Four years laterALINA Years had passed, and life in the pack had settled in a way I had never imagined. As I stood in my bakery, gazing out the window and watching children run around, a warm smile played on my lips. It was one of those beautiful, crisp autumn mornings when the sunlight filtered through the trees, casting soft golden shadows across the cobblestones. My heart felt light, a rare but cherished feeling I’d come to treasure over time. My life had felt unreal for the past years. My two children, Kian and Liana, were heading off to school for the first time today. The thought made me emotional, but it also made me proud. Watching them grow up reminded me of just how far we’d come. With a sigh, I turned back to the bakery, smoothing my apron. The smell of freshly baked bread, warm spices, and sweet pastries filled the room. I had opened the bakery and bookshop a few years ago, not long after my children were born. It had quickly become one of the most beloved spots in the
ALINA I wore the revealing clothes that were laid on my bed that had been provided to me by Beck, my step-sister. Every night, she made sure that I dressed like a stripper and danced in front of her and her friends. If I did not do that, then I would not be able to eat and I would have to go to bed hungry. But it was going to be over soon. The son of the alpha, my boyfriend, was going to save me from all of this soon when we got mated. “Alina.” I heard Beck sing from outside the door of my room that was in the basement. Since my mother died, I have not been able to sleep in the house anymore. My father is the beta of the pack and despite that, I was still treated like a maid. He did not mind that Beck was doing all of this to me because my step mother had him wrapped around her finger. “I am coming.” I choked out as I clasped the necklace on my neck that was the last remaining piece of jewellery I had from my mother. I remembered the night when she died. It was in the middle of the
ALINA Next day“Come to Daddy’s room. He is calling you.” I heard Beck say from the other side of the door to my room. She did not like to come in. She always told me that my room smelt cheap and she was afraid that if she stayed there for too long, she was going to start morphing into a lowly omega like me. “Okay.” I managed to reply to her. I looked down at all of the scars I had incurred from yesterday when Beck and her friends had beaten me. Alex was angry, and he said that I was rude to accept his rejection so fast so he made Beck and the others beat me. They managed to not hit my face because Alex was afraid that the lycan king would ship me back after he saw my ugly face marred with scars.My injuries did not take too long to vanish. I wondered if it was because I was too used to having them which was why they took very little time to heal. I did not have a wolf so my healing powers were not supposed to be strong. It was strange… but I did not tell anyone about it because I w
ALINAIn the morning, the guards from the lycan king came before the sun was even completely up. My step mother had come to drag me out of the cell and then she pitied me by throwing some of my clothes in my bag and some cheap candy bars. “Keep this with you and nibble on it on your way. You are going to need it because the journey is long.” She thrust the bag at me. “Thank you, step mother.” At least I was not going to be starving on the way. I have not eaten for two days straight. My body felt like it was about to give up on me but I stayed strong. My father did not even bother to say goodbye to me. I saw Alex and Beck on the couch making out while I was led outside, and my heart hurt when I saw it. I could not believe that this was my life. It was already bad before, but getting to this level was something I never thought was possible. My eyes filled with tears because I had not said goodbye to my mother or my pet stray cat that I found during one of my walks in the pack.The gu
ALINA “What are you doing here?” Jezebel hissed, rushing towards me and grabbing my arm. Her eyebrows were drawn into a frown, and she looked pissed. Have I just managed to make an enemy only a few minutes since I came here?“I wanted to get food for myself. I am sorry.” I muttered as I tried to scurry away but the people that were in the room came out, the man— my mate with a towel hung dangerously below his waist and the other woman had worn a shirt. The man was the most beautiful man I have ever seen. With his long black hair and grey mesmerising eyes, he looked like he came straight out of heaven. He might be an angel for all I could tell. He had a strong muscular build, and his skin glistened, probably because of the activity he was just partaking in. Strangely, I felt my chest tighten from that but it was fleeting as the lady beside him yelled at me. “What the hell are you doing here?” She hissed, looking down at my body with contempt. “And who the hell are you? Who allowed y
ALINAThe next day, Jezebel came to wake us up. I heard her as she barged into the room, shouting at the top of her voice.“Wake up you lazy arses. It is time for work.” She sang. I was used to being woken up abruptly back at the pack to work. But I was feeling tired. After the trip yesterday, I didn't really have the energy. But I did not want to upset Jezebel any more than I did last night so I woke up. Katy had gotten up too and was already arranging her bed. “Good morning, Katy.” I greeted her with a smile. She looked at me, and gave me a quick nod before she looked away. Why did I always have the luck of meeting the rudest people? I shrugged it off and proceeded to arrange my own bed. Jezebel came in a second later. The sun was barely out but she had already dressed up in her long red dress and heavy bold makeup, “Good that you are awake. I do not have to force you to get up like most girls on their first day. I hope Katy has told you what we are about to do now.” “Yes, of cou
Five months laterKAI I stared at my reflection in the mirror, and a smile made its way to my lips when I saw the person staring back at me. Being the king has always been what I have been looking forward to in my life since I was a child. It might be cruel, but I have always wanted my father to die. I did not believe the old man loved me for even one day of his life. All he could say when he looked at me was how much of a disappointment I was because I couldn’t match up to him in a sword fight. I was pretty good, but he expected me to be as good as he was when he had decades of experience and I didn’t. When he died of a brain aneurysm a few months ago, I was the happiest about it. I arranged for the coronation to be as soon as possible because I did not want to wait any longer before I sat on the throne. When I was done getting ready, I turned and I saw Lydia come into the room. She was the happiest I have ever seen her. She was dressed in a long pink dress and her hair was curled
ALINA I couldn’t believe that it had already been three months. When I had left the lycan pack, I never thought I’d find myself in a new pack, surrounded by strangers, and yet here I am. I was a lone wolf when I came across them, and they were very quick to take me in as one of theirs. I promised myself this new pack would be temporary, just a place to catch my breath before deciding what to do next. But life has a funny way of turning things upside down when you least expect it.Then I met Xavier, the alpha of the small pack I was staying in. I never had direct contact with him for the first few days but as time went on, I started to notice him around the pack. I first saw him helping a young pup who had fallen off a tree. He crouched to the pup’s level, his brown eyes warm with concern. “Hey, little man, you okay?” he asked, his voice light and playful, with just the right amount of worry. The pup nodded, trying to be brave, but a tear slipped down his cheek. Xavier ruffled the bo
Four years laterALINA Years had passed, and life in the pack had settled in a way I had never imagined. As I stood in my bakery, gazing out the window and watching children run around, a warm smile played on my lips. It was one of those beautiful, crisp autumn mornings when the sunlight filtered through the trees, casting soft golden shadows across the cobblestones. My heart felt light, a rare but cherished feeling I’d come to treasure over time. My life had felt unreal for the past years. My two children, Kian and Liana, were heading off to school for the first time today. The thought made me emotional, but it also made me proud. Watching them grow up reminded me of just how far we’d come. With a sigh, I turned back to the bakery, smoothing my apron. The smell of freshly baked bread, warm spices, and sweet pastries filled the room. I had opened the bakery and bookshop a few years ago, not long after my children were born. It had quickly become one of the most beloved spots in the
ALINA It was my wedding day, and I was bursting with a mix of excitement and nerves. I sat in front of the mirror, my heart racing as my mother fluffed out the skirt of my dress, her hands gentle. I couldn’t believe this was finally happening. After everything Kai and I had been through, we were here, about to say our vows. It almost felt like a dream that I was going to be woken up from. I was so happy that it felt like there was an end to it. That I was just deluding myself by being happy. I glanced at my mother, her face calm and focused as she adjusted the veil atop my head.“You look beautiful, Alina,” she said, her eyes softening as she took a step back to admire me. Her voice was full of pride, and I could see a shimmer of emotion in her gaze. “You’re radiant.”I took a deep breath, feeling my nerves intensify. “Mom, I’m nervous,” I confessed, fidgeting with the lace on my dress. “What if something goes wrong?”She chuckled softly, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Ev
KAI I did not know how I managed to make the witches come on my side, but I did. I knew that they were crucial in my plan of getting the skin walkers away from my pack, but I did not think they would come around in just one meeting. All of this really happened because of Alina’s mother. If she had not been around, I did not know if I was going to be able to get them but now I did and I was the happiest about it. I felt bad that I tried to sabotage her coming here in the first place. Since time had passed and I saw that there was a visible bad account of her being in the pack, I was grateful. Everyone found out that maybe witches were not that bad after all. We have been told the bad news about them all of the time by our parents, but maybe it was just because they hated them and they were trying to push that hate onto us too. Maybe that was the reason. Or maybe we have not yet seen the bad part of having witches around us, and I hoped that it was not going to happen any time soon.
Chapter 80ALINA The merging of the Seven Isles, the Waterstone Pack, and Blackstone Pack had finally come together smoothly, though it hadn’t been an easy process. Months of strategizing, deliberating, and forging alliances had brought Kai to this moment. It was the best three months of my life. Having my mother and Kai beside me through all of this was something I didn’t even know I deserved.I was so happy for the first time in my life. It felt like I did not even deserve everything that has been going on. The packs were now unified, and as a result, they were stronger against their common enemy—the skin walkers. The witches, with me have strategized the way we are going to kill them. My mother had been a good help. She had a lot of experience so she was helping all of us. She was a great teacher. Kai was glad that I had brought her back to life now, and so are the elders and lords. She had been great help. If she didn’t come back, then we would have all been dead by now. The ski
Chapter 79KAII was panicking. The entire night I spent pacing back and forth, replaying everything that had happened between Alina and me. The way her eyes had looked so hurt when I didn’t defend her, the way she stormed out with her mother—angry and disappointed. And now, she hadn’t come back. I gave her the night, thinking maybe she just needed some space, but when she didn’t return the next morning, panic surged through me.What did I even expect sending her out? Of course she wouldn’t be back trying to beg me to come back in the palace. That wasn’t the type of person she was. And it was all my damn fault. I couldn’t focus on anything else. I had a meeting scheduled with the new elders I appointed at the Black Water Pack, but my mind was elsewhere—on her. Even as I sluggishly got ready, everything felt out of sync. When I finally made my way into the meeting room, I could tell everyone was already waiting, but I couldn’t muster the energy to care. My thoughts were consumed by A
ALINA I couldn’t shake the feeling of betrayal gnawing at my heart as I walked away from the palace with my mother by my side. The sting of Kai’s rejection, the way he hadn’t backed me in front of Aunt Arya weighed heavy on my chest. I’d expected him to stand by me, to protect me like he always had, but instead, he chose fear over love.After all, I did. I risked my mother’s life and mine to save him from the skinwalkers. I was a newbie witch so I possibly could not do all of that. But my mother helped me siphon magic from some of the artifacts that contained magic. She told me that it could kill me, doing that, but I still went ahead to do it because I could not stand Kai getting hurt when there was something I could do about it. How he had driven me out of his house simply because of something he saw, not knowing that my mother was trying to wield back strength after what I went through while killing the white walkers. As we made our way through the winding streets, the evening ai
KAI A day had passed, but the events of yesterday still weighed heavily on my mind. Alina’s mother—brought back from the dead. The skin walkers. The power Alina wielded was undeniable but dangerous. Even with everything going on around me, I could not help but feel like it was all a dream, yet the growing unease I felt was very real. I knew I had to talk to someone about it, and Lily was the only one who could help me make sense of this chaos.When I found her in the meeting room, I didn’t waste any time. “Lily,” I began, running a hand through my hair, “something happened yesterday… something big.”She looked up from her notes, sensing the tension in my voice. “What happened? Is everything okay?”I shook my head, taking a seat across from her. “Alina brought her mother back from the dead using magic. Can you even believe it?”Lily’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What? How? I mean, I know she’s a witch, but… bringing someone back from the dead? That’s ancient, forbidden magic. If not
KAI Alina was gone for a few hours and I was growing more anxious by the second. She had left without a word of where she was going and the longer I searched, the more desperate I became. I took a team of guards with me, scouring the pack and the outskirts of the pack’s border.I had to find her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, that something was terribly wrong. The feeling had been there for a while. I knew people wanted to kill her. A lot of them, and the longer she was out the more chances there are that someone that hated her saw her and hurt her. I couldn’t handle the sinking feeling at my stomach. A while after we had searched all the possible places, I decided to go out of the pack with a few guards. I knew it was a death sentence. I was putting my guards and myself in danger, but I needed to find her. I hated that she was the reason I had to do all of this. I hated that she put me in a spot like this, to fight and put myself in impossible situations
KAI I woke up with a heavy weight on my chest, the reality of Alina’s situation pressing down on me. She was in danger, and the whispers in the pack court were growing louder. I couldn’t shake the fear that her name would be dragged through the mud simply because of her association with me. As I prepared for the day, I felt a determination building within me—I needed to clear her name.The next morning, I entered the pack court, and the atmosphere felt charged. Conversations hushed as I walked in, eyes following my every move. I could feel the weight of their judgment. When I took my seat, the court was soon filled with a mix of members, including farmers and lords. The first to speak was a farmer who looked distraught.“My daughter is dead!” he cried, his voice breaking with emotion. “She was taken from us by the skin walkers. We’ve lost too many of our kin. We can’t keep living like this!”My heart ached for him. “I’m sorry for your loss. We will take measures to protect our pack f