The news of Gabriel’s untimely demise had circulated around the city. It had been nearly a week and the city was still abuzz with the tragic deaths of his wife and children. So many of his people were already preparing to travel to Sunset city for the funeral while others sent Eugene many tokens and well wishes.Apparently, Gabriel was a loved king. Tatum wasn’t surprised. As long as he had known Gabriel, he was a reasonable man. To know his life was snuffed out from him so brutally made his blood boil.If Tatum ever got his hands on any member of the Judgement, they would wish they had never been born.“So, who’s our next Luna queen?” Takoda asked from beside him. They were sitting at the courtyard watching the guards train under the noon day sun.Tatum stared at him. “How can you think about that right now? A friend and his entire family just died.”“Killed. They were killed. And I feel terrible about it but life must go on. Or do you suggest we stall our lives just because we’re in
Baka had kept herself busy all day since she had nothing to do and couldn’t return to the palace until the Alpha Kings and their Alphas had gone. She made a nice meal and waited for her mother and the girls to join her. They had been so happy to know she had returned to them even though she had told them it was only for a short while.It was a little past curfew so they should be back any moment now. Baka served the food in a bowl and left it covered on the table. The girls would be tired and hungry when they got back.She heard multiple footsteps approaching and smiled.Then a more sorrowful sound emerged. Someone was crying—and loudly.The door sprang open as the girls walked in with a hysterical Mosann. Baka flew to her side in an instant.“What is it?”But Mosann was crying too hard to make any coherent sentence. “She lost her teddy,” Bessia answered.“Mr Holmes? How?”“In the market. Some idiot bumped into us but we didn’t think anything of it. It was not until we had gotten ha
Baka had lost count of how many times the wind had been knocked out of her in one night alone. Not only was her brother alive but he was also the leader of the renowned human rebel group desecrating werewolf cities and killing everyone without mercy. And Eugene was their ally, helping humans kill his people. Including his brother and their entire family. What was happening?“You’ve killed so many people, Henry.”“And how many of our people have they killed?”“So you kill their kids in return? Level their cities to the ground and bury their women and children under heavy concrete and debris? Massacre our kind in the process?”Henry shook his head. “That wasn’t us.”She paused. “What do you mean?”“Do you know me so little to believe I would allow the massacre of innocent women and children? The rumor about a special weapon was just that—a rumor. We had to threaten them but all we had were knockout bombs. “Our plan was to knock the people in the city out and kill the Alpha king. Then
The meeting didn’t start at noon as planned but late evening. After enjoying a hearty meal in the dining hall, Tatum asked his guests to follow him into the throne room where a round table had been set.Eight Alphas under Boaz’s rule, and five under Eugene’s were present. Alpha Wally and Alpha Aziz were also in attendance, as well as Alpha Hanriel, Sarah, and the high priestess. Hannah, Eugene’s sister, had excused herself over an hour ago.Since Tatum’s awkward encounter with Sarah last night, she had said fewer words to him and barely looked him in the eye. He wondered if she had truly gotten the hint and it was finally over. If so, he hoped it wouldn’t make them enemies.As they all sat on their respective seats, Tatum gave orders for the doors to be shut.“Thank you all once again for agreeing to this meeting. It shows great leadership to put our differences aside and work together against a common enemy. “As leaders of our individual territories, it is our responsibility to ke
The room became more tense as the Alphas looked from the high priestess to Tatum. The high priestesses were known for one thing—power beyond imagining. The most powerful ones could inhabit the full power of the moon goddess herself. One of those special abilities was the power of confession. With one touch, they could get a man to spill any secrets, even those he believed he would take to his grave. It was a horrible invasion of privacy and the kind of sentencing they only gave to traitors who had committed high treason.Tatum had once witnessed a man being confessed when he was a teenager. It was both a fascinating and terrifying sight. It was as though the man had lost all free will, his tongue had loosened like running water, and he simply wanted to please the high priestess who had merely touched his cheeks.It was said that it worked differently for everyone. The weakest of men could become slaves to the high priestess until her death released them from her hold and vice ver
A week had passed since Baka left Khandom City behind. Her stay at the safe haven with the rebel group hadn’t been unpleasant. It was small yet spacious, hidden deep inside the woods with lots of armories and underground tunnels. There were about a hundred people living in the settlement and they were all divided into houses. House Philippi, house Rome, house Ephesus, house Thessalonica and house Corinth.They had a day-to-day schedule with routines on the upkeep of their environment, exchanging duties on a daily basis. It was very Henry to come up with such an arrangement. He was a big organizer. His idea brought order to their community.Baka was in house Phillipi. The community had been excited to have the sister and mother of their leader join them. They had welcomed them with open arms and ensured that they wanted for nothing. It was nothing short of amazing.It was as though Baka had regained her family again. It felt so similar to old times she could imagine it exactly as it
Baka walked into the armoury where young boys were assembling a few weapons while others cleaned it or trained with it. Rohey wasn’t in the kitchen nor was she in her room and someone had told her to check in here. She spotted her brother talking quietly with a boy called Hassan. They’d been introduced during the week she’d been here. She’d found him to be a little weird.“Have you seen Rohey?” She asked once she reached them.Her brother turned to her sharply. “Wow, no hello or hi?”“Sorry,” she mumbled, sending an apology to Hassan with her eyes. “I’m in a hurry.”Henry stared at her for a second and then turned to Hassan, patting him on the shoulders. “We’ll finish our discussion later.”Turning back to Baka, he led her away from the armory and into the pathway towards the tree in the middle of their settlement.“What’s wrong?” Henry asked once they sat on the cemented floor. “You look worried.”Baka decided she didn’t have time to hide the truth from him. He’d only press her fu
Days passed and Baka learnt to fall into the routine of their settlement. She checked on Rohey often even when Rohey had shouted at her to stop babysitting her. The girl was too independent for her own good.Baka’s house, House Phillipi, were on kitchen duty today. She and the girls in her house, which included Mosann, were hard at work washing the dishes they had just used for lunch. The food made here held no candle to the palace food she had grown used to, but it was still pretty good.The girls did their chores in awkward silence as some of them didn’t know Baka and Mosann well enough to strike a conversation. Baka didn’t mind. She needed the peace of mind which ironically always came when working, especially doing something so mundane as dish washing.The boys fetched the water they were using to wash the dishes and some of them hung around waiting for them to finish washing so that they would return the plates back into the kitchen.“Is it true that you were Alpha King Tatum’