[HOLLY's Point of View]I couldn’t sleep.It was as if something beyond the territory of the Blackwood was calling me. A feeling so familiar it made me feel so restless and concerned and it was something beyond words to describe because I had never felt like this before.Even Lily was tense. I could picture her walking in circles with her eyes sharp, trying to sense something dangerous. But we were finally in the Blackwood Manor. We were at home.With soft steps, I went to the windows and opened them despite the rules that all the windows and the doors of the manor should be closed before six in the evening. I bit my lowerlip hard when the cold breeze brushed my bare skin and entered my room, almost putting the fire off my scented candles.There was a whisper in the wind. More like a melody that was familiar, and I was sure I had heard it before. I just... I just couldn’t remember when or where.“Evander.” I breathed as I looked at the mountains and closed my eyes. I let the cold bree
[HOLLY’s Point of View]My eyes widened.It was as if I had forgotten how to breathe for seconds.I looked into Mel’s copper eyes, confused and overwhelmed, but I couldn’t find the right words to say. Or ask her. I just held the pearl in the middle of the palm of my hand and let my eyes wonder at the beauty of the necklace.Something in it draws me in, and I couldn’t explain the storm of emotions swirling in my chest. The necklace was cold on my skin. Cold, dark, and heavy.“H-Holly?” Mel asked, scared that I have swallowed my tongue. “Say something, please.” Her one good eye was intense as she gazed at my face, studying every emotion in it.“H-How, Mel? How did you get it?” I asked, still breathless at the sight of the pearl.She looked at Alec first and gave her mate a small smile, and then to me. Her eyes lit with excitement and happiness. “When I got into Alec’s mansion and was about to take a bath, I found this necklace in one of the pockets of my jacket, Holly. It was as if some
[ALPHA EVANDER’s Point of View]“Misha told me you asked for my presence.”I hated being in her tent and that seductive glare she was giving me.Irina was sitting on the edge of her bed, legs crossed and hands twirling her golden braid. It was written all over her face about how much she despised this place and everything about it. As a city girl, I knew Irina must be missing the life she left after she and her father were convicted of treason against the crown and the realm.“Yes.” She answered with a flirty smile as she traced circles on the bed. I wanted to squint my eyes and let her know how it disgusted me to see her like that, but Misha had warned me. Play nice and safe, or our masks will be revealed and we will both die in this place.I waited for her to say more about why she called for me, but she stood, and my back tensed and straightened. Irina was scared of me. She wouldn’t dare seduce me, no matter how much she missed having someone on her bed.Or so I thought.I almost c
[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
[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
[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
[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
[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,