[Carys]Our daggers clashed once again.With every strike, Ruin’s vampire side grew more dominant, his eyes blazing crimson like the fresh blood of a hunt.The way his enticing gaze fixated on me, like a predator, sent a rush of bloodlust coursing through my veins.Ever since Zara had turned silent, I hadn’t experienced such a primal surge. But it returned with every slash of my dagger. I yearned to drive my blade into his chest, carve out his heart, and then brand him, enslaving him forever at my command. I wanted him to know how it felt to be preyed upon and hunted.Revenge. My every attack landed on him with an intent of hurting him gravely. Pain. I wanted him to feel pain, a great deal of it, and suffer just as his victims had.Possess and capture his soul so that he could never again think of possessing Kian in reality or in the dream. Or defile the sacred memories that were closest to my heart.“The venom in your eyes is intoxicatingly sweet, belladonna.”We jumped apart, catch
[Kian] “What a waste of time,” grumbled Elijah as he flipped a pen between his fingers. “What are we even waiting for?” “Alpha Elijah, AAC understands that your time is valuable. We will wait for half an hour, and if Carys Elffire still doesn’t show up,” Beta Liam glanced at Alpha King, “Well... then...” “She must have been scared, unable to find proof of her innocence, because there was none. Afraid of the punishment, she fled,” Jax said with a scoff. “Even if she did, that’s okay. There was no need to bring things this far. I had forgiven her long ago. I understand why she might have made such a reckless decision. Honestly, I wish to withdraw all charges against her,” Edith said, glancing at Dominic. She sat beside Joshua. “Alpha Dominic brought the case to the AAC. Taking it back would also be his call,” Levi stated. “You can take the case back if you want, but Carys Elffire is not getting out of AAC’s grip because I will file another case against her,” Christian said, looking
[Kian]“Jax?” Dominic knit his brows, looking at Jax incredulously. Jax slowly got up from his seat. His face was a mix of anger and fear of being caught.“No, Alpha. He’s lying!” Jax flounced closer to Ash, but was held back by the guards. “Carys Elffire is forcing him to lie! Yes! That’s it! This is preposterous. I mean…” he chuckled as his voice cracked. “Just look at him! Ash isn’t in his right mind. How can you trust what he says? This is ridiculous!”Dominic looked at Ash, who was sitting with his eyes shut, holding his head with his shaking hands.“Who knows where he had been all this time? The condition he is in… God knows what he’s been through,” Jax said in a hurry. “Where did she even find him? How did she find him? Did someone see how she got to Ash? She could have kept him captive on the day of the attack when she sensed that someone was spying on her and… she brings him now after altering his memories. She had been in Xafran, right? She was even in contact with a wizard
[Carys]The time seemed to have frozen in the hall and so did everyone’s eyes on me.An unsettling ripple broke out between the exchange of shocked glances and silent whispering. Christian gaped at me, initially with disbelief in his eyes that soon turned into something else, as his gaze traveled to Kian. Levi and Jackson exchanged glances before they, too, looked at Kian. Almost everyone now looked at Kian, who sat expressionless, staring into nothingness.I lowered my heavy eyelids. My heart clenched with the pain I had been trying to suppress all these years. Jax chuckled, clapping, “great! Just great! How shameless can you get? You are making up a non-existent child and killing it just to gain sympathy and get the meeting to your side—”There was a gush. Before anyone could comprehend what had happened, Kian had slammed Jax against the wall. Levi and Christian sprinted out of their chairs, pulling Kian off Jax. Jax fell to the floor, wheezing as he held his chest that Kian ha
[Carys] (Past) The Hunting camps were in their last phase and the last camp was organized in the Autumn pack. Joshua and I were now in charge of organizing the hunts and the first amendment I made in the hunting rules was special night hunts organized for the female campers. Joshua agreed to almost everything I proposed for the camps. Only… “A wild hunt during Halloween near the Banshee barrows? I thought we were gonna take a break that day,” Joshua said. “Father was thinking or throwing a party that night, a feast, you know. I wanted to take your pictures in those awful creepy costumes you wear on every Halloween.” “Don’t forget the fake blood!” I chimed in, cutting my croissant. “Exactly! And I will always choose free chocolates and candies over anything else,” Joshua said in a serious tone. “Free chocolates? Seriously, Joshua? You might as well dress up as a lazy princess. I bet people will throw all their free chocolates at you. That would be something really haunting, don’
[Carys](Past)“The judges will monitor us through the hidden cameras that are installed all around and within the hunting grounds. Or should I call it the hunting waters? Yes, we’ll hunt in a lake today. And we’ll all be divided into teams…” King Elysar cleared his throat and Joshua stopped speaking. He glanced at King Elysar, confused. King smiled once.“Umm. Let us hear from our judges about the games,” Joshua said and stood beside me.King Elysar came forth along with Alpha Maximus and father.“Youth. Twinkling eyes and burning blood. I can smell the thrill in the air.” King Elysar inhaled deeply.‘All I can smell is sun-roasted dead maple leaves,’ I mind-linked with Joshua.‘Shut up,’ he hissed in a suppressed mindlink, as if King Elysar might hear our minds. ‘And behave yourself. He is the Alpha King. He has the power to wipe out our pack in one command.’I looked at King Elysar and his dad-jokes that failed one after the other. He was the only one laughing and enjoying his own
[Kian](Past)I pulled out the flag along with the fish’s teeth from its jaw that I had cracked open.Over twenty dead fishes floated lifelessly around me. I was killing them, dodging their attacks, collecting the flags, but my mind was occupied by Carys’ thoughts.Ever since we entered the Autumn pack, Carys was avoiding me. Initially, I thought she was busy with organizing hunts, but I soon realized that she was purposefully avoiding me.But why? Did I do something wrong? Was she angry, or did I do something to hurt her feelings?And she wasn’t the only one trying to distance me from her. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but strangely, every time she was supposed to guide the group I was in to a hunt, Joshua took over her duties.Could it be that Joshua suspected something might be going on between us? Was she avoiding me because of him?Whatever it was, it was driving me insane.Hunts were a good outlet for my frustration. But today, the more I hunted, the more pissed
[Carys] (Past) Kian got the first prize, Levi got the second, and Joshua won the third prize by the end of the hunting games. I miraculously made it into the top ten. I couldn’t get enough flags, but maybe helping Christian had secured me more points. I couldn’t get Christian’s and Levi’s face out of my mind when they saw Kian wipe off Christian’s blood from my cleavage. It was clear both of them now suspected us. Of course, they did. But what bothered me more was Este and Ara talking about that incident to almost every female camper. Kian was as big of a deal among the female campers as Christian and Levi. Most campers were daunted by him because of the silence and distance he maintained with the others most of the time. So Kian openly talking to me and touching me had become the popular gossip in the camp. Kian drew attention towards himself right when he shouldn’t have. I could feel the eyes of the female campers on me as I passed through the corridors. They whispered behin