AlessioI wake up with a gasp, and the darkness that surrounds me makes me panic for a second, thinking that I managed to transport myself to that dark throne room somehow. But of course, this is just one of the small bedrooms in the Arcieri Luminari Pack.I’m safe, I have to remind myself. I’m far away from that wretched place, and there’s no way I would come back. . . .Right?“Fuck,” I mutter to myself, running a hand over my face and realizing that I’m covered in sweat. Disgusted with myself but at the same time creeped out by everything that happened, I get up from bed and head outside.I don’t know what time it is, but I assume that it’s pretty late because all the lights are off and there’s no one around. Still, I navigate my way toward the kitchen to get some water. I open the fridge, still feeling strange because of the fact that Werewolves--actual Werewolves in a pack--are living this fancy dorm life. It’s crazy.But what’s crazier is the fact that Dad seems to have communic
Chiara“Alessio!” I call out, removing the gloves from my hands and tossing them to the side. “Alessio, wait!”I don’t know if he heard me. I don’t know if he purposefully ignored me. Either way, he doesn’t come back. That sends me down a spiral of panic so I try to make my way out of the gym room too, but Amari blocks my way.“Let him go,” she commands.“What?” I splutter at her, wheeling around to look her in the eye. I know that she’s the leader here and I should show some respect, but I can’t bring myself to do it right now knowing that she’s stopping me from seeing Alessio. “He misunderstood something and I need to tell him the truth--”“Let him be.” Amari puts a firm hand on my shoulder, then she smiles. “He’s a big boy now. No need to coddle his feelings. Besides, Beatrice is right, you can always just stay here as a maiden and you will be better off for it--”I don’t let her finish. Disrespect or whatever, but I just swat her hand off my shoulder and march away from both of th
ChiaraMy heart already stopped beating when I saw Dad coming out of nowhere, but it just got worse when I hear his question. Then even progressively more horrible when I realize that he knows about Alessio being in my bedroom.Suddenly I feel dizzy with embarrassment. As much as I’m trying to be indifferent to Dad, I still feel really bad about hiding this relationship from him, and the fact that I know that he knows just what happened last night.“Dad,” I begin to say, but he really seems upset because he steps around me and starts to head up the stairs.I immediately get the idea that he’s going to my bedroom to probably drag Alessio out of bed, so I follow him and try to hold him back. However, he already reaches the hallway where my bedroom is. I grab him by the arm and steer him away as far as I can, even though he’s fighting against my grip like a petulant child.He jerks away from my touch and glares at me. “Why are you trying to stop me?”“Because Alessio didn’t do anything w
ChiaraThe first thing that I see when Amari gets close enough is the glimmer of the blades that she seemingly summoned out of nowhere.She twirls them around in her hands, the sharp black metal making a swishing sound. She slides on the floor and crouches, and in one fluid motion, she swipes at my leg with her blades.I jump back just in time, but the fact that I didn’t expect all of this is making my mind slow and sluggish. I end up colliding against the door, the metal doorknob burrowing into the crook of my back and sending sparks of pain throughout my body.Meanwhile, Amari just straightens up and stares at me with a smile. “What’s wrong, Chiara? Are you scared?”Even though the clear and honest answer is yes, I just pretend to be cool with it and say, “In your dreams.”And with that, I force myself to fight back even though I’m literally scared for my life.I sweep my leg under her feet to try and knock her out of balance, but she just leaps away from me and dives in for a cut o
AlessioThe sheer shock that reverberates in my body almost freezes me to my spot. Riva, who looks a lot like Amari, starts to choke on her own blood, and that somehow rouses me to move.I pick her up in my arms and Amari points the way, with tears streaming down her face and her hands shaking in nervousness as she directs me to the infirmary. I set Riva down gently, and immediately Amari begins to work.She rummages through the racks and the containers beside the bed, whipping out all sorts of potions while Riva heaves and gasps for breath.It’s a harrowing sight, and I want nothing more but to help but I know that I shouldn’t interrupt.Amari is working double-time, dabbing potions on Riva’s body and muttering incantations. At first it looks like nothing is getting better, but then I see that Riva’s body begins to relax on the bed. Her breathing becomes more stable.Chiara and I clasp hands, relieved by this.Meanwhile, Amari herself nearly collapses against the wall as Riva coughs
AlessioThe disappointed look on Amari and Riva's faces shoot a straight arrow of humiliation in my chest. Still, I force myself to swim to the shore and shake it all off.Amari hands me a towel to dry myself off. I suppose I could change my wet clothes because of the cold, but I'm too gutted to do it. I just stand in front of Amari, who's staring at the lake with a thoughtful expression."I'm sorry," I whisper. "I didn't know that it was this bad--""Don't worry about it," she says, looking up at me. And I feel relieved to see that she seems to mean it. She doesn't look like she's blaming me. Perhaps she's just as sad as I am that the thing didn't work. "We will keep trying until the full moon. There will be an eclipse tomorrow night, before the half moon. But we will try again, don't worry. It's a process."I nod slowly. "Thank you for saying that."She sighs and pats me on the back. "We will have a better plan. For now we have to deal with. . . ."She trails off, her eyes fixed on
ChiaraEveryone in the whole area steps back in shock when they heard what Alessio just said. It’s almost like the entire party deflated in one go, like someone just ripped out something important from the inside and ran away with it, leaving everyone bereft.Amari especially looks gutted. She actually staggers back as though Alessio’s statement was a dagger that stabbed right into her soul. She propped herself against the tree, clutching her heart. When I come up next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, she looks up at me, and from there I can see that she has tears shining in her eyes.“That means we are here for nothing,” she murmurs, and the pain in her voice is so strong that for a while I can’t breathe. “I can’t believe this.” She rakes through her hair and looks at Alessio. “Are you sure you checked everything? Are you sure this is really the case?”I can tell that Alessio is disappointed by her line of questioning, but he extends a hand and pats her shoulder, looking a
AlessioI step back, looking at the kneeling woman before me and wondering what the hell happened exactly, what moments led to this. It’s almost a dream, and I’m not entirely sure I can trust myself enough with this.Savina looks up at me and I see that her eyes are filled with tears. But I can’t hold eye contact for more than a couple of seconds. I look at Chiara and Amari, who are walking side by side heading towards me. Their eyes are both pinned on Savina, and I could tell that they are both ready to attack.Meanwhile I just stand there like an idiot, wondering if this is some kind of elaborate trap that I’m too dumb to see.Because everything just happened so fast. One moment, I was fighting with Rafael, who has turned into this monster human hybrid that didn’t seem vulnerable to any attacks. Then just as he was about to finish me off, he vanished into a puff of smoke because Savina stabbed him.I’ve never seen that before. Ever.So the only thing that I manage to ask Savina is,
ChiaraDays pass. Then weeks. Before I know it, a whole month passes, and when I wake up with this realization, I just feel like a gigantic weight has been lifted off my chest. Life goes on, I realize. No matter how bad the situation is, my life still goes on. And so do the lives of others. The past month proved that. Since the war between Cavaliere Ombra and Arcieri Luminari ended, so many things changed. Not only in the world of the Wolves, but also in the world of humans.Evelyn was the saving grace during the first week, when what we needed to do in the most urgent sense is to make sure that none of the humans are convinced or even remotely suspicious about the existence of humans that turn into monsters. She asked Gio’s family for help, and they were happy to oblige.She had to jump through hoops and use her connections just to get all the news outlets to convince everyone that it was just some kind of bomb exploding in Milan by an armed vigilante group. All the videos that c
ChiaraWhen Alessio tackled Alpha Salvatore all the way down, I felt so helpless that I immediately considered jumping down to his aid.But as I look down from above, I see Dad crawling on the ground, trying to get upright. That strengthens my decision. Instead of going down to the chasm where the two men are, I back away and remain at the edge, kneeling beside my father and touching his face.“Dad!” I say in a shaky voice, feeling his skin getting cold. “Dad, hold onto me.”He turns around and I see that there’s a big bleeding gash on the back of his head too, an injury that he must have acquired somewhere else.To my horror, his body looks ruined. Mangled. The fall that he took crushed him. My eyes well with tears. “Dad, come with me. Let’s get you to safety.”“No.” He tries to shake his head and blood comes out of his parted lips Miraculously, he manages to get to his feet. “No. You help your mate. Help him win. You can lend him your power. I will be right behind you.”I swallow ha
Chiara As quickly as I can, I get to my feet and intercept Alpha Salvatore before his claws can come remotely close to Alessio. I pull him out of the way, flinging him to the side where he cannot be touched, then I turn to Alpha Salvatore and try to deliver the strongest kick I can muster aimed at his chest. He steps back just in time and avoids my blow. That simple motion alone makes me realize how fast he can go. He ends up pressing himself against the wall, smiling at Alessio and me. Alessio positions himself in front of me, determined to put me away from harm as much as possible. This time, Isaac doesn’t seem all that interested in stabbing or wounding us. He’s just observing us from his spot, that smug expression prominent and his growing smile chilling. My skin gets covered in goosebumps. “I suppose I should be proud of you, Alessio,” he suddenly says, his voice a soft croon, the tone someone might use to refer to someone they are especially fond of. “After all, you’re my gr
Time seems to slow down right before my eyes at that very moment. My breath gets stuck in my throat. I can feel my mouth opening and from it comes a high-pitched scream, but it still takes me a while to realize that it’s coming from me.I collapse on the ground, clutching Dad’s body against mine. Alpha Salvatore just watches me, holding his hand up and freezing everyone around me like he did with me earlier.I know I should keep fighting. I know I should strike back. But seeing Dad bleeding and coughing blood against me is pulling me apart. It’s like my heart is being torn out of my chest, and all I can think about is that time when Dad told me about my mother.Now he’s here, his breathing getting more and more erratic as the seconds tick by. I hold him tighter against me, wanting to comfort him but no words come out of my mouth.But he turns to me, struggling to breathe, and when I look into his eyes, the message is clear.“Get him for me.”That’s when it all clicks for me.Without h
ChiaraThe energy in that side of the area seems to have shifted in an instant. Alpha Salvatore slowly advances towards us, and I can see that the women standing in front of me are all staggering to back away from him like his mere presence is causing some kind of disturbance.And I don’t blame them at all. I can feel myself getting compelled to do the same, to hide and avoid this fight at all costs. There’s something about his gaze that feels sinister, like there’s no single ounce of humanity left behind those eyes. There’s only the monster that he felt he should be like, powered by the spirit that he corrupted.Alpha Salvatore smiles at me, showing his sharp fangs. I couldn’t help but notice how much he looks like Alessio but at the same time how different he is.Chills run down my spine as he leisurely gets close, and even though I’m scared to death right now, I come forward, ready to block him from attacking.However, he just raises his hand as a signal.For a second I thought tha
ChiaraThe moment I saw Dad smiling proudly, my urge to slap someone has never been so strong. It’s like a demon possessed me, and before I knew it, I’m already pushing the others away to get to my dad.But instead of slapping him like I originally intended, I end up pulling him for a hug.Then I settle with slapping his arm.“What the hell were you thinking?” I demand, and to my horror, tears start to fall. I bury my face in his shoulder and reluctantly, he hugs me back, rubbing the back of my neck. “I thought something bad happened to you!”“Hey,” he says consolingly, holding me at arm’s length. He smiles at me and wipes my cheeks. “I wasn’t going anywhere, darling. I just thought that hey, maybe I could help. I mean, I’m the only human in this pack, even with your boyfriend losing his wolf and everything.” He looks at Amari. “I’m sorry for causing all of you this trouble, and I hope I didn’t overstep something by inviting everyone here.”For one tense second, it seems that Amari wi
ChiaraWhen I wake up, it’s like everything is submerged in a lazy, peaceful haze. It’s so warm and so good to be safe in Alessio’s arms after a night of making love that I almost forget what situation we’re in and what we’re supposed to face.I lay there with my eyes closed, purposefully forgetting it for a while.But of course, the world is just simply not built to let me have some peace because as soon as I close my eyes, commotion breaks out from outside the bedroom.There are loud screams and crashes, so loud that even Alessio flinches and sits up in alarm. Still in a groggy voice, he turns to me and asks, “What the hell is happening?”“I don’t know,” I mutter, at first feeling annoyed, but then I hear a blood-curdling scream that sounds like Savina. I turn to Alessio, who’s already handing me clothes.He dresses up as quickly as he can as well, basically wriggling into his clothes. We both burst out of the door at the same time, and that’s when we see about a dozen warriors tryi
AlessioI can feel myself zoning out as I slowly process the things that Savina just said. I stand in my spot, feeling sick to my stomach, propping my hand against the back of the chair to keep myself steady.Denial is rising in my throat like bile, and for some reason my brain could come up with a thousand ways to justify everything. I want to argue with Savina and tell her that Cavaliere Ombra couldn’t possibly come up with such a risky plan, with something so big it has a chance of being foolproof.But the more I think about it, the more my justifications seemed stupid.Of course Father would do something like that. Of course he would want to announce to the world that he’s the strongest, and of course he would do that by invading an entire city.And everyone in that city would be food for monsters.Meanwhile, everyone in the dining hall is starting to speak over each other, covering the fact that they are disturbed with attempts of denial. As I start to slowly emerge out of my rev
AlessioI step back, looking at the kneeling woman before me and wondering what the hell happened exactly, what moments led to this. It’s almost a dream, and I’m not entirely sure I can trust myself enough with this.Savina looks up at me and I see that her eyes are filled with tears. But I can’t hold eye contact for more than a couple of seconds. I look at Chiara and Amari, who are walking side by side heading towards me. Their eyes are both pinned on Savina, and I could tell that they are both ready to attack.Meanwhile I just stand there like an idiot, wondering if this is some kind of elaborate trap that I’m too dumb to see.Because everything just happened so fast. One moment, I was fighting with Rafael, who has turned into this monster human hybrid that didn’t seem vulnerable to any attacks. Then just as he was about to finish me off, he vanished into a puff of smoke because Savina stabbed him.I’ve never seen that before. Ever.So the only thing that I manage to ask Savina is,