{Isla’s POV}The journey back to the palace wasn’t a friendly one. I had grown tired, hungry, and cold and had still gotten nowhere near my destination.A part of me wanted to return to Zitumi’s Pack and see if I could make recompense but I had promised myself not to stop along the way. Besides, going there might just strike me with a heartbreak I wouldn’t be able to bear. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I saw their dead and wasted bodies. So I made another difficult decision and forced myself to continue on my way. A lot weighed on my mind as I went. A lot like…Andrea and Emkay… and the rest. Where would they be? Could they have returned to the Palace? Or were they still lost in a war I was oblivious to?That last part scared me to my spine, and I really hoped it wasn’t the case.There was a lot I felt guilty for.I also wondered if Lily was okay and if her father, the Praised Brother working for Lycans, was still alive.It would scourge me if I found out he was killed
{Isla’s POV}My smile was made to vanish when the claws of the Rogue before me wiped it off and replaced it with blood.My blood.I stumbled away a bit— mostly due to shock and not the force of the blow but then the Rogues misunderstood my movements as two others rushed to grab my hands, seizing me to a standstill.The one that had bashed me stepped closer to me. He looked like their leader.“Are you insane, Rogue?” He asked me, glaring at me from my head, down. None of them recognized who I was. I must really look like shit!I stared between all of them before me. None of them looked familiar. They had dirt all over them and didn’t look anything like the Rogues I had seen over at the Lycan Hold. These were just regular Rogues.“You don’t speak?!” The Rogue leader gripped my jaw roughly and in the process. gripped the gaping wound on my cheek. The sting shot through me in hurtful waves and I couldn’t tolerate it anymore.I forced out one of my hands that was clasped behind my back by
{Isla’s POV}We looked like a wave of weary refugees as we trudged towards the Palace gates. The guards had seen us and the alarm on their faces was very visible. They panicked and communicated that the alarm should be sounded. I suddenly felt like it would be too much drama alerting the whole Palace forces in vain— even though it would be fun to watch. So I turned to the Rogues trailing behind me.“Halt!” I yelled. “Stop and wait here until I tell you to come.” I said and started racing towards the Palace gates. I needed to get there and make them realize that it was me before they sounded the alarm.It was a wrong move.The guards saw me as an incoming threat and some of them started racing towards me to fight me. My guards were trying to stop me from entering the Palace. How crazy.Okay, on a more serious note. My guards were about to freaking fight me. They got to me and immediately started throwing fierce punches and claws at me. I evaded their blows, being conscious of the fa
{Isla’s POV}My statement stunned everyone. They had been expecting me to say something but hadn’t been expecting me to start like that.They were all confused but I continued nevertheless. I needed them to understand how serious our predicament was.“The Lycans would get to the Palace in the coming week and we need to be gone before that time.”“Leave the Palace, Isla?” My mum asked. “We can fight them here. The War Generals and Warriors have been training for this.”“Yeah.” Kayla said. “Leaving the Palace for them is a downing move.”Oh, she’s contributing?I don’t know since when she became interested in the matters of warfare. Maybe it's because this time around, she knows that lives are at stake— her life included. They were beginning to form distressing dialogues amongst themselves, wondering why I would say such a thing, so I called their attention back to me. “We’re not abandoning the Palace for the Lycans.” I said and everyone looked back at me. “We are only leaving for a re
{Isla’s POV}We all stressed our necks as we swiftly turned to look at the doorway. Cayden was standing there and in his hand was Lily who wrapped herself around his shoulders. They were both blood-stained.Sassaba was the first to shoot up from her seat and after her Lucil, Daniel, and simultaneously, the rest of us.“Cayden.” Naí Sassaba immediately rushed to him and when she got to him, she slowed down. Slowly, she took her hands and rested them on his face while her eyes roamed his bloody body. She was already shedding tears. “Mother.” Cayden smiled at her and she wrapped her hands around him. The rest of us crept closer to him and while others greeted him, I just stared. Some maids came in and took Lily from Cayden to go wash her up while Cayden exchanged greetings with Daniel. Theirs was the most phenomenal reunion, unsurprisingly, as Daniel did everything to make sure that Cayden didn’t put filthy blood on him. They joked even in such an instance.I had my hands folded below
{Isla’s POV}Cayden stood before me with his usual aura of confidence. He was willing to fight me. There was a time when his confidence would have scared me but that time has long passed. I was a different person now, but part of me knew that Cayden would give me a tough time. I threw my claws out and he threw his. We only shifted partially but you could see the clear contrast between him and me. I had two wolves and he had one so the difference in our Werewolf physique was clear. I could easily reign terror on my opponent even without trying, but then Cayden doesn’t get scared by anyone or anything.He was smiling and I was smiling. We were about fighting but we both were smiling— a trick meant to confuse the enemy and inflict fear in them.We both knew the trick so it was ineffective now. I was about lunging at him to teach him a lesson but then I was interrupted by a body that stood in between us. Ralph. I paused my attempt and gazed at him. “Ralph. We were about to fight. I co
{Cayden’s POV}I’m stuck and I’m alone with my predicament.I had decided to risk my life to save Isla’s because she deserved it. She deserves to live and well, I don’t deserve to breathe.The more time I spent around her during the Lycan mission, the more I realized how evil I was. I watched her talk to people. I watched her talk about people. I watched her character towards people and realized that I was cruel in ways I didn’t know of.I treated the world with brutality and angst but Isla saw the beauty in things, no matter how little they were.When I got to know about Lily’s absence— the little girl. I had immediately rushed to return to the Lycan Hold, knowing that if Isla heard of it, she would want to return too. I journeyed as fast as I could only for me to crash into her along the way. I left before her but she met me along the way. It didn’t mean she was necessarily faster than me. It only meant that she was more strong-willed than I was and ever will be. Her empathy and
{isla’s POV}There was a sound.And it wasn’t a familiar one— making it an odd sound.Everyone grew alert at once as we stared into the silence, waiting for a confirmation now.We hadn’t seen anything yet so none of us could conclude on anything yet. The night was reigning with its darkness with our only source of light being the crescent moon above.Until we saw torches.We saw one wooded force and then two and then many.The Lycans were here.Our Shacks were built at a point that was a good distance away from the Palace so we could see the Lycans attempt to sneak up on the Palace.They purposefully chose the night to attack.We watched them put off their torches as they crept closer towards the Palace. They wanted their attack to be unseen and sudden, not knowing that they were already seen.For the first time ever, I was a hundred percent confident in my plan. It gave us an edge over them and what was left for us was to properly make use of this advantage.I would make sure of that
{Isla’s POV}I was robed in a very elegant dress, and the dress was beautiful this time because my belly wasn’t 30 centimeters big anymore. It was coming down to its normal size.It was the break of dawn, since I had spent the rest of last night giving birth, and the sunrise was beautiful. I stood now, watching it from my Chamber’s east window, and just then, I felt a hand trail around my waist before I took in the calling scent of my mate and father of my child.His scent and the scent of our Son were my two most familiar scents in the world. I’m still getting used to the latter since he only just arrived a few hours ago— but I’m getting used to it fast.“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked Cayden, staring at the overlying colors of red, orange, and blue clothing in the skies as the sun rose.“It sure is.” Cayden responded, his voice sweet and gentle. “But it can never match your beauty, my Queen.” He added and I blushed violet.“Well, I know someone who is more stunning than me and t
{Isla’s POV}I groaned and then I struggled to push my eyelids open. It was weighty but I overcame it and became conscious to a piercing sound ringing near my ears.… and then I realized it sounded like a baby. At once, my eyes stretched wide open and I threw my gaze in the direction of the sound to see Cayden sitting before me, carrying what I suspected in his arms.A Cub. Seeing it, I became aware of the pressure on my finger and I looked to see that the Cub was holding my finger. I promptly looked back at Cayden, wanting to get some sort of clarification from him.He smiled warmly at me and leaned in to kiss me deeply on my forehead. I closed my eyes as he did so.“I was never going to let you leave me.” He said with tears in his eyes as he pulled away and then he gently handed me the baby. “Meet our Son.”A wave of warmth swept over my body as I motioned to carry the baby. I felt very weak all around my body but grabbing hold of the baby seemed to revitalize me. And make me emo
{Cayden’s POV}The rhythmic sound of an infantile cry filled the room and the moment I rested my eyes on our Cub, I froze completely.It was pink, breathing and crying. It was real.The Midwives carried the Cub happily and came close to me. “My King, It’s a boy.” One of them announced as they attempted to hand him over to me but then I was unresponsive. It was hard to move a muscle and I could only just stare.The Midwives proceeded to talk to me but then their voices sounded muffled to my hearing and it felt like the world had faded behind me. It felt like it was now only I, the baby, and Isla that were in the room— the family I had created. And I stared between both of them and tears glossed up my eyes. I was scared.But then I was…I was happy. Very happy.I couldn’t believe that this moment was real.I had a son.I finally had a child… with the woman I loved. I finally started my own family. “Your Majesty!”“My King!” I kept hearing them call me with their seemingly muffled vo
{Isla’s POV}I felt my blood pressure rise and its volume pushing against my veins as the maids and Midwives surrounded me in their attempt to lead me to my Chambers.But then Cayden offered to carry me and he did but he immediately put me down as I let out another piercing cry. Carrying me made it worse.It felt like my groin was tearing apart.My water broke and tension swept into our midst. But I still preferred to walk.And so, planting my arms on the shoulders of a midwife on my left and Cayden on my right, I painfully started strolling. The entire Hall of Blissful Lovers was dead quiet now as they all stared in my direction and I knew that this occurrence had successfully put, on hold, every after-party or post-celebration that was to happen.I didn’t want that.My mum and the rest of my General family rushed from the crowd to meet me now, and when they got us, they visibly panicked seeing my pain-stricken face. My mum immediately ran to me. “Isla!” She voiced. “Are you—”I gn
{Isla’s POV}The Divine bliss.That unearthly feeling… It poured on the Reigns as the Full moon poked itself through the Reignile Skies into visibility. It was magnificent.It was powerful and I could just feel its empyrean effect throughout the stretch of my body. Wolves started howling as fated mates found one another. I immediately turned to Daniel and Andrea to find out that they hadn’t marked each other yet. They didn’t need to…They were mates— fated mates! Fate had divinely bound them together!The Moon goddess does pay attention. “They are fated to each other!” I screamed and jumped. My mum and Cayden looked at me smiling beautifully too.“Yes, they are.” Cayden said with an obvious elation in his voice.“Which is no surprise. The moon goddess knows the right souls to pair, and Daniel and Andrea look right for each other.” My mother contributed and stroked my back comfortingly.I couldn’t stop smiling and staring at them as they hugged each other now. It was beautiful and t
{Isla’s POV}As I had calculated, there was still time for Andrea to do everything she wanted on my skin and my claws. After having a bout of entertainment— going to the dungeons and killing that Butcher Cunt, sitting in that make-up chair for a few more hours wasn’t so bad. I didn’t feel that bored anymore, and in less time than I expected, Andrea was done.I was in my beautiful Royal maternity dress— which was most importantly comfortable while Andrea was in a purple silk dress— the same one I had worn years ago when I had started this journey of hatred to love and scoff to intimacy. She looked beautiful and I had almost worn my cheeks off smiling at her. We were ready to leave now. It was nighttime and an hour to when the full moon would reveal itself and the moment felt divinely peaceful. But then Cayden arrived and we both had to start acting. — Andrea was not very good at acting or lying so it became an issue when Cayden asked what the two of us had been doing all day asides g
{Isla’s POV}I forced my eyes open and blinked, and then I realized I was in the Royal Clinic.I immediately shot up to a sitting position to look at my belly. It was still huge and there was no blood anywhere. I sighed. “Hey hey.” A deep voice said and Cayden gripped me comfortingly. I turned to him with a look of relief. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You just got dizzy and fainted so we had to bring you here.” He said and he pulled me into his arms and hugged me. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” He apologized.“Mh-hmm.” I wrapped lazy arms around him and hugged him back and then he kissed me on the forehead afterwards. “Your Mum and Andrea…” He started to say but then the people in question stormed into the room just then. “Isla…” My mum rushed towards us and stole me away from Cayden’s clinch. “Are you okay?” She cupped my cheeks and ran her gaze around my body.“Yes, mum. I’m fine.” I said to her and she sighed.“We brought you food.” She said as she placed a plate of some vegetables and
{Isla’s POV}It was now two days to the Night of the Full Mating Moon and preparations were heavily ongoing. This would be one of the biggest celebrations for a full Mating moon night so we had to make a lot of preparations and provisions.During the Last Full Mating Moon, the Reigns was in turmoil and there was bloodshed due to the Lycans’ attack, and so the natural process of being mated had been disrupted, meaning fated mates couldn’t conveniently meet each other and establish their union. So this next Full Moon which was just a few days away now was more like a combined ceremony— a re-celebration for those that had been mated last time and a mating Ceremony for those who were about to be mated this time around.So it was going to be wildly amazing with a huge love-filled crowd, but the best part?My best friend was going to be part of that crowd.I’ve hugged Andrea like a thousand times before now. And it would have been up to a million if Shrilly wasn’t always coming to interrupt
{Isla’s POV}[Several months Later]Over the past few months, life has proved that having Cayden in my life as lover and King would make things better. The first time Cayden replaced me to go and hunt down the Rogue Lycans, we were only halfway into our feast when reports came back that Cayden had caught the Pilfers— yes, I had sent some guards to monitor the process.Not that I didn’t trust Cayden but it had been my first time completely letting go of my responsibilities for another person to handle. So I had been really worried and couldn’t help but pry. But as expected, Cayden had effortlessly trashed and captured the Rogue Lycans and he’s been doing so ever since. We had tried several times to squeeze more information from these captured Rogue Lycans regarding where their other gang settlements were but it had been in vain. They preferred to be tortured and wounded rather than talk, so we had to carry on with our blind hunt for the rest. But then, the amazing part was that I di