Chapter 30 Rose woke up to the sound of crackling fire and the distant sound of screeching owls. She held her head trying to battle her dizziness. She looked at her legs and all the wounds that she had sustained while running away were cleaned and healed. She turned to see Judy at the other end of the fire. The latter was watching the flames as she brandished a penknife on a rock. “Where the hell are we?” Rose asked, looking around. It felt like they had fallen into a hole.“We are in a cave I spotted on our way coming here. It should give us enough shelter for the time being until we can figure out what is going on.” But her words didn't bring Rose comfort. “What about the guards? Did we lose their trail?” “Yes, we lost them a long time ago. Judy grabbed a cup of freshly brewed tea and handed it over to Rose. “Take this, it should help with the headache.” Rose peered at the drink with a skeptical gaze. Just smiled. “Don't worry I will not try to drug you like you did to me. It
Chapter 31Rose jumped out of the bed she had been placed in and raced to a corner of the room raising both hands in surrender. “Please, don't kill me, please. I'll do everything else you want but please don't kill me,” she begged. There was no escaping this time. Grim looked at her with concern. It was kind of hilarious that the woman who had been making fun of him would be so terrified of him. Meanwhile Rose saw death flash before her eyes. This is not being said metaphorically, poetically, or in any other fancy way. Grim looked like death straight up to her. Only when her back was pinned to the back of the wall did she realize that her dizziness had set in. It came like a wave and she had to place one hand on the wall to avoid slumping from her weak knees. Her first instinct was to look for the best way of exiting the room. The door looked back at her seductively but she knew she wasn't getting to it before Grim, especially in her weakened state. The window was the worst optio
Chapter 32Grim had felt his world turn blank. He would have screamed for help or at least tried to convince Rose to stay but he had lost his voice. He didn't blame her. He had treated her worse and if she saw this as payback then that was fine. His last wish was for her to at least believe his words because they were the truth. Then she came back. When he thought all hope was gone she came back and took him up. She had risked getting spotted by any vampire and getting hurt. That sacrifice from her meant a lot to him. Literally, he blacked out from the pain before they could get to the shrine.The healer walked out when she heard the commotion outside. She was an elderly woman with her silk white hair fixated with ornaments of sorcery. Bracelets and rings of different shapes and sizes adorned her hand. She was clad in a robe that showered down to her feet. She walked down and collected Grim from Rose. “Thank you for bringing him,” the healer appreciated. “Wait here, I'll take him
Chapter 33“I can't do it,” Rose told Judy for the umpteenth time. But Judy wasn't giving up on her anytime soon. “I know you're scared, but it's fine.” Her next words were to be for Rose to ‘trust her’ but she knew better than to request for her trust after the way things had ended the last time. “But Lord Grim is personally requesting to see you.” Rose felt like she was in trouble. Maybe he wanted to punish me for walking away from him earlier, she thought to herself. ”Don't worry I'll be by your side this time. I'm not going to let anything happen to you,” Judy assured.Rose mustered the courage to follow Judy into the chambers where Lord Grim was being kept. All eyes were on her when she walked in and the different gazes were for different reasons. If looks could kill, Feria's eyes would have turned Rose into dinner as soon as she walked in. She held onto Grim closely as if just Rose's presence was enough to capture her fiance's heart.Dale didn't bother to give her more th
Chapter 34It still felt like a dream hearing Grim speak the truth. She would never have taken him to stoop so low to not only say the truth but also apologize for what he did. “He went on his knees and begged for your forgiveness?” Judy repeated just to be sure she heard right. Could you blame Rose for spicing the details? She may have exaggerated some of the details of how it had happened but now that she saw Judy's reaction it was worth it. By now they had returned to Nostville. Lord Grim had specially put Rose in charge of taking care of him. That was the only way he could think of getting her to spend more time with him on the ride back home. As you would expect, Feria wanted to skin Rose alive but the warning from Grim stopped her from making a move. All she could do was stare with evil eyes and keep making plans to finally make Rose flee. “I was just as shocked as you are. I was expecting him to leap and tear me to pieces but instead, he was asking for my forgiveness,” sh
Chapter 35Feria wanted to bring down the entire palace. That was what her rage was tempting her to do. Lord Grim had already sent out the instructions. If he so much as had a sore throat, the only person responsible for his health was Rose. A lot of people questioned his decision but none of them spoke up. However, there was one strong-headed person who wouldn't let the matter go. Her name was Feria and she spoke up as soon as Grim had made that announcement. She decided to go into his chamber to confront him about it. She was on her way there when she saw Rose running out. She had this look of shock on her face. Feria immediately suspected something was wrong. She approached one of the guards by the door to confirm her suspicions. “How long was she in there?” “Thirty minutes, Vampire Princess,” the guard answered In hushed but clear tones. He didn't want to disclose the information but after recalling the fate of the previous guards who had tried to stand in Feria's way he did
Chapter 36Rose decided to avoid Grim for the rest of the day. It was a hard task but her creativity had led her to find new hiding spots where she could remain unfound for the next couple of hours. She knew how much of a difficult, impossible task it would be to stay away from Grim for the next couple of days. But she was more bothered about the rest of the day. Grim was worried. He sent every guard and maid he could find to search for Rose but no one laid eyes on her. They searched all the nooks and crannies of the palace but she was nowhere to be found. One thing Grim could be certain of was that she hadn't escaped. There is no way she could have left the pack without him knowing. Little did he know that she was hiding in her private favorite spot. She was hiding up in the tree that gave shade to the dry stump she usually sat on. She had stolen the key to the storage room of a guard and after gathering enough foodstuffs, she had returned the keys to him so as not to arouse susp
Chapter 37Rose didn't know what to make of Feria's words. It was a threat nonetheless but she didn't understand why she wanted her to leave so badly. “Vampire Princess, is everything okay?” Feria scoffed, even more annoyed that the young lady was playing dumb. “Everything is not okay. You used some kind of spell on Grim and now you're trying to take him away from me?” “I'm not trying to…” Rose tried to defend but she was barely given a chance. “Shut your dirty mouth! You think I don't know that there was nothing wrong with Grim? All of a sudden he calls for you and you two spend thirty minutes there. What the hell were you doing for thirty minutes?!” Feria yelled. A couple of birds nearby scampered away from the high-pitched tone of her voice. Rose ate her words. This was the same thing she had warned Grim would happen. She knew Feria well enough to know that her suspicions would surely grow. “Please calm down, Vampire Princess. I promise that I have done nothing of the sort
CHAPTER 64Rose walked slowly to the Sorceress's house. She knew she shouldn't get angry or even offended but she couldn't help the sadness she was feeling. It seemed like every time she made progress in anything, something suddenly happened and took her backward. First, she was making progress towards being Alpha of her pack and inheriting her father's power, then Reed came along, killed her father, and became Alpha and what she had been prepared to be. Then she came to Nostville, realized she had powers and started working on them. Then she thought the magic training with the Sorceress was making progress, she had even saved herself from turning to paste, then the news about the mental block stopped her. And then now, whatever it was she had been building with Grim was stuck again. He had kissed her but she had been too shocked to kiss him back. Then he had trained with her like nothing had changed between them.She had gone to see him but she had not been allowed to enter because
CHAPTER 63The atmosphere in the coven’s private hall was thick with tension because of the news Grim had received. He had called for a meeting between the covens that were close to Nostville to address it. The five leaders of the most powerful covens in the region had gathered in one room, and the subject of their meeting… the dark shadow… had most of them on the edge of their seats. The five of them, Grim included, sat at the long oak table. The room was dim, lit only by the flickering light of a few candles. The air smelled faintly of the blood that had been served but it was the scent of their uneasiness that hung heavily in the air.Grim, as always, sat at the head of the table. His posture was stiff as his mind kept wandering to what the Sorceress had told him before the meeting began.His mind was elsewhere. She had told him not to say anything about what he suspected to be caused by. He was not to mention Althrea. He had been careful to keep his suspicions about the shadow t
CHAPTER 62The clearing was still, except for the rustle of the wind brushing through the trees and the occasional chirp of birds. The early morning air was cold. Sunlight filtered through the spaces between the leaves of the trees, warming the cool earth. Grim had chosen this place for their training. It was isolated, quiet, and a perfect spot for training although it was not better than the mountain.She had received his message the night before, instructing her to meet him here for training at dawn. She had been hesitant, unsure of how she felt about training with Grim after the tension that had simmered between them recently. The last time they had been nearby, the kiss but he hadn't even stared at her the last time she had seen him. Yet, she couldn’t deny that the thought of what they could become outweighed her unease.As she had walked towards the clearing, she had replayed their last encounter in her mind… Now, she stood a few feet away, stretching her arms and legs as she p
CHAPTER 61Rose couldn't bring herself to look for the diary. She stood at the door praying that whoever had scattered her things out of anger and not because they were looking for something. Even as she stood at the door, she had doubts. She walked to the bag and slipped her hand into the hidden compartment of the bag and tapped around but the book wasn't there, she looked inside and couldn't see anything. Her heart sank. She didn't even know who to blame. Feria had avoided her for a while now and she couldn't have just decided to scatter her things around… unless she knew about the kiss. That was also not possible because Grim didn't look like he was going to tell her. There was a knock on her door and Judy poked her head in. “Wow, don't tell me you got angry and did all this. It literally looks like a hurricane was here,” Judy said as she got in. “No,” Rose replied sharply. “I'm sorry for how I spoke to you the other day. I was just annoyed and jealous and...”“It's alright.
CHAPTER 60“I've got news,” Kael whispered in Reed's ears. He was making his way to the clearing for the mating ceremony when Kael pulled him aside and told him. The mating ceremony was a tradition that had been in the pack for generations and he had to follow it. When Kael told him, Reed pulled back. He stared at the other wolf's face, trying to get the nature of the news before he was told but Kael's grim face had been replaced by an easy smile. “This better be good, Kael,” he said. “It's good news but I'd tell you after the ceremony,” Kael stepped back and allowed the Alpha to continue his walk to the clearing where his mate Lyla was waiting.Lyla was the daughter of a Trusk, who was the elder of the pack before he was killed by Reed when he saved Rose. When Reed reached the clearing, he looked around at the members of the pack that had gathered, silent and expectant. They had settled into a tense silence, the murmurs from before Jaxon’s death now quieted. Reed had killed the fo
CHAPTER 59Rose woke up to the sound of a knock on her door. She had ignored it, hoping the person would get the idea that she wasn't interested in seeing anyone and leave but the person didn't leave. It was after she stood up from her bed and went towards the door that the person left. She groaned and returned to bed, her hand instinctively going under her pillow to retrieve the book and flip through it again.She had flipped through the pages of her mother's red book so many times that she knew the number of pages. The thing was that even then, the brown pages were still blank. She had tried to read the book beside the light of fire, under the sunlight, under the moonlight but she couldn't see any writings. It was like a bad joke with no punch line.She had gone through so much trouble to carry an empty book. At the back of her mind, she believed that maybe her mom had taken the original and left the fake or she had met the sorceress to hide the writings in the book to prevent j
CHAPTER 58Reed had decided to call for a general pack meeting. The restlessness within the pack had increased and just like Kael had told him, he needed to do something about it. Make a power move. He was no longer respected, no longer feared, no longer revered. He knew they had their thoughts about him being Alpha but they had only been murmuring, now they were beginning to have the nerve to speak up. It felt like his control had slipped. But not anymore. For generations, the only language the pack understood was strength, power, and brute force and he would make sure they remembered who ruled them.He walked into the clearing where pack members had gathered for the meeting. The moon was not full but its glow was enough to illuminate the grounds, enough for them to see him and for him to stare into their eyes. Just as he had instructed, Kael had ensured that the place was packed with all the pack members. He walked up the highest rock where he stood alone, staring down at them qu
CHAPTER 57Rose turned around to see one of the maids frowning at her. The maids had started to hate her since Grim started training with her and had kept her alive. “What are you doing here? Lord Grim is not here.” The maid said sharply.“I know that,” Rose replied, her heart racing as she thought about an excuse. If she just said she came to see him, the maid would be expecting her to leave immediately after she realizes that he was not around. If she tells the maid that she came to pick something from the room, the maid could just wait until she is done. She needed the maid to leave so she wouldn't see her enter the restricted room. “Grim sent me. There's something urgent I need to do,” Rose replied with as much confidence as she could muster. The maid stared at her and she returned the stare without blinking. Her father had taught her about the importance of holding a stare. After a few seconds, the maid turned to the side and looked down. “Oh, okay,” she said as her cheeks tur
CHAPTER 56Reed sat in the dimly lit room. The former Alpha had created it for council meetings, but now he stood alone in it… waiting. His claws had extended because of his agitation and he drummed slowly on the edge of the table with it, but his mind was racing… it was the thought of her. Rose. He could still hear her father’s voice in his mind, the last words he had spoken before Reed had silenced him with a single strike. “My daughter will take my place. She will be the Alpha.” Like the pack needed another weak Alpha that stunted its growth.Rose had been too foolish. She had been weak. And now, because of her father’s misplaced words, some pack members still had their loyalties to the dead man. They wanted her to be Alpha. They didn't say it out loud but he could feel it. She was his obstacle to gaining complete control of the pack.He had thought about everything perfectly and had even started the execution. Imprisoning her. Starving her. Watching her lose hope, lose strength a