[HOLLY’s Point-of-View]I groaned.I smelled rusting metal and the fresh scent of the forest around me. I smelled wet concrete and heard the splattering of the rain on the musky earth.My eyelid flutter. Every inch of me was aching and when I moved, my ears were filled with the clanging noise of the chains I felt around my wounded wrists. The searing pain the metal was inflicting on me made my head panic. It was a silver chain! I had to remove it before the metal ate my flesh deep into my bones!I squinted and found myself in the middle of a vast, abandoned building. The walls were filthy and covered with moss. The roof has huge holes and the rainwater entered the building, creating puddles of mud around the area.My chest was heaving. I had to get rid of the silver chain as fast as I could but I was too weak to destroy it. The thing that they injected me stopped me from using my werewolf strength. I was slowly dying and I couldn’t do anything but scream.“HELP ME!” I screamed at the
[ALEC’s Point-of-View]Alpha Alec, someone urgently needs to talk to you,” Robert, my Beta, handed me the wireless telephone. I looked at his face stoically, annoyed and not wanting to answer anybody’s phone call. Not today when I was in my worst mood because of Irina’s outrageous behavior in the bar.“I don’t want to talk to anyone. And if it’s Irina, tell her I am out of town. Or out of the country. I don’t have any energy to deal with her right now.”“I’m afraid it isn’t Lady Irina, Alpha Alec. It’s Alpha Evander Edgerton of the Blackwood Pack waiting for you to answer it.”I froze. I never expected a call from a man who nearly destroyed everything I worked hard for after the crazy thing I did when I confessed all my feelings to Holly. I was in my weakest moment that day and all my plans were destroyed because of the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack.I never thought a she-wolf could be mated with someone just a few days after she survived rejection. I couldn’t understand why the Moon Go
[EVANDER’s Point-of-View]My hand trembled as I put the phone down on my desk.Kian’s face was etched with worry when he stared at me, “What did he say? Is Lady Holly back in Ivory pack?”“She’s not there,” I exhaled, fear crawling up my neck. So many bad scenarios played in my head but I shook them away. There was something wrong happening and I felt it. I felt she was in danger and needed to find her before it was too late.I stood from my table and Kian’s back straightened. He had already anticipated the orders I would give him, “Expand the search area! Send more patrol men all over the pack and alert all the ones who are guarding the border! Close the gates and don’t let anyone get in or out of the gates!”Kian bowed his head, “I’ll do everything I can to find Lady Holly,” he gave me a nod of reassurance and I nodded back at him, giving him my trust one hundred percent.I held the necklace I gave Holly on her last birthday. It was indeed from my mother who passed away a few years
[HOLLY’s Pint-of-View]My vision was too blurry I couldn’t see Irina’s face anymore.It was like seeing through the bottom of the glass and using it as a monocular. The pain was everywhere. Physically, mentally, and the most painful of all was seeing the sister taking pleasure in watching me while I die in front of her.The poison was spreading fast and I felt it as my heart started to beat so slowly that I was scared it would stop any time soon. My breaths were shallow and fast and my lungs felt leathery, too stiff to expand and make room for more oxygen to sustain my dying body.I was dying. I could feel the poison slowly spreading throughout my body, killing my organs one by one.“I-Irina…” I murmured and reached for her, begging her for help but she only stood in front of me, watching me like my suffering was a very amusing thing for her. I wondered if she had completely lost her mind. It was as if she never cared about whatever the consequences she did. All she wanted was for me
[EVANDER’s Point-of-View][Follow the car.] Leo, my inner wolf told me.[It stopped. I can’t go near it without the driver noticing my presence. I have to shift back to my human form.] I told Leo and he agreed with it.Here is my territory, I made a system where I stored clean dry clothes in random places so that whenever we shapeshift back to human form, we have clothes to wear. Our clothes explode and rip into ribbons whenever we transform. And to make sure no one would walk naked in the streets of this city, I provided my men clothes that were hidden in places where we could use them.After changing into a plain white shirt, jeans, and comfortable shoes, I followed the guy cautiously into the woods. I squinted because he looked so familiar even with his back on me.And that’s when I saw his face when he glanced a little bit and recognized it was Alec! Alec Aoki!My teeth pulled back to my teeth as I snarled in anger, wanting to lunge myself on his back and break his neck open. But
[EVANDER’s Point-of-View][GO AWAY, ALEC!] I couldn’t waste any more time! I could hear Holly’s breath going weaker and weaker as the seconds passed. [DO YOU F*CKING WANT HER TO DIE!?]I couldn’t believe Alec’s selfishness. Maybe that was why Holly never trusted him with her heart. [If you won’t move away, then I have no choice but to rip that f*cking head of yours away from your shoulders!] I growled and ran towards him giving all my strength to this one last attack and prayed to the Moon Goddess to give me more strength to save Holly.Alec blocked my claws but I jumped again and aimed on his neck. It was too fast he had no time to block my attack again. His eyes widened in horror, knowing that he was about to die. But I froze when I heard Holly cough and when I glanced at her, I thought my heart stopped after seeing that she was already coughing blood.Alec was too petrified to stop me from running towards my mate. He fell to the ground, trembling as his head dropped in defeat. That
[EVANDER’s Point-of-View]The Operation was successful.But Holly has been unconscious since then. The doctors did everything they could and Holly was finally safe from the poison and the fatal injuries she got after the incident. But it was up to the Moon Goddess if Holly would open her eyes again or remain in a coma for weeks, months… or worse, years, like what the doctor said.I was so devastated I couldn’t think straight.It’s been six days and she hasn’t woken up yet.Kian was kind enough to give me rest regarding my duties as the Alpha. He was the one communicating with the elder councils about the whereabouts of my people and had been working hard to fix my schedules and meetings with the other leaders of the Alliance.The news about what happened had spread like wildfire.On day seven, Kian returned to the hospital to report and check on both of us. I could see on the dark circle under his eyes that he hadn’t had a good rest since the incident.“You have to stop and get some r
[HOLLY’s Point of View]I felt like the whole world was resting on my chest. It was so hard to breathe.Everything was black but I heard muffled noises. Voices of two people talking, not too far from me. I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. They sounded like they were mumbling over something serious and my wolf could feel the tension in the air while I was trapped in something dark and empty inside of me.I was floating in a void. I wanted to reach for the light shining dimly above me but whenever I tried to stretch my arms for it, something somewhere in my body burned. It was excruciating and I couldn’t exactly tell where the pain was because it was all over me. It was in every joint of my bones, in my stomach, in my head—it was in my bloodstream.Fighting hard not to succumb to darkness, I swam and kicked my legs to the surface. I needed air. I needed to reach for that small light even though I knew what was waiting for me on the other side was pain and I had no idea if I
[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