Douglas growled at Laura."You seem to have forgotten your place. I am Alpha and Brighton comes first." He ordered lacing his voice with dominance. "The ceremony must go on. Throw him into The room, then we'll tame the wolf in preparation for the ceremony."All animosity fell off Laura's face. Slowly it slid back into its impassive mask."Yes Alpha," she bowed."Douglas I don't think…." Mendez started,"Zip it." Douglas gritted out, his stare still focused on Laura."Go and Check on your daughter, ensure that she's ready for the ceremony." Mendez growled,"You will not…""Elias," Douglas warned. "I can barely control myself as it is. Do not test me."Laura bowed and walked back into the hospital with the nurse in tow. A few minutes later, a pack doctor followed by some other medical personnel rushed towards Douglas."Alpha," they bowed."We don't think it's wise to lock him up yet." The doctor spoke up,"We're yet to understand the cause of his condition and…"Douglas sighed audibly
"No, and that's final." Douglas roared.Laura shrugged,Douglas couldn't risk Caleb and Andrew being in the same space. He'd been foolish enough to let it happen once, he'd never let it repeat itself. He wasn't going to lose Caleb just like that."Let's think of other options," Mendez suggested, trying to avoid a confrontation.Larry scoffed internally, watching them argue without accomplishing anything. He wondered why he was invited in the first place when they knew he had nothing to say."While we're looking for options, let's remember that witches may strike anytime from now." Dominic quipped.They all glared at him,Douglas sprang up with his jaws and feet clenched. The frustration pouring out from him amused Larry. He almost smirked.To him they were wasting time, he agreed with Dominic. Since the catastrophe, the old alpha had shut down all plans for the witch counterattack. The Old alpha was supposed to be restrategizing with his advisors and warriors not here biting his nail
Andrew would have scoffed, but there was a fierce determination in Nicole's eyes. The last time he saw her like that was when he'd caught her kissing Caleb.What are you planning? He wanted to ask, but he knew better than to take that risk.Nicole shifted on her seat, her eyes growing wide as she realized her slip up."It's nothing serious, but I'm going to hit him where it hurts." She murmured, "I'll make him suffer for everything he has done.""So would you help me?" She offered, brightening up.Andrew smirked internally,Smart. He thought.She'd smoothly covered her slip up, making it look like she'd purposely said it to get a reaction from Andrew. It worked because his wolf was currently pacing in his subconscious, plotting its escape."You can tell me Caleb's weakness, you're brothers, after all, you should know something that'll bring him down." A smile threatened to break on Andrew's face. Nicole was by far, the most creative caretaker he had. She was filling him up with ideas
Emily collapsed on the rug at the foot of her bed, huffing, panting, and drenched in sticky, slimy sweat. Who knew working as a caseworker would require her to get some form of self-defense training? Not that she needed it, being a witch and all, yet Samantha had forced her to do it. The exercises and training sessions Samantha had enrolled her into were paying off though. Some minutes ago she'd broken her endurance record. At that point, she felt really proud of herself. Now as she lay groaning and feeling all sorts of pain from stressing her muscles, she regretted agreeing to join Samantha's makeshift team.On her first day with them, Samantha dished out requirements for each team member. One was that she'd have to be physically fit and have completed a basic self-defense class, which was why she was currently trying to catch her breath. Before now, she'd already failed their routine physical assessment tests a least 3 times. It was why she worked herself hard as her existence dep
Laura stood amongst the throng of werewolves milling around the hall. Her eyes were squinted as she scrutinized each wolf entering and exiting the Pack hall.Something felt off.Her wolf was clawing at her in anticipation, it was certain that there would be an attack on Brighton and her instincts were never wrong. She'd already instructed that every being stepping into the hall be searched and tripled if not quadrupled the guards on duty. Yet her wolf was still unsatisfied. It prowled around her subconscious, reconfirming every single detail of the ceremony.She'd just instructed an omega to put down some decorations when she sighted Nicole. She almost rolled her eyes.Nicole glided in looking more gracious than ever, in the last few hours she transformed from a heartbroken female to a dazzling being. All the cracks and unruliness on her skin had been primed off. Beside her were two members of the Luna's family, watching her every movement and giving her corrections on her poise, word
Andrew fell back to the small bed in the room, terrified for the first time in a long while. He clutched his shivering hands together wondering if what he planned was worth it. The old alpha did not make vain promises. Andrew swallowed, as the lofty plans he'd made for the night came crashing down.Another shudder ran through his body. He gripped the edge of the bed frame, wishing he could get Larry and Laura out of the pack. But it was impossible, both of them were aggressively loyal to the pack. They'd do anything, anything at all to ensure Brighton's longevity.Pins of guilt pricked his chest, making it feel constricted. They didn't deserve the things coming their way if he went on with what he'd planned for tonight. His wolf felt differently. It roamed his subconscious flashing images of Douglas's wrangled and torn-up body. The old alpha had taken the fear he sensed from Andrew as submission. To be honest, Andrew thought of submitting, but his wolf took Douglas's threat as a cha
Douglas felt Laura's approach, he could feel her ring a warning bell. Something was wrong. But all he saw was red. Her scent enraged him and the sight of her aggravated him further. Resentment surged out from his pores like a broken dam. He'd promised Andrew he would make them beg for their death and that was what he was going to do.But he couldn't attack her. He couldn't attack her yet because it would only prove that he was dishonoring the pack. He'd have to wait until he had cleared his name before attacking. So he focused on getting Caleb out of there. Hoping that Andrew's wolf would attack her in its feral state and save him the energy. Caleb on the other hand refused to budge. The imbecile didn't stand a chance against Andrew's wolf and he refused to see it. It snarled like a mad dog and dove to attack Andrew's wolf again. Douglas's wolf nudged it, making low whining sounds to discourage it.Honestly, Andrew's wolf could pummel it easily. Caleb's wolf was like all Omegas, the
"Emily!" Her mother shrieked.Emily who was pouring over scrolls and ancient texts jerked up."Mom, is something wrong?" She said into her phone that was tucked under her chin. Flipping through some pages and comparing them with others."All the witches of the circle in our coven are dead.""What?!" Emily blurted out, grabbing her phone and pressing it to her ear."All thirteen witches in our coven's circle are dead."Emily gasped."What happened?"The prophecy about the chosen one is true." Her mother replied, her voice shaking."Mom." Emily groaned, "speak clearly.""You know how the clan planned to retaliate? Well, Shirley found a witch to complete the circle and they began weaving spells of doom and catastrophe on the werewolves. Last night the 13 witches attacked fully from a cabin close to the werewolf boundary. The spell was almost complete when he attacked, burning them alive."A shriek trickled out of Emily's mouth, "Burn? How did he even find them weren't they supposed to b
"Did he agree?" Emily asked as soon as her mother reappeared. "Yeah, after a lot of persuasion."Emily released a shaky breath. Her body was burning like she'd been bathed with acid. "Let's get into position then." She said, lifting herself up. The pain was too much had she found herself unable to stand. She staggered backward and fell to the bed. "Emily! What's wrong?" "It's like my body is on fire." Emily hissed,Vanessa came to her and inspected her body."It's the mark from hell. He's suffering from the mark from hell. Are you sure you can do this? I can tell Andrew the plan, I'm sure he'd be happy to do it in your place.""No." Emily said forcefully. The truth was that no one could execute the plan effectively apart from her. Even if they collected the totem from Caleb, she was the only one powerful enough to destroy it. Andrew's strength couldn't break it, and neither could her mother's magic. But her body burned and she wanted to crawl into bed and cry. She'd have to make
Emily purposely ignored Andrew.She also purposely ignored the nudges her mother was giving her, as she narrated her experience to everyone. She also tried to ignore the sparks that were ignited in her body when he pecked her and whispered that he had to go but he'll be back.But when her mother, who'd been attentively listening to her, rose up, dragged him by the side, and hugged him. Envy, heavily laced with anger as she'd never felt before, coursed through her body. It felt as if her mother was betraying her. Jacqueline was the first to notice the change in her countenance.She smirked,"Girl, that's what you get for ignoring your man. Now he's in the arms of another woman." Emily growled and Jacqueline burst into laughter."When did you start behaving like a she-wolf? Hold your horses Em, it's only your mother. It makes me wonder what you'd have done if it was another female."Amelia laughed,"She would have probably hexed her entire generation." She said,"Nah, Em's feeling m
Emily had given up on trying to escape her imprisonment before she realized that it wasn't real. It had been days, yet she'd not felt hungry and she woke up the exact way every time. The sun didn't set, her clothes didn't change, she didn't want to use the bathroom and everything was still and lifeless.The only thing that changed each time she awoke was her strength. It was as if something was sucking out her energy. On the second day of her entrapment, she remembered wandering around the sheet/film that locked her in search of a weak spot or way out until she got bored and forced herself to sleep.Now she could hardly move a limb. Anger at Andrew and his Kingdom burned within her chest. She allowed it to blind her reasoning and she began to blame him for everything that happened.She promised herself that she would hunt Andrew if she died there.She'd been making such plans when she noticed the potted gardenia again.With a lot of effort, she stood up, walked to it, and lifted it of
Andrew and the Compliant narrowed their eyes at Vanessa."Do you understand it? Can you see how clear the prophecy has become?" Vanessa asked,The Compliant and Andrew glanced at themselves and then back at Vanessa."You," She pointed at Andrew, "became the enemy, you were the destroyer. He used your body to commit all these atrocities. Right now your people do not trust you. You'll need to do a lot to regain their trust. The second prophecy has come to pass. Can't you see it? You aligned with the enemies, you brought harm to your people and if I didn't save you, you would have perished.""Oh." Andrew agreed, nodding. "Now I'm very curious about the 3rd and 4th ones. I wasn't one to believe in those prophecies. My husband did and I often mocked it for it. I didn't think the prophecy concerned us witches and hoped you didn't find the key. I even hexed you."Andrew shrugged, he didn't understand where she was going or what she was trying to say.Vanessa chuckled mirthlessly, "And afte
"Where am I?" Andrew growled. His eyes were still shut and he wasn't fully awake.Vanessa, who had been standing behind her kitchen counter from the moment she dropped him, shivered. He's not going to rip you apart. You saved him, remember? She repeated in her head."Where am I?" Andrew asked again, propping his eyes open, then shielding his face with his arms.His wolf prowled around restlessly in his head. It wanted blood and it wanted it now.Vanessa steadied herself by gripping her kitchen counter. Her knuckles turned white and the bones in her fingers threatened to snap.Andrew jolted up."Where the fuck am I?"A shudder ran through her body and she swallowed involuntarily."My home." She said, her voice sounding more confident than she'd expected.Andrew's head snapped in her direction and he growled. Vanessa could see the malice in his eyes and feel the anger rolling out from his pores. Gathering as much courage as could muster she stepped forward. "I've been waiting for
The first thing Shirley did when the bodies exchanged was to try to get hold of Caleb before he fell to the ground.Later on, she would regret it deeply and ask herself why she didn't disappear like she normally did. Maybe it had something to do with the mark from hell that she'd seen reappearing on Caleb's body.Shirley's illusion flickered and she could feel her powers waning out as she bent to check on Caleb and wondered why. After confirming that he hadn't been knocked dead, she vented out her frustration on him and tried to wake him up. After trying several spells that didn't work she shook him roughly and punched and kicked him but he remained unresponsive. She'd also said another couple of spells that were supposed to be potent and yet the effect remained the same."Coma!" She yelled, "You're in an induced Coma you son of a bitch! Motherfucker, you get to sleep while I think of a way to save us!"If she had stopped screaming then and paused to do the actual thinking, she would
The next morning Vanessa snuck into Brighton and stood amidst the crowd of werewolves standing before the platform in the form of a man. She had to dig up her husband's old spell books and read and practice them throughout the night before she was able to perfect the spell. She stood within wolves knowing that any mistake she made meant death. She trembled, her hands were balmy and her forehead was clouded with sweat. Although she was terrified about being exposed, she was more terrified about failing. It seemed like the fate of the whole world weighed on her shoulders and that was enough to make her shake. Before leaving Andrew, she'd given him a sleeping potion and was glad that it was still in effect when they dragged him out of the dungeon that morning."Who are you and what have you done with Vanessa?" She muttered under her breath. Never in a million years could she imagine that she, Vanessa, would dare to do what she'd been doing in the past few hours. It was very out of char
It was the time of reckoning. Caleb thought, trying as much as he could to keep a grim expression on his face when he was bouncing with excitement inside him. The platform had once again been set and the pack members gathered beneath it chatting away as they awaited the death of Brighton's number one enemy. The gates of the dungeon creaked open, shushing the crowd of onlookers. The advisors and some stakeholders, followed by a barrage of guards and warriors who dragged Caleb's unconscious body processed solemnly to the platform and ascended it. Caleb had never felt so powerful in his entire life and he loved it. Thrills of victory ran down his spine and he clasped his eyes shut and struggled to keep at bay, the smile that had been threatening to break out from his lips. "I still don't understand why we are hurrying his death." Someone murmured dispassionately.Caleb scowled as his head snapped toward the direction of the sound. It had come from one of the stakeholders.He sneered
A thrum of energy buzzed in Shirley's brain signifying that some of her spells had been activated. And she knew the exact ones, it was those she'd said to trap the moon witch.A slow smirk spread across her face and she ignored Vanessa's righteous rant. She'd come on her own with the idea of threatening her into submission. But the once pale woman had suddenly developed a backbone of her own and was now shooting back and matching Shirley word to word.Of course, Shirley was irritated and had started thinking that maybe it was time to slice her throat. Shirley's threats were like water on a rock to Vanessa and it amazed Shirley to see her fired up like that.Unexpectedly, the new members of the circle swooped in, grabbed her, and secured her. They'd been hunting for a few days now. Yet, instead of Vanessa cowering like she normally would, she screamed some more and accused Shirley of doing everything under the sun. It had started grating Shirley's nerves when her spells suddenly activa