MadeleineHayden, Leo, and a few others were advancing towards the cave and I kept following them, ensuring that I gave them no reason to believe that they were being followed.Lea helped me choose the best spot to place my feet on, ensuring that I did not accidentally keep it on a piece of twig or a dry leaf that would crunch loudly and alert them.They seemed to take a longer route than what Jack and I had taken but I kept following them.In around twenty minutes or so, they had reached the inner parts of the forest where the thickness of the leaves and branches was the highest, allowing less light to filter in.Guided by Leo, they soon reached the cave and Leo told them, “I will walk towards it and talk to the Lich. He does not generally come out and calls me inside instead. But, I will try and see if I can manage to lure him outside.You try to take a look at him but if anything goes wrong, you guys run without looking back”Hayden was not convinced, “I am not going to leave you i
MadeleineI saw those eyes that were filled with anger and I knew that I would have to face a nice lecture from him.I would probably be grounded or worse, depending on Mr. Alpha’s mood.He kept glaring at me and I got up from behind the bushes joining the others who rapidly distanced themselves from the cave.It was then that the others noticed my presence and a few of them threw questioning glances at me.But the way Hayden was glaring at me made them fall silent. Leo simply looked as if he was hurt and then walked a bit farther from me, ensuring to keep his distance from me and not irk Hayden.I wondered how Leo was fighting the lich’s spell and able to not pounce on me like before. Maybe, Najak trusted him a lot more than we assumed and hoped for. I was simply letting my mind wander and not think of what to say to Hayden and make him see my point. I thought of even telling him about my trip to the cave with Jack and how we found the black liquid that repelled me.Sadly, it gave n
HaydenI had been very angry to see her hiding in the bushes when I had clearly told her to not follow us. I was worried sick about her safety but she had defied me again.When my initial worry and fear of her safety disappeared, another feeling cropped up. And, it was what made me forget my initial frustration.This was the perfect opportunity for me to tease her and make use of her so that is what I was going to do.Looking her in the eye I said that I would punish her and the way her eyes went wide, I knew that she knew exactly what I meant by punishing her.She was my soon-to-be wife and Luna but if she kept defying my orders, soon the rest of the pack would follow suit.So, I needed to make her realize her mistake. But, my wolf let out a groan as soon as she was close to me and her scent hit my nostrils, going straight up my head.She pressed her lips and looked at me unsure of what I wanted her to do. She even closed her eyes and raised her chin as if waiting for me to crush my
HaydenI stood for a long time in the shower, thinking about ways to defeat Najak. After I had found my release, my brain started to work again and I could think clearly. It was hard to forget the way Madeleine had moaned and whimpered taking my name over and over.It had been sweet torture but I didn’t think I would be able to stand it again. Clearing my head, I focused on Najak again.There was a knock on the door and I shouted from the bathroom, “Who is it?”Charlie answered, “Its me”I turned off the shower and answered, “Come in” and stepped out of it while wrapping a towel around my waist.He came in and gave me a small smile. His expressions were a bit stiff and he looked around as if trying to think of ways to initiate the conversation.I went to the side table where my bag was kept and looked for a pair of clothes. Digging out a jeans and a t-shirt I quickly wore it.“What is it?” I asked while combing my hair.“How long are we going to stay here?” Charlie asked me and I knit
HaydenWe only observed Garcia treating him and standing by his side. I turned to Ben and asked, “What happened?”He shrugged his shoulders, “I do not know alpha, he had gone to find some herbs and some wood for the kitchen like always and one of the other men found him passed out on the ground. His clothes were torn so I was not sure if it was the work of the lich or some random wild animal.Hence, I called you all.”I squeezed his shoulder and replied, “You did the right thing. Where did you find Jax exactly?”He answered, “He was close to some trees and picking some berries but then the others told me that he suddenly began to twitch and fell to the ground. I immediately came to inform you guys about it.”Garcia moved a hand to his wrist and held it, checking for his pulse. Jax had stopped twitching uncontrollably but other than that he was still passed out. His shirt was sticking to his skin with sweat that was covering all of his body.Garcia replied, “His pulse is a little slow
HaydenHolding the torch up above my head, I tried to look around but there was no sign of any evil creature looming around me.However, the voice kept calling to me, and I kept walking through the forest, leaving the settlement behind. I could see the wilt, rot, and decay festering around me and it reminded me of the exterior of the cave.How far had the decay spread? And, did the lich plan to simply destroy the forest and take away all our resources, our home from us? Instead of attacking us, now was he planning to make us suffer and leave our safe haven?I felt anger bubbling inside me and I wanted to punch the lich in the face and twist his neck.In an attempt to calm my anger, Luke commented, “For that to happen, we first have to get a good look at his body and face…we don’t even know what he looks like.”His words made me think about it hard. My wolf was right. Though we had seen the lich we had not really ‘seen’ it. All we saw was a big floating cloak hovering in the air in fro
Hello, my lovely readers, On the occasion of my birthday today I wish to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. When I started writing this book, I only expected to gain one or two readers but I am grateful for all the love showered on me. I say this because this is a significant achievement for someone like me- a shy and hesitant person who would think twice about putting something out for the public eye to see. There were days when I doubted myself but I am glad that through my story I could connect with you. I feel honored, humbled, and beyond happy. I would also like to take this opportunity to announce something!! I am working on another story that would hopefully be released soon after it passes the editor review (and once I have enough chapters lol). Currently, I cannot reveal more than this but I couldn't stop myself from sharing this news with all of you. Lastly, if you all could please spare a minute of your precious time to drop a review on the story on the main
HaydenIt had a faint pulse that would have been hard to miss, but as it was eerily quiet and my werewolf senses were quite decent, I was able to catch it.“How does a tree have a pulse? Weird…”I said aloud and began looking for some other signs. Moving my hands all over the tree trunk, I tried to find a better place to sense the pulse and it was then that my hand felt something like a hatch. Knitting my eyebrows, I tried reaching for it but it was too high from the ground. Even with my height of more than 6 feet, I could not jump to check if I had been correct.Luke chimed in, “Need help?”I ignored him. If I were to change into him, I would have to walk naked back towards the settlement if I were forced to change into my human form back again.The pair of eyes that had been staring at me from the leaves, I wanted to talk to whoever it was and it would not be possible in my wolf form.Plus, I didn’t feel it would be good to stand naked in front of that being in the first meeting an
Hello, all my lovely readers, The last epilogue marks the end of the story of Hayden and Madeleine. Writing this book has been a roller coaster of emotions for me and I hope I was able to do justice to the characters and to all of you who read the story, felt what the characters felt, rooted for some of them, and hated a few. I am still a novice writer and there is a lot for me to learn and improve. In these past few months, I have received a lot of love from you all which was my biggest dream; to be recognized as a writer. Putting my story out there was like putting my bare self out in the open for everyone to judge. I know I might have made mistakes, and that there is a lot of scope for improvement. I want to thank every single one of you for giving me and my story a chance, for giving me hope that I can write captivating stories that make you forget the real world and your worries, if only for those few minutes in which you read it. Reading your comments and reviews is the bigge
Epilogue (A month after the gruesome battle) Soft afternoon light spilled into the room where Madeleine was sleeping. The curtains rustled in the soft wind as she turned from side to side on the bed. For a month after the epic battle between her and the demon, she had been having nightmares. Pack doctors, herbologists, occultists and everyone who her family felt would be able to help her were called to her aid but their efforts bore little to no fruit. She was tossing and turning in her bed as Raine worried at her lip outside the room. She was carrying a tray in her hand that had a lot of different potions and medicines along with a cloth and a bowl of water. She quickly dabbed her eye and was about to reach for the door to open it when a hand stopped her. She looked at the man nervously and asked, “Are you sure, you want to do this?” He nodded his head gently and took the tray from her. “But the doctors say that it might shock her even more…” She said in the same nervous voi
Epilogue IISelene smiled at Madeleine, teasing her, “You really love him”Madeleine merely studied her body lying on the ground and thought of a remark but could not come up with anything.Selene spoke, “It is your wish, you have to ask for it”“I want Hayden” Madeleine spoke in a low voice.“Sorry? I can’t quite hear you,” Selene acted as if she had not heard a word.Madeleine opened her mouth and closed it again. She realized that the Goddess was making fun of her but then how long would they cry and mourn over the lives they had lost?“Please give Hayden back to me”Madeleine repeated herself and Selene said, “Louder please”“Give me Hayden!!!!”Madeleine screamed and immediately clasped her hands over her mouth. She was horrified that she had almost yelled at the Goddess but Selene did not mind.“Somebody found their voice it seems”Madeleine smiled and turned to look at him.“Come”The Goddess said and Madeleine’s soul drifted towards her. Slowly, they both neared Hayden and Mad
(All the epilogues are in 3rd POV instead of 1st POV)It was dark and gloomy while the pungent smell of smoke, charred flesh, and death hung heavily in the air.A silhouette of a woman was sadly walking through the ground, as silent drops of tears flowed down her cheeks. She was in pain; she was grieving and her ethereal form was blipping in and out of existence just like a candle’s flame that would fight against a breeze of wind to stay alive.She was Selene and she looked around at the wreck of a forest that she had lovingly and painstakingly nurtured. Her feet slowly took her to the demon’s corpse and she studied it impassively to see if there were any signs of the wretched demon left in that hollow vessel that he called his body.Then her eyes flicked to the severed head that lay not too far from the corpse. She picked it up and looked at it, dead in the eye.The demon’s eyes were thrown wide open, probably in shock and surprise at the way the dagger had cut through his neck. Sh
“Noooooooo”I let out a shriek. My eyes could suddenly see well beyond my limited vision and I saw that the crack fell just short of affecting the tree, the giver of life of the forest.The cracks stopped just a few meters away from the tree that shuddered from the impact of the demon's fist that cracked open the ground.It sobbed and gave out a terrifying cry that I had never heard before. I did not even know that it could cry but maybe it was the Goddess who could hear it and not me.I looked around wildly, wanting to find something that could stop him...something, anything...My eyes spotted the very same dagger that Valrok had hurled at me to make me cut myself and give my blood.I got up and swayed a bit but made my way towards the dagger. He saw me get up and let out a mirthless laugh.“Running away from me? That is what you should have done earlier, Selene”He taunted and looked back at the tree that was far away from both of us. And, I knew what he was going to do next.“You a
MadeleineAs I turned to the side, I saw Hayden looking at me, holding a long pole. I stared at him in shock as he raised his hands with the pole and brought it down upon me, smacking my back hard.I was so taken aback by his act that I was flung away from him and the demon. I crashed to the ground as the demon’s laughter reached me.“Fight your children, Selene”He mocked and I could feel the Goddess fuming inside me. She had been calm and composed all this while despite the demon taunting and jeering her but even a Goddess has a limit to her patience.I got up from the ground as I felt the anger wafting off me as it reached its peak. My hands shot to either side of me as I felt an uncontainable energy surge through me.The demon shot his hand forward in response as a ring of white light began to form around me. The ground below me began to crack as hellfire shot up from every possible opening, shooting straight up.The small crowd of onlookers who had dared stay back to witness our
MadeleineI took a step forward and I saw him curl his fingers into fists.“Hello my old friend Selene, took you long enough”He greeted me and I looked at myself in confusion. It was then that I realized that I had turned into a living, breathing halo. All of my body was glowing brightly as if I was made of nothing but pure, white light.The words that left my mouth were not necessarily mine but it did not matter. The Goddess had chosen me as her vessel and I would gladly let her.“I thought you had learned your lesson last time, Valrok.”'Valrok? That must be the name of the demon', I thought.The Goddess or rather I continued speaking, “I gave you enough chances to stop this madness, to not let innocent lives suffer because of your selfish goals but you leave me no choice.”Valrok snarled, “You gave me chances? You are the one who reduced me to this state! It is because of you that I had to rely on puny humans and werewolves until I grew strong enough”“There is still time, stop th
MadeleineEverything happened so fast but it was as if I was seeing it in slow motion. As I watched in a daze, the white beam hummed with a vibrant and restless energy. It was so bright that I had to shield my eyes for a while. I believed it must be so bright and big that almost the entire forest must have witnessed the spectacle. The entire dark night that was filled with terror and gloominess and all the negativity surrounding the demon was suddenly punctured with that beam of light. Even the demon stopped chanting for a while and looked up at the sky.His expressions, at first, were of confusion but quickly it was replaced by rage. He had left the cave and came up on the land, left his stronghold, and decided to walk on the surface thinking that he was now undefeatable.Looked like he had gotten it all wrong.A smile appeared on my face as I looked at him for a brief moment and he grimaced. I did not say anything but my expressions were more than enough for him to understand what
MadeleineI opened my eyes and felt that my face was wet. I touched my cheek and realized that tears had trickled down my eyes. However, what I had seen was just a memory but a powerful one. My mind began to come up with various theories as I replayed them in my head. The runes, the chants with me in the centre…that had to mean something.I was not sure why the memory had been hidden from me all this while or why it had resurfaced only now but my guess would be that the similarity of my current situation with the past memory might have brought it up in vivid clarity.The words of the old man and his conversation with my parents told me once again that the lich wanted to use me not harm me.I recalled everything that had happened in the cave and realized that it had been true. Whenever Amanda tried to hurt me, the lich shunned her. My blood had been too precious for him and now I knew why.Somehow, the wizard, which was what I called him in my head because of his appearance, had combi