~Karen~“I’m so sorry, My Lady, please forgive me.”I glared down at the shivering mess in front of me, my fists clenched so hard that my nails dug into my palms.The back and forth was becoming tiring. How difficult was it supposed to be to carry out a simple task? My patience was already slice thin, and would snap at any time now.It’s already been two days since my encounter with that slimy, pretentious, unfaithful bitch. She was supposed to be dead by now. At the very least, she should have been on the floor, writhing in agony, gasping for breath as the poison works through her veins. But she was still here, alive. Untouched. Walking around the palace like nothing had happened.And Grace… Grace stood before me with her head bowed, her body trembling like a pathetic leaf caught in the wind. Was she such a loyal dog who can’t bear to bring harm to her owner?“And why should I forgive you?” I asked, slamming my hand on the desk, the thud sound echoing throughout the silence of my ro
~Theo~The discussion between my father and me was dragging longer than necessary. Matters of the Tribe had a way of doing that. It was always endless disputes, trade agreements, and border tensions. My patience was wearing thin, but I kept my composure, responding when necessary, even though my mind was elsewhere.The forces against Storme and I were getting stronger, and it was only a matter of time before we were publicly called out in the Tribe. My refusal to marry Karen wasn’t helping issues at all. She was already threatening Storme’s life, and knowing the kind of personality that Karen had, it wouldn’t take her a blink to eliminate whoever she saw as a foe.The whole matter was driving me insane.A sharp knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. Before my father could answer, the door swung open, and in walked Karen, dressed in her usual arrogance, a sly smile playing on her lips. But what caught my attention wasn’t her.It was the girl trailing behind her. I recognized he
~Storme~“Your Highness!”I glanced up to find an omega hesitantly peeking inside as she creaked the door open. I was surprised to see that she had managed to find me when I’d tried to hide myself in this place. I’d felt suffocated for some time, and decided that the best place for me to breathe would be in the library, sheltered from the world, tucked away between shelves lined with books that I loved more than anything. It gave me a sense of escape.“Is there a problem?” I asked, giving a reassuring smile when she lingered at the door without stepping in.She looked nervous, casting quick glances behind her before finally coming in. She bowed low and leaned in. Her voice was shaky as she murmured something in my ear.I froze. My grip on the book tightened.“What?” I mouthed, not understanding anything that she had said.She nodded in confirmation, and I didn’t wait a second longer. Abandoning the novel on the table, I pushed to my feet and stormed out of the library, my pulse racing
~Storme~“You shouldn’t think so much about this, baby. Grace will be fine.”No, she won't. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the possibilities of what could happen to her while in Karen’s care. This whole palace was starting to feel even more suffocating than it used to be.Absent-mindedly, I swiveled on the chair in Theo’s personal study. There has to be something that I can at least do about this. There had to be something…“It’s strange that she decided to pull this card immediately after the mourning ritual. Do you think Grace refused to do something that she ordered her to do and now she’s trying to punish her?”“That might be possible,” Theo agreed, stopping the swiveling with a block of his hand. “Can you stop turning? You’re beginning to make me dizzy.”“And now she’s trying so hard to make one of her Pack girls my personal maid. Is she trying to get some kind of information or what?” I leaned back on the chair and grabbed both sides of my head. “This is driving me crazy.”T
~Storme~“What the hell!”I quickly scampered to a sitting position and flung the cover around my body. The girl who had barged into my room had her eyes down, and her hands clasped together in a beseeching manner.“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I thought you’d be with the alpha king now, so I decided to come and arrange some things for tomorrow.”Hugging the cover tightly to my body, I glared at the girl. She looked unfamiliar, and I was so sure that she wasn’t a member of this Tribe because her scent was a bit different. Almost identical to Karen’s.“Who the hell are you, and who gave you the permission to barge into my room?”She looked up then, and I was able to see her features properly. Her eyes were sharp and eager, a round face that screamed innocence, and an attitude that I couldn’t decipher yet.“My name is Mona. I’m the new maid that has been assigned to you.”That explained the scent. Karen had really gone ahead to make do on her plans, and the king had indulged her. Things
~Theo~“Tell me the truth, Fred. You can either tell me, or I’ll summon her and ask her myself. You know that she would never lie to the crowned prince of this Tribe.”Fred’s eyes darted everywhere around us, and he tried desperately to avoid my eyes. After our sparring session this morning, I’d tried to make him spill the relationship between him and Grace. But it looked like he would rather chew leather than say anything to me.The moment I mentioned summoning her however, his stance had changed. I guess he didn’t want his beloved lover to be held in my clutches after all.“She’s my mate, Theo.” He looked like a man who had been fighting a war inside his own head and finally lost. His shoulders were tense, his jaw locked as if he expected me to lash out.My jaw almost dropped. “What?”He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I tried, Theo. I tried to fight it, to pretend that it wasn’t real. But it’s too much. I can’t take it anymore. I need her." His voice cracked slightly, and I
~Theo~I burst through the doors of Storme’s room, my heart pounding with unregistered fear. I pushed my body against the door, throwing it open. The moment my boots hit the floor, I froze. Droplets of blood littered the floor like scattered rubies, leading toward the place where she should have been.My wolf howled in rage at the gruesome sight. A cold, unnatural chill crawled up my spine, suffocating me in dread."Theo, calm down—""Storme!" Her name left my lips before I could even think. My voice was rough, desperate. But the room was silent. She wasn’t there.Fred stepped in behind me, gripping my shoulder. "Theo, you need to calm down."Calm down?I turned on him with a glare. "Who did this? Who the hell dared to poison the queen?"He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, "Where is she?" I grabbed the nearest guard by his collar, my grip tight enough to choke the breath from him. "Where the hell is she?""Th-The pack hospital!" The guard stammered, his eyes wide with fea
~Theo~Despite being threatened by my father to stay away from Storme, I still found my way to her bedside that afternoon. There was no obvious improvement even after all the injections that the doctor had administered to her. She still looked pale and deathly.I knelt by the edge of her bed, putting her cold hand in between mine, trying to warm her up at least. But nothing was working.“Please, Moon goddess, please don’t take her away from me,” I prayed, “Take every other thing in my life, but please, return my mate to me. I can’t live without her.”I brought her hand up to my face, my heart breaking over and over again at what she had been reduced to. My once vibrant Storme, reduced to this figure who couldn’t do anything to help herself.She couldn’t scold me for doing things that she had warned me not to do, or for wanting to mark her even when she had made it clear that it was dangerous. I would give anything right now to hear her nagging at me. I would give every single thing.I
~Theo~The glass of alcohol in my hand was nearly empty, but the burn in my throat wasn’t enough to drown the rage consuming me. I paced up and down, my brain reeling of the sort of pain that I would mete out to the target that I had coming into the dungeon soon enough.She would taste exactly how it felt to die in the most painful manner. I would make sure of that.Keys jingled, and Fred and his men dragged in a figure covered from head to toe. They threw the body at my feet, and Fred yanked the leather bag off her face. The second she saw me, her eyes widened in horror, and she began to plead.“P-please, My Prince, spare my life, please!” Her voice was shrill and desperate. Her hands trembled as she reached for me, but Fred shoved her back down.“Shut your mouth!” he barked.He handed me a small leather bag. “We caught her trying to leave through the back of the palace. It looked like there were some unidentified guards trying to help her escape. We also found the bag on her.”I to
~Karen~I limped down the corridor, my head held high despite the pain throbbing in my leg. The scent of blood clung to me, but I ignored the questioning glances from the passing servants. Let them look. Let them whisper. None of it mattered. I had won.The ragged cloth that Mona had managed to find for me reeked of dampness and was undeniably dirty, but it was better than walking through the palace halls completely naked.“Theo tried to kill me.” I muttered to myself incessantly, as if saying it over and over again would make it become a lie.I hadn’t believed that he would be able to do something like that to me, his childhood sweetheart. If I hadn’t escaped as quickly as I had, then I would have been the second body that would have been incinerated tonight alongside that witch’s body.His rage, his grief, him fighting me, it had all being for that wretched woman. Even in death, she clung to him like a curse. How else was I supposed to get rid of this darn disease that had infected
~Theo~The world stopped. The air in the room turned suffocating. I heard nothing. Felt nothing. It was as if my body had shut down completely. I couldn't process what I had just heard. My mind rejected the words, my body refused to accept them.My breathing turned ragged as I turned to the doctor, my voice dangerously low. "Check again."The doctor swallowed hard, his face pale. "My Prince.. I've checked multiple times. There is no pulse. She has stopped breathing."Something inside me snapped."NO!" I bellowed, grabbing him by the lapel of his coat and shaking him violently. "She’s not dead! She’s not dead, you hear me? You’re lying! Do something!" My voice cracked as I shook him harder. "Bring her back! Bring her back right now!""Theo!" Fred grabbed my arms, trying to pull me off the doctor. "Theo, stop!""She’s not gone! She can’t be gone!" My vision blurred. My chest ached with unbearable pain. "Storme! Storme, wake up! Wake up!"I fell to my knees beside her bed, clutching her
~Theo~Despite being threatened by my father to stay away from Storme, I still found my way to her bedside that afternoon. There was no obvious improvement even after all the injections that the doctor had administered to her. She still looked pale and deathly.I knelt by the edge of her bed, putting her cold hand in between mine, trying to warm her up at least. But nothing was working.“Please, Moon goddess, please don’t take her away from me,” I prayed, “Take every other thing in my life, but please, return my mate to me. I can’t live without her.”I brought her hand up to my face, my heart breaking over and over again at what she had been reduced to. My once vibrant Storme, reduced to this figure who couldn’t do anything to help herself.She couldn’t scold me for doing things that she had warned me not to do, or for wanting to mark her even when she had made it clear that it was dangerous. I would give anything right now to hear her nagging at me. I would give every single thing.I
~Theo~I burst through the doors of Storme’s room, my heart pounding with unregistered fear. I pushed my body against the door, throwing it open. The moment my boots hit the floor, I froze. Droplets of blood littered the floor like scattered rubies, leading toward the place where she should have been.My wolf howled in rage at the gruesome sight. A cold, unnatural chill crawled up my spine, suffocating me in dread."Theo, calm down—""Storme!" Her name left my lips before I could even think. My voice was rough, desperate. But the room was silent. She wasn’t there.Fred stepped in behind me, gripping my shoulder. "Theo, you need to calm down."Calm down?I turned on him with a glare. "Who did this? Who the hell dared to poison the queen?"He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, "Where is she?" I grabbed the nearest guard by his collar, my grip tight enough to choke the breath from him. "Where the hell is she?""Th-The pack hospital!" The guard stammered, his eyes wide with fea
~Theo~“Tell me the truth, Fred. You can either tell me, or I’ll summon her and ask her myself. You know that she would never lie to the crowned prince of this Tribe.”Fred’s eyes darted everywhere around us, and he tried desperately to avoid my eyes. After our sparring session this morning, I’d tried to make him spill the relationship between him and Grace. But it looked like he would rather chew leather than say anything to me.The moment I mentioned summoning her however, his stance had changed. I guess he didn’t want his beloved lover to be held in my clutches after all.“She’s my mate, Theo.” He looked like a man who had been fighting a war inside his own head and finally lost. His shoulders were tense, his jaw locked as if he expected me to lash out.My jaw almost dropped. “What?”He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I tried, Theo. I tried to fight it, to pretend that it wasn’t real. But it’s too much. I can’t take it anymore. I need her." His voice cracked slightly, and I
~Storme~“What the hell!”I quickly scampered to a sitting position and flung the cover around my body. The girl who had barged into my room had her eyes down, and her hands clasped together in a beseeching manner.“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I thought you’d be with the alpha king now, so I decided to come and arrange some things for tomorrow.”Hugging the cover tightly to my body, I glared at the girl. She looked unfamiliar, and I was so sure that she wasn’t a member of this Tribe because her scent was a bit different. Almost identical to Karen’s.“Who the hell are you, and who gave you the permission to barge into my room?”She looked up then, and I was able to see her features properly. Her eyes were sharp and eager, a round face that screamed innocence, and an attitude that I couldn’t decipher yet.“My name is Mona. I’m the new maid that has been assigned to you.”That explained the scent. Karen had really gone ahead to make do on her plans, and the king had indulged her. Things
~Storme~“You shouldn’t think so much about this, baby. Grace will be fine.”No, she won't. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the possibilities of what could happen to her while in Karen’s care. This whole palace was starting to feel even more suffocating than it used to be.Absent-mindedly, I swiveled on the chair in Theo’s personal study. There has to be something that I can at least do about this. There had to be something…“It’s strange that she decided to pull this card immediately after the mourning ritual. Do you think Grace refused to do something that she ordered her to do and now she’s trying to punish her?”“That might be possible,” Theo agreed, stopping the swiveling with a block of his hand. “Can you stop turning? You’re beginning to make me dizzy.”“And now she’s trying so hard to make one of her Pack girls my personal maid. Is she trying to get some kind of information or what?” I leaned back on the chair and grabbed both sides of my head. “This is driving me crazy.”T
~Storme~“Your Highness!”I glanced up to find an omega hesitantly peeking inside as she creaked the door open. I was surprised to see that she had managed to find me when I’d tried to hide myself in this place. I’d felt suffocated for some time, and decided that the best place for me to breathe would be in the library, sheltered from the world, tucked away between shelves lined with books that I loved more than anything. It gave me a sense of escape.“Is there a problem?” I asked, giving a reassuring smile when she lingered at the door without stepping in.She looked nervous, casting quick glances behind her before finally coming in. She bowed low and leaned in. Her voice was shaky as she murmured something in my ear.I froze. My grip on the book tightened.“What?” I mouthed, not understanding anything that she had said.She nodded in confirmation, and I didn’t wait a second longer. Abandoning the novel on the table, I pushed to my feet and stormed out of the library, my pulse racing