“Stand straight, Aera, or I will make you. You wouldn't like it once I will,” my father, Antonio, scowled at me when he noticed that I was slouching.Fear surged through me after hearing my father’s warning. I immediately stood straight and fixed my posture because I know my father won't hesitate to strike me using his wooden crane when he loses his nerves, even if we are in front of many people. Not that it was foreign to me since he chastised me a lot more than I can count. It’s just making a scene would be inappropriate in such a sacred mating ceremony. I don't want to disappoint the Moon Goddess. “I-I’m sorry, f-father,” I stuttered and looked down when my father glowered at me, afraid that he might hit me if I continued to meet his gaze. “Fix that disgusting stutter of yours!” he hissed through his teeth and then cluck his tongue out of disappointment. “Try embarrassing me today and I will whip that back of yours over and over again until it bleeds and I will starve you for a we
Even though I was the Alpha's daughter, they didn't hold back on saying cruel judgments in front of my face, slapping me with the reality that I had always endured for the past twenty years.On the other hand, my father was only looking at me like he could strike me any minute because of dissatisfaction. He never even defended me to his subordinates before, why would I expect him to defend me now? For the umpteenth time, I feel so small... and useless. I felt like I became even tinier than before and that I could be stomped and forever forgotten. I would never meet their expectations. I would never excel in their eyes because I was born with a stutter and a person like me should always be criticized. “Now that the news about our Alpha’s daughter has been rejected and will spread in Canidae. That was such a disgrace to our pack, Alpha Antonio,” one of the first-ranked betas said calmly, the right hand of my father before darting me a deadpan look. “What are you planning to do now?” “
For weeks, Miya’s bold question kept me pondering at night. When she went home that evening, she left me with a map where she discovered a secret passage that could be accessed through my room and a location where I was supposed to head for our secret training.I glanced at the map and tightly shut my eyes, discouraging myself from my growing curiosity. Every hour, I seemed to keep thinking about sneaking out to train with Miya. But then, I was halted by my fear and agitation. What if my father knows? He wouldn't let it pass without punishing me, that's for sure. He had planned on starving me for days, which he failed without his knowledge because of Miya's help. Truth be told, I was content being abused in our house, yet suddenly I woke up wanting more to achieve for myself. When I heard a prolonged howl from the outside, a curfew sign in the North Canidae that everybody was already in their respective house, I hastily walked towards my table to check the location Miya gave me. Miya
If there was something I know nothing about, then that would be the existence of the White Stag and its significant purpose. When other regions said that the North Canideans believed in such a legend, I never acknowledged the idea of being one of the high believers because I thought that it was preposterous. The prophecy itself was absurd and unimaginable. That’s why most people in other regions, specifically from the Central, looked down upon us for not accepting change and refusing to adapt to modernization, unlike others who had accepted it long years ago. We, people from the North preferred to call our place Town when all of the regions upgraded theirs into a City. Our houses and infrastructure remained to be just a little wooden hut, our packhouse was some sort of old castle built centuries ago and had never been renovated even once, our clothing is perpetual, staying to be conservative, and we preserved our land by staying the way it was our ancestors left them for us. Almost a
My heart was pounding inside my chest and my wolf was getting out of hand. I could feel her swelling up together with the burning of my body. Oh, Goddess... I was no stranger to the idea of the traditional mating of wolf shifters like us, but I had no clue that depriving my wolf's needs was such a torment for both of us. At the age of fifteen, our family's duenna taught us that our duty was not only to be a good wife but also the purpose of the wolf in heat and how we are able to manage it. After the acceptance of claims during the sacred mating banquet, we are obliged to give him our first liquid release to be fully marked and imprinted forever. And then, at the mating season, we are obliged to succumb to the heat to give our mate children if required. Basically, the only way to ease the heat needed to be done by mating. Except the problem was I had no mate to ease the heat that ignited inside me. Rather, I had, but he rejected me and now I was suffering this excitement that I had
“Any luck?” Mason queried, dodging my attack when I tried to give him a swift jab in the face. He locked my fist in his palm, twisting it, forcing me to veer before pushing me as his defense. Panting, I glowered at him. “Would I be here trying to defeat you if I have?” I didn't wait for Mason to answer and charged through him, aiming to land on his face and followed by a supposed to be knockdown attack. But as quick as Mason, he predicted my offense and sent me back from my position by kicking my lower back, making me slightly wince in pain. Fortunately, I didn't lose my footing but I did felt the pain gnawing in my back. My wolf howled inside me all of a sudden, offering her strength for my assistance. If only I hadn't been attempting to defeat Mason without shifting, I would have let my wolf help me earlier. Defeating Mason is all I have wanted to accomplish since the moment I met him, now that five years had gone by and I still haven't found the White Stag, I just want to prove
5 years earlier...“What?” Miya asked incredulously, as if she heard the most absurd idea she ever perceived. “You are going to what?”“Revenge,” I answered promptly, still striding towards the woods where I frequently look for the White Stag. I walked past the members who were spearing their eyes at me in contempt, so I huffed and even hastened my step. “I’m going to take my revenge on them. All of them. Aena. The high members. My mate who rejected me. Including my father.”Without looking, I felt Miya winced in disappointment when the tenor of her breathing changed for seconds, before she continue to take quick breaths as she trailed after me with long steps.“Are you hearing yourself?” Miya asked, which made my forehead crease. Not just because her query was carries a hint of inhibition but because I couldn't believe that she didn't understand my notion given the fact of my dire situation that she's been always aware of.“Of course, I am. I am never been more certain doing something
My father was smiling. Never once had he offered me a smile before whether it was fake or forced. It was the thing my father couldn't spare for his disappointment child. However, I have to admit that I reached the point when I waited for this day to happen. For the first time in my life, I finally saw him smile at me, yet it never gave me a sense of fulfillment but rage. I have hated him ever since he blamed me for the death of my mother. Even so, sometimes I found myself yearning for his appreciation as his daughter. But now that I have sought exactly what I yearned for so long, I never knew that I didn't need it. At least, not anymore. To me, it was easy to appreciate a person, to purse lips to give someone a smile. Father never had a problem giving it to Aena, but to me... I had to fucking kill an animal just to earn his appreciation. Unbeknownst to me, I got tired from doing a lot of exertion that always ends up being a futile attempt. It wasn’t worth it. I have another purpos
“I couldn’t believe that shifters here in Buenavista forgot the siblings after just two decades, what are your plans for the Martinez siblings and Calisto now?” Irino asked, breaking the peaceful silence I had with Alexei.“Well...” I looked at Mason and Miya and exhaled deeply. “I would love to give them a proper burial and let the Calisto know that they were the Martinez siblings who survived the fall of the Martinez twenty years ago. The shifters who should be the ones ruling Calisto and not the Alvarez. I would also love to conduct a rescue and search for anyone who survived other than Mason and Miya that day to give Calisto back into their hands.”“What if they were the last of their clan?” Irino asked.“I have no choice but to let Akim take Calisto as the new Alpha like everybody was expecting him,” I answered and paused before I faced Irino and the others. “But I won’t let the others face the same leadership here in Calisto, so I will take the shifters who wanted to leave the p
“I’m sorry, Miya...” I uttered under my breath when she dropped at the last blow.Witnessing how Miya shifted back to human, my knees gave up and I threw the gun in outrage, fear, and sorrow. As much as I was thankful that the gun saved me and Alexei, it was still the most dangerous weapon anyone could have possessed to kill one’s wolf.I immediately held my belly and made sure that the baby was alright inside me by caressing it several times. I watched the siblings' dead bodies lying on the ground and heaved a deep sigh.With a heartbreaking sight, I suddenly remember their fates read by the wolfsayer six years ago. It was blank. Unreadable, as the wolfsayer called it, saying she had trouble reading their mates and possibly that they were one of the few that aren’t fated for another. I recall refusing to believe our wolfsayer before, thinking that she only made a mistake.And it turned out that wolfsayers don’t make mistakes. Because the meaning of Mason and Miya’s blank fate is beca
Miya let out a horrified scream before she shot me using her malevolent, trembling eyes. “This is all because of you... this is all because of you! You killed my brother.”Stunned and weeping, I ignored Miya’s outburst and held onto Mason’s stab wound, pulling him closer to me as I refused to believe what Miya had done to her own brother. Mason's eyes were fluttering when I looked at him and his vision was unfocused while watching the setting sun.“Mason, look at me...” I told him as I kept tapping his cheeks. He slowly complied and gave me a sad smile when our eyes finally met. “The Moon Goddess is very kind to let me see you before my life ends, Aera. I had no regrets about saving you, so you should feel the same.”“No, Mason. You will not die! Do you hear me? You will live!” I persisted, but Mason’s breathing started to become shallow and short, making me panic more than I already was.I was now covered in blood. And I didn’t know where to place my hand when Mason suddenly reached
“I will not mess this up, sister. You can trust me,” Mason said, avoiding my gaze as he faced his sister and undisclosing the state I was in.He could have told Miya that I wasn’t unconscious anymore. Kill me the moment he had crouched down since I was secretly listening to their conversation when I should not. Slit my throat without waiting for me to gain consciousness but he didn’t. He remained pretending that I was unconscious for my own sake.With that considerate gesture, I felt like there was still kindness in him, which Miya had totally forsaken a long time ago because of her rage and her intense need for revenge. I most definitely feared that my life was possibly coming to an end, but I felt rather confident about Mason sparing my life.Silently, I just wished I was right.“I trust you,” Miya said to her brother and then she left the cell afterward, leaving Mason who suspiciously trailed his eyes on her sister and let out a big sigh of relief when she was finally out of sight.
MIYA26 years ago...“Yes, honey. You heard your father right. You will be the first female Alpha of the North and the North Canideans will love you once you take the highest rank,” my father, Manolo Martinez, said to me, twirling me in the air and my laughter and shrieks filled my room that blissful night.My mother, Susan Martinez, gave me a warm smile before she walked toward my father’s side. “Okay, that’s enough. The heir to the highest rank will need to get a lot of sleep so she can be the first female of the North when she turns twenty. And that is fifteen years from now. You need to be strong and brave when that happens, Miya honey. For your shifters and for Calisto.”“I would be strong and brave, mother. I promise,” I vowed with my hands spread in the air and then explained excitedly when my father twirled me even faster.After a few turns, my father placed me down and gently tucked me into bed. They kissed my cheeks and wished me good night as their daughter and now the newl
I woke up in a dark room with fear and anger filling me, my hands and feet tied behind my back and I was helplessly facing the floor, trying to shout for help but no words could emerge from my mouth other than a silent moan.Struggling yet determined to move, I tried to free myself by flinging my hands constantly behind my back but my whole body was still numb that I even find it hard to blink or even turn sideways so I would not put all my weight on my stomach since I was a month old pregnant. I am soon to become a mother and I couldn’t lose the most precious blessing the Moon Goddess has given me when other shifters are struggling to bear a child.I never thought that a shifter like Miya, let alone a shifter whom I treated as one of my closest friends and a sister more than I treated Aena would do such a thing to me. And maybe— no, certainly, I am to be blamed as to why I am here in this dark and cold room only the Goddess knew where it was located. It appeared that I trusted Miya t
A week later...Wearing a black dress, I made myself inside Calisto’s hall without minding the mixed gaze of everyone was piercing me.All eyes immediately turned on me when I stepped inside and they gave me a deep respectful bow when I walked past them. Not just Calisto but all shifters from other packs who paid a visit to my father’s funeral. After everything that I had been through, the praise and the exaggerated appreciation, seeing them treat me like I was next to the Moon Goddess was never new, especially when there was a rumor that I helped Muck and not long after when Andras revealed that it wasn’t a rumor but the truth.Aera the Great. That’s what they called me even before the revelation. Now that the truth was out, they began to worship me for driving out all the Antartis as though I did it by myself. I had help. Andras could receive some attention as well, including the Muck’s brave shifters who fought with me during the riot, but the North has never been a fair region eve
“I am what?” I blurted, holding my stomach, unable to believe what Yelena said. “No, I am not.”“You are. Look.” Yelena held my waist and made me face the mirror. And then she tilted me to the side and carefully scooped my bump I never knew I had. “You are pregnant.”I gasped when I realized Yelena was right and my hands flew to cover my mouth in shock and delight. “Oh, my Goddess... I am! I am indeed with child, Yelena.”“You are...” Yelena gushed and did a little jump while holding my hand. Out of excitement, the news made me jump as well with her, but Yelena stopped me immediately. “Careful, Aera. You cannot jump or fight, or do straining activities from now on. You have a precious life inside you now. Oh, what a blessing for you and your mate! We shall tell the others, especially Alexei.”“No,” I cut her off, making Yelena's eyebrows arched in wonder and confusion. “I'm afraid we have to keep it for ourselves, Yelena,”“Why?” she asked with a little wondering laugh that turned out
“W-What?” Mason asked, his tone in utter disbelief and rather contemptuous. “Aera, are you hearing yourself? Are you forgetting yourself? He is your father.”The corner of my lips arched and I looked away, dropping my gaze to the table with a silent yet spiteful laugh before I looked back at him testily.However, this time, my lips turned into a thin line and my reaction turned cold, my face went slack quite intentionally, not because I regretted what I said but because I was disappointed by the fact he had the courage to ask me such an absurd request when he knew my painful past. And seeing how he gave me the reaction, right exactly the opposite reaction I would like to receive from Mason, I knew that the madness inside me that had been kept and caged for long awakened, wanting to spew forth and wild.“A father who abused me mentally and physically,” I corrected him, my voice rising in fury. “Now, let me return the question to you, Mason. Are you hearing yourself? You know exactly wh