JASMINES POV The cold atmosphere seemed deeper into my skin as Natalia and I made our way out of the room. She went towards the direction where the distance drilling of water was coming from, and I tugged behind, ensuring not to miss a thing. “A vampire?” I repeated, breaking the silence that stretched amidst us. “Why?” “He’s hybrid…not entirely a vampire. But he was once a vampire,” she answered. Her first two statements returned my thoughts to Adrian. But the last countered it because Adrian was a werewolf before turning into what he was. “I believe you’ve come in counter with one,” she stopped and turned to me. Her eyes narrowed into mine, and I felt the truth that lay at the bottom of my chest erupt from my mouth like I had no control over myself. “Yes,” I blurted. A smile played at the edge of her lips, then she turned and continued. “We think there’s something wrong, or someone is doing something which he or she shouldn’t be,” Heavy racing footsteps made us halt, an
JASMINE’S POVNatalia’s words hung in the air like a sharp sword waiting to be dropped. Why did they sound so familiar? My thoughts reeled back to the missing book Alpha Morgan has asked us to find. He never said the actual name, but with the way he asked about it, and wanted us to find it, it just had to be it. The bone marrows. The most evident part of the missing puzzle lies before my eyes. Lucy’s parents. The thoughts were still patching up in my head, and I found it difficult to concentrate on what was going on before me. “Did you hear what I just said?” Natalia snapped me out of my thoughts. “Yea…yes…you were urm…” I stuttered, my words hanging in my throat after I couldn’t get a hint of what she just said. She inched closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder and pulling me in. “You look troubled,” “I’m fine,”“We’re werewolves, Jasmine. I can tell when you’re lying,” she reminded me. I sighed, trying to take everything in. All she revealed to me had me not just ques
JASMINES POVPain surged through my body as Rachel’s energy collided with mine, prying open the deepest part of my mind. I felt like nothing I’d ever felt before—as though she was ripping apart the barriers I didn’t even know existed. I screamed, pulling against Harland’s grip the moment I got myself, but his hold was unyielding. “Stop resisting, you’ll only hurt yourself the more,” Rachel hissed through gritted teeth. But the pain was too much to take in, and my wolf fought against it. She clawed her way through her space, fighting off Rachel’s wolf. “She’s difficult,” Rachel said, not giving up. “Go harder,” I heard Daria snap. “It might kill her if she doesn’t stop fighting it,” “Do it!” Daria pushed. I felt her hand tighten on my head, her energy creating some kind of new path through my body and mind. It circled the rest of my body that I had in control, snatching that hold from me. My body went still like I was dipped in ice, and I felt Rachel inside my head. She tore th
JASMINES POV“Stealing faces?” My ears still couldn’t believe what they just heard. I sat silently, trying to process and imagine what Natalia said, but none of it still made any sense to me. I turned to her, hesitating on the question I wanted to ask. “Stealing faces?” I asked again. She extended her palm, and I glanced at it with doubt, then at her face. “I’ll show you,” she said. With a heavy breath, I placed my palm in hers and shut my eyes. Her grip tightened, and soon I found myself in a familiar place. The sea we were sitting across. But it was littered with the corpse of wolves, floating on the surface of the water. The flesh on their faces was skinned off, exposing their tissues to the sun. The vultures in the air cawed as they hovered around them. Their flight seemed more aligned when I looked up, and I discovered they were heading towards me, flapping their wings and propelling themselves faster. That was when I saw him.Eric, again. “What are you doing here?”“Jas
JASMINES POVMy blood ran cold at the sound of her voice. I felt cold beads of sweat trickling down my neck, sending chills across my body. My wolf stirred in me, sensing the impending danger. I backed away from the window, careful not to make a sound as I retraced my steps. “What do we do, we can’t fight them,” I heard my wolf in my head. “What else is there to be done?” I mumbled as my eyes followed the movements in the room. Daria was still dishing out information to Natalia and the other Seeker wolves, and from my view, it looked like Natalia was arguing with her. “Run,” my wolf jolted the fear out of my mind. I turned around, sprinting down the track. My heart pounded like a drum, each beat matching the sound of my boots matching the stony floor. “Faster,” my roof urged. I glanced behind me and found them trooping out of the room. They whispered into the ears of some other wolves who were walking by, and they pointed in my direction. My legs pushed against my will, propel
JASMINES POV I sat beside the crackling fire, my arms wrapped around my body beneath the cloth that lay over my shoulder. My eyes followed his every move, just to ensure I wasn’t just prey to him. I didn’t want to be taken unaware, so I clung onto a stick that I picked up when he wasn’t looking. “Brendon,” I muttered as my eyes left him for the first time, searching the environment for any sign of a living being. “Are you sure this place is safe?” I asked. He didn’t look as confident as he was earlier when he offered me help. Instead, a strange sense of fear lurked in his expression as he turned the nest burning over the fire. “I guess,” “You guess?” I repeated, fear crawling back into my skin. The steak of meat in my hand dropped, and I stood up. “But you were sure that we were safe earlier,” “I’m not saying we are not safe,” he interrupted without waiting to hear what else I had to say. “I’m only saying that…when it was just me…I was safe. But now that you’re here, who knows
JASMINES POV “You can’t? Why?” Curiosity grew in me after he gave his unexpected answer. He shook his head, adjusting on the log of wood where he was resting. “You just bumped into me, how sure are you that…” “I can trust you?” I interrupted him. I sighed, moving away from where I was sitting and taking up a space beside him. “I never said I trust you, Brendon. All I said was…you saved me, and might as well help me save my friend. Instead of staying in the middle of nowhere, you could meet new people,” I corrected him. That still didn’t give him the satisfaction I’d expected. His eyes still bore some kind of doubt that lingered as I stared into them. He shook his head, turning away from me. “What if I don’t want to leave?” I didn’t respond to him immediately. I let his decision sink and settle at the base of my head before I shrugged. “Fine then, I’m used to surviving on my own. I’ll go alone,” I said, not waiting to hear what he had to say before I returned to his tent.
JASMINES POVThe wolves snarled, their teeth bared and glowing under the morning light. I scrambled to my feet, pulling Brendon to my side. He was strongly rooted to the ground, his eyes fixed on both beasts like he was analyzing them. “Brendon, it’s them. We must leave now!” I urged, pulling his arm.“Wait,” he whispered, his knees taking a slow bend as he assumed a defensive stance. His claws snapped out, and he started moving closer. The wolves that were once charged with ferocity started moving backward.I stood behind him, trying to understand what was happening. Were they scared of him? Or was there something he was doing to them that I couldn’t see?“Brendon, what’s going on?” I whispered.“Stay close,” he returned, keeping up with his pace. I tugged behind him, holding the dagger in my left hand, with the right grabbing his shirt. “What’s going on?” I asked, watching as the positions reversed. The first wolf turned immediately and ran into the woods, while the second took it
JASMINES POVThe moment the liquid entered my bloodstream, a slow, burning sensation spread through my veins. My body tensed, every muscle tightening like I was being set on fire from the inside out.I clenched my jaw, refusing to give Lucy the satisfaction of seeing my pain.But she saw it anyway. And she smiled.“Don’t worry,” she cooed, setting the empty syringe aside. “It won’t kill you. Just… weaken you enough to make things easier.”I gasped for breath as my limbs grew heavy, my vision blurring at the edges. Whatever she injected me with was strong—too strong. I couldn’t afford to pass out. Not now.Lucy crouched in front of me, tilting her head like she was admiring a piece of art. “Tell me, how did you feel after realizing that you’re a seeker wolf? Huh?” She hissed, leaning closer to me. “Let me guess, you felt stronger, didn’t you?” she mused. “So strong. So untouchable. You thought you’d become the admired wolf?” I swallowed hard, forcing my body to stay upright. “And you
JASMINES POVMy eyes fluttered open, taking in the light that seeped into them. I blinked several times to get a clear vision while keeping my head in place to get rid of the shrill sound in it. After some seconds, I could finally see what was before me. It was a room, not old, but a little untidy. There were clothes scattered around the chairs and the floor. The bed opposite me was unkempt, adorned with feminine wear. I pulled against the restraints on my wrist, but they sent me back to the chair with a harsh tug, the metal biting into my skin. My breath hitched as the realization sank in—I was tied up.Panic surged through me, but I forced myself to stay calm. I took a shaky breath and scanned the room again, searching for anything useful. The place smelled faintly of perfume and something else—something metallic.Blood.I swallowed hard, my heartbeat hammering against my ribs. Who had taken me? And why?The door creaked open, and I froze.A man stepped inside, his back to me un
CAINE’S POVI stared at the clock hanging at the far end of the hospital wall and discovered that I’d walked from end to end for thirty minutes. My mind was restless, and I was eager to find out the reason why I still felt incomplete. My father was still in the ward with Lilian and my uncle. They were interrogating her. That was a plus one to the discomfort that ached my mind. Alyssa was sitting somewhere around the corner. She hasn’t said a word since we arrived at the hospital. My gut believed that she knew something. Something she wasn’t saying to anyone and kept trying her best to hide it away from her expression. But I caught that flicker of knowledge for a second when we were driving Lilian to the hospital. When I asked her, she shoved it aside and claimed I caused damage when I wasn’t sure of my memory. Damage?Uncertain about the fragments of events that crossed my mind?They could call me anything but mad.That was the way Lucy wanted to put it. My newly wedded wife thoug
CAINES POV“Caine, that’s my wife you’re accusing,” my father pulled me back and whispered into my ear through his teeth. I shrugged him off and took steps further, but my uncle stepped in the way.“Caine, what’s come over you?” He asked with a low voice. “This is your wedding. What do you think you’re doing?” “She’s a traitor.” “Stop it!” My father yelled.The peace they were trying to maintain crumbled, and I had deadly eyes staring into mine. He walked closer to me, his eyes wandering in mine like he was trying to know what gave me the audacity to point an accusatory finger at his wife.“What is this all about, Huh? Because you do not want to get married? Is that why you have chosen to destroy that of your parents?”“If you think I’m lying…” I said before taking my gaze away from him and fixing it on Lilian. “Ask her how long she has known my mother,” “Your mother died years before I met Lilian,”“A year, you mean? And that means you're not denying the fact that she knew Mother
CAINES POVI stood before the grand mirror in my chamber, my reflection staring back at me, hollow-eyed and unrecognizable. The blue ceremonial robes draped over my shoulders felt heavy, suffocating, as if they carried the weight of every choice I hadn’t made for myself. The deep blue fabric was adorned with intricate silver embroidery, the symbol of my family stitched proudly into the chest. A reminder of the duty I could never escape. The servant attached the last piece of gold ring to my finger and took a few steps away from the mirror. “All set,” he bowed. Today, as per tradition of the house of Creeks, my marriage was to be held in the old traditional ways. Given the kind of line we descended from, our marriage process usually involved various types of rites. First, we would go to the river to get bathed under the moonlight. Also, there was the one of getting the head of an antler from the woods.A third was also mentioned to me, which involved the Sheet's reveal. It was con
CAINES POVDistant murmurings filled my ears as I stirred awake. My eyes fluttered as they received the rays from the white light hanging above my head. For the first few seconds, I was blinded by the light. After what felt like minutes of waiting, the light got dim, giving me a chance to take a view of my environment.“He’s waking up,” a voice said. It sounded muffled like he was speaking to me or someone else with water in his mouth. I tried to turn my head towards the direction of the sound, but a sharp pain shot through my head.“Ouch!” I winced, reaching to hold my head. The pain seared through, touching every nerve as it sent cold signals down the rest of my body. “Easy son,” my father's voice said. His footsteps rang in my ear like they were stepping on glass placed beside my ear, and I was forced to close both ears with my palms until I felt his hand on my neck. “You’re fine. You’re with family,” he said. Slowly, I let go of my ears and turned to him. He was still standing
LUCY'S POVBryan was serious about leaving Jasmine in the trunk till the following morning. He acted like we didn’t come with anyone else, all his attention focused on Liz. Her body had gone cold, and he was massaging it with a warm towel. I sat across the sitting room, watching him while Adrian got himself engaged in a discussion with some adults outside, sitting around a fire and passing bottles of drinks. “Is it always this quiet?” I asked, taking the first step to speak since I realized he was bent on saying nothing until Liz woke up. “Not always,” he replied. “Liz bore some type of light. Her absence must have dimmed that light. The reason why most of the women have refused to settle until they see her,” he said. A few hours after Adrian compelled the crowd that gathered in front of the house, some women stopped by again to see Liz. I was the one who spoke to them, giving an excuse that she would be back from her evening walk. Two more hours passed since I did that, and they
BRYANS POV“Liz, please.” I followed her behind, keeping up with her quick strides as she made her way back to the house. “It’s just going to be for a few days,”“A few days?” she turned to me. “Those…few days…as you call it, is enough to bring this little home down. You and I know how much effort we put into securing this place, into the protection of this land. Yet you want to sweep it under the bus all because of what?” She snapped.I sighed, seeing that this was already a lost argument. In our territory, we had no alpha or king. But we had people recognized for their strength and influence. My father was one of them, and that made him one of the most respected people in the rogue lands. Marrying Elizabeth, and her neutral ability to fight a warrior that she is, bestowed that same respect on her. Her say was final, and if she refused to grant me my request, no one else would. I glanced at Lucy who was watching from a distance, then back at Liz. “This one time, Liz. I promise to
BRYANS POVI parked the car at the front of the house, leaning back into the chair as I pulled the keys out. “This is my home,” I answered Lucy. She’d been curious ever since we headed out, probably because I chose not to handle this her way.Funny enough, this was her first being here despite how many years of dating. I kept this part of my family away from the world due to the amount of love I had for them. We were, however, seen as rogues. Perhaps that’s who we are. Lucy has always known that I belong to a rogue pack. She just didn’t know what pack it was. Seeing the shock on her face only made me more excited.“I thought you said your home was taken away from you? she asked, leaning forward to get a proper view of the people moving from place to place ahead of us.“I did say that. But you should have understood what home I was talking about,” I told her. My first home, which I referred to as the home I never met, was the Creeks mansion.I grew up in the outskirts of the city,