AUTHOR'S POV
"Brother, how could you be so hasty? All of our years of hard work have been jeopardized by you. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to gain their trust? You are ruining everything.""Enough! Don't lecture me on what is right or wrong. How could I have passed on such a good opportunity...""But you could not even kill him," She interrupted with a distressed voice. "He is going to wake up and start hunting us. Do you think any of us will be safe then? Alpha Travis will kill us all.""Julian, this was not what Father wanted," She shook her head dejectedly. "We have always looked at the bigger picture before taking any actions, until today, you were shortsighted.""Killing our enemy, that's shortsighted?" Julian threw his head back and let out a belt of laughter and she frowned in confusion."They are not our enemies, Julian. They just don't understand us, and that's what I'm trying to do; make them see that wI stared at Travis in silence, wanting to voice out my opinion amidst the tense atmosphere that had ensued once Adriana went out, an atmosphere he had created."What is it?" He asked, a little too harshly after he noticed me looking at him.Reflexively, I flinched, and the look in his eyes intensified, "Why are you even here if you are still so scared of me?""Until when will you be such a scaredy cat?" It was just a question but it hit me like a ton of bricks and made my heart feel like there was a needle plunged in it that was beginning to rotate itself.I stared back at him, feeling my eyes mist with tears and asked, "You don't want me here?" I hoped he would reply and not keep quiet like he usually would.More than wanting an answer, I needed to know how he was feeling. His words to me were an unspoken judgment, it was clear he detested me for being weak.Why had he not mentioned it before then? Why did he make me believe he
His hands softly caressed my face, and my heart momentarily faltered, and I smiled wryly in frustration at myself.When and how exactly had I grown to care about this man so much that every one of his words now affected my emotions?It was a jarring, uncontrollable feeling, and the thought of it made me even more upset."Let me go, Travis," I mumbled, gritting my teeth to strengthen my resolve as I snatched his hand away from my face and made to move, but my body refused to budge.'Lia, what the hell are you doing?' My face darkened with a frown.'Stopping you from making a mistake you will regret," She was in control now, and was going to do things her way.'I blocked you, how did you even get rid of that?' My expression now was a mix of curiosity and frustration.Could everyone else's wolf do this, or was this an exclusive punishment? Why did I have a wolf who could not only take control of my body but the existing bar
"Proceed," I said to Cameron who in turn nodded to Kyle who took that as a signal to start the investigation.Kyle was the wolf in charge of the scouts as well as all of the sentinel bases all across the city. The Female sentinels were also under his jurisdiction and he had been heading our investigation into the hybrids for months.I first noticed the unusual influx of hybrids into our city about a few month ago. It would have skipped my notice or I would have let them be had they not attacked my people, forcing me to create a team of scouts that would scour the city and hunt them down."Bring him in," Kyle gestured to two scouts who were positioned by the entrance and they walked out and returned after a few minutes, with an Hybrid in tow.He was one of the ones we had captured recently and brought back to hold in captive.As I watched them bring him, I silently applauded Maya for thinking up this idea even though we did not know how c
TRAVIS' POV"Do you know what this is," I asked, raising the small glass above my head. "It's the bane of our existence." The Hybrid's step faltered backwards while the others in the room looked completely unbothered. "Just a drop and it'll only take a few seconds before your insides start to burn. Would you like to find out what happens when I increase the dosage?" I posed a question for effect and watched his pupil dilate in fear. "Alpha Travis, may I do the honour," Kyle came forward subserviently, watching the hybrid with a predatory look in his eyes. "I will give you one last chance," I said to the hybrid instead, "Tell me all you know about the white-haired hybrid, and I will spare you a fate worse than death." "I will talk," He spoke with trembling urgency, eyeing the bottle in my hand fearfully, his quaking voice betraying his inner agitation. "Good, now save yourself," I nodde
All eyes turned to Sylvia who had pushed her chair back, scrambling to pick up her fork, "I'm so sorry," She said, pulling back her seat. "Are you okay?" Cameron leaned in to ask her, concern etched in his tone. "I'm fine," Sylvia replied but I could not help but notice that she seemed a little bit disoriented as the conversation between Adriana and Cameron went on. The latter kept passing concerned glances at his mate, making me sigh at his obvious show of affection while looking at my mate who was watching everyone with a faint detachment. "This Julian, was he the one that hurt Travis?" Adriana asked with a faint show of anger. "He is, we guess that he's gathering all hybrids across the northern lands. Their number was way more than I would expect and if there's one thing I know about hybrids, it's that they don't dwell together, unlike this population. It was suspicious and our suspicion was confirmed by o
"It does not matter to me how strong or weak you are, just stay next to me," He added.I honestly did not know how or what to feel after these next words of his."He's saying he is going to protect you," Lia chipped in excitedly.Of course, she would choose this moment to interfere.That was her interpretation, which was quite similar to mine, except I did not trust those words.With my hands pushing lightly against his chest, I took a step back from him to say, "I care." then headed over to the bed to wrap myself up like a piece of sausage while he watched me with hollow eyes.Did they just turn hollow, or was it like that from the start? It was hard to say.Relying on others used to be a trait of mine, one that I now realized was considered a weakness thanks to Travis' words.First my Father, then Shawn, I relied on everyone to protect me.Would there ever come a day when I could protect the people I
Sylvia's question seemed direct enough but there also seemed to be an underlying reason for her question that I could not make out.I set down the book on the table, raising my head to meet her inquiring gaze, "All societies breed both good and evil, even ours, and I do not think we should label the hybrids as evil because of our prejudice towards them. That's unfair especially since we have not tried to integrate ourselves in their society."Her brows raised with a tilt of acknowledgement like she was mulling over my words, and then she smiled softly, "You are right; classifying them all based on the actions of a few isn't right, so also is letting our fear of how they might change our society cloud our minds." There was a pensive look in her eyes as she spoke, almost as if she was far away while being present."That is why I decided to read up on their kind, to understand them better," My gaze switched over to the Brown covered book with pages
My cheeks flushed almost instantly and I hastily looked away.He kept staring long and hard, I could feel his eyes on mine but could not see his expression because of how low my head was hanging."I'm not avoiding you," I muttered guiltily, sneaking a peek just in time to see the amused expression on his face.His appealing visual, coupled with a rare smile, was a sight to see, and I found myself staring longer than I intended to."Had enough?" He said with a teasing tilt to his tone and I hastily cleared my throat."Now, do you want to tell me why you are avoiding me?""I'm not," I mumbled hastily in defence. "Why are you home?"Wait, what was I doing asking the owner of this house why he was back in his house?I chuckled, feeling foolish, but he surprised me by answering, "I came back to pick up Cameron; we are headed to Chantel Ridge."The fact that he had even answered and provided this much detail
MAYA'S POVI was skeptical but then I allowed myself to relax and focus only on reenacting that peculiar feeling my wolf had presented earlier."It's happening, it's really happening," Adrianna's shrill scream made my eyes snap open. There was a huge grin on her face, and she radiated so much joy one would think she was the one with the powers, but ultimately, I smiled as well.She had helped me confirm that this was not a time ability but a special trait that belonged to me."Wow, this is huge. We don't have to worry about being unable to heal from fatal injuries because we have you," In her excitement, she hugged me then stepped back, still gushing."Yes, I can be helpful to Travis now," I muttered and it stunned both of us so much we went silent.The creak of the door snagged both of our attention and we looked over. My eyes widened even further when I saw Travis standing there, quietly staring at me.Had he heard wha
MAYA'S POV"Where's Alex?" Sylvia's voice raised a flurry of anxious voices who began to look around, to find the said person."He was here earlier," Someone mentioned."I saw him too," Another seconded.I glanced at the spot I last saw him standing, fighting off a rouge, wondering where he had disappeared to while we were all distracted by Julian and assumed he had left before that happened because there was no way he would leave while Julian was injured."Was he taken by the rogues?" Jay asked, making Sylvia panic even more."He wasn't," I answered. Some of the rogues had managed to escape but there was no way they could have captured and taken him in town while running for their lives."He might have given chase," Travis, who seemed to be the most unruffled one amongst us, pointed to us, and we all exclaimed in realization.He turned and handpicked two of the wolves from our Pack, delegating them to go in sea
TRAVIS' POVI never realized fear could be this numbing like cold steel against bare skin and in just a split moment, I felt my soul exit my body and my heart pounded with terror, feeling like it would explode out of my body and yet, just a couple of minutes later, that unbelievable amount of fear I felt turned in shock and astonishment.Sylvia's growl had rumbled around us, deep and threatening, when Maya had suddenly yanked the knife out of Julian, but now she was quiet, eyes wide open in shock, shifting from Maya to the gradually closing wound on Julian's chest."It's...It's...healing," She stuttered in amazement.I never imagined this was possible, there had never existed a wolf which could withstand the effect of the lethal mix of wolfsbane and nightshade and neither had there been any wolf that could heal with just a single touch but, it was happening right in front of us and the doer of such an astonishing phenomenon was my mate."
MAYA'S POVMy capabilities were limited, so all I could do was stand on the side and watch as Travis' men joined in the fray; even Sylvia had engaged in the fight, landing a hard blow on one wolf out of the two that had cornered Julian.The rogues were more in number than we expected and each of them looked to be quite strong.Sylvia's movements were mesmerizing, her body fast and nimble yet graceful like a river swan, but right now, her expression was far from that of a swan.Anger was written boldly across her face and she swore as she deflected a sneak attack from a rogue, "You bastards, you dare injure my brothers, I'm going to kill you."My lips drew back stiffly, and I watched her in disbelief; I never thought she had this side to her.She held my attention for a few more minutes, I would have loved to keep watching her, so I could learn a thing or two from her moves, she was after all a Sentinel before getting married to J
MAYA'S POV"Sylvia, are we having a feast? Why is there so much food?" Adrianna exclaimed rubbing her hands together in excitement as she took her seat.Everyone was already present, and she was the last to come in, "Are we celebrating anything?" She went on, reaching across the table to snatch a piece of beef that Jay wanted to take.She smirked when he glared at her as if challenging him."You present such a contradiction, I haven't even answered your question, yet you are already digging in." Sylvia shook her head with laughter."Anyway, today's meal is to thank Alpha Travis on my brother's behalf," She revealed and Adraina nodded, acknowledging her words."There might be a special occasion behind it but food will always remain food. It is meant to be eaten." Adrianna pointed out as if her words could not be argued.None of us was in the mood to bicker with her either.I glanced to my left at Travis. He was s
TRAVIS' POV "Thank goodness we were able to resolve that on time, you were right to accept Julian's offer," Jay said with a relieved expression. We just returned after a quick trip to the Pack healer to check on the containment of the disease and so far, I could say it was going well. Lesser cases were being reported and the afflicted were getting better as well. "Yes," I grunted in reply, straightening my stiff back and cracking my neck. He seemed to be in a good mood; I assumed he had patched things up with Sylvia. "Get some rest," I added, cutting off the rest of the conversation that would have occurred if I granted him leave. I was tired, too, and wanted to get some shut-eye. "Come on," Jay drawled, "Just tell me to stop speaking," He said with a disbelieving shake of his head. "Go," I mumbled without sparing him a glance, feeling his unwavering gaze on me bu
MAYA'S POV"Shall we take a break?" Brook asked, swiping off the sweat on her forehead with a light chuckle.I was bent over on the ground, panting heavily, the action a little bit exaggerated. Exhaustion had gotten to me for the past hour, and I had been pleading to be given a breather, but she turned a deaf ear to me and went on anyway.It had taken quite a bit of play-acting and unnecessarily loud groans to get her to make this statement, so I hastily accepted before she changed her mind, "Yes, please, you might end up killing me before my enemies at this rate," I wheezed jokingly."You speak like you have any enemies around here, As far as I know, Jana is the only one who dislikes you." She spoke of it as if it were a well-known fact, and I was not oblivious to it either.I could feel immense hatred radiating from the other woman whenever we met. She opposed me at every turn and at every meeting the Éclat society held. With Adrianna's
TRAVIS' POVI could not stop thinking about what Maya had said earlier and wondering how that thought was conceived.Ever since she arrived, I was sure I had done my best to make her feel comfortable, and Adriana had done even more to help her settle in, but I guess that was not enough.She and I had started off on the wrong foot, not that we did not exactly get along, but I felt our relationship was too stiff, which was partly my fault and ever since I realised that I have been trying to bridge that gap.When we got back home, I went up to my study first, leaving her behind to converse with Adrianna while I called for Jay to inform him of the new development with the hybrids."You don't seem too happy to hear that," I pointed out, knowing his stance on the whole issue was the same as mine but after I spoke on what Julian and I had agreed upon, he did not reject it either."I'm not unhappy about it," Jay sighed, slumping into one
MAYA'S POVTravis' sudden question stunned me and I hurriedly denied it, "I didn't cry.""You did," He answered, he did not seem like he was trying to confirm it but was making a statement because he knew it was true."I..." I stuttered, suddenly feeling humiliated that he had seen me when I tried so hard to hide it.I struggled to come up with a lie or at least a reasonable excuse for why I had cried but could not come up with anything good so I decided to be honest and come clean, "I just felt so overwhelmed by the fact that you do not consider me a stranger," I answered, trying to play it off like it was nothing when that single statement had in fact made my when day."That's why you cried?" He creased his brows just a little bit, his face momentarily tightening in confusion."It sounds like an exaggeration to you right," I laughed mildly, unable to keep my smile up for long."Actually, it wasn't," I answered with a c