KRISTINA'S POVThen, I sat down on the floor next to where he had been sitting. My gaze shifted from the clothes lying in front of me across the living room, past the coffee table, through the window to the view beyond it. I could feel myself relaxing when I saw that Nathan was still watching TV, but that relaxation was short lived. "Aren't you going to get dressed?" Nathan asked me. "No need. It's only going to take us a minute. And besides, why do we need to get ready? The party won't start until ten." "It's always good to look presentable, especially when our guest arrives, if you know what I mean." This is where I would have said something like, "What friend are you talking about?" or, "Oh, you're not serious. You expect me to wear this? Why can't we just let them come in their normal clothes?" But I didn't say any of those things because, well… It's true. "So," Nathan continued, "are you going to sit there with your feet crossed all night long?" "Sure," I replied, without t
KRISTINA'S POV"Wait! I want you to tell a story about you and Alpha Laurence first. I want to know everything about the man you loved when you were young.""W-why are you suddenly interested in what happened to me and Laurence?""Nothing! Is it bad to know the truth? Or in your past?""I am an orphan who grew up in Wysteria Hope Orphanage, together with my childhood friend, the same man who I loved for years.""O-okay. Is it Laurence? And Wysteria Hope? W-whaa...?""Yes, he is. The Wysteria Hope is the place where I grew up after I was abandoned by my parents. It's an orphanage that welcomes everyone equally on the outside, but treats all orphans as tools inside.""I didn't know they treated children like that!"I was placed in the Wysteria Hope Orphanage under the watchful eyes of two other orphans, who also had their parents die within the same year. That's awful. Is something anyone should be happy knowing. And since then, every child there has been treated like garbage. We don't
KRISTINA'S POV"Yeah, you're right," Nathan agreed. He looked around us, as if searching for something, before his gaze settled on me again. "Kris? You have been acting odd lately and now, I just have a feeling. Please, tell me what's wrong." "It's nothing important," I quickly replied,.wanting to end the conversation quickly. I didn't want to burden him with my problems, especially since he has already done so much for me and given me so much more than I deserve. "But thank you for worrying about me. You know, I think you need to go back to your clinic." "I guess I do," he mumbled quietly. "See you around, Kris." And then he was gone. The last thing I saw was his retreating figure. It pained me to see him like that, but I'm sure he can handle himself without me for a while and I don't intend on burdening him anymore with my personal issues, especially since he's already made enough sacrifices for me. In reality, I was still struggling to come to terms with what Nathan had told
KRISTINA'S POVShe glanced around before returning her attention back to me. Her eyes had become glassy. "I will never forgive myself. I just want to ensure you don't get hurt or taken away because of other wolves." "But... They say things like this all the time" It felt weird, hearing my own voice in this woman's mouth, but it was also oddly pleasant. My hands were beginning to shake again, I noticed, which made me wonder how much of this was real and how much was a hallucination. "They talk about being lonely... about how they wish to go home." I looked down. "What if they're lying to us, Alliyah?" I could tell that tears were starting to well up in my eyes. This wasn't happening, right? None of it was possible? "Why don't we believe them?" My voice shook. Alliyah squeezed my hand again, softly but firmly. I didn't even realize she'd released it. "Because none of that is true." She stood and walked over to a overlooking downtown. "We are safe here." She turned towards me
KRISTINA'S POVMy own voice sounded odd, almost like I was being strangled. I felt tears threatening to escape and blinked them back as quickly as they came. Now wasn't the time to cry. I wouldn't lose this battle so easily. No matter what happened. Alliyah sighed heavily. She stood up and took a step forward but paused before taking another. "Kristina, come on–" I crossed my arms tightly against my chest. "No, I don't think so," I said firmly, shaking my head, "Not right now, anyway." "Look, you can't seriously expect me to believe that you're okay with me telling people the truth," she said calmly. "It's not like this is the first thing I'm supposed to do." "No, it really isn't. I know." I replied quietly. And that was true. It wasn't. It hadn't been since the day we left our loved ones. We were both too young to understand the consequences, yet we had both seen those consequences first hand. And they'd been devastating. But… That didn't mean Alliyah was right. I shouldn't fe
KRISTINA'S POVAfter a few days...As I looked at the void, I was still thinking about the mistake I had made. And my wasted love that cannot be reciprocated. I still wonder to this day why Alpha Laurence turned his attention to Alliyah, instead of me. Why is he so attracted to Alliyah?Maybe because Alliyah led the Black Fangs. And I knew that her father only trained her with the basics, which surprised him as she surpassed his expectations. Alliyah was famous for the way she lures a lot of men to go to her pack and serve her. This was the reason why Black Fangs became the pack with the most number of skilled wolves. She tends to have an innocent looking face but is actually brutal inside. Now I know why Laurence is attracted to her. After Alpha Laurence rejected me, he married his fated mate, Alliyah. "Kristina, are you alright?"I looked up to see her concerned eyes, and immediately felt myself calming down. "Yeah, I'm okay." As if I'm telling anyone else what really happened to
KRISTINA'S POVI think I've had enough fear for a lifetime already. Besides, I'd like nothing more than to escape from this place. I hate how everything here reminds me of him, and every second that we spend together makes it worse. I know it's irrational, especially considering that we were intimate once. But my mind won't leave him, no matter how hard I try to block him out. Carl studies me for a few minutes, his dark eyes piercing into mine. Then he sighs deeply. "Fine then. If you're sure." "Yes. Thank you." "Don't thank me yet," he says as he walks away. "We still have to meet with the pack leaders and discuss your new responsibilities." "O–okay.""And you need to change your clothes. Don't forget that." "Right. The meeting first, after I change," I say, feeling slightly annoyed. "Of course," he agrees as he turns around, giving me one last look before heading out to wherever he goes when he leaves my room. He doesn't bother changing before leaving. He must be really eage
KRISTINA'S POVNow that I think about it, maybe I was wrong. Maybe Nathan did have another motive besides love after all. "Kristina?" "Yes, Nathan?" The sound comes out sounding like I'm choking. I clear my throat nervously. "Did you… want something?" "Umm…""Oh no. It's just that you haven't been here since yesterday afternoon. I was wondering if I'd done something wrong." "What? No, Nathan. Of course not," I assure him, trying to sound normal. He isn't fooled by it, though, judging by his look. He raises an eyebrow expectantly. "You weren't planning anything today were you?" "Actually–" "Nathan…" I cut in sternly. He holds his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. Yes, I had planned to surprise you. But when I got here–" His expression grows thoughtful. "Something wasn't right." He shakes his head, still thinking about it. "I'll tell you later, okay? We've already been together for nearly ten months, why does the idea of being with me scare you off so much?" He doesn
KRISTINA'S POVThe next morning, Laurence came up with an idea to make this transition easier, and said it would be much better if we had someone take over some of the responsibility. I agreed right away. The others thought I was being unreasonable. I wasn't. As long as they were safe, I cared less where our lives took us. I am willing to sacrifice everything for them. Even though I didn't tell them how much of a hard time I'd had when we decided to have another child, I could see in their faces that they already knew, even though I hadn't said anything. Laurence made them understand that it wasn't about what we wanted, it was about what was best for everyone. Now, after the war against the Black Fangs Pack ended, I was finally able to relax. Even though we had lost most of our land during the war, the pack remained. We built a new settlement in the far northern region of the land, which is very near my old territory. A lot of people are happy to rebuild their homes. In fact, they
KRISTINA'S POVMonths later, I returned to the Crimson Snow Pack. Laurence discovered that I was actually his second chance mate through the moon goddess' intel. Laurence and I finally accepted each other, but our joyous moments together didn't last as I never got healed even after Nathan desperately tried to save me. His healing process wasn't enough, or so they thought.Alliyah was the main cause why I never felt better, she poisoned me after she figured out that Laurence was the one responsible for trapping her father. She sought for vengeance, and the only thing she could think of that would make Laurence suffer was to harm me.Laurence had no other choice left, he couldn't be mad at Nathan as he did his best, which he witnessed. He could only provide me and my triplets the happiness that they deserve for the remaining lifespan that I had, like fulfilling their wishes.They finally got blessed by the moon goddess. Laurence accepted my tainted body and chose to make love with me, r
KRISTINA'S POVNathan didn't notice the wounds on my body, maybe I got them from running hard while I was in wolf form. After a while I felt delirious. I was constantly moaning and writhing in extreme pain. With the strength of my growl I got Nathan's attention. When Nathan saw my wound, he immediately cleaned it and bandaged it. I just calmed down when I felt Nathan's firm grip on my hands. I was unconscious until the next day and night. Nathan changed my bandage again until he saw that my wound was slowly healing. On the second day, I woke up a little, but still seemed out of my mind. Nathan forced me to eat. Even though I didn't want to eat at first and kept moaning and whining in extreme pain, I eventually had to give in. He also gave me some medicine so I could get better and I did, but my appetite was still gone. After two days in bed I felt better and finally started eating again. On the third day I managed to eat some food. After that Nathan left for work and I was alone in
KRISTINA'S POVI was not comfortable with the ride so I called Nathan and talked to him. I took off my clothes and retreated into a corner. "Kristina, what are you doing?" Nathan shouted. "We need to run fast using my wolf form. I don't want my clothes to get ruined when I transform into a wolf. I can now run fast without my clothes getting caught on the trees."I quickly made Nathan follow what I said. He was startled when I grabbed him and pulled him up. Then, he wrapped his arms around my neck and closed his eyes tightly. "Kristina–"But the wind swallowed his voice as I shot off to the forest. Nathan gasped and clung to me very tightly. He wanted to say that their run was romantic. But the f*ck it wasn't. There was nothing romantic about the frigid and harsh wind slapping his face, nothing sweet about his ears popping from pressure. And especially not romantic about how fast we were running in his state of mind. So, there was no romance between us and neither was there any pa
KRISTINA'S POVThen, without warning, he leaned down to pull something up from behind me and wrapped a blanket around me. "Don't worry about that." He smiled gently, wrapping his hand around mine before leading me to sit by the edge of the ledge. I glanced down at our intertwined fingers briefly before turning my gaze back towards the view. "We'll have a nice picnic when we make it to the mainland. I'm sure we'll find a nice spot for that as well." "I don't suppose you happen to know where we are right now?" "No." I said, looking at the horizon again, watching as the sun slowly set behind it, "But I do know that it's almost sunrise, so that means it should be safe to leave soon." Nathan nodded and turned back to look at the sky. The sun finally broke free above the water and started its journey towards the west, leaving trails of golden light in its wake, lighting the way to our destination. We sat together quietly, enjoying the view, but Nathan seemed much more at ease than ear
KRISTINA'S POVMy voice cracked as another sob escaped me. "All three of us…" It felt good to admit how much I had missed him. The silence was deafening this time. A cold hand clasped itself around my arm. "That's not happening, Kristina," he said firmly. "There's no way we can escape. And besides, you have no chance of getting past that thing."He sighed and shook his head. "This is all my fault." "Nathan–" "You don't understand!" He exclaimed, suddenly enraged, "We're locked up in the damn prison for our entire lives. You can't blame me for this. I did nothing wrong! You did everything wrong!" His voice rose into hysteria. "You're supposed to care about me! Why are you acting so stupid? You're never going to forgive yourself, aren't you?" "N–Nathan…" "Stop acting like an idiot! How many times do I have to tell you that this is my fault! Don't give me that crap about how you tried to help me! All you did was drive the wolves away! Just like you always do!" I winced as he screa
KRISTINA'S POVMy eyes frantically scanned the area surrounding us in search of an escape route. But all I found were empty hallways. No windows, no doors. Just a plain white door that I had just walked into. It was locked from the outside. I spun around to face Nick's direction and screamed out his name once more. Nothing. I tried to break the door down, even though I knew there would be no point. It didn't budge. So I did the only thing that came to mind and grabbed hold of the handle. The door wouldn't budge either, so I threw it against the wall as hard as I could and stepped back. There, I saw what I had been looking for. A thin sliver of light peeking out from underneath the door. I pushed the door open slightly, revealing a small stairwell that led down to the first floor. I quickly ran down, stopping on the ground floor where an old-fashioned elevator sat at the end of the corridor. A single button illuminated the small display board beside the buttons. 'Lunar Control'. I p
KRISTINA'S POVI could see him trying not to grin, but failing miserably. "Well… yes," I admitted. Nathan gave me a pointed look, and continued in an unimpressed tone of voice. "But if I didn't get to spend time with you now and then, I'd be all alone. So… you do want to do it?" He smirked. I rolled my eyes, "It isn't like we have much else to do anyway–" "Oooh, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun. The way they talk so sweetly. Like, 'Hello, how may I help you?' and stuff." "I'm not planning on doing any more dating than a friend, okay? Just hanging out and stuff." I scowled. Nathan just laughed. Then he suddenly froze, looking over at me. His mouth formed a wide O as he looked back at the book that he had been studying. A few seconds passed before his expression changed completely. A small smile spread across his face as he started laughing loudly. I stared blankly at him. Nathan finally took notice of me again, and his expression switched from one of hilarity to one of concern.
KRISTINA'S POV"And what makes you think I was ever in love with that idiot?" This time he turned to look directly into my eyes. There was such hurt and confusion in his face that I couldn't help myself. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into an embrace. "You don't have to be jealous or upset if you love me, Nathan." He held me tight for a few seconds, then pulled away and walked off down the sidewalk, not making eye contact with me once. Once he got to the end of the block, he glanced over his shoulder. I didn't dare follow after him to make sure he got home safe. Instead, I watched him leave. His blond curls bouncing around behind him. The light breeze ruffled through them. Nathan was so cute. I wished I was more like him and not like… well, me. The sound of someone knocking on my bedroom door snapped me out of my reverie. "Who is it?" "It's me, Jasmin." "Come in." My daughter, Jasmin, entered my room. I sat up in bed, propping myself up with a pillow. My bedhead was