I don't know how to explain this kind of sensation but as soon as he mentioned Aric's name, the human side of me chickened out all of a sudden. Without Ezra on my side, I felt weak and helpless. The courage that mustered me to barge into Aric's den shattered into pieces and disappeared into thin air. Then I gulp, searching for the courage that helped me reach the forest. I must do something about this, for Ezra's sake. He and his stepbrother believe in me. So I forced my feet to move forward. Everything around me is a mess. There is no way Aric's wolf could notice my presence right away. I mean, his mind could have been preoccupied with the result of the battle. "Perhaps you should proceed with the plan B, Aric," a man's familiar voice echoed in my ears. If I am not mistaken, he is Aric's right-hand man. I was about to reach out to the doorknob of Aric's chamber but was cut off because my wolf sensed something from their conversation. Before anyone could s
My wolf still has a lot of unanswered questions but Ezra shooed us out of his apartment already. However, he promised to tell me everything by tomorrow. Razel even agreed to us getting shooed away when he believes Ezra needs enough time to rest. An hour later, I found myself in front of my apartment. I was about to reach for the card key but I noticed the door was slightly open. As far as my brain could remember, I made sure to lock the door when I left this morning. Then I glanced around, sensing if someone breaks into my apartment. As soon as I get in, I could not help but frown when two familiar figures were sitting on the couch in the living area. "Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?" I raised the question knowing none of them kept a duplicate of my apartment keys. To my surprise, I heard someone flush the toilet. My eyes enlarged when it was none other than Aric. "We're so sorry for not informing you in advance, honey. But your dad and I have agre
"What did you just say?" Razels mom blurted, "My son beat all of them? Why? Our son, is not that kind person, officer. He cannot even break a glass in our house." she insisted. Both of Razel's parents were skeptical of the accusation. It was written all over their faces. I, myself could not believe Razel could do such a thing to the rugby boys. They were a team. Needless to say, they have been close friends since the first day when the team was created. But then again, I cannot blame him to feel that way. He was right, none of them deserve his forgiveness. Our forgiveness. Let alone mine. "They all said nasty words to everyone in his family, including his parents. I am also the victim of defamation. Even if his parents will agree to a settlement, I won't." I move out of my seat and ask for a pen and a piece of paper. "Here's our attorney's name and contact number. I will let my legal team handle this case." I added, "Let's go, Razel." Rael hesitated for a few
My wolf still had a lot of things that need further clarification but I decided to get to the bottom of everything with Ezra instead of Aric. I will only get intimidated further if I remained in his office furthermore. The heavy tension between the truths and lies that dominated the entire room started to suffocate me. Letting him see the weak side of me would be the last thing I want to happen. Before starting the engine of the car, I glanced at the time and concluded that Ezra might be in the middle of working in Aric's hotel. So, I flashed to his other hotel. "What do you think you're doing, huh, Ezra?" I asked him as soon as I parked the car in front of him, the rage in my voice was escorted with sharp stares. Ezra rolled his eyes all over the place, checking for another customer before he fixed them to me. "Aren't I supposed to be the one to ask you that, Feilise? You were supposed to be preparing for the engagement." I could not help but scoff in disbelie
"How about a bottle of beer and a slice of pizza?" I proposed. It was the least my conscience could do to put walls between the heavy tension between them. Ezra and Isadora fixed their gaze on each other so I did not wait for either of them to say something and slide into my room to get us some clothes. Then, I ordered a bottle of beer and a box of pizza online. While waiting for our order, the utter silence leads us to the living area. Isadora was seated across from me and Ezra. Still, their sharp eyes were fixed on others as though they had been reading what was running through their minds all this time. "Okay, here's what is going to happen, Isadora." Ezra finally spoke up, his voice remained calm but deep. "I don't trust your intention of approaching us. For me, you are hiding behind that mask. And I am going to unfold that by all means." "Come on, Ezra," I replied, trying to stay in the middle of the possibility. "Can you just forget about this, huh? I mea
"Ezra, I highly suggest we must get back to your apartment, first. It's not safe for him to be outside right now, is it?" I propose before I offer some clothes for Razel. Both of them did not argue about my proposal as they hopped into the backseat right away. I, on the other hand, hopped into the driver's seat and took off. On our way back to Ezra's apartment, I could not help but glance at them from the rearview mirror. Ezra had a lot of things that bothered his mind but he chose to wait for the right time considering the man seated next to him was in deafening silence. On the bright side, his trembling nerves and bothered mind were already gone. Perhaps it was because his stepbrother was already on his side. Then he leaned his head on the window and closed his eyes. Ezra manages to notice me glancing at them so I focus on the main road ahead of us. "Shouldn't we invite Isadora to come over?" I broke the silence between us before glancing back at the rearview
"Your stepbrother had a lot on his shoulders right now, Razel. One to mention is to make things right for what you did to Lance." I replied, not to assure or scare him, but to make sure he realized what I was trying to emphasize - for him to grow up and be independent. But instead of an answer, Razel curved the tips of his brows. Perhaps he did not get the point of my statement. So I continued, "This is part of Ezra's plan. We must stick to it so that we will not disappoint him. Do you understand?" "But-" "There's no more but, Razel." I cut his words before he could even finish it. "We have to at least try to convince Aric to help us rescue your parents. Your stepbrother had done enough for you." Our conversation was cut off as soon as we parked the car in front of Aric's den. It was also the time when my anxiety started to rise. Razel was right. It could have been better if Ezra was with us right now. I mean, the last thing I want to happen is to be with
"What?" I furrowed. "Go back to your apartment, Felise. Get some rest since we still have a wedding to attend tomorrow," Aric replied with an ear-to-ear smile on his face. "Like I said earlier, you seek in the right place but at the wrong time. And we can do nothing about it. Ezra will understand that." A part of me wanted to do the same thing Razel did in front of Aric as it was the last thing that popped out of my feeble mind. Good thing my pride preceded me. So before I could change my mind, Razel and I flashed to the hotel where Ezra was having his night shift. Both of us were lost in our thoughts in the middle of our journey. We let the deafening silence race with the speed of the car. I don't know what was currently running in Razel's mind but mine was about what Aric told me before I evacuated my spot. I could not believe my parents could do such a thing to me. None of them even considered that I was still a nineteen-year-old student. Perhaps if I
"You are the ones who killed me in the first place, Mom, Dad. My happiness. My rights. And on top of that, my future. What kind of parents do that to their daughter? I'm so sorry if I disrupted your peaceful dinner." Before I could lose my love and respect for my parents, I evacuated the house with a heavy heart and endless tears. There are no more words or courage left in me that could convince them. So I decided to focus on building my second family which is the pack the way Ezra and I wanted it to be. Piece by piece, we achieve a few things on our bucket list. Our numbers increased to a hundred. Three days later, our fifty became a hundred, and a hundred became a thousand in a matter of days with the help of Razel's pack and Ezra's endless effort to solve every problem every time we encountered one. On top of that, we haven't heard anything from the rest of the packs around us either, giving us enough time to become strong. For me to become the best version of
"No," Ezra blurted, "Let's stick with the plan. Baptism and the Mating Night. Rust will help you guys with the flow of the events. I'll be patrolling the perimeter to make sure the plan succeeds tonight." Right after insisting, Ezra shifted into a wolf and ran away. Yes. Running away would be the perfect definition of what he thinks he's doing right now. He wants to hide his feelings - that he was hurting by the fact that I am going to mate his stepbrother. I know Ezra more than anyone in the world. His pain was excruciatingly unbearable that was why he could not bear to see me getting mated to Razel. All though it was his plan in the first place, he didn't want to turn back on his words even if his stepbrother already confessed to us the possibility of not getting anything from their pack. As soon as Ezra was gone out of my sight, Rust ordered us to begin the baptism. Right after the successful baptism of the Crescent moon pack, I found myself in the middle o
"How about let's prove that your alpha is useless? Kill them all!" Alexander ordered his wolves before he shifted into one. His boisterous growls produced mild movements of the ground, scaring the hell out of everyone, including Ezra and Razel. Before anyone could lay their claws and fangs on my pack members, I jumped on top of Alexander and landed alongside Ezra and Razel. My desire to kill washed over me while shifting the color of my eyes. We already lost two of our pack members. Those numbers all end there. Alexander and his wolves were taken aback when I growled louder than him. My growls did not just produce continuous movements on the ground and shoo all the wild animals around us but shook off everyone's nerves. There was this strange energy that surged in every fiber of my muscle, reverberating through me like a bolt of lightning. I could even feel my claws and fangs increase in size. Sharpened by the seconds. The brown hair attached to my body refl
"No, I highly doubt that," Ezra replied, compared to me and Razel, his voice still filled with hope. "There is another group of wolves a few meters away from the house. They have Mom and your father in that car." That makes sense. My senses were focused only on those werewolves above us. Diverting my heightened senses away from them did not even come to mind. Indeed, there, not far away from the house, stood ten more of Alexander's pack, surrounding the car where Razel's parents are held captives. Ezra's werewolf instincts about Rustom holding them alive were precisely right. Rustom had his motive for letting them stay alive. That also makes me wonder why Alexander agreed to help us save Razel's parents in exchange for Lance. Does that mean he also had his motive for keeping Lance? If there was one, what could it be? But no matter what that is, I must be prepared. "There were thirty werewolves in total surrounding us right now," one of our new members conf
"What will happen to them?" I asked those security guards who dragged me to the parking lot and hopped me into someone's black BMW car by force. Then we took off. "Don't give me that kind of glance, old man." I continued, this time, with a demanding tone, "You knew something. What does Aric wants from them?" "We don't know what Alpha Aric wants from them exactly, but I heard it will not do good to both of them..." As the old man kept on talking, I kept my eyes glancing in and out of the car, especially the direction we were heading. Based on my quick observation, we are not heading to my apartment, my parents' place, or Aric's den, but to the airport. Behind me, if I am not mistaken, were two large luggage bags. What's going on? I know what I did was unforgivable. But are they planning to separate me from Ezra? No. Aric is going to kill them. We still have an unfinished business with Alexander. And we just built our own pack. I must do something because my
Ezra nodded, "Simply because I closed my eyes back then. What if they notice and attack us all of a sudden?" he replied. I don't know if he was simply teasing me or not with his response. His overflowing rage toward me twenty seconds ago, but our ten long seconds kiss, melted and turned into a fine blushing. However, it does not change the fact that he wanted me to mate with his stepbrother. "Sorry," I uttered softly, "But I'm afraid my wolf cannot mate Razel right now, Ezra." "May I know the reason?" he insisted, his voice started to calm down as well. Perhaps he already confirmed that those wolves just passed by were already gone. There was no other way they could have sensed anyone's presence underneath the abandoned house because Ezra and Razel securely surrounded the place with human poop and other disgusting smells to distract a werewolf's heightened sense of smell. Even if we were outside sitting inside the car, they could bearly trace us either because
Ezra's serious expression cut deeper into my heart. However, my instinct senses something more than meets the eye. It seems to me that he had something in mind that he was afraid for me to know. A part of me wanted to ask him about it but I know today is not the best time to push it through. Ezra still has something in his mind. He had to save his Mom to be able to make peace with his stepbrother. Let alone we still need to negotiate with Alexander which I still found not an assurance that their parents are still alive a the moment. That one concern alone could turn everything upside down. The best thing I can do for myself right now is to support Ezra's plan. In order to help Ezra build the pack, my wolf must address the mess I made at the wedding first. I don't want to pour fuel into Ezra's blazing fire so I must make sure he or Razel do not get involved with it. So I proposed to Ezra to explain to us about the Crescent pack. Part of his job being my advisor is
As soon as I reached the middle part of the red carpet, my feet lost their will to move forward. My throat dried all of a sudden accompanied by the tears in my eyes flooding my cheeks. "Ezra, please, save me. I can't do this anymore." I uttered to myself. Everyone in the wedding venue, most especially the groom, furrowed when I simply looked him in the eye. Doubts were apparently displayed all over my face. The moon goddess seemed to have heard my impossible prayer when everyone's attention was shifted onto someone else - to the person who just slammed the door of the church open. I slowly turned around and found a familiar face. Though his entire face was covered in sweat and dirt, my instinct can never get mistaken. My knight in shining armor just arrived a bit late but it was the thought that counts. "Razel," I softly mumbled his name. Even though he was not my true knight in shining armor, it was the thought that counted for me. I don't what exactly happene
"Right," Razel nodded his head, "Aric and his men will be out the entire day to attend the wedding. It will be our only chance to achieve the plan. Ezra and I must take the opportunity of them being gone to search for Lance in his den. Is that what you mean by it, Brother Ezra?" "It is the only way I could think of we could save our parents, Felise." Ezra agreed. "We hope you understand that. Please, do me a favor. I need you to get married to Aric tomorrow." My heart feels like I was left all alone and got sunk into the bottom of the wide blue ocean that the two could do such a thing to me as though none of them considered how I might feel about it. I want to save their parents as much as they do, but I did not expect it to be this way - hurting me badly. Selling me to the wolf whom I hated the most. On top of that, my love and care for Ezra was unconditional. I may have promised him that my wolf would do everything to make him happy, but no matter how hard I try