“I'll kill them,” Crystal slurred as her hand tightened around the wine glass in her grip. “I'll kill them all!”She threw the glass across the room, shattering it against the wall. Her room was a mess following her outburst–beddings overturned, lamps broken, shards of glass all over the floor.Her father had been executed a few hours earlier. Not one person–not her relatives or the elders in the council–had tried to plead with the king to reconsider. They had all bowed their heads like a bunch of cowards and followed Julian’s every word.Now, her father was dead, her family was shamed, and their reputation was in tatters. A few weeks ago, she had thought that she would be the Luna Queen. It was a position that would have elevated her pack above everyone but the royal pack. Their pack had been envied by others for producing the future queen, something they had all sought for years. She could not believe how quickly everything had changed.Now, they were the laughing stock of the kingd
The revelation of Alpha Black's schemes sent the kingdom reeling. The packs that had lifted their voices against the royal pack retreated, claiming they had no idea that Alpha Black had ulterior motives.The royal pack’s reputation was restored, and the rumours regarding Julian's mismanagement and unfairness died. By uncovering Alpha Black's schemes with clear evidence, he had shown that he was capable of keeping the kingdom safe.Now, instead of slamming him for not marrying Crystal Black, everybody was saying he was lucky he hadn't. One of the new rumours going around was that Crystal had been sent by her father to assassinate the Lycan King.“They must have thought the king was stupid,” Lyra overheard one of the servants gossiping while two of them worked in the garden. Lyra was hidden behind a few of bushes, so they were unaware of her presence. “It turns out he had been steps ahead of them.”“I was so glad when she left the palace,” another one said. “She was already overbearing,
“According to the information we have received from the Red Moon Pack, the attack is so severe that Alpha Devon has been unable to deal with the rogues with his troops,” Asher informed everyone in the meeting room. “We need to send backup as soon as possible.”“We have enough to deal with already, we don't need this distraction. Let's deal with this as soon as possible so we can quickly get back to the issue with the corrupt wolves,” Julian instructed.“Who’ll lead the mission to the Red Moon Pack?” Asher asked. “All the security chiefs are either chasing leads concerning the tainted wolves or overseeing the situation in the rebelling packs. We'll have to relieve one of them to head to Red Moon.”Those inside the room agreed, and Lyra could see that none of them had any idea who to send to the Red Moon Pack. Since the security status of the kingdom was sensitive, it was not easy to simply pull one of the security chiefs from their stations and send them on an impromptu mission.The ro
Lyra pulled back and touched his face gently, brushing her fingers over his brows and temple and jaws.Julian reached up and took her hands in his. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.She looked into his eyes. “Like what?”His throat moved as he swallowed. A slight furrow appeared between his brows. “This is not your plot to run away, is it?”“Do you really think that?” Lyra asked, smiling. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Of course it's not. I'll miss you.”“Then you should come back to me quickly,” he told her.“I will,” she promised.He held her hands to his chest as he swooped in and kissed her. He kissed her hard but slowly, savouring every stroke of their lips against each other.When they pulled back for air, Lyra placed a hand on his chest and pushed him towards the bed. Following her lead, he fell back into the bed, sitting up against the headboard.Lyra followed, getting on the bed on her knees but keeping some distance between them. Slowly, she began unb
Lyra, Zero, and Beryl were accompanied by a group of carefully selected warriors to the Red Moon Pack. They were all highly trained and had dealt with rogue invaders many times before, so the expectation was that they would quickly suppress the attackers in Devon's pack.The journey to the Red Moon Pack took hours. When they got to the border, they found all roads blocked, forcing them to leave their vehicles behind and go the rest of the way on foot.As they got deeper into Red Moon territory, all they could see were signs of destruction. Most of the homes were destroyed and there was no one around, as if everybody had run away.As they got closer to the Alpha's residence, they started coming across a few rogues fighting with pack members. These were easy to subdue. However, as they got closer to the residence, the number of rogues steadily increased.Many of Red Moon's warriors were injured and fatigued, barely able to put up a fight. The compound outside Devon's residence was litte
Lyra found herself outside the building as her body went through transformation. All fighting around her ceased as everyone, both rogues and warriors, turned to see where the thunderous howl had come from.Devon, however, was not fazed. He went after Lyra, his fangs extended and ready to strike. However, when he jumped towards her, an invisible force slammed into him, thrusting him into the air and against the wall. That force was Lyra's aura, the ripples of which everyone in the yard felt.As everyone watched in shock, Lyra transformed into a big white shewolf, dwarfing everyone around her. The air was equal parts full of uncertainty, fear, and awe.While Lyra came to her full size, Devon got up from the ground. The thrust from earlier and the knock against the wall must have hurt, but he did not appear to be compromised in any way. He came at Lyra's wolf again with the same aggressiveness and energy from before.Lyra swiped her front paw and hit him, sending him flying across the ya
“Kill them!” one of the warriors from the Red Moon Pack who was already in his human form cried, getting to his feet. He pointed an accusing finger at the rogue. “They deserve to die. All of them!”Following his lead, a few other Red Moon warriors got up, baying for the rogues’ blood.“Silence!” Lyra thundered through her mind, quickly calming down the rising clamour. “I need all of them alive, for now. Let us look for survivors first.”Wasting no time, she quickly assigned members of her troops to different parts of the pack to look for survivors. While the rogues presented no threat under her wolf's control, she assigned a few of the royal guards to keep an eye on them at the mansion.After arranging everything, Lyra shifted and made her way back inside the servant quarters, remembering the servants who had hidden upstairs.“Lyra!” Beryl called from behind her. Lyra turned and foun
The next day, Lyra's team went all over the Red Moon Pack, doing security checks all over the territory. Lyra stationed warriors in all the strategic areas, ensuring there were enough scouts to raise an alert in case anyone tried a follow-up attack.While Lyra and Zero supervised the security teams, Beryl was busy in the infirmary. When Lyra got back to the Alpha's compound that evening, she went to the infirmary to check on the progress.Coincidentally, Beryl had just completed her round when Lyra got there.“Have you sat down at all today?” Lyra asked, looking at her friend with concern. Beryl was visibly exhausted, and Lyra knew that it was not only because of the physical exertion of tending to so many patients.When healers used their internal powers to heal, it drained them. Given the amount of patients with serious injuries who needed Beryl to use her own power, she must have pushed herself to her limit.“I can now,”
“Why aren’t you back yet?” Julian’s worried voice came across the phone when Lyra received his call.“I’m on my way,” Lyra told him. “I’ll be back soon.”“If you run into any problem, tell me,” he told her. “I know how Alpha Lucian can be. If he is giving you a hard time, I’ll teach him a lesson.”“Don’t worry, I can handle Lucian by myself,” she told him. “I’ve settled everything and I’ll be at the palace soon.”“Okay, I’m waiting for you,” he told her.Lyra hung up with a smile. Earlier, she had left on a trip to the Luminous Pack for the grand opening of a werewolf academy that would welcome students from all over the kingdom.Julian had been worried that Alpha Lucian would give her a hard time and wanted to go with her, but he had other official duties to attend to. Even though no werewolf in the kingdom could stand up to her, his first instinct was to protect her, whether from mortal danger or rude Alphas.“He really has no idea, does he?” Anna asked.Lyra shook her head. “Nope.”
Many days later, Lyra woke up in the palace. Julian was lying next to her, sleeping peacefully. She smiled as she looked at him, a warm feeling blooming in her chest. She fought the urge to touch his face, afraid to wake him.However, when she turned to leave the bed, his arm shot out and hooked around her waist. “Don’t go,” he murmured sleepily.Lyra’s smile widened in amusement as she looked back at him. “You are awake?”He shook his head, his eyes still closed. “No.”She laughed and tapped his hand. “Get up, Your Majesty,” she teased. “We have a kingdom to run.”He tightened his hold around her, pulling her to him. “They can survive a few hours without us. It’s not like an evil witch is going to fly in and blast us all to hell.”“Haha,” Lyra laughed dryly. “I’m glad you can joke about that.”Julian opened his eyes and smiled. “Me too.”They both burst laughing, with Lyra falling back to his side. Julian reached for her face and kissed her. Lyra kissed him back, getting lost in the
Deciding to attack together, Julian and Lyra ran towards the altar. While they were midway, Valeria waved her hand, sending a wave of energy their way.They braced themselves, but it turned out to be nothing like the attacks they had faced from the other witches. The energy was so forceful that it knocked them off their feet and sent them flying backwards before they crashed into the floor.As they collected themselves from the floor, Valeria’s laugh filled the room. “Did you think you could come here and do whatever you wanted? Prepare for your death!”Just when they had gotten back on their feet, she hit them with another blast of energy. This time, they both crashed into the wall before falling to the ground.“How is she so strong?” Lyra asked Julian through their mindlink. It was impressive that she could knock both of them around like that at the same time.“She is too powerful,” Julian replied. “We can’t let her wear us out. I’ll go all in, and when she is distracted with me, yo
Following Julian’s scent, Lyra found the basement a few minutes later. It was a dank round room solely illuminated by candles.As soon as Lyra walked into the room, she was welcomed by the sound of clapping. Looking up, she saw Valeria standing on a raised altar in the middle of the room. She was the one clapping, a huge smirk on her lips.“We are all here,” Valeria said. “Perfect.”After having her plans thwarted so many times, Valeria had been scrambling to find a way to get rid of the Lycan King and the Luna Queen.She had not expected that the Rogue King would be such a useless ally. Even after she had helped him steal the Lycan King’s identity and made him powerful talismans, he had failed.As if that wasn’t bad enough, all her latest experiments failed. After finding out that the Lycan Kingdom had made significant steps in finding a weapon that could easily eliminate corrupted wolves, she had tried to make them stronger.She had succeeded in making stronger, faster, and more res
Using the tip of her dagger, Lyra pricked her fingertip. When blood pooled at the tip, she pressed it to the barrier. During her research while making the serums, Beryl had read somewhere that the Wolf Mother’s blood could be used to break magical barriers.It turned out to be true as the barrier between them and the beasts dissipated the moment Lyra touched it with her blood. As soon as the barrier was down, the beasts rushed towards them.There were all sorts of beasts, from winged creatures that were as big as horses and serpents with multiple heads. Among the beasts were also corrupted wolves.The division of the troop that had been assigned archery roles released a multitude of arrows, raining them down on the beasts. The arrows were created with special magical metal tips doused in poison, allowing them to deal critical damage to magical creatures with a single hit.The second division of the troop shifted into their wolf forms and met the beasts head on. When it was no longer p
The southern jungle covered hundreds of thousands of hectares, providing a good hiding place for rogues. However, even rogues did not venture into the deepest parts of the forest, since they were considered too dangerous.The forest was rumoured to not only be the witches’ hideout, but to also contain all sorts of magical beasts. While some of the southern packs had led expeditions into the jungle while dealing with rogues, they did not have enough information that could be used to accurately map out the witch’s lair.After hours of walking in the jungle, Lyra finally sensed magical power. Leading the way, she guided the troops deeper into the forest. The farther they got, the more ominous it became. The magical power also got stronger, and everybody could feel it.After close to an hour, they spied a castle through the trees. It was big and old, its walls almost entirely covered by vines.“This is it,” Lyra informed everybody through mindlink. “I’ve felt Valeria’s energy before, and
As soon as Julian and Lyra got back to the palace, Beryl and Spencer took the flower and started making the antidote.They had been gone less than an hour, but Zero’s condition had worsened. Even with Beryl and Spencer’s help, he would not have been able to hold on much longer without the antidote.As for Anna, she was still unconscious, but there were no signs that she was in danger. There also hadn’t been any other incidents in the palace.When Beryl administered the antidote to Zero, his condition started improving right away. As soon as he woke up, he looked around for Anna. When he did not see her, fear washed over him. Before losing consciousness, he had heard people calling for her execution.“Where is Anna?” he asked Beryl, getting down from the hospital bed. “Is she okay? It was not her fault. She is not working for the witches.”“We know,” Beryl told him. “The witch possessed her and made her do it. She is fine now, but she passed out and is in recovery. Don’t worry, she is
The snake had appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Lyra so fast that Julian did not get a chance to warn her. It was long and thick, and its body was coiled around Lyra’s upper body and neck, its head poised to strike.Julian’s heart froze in fear as the gravity of the situation registered. Both of them could not use their magic or werewolf abilities. From the size and appearance of the snake, he could tell it was not a normal one. It must be a magical beast.Magical beasts normally had their own territories and attacked anyone who trespassed. However, Julian had never heard that the Deadly Swamp was territory to any magical beast.The snake had only appeared after Lyra plucked out the flower, so it was more likely that the beast was guarding the flower, not the swamp.“Throw away the flower,” he yelled at Lyra. “It’s guarding the flower. As long as you have it, it won’t let you go.”Lyra did not want to let go of the flower, but she was aware that she could not afford to
After leaving the infirmary, Julian and Lyra instructed staff around the palace to ensure all the guests were catered to, leaving Asher in supervision.They also ensured that security was beefed up around the palace and the capital city in case the witches attempted another attack.Lyra was worried that it might be too late by the time they got to the swamp, found the flower, and brought it back to Beryl and Spencer to make the antidote. The two healers could keep Zero alive with their healing powers, but the poison was powerful and would kill him if not stopped soon.“We are taking the jet, right?” Lyra asked Julian as they got ready in the weapon room, grabbing basic items that would come in handy in the swamp.“No,” Julian said.“If we drive, we’ll never get back in time,” she said.“We are not driving,” he told her. “Come, I’ll show you something.”Moving to one end of the room, he pressed his palm to a panel on the wall next to a door labelled ‘Restricted Access’. The door opened