I waited but Evander didn’t come to my room, just as he said.I couldn’t remember how many times I peeked between the curtains of the window but the three of them weren’t there anymore, and my heart sank, realizing that I hadn’t even had the chance to kiss my husband goodbye before he left. Was dad’s scolding so bad that he got too furious to go back inside the palace to see me? Or was it because of another urgent matter that he urgently had to attend and he didn’t have enough time to see me before he left?Whatever the reason, I had to endure my husband’s absence and make myself useful in any way I could.But how?There were too many sentinels guarding this palace in every corner. Four were assigned outside my room and I had no idea how many more were appointed all over this massive place.I tried to tether him through our bond and sense his presence but he was gone and out of my reach.“Goddess, I hate it here.” I grumbled and slumped on the edge of the bed, my eyes still looking ou
“You are not serious, right?”I gazed into my husband’s darkened eyes. His face hardened like steel as he gave me that contemplative look. But I could tell he was considering it. There was hesitation flashing in his emerald-green eyes.He knew that whatever memories Randalf asked Melinda to erase, they could be important.But then my heart sank when he said flatly. “No.”We were in my room. I had to wait three lonely days until Evander was able to get some rest from those endless meetings and had time to see me again. Sheiyan, on the other hand, pleaded that I shouldn’t bring that topic to my husband, expecting that Evander would only get furious about it. But I had to try. I had to convince my husband. He was the only person who understood my desperation to know about my lost memories.“You know how dangerous it is, Holly.” He sighed heavily, and I felt bad after I saw that exhausted look on his face. I could tell that the situation in the Blackwood pack worsened after a week of the
A day after that fight with Sheiyan, Evander found me staring blankly out the window of my room, overlooking the lush and vibrant colors of the garden. The sun was setting and the purple-pinkish sky made the whole scenery on my window look like a painting of a masterpiece that could easily draw someone’s attention to it.I turned to look at him. The rim of my eyes was red and swollen. My face was taut with utter agony, suffering from the fact that the only best friend I had hated me to the bone.“Holly…” Evander’s eyes were wide with fret as he made five large steps towards me from the door, where he was shocked after seeing the horrible look on my face.“Did something happen?" He gazed into my face; his instinct to protect me flashed in his eyes and then he pulled me into a tight embrace.Sheiyan didn’t tell him. She didn’t tell him about that awful argument we had.I shook my head before I pulled myself a little away from him to stare into his troubled eyes. “No. It’s okay, Evan. Ma
Evander had to think of a way for the sentinels to leave my door and as the Alpha King’s son-in-law, no one doubted when he told them a new shift schedule was released and it was their time for their rotation to be stationed at the gates of the garden.My heart was rioting in my chest when he told me that all the lights in the palace would be out in five minutes.“How is that possible?” I asked him when he came back to my room with a grin on his face. I couldn’t think of anything about how Evander could pull that off. But I knew him. There was no stopping him when he had to do or needed something.Dad was out of the country attending an economic meeting with the Alphas of the Southern Packs. Evander told me he got into Dad’s schedule where the old man would be away for days so we never had to worry about him running after us and beating the sh*t out of him.But cutting off the power of this massive place?“‘Kian knows someone who is working at the main power source of this palace and
My hips and legs were a bit stiff after I mounted Evander’s back in his wolf form. I was still in awe whenever I watched him shift in front of me. It was as if it were a very natural thing for him to do and I wondered if he still felt pain during that morphing process.Because every time I shifted, it felt as if I would collapse from pain and only had little enough energy to spare for the fight, which was a very dangerous thing if I was alone. I would be an easy target and it was hard that I couldn’t practice shifting when I was still pregnant with our firstborn.We left the car at the east border of the land that used to be the territory of the Ivory Pack.Carefully, I slid down my husband’s dark, shiny fur and felt it on my cheek before he stood on his four feet and scanned the whole area. I hooked the straps of a small backpack to my shoulders, where I secured my husband’s clothes so he could wear them when he shifted back to his human form.[How do you do it?] I asked him, full of
A snarl rumbled in my husband’s throat and I stroked his fur to calm him.[Let us wait, Evan. I have a feeling he personally knew Melinda. Hence, he won’t be able to get into that hole that easily.][I always know he is up to something.] Evander growled low in my head as we hid behind the thick bushes, far enough for Alec not to sense our presence. I kept stroking my husband’s fur until his breathing slowed and the massive, powerful muscle underneath that black coat relaxed.[We have to know what his connection is with her.] I breathed.Two minutes and Alec hasn’t climbed out of the hole. I started to feel worried. What if I was wrong and he didn’t really know Melinda? What if she kills him inside that dark, scary pit?[We have to go. We have to see if Alec is still alive in there.] I said to my husband with alarm and gave the bag of his clothes to him as he shifted back to his human form. I glanced in his direction and my heart skipped when my eyes scanned with hunger at that ripped
“Holly!”I heard Evander’s soft voice but all my mind was in a haze of pure anger—not for the scarred woman who was pressing herself against the hard, cold wall of her small hiding place but for the man who pretended he cared for me my whole life! The man who made me believe that he was my father and almost ruined my life if it wasn’t my mate who saved me from the darkest pit Randalf Ambrose dug for me.I tilted my head as I heard my husband whisper to me but my eyes were fixed on Melinda’s terrified face. Pale as moonlight. As if she had never seen the sun for a very long time. Scared that people might see her and report her to the man who made that horrible mark on her face. Her long, thin fingers went to her throat as if she were choking out of fear. No. It wasn’t fear. Those round, copper eyes were so wide that her eyes balls looked as if they were going to roll out of their sockets.“Holly! You are killing her!” Evander’s voice turned into a snarl as his body tensed. He was behin
I sharply turned to look at my husband from my shoulder.Even my mate went still as he gazed at Melinda’s copper eyes. “You want to join my pack?” He asked, his jaw tight and his brows meeting in a deep frown. He knew it was a huge risk to take a person like Melinda into his pack. A hybrid with a strange ability and the one who had been hunted by Randalf’s men—A smirk tugged on Evander’s lips and my brows raised as he continued speaking to the lady. “Fine. I can arrange it.”I turned around to look at my husband’s face. I knew what I was thinking might upset Melinda so I whispered it through our matebond. [You can’t be serious! The council—I don’t think they would agree with taking Melinda into our pack. They barely accepted me!]Evander’s eyes didn’t leave Melinda’s nervous face as he answered me. [We have no choice, love. I am still the Alpha of the pack. They shouldn’t question my authority.]The tension on my shoulders was released as soon as Evander’s emerald eyes went to gaze a
[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