My heart started to race as I processed what Patrick had said. "What?" I mumbled, somehow hoping that I had misunderstood him.
"His head had been cut off, and his body had been thrown into the dumpster," Patrick described, his fisted hand revealing his whitening knuckles.
"Do you think that the spy planted in my pack did it?" Draven's rage was audibly surfacing in the tone of his voice.
"Who else?" Patrick smirked coldly at him.
"It doesn't add up…" I muttered under my breath, but certainly, I was still too loud for Patrick and Draven not to hear me.
"What doesn't add up?" they asked in unison.
My eyes shifted between their gazes as a nervous grimace flashed across my face. "Last night I saw a woman running out of my room. I chased after her, but I lost her in one of the corridors on the ground floor. When I came back to my room, I saw the note..."
Patrick leaned forward in his chair, locking his eyes on me. "Did you take a clo
I sat on the bed motionless, thoughts spinning inside my head. I was forcing the air into my lungs as if I was squeezing it in through a thin straw. An insufficient level of oxygen made my head spin. "That can't be true. The child isn't his." Those two sentences played on repeat inside my mind, protecting my heart from breaking into pieces. My mantra worked slowly, soothing my heart rate and loosening my chest. The logical part of my brain restarted. "I need to call Sariel…" I mumbled to myself. I stared at the phone for more than a minute before my trembling hand managed to pick his number from my extremely short list of contacts. I made the call. Hearing the waiting signals was tormenting. I was taking long breaths, trying to exhale them slowly, but it didn't ease my anxiety. He didn't answer. A heartbeat later, I called again… and then again. I might have been irrational and too demanding, but I thought that I was going to fall apart if I didn't he
I violently shook my head, and then a scream escaped my throat, "No!"Rage mixed with agonizing pain as the burning hot blood ran through my veins faster and faster. I picked Sariel's number on my phone and called him. I waited, listening to long signals that only fueled my anger. How could he do this to me? I believed him when he said that he would make me his queen and that he would kill Elora… Was I the only one in love? Was he playing me up until this moment? No. I refused to believe that. When he didn't answer, I called him again and got switched to voicemail."You son of a bitch! You don't even have the decency to answer the fucking call and say it?!" I think my voice cracked just before I disconnected.My frustration was overwhelming. I didn't cry, but I wanted to demolish the entire room just to ease my anger.Another text came: "I'm sorry, Lilith. I wouldn't stand talking to you. I've never meant for it to happen, but this is the fact. Goo
I could feel the booze running through my veins, but it couldn't affect my consciousness. My regeneration skills quickly turned the alcohol into a light sedative, working just enough to calm me down. I was emotionally tired, and right now, I was making a choice, the choice I'd never thought I would make. I wasn't in love with Draven. As a matter of a fact, I didn't know if I was able to open my heart to anyone anymore, but I needed something stable in my life. My feelings for Sariel were still painfully alive within me. Nonetheless, I knew that I had to lock them away. I had to rearrange my life.Was I tempted by Draven's words? Perhaps a little. Did I want to become the queen? I merely wanted to grant my mother's people the justice they deserved. Most importantly, I wanted to find that one place in the world where I truly belonged. Was it my place to stand beside Draven as his queen? I couldn't answer that question yet, but if that was supposed to be my destiny, then I was a
I was holding the phone next to my ear, feeling nauseated. The world around me was spinning. Martha shouted something over the phone. She was calling my name, but my brain kept refusing to face the reality."Lilith! Are you there?!" Martha yelled, finally breaking through my bewilderment."This can't be true… I know it can't be true!" I shouted, angry and desperate."That would explain why he didn't call you or text you back," she said, knocking me down with sudden realization."I got a text from him…" I mumbled, choking on the air I was breathing."What?! When?! Why didn't you say anything?!" Martha burst out.I swallowed, preparing myself to tell her the truth. "He wrote that the child is his… He wrote ‘goodbye’ to me… That he was sorry…" I struggled to pull in a breath."Oh, God…" she muttered."I…" Fisting my hand, I squeezed out through my throat, "I slept with D
It was a little after eight when I went back to Draven's room. He was lying in his bed, with nothing but thin bedsheets covering his delicious body. He woke up once I entered, and tried to urge me to join him with a teasing smile… until he thoroughly scanned my face and noticed my mortified stare.I told him about Sariel going missing and Elora making herself a regent. I tried to stay calm while describing the entire situation, but my trembling hands betrayed that I was miles from being composed. Draven pulled me to sit on the bed beside him and put his arms around me. He gently urged me to place my head on his shoulder, and once I did, he stroked my hair until my body stopped shivering. It felt strange. This morning I received more warmth and sincere affection than throughout the entire night I spent with him. His lips were curved into a caring smile, but his eyes flashed with something I had never seen in him: restlessness. I doubted that he was concerned with Sariel
The thought that Draven had been lying to me from the beginning drilled into my mind, making my teeth grit. I didn't think I could handle another betrayal without losing my mind. I'd had enough of things falling apart in my life. It would have been so much easier if I were living in a human world. When the human guy wants you in his bed, he doesn't play the destiny card to put pressure on you. Draven did everything he could to make me feel guilty for not choosing him. He made sure that I would always feel that if I chose Sariel, I would go against the higher power and become cursed. The feeling he planted in my heart had been haunting me, spreading through my body like poison. But if I wasn't his mate, then why did he lie? Why would he be so desperate to make me his Luna? I refused to believe that I had a certain value that could help him become king. He could have claimed the throne all by himself. Besides, if I wasn't his mate, then who was it? Was it Jetta? Was it the real reason
After my conversation with Patrick, I only felt more restless. The helplessness I felt was devouring me slowly from the inside. Patrick told me to believe in the King's strength and the power of the most skillful fighters in the Royal Army, but I saw the fear flashing in his eyes, and it was the same kind of fear I felt. I was aware that Sariel might win against ten, maybe a hundred degenerates, but they were coming in thousands, and the power they possessed together couldn't be underestimated. By the end of the day, it was a matter of tactics, and JD wasn't losing in that department.Additionally, I kept wondering whether the messages I got from Sariel were truly from him. I knew that I was acting shallow and selfish, thinking about it in this situation, but the "what if" was piercing through my head. What if Sariel didn't want to say goodbye? What if he wasn't Elora's child's father? What if… Elora wasn't pregnant at all?That last thought appeared in my mind
Every minute of the three-hour ride raised my anxiety. I kept shifting in my seat as if it was the most uncomfortable chair I had ever sat on. Patrick had noticed it a few times, and then gave me a warm, soothing smile, which helped me remain composed… until another wave of restlessness drew air from my lungs, bringing me closer to a choking state.Seeing the road sign informing us that we were 50 miles away from Greystoneville sent chills down my spine. We entered the Southern Woods Pack's territory. The long line of black vans drove through the roadcrossing the vast forest area that surrounded Greystone Mountain, a perfect place for wolves to hunt… or set up their battles while keeping their existence hidden from the human eye.Greystoneville had been built, starting at the foot of the mountain and climbing uphill. The lower parts, further away from the woods, were mostly inhabited by humans and low-ranked wolves. The upper districts belonged to t