“Stay resting, Aera,” Mason said in his most forbidding manner. “You fainted last night. Miss Ivanov, the pack’s doctor, strongly advised that you should rest and avoid putting yourself under strain for a while because you might get head trauma from that fall. Don’t persist.”I shook my head, tugging the blanket covering me and placing it on one side. “No. I am fine, Mason. I need to see Alexei. I need to see my mate now.”I got up and then held my head when it rankled as my vision spun all of a sudden, making me draw back and sit back on the bed. I heard Mason cluck his tongue at me before I turned to him with a wince only to see him giving me a disappointed look.“Why must you insist, Aera? Since when did you become so stubborn?” he asked before he poured me a glass of water on the metal glass and handed it out to me. “Thank Goddess, I came to see you in the dining hall before I decided to head to my room. The pack’s doctor was frantic and in need of help when I arrived. I don't kno
“Aera, please. You don't have to do this,” Yelena said as she gazed down at me. “Alexei was the prisoner in this room, it doesn’t include you.”“I am here because I wanted to, Yelena. If what you are pointing out to me is not included in your duty as my private secretary then you can now leave,” I said before I shifted to the other side. “I wish to wait here for my mate in peace and without chastise from everybody. Out of all shifters, it was you whom I expected to understand.” “I am saying this because I’m your friend,” she pointed out with a cross sigh. I could imagine her massaging the bridge of her nose by the way the tenor of her breathing changed. “It was all right to express your guilt after what you did to Alexei but sleeping outside his bedroom, on the floor, starving yourself? That is what I cannot bear to see, Aera. Alexei wasn’t going to open that door for you unless you stayed away from him for a while. Let him grieve alone.” “Then don’t come here to see me like this. Al
Mason didn’t answer but refused to meet my gaze. With the remaining strength I left, I stood up. Since I haven't been eating for weeks, my knees wobbled, causing me to lose balance slightly. Mason walked towards me to offer assistance but I raised my hand to stop him.“Answer me...” I demanded, my hand placed on my stomach as I force myself to keep standing. “Answer my question, damn it!” “He did!” he bit off and breathed out in order to calm himself. “Your father ordered me to stay for your protection just in case members of Triton turned their back on you. And then he wanted to persuade you to leave this pack after seeing the revolt of your subordinate that night.” “And for what? Be his heir and rule the pack who treated me like garbage?” I asked with a scoff, disbelieving that Mason has other intentions aside from my own protection, which I appreciated at first, but now not anymore. “Lead the members who had disdained me for my looks and incapacity for how many years, Mason? Ten y
I moaned when Alexei pinned me against the wall, nibbling my lower lip before giving me a slithering kiss which made me whimper in bliss. Every stroke and sweep of his tongue, every breath he took with me as we shared a kiss, and every warmth I received from his body proved so much conviction that the only thing I could do was surrender to his rhythm and follow his lead. At least, this time I was certain that the resentments I had for Alexei were no longer there to stop me and remind me how much I had hated him in the past. Responding to him in a trance of tongue was lighter, almost had no weight anymore since I rather felt rising into the thin air, which I never expected that I would get fond of in just a short span. The medium stubble added a rush of excitement flaring inside me when it would tickle my skin as he kissed me back until he stopped, suddenly drawing back away from the kiss which made me chaste his lips in objection. “Don’t stop,” I pleaded, locking my hands in his che
“Look at me...” I said, which Alexei contemplated but ended up acquiescing. When he finally looked in my direction, I smiled at him with the sweetest smile I had ever given to someone. I cupped his face and brought my face closer to his. “It doesn't matter to me now, you see. What matters is we both feel the same. We may have lost the five years of possible happy copulation but we all have the years together ahead of us.” I felt him concur but there was still reluctance in his acquiescence in the way he looked at me, questions inside his head that needed to be answered but couldn't inquire without being attacked by guilt. The longer I embraced my feelings for Alexei, the more he appeared to be transparent in my eyes. Even though he was holding back his thoughts, I knew exactly what he had in mind. Not just because we are mates and we share feelings, but because he never feared to show his emotions to me anymore. “You must be wondering why it was easy for me to move on...” I gave him
Closing my eyes, I felt Alexei’s lips brushed against mine; gentle like how the clouds moved in the sky, which I never anticipated from Alexei but adored when I finally had it. He slid his tongue, swept it on mine, and I allowed myself to drown in his taste, letting him maneuver the moment I had dreamt about every now and then ever since I realized how much I cared for him.Alexei kissed me as if my lips were a delicate vase that should be handled with care, and yet the conviction remained unchanged; the need and desire were still in every motion of his tongue and hands when he began to fondle my shoulders, arms, down to my waist and back. Oh, the Goddess knew how much I wanted this to happen, no matter how many times I declined it and there’s no way I’m going to deprive this pleasure of myself ever again. Not anymore when it makes me feel the happiest of all.He nibbled my lip, licked the corner of my lip, hooked his tongue on mine, he did everything that made me melt in need. From th
Alexei grunted and even deepened his thrust, and all I could do was melt and react to his every movement, moaning his name in his ears non-stop, begging him to keep going as my womb tightened as I held it back.“Alexei, I’m cumming...” I told him, my voice hoarse and ripped. I placed my hands on his back, pulling him even closer, as if he would disappear like an ethereal mist. I locked my eyes on his burning ones and I saw the passion behind his lashes. Just like mine, his pupil has changed into bright yellow. Although I had seen it many times, now was the only time that I worshiped how bright it was. “Don’t stop...” Alexei cupped my face and gave me a ravenous kiss as his response. I could feel him breathing through his nose as he even deepened the kiss. The moment his hands found one of my breasts, I lost it. At this moment, I knew and I admitted that I’m going to keep wanting it from now on. The pleasure was too much to handle and it was almost good in almost the same measure, bewi
“What?” I asked, drawing back in visible horror. When I remembered the sleeping Alexei on the floor, I lowered my voice before I spoke. “They can’t do that. He couldn't break his word. He said three months. He had once played dirty with us. How can he demand so impatiently?” “I don’t have any idea but they already did. But I supposed that the Chasma was confident that they would win the war once we didn't surrender Alexia...” Yelena said, as though she still had information left unsaid. She kept contemplating until she surrendered. “Also, the Fedorovs...” Yelena trailed off and once again, I drew back in horror while looking at Yelena’s guilty eyes. From the way she gazed back at me, I knew something bad had happened again—No, even worse than bad to see Yelena’s face glaced with sorrow despite the fact that she had been treated badly by the Fedorovs. And in the back of my head, I already knew what it was. Opening the door, I shifted to my wolf and went outside the gate to confirm th
“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