LouisaI thought Bennie was being very brave, but I also knew that speaking up like that during a small council meeting did not bode very well. Bennie and I were only there to observe, really. We didn’t have any authority unless … Unless our mates were killed. I could also imagine how Helena must be feeling. She didn’t want me and Liam to go, and now Bennie was going.I wished that there was something I could do to ease the burden on all of them, but this was what we were here for. We were the royals. We had to be strong and do the difficult things to protect our packs. To protect everyone in our kingdom. If something really was brewing in the north. We needed to know sooner rather than later.I joined the small group in the armoury in the late evening. Liam wasn’t happy that I wanted to be there, but I felt that someone had to be there to comfort Helena. It broke my heart to watch her as she said goodbye. It broke my heart to watch all of them say goodbye.Liam didn’t want anyone to
Helena“I haven’t heard a word for two days.” Liam hissed as I walked into his office and my smile turned into a frown. We took all week to get the nursery ready and Louisa was waiting to surprise Liam, but what I just heard nearly stopped my heart.“Liam?” Tears stung my eyes as I looked at him. My hands felt numb as my fingers interlaced, and my knuckles turned white. “Did I hear that right? You haven’t heard from Bennie?” My heart, which almost stopped a moment ago, started racing, and I felt the darkness tugging at the back of my mind.“Helena, that doesn’t mean …” What he was saying and what his face was showing me were two different things. I took another step forward and everything went dark as my legs gave way under me.BennieI was so tired
HelenaLiam stepped aside and Louisa pushed me into the room where Bennie was lying in a hospital bed. I gasped at the sight of him. He was connected to so many wires that I was almost too scared to touch him. I touched his hand, and it was so much colder than I was used to.“We are keeping him sedated until his leg heals. He had a very bad break, and we had to reset the bone.” The doctor explained, and I looked at his leg, which was covered by an enormous cast.“How long will he be under?” I frowned and the doctor sighed.“A day. Two at the most. As soon as his body starts healing itself, it should happen faster. His body is weak at the moment.” The doctor frowned, making a note before looking at me. “If you don’t have any other questions, I need to check in on another patient.” I nodded and thanked him, holding Bennie’s hand.“Helena, you need to rest. Can we take you to your room? I will bring you back a bit later. I promise.” Liam looked worried, but I nodded. I didn’t want to lea
LouisaThe timing of all of this couldn’t have come at a worse time! Both Helena and I would either have a new born or be at the very end of our pregnancies when the snow melted, which put us both out of the fight and in serious danger. I listened carefully as Liam and the small council discussed what the next steps were going to be feeling the tension in the air.Bennie and Helena were still out since his injuries were serious, and she wasn’t going to leave his side, which left her vote in my hands. I didn’t want to do the wrong thing and I didn’t want to vote on anything without discussing it with her and Liam first.“The fact of the matter is that the northerners have found someone to support them in this war against us. We have to act, and we have to be ready.” The small council couldn’t come to an agreement on what we should do. It was a decision between waiting for the war to come to us and moving so we were on the attack before the northerners could move.The latter meant that
HelenaIt was one of the coldest winters we have had in a long time. I was glad that Liam and Louisa were home after what Bennie told us, and I was even happier that he got back home safely. It was a sad thing the day we had to inform the families of the men we lost, since we couldn’t have an official funeral for them, but Liam insisted that we at least have a memorial.Bennie tried to bring his men back, but it was impossible, and he had to leave their bodies behind, or he wasn’t going to make it back. Sadly, he healed soon enough and was right back to helping Liam and the small council plan for war. I hated that he had to be one of the men who would fight. I hated that my brother was going to fight.I hated war! We were meant to have gone into a period of peace, but it seemed that some people’s greed pushed us in the same direction each time. Liam spoke to the pixies after some complaining about it, and they gladly agreed to help us.In the meantime, Louisa and my bellies grew by th
HelenaI swallowed hard to get rid of the enormous knot that had formed in my throat. I had to be strong now. I had to be strong for him, for our pup and for our people. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t know if I would ever see him again, but I couldn’t give into those fears.All around us, people were saying goodbye to family. They were saying goodbye to warriors who were going to fight to protect us. I couldn’t be the one to break down. I had to be strong for all of them. I caught sight of Liam kissing Louisa and their son and I looked into Bennie’s eyes.“You come back, do you hear me? You come back, and you bring my brother with you. Alive.” We all knew nobody could make any kind of promises, but I needed him to. I needed him to fight the way he did the last time. I needed him to do everything he could to keep that promise. “All of you! You come back alive.
HelenaIt didn’t take long for the wounded to start pouring in. I hated having to stay in bed while I could hear everyone rushing about just outside my room. It took my entire family to keep me right where I was supposed to be. I was healing fast after the birth, but I still had some healing to do.The war didn’t take as long as any of us thought it would and the stories the guys told us had us horrified. It made me very glad that I missed out. Fighting was something I had to learn. I just never liked all that growling and hissing and blood everywhere.“I must be the only werewolf in the entire world that doesn’t like fighting!” I exclaimed and they all laughed out loud. But it was the truth. I really hated fighting. My mother was a warrior queen. I didn’t intend or actually have the need to be a warrior princess. Being a part of the small council never required one to fight.A COUPLE OF MONTHS later, summer was in full swing and the war was almost forgotten. The injured had healed an
NoahI had always loved to read about the history of our people and how our incredible kingdom came together. My favourite part of history was when my father showed mercy to the northerners after they declared war. He accepted them even after their loved ones fought to overthrow us.I loved history so much because I was brought up with the knowledge that one day I would be king. I didn’t want us to make any of the mistakes of the past. I couldn’t imagine doing what the crazy old king did. I wanted my grandmother’s principles to live on.She fought such an incredible battle against the old beliefs that I wanted them to stand strong when I became king. The only thing I wasn’t looking forward to was this tournament against my father. I didn’t want to see my hero going down just so I could rule.My father and I had been practicing, not that he was planning on faking it, but he wanted me to be prepared to take him down. Thankfully, I didn’t have to kill him. I was sure my father was strong
EmilyI pushed to break through a mind link and I finally felt it releasing. He was one of us.“My apologies, your majesty. I have been gone for so long, it is difficult to open my pack link.” He finally answered through the link and I studied him carefully before ordering the guards to stand down.“Who are you and why have you been gone for so long?” I frowned. I couldn’t remember any of our spies being out in the world. Everyone had returned home for the celebration.“I’m Ares, your majesty. I was sent out by your father three years ago to try and find you a mate.” His cheeks turned red and I rolled my eyes. “I guess I know now why I couldn’t find one.”AroraThe news about Emily’s mate spread like wildfire through the kingdom, and before she even walked through the doors with Ares, we knew she had met him. Ares was one of Bernard’s young recruits that should have formed part of the queen’s guard, but Bernard sent him out to try and find a mate for our daughter.We hadn’t heard from
AroraI kept my promise. The day that Bernard and I retired from royal life and handed over the reigns to our daughter Emily was the proudest day of our lives. She had grown into one of the kindest people I had ever known, while at the same time standing her ground when it was needed.She was strong and brave even though she had not faced a war. She was ready to rule, and the people were ready for her to take over. Emily was much loved by our people as she had grown up in the streets of the city and knew most of them by name.She took all the lessons I taught her over the years to heart and made sure that the people were taken care of long before she became queen. I could hear the rumours again of how much she reminded the people of the old rogue queen, and it made me feel proud that the pack loved her that much.Sadly, new rumours were starting to flare up all over the city, and they unsettled us a little. Emily was old enough now to mate, but unlike most of the royals, she didn’t fi
AroraForgiving the royal family a second time was probably one of the toughest things I ever had to do, but I knew that if I didn’t, there would be no end to the cruelty that would definitely follow. I had preached forgiveness before everything happened, and this gave me the opportunity to again remind people how to forgive.I made sure they saw me happily interacting with the royal family at each event and I made sure the royals that remained spent time with the people. The kingdom grew prosperous again under Bernard’s rule, and with my help, the people became happy again. We announced my pregnancy soon after I passed the second month mark, and very soon after that, I began to show.The royal baby grew fast in my belly as time slowly ticked by. I spent my days in the old queen’s vegetable gardens and tending to the flower gardens as much as my body would allow. I joined the omegas to do the shopping for the castle and made sure I knew what every one of our supplier’s problems were,
AroraMy omegas helped me to get dressed early the next morning. Having a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in and proper food to fill my belly, helped me to at least get some sleep. I was sure that the news about my release had already spread through the kingdom and was surprised when I walked into the dining room and saw the faces of the royals.Most of them were covered in shame as they should be, but I held my head high and took my seat beside Bernard. After the omega left the night before, Bernard told me everything that happened. He told me how he tried to find evidence against Irina and that he only believed her for a short while. It hurt to think that he had so little trust in me, but I pushed it to the back of my mind.None of them were to blame for any of this. Irina was the one who was to blame. She was the one who was going to face trial now and, thanks to Bernard’s genius plan, they had more than enough evidence to sentence Irina without spending much time on a trial.“Ar
AroraBernard took his time. He even postponed the trial for two days so they could find a witch to explain what each item in their mound of evidence was used for. My only glimmer of light was seeing Irina losing her patience the longer Bernard postponed the inevitable. It was clear as day from the looks I was getting in court. All the nobles believed that I was guilty.Bernard was digging deeper into the hole with each move. I didn’t have any hope that they were going to save me. Even with the visits from Bernard and his mother. I don’t trust them anymore. My fate was sealed. Now he just had to make the final decision. He had to judge me. He had to decide how and when I would be killed.IrinaThe glass flew through the air and shattered against the wall as I screamed out in frustration. My cousin was just postponing the inevitable in the hopes that I would slip up. I noticed he now had four guards following my every move. I couldn’t even use the secret passages without having them po
AroraPrincess Helena snuck into the dungeons to see me, and she brought me some food, but I was still so cold that I was having trouble moving. I also wasn’t sure if I could trust the food they were giving me. If they saw me as a traitor, they could very well try to poison me. My trust in all of them had been shattered, and I wasn’t sure if it would ever be possible to repair it.I had been waiting for this shoe to drop since the very moment I found out Bernard was my mate. Almost as though I knew they would just turn around and betray me, but I started to trust them and believe that they would trust me. I couldn’t help the way I was feeling. They all turned on me so fast after seeing all those things in Irina’s little secret room.Nobody believed me. It was as though none of them really knew me at all. Why would I ever trust any of them again? Bernard’s face came to mind and I felt my heartache. He should have believed me right from the start. He should have trusted me. He should ha
AroraIt wasn’t as cold on the cot as it was on the floor, but the night was long, and it still felt like the cold had found its way into my bones. I had no idea what was going on upstairs and, if I was honest, I didn’t care. They were so eager to believe Irina that they didn’t see how cruel she was.They all deserved whatever she had planned for them. I knew she made sure the proof pointed to me, but I couldn’t help myself. They should all have known by now that I wouldn’t have done that. Yet, even Bernard believed I was the traitor. I wasn’t sure if we would ever be able to find our way back to each other after all of this.The memory of Bernard visiting me and whispering came to mind and I pushed it to the back of my mind. I didn’t dare hope that things would work out in the end. Irina had been far too clever so far. She was going to make sure Bernard wouldn’t be able to prove my innocence. She was going to make sure the entire family believed her lies.The cold pushed through my t
BernardNone of this made any sense. Unless I didn’t know Arora as well as I thought I did, but I couldn’t imagine her doing the kinds of things Irina had accused her of. We found notes in the room that referred to even worse actions and I didn’t want to even think about it.I was torn between what I thought I knew and what possibilities there were. Was Arora a cruel and evil person who took revenge on our family or was she the kind heart that helped us to save our family from total ruin? Not that I thought the pack would ever revolt against us.I sat back in my office chair, not wanting to go to our room and not wanting to face my family. There were still far too many unanswered questions and I wanted to be able to answer at least some of them when I faced them again. The most prominent would probably be if I was going to put Arora on trial.“What are you doing here alone, cousin?” Irina wondered in my office and I sighed deeply. She was the last person I wanted to deal with right no
Arora“She planned this.” My voice was soft, but one of two of them heard me. “Irina planned this!” I shouted. “My omega followed her today and found the room. Irina wants all of you to think that I’m the traitor so she can get rid of me. Bernard, you have to believe me.”“His Majesty, don’t have to believe one word that comes out of your traitorous mouth!” Irina shouted from the back. “Your father was a traitor, and so are you!” She hissed and I could feel the atmosphere turning.“We need to hear from the omega, Bernard.” Princess Helena spoke up, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The omega was dragged up the stairs and I could see in her eyes that this wasn’t going to go my way. She kept looking at Irina and I wondered what happened in the short time we were apart. What could Irina have done? She was right there with me the entire time.“Please tell us what happened this morning.” Princess Helena took the lead.“I … Please, don’t make me do this.” The omegas eyes filled with tears as