Hillary's POV I was so excited to visit my mum and I would have gone straight to the tower's clinic if not for Madam Turi's persistent advice and warnings. "You can't think of going there now," She said. "It's too dangerous." "I have to see her, MT." I said, with a huge smile which I couldn't seem to take off. "I really have to see her." I said, making my way out of the senior chambers main lounge. She grabbed my hands and pulled me back. "I know you want to see her and I can assure that you will, not just today." "But, what if she wakes up in the middle of the night with nobody around her." I said as a sudden fright came into my mind. "She'll be disoriented if she wakes up alone." "Hillary," Madam Turi said, guiding me to a small armchair and sitting me down. "we all are happy to hear about your mother's movement, but… I don't want you to get your hopes too high, as that might lead to you getting disappointed." "So, you believe my mother wo
It was almost noon when I woke up panting and sweating profusely. At my front were two guards who were speaking hastily into their micro earpiece. Suddenly, the door of the room swung open and an elderly woman accompanied by two young ladies all dressed as nurses hurried in, looking worried and on alert. "How are you feeling?" The elderly nurse said, sitting on the bed while checking my temperature. "I'm alright." I said as my heavy breathing reduced gradually. "They said you woke up yelling and sobbing, is that true?" She asked, still examining me. "Yeah," I said, overwhelmed by the excessive concern and care, "I just had a terrible dream." "Oh," she said assuming a sorry face. "would you care to share?" "No!" I rejected her offer sharply. "Thanks but I think I'm alright." "Okay," She said with an encouraging smile, "is there anything else I can do to make you feel better?" "No, I don't think so." I replied. She rose
After he left, I waited until I was sure that he was far enough before I screamed and cursed at him. Annoyed, embarrassed and insulted, I fell face down on the high bed and almost twisted my nose. The two guards came to my aid but I shooed them off. "I hate you, Jordan. I hate everything about you!!" I yelled as tears stung my poor eyes. The guards who had resumed their 'statue' position were the only ones able to see my childish tantrum. If only he knew how much pain he had just caused me, he would have kept his opinions to himself. A white telephone vibrated on a reading desk situated adjacent to my bed. Dumbly, I asked. "Who's that for?" The guard who seemed to be the only one friendly enough to speak, replied me; "It's yours, ma'am." "Don't ma'am me, please!" I retorted as I made my way to the telephone. "Who's on the line?" The strict voice of MT responded. "Get your a** over here, didn't you h
LORD SAINTS POVAfter my difficult encounter with Hillary—an encounter which I had orchestrated for hours before finally performing it—i went straight to my dressing chambers where the very best fashion designers attended to me. Dressed in an exotic golden garment which made me look more like my father, I walked out into the cold, smiling and making funny remarks about the chilly weather, which brought laughter to many faces but did little in bringing joy to me. Deep down, my heart still ached from my recently executed actions. As we walked by the curb of the east wing of the enormous castle, I stared at one of the window panes and a blast of cold sadness flushed into my system. Looking at my reflection, I suddenly felt 'fake' as I wore on a pretentious smile and cracked jokes which didn't even tingle a feeling of happiness. One of the hefty expressionless guards opened a door of the shiny black limousine for me to enter but I declined the offer, to everyone'
HILLARY'S POV "C'mon, don't be sluggish!" Brianna said, pulling me along, out in the open with the snow pouring down on us. "It's cold," I said with clattering teeth, "i'm a human, okay?" She chuckled. I shrugged. "At least, a little bit human." "Hurry up, Hill." She said as we climbed mountains of freezing snow. "Hurry up?" I dragged her back, "first of all, where are you taking me to?" She grumbled. "I want to take you to the best place in stone city." I shook my head. "No way that's happening," "Why?" She asked, confused. "Are you against good things?" "No!" I retorted. "The only reason why I'm not going is because the last time someone told me that..." I paused as I recollected what had happened. After remembering, I shook my head. "After what happened that day, I want to be far away from the best things in Stone city." She giggled. "Let me guess...Hugh took you to his previous hangout spot." I laughed. "Exactly. If
LORD SAINTS POV It took the old sedan less than an hour to get to the Lockwood's villa, which had less crowd than I had been expecting. Apart from the fact that the guests were more than ninety percent less than they usually were, the number of security officials had fallen from about one hundred to less than ten. Something was clearly wrong. The sputtering engine of the sedan stopped and Scarlett who seemed worn out from the rather tedious drive, and I came out of the sedan which was burning hot already. We were welcomed by the cautioning smile of Madam Turi, who was looking gracious in her plain ruby garment. "You both came right on time," She said, sarcastically. "What can I say, early birds, right?" I said, keeping the sarcasm present. Half smiling, MT led us into the majestic building of the Lockwood's and I was stunned by the scantiness of the building —no maids were in sight, no half-naked girls roaming with trembling fee
It took us about thirty minutes to get to Brianna's boss's house. It was a big luxurious bungalow with shiny polished wood making the building sparkle from afar. Surrounding the large bungalow was a properly tended garden with purple lilac bush serving as a fence. As a fan of nature, I was drawn to the beauty of the garden. So, I left Brianna to do the knocking while I peered at the side of the building where I saw a small charming greenhouse. The orange Irish door opened and an old woman sitting on a wheel chair opened the door with an ugly grimace expressed on her wrinkled face. "Why are you hitting my door like some meshuga wild dogs?" Ranted the old lady. Apologetically, Brianna bowed her head in shame. "I'm sorry, mrs..." "Don't 'sorry' me, I bet your life can't even purchase the knob of this antique door." She said, showing off her cockiness. "Anyway what brings you here?" "Uhm..." Brianna began, suddenly short of words. "Hav
I glanced at the analog gold watch on my wrist and then sighed in disappointment. I was about two hours late. I passed through the long stony bridge which served as a boundary between the humans in stone city and we, the Lycans. After driving at the highest speed the old vulnerable sedan could afford, I was staring at the high-rise buildings in the human stone city with the noisy clattering of busy motorists and pedestrians. It was a lot more stressful than our side of stone city. I had to release my leg from the throttle more times than necessary, as the city was too busy and rowdy with people crossing the roads without even bothering to look left or right. The road leading to the first-class estates was free and less rowdy but I still couldn't move fast as I was watchful of the greedy human traffic officials who were looking desperately for a chance to detain anyone. And the worst thing was for me to create a scene in the human world. We
CHECKMATE'S POV Fighting Ivanka turned out to be more difficult than I had expected. She had so many advantages over me, considering that she had even been my martial arts teacher not too long ago. And when I realised that the only way to stand a chance of surviving was to shift to my wolf form, it was already too late as she was capable of making a half-shift—just like Hillary, she could still be in human form and access her werewolf strength. So, I had no time to shift and was vulnerable to her attacks. I couldn't even defend myself as I had no weapons to wade her off. She rose me up in the air and flung me at the wooden wall of the cabin which cracked open. Blood oozed out of my head, soaking my entire hair within few seconds and judging from the excruciating pain at my back, I could bet that I had fractured my backbone. Moaning in pain, I watched my stepsister walk towards me with a cruel smile on her stiff face, while twirling the point
JORDAN POV "Don't you ever give up?" I asked in annoyance. "Yeah, I do sometimes but not when Hillary is involved." He said, dropping the torchlight. "Why do you have a death wish?" I asked, even though I knew how weak and injured I was, I wasn't scared of a werewolf. But Dylan was an exceptional fighter and a dangerous one too. He flashed a wicked smile as he revealed the short blade beneath his coat. "I don't have a death wish anymore," He said. "All I want is for the world to be a better place without you Lycan Demons involved." "That means, you don't also want Hillary as she has Lycan blood in her." He remained quiet. Then he raised the blade up for the little ray of light that dimly lit the arena to meet and then I realized that this was more of a threat than I had anticipated. There was a green liquid on the blade and from the instant repulsive feeling I received, I knew it must be dangerous to Lycans, but I wasn't sure, so I as
HILLARY'S POV I was on the floor, wailing like a widow when I heard some spectators scream, but not in happiness but a scream of terror. Wait, did Ivanka miss? Or did it meet... Oh no! I sprang up to my feet and rushed to see who the victim was. "No!!!" I screamed out when I was CM pinned to the ground with a five-foot spear stuck in his chest. I pushed the petrified Ivanka away and hurried down the stairs to meet CM. When I arrived, after pushing through the grieving crowd, I met CM lying in a pool of his own blood. The pale-looking Dylan was wailing in agony while Jordan stood akimbo, with an inscrutable and blank facial expression. I fell to my knees beside his dying body. "Please, don't go!!" I pleaded as blood flowed down his mouth. "Take h-him a-away, she'll kil-l him." He struggled to utter as his life slowly seeped out of him. "No," I wailed. "How did this happen?" I yelled out. To my surprise the angry crowd began pointing f
CHECKMATE POV I had been watching her for days. Ever since our last discussion or argument, I had done a lot of thinking and I'd come to realise that I was wrong, but I didn't' know how to make amends, so I started by convincing Dylan to take her back to her room. I even convinced Mr. Grono, the chef to prepare her French breakfast. But, I knew those things were too irrelevant as I still felt so much guilt and shame. I was watching her again. She was with her Lycan King, and from her grip on his shirt, I could tell she was begging him not to fight, which appeared to be a little bit late as our Alpha was already fixed on the fight. She loved him, that part was clear to me. But why? I guess that wasn't my business. She's an adult and I'm just a kid, anyway. The fight would take place the following day and the whole pack was in fear, some people were even scared of sleeping while the monstrous Lycan King was amongst them. They all blamed Hillary, and they had solid
HILLARY'S POVEight days. Eight days, eleven hours.Although I was no longer in the dark room and neither was I being kept prisoner, I still had a keen interest in staring at the time.Dylan had also decided to take me back to my old room, for reasons I had no idea of.Today had been fairly horrible unlike all the other seven days which had been nothing but chaotic and terrible.I had woken up with a fabricated smile and had prayed genuinely like I did on every morning two years ago, the only difference being that now, I wasn't praying for freedom anymore.I took my time brushing and enjoyed my hot water bath. Later, I ordered for a French breakfast which was delivered by a grim chef, giving me killer looks as he gave me my breakfast. At first, I considered disposing the food In fear of being poisoned but then, I thought against it and consumed my breakfast happily with no worries.Now, I was staring from my balcony at the farm where at least fifty men, women and children were working
Lord Saints POV It's been one full week since Hillary's disappearance and to be honest, I wasn't certain if she had been abducted or if she had gone back willingly. Either way, it hurt me more than anything else had hurt me in years. Initially, I had been crazed and had quickly switched over to my old side. The whole castle had been trembling and fear had consumed everyone. Then, I realized that I didn't want that. The fear I had once cherished and fed on wasn't desirable to me anymore. Being with Hillary truly changed me more than I had noticed. Now, although I was sad and downcast, I wasn't bitter like I had been before. And to be sincere, I loved this new side of me. Early that morning, I strolled down to the royal cemetery with two bouquets of pink roses—which signified gratitude—in my hands. My first stop was at the grave of Finn Johannesson (Scarlett's younger brother) who had died eight years ago from an incurable disease. He had been her only
It's been six days I've been here. Six days and fourteen hours to be precise. How would I know that? Well, I've been staring at the large pendulum clock in the dark room I had been kept for the past six days. After I had finally realized that I had been cruelly betrayed by someone who I had believed was closer to me than anyone, I had thought that I'd be punished or even persecuted for fleeing with the Lycans, but rather I had been welcomed with Dylan's open arms. Just when I was about to get relaxed and relieved, Dylan leaned forward to kiss me and I swiftly dodged his kiss like a bullet. Then, I saw his true emotions. His countenace had changed instantaneously and he had ordered for my apprehension in this godforsaken room where I had been locked up. Ever since then, Dylan had visited me repeatedly, during which he had taken his time to badmouth Jordan and the Lycans—not like his words had any effect on me. To add to my predicament, the worst happened the p
HILLARY'S POV After convincing the clinic's staffs to release Checkmate and I for a brief morning stroll, CM and I wandered the castle gardens, talking ceaselessly about what we had both experienced in the brief period of time we had been apart. I watched him run his mouth and I couldn't deny the happiness and satisfaction that thrilled my heart. "I heard you once teamed up with Brianna?" I asked as he played with one of the castle's fountains. "Who is Brianna?" "A blonde Lycan girl, about your age?" "Oh," he let out. "Is she that naughty and arrogant know-it-all who assisted us in taking you home?" I chuckled. "C'mon, don't insult her. She is one of my friends, okay? She acted as a constant reminder of you when you were away." He snorted. "I doubt that. She and I aren't alike in any way." "Hmm, but you both are smart kids with high ambitions." I said, amused by his childish denial. He laughed. "High ambitions. What does she want to be
CHECKMATE POV "What is he doing here, Hillary?" She looked back at him and returned her gaze to me. "That is..." "I know who he is," I said, angrily. "He is the Lycan beast, isn't he?" The bewitchingly attractive man smiled, much to my surprise. "I have a lot of names, boy, and that one you mentioned is my all time favorite." "Do you think this is funny," "Checkmate, stop!" Hillary yelled at me. "Just calm down, okay?" "Why?" I asked in annoyance. "Tell me one reason why I should calm down when this murderous bastard is in here?" The man's smile wavered but he didn't utter a word. "For God sake, stop being rude." Hillary said, noticeably offended. "I don't get it, why are you defending him?" "I am not, okay?" She said, "I am not because there is nothing to defend about him." "You don't mean that, do you?" I asked, bewildered. "This man is a murderous bastard that killed just how many members of our pack." "That wasn'