Author's POV:“Asher, do you really think that—” Orion began to scold Asher in a stern tone as he glared at him in anger, completely ignoring the fact that this boy was soon going to rule over him as their next Alpha, or that he had once desired the idea of him marrying his daughter. At that moment, his rage on Gemini’s behalf was riding high, driving away his attention from any other concern in his mind. After all, it was Gemini he had always cared about, and even though he had started to care for Vienna too, because of the pressure he was suddenly receiving from everyone else… there was no way that he was going to let his favorite daughter get hurt because of her, and that too in front of everyone. But before he could finish, Orion himself paused abruptly, Gemini's words finally catching up with him. The reality hit him to the core, that the girl he had always assumed to be a disgrace to him might be on the path to prove it true right now. “Wait a minute… What did you say?” Hi
Author's POV:Kai leaned back against the leather couch in accommodations at Alpha Lance’s farmhouse in the Stemond pack, kicking off his boots in front of the fireplace. He had finally retired to his room after a day of discussions and negotiations, that had gone surprisingly well. The Stemond pack had been their allies during his grandfather’s reign, and the new Alpha seemed eager to rekindle the friendship with the Azuremist pack. Kai should have been pleased at the thought of gaining a new supporter, as well as the prospect of returning home sooner than expected. But there was a single thing that was bothering him more than anything else. He dialed Vienna’s number for the fifth time that evening, and got the same result: she was unavailable to attend his calls. His chest tightened as the anxiety returned with a jolt, he couldn't tell himself that it was a coincidence any longer. This couldn't be a coincidence, and finally dialled Fynn’s number. The phone barely rang twice be
Fynn's POV: As I drove towards the farmhouse where Vienna had last been seen, my thoughts churned with frustration. Part of me wanted to call Kai and tell him to handle this problem about his mate, on his own. After all, wasn’t this his responsibility? I hadn’t returned to this life, just to get stuck in the same old pattern and deal with the tangled mess of this mate bond. I had made a promise to myself before returning to Camden Falls: to maintain strict boundaries and stay as detached and distant as possible…to save us all the trouble. Yet here I was, just two days in, enmeshed in their matter and driving through the night to clean up a situation I had tried so hard to avoid. I shook my head sharply, forcing that thought out of my mind. No, this didn't make any sense… my mind was just coming up with creative ways to escape the guilt that was making my stomach twist, and attempting to take away the burden of responsibility from my own shoulders. I had chosen to turn a b
Fynn's POV:"Wait, are you for real? We thought she was just capable of fooling her dad! But turns out she’s even fooled you!" The man laughed after noticing the colors draining from my face. His voice felt like nails on a chalkboard, but apparently my torture wasn't over yet. The woman who had first recognized me smirked at her friend's comment. “Well, I guess she wasn’t as innocent as everyone thought!" "Yeah, especially not as angelic as the Alpha’s son seemed to think!" "The list of men she has cuckolded is growing longer day by day!!”I didn’t realize how furious I was until I felt the lava flowing through my veins and my body moved on its own, before my mind could catch up with its intentions.In the blink of an eye, I had the man pinned against the wall, my forearm pressed firmly against his neck. “Shut up!” I snarled at him, my voice more of a growl than anything human-like. “You know nothing about that girl. Nothing!” The man’s eyes widened in terror, and he clawe
Fynn's POV:It was a foolish idea. The moment that thought appeared in my mind, I was ready to shoot it down. What was the point of turning on my mate bond when Vienna might not even see me as her mate anymore? If Kai was here, it would be a different story. Because she had clearly chosen Kai, and mate bonds couldn’t work while being one-sided, could they? I scowled at myself, running a hand through my hair. The idea was ridiculous from the start. I turned back toward the woods, determined to search every inch of the forest again. But after another fifteen minutes of running in circles and finding nothing, I came to a halt. I couldn’t afford to waste more time chasing shadows. I stopped in the middle of the clearing and closed my eyes, forcing myself to find the tether that had been buried deep within my chest, and tug on it. But even when I tried to tug on the string and follow its pull, I could feel my subconscious running into a wall. A wall which I had built, brick by bri
Fynn's POV:I felt the faintest ghost of a movement in Vienna's body and immediately lowered her gently into my lap, trying to make sure that she had actually shown signs of consciousness. Cradling her, I quickly assessed where she was bleeding from. There were deep, angry stab wounds across her body that seemed like they had just started to heal some seconds ago. Her head had a gash at the side, blood trickling down from her temple and into her hair. My hands trembled as I pressed against one of the wounds, trying to stem the flow of blood.My hands shook as I pressed against the deeper wounds to stem the bleeding. Each drop of her blood felt like it was draining the life out of me, and my mind was occupied by a storm of curses. How could I have let this happen? I was solely responsible for every wound on her body, for every second which she had suffered in this agony…But before I could spiral further, I heard her voice. A faint whisper, no louder than a breeze. "Fynn… Fynn… yo
Fynn’s POV:The world has stopped spinning ever since she had been wheeled inside the operation theatre, and the only thing that kept spinning was my head… because of the unbearable pain I was going through right now.My conscience was still adamant to make me believe that the title of the greatest idiot indeed belonged to me, but the punishment I am getting for this is still too little. When I should clearly have thrown myself into the streaming lava to apologize for the blunders I have created in the past, and the ones I was going to repeat today as well.The thoughts that something worse than this had already happened to her all because of my idiocy and the delays I caused willingly, were making it hard for me to breathe. All this pressure and the weight on my chest has completely made me disconnected from the outer world– probably, this is why I had missed three calls from Kai.And I have might missed the forth one too, if the nurse wouldn't have nudged me with her words;“Ah! Ma
Author's POV:Gemini was on cloud nine, knowing that this time, her plan had finally made it to the end and that too with flying colours. Not only had she managed to turn Alpha Blackwood against her biggest rival, but had also managed to get her Dad back on her side… and the best thing in all this was that finally, Asher was going to be entirely hers.And there would be no one who'd ever dare to come near anything that belonged to her. This thought was enough to make her so happy from the core that she was humming and strolling near the balcony, even though it was already past midnight. Just then, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and panic crawled down to the base of her spine.Whirling around, she quickly took a look at the person standing behind her, and a soft scream left her mouth. “Gosh! Mom! You scared me so bad–”“I am sorry my darling, I was just here to ask you something.”Tessa showed no more reaction to Gemini's shocked expressions. Hearing her words, Gemini lowe
Author's POV: The drumbeats echoed through the Arena, but their rhythmic thumping wasn't just supposed to mimic the heartbeat that was resonating deeply within the bones of every onlooker. Rather, they were also supposed to summon the spirits as witnesses of the Championship. And the chants of the crowd were rising to a crescendo as the first match of the championship was about to begin. Each face-off was a complete battle of strength, will, and heritage within itself. The fighters stepped into the circular ring, moving into their designated positions. The other purpose of the drums was to ensure that through the aura maintained inside the Arena, no one could completely shift into either pure human or pure wolf form during these fights. The sacred rules of the Arena were made to ensure fairness during the duels as the chants were being chanted by the shamans. The first pair of fighters stepped forward, their muscles rippling beneath their partially shifted forms. The fighters’ n
Author's POV: The Northern Pack of Hefternort had always been a mystery to outsiders. Famous for being extremely reclusive and bound by traditions, they preferred to keep to themselves, rarely mingling with other packs, let alone humans. They were probably the only packs which clung to the old ways of living like tribals, worshipping their forest gods alongside the Moon Goddess, and taking on the burden of preserving the ancient rituals long abandoned by modern packs. Known to be one of the powerful packs, they never cared about any competitions, and rarely even revealed themselves to anyone. They were invited to the Championship every year, but they never cared to show up. And that's why, people slowly started to believe that they were not interested in the Championship at all… but the assumption that they might show up one day was there in everyone's heart. Still, no one had actually expected them to enter the championship. The murmurs of the crowd grew as did the level of exci
Author's POV: Over the past week, all petty rivalries and long-standing clashes had been stashed away for later. The packs and pack members had set aside their grievances with each other, as all their focus had been narrowed to a single event: the Championship for the Supreme Alpha. Preparations had been in full swing for a while now, as volunteers from every pack had been sent to coordinate the efforts. A massive Arena had been constructed within a neutral territory outside of Camden Falls; for this, the vast central area of the woods had been carved out, forming a battleground designed to test the mettle of those who dared to claim the throne. But what was special about the Challenge for the Supreme Alpha was that, unlike other competitions where there was always a winner and a loser… in this Arena, there was no guaranteed winner. If the finalists Alphas ended up killing each other, then there shall be no Supreme Alpha for that tenure. And coincidentally enough, all the champ
Vienna's POV: Orion’s face had gone pale, as sweat started to trickle along the sides of his temple. His lips were shaking with the effort of keeping his tears under control, but no words came out of his mouth. Probably, he still needed time to believe that the girl he had left at the mercy of Tessa and a few pennies in his house was his actual daughter, the one carrying his bloodline.The one who actually deserved his love, care and attention. While he had done the exact opposite of it, since he had given all his affection, care, attention, money and privilege to the one who wasn't even his daughter. He had really messed up big; all this time, he had been cherishing the stone while neglecting the diamond, and now when he had finally come to know the reality of his daughter… I have already decided to leave him. And that's not even my fault, I reminded myself. Old bonds were hard to break, but it was him who hadn't given me the place and attention I always deserved… and he didn't
Vienna's POV:I could feel the tension in the air; and the awkwardness was thick enough to choke on, as Orion stammered, his voice barely above a whisper. "What... what are you saying... about Vienna?" Before I could respond, Tessa’s voice cut through the silence, dripping with frustration. “Gemini isn’t your daughter, you thick-headed fool!” “So stop thinking of ways to get her killed and beg Vienna to save her life. Or I won’t let you take a single breath in peace! I’ve done all this, planned all of this… just for my daughter’s sake! And I’m definitely not going to leave her fate in your hands, so that you can risk her life in a Blood Auction.” Tessa was definitely scared out of her wits, since she had gone from pleading with Orion to threatening him within minutes. And Orion didn’t seem to know what to make of it. He stared blankly at Tessa for a moment, still scrambling for some form of clarity, his voice shaky. “Vi… Vienna is my daughter… and not Gemini…” That was thw
Author's POV:Tessa had been lurking in the shadows, listening intently to every word.She knew better than to step forward too soon, knowing that if she revealed herself in the middle of the conversation, it would only increase the bitterness in Vienna’s, making any chance of negotiation impossible. So she has been hiding herself behind the pillars, making sure that she was hidden from every eye present in the room; while at the same time she was able to hear everything that was going on between the people standing in front of her eyes.Normally, she relished watching Vienna suffer, but this time, the stakes were too high. She couldn’t afford to let Gemini bear the consequences. But then Orion—foolish, impulsive Orion—had gone and destroyed everything. The moment he spat out that Vienna wasn’t his real daughter, he had severed the last thread of control they had. He had stripped himself of any authority over her, giving her the perfect excuse to bring their family’s dirty secrets
Vienna's POV:Once the words left my mouth, Orion’s entire demeanor shifted. I didn't even want to refer to him as my father from now on, and my words had already made it clear to him.His expression hardened, but his tone became suddenly gentle, almost fatherly and affectionate. If didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he was genuinely concerned, but I had been burned by this syrup too many times. “What are you saying, Vienna? How can you drag your sister to the Law Tribunal? The Council has been assembled to deal with matters of actual seriousness and significance between packs, not trivial family matters and… sisterly jealousy.”He scoffed, as if recalling some fond memories between us, which were never there to begin with. "I know you have always been jealous of your little sister, but think properly, look closely…all she has ever done was to think about your well being and has always supported you in your good or bad decisions, she was even ready let go of her first love, jus
Author's POV:Vienna's idea about her family was indeed right. This idea was not built on the mere foundation of her assumption, instead it was based on her experience. And the ideas built on experiences rarely tended to be wrong, just like this one… the reality was exactly matching every single detail according to her thoughts.Because right now, Orion was sitting in the comfort of his grand mansion, his fingers tapping impatiently against the armrest of his chair. And if he wasn't forced to pretend that he cared for Vienna, his older daughter who was supposed to return with Asher, the future Alpha of the Pack, he wouldn't even have been here. He would have utilised this free time to sleep in peace, after celebrating his unfilial daughter having vanished into thin air, to never show her face ever again.Beside him, Alpha Blackwood sipped his drink with ease, though his eyes flickered toward the door every few moments. He wasn't ready to miss even a single percent of possibility of
Vienna's POV:The doctor unfastened the blood pressure monitor strap from my arm. As I looked up at him, he assured me calmly. “Everything looks normal. Your heart rate was elevated, but that’s just from the shock. Just relax, there is nothing to be worried about, you should be fine now.” I exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself as I replied with a small smile of my own. I didn't want to leave the doctor’s effort unnoticed while my words had decided that they still needed some time to jump out of my throat, using my mouth. However, even though Kai and Fynn were right by my bedside, neither of them was really paying attention to the doctor. Instead, they were busy arguing amongst themselves, in a hushed tone to maintain the decorum of the hospital. “This is the result of our complacency,” Kai snapped. “That bastard had the guts to walk into a goddamn hospital and kidnap Vienna. If we let this slide, what’s next? They’ll march into our territory and claim it as theirs? We should