I walk down, ready for this date outside to prove I know how to use a bow and arrow. Getting to the bottom of the stairs, he is waiting for me. The cameras are far enough back not to hear us."This way." He leads me through the gardens."Where's Kellan?""I was about to ask you the same thing." He glances at me but doesn't seem worried. "So he didn't tell you either, then?""He didn't say anything. I just wanted to make sure he was okay." He looked hurt last night. The reality of how messed up this is has clearly gotten to him."It's Kellan. It wouldn't be the first time he disappeared for days and showed back up after a wild weekend." His words hold no tone, like he doesn't care or see an issue with it.I just nod, unsure what to reply. We stop near the targets, and he holds out the bow and arrows. "Okay, show me what you have." He smirks and steps back.Moving, I get it set up, concentrating, I aim before releasing it. I watch as it hits the middle."Luck, go again on the next targe
We sit in silence for a short while."Why would you refuse me as Luna even if I was your mate?" Maybe if he tells me why I can call his reasons bullshit?"No one is ready for a Luna like you. You're not made to be the queen. People won't take it lightly to hear you have become Luna and the queen.""How can you possibly know what people want and are ready for? When was the last time you asked?"He chuckles. "I do interviews all the time. I speak to people all the time. We hold events constantly where people express their beliefs.""I mean real people, Darius! Not people like Alpha Draven or Alpha Ethan. They make up maybe ten per cent. I mean, people like their Betas. The omegas. The servants, the slaves, or even the fucking wolfless ones! You know the other ninety per cent.""You know that it isn't as simple as that Elara."Of course, to him, it isn't. "You do realise that everyone's views count. Right?""Of course they do." He's so frustratingly annoying."Would it be possible to tal
He sits looking at me, waiting. I want to say yes, ignore the fact he is so brainwashed by his father, but I can't."You're the king, Darius. You're set to marry one of them. Me kissing you is against the rules. You're meant to choose first and be available to every one of those women until the final moment.""Kellan is a prince. He's meant to be available to them all. It doesn't stop you from doing far more with him."My eyes widen."Sorry, that sounded wrong. I'm just saying the only difference between me and Kellan is our titles. He's not meant to give himself up yet. He's meant to stay in it until the end. Which you know."He's not wrong. "Fine, I want to agree, Darius, but I can't. Not when you have just admitted even if I am your mate, you have no plans to make me Luna. Kissing you is saying I'm happy to be the mistress. That, let's be honest, is making a whore again. Here, purely for you to get pleasure from before you return to your wife. The Queen.""You were never a whore."
I wake up still in Darius' bed. Ash never came last night to say Kellan had returned. I'm not even sure what time I fell asleep. I refused to until he returned.Clearly, I was too tired to stay awake, as I fell asleep anyway. Surely he will be back today? The event is tomorrow."Tomorrow, are you sure you want to do it with a live target and go against someone?" Darius looks at me."It's better than shooting at a still target. Not exactly entertaining, is it?"He chuckles, nodding. "No, but it's safer for you."My eyes roll. "You shouldn't be that bothered about my safety, Darius.""Your safety is important. Why do you think you barely sleep alone? Even Kellan is worried someone will slip into your room one night to attack you. It's unlikely, but he's worried they will.""He wasn't last night." My words are cold."You can't be sure he wasn't." I laugh at his words. "Okay, fine, I'll stop defending him. Happy?""No." Why would I be happy? I'm now confused about what is going on in Kell
Waking up, my head hurts. Last night floods through me. I don't drink often and barely take more than a few sips. Sage is a bad influence.We sat together, drinking with music on low. Soon after, Rowan joined us, and we made it a party together. That was until about four o'clock when Darius told us off.Rowan was too far gone and called him the stripper. He didn't look offended. If anything, he was highly amused by the whole situation. He still took the alcohol, though."I feel like crap." I laugh at Sage's words."Maybe last night wasn't the best time, considering we have an event today?" I sit up, and the room spins. Oh, hell no. I lie back down. The knocking has us groaning and trying to hide."The King has said you have to be downstairs for breakfast." Beta William. Of course.I walk over and open the door. He stands looking at me with an amused expression."Good, you're awake. You're not allowed to skip breakfast, especially after the amount you three consumed last night.""No fo
The room is full. The event is going well; Sage has sung, and a few others have done their acts. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.I've still not seen Kellan, though. So what is the plan now, as he was meant to be in his wolf form just in case? I don't want to change my act to using normal targets."I will do it." I look at Sage. "I'll be in my wolf form and be there if needed." She smiles and hugs me."No need. Prince Kellan has just arrived; he's getting ready." Beta William speaks as he walks past us. Well, at least he got back in time for this.I stay with Sage and watch as, five minutes later, Kellan walks in and goes to Darius, taking his seat. His eyes come to me, and I look away. I need to focus, and getting caught up in what he was doing isn't focusing.William is doing amazing. He's talking between acts, introducing them and such. After each act, we had ten minutes to relax. Walk around, dance and such."You need to get changed." I glance at Beta William. "You're nex
I stay with Rowan. I've not seen Sage in a while. However, I hope she's okay. I know she was freaking out a lot after she sang. Even though everyone loved it, she had an amazing voice, but no doubt her nerves made her feel sick. I keep trying to search her out in the room but she doesn't seem to be here. Has she really left?"Hey." Turning, I look at Kellan. I open my mouth to talk and close it again. His arms wrap around me as we dance."You were gone."That is about all I can say right now. I'm not sure what else to say."I was working towards something. Getting more information and such. I needed information."Did you get a lot of information from her mouth?" He chuckles at my words."I did, thank you. She had a lot of information hidden in there."Arrogant asshole. "Her mouth just happened to get me the location of where the wolves are." My body runs cold as we continue to dance. He's not meant to be doing anything dangerous! Why is he doing it alone? Without telling Darius?"I al
KellanDarius stands glaring at me. I forgot. She was panicking, and I wanted to try and calm her down."That is a foolish move, Kellan. Everyone saw the cameras. You know tonight is live. I can't remove that!"Which I forgot. "I didn't think. Elara was worried; I wanted to calm her down, but I just forgot about the cameras and everyone else."He sits down. "Where were you? Two days, Kellan, Yori won't tell me. So where were you?""Just seeing some friends." I will tell him when I get the name."You know that is a lie. Many, including Elara, saw that video of you kissing a woman!" He stands annoyed."I'm sorry, I explained, she is fine.""She's fine with you using her and other women?" He laughs. "That's bullshit. You fought me to let you pick her. Now I agree you just sleep with randoms.""I didn't sleep with anyone. How did it get to this? You were giving me a lecture over kissing her." He nods, and I listen to him ranting. He's right. There is nothing he can do. It was live. Everyo
Asher POVI look down at Katla. She's only a few days old. After speaking with Zyra, she decided that the space in the mountains would be a retreat—a place for us to escape to, somewhere Katla could get used to what it is like to live in the Dragon Kingdom.We have spent a few days there, but not many. Apparently, she wants to be in the palace close to the others. Part of me feels like that's because they were her support while I was hiding away.It's shown her what having a family around can do. We're close, minus Aurelia. She seems to be thriving with the Bears and keeping her distance. Other than returning that day when I was going crazy and needed help, she rarely came back. We've adjusted and got used to that, however.She wants her life away from here; she wants her own life, not one that is connected to us. She should have that if she wants it."Hey."Turning, I see Elijah walk to me.He laughs slightly and takes Katla from my arms. "You look exhausted; fun night?"It's only 4
Asher POVI walk out of the room and go to where I know they will be. As I step into the office, they turn to face me.Darius shakes his head. "You should be with Zyra.""I was, but considering this is brought on by the Dragons, I should be helping." I walk further in and look at the papers."Nothing to help with," my dad shrugs. "His son is clean, Seraphine can tell. Things were explained to him. He had no idea about the arranged marriage and, to be honest, was shocked, as he apparently had a mate."So the son won't be an issue. Is that what he's saying?"Look, both Eliphas and Durnalin are in the cells, away from each other. The son has gone. Apparently, he has a whole life with his mate. His dad told him the dragons had requested their presence at events." Darius explains.It makes no sense, though. "Why? Why would the dragons want the warlocks there?" How didn't his son question it?"Apparently, because Eliphas and his son are the strongest warlocks, they invited them to make a un
Asher POVI wait and watch."Prince Asher, soon to be King, tell me something." He walks to the bars and leans against them. "Where do Warlocks belong?"My head tilts; they belong wherever they want to. I don't understand his question."See, there is no answer as we don't belong anywhere. There is the werewolf kingdom, fae, dragons and everything else. Witches and warlocks are forced to live in one of those kingdoms, with no real power."So this was all about getting power? My body is pushed back, and my eyes widen as I see King Drakon reach through the bars—his hand clamps around Eliphas' neck.I guess he's fixed, and his curse is gone. My dad and Darius drag him away, and I watch Eliphas drop to the floor, clutching his neck. The blood runs down from where King Drakon's nails dug in."We need answers; killing him won't get them." My dad turns and faces Eliphas."Apparently, this was all for power." Which still makes no sense."It wasn't just for power. We wanted our own kingdom, our
Asher POVI'm anxious. It's been two days since the curse was lifted, and I'm glad to be back to normal. All that is at risk, though. Tonight, I have to be close to whoever is pretending to be King Drakon. That then risks it happening again, and if it does, will it start slow again or begin where it was removed?I've noticed Elijah, Storm, and Aurelia are quiet. Whatever was done has worn them out, which I didn't want."Are you ready?" Zyra hugs me, and I nod. I'm not. We need answers and to figure out who it is."Be careful, okay?" I don't like that I'm not going to be there."It's you who needs to be careful. You will be in a confined space with him. If anything goes wrong." She looks at me worriedly.Wrapping my arms around her, I smile. "I'll be fine; once he's in the cell, he can't do anything." I kissed her and gave her a final hug before walking away.Getting to the cells, I sit in one and wait. I'm hoping the plan works. If we can get him in the cell, then his magic and power
Asher POVI can see Zyra is struggling, and I don’t blame her either. She just found out her brother is missing.“Look, when Seraphine checked trying to find out the issue with him, she saw King Drakon, but it wasn’t him. Whoever it was is who we believe Cursed Asher.” My mum grasps her hands and smiles. “We’ve got people tracking down where your brother really is. There’s a reason for this, and it’s you, Zyra. Seraphine could sense the curses were put on Asher and Elijah to try and push you to return home.”Zyra looks around the room and seems increasingly worried. “What about Ryker? Is he okay? Does he know?” She waits, and I don’t know the answer to that.“I’m sorry, we don’t know. You need to stay here, Zyra. We have a plan, and we’re hoping Seraphine can uncover more when the person comes here.”She nods and sits, looking lost.“We are expecting Seraphine to return late tonight or early tomorrow. If they can’t fix the issue, then we will keep working to.” My mum smiles and hugs h
Asher POVAfter about an hour of sitting in the cell with Zyra, I ordered her to leave. I wanted to spend time with her, but she shouldn't have been sitting in the cells with me.So, I've been alone for hours, waiting to find out their plan. They hadn't thought this through. I need to leave the cell to go to the room. As soon as I step out of this cell, it will come back. Then what?I'm willing to agree to anything right now if it gets me out of this cell and back with Zyra. The footsteps have me standing, and I watch my dad and Darius walk towards me."What's your plan? How am I to do this?" They haven't thought it through."You need to shift." Darius looks at me.I laugh at him. Is that some kind of joke? "You want me to shift, so that what? I can kill people easier?"My dad sighs and steps forward. "Please do as you're told. You won't understand why we're saying you can shift, but shift. Into your wolf, not dragon."Of course, I won't understand; they haven't explained it to me. If
Elijah POVI sit in the office; Seraphine has left. She's meeting her family halfway in the hopes they have something that can help. Merfolk are powerful creatures with extraordinary abilities.Curses and such are something they specialise in."We're going to request that King Drakon attend a celebration for Zyra's pregnancy. It means we can get what we need and figure out who it is and what their aim is." My dad looks at me, and he makes it sound so simple. This isn't simple."He's going to ask why Asher isn't present, then what?" We can't lie and hide him. "It will look suspicious.""Not if Zyra invites him, she won't know, remember. She can invite him, and whoever is portraying King Drakon won't suspect anything. We're going to be honest and explain something is wrong with Asher, and he's not well."So we're not hiding the issue."He could be in the cell for weeks, so we've had things moved down there for him. The plan is later to test how he is with someone in the cell with him. T
Asher POVI watch as Elijah glares at everyone and backs up more."Elijah, we need to know." My mum steps towards him."I saw him once, just once! You all need to focus on Asher, not me! He's the one that is cursed, not me!" He shouts and steps back. He backs into my dad, and he grabs Elijah as Seraphine steps forward and grips his head.His screams echo around the cells, and it's all over just as quickly as it starts. His body falls to the floor, and he cradles his head."Well?" Darius looks at Seraphine."You're going to need a warlock, or I'll need to contact my family and see if they have something to clear the curses." Her words make me look towards Elijah. So, he is also cursed."Asher's curse is to make him push everyone out and make him think he has a mad wolf so that Zyra leaves. Elijah's was to hate Asher, likely to intensify it." Seraphine smiles slightly. "There's no mate, Elijah. The curse is what's stopping us from having a baby. There's no third mate." Her words have hi
Asher POVNo one speaks, likely because they know what I said is the truth. I need to die; there is nothing they can do to change that."Explain the process, what happened, how it started, when it happens." Darius pulls a chair over and sits outside the cell.I laugh. "Why do I need to talk? Why do I need to explain? You're proving you believe me by keeping me locked in here and being too afraid to come near your own son."Nothing I say can change that."Asher, I'm not opening the cell because I don't trust you to try and run. So explain it to me, tell me how it's progressed, and let's be sure that is what is happening." He waits, and I watch my mum, Elijah, and dad sit with him."It began with whispers. The words were barely audible, but I heard whispers in my ear. They got louder and began to sound like words. Whispers were one thing, but then I began to see people dead and my wolf above them." It was a warning to me to hide, to push them away, and not let them close to me."When do