KALOYAN'S POV The bastard's smug grin was familiar anywhere, anytime. "Well, about fucking time, Dax." This gift was worth the moment Athena and I just had in the woods. It was more than enough to get my mind off that arrogant Xander Kovani, who dared walk into my throne with a fool's demands. I moved in for a greeting, and we clapped each other on the back, before pulling back, and disengaging. The sound of laughter rang out around us. "Was about to ask, who missed me, but judging by your reaction, old friend, I'd say I have my answer." I let out a laugh, clasping his hand in a low shake again, before pulling him with me. We head to the dinning room, where a small feast had been laid out for Dax. His avid eyes don't miss a thing, and I know he's aware of every living thing breathing in this space. And possibly also planning on things to rob me of when he left. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Goddess. I'd searched for Dax for far too long and having him in the flesh be
CARA'S POV My heartbeat was three times what it was just a few minutes ago when I was about to be crowned Luna. The throne hall was being attacked. Reece. He was here to take his throne and he wasn't waiting for me to kill my husband any longer. I peeked around the throne and the sight of the hall threw me back. Horror raced through me at the sight. They were all fighting on Reece's side. Hundreds of wolves from the East Moon pack. And Kal.. Or dear Goddess, Kal was going to get killed. My eyes searched for him frantically, darting from one bloody corner to the other. I crawled out on my hands and knees and realized the dais was still safe. Getting up to my feet, I went to push through the two wolf guards standing guard at the foot of the dais, but they pushed me back. "You're not allowed any closer, on orders of Alpha Kaloyan." "Let me through!" I yelled, clawing at them. "I can help him!" "You'll only be in danger, Luna. Please calm down." Calm down when our side was l
I struggled to remember why I shouldn't just rush at the demon. She harmed Mattie. Because of Styker Marsden, her puppet, Mattie almost lost her life. My best friend, my only friend in this place.My body shook as I remembered the state of Mattie's body. Farrah would pay for what she did. "Athena?" Jared whispered, as his twin growled softly beside me. "The monster is coming for us." I bent closer to his ear, his eyes glued to the demon who stood just a few feet away from us. "I won't let it anywhere close to you, Jared. Now take your brother, and head to that maze you see, okay?" I didn't take my eyes off Farrah for one moment as I drew the twins behind me and gave them a little push. They would be fast out of here. I didn't need them to get hurt in anyway. The demon girl snarled and the green in her gaze turned molten. Her voice whirred out of her. "I'm going to enjoy ripping those two, limb from limb." Her talons grew even meaner looking, the black claws extended from green
KALOYAN'S POV My guards rushed over and seized her. They took off my ring on her finger, handing it over to me. Dipping my eyes for a moment, I took it from them, uncertain of the feeling in my chest. It gnawed at me, eliciting pain. I wanted to be anywhere else but here. Lord Ezra muttered after a growl. "Finally, her time is up. I always knew there was something wrong about her-" I glared at the old man from the corner of my eyes, shutting him up. He was lucky to be alive, lucky to be standing here right now, as a free man. Ezra Cinderhell had stabbed Reece. He handed me the traitor's head and bought his freedom. A maid took the twins away from the scene. They had tears in their eyes, but this was no time for explanations. When they brought Athena-Cara Smyth to me, I couldn't look. I threw my eyes away, but that was something I couldn't do forever. Dax stepped closer before I could say Jack. He slapped her in the face with a force conjured from the hours and weeks he spen
CARA'S POV The news hit me in the face like falling mountain rocks. I plummeted. His verdict broke me, but I should be allowed the luxury of a fair trial. He couldn’t just decide my fate like that. "No, Kal!" I shouted back, standing my ground. "I won't go back to that hellhole. Shouldn’t I be tried before your council?" Kaloyan didn't expect that from me, but he should have known by now that I wasn't the kind to cower unless I was wrong. In this situation, I was, but I had a perfectly good reason for lying. However, deceit was deceit. He stepped down from his dais, walking towards me, and I stood, wanting to be ready for anything coming my way. "Do you know what my council would want if I let them have this case?" He stood so close, not as close as he would, but I could still smell him, still yearn for him. "Lord Ezra would have convinced them all to demand they behead you as a sport for Eastmoon wolves to see. Believe it or not, Cara, I am doing you a favour and for fucks sake
I stepped back into the twins' room, feeling defeated, but I couldn't let them see the sadness on my face anymore. Their tears had stopped. I couldn't give them another reason to cry. "Who wants to hear a bedtime story?!" I clapped my hands, feigning the giddiness in my voice. They chorused, equally as loud. "Me!" They curled up in bed with me, and I began telling them a tale my mother always told me before bed when I was a child. It was about dragons, the magical creatures who could breathe fire. She told me that once upon a time, riders existed, and they would bond with these dragons and become one. A dragon was strongest with his rider around. Both of them completed each other. Ten minutes later. Their laboured breaths told me that they were fast asleep. I couldn't sleep the entire night. My eyes focused on the blank ceiling until morning came. I gasped when a soft knock sounded on the door. Tears fell from my eyes. They had a mind of their own. I didn't want to cry, but th
I arrived at the Kaine Household. Joseph Kaine's guards jostled me inside the building I feared most in the world. Gone was the fearless me who could always handle my own. I was like a scapegoat headed for my end. Jane greeted us at the entrance of the building. I stopped at the foyer when he did. The guards left my hand, stepping away as the Master of the Kaine Household gave his orders. "Master, welcome home." Jane kissed his feet. Her eyes still had that dreamy look in them. Jane still loved her Master. A man she could kill for—even killed her former Master for. She was sick in the head. "Jane. The breeder is back. You know what you have to do." Joseph turned to me, lifting the corner of his lips in a snarl. "Teach her a lesson for running away, and then I still want those curves gone." He left, and his guards walked behind him. Jane clasped her hands in front of her, sparing me a saccharine smile that made my skin crawl. Flashes of the pain I had felt months ago under watch
As the towel went over my face, I couldn't see a thing. Two strong hands held it tightly over my face as other hands strapped my wrists and ankles to the flat surface. I struggled to get out, but it was to no avail. I couldn't even hear my voice. It sounded muffled underneath the cotton material. Fear seized me by the neck. I couldn't understand what they were about to do to me, and I felt useless to defend myself. Suddenly, cold water drenched my face. I couldn't breathe. Every gasp led me to taste the shit water they had turned over my face. I struggled and struggled, but each move made me lose breath. I couldn't speak, and I couldn't breathe. Death knocked on my door with urgency. They kept turning the water over, submerging me while keeping the towel pressed to my face. I was about to give up. In fact, I had given up and allowed myself to slip away, but just when my eyes were about to drift into a deep sleep, the water stopped coming. I heard the bucket collide and shatter aga
I arrived at the Eastmoon palace a while later. The cab dropped me off and I wouldn’t be surprised if Miles was tailing me with how abruptly I had left the pack house. The guards at the entrance immediately recognized my face. “I have a message for the Lycan King from Xora, the moon goddess.”The moment they heard the moon goddess, they figured that I was here on important business and they let me into the palace. I didn’t walk, I ran for where I knew Kaloyan would be, his study.But just when I was about to climb up the stairs, the twins shouted my name, “Cara!”They screamed, rushing over to me and I hugged them back, ruffling their hairs although this loud welcome was not what I needed at all. “Where’s Shirley?” I whispered but it was too late.“Right here.” She surfaced at the top of the first landing on the grand staircase. “What are you doing here? Last I checked, the Lycan King had commanded you never to return.”“My business is not with Kaloyan. It is with you.” I glared at
“When is she going to get here?” I huffed and Miles rubbed a hand over my back, placating my impatient pregnant ass.We were receiving Ingrid at the airport. She had travelled to the North pack again and knew nothing about Xander’s arrest. “Just a little more. I know she’d come out next—“Miles hadn’t even finished talking when Ingrid surfaced with her many bags from the airport. I rushed for her, pulling her into a warm hug. “Ingrid!” I shrieked, “how are you, my darling?!”She hugged me tightly like we hadn’t seen each other in years which wasn’t exactly the fact. We helped her put her bags in the trunk, while we were in the car and she rode shotgun, she kept going on and on about her trip. “I can’t wait to see Xander. The last time I left things were pretty tense around here. Miles even had you locked up.” Ingrid’s eyes bulged as she realised she was touching a delicate subject.“It’s fine. He knows he made a grave mistake and is currently paying for it.”“Where’s Xander, Miles
I stopped breathing. He had run out and it was my fault because I had put that dagger in Joseph Kaine’s heart. I worried my bottom lip with my teeth, distraught.“You need to rest, Kal.” I held his arm, begging him to not dare leave me behind. He had to fight whatever this was, but I had seen what lacking Joseph’s blood did to him. I knew deep down that he was in grave danger. We had to do something fast. “I won’t die today.” He kissed my cheek tenderly. “Promise me you’ll show up for breakfast.”I thought about it for a second. Being at a table with Shirley made poop more inviting. Though I was eager to see Kal’s next move. Would he fight for whatever we have that we couldn’t seem to get over?“I promise.”He smiled at me, taking his time to let go of my hand until our fingertips parted. I smiled back and offered a tiny wave, wary of the hope I felt inside my heart. Kaloyan would choose me this time around. He had just made a mistake the last time. He just needed to see Shirley’s
I snatched the amulet from his neck while he fell lifeless on the ground. The mask wore off and Miles began to understand what was happening.“What were you thinking, Cara?! That was too dangerous—“I wore the amulet and breathed in power. It coursed through me. Miles stopped in his tracks because he could see it too, what was currently happening. I was becoming one with the gods item. And this had not happened before. “Cara,” he muttered.And I smiled, chest rising and falling hard as I declared, “It’s finally mine, Miles. I’m the rightful Queen of Arzdith Valley and Salems power flows through me!”“No!” Our head snapped to the piercing scream we heard. Reagan bounded over. She slid to the ground at Joseph’s side, shaky hands holding him close. It was weird seeing her this way.I didn’t know evil was capable of loving someone, but I guess it was true. In their own twisted way, they had loved each other. The rest of the protectors and the black guards and Dax’s army dashed over, so
The moon goddess was right. I was in the wrong place. The back of the line was not meant for me. I should be looking for Joseph Kaine and cutting deep into his throat. If it was Reagan I found first, even better. I grabbed a sun sword from the ground. The black guard that had been carrying it was dead on the floor. His green eyes were open and lifeless. I said a prayer for his soul as I stepped over him.“Argh!” I screamed, fighting with all my might and casting the fire spell which consumed the blade of my sword. I was slashing through demons at a rate of knots. The fire was destabilising them, giving me the advantage of speed when it should have been the other way around. At the back of my mind, I knew there was something I had to do. Who led the demon army? That question was yet to be answered. I had seen Joseph, Xander and Reagan conniving at the Silver Eye pack, but it seemed I had missed out on the last piece in the band of evils. Two demons came at me. I used my eyes to con
Kaloyan and Miles got down, followed by Sky. I stayed in the backseat, holding the twins close as they approached the cloaked figure. The streets were dark and lonely. There was mist floating in the path ahead of us. A chill coursed through my spine. I didn’t want any more danger. I needed a breather. A moment with my family again—even though, technically, they were no longer mine. When I saw the three of them bowing to the cloaked figure, curiosity had me getting down from the car. I put Jared in charge. He was more mischievous than his brother, but Jardran could never control Jared.“Kal, what’s going on?”I gasped and lost a step when I saw the face underneath the hood. She was as magnificent as Reagan was back in the Silver Eye pack. I gaped at her glittering pale skin and blue eyes. There was no doubt who this was. The one whom only the six protectors were given the luxury of speaking to face-to-face.“Oh my God, you’re Xora. The moon…the moon goddess.” I bowed my head so low
I gulped, freezing for a long moment. There were a thousand and one ways this could go, but neither were about me escaping this unscathed. Reagan was here because he knew. “How did you know?” I sighed, pulling the mask off and switching back to myself.“I dated you. And even though you don't believe a word I'm saying, I loved you once—”“People who love me die, Xander. Stop lying to yourself.”He rolled his eyes and stepped forward to cuff my hands. “Either way, it was easy to tell that you were not my cousin. You escaped. There was only one place Cara would go and that would be to the Order, just to convince Miles that your Lycan King is innocent. Am I wrong?”I said nothing, just staring at the traitor he chose to serve. The evil that would be upon all of us soon. I had to think of a way to save the twins, but I could only come up with a miracle.“So you knew from the moment he texted you that this was going to be a trap?” I gaped at him. “Miles already suspected me the day he lock
CARA’S POVI headed out to meet Xander while wearing Miles’s face. It was highly dangerous because this could be a trap, but I could get to see the twins again and stall him from harming them. That was all that mattered. I drove his fast car, reminiscing the night of the accident when Athena died. It always flashed back to me whenever I sat in a car, but I had gotten used to the memories and the sadness that overtook me.There was a GPS tracker on the car. I carried his cellphone because everything had to be right. Xander couldn’t suspect a thing until we had him fooled. The Silver Eye pack laboratory was close. As I neared it, I said a silent prayer to Xora, begging her to save us all this once. I would protect the twins better if we got out of this mess. “Xander,” I called in a baritone Miles would use when I went down the stairs, leading into the underground laboratory.“You’ve always hated coming here.” His voice came behind me and I snapped my neck to him.He was right there,
KALOYAN'S POVI moved closer to where they stood because I couldn’t keep myself far away from them any longer. I hated the way this wolf looked at Cara. Those eyes of his. I knew what it meant.He was in love with mine. I had no claim over Cara after everything that had happened, but I couldn’t help myself. My wolf still craved her. Her scent still drove me wild. I wished there was a way she would forgive me for the wrong choices I had made. But I wasn't yet out of those wrong choices. Shirley was my mate now.Miles glanced at me and stopped talking, turning away and leading us to where the rest of the Scarlet Order were settled. I walked paces behind Cara, not wanting to invade her personal space, even though my wolf was hungry to feed on her scent. Once we entered the camp, all four of them stood on their feet, their razor sharp gazes pinned on me, the enemy. Miles Kovani seemed to be crossing the line here with my presence.“What is the Lycan King doing here, Commander?” “Sky