HaydenGarcia replied, “It is working on him which is why he can be with us and not cut our throats in our sleep if the lich orders him to. I am not even sure why it works but just the fact that it is a potent herb that we reserve to cure rare illnesses and some major injuries that would result in the death of a person.When Leo had first come to me in that state, I had tried anything and everything under the sun and only this herb had been able to bring him back to sanity. Since then he is conditioning his mind to fight back the lich’s influence which costs him great mental energy.We only have a few reserves of it left and have to use it sparingly.”The headache now felt intense and hence I began rubbing my temples, “Then just pluck more of it. Tell me where to find it and I will go, I was anyways going to go with Raine to our territory. I will bring back some on the way...”Garcia replied, “I had sent a few scouts to get it from the usual place where it grows in abundance. But it i
HaydenTo say that his words confused me was an understatement.He grabbed me by the elbow and took me to one of the spare huts that were used as a meeting room. Motioning me to take a seat, he added,"Sit, I will tell you something you would not have believed happened years ago. I have told all of it to Raine but even she knew that you would not believe us because of your hatred for me and my pack.”I furrowed my eyebrows and he tried to correct himself, “I mean, yeah, I was an asshole too...I agree.”I was getting restless as to what he wanted to tell me. Hence, I asked him to get straight to the point.Garron pulled a chair and plopped himself in front of me.“Before I begin, I would like to know what you know of Madeleine and her previous pack.”I had opened my mouth to answer him and lash out at whatever he was going to say next but his question threw me off-guard. I closed my mouth again and when I really thought about it, I was stunned.I did not really know much about her pas
HaydenHe blurted and I halted in my tracks.I spun around and banged my fist on the door, “Now, why would the lich just single out her that too so long back when we are learning about him just right now? And just how is it possible that she has been staying with us like one of our own and we never knew she was under his influence?”“I know it sounds crazy, but since I have come here I have started to feel that the lich had been after us, or specifically Madeleine, due to some reason. He seems to have a personal vendetta against her and has been trying to keep her weak and wolf less for so long…”“The lich has got nothing to do with the awakening of someone’s wolf…”I dismissed him right away but even I had my doubts? Could this be really possible?“Well, you know when you were asleep after having returned from the forest after meeting the tree, Raine told us everything right? She also showed us the photo she had taken of the carvings and symbols you had copied on the leaf.And, when
HaydenI looked at my sister and asked, “Since when do you know all of this? “She answered, “The part about Madeleine being a slave was when she had run off with Ben to gather proofs of her innocence…the rest…maybe since a few days?”I nodded my head in understanding and she came towards me to pat my shoulder, “You are the chosen one, little bro…that and our only hope.”Raine planted a kiss on my head and then said, “You can do this, I believe in you. Now, we just have to find a solution to end this all and kill the real evil creature that is behind all this.”My fists clenched and I replied, “That I will do for sure.”We all gathered outside the huts on the large ground with backpacks and some huge bags with medicines, herbs, and some other equipment.“Shall we?”Garcia nodded her head and turned to look at her settlement, her home once again. The corner of her eyes crinkled and grew moist as she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.A wry smile appeared on her lips as she looked
I should have asked you how you are feeling or come to you first to see what you had done in those 24 hours that you were missing but I do not know how I ended up doing some other stuff than coming to you.”Madeline answered while she bit her lower lip and I patted her head while smoothing her hair down her back.“It is okay. You are safe. You are with me and that is what matters.”“I will always be safe as long as I have you beside me”She uttered without even thinking and I felt as if everything was right with the world as long as I had her wrapped in my arms. My gaze fell to Leo who smiled at me before turning around to help others.After we allocated rooms and gave everybody some idea of the territory, dos and don’ts, and general guidelines to follow, Raine suggested that I let everybody rest for the day.We all agreed to it and they all retired to their rooms. Then as decided, I and Raine went into my office.The door creaked a little and I also saw a faint film of dust that had
HaydenAfter the laughter died down we began working on the next lines.The key to unlock the most precious treasureIs the weapon to destroy the threat“Hmm…does this make any sense?”I asked as I scooted back and folded my hands to read it again.All of the others kept reading the words but none could be sure if we were on the right track or not.Garron suggested, “Is it talking about some treasure that you would have found near the tree? If I remember correctly, Raine said that you had pulled a lever or something to go inside it…”I tilted my head and tried to remember, “As far as I recall, I didn’t see any treasure there. In fact, Stem kept asking me if I saw any treasure or golden fruits or something on my way to the tree…but I saw nothing.”Ben propped up his chin on his elbow and asked, “You sure you didn’t miss on seeing anything?”I nodded my head.Garcia suddenly asked, “What if the treasure is the heartbeat of the tree?”We all turned our attention to her and her excited vo
HaydenThis self-imposed restriction was driving me insane. Luke argued as to why we were even keeping ourselves from our mate but I did not want to come across as a horny alpha after having maintained my image in front of her.And, now I knew that she was slowly beginning to let go of her doubt and hesitation of mating with an alpha. I once again went to the washroom to take a nice cold shower and slinked into the bed while I still could.It had merely been an hour or two when I had fallen to sleep that I felt a knock on the door. I was inclined to not even respond but Charlie called out to me, “Alpha, we have to conduct the meeting today.”I immediately sprang up from my bed upon hearing that. I had forgotten that I had delegated the responsibility of informing the alphas of the neighboring packs to discuss about the further strategy.Despite wanting to sleep, I got up and replied, “Sure, give me 15 minutes”Charlie replied, “Ok” and I forced myself out of the bed and brushed my te
HaydenMadeleine bent her head low and kept studying the ground, unsure of how to get out of the tricky situation.I did not want to get into a fight with her right before the meeting but I knew that something was off. The way her eyes kept darting to Jack and then back at the ground felt that both of them were up to something.But what could it be?I only looked at her and replied, “I just hope you did not create another mess or disobey my orders for the 100th time…I guess, if you keep doing that, we may have to postpone everything for now.”I said to her without stating anything explicitly and her face immediately scrunched. She knew what I meant. And, though I did not mean calling off our marriage, her disobedience was starting to get to me.‘What do I do with this girl?’I could only think helplessly knowing that she must have broken some rule I had laid out and not even told me about it. The guilty look on her face said it all. I didn't want to be a tyrant but I knew by now that
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