"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
"Stand down guys!" I commanded immediately as I stepped into the conference room. The three of them; Eric, Ivar, and Henrik, looked surprised to see me, or should I say afraid. Perhaps they were afraid that I might suddenly go crazy and start to tear the whole place apart as I did inside the arena's ladies' bathroom. They had no idea of what I did to get myself more in control of my emotions. I looked from their surprised faces to the old men they all wanted to fight and I sighed. Sometimes I wonder who was crazier between Eric and me. I mean how on earth could he think of fighting them? Elders are supposed to be powerful but it was obvious that these ones were not given the position because of their strength. Elders like my dad and Alpha Nate for example still have a lot of fights left in them but these ones are not worth the trouble their death would bring on me, their Alpha. What was Eric thinking!?I walked inside and sat beside Ivar..."Hey man, you're awake?" Eric asked, loo
"See to it that they leave this premises in five minutes," I said to Bear through gritted teeth as I walked past him in hurried steps towards the mansion's main wing. I had to quickly get away from them so I wouldn't end up hurting them. I was breathing hard as I hurried away. Growling even. Heavy animalistic sounds coming out of me in short, consistent bursts. I knew I was about to go wild again so I held tightly to myself from letting the crazy loose. I needed to quickly get inside where no one but my family would be able to see. It will be disastrous If I lose control of myself and they witness it. It would be disastrous because the Council wouldn't only have me chained to a chair as my Uncle did back then.They would seize me by all means and have me transported to the Council's underground dungeon. I know myself. I would die first and take a lot of them along with me before I allowed myself to be chained down like a fucking rabid animal. I thought I would be okay after I repr
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
Ash's POV Even though everyone, including my cousins, all testified that Dahlia's condition had improved a great deal, when I checked in on her, it looked to me like she was still struggling for life. Short and quick shallow breathing, sallow skin tone, bluish lips... If they call this recovery, then I wonder what she looked like when they found her injured.‘When we found her she was half dead. Her guts were...’"Babe..." Thor's voice interrupts Lily's voice in my mind. "Yes, baby," I reply and look at himAlthough he's smiling, his gaze is questioning."You didn't respond to my question. What were you thinking about?""Oh! Sorry! What question is that?" I ask with a smile, moving closer to encircle my arm with his. We just left the pack house, returning to Alpha's mansion. I can't believe I zoned out while in his company. "Tell me. What were you thinking about?"I sigh"I was just wondering about Dahlia. I couldn't help but worry despite everyone telling me she was doing okay. I
For a moment, my mouth hangs open in astonishment. She said such beautiful things about me to her mother!?She referred to me as her hero even when she was the one that saved us all!? How did I, the cad that cheated on her, get to be forgiven so easily, even without explanation? How did I get so lucky?I suddenly stop and whisk her into my arms, making her squeal in laughter."Oh, my! Goddess, Thor! What are you doing!?""Carrying my mate the rest of the way..." I say, looking deeply into her eyes."Why? You don't need to carry me. Why are you looking at me like that?" "I'm wondering how I got so lucky. I must have done something very pleasing in my last life for Moon goddess to bless me with a mate like you."She chuckles"Now, you're making me blush." She says, patting her cheeks that are slightly turning pink with her hands. "I'm the lucky one, my love. I don't deserve you, but I'll spend forever trying to make you happy."She lowers her gaze."Being able to spend forever toget
Thor's POV"What!?" I exclaim in a whisper. How am I a lost cause? I told her to close her eyes because I'd been in that situation before.We were in a hopeless situation that I never thought I would get out of. I didn't want her to experience even a minute of what I went through after I watched the people I loved get ripped from limb to limb. That memory– the memory of how my mother's head rolled on the ground, landing right beside the dome when she was decapitated haunted me for years. Her bloodied, sightless eyes that were opened in horror stared at me, somehow accusing me of not saving them. I turned feral because of that. I was mentally sick for years and would've gone rabid if not for Eric, my uncle, and now her, my mate. I go after her, wanting to make her understand me better but a hand holds me back. I turn to see Eric shaking his head. 'Not right now. Perhaps when you're alone with each other.' He says through the mind link.I nod. He's right. What was I thinking, wantin
"Yes, we came as soon as your Dad told us. He drove down here like a madman, almost killing us in the process!" Eric complains behind Thor and I laugh, gently pushing away so I can properly look at my man."Oh, babe!" I say. I touch his head and all over his face while telling myself, this is real. It is not an illusion. My mate is standing here before me. He's holding me in his arms."I'm not dreaming or am I?..." I seriously ask, looking deeply into his eyes. "This is not an illusion?" I ask again, kissing him this time. "Eric and Lily are not playing tricks on me?" His smile widens as he shakes his head,"No, babycakes." He replies and then crushes his mouth onto mine. His lips push mine open, making way for his tongue to deeply delve and explore the insides of my mouth. I kiss him back as fiercely, clinging tightly to him with my arms wrapped around his neck and my legs around his waist."Did that feel like an illusion?" He whispers into my ear after he pulls away from our kis