1. The beginning
Seattle,
In the middle of the night,
Clouds roared loudly in the sky above. The roaring was so intense that the screeching sound of the halting bus got camouflaged, "Be careful, baby." A man softly said whilst looking behind him at the girl who followed him out of the bus.
"Thanks, bud. It was a nice ride." The man waved at the driver of the bus as he carried a small bag on his shoulder.
The driver smiled, “Have a safe journey, dude.” the doors closed automatically and it once again resumed its speed, running on the wet road of Seattle under the drizzling night.
The weather became mystically haunting. The girl wanted to enjoy every moment of such weather as it fills one's heart with happiness albeit, she could do nothing more than holding her whiffs, and following every step the man took. She wanted to feel positive and hopeful about life amidst such a serene ambiance but her thumping heart made it difficult.
She carried her little bag on her back. Her fingers clasped around the straps of her backpack as she followed the man. The light rainfall in fine drops on the ground made a musical note which soothed her mind. She concentrated around the dark surrounding amidst the melodious air and then abruptly stilled, realizing that the man walking before her had turned around, and staring at her.
"Uh, is so-something wrong, daddy?" She asked with cracking fumbles, and in reflex, she was pulled forward by her hair and was forced to look into his dark frightening eyes.
She shuddered when the man who was believably her father pulled her until her head uncomfortably moved up. Small drops of rain cascaded below on her face as a small yelp erupted from her mouth, "That hurts, daddy!"
However, her father yanked her hair more and tears occurred before her retina. She seized her lips together in order to suppress her threatening sobs and endured the pain with a crazily beating heart.
"You are a good learner. I am impressed you learned to behave across people real soon, but I must say you can't control your excitement even today." He dangerously whispered with a cluck of his tongue. "Do you want me to teach you how to control your excitement, Reyne???" She mouthed a painful and inaudible apology.
Reyne dreadfully eyed her father’s face and clutched her eyelashes together, “Daddy, I am sorry. I will behave myself from the next time” She sobbed hoping for her father to let her go.
She let out a gasping sigh when indeed he left her hair and grunted, “Good. We have come to a new place. I would be glad if you act nicely. I don't want anyone to pick up on me just because my daughter is mannerless! Hari Stark's daughter cannot be a mannerless bitch! Do you get that?” He reminded her.
"I am sorry, daddy. I swear on myself that I will behave nicely. Please do-don't hurt me. Please." She pleaded.
On seeing her condition, her father let her go and moved backward, “Very well then. Now come on, follow me. We need to head to our new home quickly before it rains faster.”
She composed herself and resumed following her father.
*****
“Zaneee,” While the thudding noise of the steps neared towards the door, Zander heard his mother's howl coming along.
He still laid unaffected on the bed and dug his head in the pillow. Not even a minute has passed that the sun rose again, but his mother came to give him a call in the early morning already.
He quickly pulled the pillow on his head such that his skull was sandwiched between the mattress and the bed while he held the two ends of his pillow with his hands.
'No matter how much you force me, I am not going to school, mom!!! I don't want to see them acting all lovey-dovey around me, huh.'
Tbc...
(Don't forget to comment and review if you liked the chapter. Thank you so much)
2... “Zander Brown, I know you are not sleeping, so get up quickly!” Mrs. Brown heaved.
3At the school,Zander stopped his car in the parking area. He removed the strap of his seat belt and opened the door to get out. As soon as he kicked the door behind, Ryley, his best friend pounded on him from the back and screamed near his ear."What the!! Bitch, have you gone insane." Zander hissed as he caressed his ear lobe with the forefinger.He only got a sweet cute smile in return from Ryley, "You can say that though. I really feel amazing. Returning to school never felt so amazing!""Yeah, yeah." Zander rolled his eyes. "I can see where this foolishness is coming from." He remarked, looking behind Ryley over Valen's figure that has kneeled to the ground. She was Ryley's mate.She was doing something. It was not visible but Zander could bet she was up to something foolish."Ohh, her, she is playing with
4'What the fuck is wrong with me? Why do I feel so weird around her? Jeez, she should not affect me like that.'Zander stared at his reflection in the restroom. He had his hands placed on the slab of the basin while his dark retina eyed at his own self in the mirror.This was not a new thing for Zander. Such acts have become inevitable on his part ever since it is revealed that Valen was his mate. He cannot stop himself from getting influenced by her antics.'She can't be mine. Nor is she my mate then why can't I cease myself from falling for her. Gosh, I will go crazy. This girl and her antics are driving me nuts. I need to get a hold on myself.'Zander sighed as he wondered about his varying behaviour softly, making sure that he was not thinking loud enough for others to catch him.It was crazy. It indeed was. The girl whom he despised in the beginning has started
5Fiery poured over Zander's face while his shoulders tensed up in a spooky manner. He looked normal in his black clothes. Even then everyone could imagine him as a devil with fire igniting out of his skull with melted skin and shoulders, like red hot filaments, as it is seen in the movie Ghost Rider.The horrors of everyone's faces came visible in the bright room as they saw the other bullies standing behind Zander while one of them (Ryley) walked toward the corner table and settled down there.Poor guy who just expressed his mere thought tightened his shoulders and held his breaths as he could see his death standing across him."You were saying something buddy, weren't you?" Zander bent forward such that his facade was near the poor guy's ear while he sweated badly.He took a deep breath and raised his shivery arm to wipe his forehead, "I..
6“You said something, Valentine?” Zander shifted his gaze as well as grunts towards Valen while he walked further until her table.The girls who were sitting with Valen on her table fled from there not before mouthing an apology. Everyone sat scared in the canteen except for Valen!She twisted her mouth with an ‘I don’t care!’ look on her face. Valen behaved like really she was not frightened by the bully Zander and his dark eyes that were staring at her perilously.While others assumed that her courage came just because she was the mate to the future Alpha, Valen stood to her grounds without thinking about Ryley at all. For her, he was one of them. No matter what.What was wrong was wrong in her perspective. She was acting like that not because she was the mate to his best friend but because it was freaking wrong! First da
7Zander's POV"No, Alpha, I mean... Yes, alpha." Clarke and Yeoman coughed together, after I answered with fumbling.They are my friends but they don't leave any moment to tease me. However, I am no less than a jerk. My one dark glare shot in their direction, as they were standing beside each other, shut them up.They innocently looked at the floor as if they never coughed. Trust me, if it had been a different moment then I must have banged their heads with a baseball bat, my hands were tied with the invisible ropes of obedience as we were standing in front of the alpha of our pack.I would not have minded to bang their heads across the Principal if he were alone. Who cares about his presence? Not me."Anyways," I had to brush away all the thoughts and focus back on alpha's word as he ki
8Reyne stacked her clothes in the little closet she was rewarded with. She had wondered that she might have to sew herself a cloth bag to keep her clothes like previously. But excitement hit her hard when she realized that she not only was given a bedroom but also a little bit of furniture that was enough for her.
9… “This is the pack house?” looking at the huge mansion standing before her, tall and massive, Reyne’s pupils closely scrutinized it in awe and bewilderment. Just like her new house, this was another outstanding building she saw on the same day. She never observed such a big pack house in her intact life. With a nice garden before the building, the big mansion attained tough across her view. She was admiring every stone of it while her father said, “This is not a pack house. This house belongs to the alpha alone.” her face snapped in his direction as eyes shockingly stared at him. Mr. Stark moved to see his daughter's face with a grimacing facade, “Reyne, in this pack, every wolf and his family is allotted a new house of his own. The concept of 'One pack house, hundred of members' is not followed here. This is the finest pack and most advanced in America." She moved her eyes back at the big building. She came from a poor family with a strict father. They kept travelling from pa
(Last chapter) Five days later, In the lounge of the hospital beside the reception desk, Valen stood with her phone in one of her hands and a package in the other. She stomped her foot impatiently as she glanced at a recently received message, seething in vexation. 'Stuck in the traffic!' "Oh, moon goddess! Why do you have to mate me with such a dumb f*ck bastard." She cried— like she was a wolf, with a baby face and pout she was adored for. Then another message appeared on her screen that turned her facial expressions even sour and bitter. 'A bloody red lory has blocked my way. It's not moving further, not letting me do so.' "Oh Jesus, I will kill you, Ryley Shine." Valen shrieked, this time like a human, earning amusing looks from the passers-by and the watchman who was sitting across a huge television, keeping
117 "Tell me, I am on time." He said amidst his uneven respiration as he stood with his torso bent forward and hands resting on his knees, working on stabilizing his breathing. His beta entered the room behind him, "You are, Ryan." "How long has he been dead for?" Alpha Ryan asked coming to his full height even though his breathing had not braced up. He discerned the clueless faces of Zander's kith and kin waiting for an answer. When none came, his beta stepped next to him and disclosed, "Less than twenty-four hours. We still have time— but not much!" "Great. That's enough time." Alpha Ryan expressed his delight at his beta's reply with a clap of hands as the others gawked at him. Their doubtfully teary eyes stayed affixed on his face as he, standing as an odd one out, smiled in the whole room.
116A storm of grief, they never anticipated, knocked their senses down.Anyone and everyone, who walked inside the ward Zander's corpse was placed in, returned with an expressionless face. He was just too young to die. Nobody believed their eyes when they walked in, but when they returned, they realized it was indeed true.His parents and friends stayed lined up by the side of the wall adjacent to his ward's door, weeping.His father had awoken with a smile, hoping to see the others safe within the boundaries of their pack- back in their sweet home. But the news he was dawned with, trembled his very core, muting him for several times before his wife broke into his ward.They held each other in a forlorn embrace and shared their pain. Their first child, their son... Was gone.The doctors warned him not to leave the bed yet Mr. Brown overstepped thei
115"Noooooo! Zander, my son.. He Can't... He can't die!" Mrs. Brown melted to the ground, her body loosely flattened, wailing deeply on top of her voice."C-control yourself, Mrs. Brown. You..." Ryley, who had been attempting to handle her, himself felt his throat choke as tears blurred his vision.The news that they received was itself so shaking and bewildering that none of them was ready to believe it. Zander was dead. He died whilst saving his mate. The Paladin Alpha sacrificed his life to save the others.When in the morning the Gamma hastily rushed to woods land after receiving a call of trepidation, all of them prayed for the well-being of all the Alphas and betas who've gone on the rescue mission with Zander.Although the Gamma left in his car, he returned with five ambulances behind him that paused across the hospital gate. It was Ryley who was given a call by doctor Jason to come ov
114“Zane!” his father shrieked, perceiving him wail in discomfort.A big chunk of glass stayed stabbed in his stomach. Blood slipped at his temple given that his head hit against a sharp rock, making the world around him spin.He did not get a second to steady himself as the ifrit galloped near him. He lifted Zander by his neck, his hold tightening around it. The wisp sound of his slow squeezing at zander’s neck had his father roar manically while he plunged at the demon, turning into his wolf.His canines pierced through the shoulder of the arm that was clasping Zander in his hold, and caused him to loosen his grip. Zander plummeted at the ifrit’s feet coughing and gasping for air.“He was dead, wasn’t he?” there was a faint tremor in alpha Hercules’ tone.Nobody had any answer except for shocking gasps and he
113Satisfaction. It was a kind of satisfaction he never derived before. Not from bullying or hurting people. It can only be derived through killing... Killing the enemy.His chest swelled in pleasure and eyes brightened. The scent of Reyne stayed in his breaths. The air held her fragrance, which his lungs gladly sucked in.Those alphas waiting out there said that they would leave as soon as they found Reyne— without creating any scene, but he couldn't stop. He had to kill him. Kill them all. They tortured his Reyne. They threatened their kind. And hunters... He killed him half right when he mentioned them.But it was over. Zane killed them here and the doppelgangers killed his psycho wife there.He smiled to himself as he rushed ahead. He just wanted to get to his Reyne and hold her tight. His crawl was quick. Zane was moving further steadily until— he witn
112She was threatened to not cry as it would ruin her make-up. Reyne couldn't keep up with their threats though. With the grief of her father's death weighing down on her chest, she sat in the cage wearing nothing but a flimsy tight one piece suit that covered her from knuckle to neck.She was told they would come to take her out on the stage. She was supposed to end the show, using her shape-shifting technique as the show stopping demonstration. Earlier she tried to refuse and what they did was whip her in the back. They scared her to do even worse that she easily gave up.Worse was that they put her in a cage. A real freaking cage as though she was an animal. She was not an animal. Damn it. She was an extraordinary creation. That's all. Who was going to explain it to the humans notwithstanding.Now Reyne could apprehend the meaning of her father's words, that he used to say all this while. Thi
111With his mouth pressing at hers, Zander looked around the room with his peripheral vision. It was a vast area. As far as he can see, there were doors and huge corridors.He assumed he would note the region in his mind during the kiss, and go away after knocking her down. But surprisingly, he didn't know what to do.His inside curled. The thought of Reyne made a wild current of dissatisfaction run down his spine. Still, he continued moving his mouth on her as he guided his hands around her waist.Just as heat of pleasure wormed within her, she eased down. The heat helped loosen her tight muscles and seize her trembling. Finally when Zander recognized she would not backfire his plan of occupying her sexually, he parted and stared in her eyes with a fake smirk."I've been wanting to do that since I saw you outside the theatre. You are hot!" She tilted her head back and
110A physical flash and burn shocked Zander to the core with its all-encompassing depth and strength and power as he hissed in exasperation at the view across from him.They were in the theatre where the Mad Magician's magic show was flaring in full swing. All the werewolves including himself were astonished observing the crowd that had gathered to see his show. Oh no, it was not because he was showing anything extraordinary as for now, but because of the slogan he had used in the advertisement regarding shape-shifting demonstration which was going to happen toward the end of the show, as a show stopping magic demonstration.In that instant, every other thought and emotion had ceased to exist except for a cascade of urgent directives to kill that bastard of a man he watched standing in the middle of the stage, showing some magic trick of fire through a woman."That's Phoebe Augusti