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“What’s going on? Why are so many warriors going into people’s houses?” Leila asks, seeing for the umpteenth time how some pack warriors are harassing people outside their homes as they drive to the pack house. Tatum’s grip on the steering wheel tightens and he hisses, his eyes full of pain as he glances at Leila before looking straight ahead. “It’s Trent,” he says, punching the steering wheel lightly. “When he was sentenced for his crimes. As is customary, his assists were liquidated added to the pack treasury and most of it went into giving free shelter to the common folk of the pack but now he’s forcing them to pay rent, saying the pack can no longer afford to give them free homes and even those who already have their own homes now have to pay a compulsory property tax or risk eviction from their own homes.” Even if Tatum doesn’t say it, Leila can feel his pain and his helplessness, how much he wants to change things back to normal from the tone of his voice, the rage and bittern
“Isn’t that too much food for one person?” Liana asks as Leila heaps the flask she has placed on the counter with porridge. “Is it?” Leila replies with a genuine voice of concern, “it’s just, he’s lost so much weight, I don’t think he’s eating well.” Liana sighs and goes over to her, placing a hand on the flask, “I don’t think food is the reason for that, a man’s mind controls everything, even his appetite. I’m sure it’s the other stuff getting to him.” “So what do I do?” “Exactly what you already are, being here for him,” she reaches for Leila’s arm and squeezes it gently, giving her a small smile. As if suddenly realising that her mom could also be in danger if she stays here, Leila’s countenance falls even further and she holds her mom this time around. “I think you should go live with grandma and be in her coven for a while. No one knows what Trent will do now that he’s the alpha and considering our history, I wouldn’t want you to be a victim of his cruelty, not again.” Li
The crescent moon hangs alone in the dark sky, barely illuminating the night, there are no stars shining up there tonight. The moon seems to be on a solo mission, just like Leila. She wades through the thick bark of the huge and clustered trees that lead deep into the forest at the border, her heart beating fast and for good reason. Nervous would be an understatement to how she feels at the moment. Anything could happen and no one knows where she is. She winces as a thorn slices through her skin and she clasps her hand over the wound, undeterred as she continues to push further into the thick of the forest. She must reach outside the pack territory. It is dangerous, she knows but she needs some answers and right now, only Tatiana can help her and that is if Tatiana is still on their side. The only hope she has with Tatiana is the belief that Tatiana loves Kelvin, Tatiana proved that a number of times, she has to give Tatiana the benefit of the doubt. She has to. [I’m here.]
“They sent seven of us to take down this puny thing? I feel insulted,” one of the rogues say, spitting on the floor, his eyes raking over Leila with disgust. “Who are you? Who sent you?” Leila asks in a cold voice, baring her teeth, extending her claws and turning side to side to keep them all in her vision as they encircle her. Her heart is erratic but she already knows there’s no need to be scared, it won’t help her if she is to survive this. She will somehow have to take them down by herself and if they sense any fear coming from her, they will capitalize. “Look,” Another one smiles sinisterly at her, “you’re a very beautiful woman and I’d hate to cause any damage to that pretty face of yours, so just cooperate and come with us.” “You’re right about her being pretty,” another one chuckles, stepping towards her, “if she’s a good girl, we can have her warm our cocks, we can take turns or even run a train on her,” he chuckles maniacally and his pals join in his laughter. Leila’s
“And who the fuck are you?” The one who is still in his human form asks coldly, turning to face Tatum. The remaining six of them ignore Leila for the moment, lining up beside the one who is speaking, to intimidate Tatum with their numbers, snarling and seething. “I’m not going to ask you again, who the fuck are you and why do you— want to die a needless death?” the guy asks again and he and the pack beside him advance towards Tatum slowly. Leila watches helplessly on the floor in her wolf form, her heart pounding hard with fear for Tatum. She sees how Tatum ignores whatever the man is saying and is not even intimidated by their numbers or threat, his eyes are just fixed on her, looking at her with much concern. He doesn’t see or talk to her for several days and now he shows up to be her hero. She should be mad at him but she’s not, she always seem to get herself in trouble and he’s always there to rescue her. “Hang in there, I’ll handle this,” he says to her, cracking his knuckle
What has he been doing? Is he being tortured? Is that why he hasn’t been talking to her? Worry rises inside her and she cannot hold it down. She needs to know what is going on. He’s definitely keeping secrets from her again and she feels sad about it. She thought they were growing past that stage, but obviously not. Isn’t she jumping into conclusions here? She’s just going to ask him. Her wolf nudges Tatum with her nose as she tries to mindlink him but she cannot reach him, which is strange because he’s right in front of her. Her wolf nudges him even harder, feeling offended he is blocking them off but Tatum lays his hand on her head and rubs it gently, “I know it hurts, I’m almost done.” Leila instantly realises it, he’s not blocking her, he seems unable to mindlink but how? Is something wrong with his wolf? Even when she lost her wolf back then, she was still able to mindlink. She shifts back into her human form, determined to find out what’s going on with him. “Whoa….” Ta
Leila slowly rips the remaining pieces of clothing that still covers Tatum’s body after a while and she sees even more scars littered around his chest and abdomen as well. Her heart aches for him and she slowly runs her hands across the wounds, some of which have still not healed fully. She looks at him and he smiles weakly at her. “It’s nothing,” he says in a calm voice, telling her the story of all that he had suffered at the hands of Trent, all in the name of training. With every detail that he paints, Leila’s fear and worry for him continue to grow, her heart throbs slightly and tears stream down her eyes. How is he still even here when he has to fight so many wolves in a day, all while being poisoned by wolfsbane and tortured by silver? She knows Tatum is strong but hearing the ordeal he has to go through everyday and seeing how he took down eight royal guards a few minutes tells how just how strong he must really be. As much as she wants to feel a sense of pride and admira
Tatum doesn’t stop her from crying, he lets her cry in his arms and he gently rubs her back. “I’m fine, there’s really nothing to worry about,” he says but his words only make Leila worry the most. She moves her head slowly from his chest and looks up into his eyes, Tatum smiles at her but behind it she can see so much hidden. Sadness and worry being the two most prevalent. Why is Tatum staying back here and enduring all needless pain and torture? The thought of what he has endured makes her shudder and she buries her head in his chest again. Her heart feels so heavy and she wishes she can help him bear some of this burden. Even if Tatum doesn’t want to go on the assassination ordered by Antonio, he can leave the pack and go somewhere else instead of allowing that scoundrel, Trent torture and humiliate him like this. And the Tatum she knows is no coward, she knows there’s no way he’s scared of Alpha Leo, so why hasn’t he gone and done it so this whole thing can be over with? Is
Leila shoots to her feet, her teary eyes locking with Kelvin’s in the distance. He is looking directly at her but there is no warmth in his eyes and his gaze isn’t cold either, it just ... .is— void, without any emotion.“Uncle Kev!” A teenager in the crowd yells and runs towards Kelvin with her arms wide open to hug him but the royal guards with him block the girl off and Kelvin doesn’t even look at her, he just keeps sauntering forward, his unreadable but eerie gaze focused on Leila.A sore feeling wraps around Leila’s heart and she remembers what Tatiana said Antonio had done to Kelvin, that he was different. The girl his men just shoved aside that he showed no concern for is one of his young nieces in the pack.How far gone is he?“It’s quite a scene you’ve made here,” Kelvin says in a sarcastic yet cold tone, staring from Trent’s headless body to his bodiless head, a cold smirk forming on his lips.Leila’s heart thuds slowly as she climbs down from the podium to meet him. The ha
“Luna, please don’t do this, we were only following the orders of our Alpha. Surely you cannot punish us for doing our duty,” One of Trent’s men who had been apprehended alongside him wails as the warriors drag them to the front of the crowd.It is the d-day for Trent’s execution but before him, a few of his most loyal men who perpetrated crimes against the pack in his name have also been brought before the pack to dance to the tone of their music.Leila frowns at the man who spoke, sitting atop of the podium, on the central seat reserved for the Alpha. She raises her hands up and the crowd goes silent. She stands up and walks over to where the accused are sitting on the floor, her cold eyes fixated on the one pleading for mercy.“Luna, Luna, Please, have some leniency,” he pleads again, trying to grab a hold of her feet but she moves away from his hold and the guards immediately restrain him.“You plead for mercy, claiming you were only doing the deeds of your Alpha. He may have forc
Trent scoffs, “I am not afraid of death. We all will die someday and from how I see it, things worked out quite well for Carmela in the end because of my actions. She is the queen of the kingdom. That is power that you can never taste and there’s nothing you can do to bring her down from there,” he chuckles sinisterly. “You’re so pathetic and deluded you don’t even see that she is living in a bubble that can burst at any moment. She has a noose hanging around her neck, ready to be yanked up at any moment and with such a lie hanging over her head, I’m sure she can’t even sleep peacefully at night, why would I want to stop my enemy from an eternal life of fear and suffering,” Leila scoffs nonchalantly, “by all means, she should continue living her life of misery in the palace.” “Bullshit! Like you didn’t want the king for yourself at some point. Admit it Leila, you’re jealous that she is living a life of luxury far beyond your reach.” Trent’s words hit a spot and Leila frowns. She is
“Luna,” the guard guarding Trent in prison, bows to Leila as he opens the cell door for her. “Thank you,” Leila replies, peeking into the dark cell before turning back to the guard, “leave us.” The guard bows and makes his exit and Leila steps into the cell and flicks the light on to see Trent clearly. He is hanging from two adjustable rods welded into the ceiling with the silver cuffs around his wrist fastened to the rods to suspend him from the floor. The rods are adjusted in such a way that he is not suspended too far from the floor and his toes can graze the floor below if he stretches downwards to get some respite from hanging but that will only tighten the hold of the silver around his wrist causing him even more pain and below him is not the concrete floor but a large basin of wolfsbane so whether he continues to hang or tries to drop, torture awaits him. “Ahh…I was wondering when you would come to gloat,” Trent says with his head bent down, unable to lift it up to look a
Later that evening, after deciding on the date and time to execute Trent, Leila goes to visit her mother and is surprised to see an even larger crowd than the one that gathered at the packhouse outside her mother’s house. She steps out of her car and immediately she is approached by a group. “What’s going on?” She asks, scanning the crowd and seeing her mother in the middle with tears falling from her eyes. Leila’s heart immediately races, fearing the worst. She dashes towards the crowd, not waiting for a reply to her initial question, ignoring the greetings of people until she gets to her mother. “Mom, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” Her mom sweeps her into a tight hug, sobbing hard, “thank you Leila, thank you.” The tension in Leila’s heart deflates but the confusion in it lingers even though she hugs her mom back. “We are so happy that the truth came out Luna. For so long, many believed the lies of that traitor Trent that your mother killed your father, we can’t imagine how ha
Leila’s men drag Trent out of the house, two of them holding him tight. Another one immediately lodges two syringes full of wolfsbane into his neck, both to weaken him and to stop him from mindlinking anyone. The fourth one opens the car door but one of them holding Trent frowns, “we should parade him round the pack before throwing his ass in jail.” “Sounds like a good idea to me,” the other replies, slamming handcuffs on Trent’s hand behind his back before he kicks him down. “You imbeciles, you’ll pay for this,” Trent says, groaning in pain, the wolfsbane having immediate effect on him. “Shut up,” one of the men throws a hard fist at Trent's face and splits his lip open and blood gushes. Another one yanks Trent up by his collar and gives him a cold stare, “if anyone is going to pay for anything, it’s you who will pay for your crimes,” he drives his fist into Trent’s torso making Trent squirm in pain before pushing him forward, leading away from the old Alpha house. A crowd start
“How is this possible?” Trent asks in shock, unwilling to believe what his eyes just witnessed. Adaline has been laying in a pool of her own blood with wounds all over. How is she fucking healed? And Darren has him pinned to the floor. Did he suddenly recover from his illness? He looks sharply at Leila, getting a thought as the blue aura emanating from her slowly starts to dim. Is she the one behind this? Does she have some kind of healing power? “Are you okay, Father?” Leila asks Darren, slowly walking towards him, her heart full of relief and gratitude. She has no idea what happened or why that powerful aura burst forth from her but something tells her that it has something to do with Trent’s recovery. “Never been better,” Darren applies more pressure to keeping Trent in place, “I think whatever happened with you just now healed me, I feel so young and strong.” Leila blinks and tears roll down the corner of her eyes. She immediately mindlinks some of her trusted warriors and fo
“No…” Trent’s voice is filled with terror upon seeing Leila, “you shouldn’t be here, you should be dead.” Leila sneers at him, “you think you’re one step ahead of me with your plotting and scheming to have me sent to the palace so you could get rid of me but the problem with being a step ahead is that you leave steps behind and you never know what’s going on behind you.” “Bullshit!” Trent growls, his eyes red and full of murderous intent as he stares at Leila. “You made a very foolish decision coming back here, your plan should have included you running for your dear life just like your cowardly husband because now I’m going to kill you myself, then I’ll kill this old fool and his wife. Nothing will stop me from my destiny.” Leila grinds her teeth, feeling so much anger inside of her from Trent’s words but she manages to keep the anger away from her eyes and her voice becomes sullen like someone riddled with fear from Trent’s threat. “Why? Why are you doing all of this?” She backs
Trent quickly tries to move out of the way but he’s not fast enough and her claws tear into his cheek, making him yell in pain. She’s been behind the door the whole time listening to the conversation between him and her husband and the more Trent revealed the depth and treachery of his schemes, the more she hated herself. She was Carmela’s number one supporter. All those things she did to Leila, all the many times that she made the poor girl’s life hell, it was because of this man and his evil deeds. “You bastard,” Adaline growls, charging at him again, taking another swipe at his face but this time, Trent blocks her attack and shoves her back. He wipes the speck of blood on his already healing face and rubs it on his finger. “I’d ask your husband to put you under control but seeing as he is not fit to carry out his manly duties, I’ll do it myself.” He throws a punch at Adaline but she ducks underneath it and kicks the back of his leg, making him stagger forward. “You don’t dese