“Stop playing around, Irina! What did you do to Evander?! Where is my husband?”“All I can say is he doesn’t want to see you, big sister,” Irina said while her eyes were admiring her purplish, glittery nails.There was poison in her voice when she uttered the last two words despisingly. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and sneered, “Oh, I forgot. You are not my real sister, right? I wish Dad had just left you to die. Maybe our lives are different now. Maybe I am happier now!”I scowled at her. “Your greediness and envy will never make you happy, Irina. You all brought doom to yourselves!”“Ungrateful b*tch!” She hissed at me, more like a viper than a she-wolf. Kian stepped in front of us, shielding me from Irina.But from behind the shadows, another tall and muscular silhouette stepped into the moonlight, just behind Irina, and then my heart just stopped. A silent gasp escaped from my mouth as I watched Evander walk closer to Irina. His face was blank and his eyes were distant.Like s
I thought I saw something that flashed in my eyes and something snapped back into place within me—a piece of the puzzle that had been missing for weeks. The static noise of a familiar tune linked my mind back to my mate’s soul. My husband’s very essence.Everything happened so slowly in my head as my husband jumped in front of me and my eyes widened. I saw the bullet buried straight in his right shoulder and he roared in pain and anger, making the ground tremble. Fresh, crimson blood gushed from the bullet wound and it didn’t heal because of the silver metal.Irina’s eyes widened. “H-How did you recover from that spell?!” she yelled in both shock and anger and then turned to the witch, who was hiding behind a tree not too far from her. “Sophia! What happened?!”The poor witch trembled; her frail little body almost collapsed as she saw Irina’s rage. “I-I don’t know, my lady! I made sure I got a tight grip on his mind! He was completely under your command—”“Useless b*tch!” Irina yelled
“Irina showed herself to me that night in the forest, during my patrol within the borders.”All of us gathered in the council meeting hall; we were all curious and eager to know what happened to my husband that night when he disappeared. It took me a lot of patience to wait for this moment after we shared passionate lovemaking last night and after everyone recovered from the intense fight against Irina’s men, we decided to talk about it in the council building, where anyone wouldn’t be able to hear us. The room was built to be soundproof, and it was the perfect place for my husband to share the things that we never wanted the council to know.“It’s been a week, Evan. What did Irina do to you? Do you remember anything? Did she hurt you?” Sheiyan asked; her eyes were full of worry for her brother and I couldn’t blame her. He was under the spell of the witch who worked with Irina and we didn’t know what else that woman did to my husband.That thought brought a sickening feeling to my gu
“Evander, wait!”I grabbed his hand so forcefully that Evander swiveled, and his dark eyes met mine. I was taken aback by that stern look on his face but I gritted my teeth and glared at him, letting him know how mad I was when he walked out of the council meeting hall.He was already halfway down the hallway towards the library building when I“You heard Shei. You should stay away from me, Holly.” He snarled in his husky voice; his eyes were burning with anger yet his face remained cold and composed. “You are not safe around me, Holly.”I made my face as cold and hard as steel. There was no way he would let this happen! I won’t let him push me away again just because he wasn’t sure if he could protect me or not! “I don’t need protection, Evander. I don’t need anyone to watch over me. I can take care of me! I can protect myself and our baby and I can fight!I expected him to explode into anger and scream at me but Evander, despite the deadly look on his scary calmed face answered to m
“Happy to see you woke up with all your limbs still intact, Holly.”Alec’s snide remarks made Evander growl as he glared at the Agarwood Alpha. “What are you doing here, Alec? Are you not needed on your own turf? I noticed you have been spending too much time here. You are enjoying too much in this place, Alec.”Alec raised an eyebrow at my husband. His eyes went soft on me and then he smirked at Evander, taunting my husband very early in the morning. “Well, I don’t think your crew can handle this so you should thank me for helping you, Evander. Admitting to yourself that you are lucky to have me here won’t hurt that much.”Evander scoffed. “Asshole.”Shei rolled her eyes at the two while Melinda, as her usual self, just minded the food in front of her. I noticed how she loves pudding for breakfast.“Did anything happened?” Beta Kian asked, but when he realized his words had hidden meaning to them and made Shei blush, he immediately added with a little panic, “I mean, not that, you kn
[Calm down, Holly.]How the hell could I calm down?!Evander was behind me as well as Alec. I didn’t care if Alec went with us. All I knew was that my whole body was trembling with both fear and trepidation for my father’s life.The guard led us straight to the bedroom of the Alpha King. I’ve never been into this part of the Snakewood Palace and that’s how I realized how sad it was that I wanted to get away from this place so badly to be with my husband that I hadn't even considered how my father would feel about it.Tears rolled down my face as the sentinels guarding my dad’s room opened the heavy wooden door decorated with gilded linings and exquisite carvings—the map of his realm.Sometimes, when dad acted so natural and silly in front of me during our breakfast bondings, I always forgot he was a king. An Alpha King who had been protecting his people and his realm and had been restoring peace between packs and their alphas. I forgot that he was a powerful man who destroyed so many
“Got Daddy’s approval to finally like your husband?”I frowned and turned to see Alec walking towards me with his hands in his pockets. There was a taunting grin on his face that I didn’t like so I answered him with a glare.“Why are you even here, Alec? It’s a family matter. You are not supposed to be in here.” I snapped at him as he stood beside me while staring at the Alpha King’s bedroom door. Evadner was still inside, talking with Dad, and my heart had been beating so loud and nervous, wondering what kind of conversation they were having.“I’m here for the Alpha King, Holly. Of course, I am worried for him as well. This realm will fall if we lose the man who has been keeping the peace on this continent. I will never let Randalf win this war, Holly. After what he and Irina did to you and the people of this realm, I swore to myself that I would stop them with everything I had." His eyebrow rose with distaste as he looked back at the door and crossed his arms against his chest. “Eve
[IRINA’s Point of View]“Irina! Don’t you turn your back on me!”I felt like I was going to explode at any moment—that if I didn’t walk out of the room, I might forget that he was the man who brought me into this world. I tried my best to suppress the boiling anger in me. I couldn’t accept my recent defeat after I failed to kill the woman who ruined my life! The girl who ruined everything for me and my father! Who ruined the pack that took care of her her whole life!That ungrateful b*tch! I wanted to smash her like an insect in the palm of my hands. Torture her until she begs me to end her suffering. But, of course, I won’t make it easy for her. I wanted her to watch every person she loved die in front of her eyes, begging her to save them or screaming and blaming her for the fate that happened because she came into their lives.I wanted her to wish she never existed!“I already explained it to you, Dad. That’s all that happened! I nearly got her!”Dad glared at me, his face shudderi
[HOLLY’s Point of View]Evander held my hand and squeezed it tight as we watched Alec jump his way down the mountain with Misha, who was still unconscious, on his back.“Are you ready?” Evander asked. There was sadness and fear in his green eyes, but he was smiling at me. He was smiling with a promise that he would do everything to keep me safe and alive no matter what.And that scared me.When it was just me and him and the war that was waiting for us both, that’s when I felt the terror and I knew he saw it in my eyes. But instead of telling me that things were going to be alright, instead of telling me that we would survive this, he kissed my forehead and pulled me to him in a tight embrace. We stayed like that for a minute as we listened to the rustling of the leaves in the forest. The sound of the birds in the sky and the water of the stream as it splashes softly against the small rocks. We felt each other’s warmth and the gentle brush of the cold breeze on our bare skin. His lips
[HOLLY’s Point of View]I stood and gave my dad a determined look. I would never hide again. I would never just watch and wait. “I can fight, and I will fight for my friends and family.”Dad’s exhausted face beamed with pride and love as he patted me on the shoulder and smiled at me. “Let’s go kick someone’s *ss.”I laughed softly at the unusual words Dad used, and then we nodded at each other, preparing to lunge midair to shift into our wolves. My eyes were on Alec and my husband. Evadner was still on top of Randalf’s reaching for the old man’s head, but Randalf, despite his age, was still physically strong for his human form.On Dad’s cue, we jumped high from the ground, so high that all the eyes in the camp got distracted from us. Two glittering silver wolves, so ancient and beautiful, everyone stopped from what they were doing. Even Evander’s eyes widened with both awe and shock as he saw us, and Randalf took advantage of it and immediately ran away from my husband like a terrifie
[HOLLY’s Point of View]There was no way I would let him go again. No way I would let him dive back into Randalf’s camp now that the old man knew he wasn’t on their side.I heard Dad’s scream even when I got out of the main hall and straight to the courtyard, where I shifted back to my wolf form and fought three more rogues before I had to hide behind the tall walls of the garden labyrinth to breathe. My strength was slowly depleting and the wounds on my back hadn’t completely healed yet. I had to go after my husband and make sure he could go out there alive with or without the witch who helped him.Randalf will kill him on sight once they see him.[Evander!] I screamed, trying to reach out to him through our bond. [Evander! Where are you!?]But it seemed he was too far away or something interfered with the mind-link connection, so I decided to stand on my four paws again and used my ability to sneak around without being detected. The mountainside wasn’t too far from the Snakewood Pal
[Holly’s Point of View]“Dad!!!”I was about to lunge myself towards them, but strong arms pulled me back. I was baffled when I saw Alec pulling me away from Irina, who was still holding the short sword to my father’s neck.Every part of me ached, but nothing could compare to how my heart felt as I saw the despair in my father’s eyes. He mouthed the word “No.” but I shook my head as tears rolled down my face. There was no way I would leave him in the hands of the man who wanted him dead! There was no way I would let him die!“Tell me what you want, Randalf! Just don’t—” I swallowed hard as a sob emerged from my swelling throat. “Just don’t kill my father!”“We already have what we want, Holly! We don’t need you! Now that we have the Alpha King, the whole palace and the realm will kneel to my father, and nothing can stop us now!” Irina yelled at me with detest in her voice. “Kill both of them!”“Stay behind me, Holly!” Alec yelled as he shifted back to his wolf form and kicked and cla
[HOLLY’s Point of View]“Evander disappeared from the frontline.”My focus on my baby Evlon was distracted by Kian’s murmur as he noticed Evander’s disappearance from Randalf’s side. It suddenly made me nervous. What happened to him? Where did he go?Mel took baby Evlon from me when I pushed myself to sit on the sofa. The room was still filled with the scent of my blood, but my family didn’t mind. They were more concerned with my healing and Evander’s situation, while all our eyes were now focused on the news.“I have to go there,” I said, still wincing from the pain, but I had to do something. For my father and for my husband. “I have to be there for my dad and Evander.”“You just gave birth, Holly! Your body is still healing, and your wounds are still fresh! There is no way I will let you go there in this condition! My brother will kill me!” Sheiyan hysterically uttered, knowing that when I said things, I would do anything to do it.But this time, Shei was right. I assessed my body,
[ALPHA EVANDER’s Point of View]My whole body tensed as I stood slowly with both my hands on the level of my head.Charlie’s eyes told me that I would be dead once I made a wrong move, and I had to be careful. He was already thinking that I sided with Randalf, and without him knowing the truth—about what really happened in the mountains—Holly’s father would never understand why I had to do all of this.“Listen to me, Charlie—”Charlie sighed, and the dark look on his face turned into disappointment. I felt my whole being finally relaxed as he stepped away from me and onto the chair of his desk. He clasped his hands, and I finally saw that exhaustion that deepened his set of honey-brown eyes.“Holly told me everything, Evander. I was really furious that you put your family’s life in danger, but I understand when Holly told me that all of you were after that pearl. And she told me everything about that pearl. About how Randalf stole parts of her memories and stored them in that thing. U
[ALPHA EVANDER’s Point of View]“What is wrong with you, Evander? You look like you had seen a ghost.”I barely heard Randalf’s voice as I kept my breathing in control while having this excruciating pain I felt in every inch of my body. My head felt like being pierced by thousand spears, and it took me a lot of strength not to fall down on my knees and scream from the pain.Misha looked at me as she put her fingers on my pulse and felt my forehead with the back of my hand. My jaw tightened as she gave me a warning look not to make the pain look too obvious. “I think he is having a fever. It must be the infection he got from the pit.”Randalf scowled at Misha. “Go and give him something, Misha! We can’t display any weakness while we are being broadcast all over the continent. Go and do something about that infection or whatever the hell is that!”“Yes, Alpha Randalf.” She bowed her head to the old man. I gave Randalf one piercing look from the corner of my eyes and then averted immedia
[HOLLY’s Point of View]“What is the commotion about, Kian?”Everyone was in the sitting area with all their eyes focused on the sixty-inch-wide television screen. Shei increased the volume, and I saw so many rogues standing on the northern borders of the Snakewood Territory. I didn’t feel good this whole morning, and all I had were eggs. Other than those, I threw them up, and that’s why I had been dizzy the whole day.All the Snakewood soldiers lined up in defense positions outside and inside the gates and the wall; all were armed with razor-sharp metal claws, all strapped around their legs and paws. Some were armed with crossbows with silver arrows for it was forbidden to use guns inside the continent and within the realm.“Randalf isn’t bluffing at all. He really has thousands of Rogues with him,” Alec murmured in horror. His mouth was slightly open and his face was pale as paper when the excruciating memories of their stay in the rogue camp returned to him.Everything was shot liv
[HOLLY’s Point of View]The banging on the door suddenly sounded unreal. Then for once, I thought the noise was just from the thumping of my own heartbeat reverberating through my deafened ears. The violent winds from the mountains threw the windows of my room open. The hinges creaked threateningly as the white sheer curtains whipped against the glass panes.Mel’s small hands were painfully tight against my wrists and she was incredibly strong; it terrified me. Something was happening to her. It was as if the darkness stored inside that pearl necklace had influenced her mind when it should be her who was supposed to command the ‘thing’ to obey her bidding.The power that was stored in the pearl was too much for Melinda to control and I saw it on her face. She was asking me for help.“Mel! Just tell me what’s happening!” I asked through gritted teeth. I tried my hardest not to panic as the black completely covered her eyeball and my neck and shoulders started to feel so heavy it felt