ALEXEITears pooled in Aera’s blue eyes and it soaked my clothes. Her sharp and strained sobs resounded in the empty banquet hall and the more it became louder, the more my heart drowned and rankled.To me, being attacked by rogues and rogue hunters almost every day for five years becomes nothing to me, taking a powerful punch and a wolf fight against my enemies or enduring a long and perilous cut, it becomes bearable to me. However, seeing Aera cry in pain, those eyes blurring with those heavy tears, it becomes my new weakness that I don’t want to wish to see again because my heart bleeds.Seeing Aera cry was like hurting myself. Her pain is my pain and her suffering is mine as well.“One glimpse of you and just like that, I’m melting... embracing you tight like this like I never remember cursing you every time I remember what you did to my mother. No matter what you did in the past, no matter how worst your mistake was, I realized that I truly, deeply care for you, Alexei. Our dista
ALEXEI “Alexei. Hmm...” Biting her lips, Aera uttered my name when she finally settled herself above me. Her warm breath fanning on my face and her enticing pheromones wafting in the night air. Oh, the Moon Goddess knew how much I longed to hear that melodious moan again. I was savoring the erotic sound she made when Aera started to move, causing my hips to buckle out of surprise. “Aera... darling!” I grunted in a mix of shock and amusement when Aera suddenly picked up her pace when she settled herself above me. She did not even start slow but fast as if there was a need to be in a rush. Aera was moving so fast with her breast moving in rhythm above me, her beauty almost gave me a heart attack when all I could hear was my heart racing fast together with Aera’s speed. I had to swear again and again because it caught me off guard. The urgency, the desperation, the hunger for pleasure was undoubted in Aera’s movement, and I had to admit it almost made me cum almost immediately. Good
ALEXEITen years ago...“Where the heck are you, Mikha?!” I whispered in the evening air and looked around me, wary of my surroundings while facing the forbidden leaf that they got from Andras in Muck. I was waiting for him in the woods since he was the one who offered to buy a match at the market and yet the sun had set and Mikhail had not returned. “Is it an hour already since he left? Where’s that fucker? Did he leave me here?”Frustrated, I couldn’t help but groan while I looked around the woods one more time. If I am to be caught using an object from another region, I’m sure my father will not hesitate to punish me. But since I was the Alpha in the waiting, the only punishment that I would get is confinement in my room for a week, sometimes more than a week depending on my father’s nerves.My father recently lifted my punishment just days ago, there's a probability that he can make it two weeks next time, or more than that if he wished. That was why we dared to use the weed in Bu
With my birthright at stake, I should have panicked and complied with the female's request with authority and urgency. But then, for some unknown reason, I found myself standing in front of her, looking straight into her eyes, and felt nothing like how she wanted herself to appear in front of me but a good shifter; a kind of shifter who cannot do what she had threatened me to.She did make me panic, but that was it. She did not give me enough reason for me to fear her into following her demand, maybe because my premonition was right. That I was confident— No, I was certain rather, that she was incapable of bringing a shifter, let alone a teen shifter like me.“No, you are not,” I said in deep realization and looked at her gravely, and then I picked up her medicine. “You are not the kind of shifter who would do such a thing to others. And forgive me if I cannot comply with your demand, just like I said, I am not the kind of shifter who would do that.”She took a deep breath and slowly
“A what?” Aera asked, her eyebrows arched and her general reaction seemed to be doubting what I told her.“A poison,” I repeated, emphasizing my answer just in case Aera did not hear it, even though I, myself, was as confused and unsure as her. “But I am not certain. I was only seventeen at that time, darling. Maybe, I misheard it. Or I heard it wrong.”“No, Alexei. Please make certain of it,” she said, her eyes pleading. When she withdrew her eyes from me, that's when I felt a strong suspicion that suddenly ignited inside her. “You said you and Mikhail were together that day, right? We can ask him. Or Mister Ivanov.”“Mister Ivanov's illness was real, we cannot expect him to answer that mystery for us... but we can ask Mikhail for sure, I just hoped he wasn’t as unsure like me,” I told her, and she nodded and picked up her dress in haste, which drew me back in surprise. “Woah, what are you doing, darling?”“What else? Putting back my clothes,” she answered and handed me my clothes an
“Father, I thought you were going to get Aera back to us?” Anastasia asked, her thin lips quivering and holding her tears as she gazed up at me.“Ana, how... how on earth are you here?” I asked, carefully side-eyeing Aera, who did not hesitate to enter the room because of Anastasia.Almost everyone gasped at the surprise presence of Aera and the jape we planned on the way to the tavern seemed to be lost in Aera’s plan. Anastasia was gazing up at Aera with delight and relief. Smiling but with her eyes tearing, Aera opened her arms to indicate a warm embrace to Anastasia.With a little sob, Anastasia ran towards Aera and she excitedly jumped at her with open arms. Aera carried her and swayed her like a newborn child. “Oh, I miss you, little Ana. Forgive me for taking so long to return.”“Oh, I thought I was never going to see you again after Father told us that he failed to locate you,” Anastasia said, her soft voice breaking with every word.Aera turned to me with a sweet smile and mou
Waving back at little Ana with a big smile, I ignored the deep gaze Alexei was giving me while he sat beside me. “Ana was adorable, is she not?”“Indeed she is,” Alexei agreed, his gaze was still on me but my eyes remained on Ana until she was gone out of sight. “She has been very adorable that you sleep in her room every night for a month and left me aching while I lay in our bed. I know she's our daughter now, but I have needs.”I laughed at his quip and rolled my eyes at Alexei. “You know that I wanted to be called mother as well, right? Then endure, Alexei. I get jealous every time Ana calls you father. I should be called mother too.”Alexei curled his hands on my hip and brought me closer to him, making me sit on his lap. When my eyes found his burning ones, that's when I knew what he was about to do to me. And even though I have committed to making Ana call me mother ever since I returned to Triton, I allowed it, anticipated it more than I intended.Keeping my eyes on his gray o
Six months earlier...The wounds in my back were nothing compared to what my heart had been through. Although both had bled and pained the same, the scars in my heart caused by Triton’s betrayal would certainly never fade until I die. There was nothing worse than being betrayed by you treated as your own family and kept a secret that would make my world crash.What Alexei did to my mother was unforgivable and for that, I was bound to leave. End the bond I had with him even though our wolves would suffer more than we do. But then, after months of leaving Triton, after months of gambling my life at the Muck’s riot, hoping to die in one of the Antartis' hands because I had lost my will to live, my heart still calls for him. My heart still longed for Alexei. After the Muck’s riot, I was rather disappointed than triumphant. I did not die. The Moon Goddess doesn’t let me die like I hoped. So, I left Muck the moment we had our victories even though I was covered in a fresh wound and a few c
“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