"She's not supposed to be here. She got caught up in this and couldn't leave when she brought my dinner box..." He's still explaining but I cut him off mid-sentence"And why didn't you bow down and make your wolf submit when my men were on you? Why didn't you ask her to submit instead of encouraging her to fight them?" I fire back at him as Eric squats to check his mate's pulse "I–I... I wanted to submit b-but..." He continues to stammer while looking at his Gamma chief till he finally breaks down."It's my fault! I'm irresponsible, I know. This wouldn't have happened if I had insisted but... Oh, goddess! Just please don't punish her for my sins. Please I beg you Alpha! She's bleeding out and the bella donna is preventing her from healing...A–and she's pregnant!..." He says, his wailing becomes louder right then with snots and tears running together on his face. "She's pregnant and we– we already put the baby's life at risk when she shifted to her wolf form. That coupled with her
Eric's POVThe doctor and his team are already waiting for us when we return to Alpha's mansion. I watch the drama between Ben and his pregnant mate as they cry and cling to each other, neither of them willing to let go.'Why cry over spilled milk?' I wonderPerhaps if I were human, I would have found the sight of the two of them crying and clinging to each other pitiful when they were about to be separated, one to the dungeon and the other to the mansion's clinic but I don't. We all don't. They brought this upon themselves when they decided to blindly follow Cyrus's instructions. Why should we pity them when they decided to not just publicly disobey their Alpha but to also kill him in an ambush? Why should we pity them when they choose to put their baby's life at risk? They knew it was dangerous for a she-wolf to shift while pregnant yet they made that choice, instead of submitting to their Alpha's authority.My heart slammed over my rib cage out of fear when I came out of the wood
Thor's POV"Put the person in charge of the group on the line," I say into the phone when I answer Victoria's call from the hallway."Alright, Alpha. Please hold" she replies I know the voice of the mercenary leader that I spoke with earlier when I was making the arrangements. I asked her to put him on the line to make sure they don't mistakenly let the wrong people into the pack."Yeah, this is Mitch McAllister..." I hear a familiar voice start to introduce himself on the phone. I don't need to hear anymore before I can confirm he was the one I spoke with."Never mind..." I interrupt him. "I just wanted to be sure you're the same person I spoke with earlier," "Oh, I understand. No problem, Alpha""Yeah, please give the phone back to my Gamma." "Sure.""Alpha?..." Victoria's voice returns"Yeah, you can let them in.""Okay, Alpha.""Oh and one more thing. The second gate has been closed for the night. I want you to Inform your colleagues guiding the gate with you and also the ones
"General, the mercenaries are here at the mansion." Timothy peeks in through the office door to announce to me.''Okay, let them wait in their vehicles, I'll be with them in a minute," I reply and immediately stand up to meet themI briefly stop at the living area to talk to Ella,"The Gammas at the first and second gates will be joining the meeting. Since we can't leave the gate unattended while they attend the meeting, I want three men at the third gate while you and the two left should go to the second gate. The Gammas will return to their post after the meeting.""Yes, General" She replies "Oh, before you leave, ask the men waiting at the field to move to the basketball court. I'll be there as soon as I show the mercenaries their duty post" "Yes, Alpha." She replies again, nodding curtly before turning to leave with the menEric and I walk outside to meet the mercenaries while Ivar and Timothy stay behind to guide the mansion. The men came in two pickup trucks. They are huge men
I thought he would leave immediately but the fool just stood with one hand raised."Yes?..." I ask a little impatiently with raised brows. Those who didn't see him when he first raised his hands followed the direction of my gaze and turned in their seats to look at him.I don't give a damn about who he is. If he wants to leave then he should leave already and not just raise his hand for recognition. "Uhm... I– I..." He stammers on. It seems his courage suddenly fails him. I feel like throwing him out of the place already with the scruff of his neck. I don't know why he wants to speak in the first place or what he wants to talk about when what I said was clear enough... 'who doesn't want to stay or doesn't accept me as their Alpha is free to leave' I never said free to talk!I was tempted to ask if he's having trouble finding his way out of the room and need a map but the situation doesn't call for sarcasm. "If you want to leave then you don't have to say anything. All you need to
Heavy silence follows my question. They hide their faces from my sight, shift, and fidget in their seats as if they aren't comfortable anymore. My eyes go from looking at all their faces to resting on Sylvester whose adam's apple bobs up and down as he swallows, opens, and closes his mouth like a fish out of water."That was not a rhetorical question Sylvester, I expected some answer!" I growl and he shot to his feet out of fear. "I– I... Alpha. I don't know... I mean..." He stutters on and on. Well, not like I'm expecting any answer from him anyway. I just want to rattle him a bit. I watch him sweat some more under my scrutiny before I finally turn away to continue with the meeting."Now, let's talk about the trust Sylvester brought up..." I say, moving around as I talk."Whether you all like it or not, I am the Alpha of Silver-moon pack and not your precious Justin because I won the duel fear and square. And as the Alpha, how do you expect me to trust the people who pretended to be
Eric's POVContrary to what we thought it would be, the meeting was a huge success with all the forty-two members of the patrol pledging their allegiance to Thor. The whole team, even Ella who doesn't like Victoria couldn't deny the fact that the success was partly because of Victoria's efforts. If she had not convinced her colleagues to come to the meeting and see for themselves that Thor was not the monster that he was painted to be, they would probably not have come and that would have made Thor furious. So furious he wouldn't hesitate to kill some or kick all of them out of the pack. What kind of leader would he be known for then if that was the case? A tyrant maybe?I'm worried though. I'm worried about so many things as a matter of fact. Thor has never trusted anyone outside his family or his team members but I can see he's impressed by his new concubine. He's beginning to let his guard down for her. I mean what if she's one of Evelyn's minions and doing all this to gain Thor's
"Please wait for me, we're already on our way back. I'm coming with you to see her." Ella says when I told her I want to quickly check on Ash.I knew she would want to follow me. Even if Thor had not said he'd take her along with him to the border, I can't allow her to come with me. I won't even be taking any of the new guys we brought from the estate as Thor had suggested because we're short-handed as it is. Right now, we need as many hands to help in protecting the pack as we can get and since I'm not on a death mission, I don't see any reason why I should take someone along with me."No. You can't come with me." I replied to her. "You and two of the new guys are going with Thor to patrol the border. He wants you guys there with him to watch his back. The patrol members are aware he will be working at the border with the mercenaries. Although they already pledged their allegiance to him, I still don't trust them not to try another ambush!" I speak into the Bluetooth stuck in my ea
"The Council Chairman!" I exclaim with surprise when I see a familiar white-haired old man walk out from beside the villa and towards the aisle. "The Council Chairman is the officiant!?"He grins"Surprise!" He says with a flourish "Now walk. And remember, your best man is closely behind."I happily smile and nod at our guests as I walk behind the old man hobbling on his walking stick.I can't believe that the Council Chairman himself is going to officiate our wedding!? He's already so old but still makes the time. Today sure is full of pleasant surprises. He arrives at the front and turns to face the guests."Council Chairman, what an honor this is," I say as I arrive before him, my back to the guests.He smiles "Giving the opportunity to join the Chosen ones of House War-Cloud and House Howell in matrimony is a great honor that I dare not pass to another."I nod and he also nods backEveryone arrive at the front and stand at their respective places as we had rehearsed. The moment
I look at my Patek Philippe Nautilus watch before getting up to start dressing up. Just as I put on my tuxedo jacket, someone knocks on my door."Come in," Eric answers Timothy enters, already dressed for the occasion."The guests have arrived. The ceremony will begin soon." He saysI nod and reply,"We're ready. We'll be out soon." He nods and leavesEric finishes buttoning his tux before turning to me. He looks at me critically as he brushes something off my satin lapel and straightens my bowtie."Hmm..." He says satisfactorily before taking a step back. "Hair– on point. Skin– flawless. Tux– immaculate. Shoes– nice pair, they really compliment your outfit. All in all, you look good, man. Your bride will fall in love with you all over again."I smile at his compliment."What about the ring? Do you have it?" I ask to be sure he hasn't forgotten."I have it right here." He replies with a nod, patting on the area it is resting inside his tux. I exhale and nod"Then shall we?" He
Instead of going back to sleep like I tell him, he groans and slumps back into bed."Ugh!... C'mon, don't be a bitch about this."I scoff, looking at him in disbelief."Who's the bitch here? You're obviously tired and need to rest. I'm allowing you to do that but you can't see my good intentions." I guess he thinks I was being sarcastic when I apologized for disturbing his sleep.He sighs and gets out of bed then go to the wet bar. There, he gets a bottle of water and gulps it down in one go. "Now I'm awake..." He says before asking me, "Water?""Yeah, sure," I replyHe hands me the water before going to sit on the sofa."Alright, tell me about your anxiety attack.""I can't sleep. I thought I mentioned that earlier." ''Why can't you sleep?""How the hell am I supposed to know? I just can't!" I know I sounded defensive right now. That's because I know this conversation would end up with him poking fun at me."I wouldn't have found sleep difficult if I was at Alpha's mansion. My m
Two weeks laterThor's POV 1:10 am! I glare in disbelief at the digital clock on my bedside drawer as if it's its fault that time chooses to be moving at a snail's pace today of all days. It was 12:49 the last time I checked, I can't believe that only nineteen minutes had gone by since then."Ugh!" I growl and slump back in bed as I recall all the advice I got yesterday from all the females around me. (that did not include my mate, mind you. I haven't spoken to her in two days because of some Howell's wedding tradition)"You should go to bed early, Alpha," Lily said as they were about to leave for Night Howlers Pack. (They are Ash's maids and matron of honor.)"Yes, you should." Carla chipped in, nodding, before I could ask Lily why she wanted me to go to bed early. "Poor sleep can lead to breakouts, you know?" "Breakouts?" I asked, looking at both of them with interest."Yes, breakout. Believe me, Alpha, you don't want that..." Clarita replied, looking appalled as she shook her he
I step out of the lobby's revolving door and frantically look around me. I don't see him anywhere but his essence is stronger. He's definitely here."Ma'am..." A voice questioningly calls and I turn around to see Jeremy, one of my security details that comes from my Dad. I wonder where he sprang from? "Have you seen the Alpha– I mean my mate?" I say, handing him my backpack."No, ma'am, I haven't." He replies, looking in the parking lot's direction."Yeah, maybe he's just arriving," I say and hurry towards the place. When the parking lot becomes visible, I smile when I see him leaning on his car reading a book. Immediately, he turned in my direction and grinned as if he knew I was coming. I know it's because he smells my essence.I run, speedily closing the gap between us, and then jump into his arms, tightly wrapping myself around him like a koala bear hugging a tree."Oh, hi, monkey." He says, chuckling.I laugh, slightly pulling away from him "Hello, monkey's husband," I say. "
Twelve weeks later"Prom is more than a dance, Miss Reynolds. It is also used to celebrate and honor students who excel in academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities..." Mrs Jones, my homeroom teacher, lectures me. "Even though you're only spending this term with us, your excellent performance has made you popular among the teachers. You're also loved by not just your peers but also your juniors. Even though you're a new student, they voted for you to be on the prom court, and with what I've been hearing on the grapevine about you, I'm sure they would vote for you to be this year's Prom Queen. Now, won't they be disappointed if they find out you don't want to be part of the event? It would be a shame if..."'Would it? Aren't you over-exaggerating?' I think as I continue to listen to her drone on and on. Contrary to what she's been saying. As far as I know and can see, no one truly cares about anyone amongst my peers in Apex Academy. Most of them are rich, pompous, opportu
"You didn't have your wolf and you weren't aware of my existence. I just recently figured it out myself. That was why I said earlier that a lot of things about our bond recently became clear to me. Even though I was made aware of our mate bond, I didn't know it was such a big deal. Uncle Elias also didn't see it as such; otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten me a girl on my birthday. Only The Seer knew. Knowing he's one of our number one fans, I guessed he also didn't make a big deal out of me being with other women before I met you because he knew the connection between us was not complete. You were too young. You were six years old when I was sixteen..." It suddenly feels as if I've been slapped in the face with the difference in our age. Damnit! Why didn't I think about that before!? Now that he called my attention to it, I feel I've been insensitive. To think I was eight years old when he was eighteen! An eight-year-old child is too young to shift to their wolves and has no busines
"About us..." He replies, and my body stiffens. "About what happened before you left for Hill-backside." "But I thought everything was fine now. We are fine now so why do we still need to discuss that?" I say and want to stand up, but from his lap, he prevents me, holding me in place. "Please..." He says, looking at me soulfully I exhale "I just don't see any reason why we should talk about that. We're fine now, aren't we?... I love you. You love me. Nothing else should matter except that." I say, not knowing if I should confess to him my real reason for not wanting to discuss that matter. Should I tell him I'm afraid to hear what he wants to say? I'm afraid I might not be able to bear it if he tells me how he manipulated his way around our mate bond? Should I let him know I would rather pretend Delilah never happened than risk hearing about her and not be able to forgive him out of jealousy. How would I let him know that I just want to forget the bad memories. I don't want to di
Even though it bothers me, I'm not really surprised when I return from the bathroom to see Thor in his nightwear, sitting on the sofa far away from the bed. At least now I know without doubt that something is indeed bothering him.He stands when he becomes aware of my presence."Can we have a few words?" He asks seriously and my heart thumps again.I nod. Few words about what? What could be bothering him this much? I wonder as I walk towards him. He doesn't need to say another word before I know what he's about to discuss is very serious. It's written all over his face. "I sensed something was bothering you. What do you want to talk about?" Even though I asked, I dread his reply and hurriedly add"Don't tell me! I don't want to know...""You don't!" He exclaims. "But we really need to...""Okay– but please not right now!..." I plead. "I can tell from your expression that what you want to talk about is serious and I... I don't want to talk about anything serious right now, Thor! Tod