~RichardThey were yet to recover from the shock of my revelation. The man I held at gunpoint stuttered through his words, his eyes wide. "You… you are the Lycan king?""In the flesh," James said mockingly."H… how is that even possible?" Alpha Lance asked in fright as he tried to piece everything together. From the look on his face, he would take back every single thing he had said if he could turn back the hands of time."So you think I am scared of Frederick?" I scoffed and watched him swallow hard. His forehead had broken out in a sweat, and he was slightly shivering in my hands."I didn't really mean it that way, Your Majesty," he lied, gritting his teeth together in fear as I trailed the gun down the side of his face and placed it just underneath his jaw."Oh! You meant every word. You can't just decide to change your mind now that you know who I am. I hate men who are fickle in nature. You should say a word and stand on it until the very end!"I loosened my grip on him, and he
~RichardJames and I darted out of the woods just in time to see them reloading their guns. With two guns each in our hands, we started shooting at them, taking many down. Some of our men, seeing we had the upper hand, came out as well and kept shooting at the men.Under heavy attack, most of them left the pathway and fled into the woods on each side. About 18 of them were already gunned down. Some of those who ran into the bush had wounds on their legs or arms as we had fired heavily at them.We pursued them into the woods, not wanting to give them the chance to fully load their guns and come at us again.As soon as we got to them, we rounded the ones we saw at gunpoint."Drop your guns!" I growled.One of them, who was done loading his, raised it up to shoot, and I immediately caught wind of his action and beat him to it, burying two bullets in his head. The others immediately dropped their guns and put their hands up in surrender."Whose men are you?" I asked.They exchanged glance
~ RichardI knew it was time to reveal myself. It was better to do so and get all these over with. We were still a few meters from where they were.Not wanting to be seen just yet, i told everyone to lower themselves and scatter around the bush surrounding the earthen land where Frederick, Nuella and the witch were. About twenty of Frederick's men were with him. I knew right from time he wouldn't be alone, he would have as much protection as he needed, as many human shield whose lives have been pledged to him. Behind Nuella was the bank of a river while behind the witch and Frederick was the bush.My men and I dispersed ourselves. Wanting to be close to Nuella, James and I trailed down towards the bank of the river from the bush. When we got to the extreme, we squatted, waiting for the right moment to dart out of the bush and move close to Nuella who was just about 15 feet away from us.The witch and Nuella were still warring with fire and water, making incantations, when Frederick
~RichardAll eyes turned to me."Your Majesty... what are you doing here?" Nuella asked nervously."Finally! The man of the hour arrives!" Frederick roared as he cocked his gun, pointing it straight in my direction."You ain't afraid of me, yet you have kept yourself hidden all this while," he barked.I glanced briefly at the witch, who wore a wicked smile on her face, then averted my gaze back to Frederick."Don't flatter yourself, Frederick. I wasn't hiding; you just weren't smart enough to take the hints I left for you," I snarled.He exchanged glances with the witch. He was pointing a gun at me, and I did the same. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.I cocked my head to the side. "It means you have wasted my precious time for so long. I intentionally left my cloth at the entrance of the other pathway, not this one, because I wanted my scent to lead you to me." I tilted my head, glanced briefly at Nuella and then at the witch."You should let the women do their thing while
~Richard"Be careful, Your Majesty," Nuella warned. She held the barrier in place with her powers as she followed us.Frederick and his men kept firing shots at us as we ran to their side, but the barrier kept the bullets from penetrating.The witch built a massive ball of fire and threw it at Nuella to disorient her and break the barrier protecting us."Protect yourself, Nuella!" James called out.Immediately, the barrier protecting us disappeared. Nuella dodged the ball of fire and channeled static energy toward the witch, hitting her and causing her to stagger. It was a good thing that we were now only a few feet from them; being in close proximity helped a lot.The sounds of gunshots crackled in the air as my men and Frederick's men engaged each other in battle. Frederick was all mine. Despite holding his gun in his hand, I could see it was trembling. I was just a few steps away from him.Having exhausted the bullets in the gun with just silver bullets, he lifted the hand with the
~RichardI fell to the ground with James in full force, my heart beating heavily in my chest. I could hear my blood thrumming loudly in my eardrums."James! James!" I shouted and checked his body for any bullet wounds.There were none.He opened his eyes and looked up, pointing at Nuella, who stood in front of us with her back to us. "It wasn't me, Richard. It was…her."That was when I saw her, clutching her stomach. She had taken the bullet. No one saw that coming. She had pushed us down and got hit instead.She staggered, and seeing she couldn't stand anymore, James immediately reached out for her, catching her with his strong hands before she could hit the floor.My eyes darted to the witch who was still standing with the gun in her hand, she cocked it endlessly at me, but there was nothing inside. She had run out of bullets.I furiously ran towards her with a loud growl. She tossed the gun and tried to run, but her body was too weak to take her far. I dragged her by the hair, pull
~RichardI wondered what it was that Cletus was about to say that made him so excited."Your Majesty… the battle here has ended. We were fighting our enemies when all of a sudden, some men came to join forces with us.""Some men came to join forces with you?" I reiterated and went further to ask, "Who are they?""Alpha Scott and his people. We are now heading to other regions in vehicles to help our men."I knew very well who Alpha Scott was, but what I didn't understand was who put him up to this. I never made any calls asking for help, so how did he get wind of the fact that we were fighting and manage to get his men ready and hit the road to help us?Alpha Scott is one of my three neighbors. We all share boundaries. Despite having met him a few times, we were not that close. That made the fact that he had come to help us an even more difficult pill to swallow."Cletus, where is Alpha Scott right now?" I asked."He is right here with me, Your Majesty. Do you want to speak with him?"
~Richard It took us one hour to get to the resettlement area. We were met with a gory sight. A few houses of members of our packs were invaded by our enemies, and our men, women, and children were killed like mere animals. I rent my clothes in anger and changed to my lycan form for a full-blown attack on our enemies. There was no way I was going to let anyone that crossed my path have an easy death. Killing men was understandable; we were at war. But killing their wives and even children? That was a ruthless act, and they were going to pay for it. We searched and listened as we scanned the area for any sign of an ongoing battle. We found none; instead, all we saw were scores of dead bodies littered everywhere, both from our pack and from our enemies. Four thousand men is quite a formidable number to fight against. My men were outnumbered at a ratio of at least four to one. Those that died fought their best fight; the evidence lay in the fact that the number of dead bodies o
~AthenaA feast was being held at the mansion with the whole pack in attendance. The gardens were filled with people from the resettlement area while the king, his dignitaries, and elders were in the great hall dining. There was plenty of food and drinks for everyone.It has been one month since I gave birth to my three little warriors. On the day i gave birth to them, my life changed completely. I felt a kind of inner peace that I had never felt before as they were laid beside me on the bed. All the pain I experienced while birthing them suddenly disappeared and was replaced with an unspeakable kind of joy.I had thought I was going to have just one kid. Throughout my pregnancy, I never went for an antenatal checkup even though Richard had suggested it a few times. I was very healthy and strong, so I didn't feel the need to go…maybe if I had, the doctor would have found out I was going to have triplets.My father and stepmother arrived a day after hearing the news, and my stepmother
~RichardSitting at the head of the dining table, I looked to my right and left at the two most important people to me in the world... One was heavily pregnant, looking like she was about to pop any minute, and the other was infectiously cheerful tonight because he had made a bold move, disregarding his fears, and it paid off big time.A few months ago, per my advice, James had told Nuella about his strong feelings for her. To his utter shock, she had revealed she fell head over heels for him from the first moment she set eyes on him in that dungeon. Their relationship blossomed quickly. I saw my best friend become the best version of himself. Nuella completely changed him and made him so much happier than I had seen him in years. I was eternally grateful to her. Fast forward months down the line, James told me he was finally ready to make that big move. I was so happy for him, and here we are now.He asked her to marry him, and she accepted his proposal. Two young bloods specially
~AthenaIt was a Monday morning. Richard drove me to the hospital after I complained about being sick. He left me in the care of the doctor as he had an important errand to run with James."I will be back in two hours, love," he said as he kissed my forehead.After he left, the doctor asked me what exactly was wrong with me, and I told him the symptoms I had been having for the past few days. I had kept them to myself as I didn't want to trouble Richard or anyone else. Today was quite different, unfortunately. I felt very lightheaded and weak and was unable to get out of bed until Richard came to my rescue and insisted on taking me to the hospital himself.The doctor took a sample of my blood and left.After a few minutes, he came back, a bubbly smile stretching his lips.I sat upright on the bed where I was resting, wondering why he was looking happy."Queen Athena, I bring you good news," he said cheerfully. I narrowed my eyes at him in surprise, as I thought of what good news he c
~RichardThe effects of the war have taken their toll on my kingdom these past few weeks. It will really take a long time to get over all that has happened, all because one silly man thought it was wise to avenge the death of his wicked, soulless brother.All the men who surrendered during the war have been put to good use rebuilding my pack, which they helped destroy. They have been allotted different duties in the pack. Some were sent to farms to become laborers and help the people in rural areas till the lands, plant crops, and harvest them. Others were sent to labor in building infrastructures, some of which were destroyed during their attacks with explosives, and so on.As for Alpha Gerald, after keeping him locked up for a week, I set him free, along with his men. He cried in appreciation, and we signed a peace treaty to seal the fact that we had now become allies.Today was the day of the scheduled meeting with the elders, and I still had no clue what they wanted to discuss, a
~AthenaToday, my father and his Luna will come to Black Knight Pack for my mother's burial, which is tomorrow. When he called and told me he would be coming with his Luna because she wanted to see me, I didn't know how to react to the news.All I said was, "Oh… Great.""She is a good woman, Athena. You will love her," my father had said.She was supposed to be my stepmother, but I was feeling quite nervous about seeing her.It has already been two weeks since the war was fought. Nothing is the same anymore. There is great grief all over the pack, in the resettlement area, and even in the mansion. Scores of people had lost their lives. I heard Richard and James discussing the other day, and they mentioned that the death toll had risen to 600 as bodies were still being found in different places. The only good thing about this fight was the fact that more people from the enemy pack had died. For every one lycan that was killed, four werewolves were killed too. So the ratio was 1:4, wh
~AthenaI was so tired but also excited about the fact that I had finally been saved by the two most important men in my life. If only my mother were alive to witness this moment, then my joy would be complete.It seemed as though the war had come to an end. Everywhere was a bit too serene. I didn't ask any questions on our way home as I was too tired to do so.When we got to the mansion, I was surprised to see a whole lot of people in front of it. They were scattered everywhere, sitting on grass and from the way they were being loomed over by some men wielding guns, I just knew they had to be from our enemy pack. We were about to make our way inside when three men from the crowd spoke one after the other.They were begging Richard to set them free. When the first had spoken, I felt a familiar dread curl up at the pit of my stomach. I brushed it off. No way! It just can't be.The second person spoke, and I still brushed it off. However, when the third person spoke, I felt that famil
~RichardI rose to my feet and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. Where has Athena gone? Why wasn't she in the cave as she was supposed to be?"No! She has to be there! I told her to stay there until I come," Alpha Kendrick bellowed in denial as he got to his knees, peering into the cave."Athena!" he screamed, his voice laced with pain. I could imagine how he felt as a father, and that was because I felt even worse. I didn't want to give in to my fears, though."Athena is safe, wherever she is," I internalized, trying to be positive.I checked the ground for fresh footprints that might belong to her, footprints I could trail to her new location, but I didn't find any."Athena!" Alpha Kendrick called out in shock. I immediately spun around."Come to me, my child," he added, extending his hands.With my heart in my mouth, I rushed towards him and went on my knees, peering into the small cave.There she was!She looked so frail as she staggered. I immediately rushed into the cav
~RichardHearing that Rebecca was dead was a very hard pill to swallow. Her death was especially painful because she had just made peace with her daughter, and they both needed time to create long-lasting, happy bonds. The moon goddess should have allowed her some more time, for Athena's sake! I sighed.I was looking out the window as we drove through the woods when my eyes suddenly latched onto something…someone…No! It can't be!I ordered the driver to stop the car, which he immediately did."Richard, what's the problem?" James asked, and I ignored him, rushing out of the car and towards the body lying on the ground, my heart racing rapidly.It was her! It was Jessica!"Fuck!!!" I screamed into the air, raking my hand through my hair in frustration as I sank to my knees, clamping my hand over my mouth as my body surged with emotion and pain, finding expression through the hot tears streaming down my face.I hardly ever cried, but for some reason, I couldn't help but do so at the go
~KendrickI was almost at the territory of the Black Knight pack when I got a call from Alpha Scott. My heart had been very heavy since receiving the second call from Athena informing me of her mother's death.All through the night, I had relived the years we shared, recalling pleasant memories from our past that I haven't seemed to let go of after several years. She was the first woman I ever truly loved, and I have never loved any woman as much as I loved her. Now she was gone. She didn't deserve to die.I answered the call from Alpha Scott and found out that King Richard was there with him. From his questions, I realized that he didn't know anything about Athena's whereabouts nor what had happened there.I told him I had some bad news, and his first inquiry, as expected, was about his wife. He wanted to know if she was okay.I paused, trying to find the best way possible to break the news about Rebecca's death to him."Alpha Frederick! Are you there?" he called out at my silence.