Euthalia’s POVI didn’t notice his firm grip on my hands as we ran towards the safety entrance. All our wolves were alert and at that point the palace was awake. Screams and mumbles mixed with the choking heat and smell of burning wood filled the air, and even the sound of my baby crying was loud.I wanted to go to him, go and find him but the look on Andrei’s face informed me that he didn’t plan to let me go. “I need to go for my son, Dave may be in trouble,” “Stay here and don’t move, he is with my mother, they would keep them safe by all means,” he responded and I slipped out of his grip on my hand. I shook my head as the guards tried to push me outside.The place was already hot, my eyes were watering and I could barely see anything. I didn’t know how to leave and I wasn’t going to. “I am a servant here and I would act like it, I want to go and save my son and all the other people inside.”He looked at me through the mist and I could see the anger build up in his face as I squin
Euthalia’s POVThe room was hotter now. The lights were dim and the energy was sour. I needed out, even if it was at the farm, the garden or at the back of the palace, I wouldn’t mind. But it was 3:00 AM and I was being accused of setting a palace on fire.It was already a fun day!I looked from Angela to Andrei and they both had similar matching looks on them, I couldn’t believe the weight of the accusation. “What?” I echoed, staring at him in shock. Andrei’s mother took Dave from my hands and it was me against the piercing gaze of Angela.Did it mean Andrei could so easily accuse me of murder, theft and all sins under the earth? Well, he already accused me of murder, I wondered why I was still surprised.I knew her, she had been one of my peers growing up. Of course, we hadn’t moved together. I had been a loner and her clique was the prettiest and most fashionable in our age group. She had generally avoided me but I knew she hated me.Every woman wanted to be Luna, and when Andrei
Andrei’s POVI thought the drama ended at midnight, I was very wrong. This is on you, My wolf said as I sat up straight and massaged my scalp. “Don’t speak,” I muttered and he chuckled.I didn’t sleep until a little after four, I made sure there was no waiting flame and watched the guards place a caution sign over the scene.I checked on everybody and fought the urge to check on Talia, she didn’t deserve my care. I woke up to a gnawing headache and darkness In my room, or chamber as Talia used to call it. Out of habit I stretched out my hands and I touched an empty bed. I remembered I had told Angela to stay in her room that morning. There was banging at the door and I ran my hands through my hair as the migraine set its place in my head. I stood up and walked over to the window, opening the curtains and letting light in.The day looked like the moon goddess was smiling on us and I wonder if it took the former Luna burning the palace to get her in a great mood. The view from my
Andrei’s POV“Oh she strikes again, don’t tell me you are worried. This is what we talked about, she is probably off somewhere plotting something sinister.” Angela’s voice was like a background noise as I changed into a jogging outfit. I needed to search for her, I already sent the guards out to find her but I knew somewhere she might be. Then if she wasn’t, a proper search would have to begin. “Can you not be insensitive Angela?” I asked, trying bit to get upset as I slipped into my shoes. I tucked the lace to the side and stood up straight.“She is a conniving bitch,” she insisted and I was irritated.“You can go and check if Dave is with my mother, you are dismissed.” I snapped. She opened her mouth in shock but nobody had to tell her I was serious and wanted her to leave. She reluctantly did and I was left alone in the room with my irritation. I walked out of the room with all of my senses alert as I took the hallways with force! I didn’t think she was gone, she couldn’t hav
Euthalia’s POVI snuck out of the palace early. It had been barely nine when I had slipped out, most of the palace had been asleep and even Alice who was an early riser was still asleep. The fire had done a number on all of us and I needed the fresh country air. I needed a break. I had been patrolling the pack with Miss Anastasia and she couldn’t keep quiet. She had a million things to say and I wasn’t listening to my emotions or accepting deep feelings just then.Last night was crazy! I went out for air and met with the person I hated most in the world, Andrei. Not only did the palace catch fire, I was accused of causing the fire.I knew Angela was a scheming rogue but I didn’t understand how much hate she held for me. When I had been just a normal wolf, we had never been friends, when I became Luna, she was the leader of my hate train. I knew because Daisy always mentioned her but it annoyed and irritated me that Andrei decided she was the best replacement for me. There were mor
Andrei’s POVI bit my bottom lip as the situation settled all around me and I could still feel the sting of her palm meeting my cheeks. I could see her trembling now and her lips were moving but I didn’t hear what she was saying.“Do you hear me? I didn’t plan to do that. Andrei!” She cried and I stared at her, she was sweating and a bile rose and dropped in my stomach. She was scared of me.But you didn’t go around slapping people you were scared of, did you?I didn’t know what to say, how to react, or what words to use. I didn’t want to scare her even more nor did I want her to look at me with that spooky look in her eyes. “Fuck it,” I muttered and grabbed her hands, pulling her along as we began the walk back to the palace. It took some time before she caught up but she didn’t complain again, aside from the whimpering. I knew my grip was tight on her wrist but I didn’t plan to loosen it. The fields were already spread with workers, we had not gotten halfway through but I could
Angela’s POV“I guess, yet again, I am the villain,” I muttered as I stood up from my vanity seat. I had spent most of the past hour adding the final touches to my face. It was an abomination to step out of my room without looking my best, looking like a proper Luna.I ran for a maid four minutes ago and none was yet to show up.The whole goddamn palace was out searching for Euthalia and I was irritated. How couldn’t they see through all of her pretentious behaviours? How couldn’t they see that she was the villain?I opened the closet and stepped in.I hated her. I looked for my red velvet dress. It has been a while since I wore red. Andrei was the most foolish person I ever knew because why would you still thirst so obviously over a woman who killed your father and publicly humiliated you by getting pregnant for another man?He only remembered to be mean when it was me he was dealing with, I knew she had been the one he was talking to last night. I heard him leave his room, and I he
Euthalia’s POVI stood up from the rackety bed frame and hurried to the door when the knock came again, I would probably be punished for not answering the door on time. I couldn’t rest in this goddamn place?Alice had been cleaning the palace since I returned and she was yet to show up for even a quick nap or rest. I felt sad and bothered that it was the fate the royal family had subjected me to, I wasn’t raised to live like this. I had been the rebellious one because I avoided chores like this and being subjected to that fate left me feeling disgusted with my entire existence.“What?” I asked as I opened the door, Eileen stood on the other side. She raised her brow at my tone and I was prepared to tell her it could get meaner if she didn’t let me be. “You have no clue where you are and what you are now.” She replied and stepped into the room. Her frame was too big for the small room, but she looked like a woman on a mission.She hovered by the small box of a window, looking me ov
Euthalia’s POVI got back to the quarters at a little past nine. It was the longest day on earth for me and for my wolf.I had let Anastacia out after a very long time, and also opened my mind to Andrei. I had fought with my friend and whole cleaning his wound, I fought my own desire for blood. ‘A very dramatic day’ Anastacia agreed and I shut her off quickly. I had stopped to say good night to Dave before coming back here because I know I wouldn’t have a good night without seeing him. He was very comfortable in Daisy’s arms and was in a very long dialogue with her.If there was something I considered my baby’s superpower was his surprising discernment, he was barely five and he was already so mature. He had not held me there, when I had said goodnight he had waved back at me and it left me thinking that he didn’t need me as much as he used to. It was a bittersweet feeling.I closed the door behind me and I saw the dim red light next to Alice’s bed go off immediately. Her thin bed
Andrei’s POVMy definition of betrayal has changed more frequently recently, and I had a botched view of the world. It was hard to trust people and even harder to be secure enough to let my guard down.I want to blame that on Talia. I stared hard at Daisy, breathing hard from my run. She stood there lividly, not speaking and not saying anything in her defence.The last place I had expected her to be was cuddled in the embrace of the newest enemies of the pack. It was unimaginable and to me, outrageous.“Andrei, you have to calm down with your judgments. I won’t be caught dead betraying the pack, that I am here surely means something.” Daisy stepped forward. The annoying and unwanted guest was sitting on the bed, his face writhed with pain. He should be locked up in the dungeon by now.“What do you want to say now, Daisy?“ I asked, avoiding the eyes of every other person in the room.I feared if I stared too much at Talia, she would know it was her pleas that allowed me to return here
Daisy’s POVI have never seen him this way. Well, I hardly knew him, but it still didn’t change the fact that I had never seen him angry and enraged; he was usually overbearing and annoying, carrying a golden retriever smile on his face. I stood by the corner, hands over my chest as I watched him talk to Talia.“But what was I to believe?” Talia asked and I looked at him, waiting for his response.“That I am not a petty thief who goes around stealing bowls!” He responded, and I held in my laughter; he was really upset. I had heard from Andrei that he had sold out Talia, and I didn’t completely understand how that made any sense, but he was really upset that she thought he had stolen a bowl. I was used to the annoyingly consistent visitor who was quick to tease me, but then again, I didn’t know him.I just knew he got on my nerves; he smiled a lot, and most unfortunately, he was Euthalia’s lover, Dave’s father and the one who had sold her out. The one who she had cheated on my cousi
Eddie’s POVI am a bad person! I know that, and I have accepted that for the past years, and somehow, it has become my reality. From village to pack, to human civilization and in the woods, I somehow manage to bear the image of what a bad person represents.No matter how hard I tried, it has always come out that way. Well, when I was thirteen, my brother and the orphans that we were with decided to defy pack rules and went beyond the border. To cut a long story short, hungry hybrids had found us, and while I managed to run away, he hadn’t.I returned to that village without my brother; when they went for him, only his lifeless carcass was found.I was left with a burning pain in my heart because the stairs I was receiving were beginning to draw arrows in my back. Then, I went to the human world, and even then, I had been branded too hostile, and then I lost someone I fell in love with because I couldn’t tell her about this part of me. I was again- the bad person!Finally, I came b
Andrei’s POVThe more I ran, the more she followed behind; rage coursed through me as I went deeper into the woods, hoping for anything to make me stop feeling the deep anger I was feeling. I needed blood, the reality rang incessantly within me as my claws hit the ground and the hard branches pierced my skin. I needed blood, and it was what I was seeking outI didn’t understand why she was following me; every turn I made had her turn with me, and I growled at her in anger and irritation. I continued running, believing she would go away, but she didn’t, and I feared for the first rogue or human I would see because their lifeless body would be the one to tell the story of how enraged I was.Then it happened…In that feral and hopeless moment, our senses did the one thing I had been trying to get it to do since she came and I halted as it caused a sensation in me. She came to my front immediately, her breath wild and loud as her golden eyes stared at me. It had been years since I had
Euthalia’s POV I stood at the edge of the door, watching the chaos ensue. Five minutes ago, I had been the receiver of all abominable names because I had fallen asleep on my ex-husband's bed (the alpha), and now I still was receiving the lashes, but for something I didn't have anything to do with.Stella had fainted in the greenhouse; maybe she saw a snake, maybe she chewed a glass, or maybe her wolf was going through things, but she was lying unconscious on the bed in the guest room while she received care. They had immediately called on a healer and the young girl now bent over her on the bed, mixing herbs and performing spells.The room smelled like sage and some other medicines I didn't know. I watched the healer work with a newfound interest, the expert way she washed her hands and the setting of the needles in her veins. I cringed; needles scared me.She had not given a definite diagnosis on what was wrong with her exactly but I knew he was hoping it was nothing major. I coul
Andrei's POVThe day spread well from my bed. I could see the sun rise from the open window, but it wasn’t exactly a good day. It had not been for a while, I stood up from the bed after thirty minutes of laying there and doing absolutely nothing. I was allowed to sleep till noon because I had called in sick at the out office and told Baron not to trouble me. What I didn’t add was that I was suffering from late reaction heartbreak. I could lie to everybody but not myself. It had been a week since I had seen her kiss him. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating but I had seen them embrace, his hands holding her in a very cordial more than friends way. She had looked at him with something of the same intensity she had looked at me with. I wasn’t bothered exactly, I was feeling disrespected. I convinced myself as I found my robe and slipped into it. I walked over to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. Picking up my toothbrush, I pulled off the slippers on my feet and opted for the fl
Euthalia’s POVMy heart pounded hard against my chest as the noise around me faded into the background. Dave was saying something to Eddie but I couldn’t hear it, I wasn’t listening. I had written a letter to Avery and sent it through the gardener. It was easy getting them to help me out.I am ridiculously self aware and I know I went out of my way to make great relationships with them when I was Luna. Even now that I am back, it was how I got to know where Dave was most of the time and how I got to eat more than a half scoop of pudding. Eileen was my biggest opp and when a return letter had not come, I started to fear if she found it and maybe burnt it. Alice had assured me it would come and it finally did, just with an additional twist and I didn’t know what to do about that.“Can you hear me Talia?” Angela asked, and it was even then that I registered that she was in the room.Her hands were folded over her chest and a horrible frown on her face. Half of the room was staring at m
Euthalia’s POVI recognized the voice immediately I heard it, nothing prepared me for the adrenaline that shot through me as I charged at him. I didn’t care how mad I was at him for outrightly selling me out, it was better than having to tolerate men pretending to care for me. He stood there tall and lean, weathered by hard work and just by looking at him standing there while the sun played with his hair, my heart twisted in a thousand different directions. We had shared moments and stories and he had held my emotions a lot, it was expected that my heart leaped in joy when I saw him. “Eddie!” I called back, not even hearing myself I fought against the wind and bushes, I didn’t care for any of it. I jumped into his outstretched arms, his familiar scent bringing me great pleasure, I said nothing as I remained there. He pulled me away from him and looked me up.“Oh Talia, what have they done with you? Your eyes are so sad,” he muttered as he pulled me back in for a hug. I saw conc