[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,
[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]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]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]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 saw how Irina looked at the dress miserably. I could tell her indecisiveness about what to wear after Dad, Randalf Ambrose, Alpha of the Ivory Pack sent her so many expensive dresses for whatever occasion that was coming.I couldn’t help but lean on the wall, not too far from my sister’s room. I sadly sighed while holding a broom in my hand. The calluses and blisters were nothing compared to the pain I felt for wishing Dad to love me as much as he loved Irina—for wishing that he could treat me the same way he treats Irina with so much adoration. I hated it. I wish I could change things.But of course, I don’t have power over the destiny that was given to me. I was wolfless. Weak. A burden to my father’s pack and everyone. Maybe if I was in a different situation where my Dad wasn’t the Alpha, the people here had already thrown me away from this place. A wolfless like me was an embarrassment to everyone. A weakling that makes a pack look vulnerable to the enemi