Bernice POV I am enjoying acting like an Omega. I never allowed myself to think of what had been taken from me when I was given the medication at twelve years old and forced to act like an Alpha. All of the things I’d enjoyed when I was a child, before the responsibility was forced upon me, I’d thought were lost forever. Now I am able to enjoy them again, and I am determined to do so with my last days alive. Landry insists on continuing to search for a cure, but I know it is useless. I was on that poison medication for most of my life, the damage it did is permanent. I know that. But I can make my last days good, even if Landry is acting strange. He takes me out frequently. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he was taking me on dates. They certainly seem like dates. One day, he cooked me a full five-course dinner, with a rich, chocolate tart for dessert. Another, he took me on a long walk around the palace grounds, just the two of us. If
Bernice POV I am shocked beyond words at Jessie’s question. Dates? Proposing? Landry? That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and I wonder how to say so without hurting my friend’s feelings. “What do you mean?” Jessie asks, and I swallow hard. Part of me points out that that’s a reasonable question – wasn’t I just saying that Landry seemed to be taking me on dates? The rest of me reminds myself that love isn’t real and what Landry and I are doing is simply a transaction, nothing more. I straighten my shoulders and take a deep breath. “Landry and I…we are sexual partners only. We fulfill each other’s needs. There are no feelings, and feelings have no place in a relationship, anyway.” I learned that first hand. I was a bastard child, the child of my father, the Alpha of Sunset Pack, and a lowly Omega with nothing to her name, no status, and no say in anything. My father helped her with her heat and the result was me. When I was
Landry POV Landry can’t keep up with Bernice’s mood changes. After their practice fight, where she kept up with him admirably well despite her illness and Omega body, and the amazing sex afterwards, which was surprisingly tender, she’d turned frosty. Every attempt to speak with her has been turned down. She’d spoken to him only in short little snippets and he doesn’t know what he did wrong. “This ends now,” he thinks. He knocks heavily on her door, loud, unmistakable so she can’t say she didn’t hear it. As expected, she doesn’t answer it, so he just opens it and walks in. She’ll be angry, but he doesn’t care. “What are you doing here?” Bernice’s voice is angry. Her arms are crossed and she is glaring at him. He glares at her back.“I want to know why you are mad at me. What did I do?” He makes sure he doesn’t sound whiny. He is the Alpha King, damnit, he does not show weakness, not even to Bernice. “I demand an explanation!”“I’m not mad.” She’s lyin
Tina POV “Jessie!” Tina has watched and waited for Jessie to return from Landry’s palace. After eavesdropping in on their conversation regarding Landry’s mysterious woman, she is determined to get more information as soon as possible. Jessie jumps as Tina calls her name, walking over to her once she recognizes her. “Hello, cousin,” she greets. Tina smirks. Jessie may have calmed down when Landry made his excuses, but the anger is still there. Tina can see it in her eyes. All Tina has to do is coax it back out. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages,” Tina says, leading Jessie to a sitting room off of the Entry Hall of Jessie’s palace. Jessie goes easily and Tina cheers in her head – perhaps this will be easier than she thought. “I have been busy, I apologize,” Jessie says, waving a maid over and ordering tea. “Tell me, how have you been?” “I have been good, thank you,” Tina says, giving Jessie her best innocent smile. “But I am not the
Tina’s POVJessie continues to sip on her tea, thinking thoughtfully about her brother and his lover. She had expressed her dislike of this she-wolf. It’s painfully obvious how bitter she is over Landry’s arrangements. Tina was displeased as well. This she-wolf was going to ruin everything for her. There was something off about her.She needed to somehow get close enough to this she-wolf so she can investigate for herself who she really is. Jessie sighs and sits her teacup down on the table.“I’m so tired,” Jessie breathes. “I hope you don’t mind if I call it a night and get some sleep now, cousin.”She begins to stand until Tina’s voice stops her.“Wait,” Tina says quickly. “You know what you need? A ball!”“I’m sorry?”“Your palace hasn’t had a ball in so long and we could use a little fun in our lives. Aren’t I right?” Tina says with a grin.“I suppose you might be right,” Jessie says as she thinks more about it. “It could be fun to get dressed up and dance around the ballroom. Eat
Landry’s POVJessie glances behind Landry at Bernice before looking back up at him. Her face is red once she realizes what she’s interrupting. Landry would be lying if he said isn’t a bit annoyed, but he doesn’t make it known to her. He stares down at the sparkling pink invitation that Jessie handed to him moments ago.You are invited to Princess Jessie’s Ball, located in her palace! “What’s the occasion?” Landry asks, looking back at his sister questionably.“No occasion,” she answers. “It’s just for fun. I figured we could use a little fun.”Landry finds it to be odd; nobody has a ball for no occasion around here. But Jessie has always thought outside the box, and she was always looking to stir things up. So, for Jessie, this isn’t so much as odd behavior, but inviting them to the ball is what’s questionable. Jessie and Bernice didn’t have a good conversation during their last exchange. Maybe this was her way of making things up to Bernice.“I hope to see you both there,” Jessie sa
Tina’s POV“What is it you were saying moments ago?” Tina asks the maid who was just speaking about the omega being the same as the female alpha. The other maid, the one she was talking to, has walked away to complete some other tasks Jessie has ordered of her.The maid looks surprised when Tina approaches. It was clear Tina was never supposed to hear that conversation.“Oh, I’m sorry, mistress. It was unfair of me to speak like that toward the Alpha King’s omega…” she bows her head in shame.“Never mind that,” Tina says, waving her hand in dismissal. “Just tell me what you were saying, maid. About the omega and the female alpha being the same. Are you sure of this?”She stays quiet for a moment as she tries to figure out what to say in response.“Well…” she begins hesitantly. “I’m almost certain. But not 100%. I just feel their resemblance is uncanny. Nobody has heard from the female alpha in some time and now this omega shows up with a similar face. I just find it odd is all.”That
Bernice’s POVI’m shocked that this maid figured out my secret. Remembering what happened with Jessie’s last maid and how she ended up being an assassin spy, I am wary of this maid. It must have shown on my face because she gave me a small and shy smile.“Your identity is safe with me,” she says, bowing her head. “But I would also like to help you escape.”“I’m afraid you’ve been mistaken. I’m not whom you think I am.”“I remember your face so vividly. You have the same face as the female alpha. You don’t need to hide it from me. I want to help you. I’m not the only one who wishes to help. If you let us, we can get you out of here.”My heart stops in my chest at her words as I narrow my eyes.“Who else wishes to help?”“The Alpha King’s cousin, Tina,” the maid says with wide eyes.Something isn’t adding up.“What else did Tina say, exactly?”…I brush the conversation with the maid out of my mind as she leaves for the evening. Landry came to retrieve me and bring me to Jessie’s palace
Bernice’s POV6 months later“Oh, my goddess, Bernice!! You look gorgeous!!” Jessie squealed as she ran into my room.I stood in front of my mirror wearing the most beautiful wedding gown I had ever seen. It was designed by the best designers around the kingdom. Jessie wouldn’t let me get my dress from anyone different.I couldn’t believe that today was the day that I was marrying Landry. I never thought this day would come. I kept my long hair up and away from my neck; I wanted my mark to be seen by all eyes as I walked down the aisle to my love. My wedding dress was strapless and hugged my curves perfectly, expanding around my waists and flowing in smooth and delicate fabrics around my feet, expanding outward. There were white flowers decaling the fabrics and a couple of white flowers entwined in the curly locks of my hair.I felt like a princess; this must be how Jessie feels all of the time.Jessie, of course, looked gorgeous in her light pink dress.“I’m honored you chose me to b
Bernice’s POVI couldn’t get back to the palace fast enough. As soon as I got through the front doors, I could smell the scent of my pup. He was in the living room with Caleb.Caleb sat on the couch with my pup in his arms; he was laughing and speaking in the baby which made me smile. Caleb looked up and gave me a wide grin.“We were just bonding,” Caleb said fondly.I chuckled as I made my way over to them; Landry stepped beside me to get a better look at our son and I could feel his breathing out in relief. I knew Landry would be pleased that he looked exactly like him. I could feel his heart growing in size as he stared down at the small pup.“He’s incredible…” Landry breathed; he reached out to touch the pup’s cheek, running his hand down the side of his face. “He’s beautiful.”Tears were welling in Landry’s eyes; my heart was feeling so full at that moment. I was so happy to be with my family once again.“He needs a name still,” I tell him. “I wanted to wait for you.”Landry thou
Bernice’s POVI could already hear the music from the ceremony booming through the city. This wasn’t a place to take a baby. I turned to Caleb and handed him my pup.“Can you take him to the palace?” I asked. “I need to find Landry and congratulate Jessie, and then we will come home.”“Of course,” Caleb said with a fond smile as he gladly took my pup from me. “See you soon,” he said, turning away and heading in the direction of the palace.I smiled fondly as I watched him walk away. After a moment, I turned back in the direction of the ceremony and went toward the music.I had to admit that it was incredibly overwhelming. There was no way I would ever get used to this many people in one place; there had to be hundreds of people at the ceremony. Not many noticed me as I shoved my way through them. A couple of them gasped as they got a glimpse of my face, and I heard some murmurs that I was Landry’s Omega.I certainly didn’t like being called Landry’s anything. I wasn’t his property. Bu
Bernice’s POVI can’t remember the last time I slept that well; it’s been ages. As I opened my eyes, the sun shining through the window nearly blinded me. I winced, feeling a small headache brewing in my temple. I sat up in bed, staring around the fairly plane room. This was another smaller pack so the packhouse was also on the smaller side.I could smell coffee brewing from downstairs, causing my mouth to water. I hadn’t had coffee since before I was pregnant.Wait.Oh, my goddess!I look down at my bed and saw that it was empty.My pup was gone.With a racing heart, I slid out of bed quickly and ran out of the room. I couldn’t get downstairs fast enough. Someone had taken my pup and they were going to pay for this.I didn’t give anybody permission to…“Caleb?” I gasped as I entered the kitchen.Caleb sat at the kitchen with a plate of breakfast, coffee, and my pup in his arms. I stared at him with such disbelief that he broke out into a grin.“I didn’t want to wake you,” he said. “I
Landry’s POVIt’s been 24 hours since Alaric has been killed. It took a few hours for his men to clean the mess of the vampires and go through all of Alaric’s stuff in the layer. There wasn’t much to find other than Alaric’s plans to take over the werewolf territory and eventually work his way to the bear territory.He knew that not all his vampire issues were solved, there will still be vampires that want to defeat the wolves, and there will also be bears that would want to defeat the wolves as well. But at least his biggest problem was done for right now.He could finally breathe; except for the fact that Bernice still couldn’t be found. His Beta had reported moments ago that they have checked 4 packs so far and Bernice wasn’t in any of them. She still had him blocked from their mindlink, so he couldn’t reach out to her.A nasty feeling formed in the pit of Landry’s stomach. What if she doesn’t want to return home?“Don’t be stupid,” his wolf hissed. “Of course, she wants to return
Landry’s POVCaleb stood trembling with blood splattered across his body, standing over Alaric’s dead body. Landry was amazed that Caleb had that much courage and managed to kill Alaric.Caleb looked utterly defeated, and yet he also looked relieved.Landry knew this was a lot for a 15-year-old to take in.He placed his hand on Caleb’s shoulder, reassuring him that he was there and that he was going to be okay.“We still don’t know where Bernice is,” Caleb cried. “She has all of us blocked. She won’t know that Alaric is dead.”He was right and Landry would be lying if he said he wasn’t also worried about that. But for right now, they needed to clean this mess. There will be other vampires after them once they realize their lord was taken from them.“Alpha King!” His Beta shouted in a mindlink. Caleb also looked up, indicating that he could also hear the Beta speaking. “You need to come out here… something is happening!”Caleb and Landry exchanged wary looks before departing from the l
Third Person POVAt a young age, Caleb had learned from his father how to break into safes. He wasn’t sure why that was a skill his father had taught him, or how his father even knew how to do such a thing. He never thought that type of skill would ever come in handy; until now.It didn’t take him long to get into Alaric’s safe; once he had it opened, there was only one thing inside. It was wrapped in this maroon, silk cloth. As soon as Caleb touched it, he knew whatever was inside was incredibly sharp. He could also feel the dark magic consuming it. It gave him an uneasy feeling.He didn’t think this was something he should be holding; but somehow, he knew that this was the key to defeating Alaric.He unwrapped the object to uncover a dagger. It was an interesting dagger made entirely of silver. The handle was maroon with golden swirls, just like everything else in this room.Caleb was sensing a theme.This was what was going to kill Alaric once and for all.“You thought you were cle
Third Person POVThe layer was dark; Caleb had to squint his eyes in order to see properly. Even with his wolf’s eyes, it was difficult to navigate through the dark halls that to what felt like nowhere. There were no sounds that indicated any life within the layer, and he wasn’t sure where the halls ended, but he found what seemed to be an elevator in one of the darkest corners.His heart was pounding violently against his chest as he stepped into the elevator. He knew already it was going to lead him down to the layer where Alaric has kept his sister for torture. He doesn’t think he was going to find Bernice down there, but he feared for what he was about to find.As the elevator doors opened, he stepped into a dimly lit room. The walls were lit with candlelight; everything seemed to be made of concrete and smelled of mildew and rotting flesh. He nearly gagged at the stench.Still, there were no sounds indicating that there was anybody down there. Could Alaric really have left his la
Bernice’s POV“Talia…?” I said again, forcing myself to sit up and ignore the dizzy feeling that washed over me. “What… what are…” I couldn’t even get the words out of my voice.She continued to cradle my crying pup in her arms while staring at me with a grin spreading across her face.“You didn’t honestly think that Alaric would let you go that easily… did you?” She asked with a fake pout. “You are pathetic to think otherwise. I’m just glad I don’t have to pretend to be your friend anymore.”“It was you the entire time?” I asked, my word quivering. I could hardly believe what was seen before me.How had I not known that it was Talia this entire time? I have lived in her house for almost a month; she showed me kindness and helped take care of me. But it was only so she can get my baby.“Sorry to disappoint you,” she said. “But I must be leaving now.”She turned away as I started to feel my wolf growing furious from within me. She was no longer going to be quiet; she was about to lose