EVIE.I tossed and turned on my bed in worry, all the things I had said to Claire were just words of mouth and I couldn't do the things dad asked me of. I liked being the villain in the story and putting up fences to prove I was better but on the inside, I felt like a scared little crow. I plugged in my headphones and started listening to some r&b music, hoping that would give me some kind of comfort as it always did but I wasn't getting any. I felt a tug at my leg like a force was pulling me down the bed and I sprang up in fear, waiting to see who it was. Mother looked at me sternly and started laughing, I sighed."That's what you get for blocking your ears so early in the morning." She stated."I was so scared, I thought something supernatural was about to happen to me like I was being called into the underworld or something." Mother laughed so hard. "Not funny, mother," I said, sitting up properly and embracing my pillow."Why won't you think that when you watch so many movies now
EVIE.Seeing us walk to the woods scared me so much, I felt like I threw up in my mouth. I had never been in an atmosphere so tense because I always liked being in control. Claire was ahead of me, carrying my gear. It was a whole lot and seemed too heavy for her. The gear contained a bow and series of arrows, boomerangs, a shotgun, a butcher's knife and a taser with a very high voltage. All of these were to make sure the animals were subdued. I didn't know why my father required I carried all of those when I could barely use any. I had just a little or no training in using a bow, talkless of the rest.I felt cringed at the sound of that. It was weird saying all of those like I was now an official hunter, well not yet anyway, just some moments away. "Why can't she carry her gear? Is she that weak? If she can't do that to warm herself up, how can she kill an animal?" I heard them whisper, bothered if I could hear them or not. I felt ashamed that mother made me go through this, she woul
CLAIRE.My fingers had become sore as a result of the weight of Evie's gear, but I couldn't complain since that was my reason for being there. The other hunters made fun of me as I carried the gear and I was sure it was out of how they witnessed Evie try to take the bag from me and father's reaction, showing that it was my job. Evie had screwed up my day and image once again and I was helpless.There was an ocean of anger boiling inside of me towards the hunters. I wished I could possess one of Alex's powers and go rogue on them, tearing their brains into tiny bits. I was the first child and all these responsibilities falling on Evie were supposed to fall on me! But the reverse had been the case, actually worse; I wasn't just made the younger sister but had also become the slaved younger sister, how ironic!The path we walked on had pebbles of stones, so smooth that it looked like the pathway to a stream. It was dusty but it seemed like a place you would want to spread a mat on and en
ALEXAKIS.I stopped what I was doing when the same urge came to me again. I had been having this pressing feeling to transform, to shift back into my old form and it grew more intense as the hours went by today. I was currently doing squats in a ring. It was still very early in the morning and the guys were yet to come in. I had woken up earlier than normal, when the sky was still very dark, hours before the sun had risen and couldn't go back to sleep. Like all the guys, Angelo had given me the passcode to the den - a trust that I wouldn't take lightly, and I had decided to come in early. I had done a little warm up, eaten a club sandwich and then jogged down to the den, the coolness of the street doing little to calm the surge in my bloodstream. Angelo was in the den when I came in, in his office and although he hadn't come down to see who entered into the den, I knew he knew that I was in here with him. I went down to the underground training ground, needing to be in my space alone
CLAIRE.Evie jumped up excited as she had just killed her fears and made father proud. Father couldn't contain his joy any more than Evie. He held her in a warm embrace as she was now officially a hunter. I was happy for her anyway but I just wanted to get out of there."See? It wasn't all that hard, Evie. You're now officially a hunter and I'm proud of you!" Father said, enclosing her in another warm hug."Come give me a big hug!" Becky said excitedly as Evie ran to her and hugged her. Becky swamped her face with kisses, and Evie was embarrassed."Stop it, mother." She said as she blushed.The sight of it all felt heartwarming but the only warmth I could feel was those of anger. My birthright had just been taken away from me in my face and there was nothing I could do."I'm sorry we doubted you." One of the hunters who had been mocking Evie earlier said and turned to me to give me a face. I rolled my eyes at him and looked away."It's fine, I forgive you." She replied. I felt so jeal
CLAIRE.I was shaking, my body vibrating with nervous energy and fear, worried for Alex and then my father dousing me in cold. I watched the scene play out, the wolves howling loud as they took in the limp bodies of the wolf and then Alex. In the midst of all the whirlwind of emotions that clouded my mind, I wondered if these were Alex's family and I deeply hoped that whoever the wolf was would be okay. I watched, my hands over my mouth as the wolves all seemed to make a sort of barricade in front of their limo bodies, shielding the hunters from any other attack. My eyes went to my father and Malkholm, wanting to see what they would do next. But they watched the scene with detached eyes, looking like they would definitely attack if the wolves made any move. I turned to Evie and noted that she was whispering furiously to Scott who smiled widely, his gaze on the wolves with something akin to delight. I knew that look and I knew that he was planning something else. Just as I noticed Evi
CLAIRE.Father called me in to ask why I had wanted to save the wolf. I stood awkwardly inside his study, trying to come up with a reason why I had wanted to save Alex. I was sure that Father didn't remember who Alex was since that first time he had met him and if he realized that it was the same wolf I was trying to save once again, he would be furious. My mind whirled with reasons to give him and I finally settled on one, telling him that the blood greatly disturbed me and that I didn't see the need for more violence when Evie had already killed the beast. It hurt me to refer to Alex as such, but I guessed that it was the only way father would remotely believe me and let me go. He stared at me for a while after I said that and I had the feeling that he didn't believe me. I expected him to call me out on my lie but he didn't. He stared intensely at me as he picked up his glass of what I knew was Scotch -as that was the only drink father took. I watched as he slowly took a sip, his e
CLAIRE."God." I wiped at my tears once again, angry that even the liquid from my body was betraying me. I didn't want to feel sad that Father had disowned me, he didn't deserve my tears or any sad feeling I was somehow having. I kicked at a stone in my frustration and ended up tripping, my knee hitting the paved road hard. My tears finally burst open and released in a torrent of all my pent up anger and hurt for my father, and I hugged my knees to my chest, the tears falling on my bruised knee and causing it to hurt more. That made me cry harder, and it felt like I could place my ragged feelings on the fact that my knees hurt like crazy. After a while of hugging myself out in the open, the chill in the night started to disturb me and I rubbed at my arms furiously, my hurt feelings suddenly transforming into one of anger. Couldn't he have sent me out in the morning? Why did Becky have to raise a confrontation so late at night? It was almost like they knew that father had gotten to h
Epilogue. Claire's POV A full year had passed since Alex proposed to me, and I gladly accepted to be his woman. Today, we were taking the final step and getting married.My hand went to my neck where the mating mark was. After I accepted his proposal, he carried me to our room and gave me the mark after a hot, intense sex session. He had wanted the wedding to be carried out two weeks after his proposal, but I told him I wanted to wait. I wanted the pack to accept me as a human. To gain that approval, I learned how to fight with swords and how to shoot arrows, to show them that even if I was a human, I would always be there to fight by their sides if the need ever came. Then, I went ahead to start my own restaurant at the pack.At first, I barely got any customer as they were all weary of me. But little by little, people began to troop in. Now, I had two other branches out in the human world. This helped to show the people that if we ever had the need for cash - which was very unlik
Claire's POV A week passed after the ordeal we had in defeating the man who tried to claim the lives of so many people. I sighed, praying to the God in heaven that Scott's soul would find relief wherever he was now. He deserved that much for all the trouble he went through in his life."What are you doing, Claire? Wheel me well." Luna Lisa complained, drawing me back to the present."Sorry," I apologized. I moved the wheelchair a little bit faster than the pace I was keeping before. We were on our way out of the mansion to get some fresh air in the garden. Luna Lisa had to use the wheelchair as her legs were still healing. The doctor had, however, assured us that she would be fine and it was taking long to heal because it was a demon's bite."Claire." I heard someone call my name and I turned back, only to see Evie standing behind me, her suitcase already packed and with her."Are you going to somewhere?" I asked her. After the incident, we had gotten somehow closer as we had to comf
ALEXAKIS As soon as Kieran told me through the mind-link that my mate and her sister were safely back in the pack, I felt relief wash over me. I turned to look at Scott, her ex-boyfriend, all the anger in my heart targeted at him.He had endangered the life of the woman I loved, and I was going to make sure that he paid for it. No matter what anyone said about it, I was going to make sure that he paid heavily for his action.It was with that anger that I gave him an uppercut on his chin. While he bent over at the shock, I gave him a jab at his side, making sure I went all in to ensure I broke almost all his rib bones, if not all."You..." The man growled at me. He stood upright and gave me an evil smile. I knew he was up to something and that helped me stay alert. He began to morph into something hideous in front of me. Within seconds, there was no longer a man where Scott should have been. Instead, there was a tall dark beast, with two horns on his forehead, red eyes glowing brightl
Claire's POV After waiting for what felt like an eternity, even thinking that the man I was waiting for would no longer come, I was shocked when I saw him finally make an appearance. The tears that stopped flowing before came again, afresh. My heart wrenched within me, and I struggled to breathe well. Why? Why would he come here? Why did he risk his life like that?Our eyes met, and the man smiled at me. I shook my head at him as he started walking to where I was. When he got to me, he sighed."I am here now." He consoled me. It was clear that he thought I was crying because I was happy I saw him. I shook my head at him to show him that he was wrong about his insinuation. Still, he didn't get what I was trying to say."Alex, you need to run!" I finally let out amid my tears. I looked left and right to see if Scott and his men had gotten a whiff about Alex's appearance and were now on their way in here. When I didn't see them rushed in, I sighed, a little bit relieved about that. "L
Claire's POV "Scott, I am begging you," I pleaded again. I didn't care how pathetic my voice was. All I knew was that there was no way I was going to let the man kill Alex just because of a mistake that my father made."Why do you think–" his phone rang, cutting him off. "Really? Good." He said. Then, he cut off the phone. The kind of look he gave me made me cold all of a sudden."What is it?" I asked, feeling scared already."Guess who is coming over soon?" His voice held the malicious excitement he felt. "Alex! He is going to come here soon, and I will have so much fun killing him." He let out.My eyes widened in shock, and my breath became hitched."Do you want to know how he is going to die soon?"I shook my head to stop him. He ignored me and continued anyway."I plan to corner him and hit him when he least expected it." He said with a small evil laughter."You..." My voice trailed off as I realized that the man was gone already, leaving me alone."All of you, leave the building
Claire's POV It felt like forever since I got trapped in this basement where the light was never in and made it hard to tell when it was either night or day. The horror of not knowing how long it had been since I was in this hellhole made my heartbeat pound even faster. There was also the awareness that I no longer have a father to reach out to. Even though the bridge between us was rough, my heart sank now that I was aware that it had been burned forever. What made it worse? Knowing that the man and I were not on good terms before he died. How was I supposed to live on now knowing that my father hated me?I wanted to get angry with Evie over the death of my only family and how she played a part in it, but she lost Becky also, and I knew how much hurt she was going through for that. Besides, she was my family also no matter how hard we fought with each other."Claire, we need to escape." She said to me frantically again. I shook my head at her since the bandage was still covering m
Claire's POV Scott!" There was no doubt in my heart that I was relieved to see a familiar face even if it was that of the jerk who cheated on me with my sister.After I left the car and went in, I was surprised to see the door open. I thought it was so because they - Father, Becky, and Evie - were all home. I stepped inside, but it was empty. I went to Father's study but he was not there. After I searched all the places that I could, I swallowed my nervousness and went to Becky's room to see if she was there, but then she was not in the room either. A quick visit to Evie's room revealed the same ordeal.The house felt bizarre at that point, and I had a bad feeling flushed over me. I ran out of the house to see if I would see them, but nothing of such happened. I was about to move to the woodshed to see if they were there taking care of the games they hunted the night before when I saw Scott standing in front of me."Scott!" I called again. Even though the man and I never exchanged wo
ALEXAKIS I wasn't sure what exactly was making my heart feel like it had been shattered into two. Was it how Claire left me after I thought that she was going to stop and think about the love between us? Or was it because the house now seemed empty without her?I wanted her close to me - that was a fact. If I hadn't stepped into the position of the Alpha already, I would have damned every other thing and asked her to leave with me to a faraway place where we would be happy together, without anyone judging us.But I was already one, and she felt out of place.I knew it was necessary for her to take the break as she truly needed it, but I was against her going over to her parent's house. Still, that was the only safe place I knew would work for now. That didn't make my worry lessen any bit, though.Apart from her family treating her like trash, I was worried that Nathaniel might make a move for her now that she was no longer under my protection."We are here, Alpha."I looked up and sa
Claire's POV After contemplating my decision for a while, I finally came to a conclusion. It would be better for me to leave Alex and the pack, even if it was only for a while. Maybe when I would return, the animosity these people had toward me would be gone."Alex, can I have a word with you?" I asked. We were seated in the living room. He was busy with some files while I had my laptop in front of me, but I couldn't concentrate on anything I was learning on the screen. The man looked up from his work and gave me a gentle smile."I'm all ears, love." He said, the smile still plastered across his face."I want to leave," I let out quickly. I was afraid that if I hesitated, I would never be able to say it to him. I winced as he dropped the files in his hand on the floor and rushed over to where I was, holding my hands."Why? What is it?" He asked in a very gentle tone. "I just... I need a break," I told him."I know. I've been feeling the way you keep pulling away from me recently. I