“Now sit far away from each other,” Irino demanded, waving his hands impatiently. “With a libido like you both, I don’t think two suppressants bottle is enough.”Alexei and I raised our heads and looked at Irino in objection. The way he received our reaction made me think that he was indeed serious and he refused to take no for an answer.With a frown, I stood up but Alexei grabbed my hand and pulled me back to sit beside him.“What’s wrong with you? We are not going to do it, all right. You don’t need to treat us as if I was we are star-crossed lovers,” Alexei complained. I could feel his hand tightening on mine. “We are mates for wolf’s sake. It’s normal.”“It’s normal, indeed! But what isn’t normal is mating in the hallway,” Irino reasoned out, his eyes starting to widen and deadly before he pointed at my chair. “If you want me not to take this prisoner back to his cell, move.”I withdrew my hands from Alexei and immediately complied with Irino’s order. Mikhail and Yelena, on the o
“Alexei, I—” I paused and scrambled for words as I gazed up at him. And then I swallowed the lump in my throat when I found myself lost for words, unable to express myself after his confession. But then I couldn't respond—No, I didn’t know what to respond. Alexei’s straightforward confession was unexpected and overwhelming. It was like lightning struck me all of a sudden and held me stunned for the longest time. His words were too big and unexpected for me to process because I didn’t think that this moment to happen sooner. He expressed how much he fancied me several times, mostly whenever we are in bed or after mating and so am I to him, but hearing those three particular rare words was different from saying them back to him. And I was speechless, not because I didn’t feel the same way towards Alexei, but because I didn’t know how to express it like he did so ardently. Alexei was more expressive, more romantic than I am after all. “Alexei, I—” “You don’t have to say it in return i
“Well, what do you know? I guess he couldn’t stand the restrictions anymore,” Mikhail remarked with a smirk, gazing down at Alexei who only had his pants on.I got up only to find myself dressed in his loose shirt. He must have put it on me when I was asleep. Good thing he wasn’t as reckless as me yesterday, otherwise, we would be found here in the middle of the woods naked.“It was good news. At least he will be free,” Yelena commented.“Free but not guaranteed to be respected and look up like he was before,” Irino said worriedly before he turned to me. “And we cannot follow what you insist. It’s already ten in the morning.”Surprised and disoriented, I looked up at the sun and realized that it was indeed very late. I groaned when what I visualized in my head became improbable. I chose lunch for this event because it was also lunch when Alexei and I succeeded to our ordained rank followed by my announcement about my first-ever plan for Triton about women’s rights. It would have been
After Irino and Svetlana were out of sight, Mikhail suddenly spoke. “So, what is it that you want us to do?”I scrambled for an excuse and ended up saying, “Nothing, I just want you both to rest and enjoy the fresh air here in the woods.”Mikhail and Yelena didn’t respond nor were they opposed to my order. They sat down just in front of us while guessing where Irino could hide the South’s gifts and how they were able to locate and steal them. It was ridiculous to think that they weren’t bickering because they found their mutual interest in one of the South's belongings.Suddenly, Alexei’s hands wrapped around my waist, his thumb sensually stroking my skin, which caused me to gaze down at him and reacted with fierce thirst and need. And I didn’t know how I was able to restrain myself from jumping onto him the moment our searing eyes met. I could have done it, but I restrained myself.He looked particularly pleasing and delectable in his morning look, especially when his hair was slight
“A-A-Alexei, what are you doing?” I asked him, my voice leaving my lips as a stutter full of confusion. Shaking my head, I looked at the crowd who were waiting for my answer. “I... I can’t—”“Moon Goddess save the new Alpha!” screamed one of the members, which caused me to stumble backward and panic.“Moon Goddess save the new Alpha!” Irino repeated, making me turn to him in surprise only to see Mikhail, Yelena, Svetlana, and Alina, including the former Alpha, chanting it together with the others, indicating that they were in favor of Alexei's decision.My eyes searched for Irino and when he met mine with an encouraging gaze, that’s when I knew that he knew Alexei’s plan all along. In fact, not just him but also the others who are giving me the same reaction, especially the former Alpha when he dipped his head at me as a sign of his humble acceptance and understanding. That acknowledgment made me more shocked than I had been after Alexei’s sudden announcement and I was so moved that I
“Oh, I thought you wouldn't ask...” Alexei whispered in between his ragged breaths before raising my legs, teasing the tip of my clitoris by giving it a luscious little circle and then swirling up to the base.I squirmed under his face before I felt him cup my butt cheeks and brought me closer, his lips brushing against my labia and his tongue making unpatterned movements towards my clitoris as he aggressively breathed through his nose. He momentarily withdrew from my pleasuring me and he hastily lay on the bed.“Come, I want you to sit on me,” he ordered impatiently, and guided me by pulling me closer.With a new and favorable position, I adjusted myself and settled above Alexei’s head like he wanted, carefully placing myself down not to crush him as I took support by holding onto the headboard. My toes automatically curled in bliss when I felt his lips move and then followed by the sweeping of his tongue.“Alexei...” A loud moan rushed through my throat and I found myself squirming
A pair of strong arms woke me up the next morning, wrapping me tightly with his pleasing warmth, soothing me in the first streak of the day. I opened my eyes and saw the sleeping Alexei beside me. His face was an inch away from mine, which gave me the chance to stare at him while he sleep.Alexei was almost perfect. I couldn’t point out anything that he lacks or his flaws because he’s almost perfect. From his fine and thin wavy hair, down to his piercing gray eyes, aristocratic pointed nose without bumps, incredibly asymmetrical, and balanced whole, down to his not too thin and not too thick plum lips, which were always the cause of my desire for coitus. I wouldn’t bother pointing out the flaws of his body because he had all those muscles in their right measure starting from his broad shoulders down to his stern legs.One can always think that Alexei was an intimidating man for his robust features and appearance, but he was tender when he softened to anyone he cared for, most especial
Hastily, Alexei tapped my back and handed me a glass of water. I chugged it before looking back at Irino. “Why? Why so sudden? Why must it have to be tonight?”“I don’t know. Maybe because they miss you?” Irino fired back a question, obviously a sarcastic quip.“Miss my ass. If you know my experience with Calisto, you wouldn’t dare to say that,” I whined and then my teeth clamped together. “I can’t. Move it.”“We can’t. They are not the only ones who wished to congratulate you but almost all packs,” Irino said, shaking his head. “You need to welcome them tonight.”“But— But I just hosted a dinner party last night. Don’t you think hosting another party is tiring for me?” I asked him, pointing to myself to express my frustrations. “Can an Alpha rest for a while before hosting another gathering?”“As if you were going to prepare it all by yourself. You’re just going to put on a beautiful dress and you are going to face them as the first female Alpha of this region. Why is tiring, huh? Ro
“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