BETH’S POVI do not know much about life, but I knew damn well that it can be cruel when it wishes to be, and heaven has it that you happen to be at the receiving end of this cruelty just like I was at the moment.I have been deprived of food, shelter, and anything in between for the past couple of days but I dated not stop. I was scared that if I decided to take a rest even for a minute, they were going to catch up with me and all the work my mate had put into play just to get me to safety was going to end up being in vain.So I never stopped, no matter how greatly my legs and overall body muscles protested, no matter how many times they threatened to give up, I never stopped, I just couldn't.Four days. Four days since when last I saw my mate, for four days on end I have been risking aimlessly around the forest in an attempt to find a way out. With the help of my mate’s instruction to stay off course as much as I could, I managed to get myself to the pack boarders and out of the pa
BETH’S POVMy eyeslips felt so heavy and I had to put in a lot of work to get it open. I blinked a number of times to get used to the intense glare from the sunlight shining straight into my eyes. Despite that, I winced when I finally opened my eyes fully and I had to use my hand to protect my eyes from the glare from the beaming sun. With so much effort, I pulled my form into a sitting posture, leaning my back on the tree bark behind me.I was even clueless as to when I fell asleep and only realized that I had slept now that I was awake. I guess my bones were too tired to stay awake after days of walking without a single moment of rest. Now that I got to rest, all the tiredness just met up to me and I was forced to just instinctively fall asleep.I waited for about half an hour, just sitting there, letting time pass and doing nothing. This was due to the fact that I had no plan ahead. I have no idea what to do, where to go, or how to even start up again. Do I just stay around here
BETH’S POVI was skeptical at first, because why wouldn't I be? This is a cave in the middle of a dense forest with no one around. As far as I was concerned, the cave might be housing other living beings, dangerous ones for that matter.From where I stood, I could not see the inside that much but from the part I could make out, the whole cave might be empty. But was I going to leave my life in the hands of probably and just go into the cave? No, I wasn't. I couldn't just risk my life that much, not after I had narrowly escaped the most dreadful attack. Then again, I couldn't just stay out here when I had no idea what was roaming around the forest.Being in that forest is an entirely different situation from being here. At least I have heard rumors about what to expect but here, I don't even know my left from my right. As much as I am concerned, I might have passed the same place more than once. And now that I have at least found an enclosed place to rest for the night, I wasn't just
DAMIEN’S POVThe healing process was painfully too slow for my liking. On multiple occasions, I felt like dismissing the wound and getting the hell out of this place. I have so many agendas and so many vile plans that I can't wait to put into action. I wake up every day, fueled by the zeal of vengeance. All I wanted to do in life was take revenge against them. I don't care what the aftermath will be but I sure as hell knew that I was going back to my pack and I was going to act upon them.He wouldn't know what hit him. Or should I rather say, they won't know what hit them? My father had always told us to not completely trust anyone and to make sure we had a makeup plan should incase things didn’t go as planned.But we all make mistakes, there is no denying that. We were all so blinded by the need to get into power that we all missed the hint that was staring at us right.If anyone would miss it, I wasn't supposed to, I should have seen right through his bullshit before it become too
LEO'S POV"Turn around and show yourself!!" I only spoke after I had the sword secured right where I wanted it to be and a single move forward and the night would pierce through their back and out of their stomach. The figure which seems to be a woman's, unharmed stood still for more time than I anticipated. She was either in shock or was pretending to be and she was either unharmed or pretending to be."I said you should turn the fuck around andshow your damn face or I unplug your damnhead from your neck!!!" the fact that I couldn't figure her out was irking me and to add to that, she was getting on my nerves again.Slowly she turned around this time, while I readied my sword just in case she decided to pull any type of funny game.I recognized that face. That was the first thing that came into my mind the moment my eyes met hers. I knew her somewhere. She looked very familiar and as I continued to stare at her, it downed on me where exactly I knew her.She worked with Natalia. Sh
BETH'S POVNot even in my wildest dream have I ever thought of something of this nature happening to me. I don't even know how to react to it. We were told by them that the three princes had been killed and as foolish as we were, we believed the enemies wholeheartedly. We believed them and moved on with our lives.To think of it now, how everyone was just overpowered and made to shut up at once was worth questioning. Apart from the two guards who questioned them and were killed in the instant, no one has done it again. We were so blinded by the need to survive that no one dared question their motives or challenge them to at least show the corpse of the dead princes since the now Alpha claimed to have killed him. We were all cowards, pack members, and leaders alike.I could tell clearly that Leo does not trust me one bit and I understand. I was also like an enemy since I was coming from an enemy's territory and if not for Damien who had tried to stop him, I bet my neck that my head co
BETH’S POV Lucas’s eyes squirted in familiar recognition and instead of how Leo bluntly confronted me, he ignored my existence afterward, turning to Damien for answers. Leo, though they walked in together, had told him not a single thing about my arrival. I wasn’t expecting him to, but it wouldn’t hurt if he did right? “She’s from the pack” Damien’s reply was curt but thankfully that was all Lucas needed to put the puzzle in place. His gaze slowly shifted back to me in utter recognition this time, so many questions going on within those eyes just like his brothers. “What on earth is she doing here?” He asked no one in particular but conveyed vividly that he wasn’t expecting an answer from me so I shut up. “And where is Natalia?” He didn’t wait for a reply from them before he asked again, this time his question and gaze directed straight at me. I shifted uncomfortably, not liking the attention I was getting a single bit. My gaze flickered toward Damien, in the hope that he would
LUCAS’S POV“You don’t mean that? “ I deadpanned watching my brother closely. Even Leo who had withdrawn out of our conversation had moved closer to see if he had him right.“I have never been in the habit of joking. Especially when I am addressing issues as serious as this. So yes I meant what I said” Damien marched my energy as he replied. “How did you even come up with that? You can't decide for everyone” That was single-handedly the reason I have been having problems with him. He seems to think he could just wake up and make decisions for everyone around him.“I oppose this. I do not want her to be here. I refused to stay in the same space with someone who might have a hidden agenda of destruction against us” Leo replied, leaving no room for argument.“You are not even sure if she is” Damien argued.“Neither are you sure that she is not” Leo argued back.“Look, there is no point to be arguing about all these with you. While you two are stuck on finding fault in this, I want you t
MICHEAL'S POVMy gaze moved from one elder to the other as speak, uttering words I knew I was going to put down at the end of everything. They have been trying to get me to have a meeting with them for ages and this was the first meeting we are having in a while, if not I could have dismissed them and left the room.I shouldn't be here when I have far more troubles to deal with and as I followed them with my eyes, I was wondering if there was any way at all that I could follow to ease all of these positions. It has been a tradition for every pack to have an elder whereas I see no point in it. They help in no way. All they do is bring up problems that will stress you even more even when you think you are managing the pack really well. There might be no way to get rid of them but I know for a fact that I am not going to tolerate them in any way. If they were tolerated by the past rulers then they should get ready for a change."I think reducing the rate of the tax at this point will b
DAMIEN'S POVMy gaze flickered from Lucas to Leo, still not believing that they were even thinking about doing that. This just confirmed to me that they do not know the gravity of the situation we are in."We can get into the pack, grab her, and then leave the pack all in one day. We can take as much time as we desire to bring her back to this place" That was Lucas, speaking wholeheartedly to Leo."And if we can even consider this in a broader sense, we can continue living there with her instead of coming back all the way here you know" Leo added his delusions all the while I observed them with wide unbelieving eyes."That will be a wise thing to do if we can be able to pull that out smoothly," Lucas remarked."Alright, alright, you all should slow down" Having heard enough of their bullshit, I chimed in immediately.They both turned to look toward me at the same time. They were so deep in their conversation that they had forgotten that I was still in their presence."I hope you two r
NATALIA'S POVI was happy.That is the word, happiness. You can never tell just how much loneliness has affected you until you are opportune to be in the presence of people again. It just so happens to be the best feeling and almost everything you think was a problem would end up being not an actual problem and was just created by your mind overthinking because you have no other person to share your thoughts with. I have been that way for the past months, just thinking and thinking my life away. The only time I had the chance to interact with anyone was when I paid a visit to the palace or when I was off to get my food supplies in the market. It has always been a routine. Stay at home for up to a week, go out to the market and the palace, and then come back to the loom of loneliness and silence. I had no idea that it was affecting me until now that I was blessed with the presence of other living beings."What do you desire to eat today?" Cole asked after he knocked on my door and I
LUCAS'S POV"What?" I asked Leo who was suddenly looking at me like I had managed to develop a second head in three seconds.He didn't budge, and I wasn't even sure if he heard my statement. He seems to be in a haze, deep in thought. "Leo? What the hell is wrong with you?" Damien, who was more closer to him asked while tapping him on the shoulder. This seems to have made him snap out of whatever hex that had suddenly befell him. "What?" I asked again, eager to know what was on his mind. "I think I know...." He slowly muttered, still falling back in thought."You know what?" It turns out I wasn't the only one eager to hear what he wanted to say because both Damien and I spoke at the same time, this time around."I think I know where Natalia is hiding" After some painful seconds of waiting, he finally spoke again, emphasizing any word he muttered."What do you mean by that? How did you know where she was hiding? Is that even possible?" I remarked, a deep frown playing on my face. I c
LEO'S POVI do not despise her. I just don't trust her. I am still failing to believe she ended up just finding herself with no motives. Let's face it, I am a very practical person. For us to find ourselves here, we spend days on end running. The keyword there has been running. We never stopped once, encountered numerous dangers on the way and because we are warriors, we aced it. So imagine just a defenseless lady going through all of these. I see no chance of her survival. Except if she was escorted here by someone experienced, who stays hidden behind the shadows. So it makes no sense to me that Damien blindly believed her and even allowed her to stay with us. I have tried multiple times to talk him out of it but he just wouldn't budge. He kept telling me he knew Micheal and in her explanation, there was no form of deception. It's frustrating that he can't just listen to me for once and agree that there is more to what she was saying than meet the eye. It doesn't help that he has
DAMIEN’S POV“And you think everything is going to be as we left it?” Lucas inquired, looking amusingly at me.“Of course not, things are going to change drastically, and above all, your personal items are going to be used by another set of people” I clarified.“Damn man, I will hate to rearrange. It is going to take painful weeks of working” Leo winced, slumping his shoulder against the rocky wall. “You can simply just move to another wing you know, there are numerous parts in the palace and it is enormous enough for you to change wing each week for two months so there is no reason to throw a tantrum” I proclaimed with a shrug.We were currently having a casual discussion on how things were going to be when we returned back to the palace after everything died down. We haven’t really brought forth who is supposed to role but I think we have now learned our lesson and are going to cross that bridge successfully when we get to it.“Not man, I choose to stay in that part of the palace f
STEVE’S POVI sat down at the single desk and chair in my room after I was done with my duty for the day. Making sure to lock my door first, I brought the pen and paper I was going to use to write the letter and placed it in front of me on the table.I wasn't sure what to write but I knew I had to write something very convincing if I really wanted them to believe my words were genuine and not just some created tales to come between them. Micheal is wise and would definitely deny anything of that nature has been plotted if they decide to approach him so I will need to come up with words convincing enough to make them just act and not go about asking.I twirled the pen in my hand multiple times for minutes on end, staring at the blank sheet in front of me and not knowing what to write.After additional minutes of silence and thinking, I finally came up with enough words to start up with. There won't be any need to greet so as they would know it was coming from someone from a higher leve
NATALIA’S POV“I thought you were dead at first and then news began to spread around the pack that the new leader was searching vehemently for you which was so confusing at that time. We searched too, hoping to reach you before any of them. We never gave up on our search and that faithful day we got you, it was purely coincidentally and you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The news got to us that guards would be surveying this part of the pack today and we were out to keep watch so we caught you thinking it was a guard. It doesn't help that you were dressed in men’s attire” Kyle explained with the others sitting at each side of him.I, on the other hand, was sitting on the opposite side of them and listening attentively.“I don't understand, I thought you went out with them that night?” I asked, referring to my mates. Confusion setting in.“No, we didn't. No one did because they informed no one that they were going anywhere. It was all a work of Micheal to get them corn
NATALIA’S POVWas I okay? I wasn’t even sure. I was so consumed by an immersed amount of shock that I had no idea whether I was okay or not. I was clueless as to how I was feeling. I swallowed loudly, the feeling so foreign to me after days of not being able to do that. My eyes trailed from one of their figures to another, trying to wrap my head around the fact that they were real and in front of me. Instinctively, I reached out to touch Kyle who was the one kneeling in front of me.My hand fell on his shoulder, a more confirmation that he was alive and in front of me. I wasn't hallucinating. Damn even if I was, why will I be seeing them of all the amount of people I missed.They were real. They were frankly genuine and were standing right in front of me. But the question that was stuck in my head was how did I not think about them all this while? How did I not remember and enquire about them? Now that my mates were no more, they should be the closest thing to a parent my kid would h