The nights gave birth to days, and the days became months.Johnny and Stacy had found out the truth and had to come to terms with it— that Alisa was pregnant, Jayden was the father and he had the right to come to see his unborn child at any time he wanted.He had discussed the pregnancy with Doctor Felix King, who had given them the precautions and counselling on what to do. In the coming months, Alisa had gone through a series of injections that he had said were meant to bear the demands of the werewolf cub she carried.In all, it was still kept away from the pack. Jayden's new plans had come to keeping everything a secret and taking mind exercises to hide the information from the Alpha in his mind. He made plans of a secret marriage with Alisa, and secretly having his will in his child's name when it was born. All of this information was privy to the only man he trusted, Doctor King, and the woman who owned his heart.And even though he spent every night with Alisa, sneaking into he
Elliott's return had been nothing short of majestical.He made his return on a night they had stayed listening to William Robin speak as he made plans for the next Lupercalia. William Robin had been atop the rocks, communicating to every mind in the pack when their sharp hearing picked up the light footsteps on the floor, and as they turned, they saw the blazing red eyes as it cut through the darkness, the large wolf that owned them standing in an ever so regal pose."Do you not wait for your Alpha before you make plans?" They all heard his voice in their heads, and the familiar sinking fear they all felt when he was around came once again.He moved towards the rocks, and every wolf in his path made way while going on their knees as this was the return of their true Alpha. He disappeared behind the rocks and soon he was up on top of it, with William Robin giving way for him.He stood and looked down, every wolf on his knees, and he read their minds, checking to see if any bore him il
It dawned on him that he had greatly underrated the power of the pack.But the person who had told him about it was Elliott, whose soul should be more evil than anything else. Was he to believe Elliott, who was evil but could read every mind?Was Elliott trying to get him so confused that he exposed himself to the pack because of his conflicting mind?Elliott seemed to have no reason to want to help him. He did not believe Elliott, but now he could not take any chances.Alisa's life was in danger, and it was all because of a whole chain of misunderstandings.First, Elliott had put his scent around her home to protect her. It now felt as though Elliott had more power than he chose to show, more weapons in his arsenal, more tricks up his sleeve. How could he make a place smell like him without him even being there?Next, he had picked up the scent and believed Elliott was close by, and then played a quick script to save himself and her from a danger that never was. He had broken her hear
"Even I am accountable to the guard while I physically remain here, Jayden," Elliott answered, his words slowly coming to his cousin's ears through the night. "None of them has the power to match mine if each of them fought against me alone, but when they are together, they are an unstoppable force.""So they want to kill Alisa now?" "Yes. And I can not stand in their way, as their duty is the same as mine— to keep the pack secret and safe. They are Betas and can go unnoticed, until they come together and become the guard, a team so powerful that they can incite the pack against me, their Alpha.""Your heart is evil, Elliott, I know. But remember that you loved Alisa at a point in time.""I do not anymore!" Elliott roared with a ferociousness that made Jayden whine and stay silent for a while. "I will watch with joy while they kill her and rip through her flesh as she bleeds and pleads. I will watch her in my human form and let her think about the time she broke me.""Why then did yo
Elliott turned away and left, with Jayden exhausted on the ground.He could feel the world around him crashing down.How would he have known by this time the previous year that he, who took pride in being the youngest Beta would be so in defeat against a younger wolf, who had been one low Omega?How would he have known that he would love a human so much? He had only wanted a kid to replace him once he committed suicide. Now he did not want to die anymore. He was in love with the human and the child of his that she carried in her womb, and now he was on the verge of having it all taken from him. He had lost Avana and her child, and now that he had found one more reason to live, he was still under threat.Was he not the most cursed thing placed on the earth?Sorrow held him close, her arms caressing his broken heart and joy was taken away from him.What was he going to do?His body changed back into its human form and he lay on his back, defeated on the floor, wondering how he had got
Alisa for her part, had never been so confused in her life, a confusion laced with fear. She had every reason to be afraid, as Jayden seemed to be. Anything that could make Jayden as scared as he was— a powerful man who was secretly a werewolf and whom she had never seen so much fear in had to be worth being afraid of.She opened her mouth to speak and the sound that came out was so hoarse and croaky she could barely believe it was hers. She cleared her throat and spoke again with a better result, only this time her voice was shaky. “What is going on, Jayden?” His face was stoic and hardened as though set in concrete as he fixed his eyes on the road in front of them that was covered in darkness, illuminated only by the headlights of their car. He brought the car to a slow halt and exhaling deeply, let his head fall on the steering wheel, his fingers shakingly closed around the steering wheel. A bead of sweat clung to his forehead as though for dear life. Jayden took in another dee
Alisa shut her eyes tight and tried to stifle her scream, but the pain was unbearable as it kicked her to life and made her forget about the terrifying wolf she saw. It lasted only a moment and stopped as quickly as it came.“What happened?” Jayden asked, stopping the car once again. He looked at her with genuine concern in his eyes.She was unsure of what had just happened. Her baby had kicked several times, and for nights on end, she liked to watch her stomach and the little parts as they pushed through her skin. Sometimes it was a little foot, at other times it was a hand, and then its head. That one always amused her, especially when she imagined her child morphing into a wolf form.But the pain was strange, and quick too. She touched her hands to the sides of her protruding belly lightly and shut her eyes, taking in a deep breath, trying to figure out if she would be fine. Her skin felt cold and she felt as though she was sweating, but the pain was gone and she figured she would
Once again, Alisa was falling like in the nightmare that preceded Johnny’s unconsciousness. Once again, a wolf was watching her from above, and it was not the one with the blue eyes that had been watching her as she fell in the first dream. It was the frightening wolf with the blazing red eyes that Jayden had said was Elliott. She fell into the great darkness, falling farther away from the frightening wolf until she saw two blue wolf eyes down below, wolf eyes she knew were Jayden’s. Yes! Jayden had been the wolf in the dream. She had known him before even meeting him. He closed his eyes, turning off the blue lights that they formed and opened them once again, and he suddenly did not look so loving. He looked as though he was going to hurt her. His eyes shut again, and when they opened, they were no longer blue. There was a fire burning inside them and a beeping sound like a bomb she heard from nowhere in particular. The fire in his eyes then became an explosion that threw her bac
TWENTY YEARS LATERIt still stunned Alisa that she was called the Mother of Wolves. You killed the one who killed the King, they told her when Jayden Christopher Wells breathed his last. He should have been King for winning the duel, but we had not honoured him yet when you killed him.Now she had three strong sons. Elliott Jr., who was now twenty-seven, Melissa and Elliott’s son Felix, whom she had adopted, and her third child.The one born because Elliott had deposited one last child in her before his death. For some reason, she had named him Jayden. The Jayden before him had had a good heart in his life but had let evil control him.So it was that Elliott’s son with Jayden’s name was the King of the Winter and the Spring in the end.The snow stopped when Jayden died, but it was known to fall from time to time, in its own season. Palm Springs City was no longer an all-spring city, but snow fell in it now.Humans were still oblivious to the wolves around them, even though the number
Alisa was close to jumping out of her skin when the cub wolf ran into her room.Its fur was black with streaks of white, but somehow she had recognised her son and was even more stunned to see him in a wolf form.Only...He ran off into the night and she had no choice but to follow, but not after throwing on a wolf skin cloak gifted to her by Elliott even though she had dreaded the wolf meetings. It did not worry her as much as the safety of her son did, so she followed, at least to keep him safe.But he was a wolf and she was a human, so she lost him and ended up wondering why she had followed him in the first place. She needed more protection than he did.He would have gone to the rock, she guessed, and Elliott would be there too. She had to be there, to see what was happening, so on and on she continued until she got to the rocks and saw even more wolves bigger than any she had ever seen at the Palm Springs meetings gathered at the foot of the rocks, all looking up.Atop the rocks,
Elliott ran towards the rocks after he had morphed into his wolf form, rage coursing through his body and pushing him to run faster.He remembered something Melissa had told him long ago when he went to see her in Snowfall one last time. It was about being king. “The King of the Winter and the Spring.” She had said, but now he was not too sure if she had told him the truth.The howl. Another wolf was here to challenge him.He was more powerful than many wolves, Elliott knew, but he did not know another wolf with a howl so loud. And the snow in the distance too. What signs were these?The rocks loomed high in the distance, and Elliott could see the wolf atop. His challenger. The one with the howl. All the snow he had seen in the distance melted before him once his paws touched the ground, and the place was back to looking as though no snow had ever been there at all. Only a slick wetness remained to show.He soon came up the rocks, catching the scents of other wolves from the other sid
Jayden thought he would cry and fall to his knees when he saw Palm Springs City in the distance.The city was covered in darkness, a sheet of inky blue sky hanging above it, with yellow lights coming out of square windows. Behind him was the Moon, and it felt to him like a sign of favour from the Moon Goddess.He stopped at the border and took in a deep breath. For a moment, he doubted. He had returned home for vengeance, so he wondered why he felt the fear.Jayden took in a deep breath before he crossed the border gingerly as if expecting to have the ground swallow him when his paw touched the ground. But nothing happened for a moment and then...The wet loamy brown earth beneath his paw froze and small cracking sounds were made as ice covered the ground. He lifted his paw and there was ice under it. He was the Reincarnation of the long-dead Alpha of Snowfall, and now he had brought the snow with him to the city, a city that had never seen snow.His other paw touched the earth once a
They were back on his bed, both reaching their climax at the same time. Alisa’s eyes locked with his as their lips parted from one last kiss, and time seemed to stop for them. She could feel nothing but him inside her, could hear nothing but the sound of his heart beating for her, could taste nothing but his kisses on her lips, could see nothing that was not his eyes and could smell nothing but his scent. All her senses were connected to him, and only him. His finger brushed against the strands of her blonde hair slowly, smoothening it. “Where have you been, my love?” She heard him say softly, as though she was a pigeon in his hand. “How could you see me and not know me, when I have loved you for so many years and through so many lives? Did you forget me so easily?” For some reason she could not explain, she wanted to cry. “I am sorry.” She whispered in response, not knowing why she was sorry or what she was sorry for. All she knew was that she was sorry. “We have loved each ot
Alisa was watching her son cradle his puppy to his chest and plant gentle kisses on its head. It had grown considerably these past two weeks, and though it was still little, she knew it was going to grow big and strong.And for some reason, the puppy reminded her of Elliott. There was a certain shyness it sometimes showed that reminded her of how he used to act when they were together in school, and a certain playfulness too. Elliott had shown neither of both qualities these past few years, but well...“Can I go out to play, Mummy?” Her son asked, interrupting her thoughts.The sun was setting for the evening, and a mild breeze blew as an orange glow lit up the sky. Fine weather, harmless for her boy. “Don’t stay out for too long.” She warned him, but he was far away before she was done talking, carrying his puppy with him. The house was quiet once Alisa was alone, and it made her sad. She was trying to be a strong woman, but that was exactly where it hurt. She was strong, but she
The farther away the wolves of Snowfall went from the beloved mountain they had lived all their lives on, led by their fiery leader with his unusually large form and bright blue eyes, almost bright enough to cast a blue shade on the floor, the lesser snow they found on the ground until all they saw was green, a new and uncomfortable sight to them as their paws and feet found it unfamiliar.They moved through the night, male and female, Beta, Omega, Luna, and cub, treading through the thick woods to avoid being spotted by humans and spending the daytime in caves or in hiding, taking the time to sleep. Hunts were done by night, with their leader Jayden bringing in the largest game, and for a pack where a man’s measure was by the size of his hunt, they could not entirely see any leader better than him.Yet, there was something sinister about him that they all feared. They had gone to sleep only to be woken by the most evil sound they had ever heard, and when they heard it once again, th
It was so strange that it had to be a dream. It could not be real.He was lying on the floor of whatever place this was, that somehow had form to it like a small cell. It was a strange place; bleak, dark and foreboding, with barely any light in it even though he could see the four corners at the top, and how he could see in it was a miracle to him.Jayden was now sure he was dreaming because this place was as dark as the darkest hour of the night.He tried to get up and that was when he saw the form of Melissa’s body in the darkness, lifeless and far gone, and the memories of the previous night began to come back to him in the dream. He stood frozen with his mouth open and watched her sprawled body and the blood that stained the walls of the cell. Her stomach had been torn open, and her innards were spilling out.“I did that,” Jayden whispered to himself.“We did it.” A voice in his head answered him back in another whisper, and the sound echoed all around him, as though it was spoken
“For five hundred years, those of us in Snowfall have remained under the frozen chains of the curse. While you who live in Palm Springs City are slightly less wolf than we are, with your smaller bodies and more time for your little ones to learn to morph, we remain here in the snow, waiting for the curse to break so that we can get the sunshine our fathers dearly wanted.”“And with one King over you all, a King from Palm Springs City,” Jayden added. His body was relaxed now. There was no enormous power struggling to come from his body. Melissa’s words had calmed him down.“Yes. All we want is the sunshine, and a happy place for our children.”“I will lead you there. I was to be King, wasn’t I?”“You were to be King. But many times, fighting to get what is ours only takes it farther away from us. Don’t you think so?”Jayden said nothing in reply.“Do you remember the first blood you shed, Jayden?”It had been Alisa’s parents. He remembered it clearly.“You like to tell yourself you we