I know there's trouble the moment Thomas wrenches the door open. I also know it would have something to do with Thor. I just hope in my mind that he isn't in the process of beating someone to death like what happened with our martial arts instructor when we were young. I immediately told Uncle Knox I'd call him later and ended the call without waiting for his reply. "What the fuck happen again this time?" I ask, fearing for Thor and not his victim if he's indeed beating some poor werewolf to an inch of his life. Call me heartless, I don't care. What I care and concerned about is for my brother not to carry the blame for killing an innocent person for the rest of his life."Beta, come quickly. Three Council Elders are here to see the Alpha!" He hastily says Hearing what he said, I pause to take a deep breath to calm myself while inwardly thanking Moon goddess 'Thor is not in the process of killing anyone.'But then, Council Elders? Another kind of warning bell immediately starts
"Elders!" I say in greeting as I walk inside the conference room, going straight to sit on Thor's seat at the head of the table. But instead of them acknowledging my greetings, they look at me with disdain. Like I'm not right in the head and also not worthy to stand before them. Even without speaking to me, I can imagine the wheels in their bone heads turning as they wonder...'Who the fuck is this nobody standing before us? How can he be so brazen? How can he be so disrespectful as to sit before his Elders without first asking for permission?''Ridiculous!' I thought and laughs to myself, wishing Thor was here so we can laugh together over this ridiculousness.The Elders of a pack are not determined by just old age. Before an old wolf is to be named an Elder in a pack, the wolf-man or she-wolf must be of renowned wisdom and strength. The Elders are the ones that the Alphas MAY submit themselves to and go to for advice If the said Elder has shown in many ways that they have indeed
"Stand down guys!" I tense when I heard the familiar voice boom out a command inside the conference room.'No, no, no, no, no– what is he doing here? I don't want him here!'I turn toward the door as I force my wolf which is now half out back inside and under control. Thor, who has sunglasses on, which I guess is to hide his feral eyes, stands by the door with Ella behind him. "Hey man, you're awake?" I say, narrowing my eyes threateningly at Ella, for not giving us a heads-up. Seeing the look on my face, she vigorously shakes her head from side to side "Not me!" She mouthed back in reply."What!?... He's been sleeping all this while and you have the effrontery to lie to the Council Elders! How dare you!? What sort of disrespect is this!?" The Elder in the middle shouts in my direction."Hey! Keep your damn voice down! You're going to give me a headache!" Thor snaps at Elder loudmouth as he walks towards our side of the table. He takes the chair beside Ivar and leans back before t
"Your heart was beating so loud it was deafening. Fuck, Eric! I could barely hear myself talk with the manner your heart was beating dum, dum, dum..." Thor continues to mock me. He turns to Henrik and Ivar for confirmation."You guys also heard his heart beating so wildly didn't you?""Loud and clear," Henrik replies "Yes Alpha, I sure did,'' Ivar responds while laughing at the same time.There's no stopping Thor whenever he's in the mood to roast me and today happens to be one of those days. Whenever he's in the mood like today, he would always make sure to forcefully drag Henrik and Ivar to his corner, making it three against my poor one since Bear who is the youngest of the five of us would never be caught dead insulting his Alpha, jokes or not.The funniest part is, I always hit the three of them as hard as they hit me but not today. I don't dare battle words with him in the state that he is. I'm afraid I would say something that would upset and send him over the edge.Werewolv
"And why couldn't you expose the bitch to the world so every human and shifter would know she's a fake and an usurper! For how long do you all intend to allow this to go on for?" Uncle Knox continues to rant. His furious voice blaring in my ears.I started to get angry at him. I stand up from where I was sitting and start to pace from one end of my room to the other to walk off my anger. I also want to angrily talk back at him for making me feel as if I'm lagging in my duties as Thor's beta but I strongly hold back.I understand the fact that it's in all our nature, shifters and humans alike to stay on the sidelines, judging and thinking we could do a better job in a situation that other people find themselves in. Making statements like; Why couldn't you have done that or it wouldn't have been this bad if you had done this...Uncle Knox has been fulfilling the role of a father to me ever since the death of my parents. Even though we were sent to live in Denmark with Elias, Thor's Alph
I heard a loud gasp from the other end of the phone."What!? Are you serious!?... Martha is– is dead!?... Miranda killed Martha!?..." Uncle Knox continues to mutter exclamations of disbelief. I refused to say another word to help convince him further. Yes, his friend's daughter is that evil! He can either take my wo rd for it or believe whatever he chooses to believe.He continued talking when he didn't hear me say another word. His tone changed from disbelief to anger..."Oh god, no! Not poor Martha! But why the hell would Miranda do that!? Why? Martha was such a good woman. Why would she kill her!?...I don't understand. What happened to that girl? She was such a sweet little girl back then the last time we had them over for dinner. She was vain, yes but she was sweet. What happened to her? Why did she suddenly turn evil? She's just eighteen for goodness sake! How could the heart of an eighteen year old girl be that dark and evil!? How!?..." I sigh in exasperation. God knows I d
"Their sorcerer must be very powerful to be able to mess with a shifter's natural essence." He adds"You think what they did is in the essence?" I ask, remembering how Thor said he needed his mate's essence to fall asleep, giving Miranda the opportunity to carry out her evil deed"Yes– It's a lot of theories, I know but think about this. Back then, I loved Viveka so much but I had to be with Evelyn. Her essence felt like air to me. Life. Oxygen I couldn't do without. A drug I must have every day otherwise, go mad without it... You know, I even wanted to keep both of them. Selfish bastard right?" He says and laughs"I needed both of them for survival. I loved Viveka so much I couldn't bear to part from her and at the same time, I wanted Evelyn around me. It felt like I wanted to go mad when I tried to stay away from her. Not smelling her essence made me want to hit my head on the wall with frustration. Just for no reason, I would feel a surge of rage within me. I would thirst for bloo
Thor's POVI went to bed feral. When I woke up feeling better than the way I was the previous night, I thought the storm was over. Eric was sure I would be back to my normal self if I took a rest, now I'm back... Or so I thought until I wanted to take my bath and saw from the bathroom mirror that, although I felt great about myself, my eyes still looked dark like I'm a demon. But I'm optimistic. I have confidence in Eric and the rest of the team. I trust them and I'm leaving everything in their hands. As I showered, I couldn't help but wonder about that thing that my brain couldn't grasp anymore. That thing that was so important it pushed me over the edge. Since my brain is a bit calmer now, I wanted to think about it. Maybe this time I would be able to figure out the difficult puzzle.On second thought, I asked myself, what if thinking about this really made things worse for me? What if I go wild and out of control again? What if I thirst for blood and go on a killing spree? I sto
"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