goes blurry at first seeing a warped figure above me but when I blink a few times, a person's face comes into view."Mom?" I ask. "Yes dear." She said, stroking my hair. I immediately went still. The last time my mother had stroked my hair, I was eight and had fallen terribly sick. It was an illness that lasted months and was part of the reason we quickly went broke. My mother noticed my unease with her affection so she stopped, retracting her hand from my hair. Behind her was darkness that I was unfamiliar with and around us and around us was a smell so bad, I had to sit up. Doing that caused the worst headache I had ever had. A pounding ache assaulted my head and began to pulse in my right eye.Another groan, yet I chose to look around. "Where are we?" I asked.My mother shushed me gently and whispered, "We are in a cell."At her words, I instantly became very alert. "A cell? How
~ TylerI shouldn't have but I had already started counting the days until I would see Zora again. Our last encounter had left a bitter taste in my soul and my spirit, corrupting my nights and leaving me sleepless. The harsh words that poured from my lips and became the stones that I threw at her now played over and over again in my head like a bad soap opera. I knew if I truly wanted to have peace, then I needed to see Zora again and beg her forgiveness.This was why I was a little bit excited when the guards came to drag me out of my cell to an unknown place. I was so riddled with thoughts of seeing Zora again that when I was brought into an office which had only Emilia, Nox, and his second in command, I automatically searched for her. "Where's Zora?" I asked as the guards worked on adjusting my chains so I could sit in a chair next to Emilia. Nox was seated while Roman stood and I noticed how both men looked sad and angry at the same time, as if something terrible had happened.
~ NoxWhen Elsa died, it felt like a part of me had died with her too. Before her, I was in a funk, dealing with the consequences of having a cruel father and a depressed mother. Growing up, Roman was the 'ray of sunshine' who didn't let me stay entirely in the dark and when Elsa came, she totally brought me into the light. She made me feel entirely vulnerable with my guard down. She was a girl I'd do anything for, including fighting my demons and conquering my fear of letting another human into my heart. Everything was fine until the curse took her and she died with her hand in mine. That was when I began to freefall into the deepest darkness I had ever been in and put up layers and layers of protection around my heart.And then Zora came along and began to chip away. She was a woman with a hammer breaking through my shield until she got to the last layer. Elsa. It was a layer I wasn't ready to bring down, not when death hung over her head. Now I find myself wishing she'd walk t
~ ZoraI woke up to the rhythm of my own heart beating and when I opened my eyes and looked around, I couldn't help the frustrated sigh that left my mouth when I realized I was in a hospital again. "Zora?" A familiar voice called and I turned my head to the right to see Nox sitting in a chair close to me. "Thank the gods, you're awake." He said, taking my hand in his. Although, I felt sparks tingling up my arms, they felt more like an inconvenience rather than something enjoyable. "What happened? How did I get here?" I asked, racking my head for my last memory. "You don't remember?" I shook my head. "The last thing I remember was…" I pause, suddenly remembering myself drowning. "... dying…and then you pulled me out."Nox met my gaze and I suddenly felt a mixture of guilt and relief emanating from him. "You saved my life." I concluded. “Thank you.”Nox responds by taking my hand to his lips and kissing it repeatedly and it should affect me in a positive light but the more I look