Alvira gives a cold and wicked glance to Elise, unconscious frame on the seat. She doesn’t care about what Kaide wants; she is going to make sure Rygan doesn’t find out the truth from Elise. Alvira is more than brutal in her decision; even her masked companion looks skeptical as they search around the forest; it is getting darker, and they aren’t supposed to be there after nightfall. The cold night loomed eerily as the masked delta bristled with fear of being in this part of the forest. “Is this alright, my lady? It would have been better if she faced death in the pack than this!” “Don’t you dare speak about my decisions; take her out now,” she snarls at the male servant. He pulls Elise's unconscious frame from the carriage, putting her to the ground. “Hurry!” Alvira's voice echoes as the male rushes back in haste, feeling the air already changing. With a whip to the two horses, they were off; they often used their horses when they wanted a quiet journey and didn’t want to l
Elise feels like she’s been hit by a heavy boulder; her labored breathing turns calm the moment she begins to regain consciousness. Gone were the stone walls and iron doors she was kept in to hold her; now she was looking at the sky and stars above. Her body feels itchy on the dewy grass she is lying on. It takes a moment for her to push herself up from the floor; every movement makes the grass crunch under her body. She groaned from the pain and her sore arms. Her head still felt a bit foggy. She steadied herself with the bark of a tree she saw, leaning over it, confused and panicked. She tried to navigate where she was. “What in the moon?” she called, still groggy from the sleeping smoke."where the hell am I?" She freezes as the memory returns to her mind. She recalls what happened back before she fell unconscious and how Kaide and Alvira once again used their dirty tricks to get her, and this time she’s taken to the middle of nowhere. She feels the cold shif
Book II HAYDEN Nights in the pack have been uneventful; it always has been for the years that we’ve been on this island, away from the other packs and away from the fight. Ever since the bloody battle that scarred our people two decades ago, great leaders have been lost to it. My wolf brothers and I sat perched on the top of a hilltop that surrounds and overlooks the pack, watching the stars align in the sky just like any other day, but for a moment, it felt different. “Why are you spacing out, Hayden?” Jax, a beta, and my best friend called to me while the others snickered around the fire. I don’t know why this night felt colder than the other nights I’ve spent on patrol with my men. “I’m sure he’s thinking about the very pretty female who seduced him to her bed last night; he left early from the bar,” my other friend Beta Michael mutters, making the small group howl with laughter. "Well, fuck you, Michael,” I mutter with a chuckle, but it was interrupted by a damning h
The search had just begun back at the Blackmoon pack; they scavenged from their pack until they entered the territory filled with rogues. The rogues were smart enough not to attack or even make themselves seen by Rygan; they felt the bloodlust pulsating from him. The fury and rage in his gaze showed there would be no mercy if caught. Rygan was like a madman on a mission; he scoured the territories with his men, and they never saw this feral yet beastly nature from Rygan, not since Elise was taken. After an hour in the rogue territory, Rygan finally gets a whiff of a different scent, a bloody one that smells like a mortal enemy. His snout flared as he trailed the scent to the edge of the rogue's lands. He comes face-to-face with a human, barely alive, his hands covering his throat, and he is trying to stop the blood from spilling out. Utter shock and terror showed on the male's face as he watched Rygan’s black wolf circle him. His powers only worked with wolves, so he knew
Run! Her wolf cried out to her; even with a wounded, bloody body, she raced, but she could see no way out. With each step, her body felt heavier, and terror clouded her mind as she fled. She looked back and saw men with guns and weapons chasing her. On the other side, a rageful-looking chief, Dexton, her father, and Kyren, whose wicked laugh echoed through the dark space. “You will never be anything but a disgraced cursed child; you are a rejected curse that deserves to be abandoned; no one is coming for you!” Her father's voice loomed through the dark mist. “No, no, you’re wrong,” she muttered. Only when she saw an opening and Rygan's familiar face did she let out a sigh of relief. She ran towards him. “Rygan, please help me!” She cried as she held onto his hands, but Rygan coldly deflected her touch. “You are tainted by Kaide; I do not want you, and I never did; you will die alone, don’t you get it? That's why I never came to look for you!” His dark voice ech
Hayden is a shadow wolf, the real deal. The moment those words left Hayden’s lips, Elise felt like she had finally found something in her heart that she had been searching for. Something had called to her ever since she read that book not long before. “You are a shadow wolf, and this is the Calhan pack?” she asked, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. “I thought its people were all assassinated during the war 20 years ago,” she muttered to him. A tense silence followed. Hayden tried to read her intentions as he watched her carefully. Hayden’s walls immediately closed up the minute she asked questions about his home. His eyes grew cold as he studied her, wondering why she was so intrigued by the shadow wolves. “Why don’t you change out of the hospital gown, and I might answer your questions?” he called, handing her a beige sweater top and pants. She looked at the clothes and went back to him. “And why do I need to change clothes?” she snarled at Hayden, whose lips tilted si
“You are Malia’s daughter? ...moons,” Abby whispers, her face morphing to one of shock and then recognition, like she could see the uncanny resemblance to Elise. The twins, on the other hand, looked at Elise, as if that name alone brought enough bad memories to their home. “I told you that this girl is dangerous if that bastard Dexton gets a clue that she is here-.” “-He won't,” Elise cuts in. “Like I said, the monster isn’t my father; he killed my mother when he learned of her infidelity; he says it reminded him of the Calhan tribe wolves. And it seems my mother has a history with your pack, and I just want to find out who I am. That’s why I’m here,” she explains. Dexton was right about the features of the Calhan wolves; they were most commonly born with black hair, but the special ones among them, the chosen royal blood, had been given snowy locks just like Hayden’s. Though his brother Holden's hair wasn’t as long as his, its buzz cut still showed his white-gold hair. “S
Meeting with the Calhan males already felt like a completely new experience for Elise, especially since the males had different characters and demeanors. Hayden gives her a brief explanation that Abby will be taking her in, and she obliges once she knows it is the healer. A part of her had a soft spot for healers because of Vienna, her friend, who was very kind to her in the black-moon park. Her throat immediately soured with sadness as she cleared it to stop herself from showing any vulnerable emotions or crying because of how much she missed Vienna. “And where will you be staying?” She asked Hayden, whose lips curled up in a smile as he leaned against the adjacent wall. Calhan males were big, and shadow wolves were bigger, and he towered over her, almost the same height as an alpha. She didn’t want to remember anything about that place. Not now. “Are you thinking of little old me, El? Are you worried you won't see me for the night? Don’t worry, I could fix that,” he jokes.