*Simon's POV*Watching Alice run away made my heart clench. She must have misunderstood and thought it was me who wanted her to duel Olivia. Although when the Alpha King made this request, I did not refuse. There was my selfishness in this, but I hoped that Alice would take this opportunity to build her self-confidence. No matter how much she aspired to be human, she was a shifter. She had the characteristics of a wolf, and she was not weak. I wanted everyone to recognize that so that no one dared to bully her anymore.Seeing the redness on her face almost made me lose control but I quickly calmed down. I couldn't protect her all the time. I need to teach her to protect herself. I wanted her to show off her attack in a way that no one would ever underestimate her. I knew I needed to talk to her. But obviously, I had to deal with the matter here first. What's more, the Alpha King was still here, and I had to make him believe that Alice would definitely participate
*Alice's POV*The nerves were still mounting as I walked to the lake.I had continued to talk with Joan in my bedroom, but she had not calmed me down, so I left to get fresh air. It was starting to get late and I wasn't sure if Simon was still going to show for our regular training session.I hoped so.I would much rather keep privately training anyway. Simon was ignorant if he thought I would do well around the rest of the palace wolves. Just because I had gotten comfortable with him, it didn't mean that I was magically going to be comfortable with the rest of them.Simon hadn't tortured me my whole life.I walked up to our usual meeting spot and was hurt to see that Simon wasn't there. Maybe he had gone further into the woods. I walked to the nearby grove. It was a small area in the trees, still covered by branch cover, but big enough to still train in. After a quick evaluation, I realized that Simon wasn't here either.Suddenly, my anger spik
*Simon's POV*The following day…I sat silently on the judging stage, holding my injured shoulder. I barely slept. Between the pain and dreams of Alice leaving the palace, I found myself tossing and turning all night. The duel was supposed to start soon. It was already getting late, and I hadn't seen her since she jumped.I had spent the morning hoping that she had returned—that maybe she had second doubts and would come back. It was the reason I was here now, at the duel. I had to believe she'd change her mind. But I hadn't heard from her since our phone call, and didn't see her anywhere around the grounds all day. Maybe she really did leave. Olivia, on the other hand, I had crossed paths with everywhere. It always seemed that she was around, no matter how hard I tried to avoid her.Now, she was cockily flaunting around the stands, and saying how excited she was about this duel. She would tell anyone that would listen that she was going to teach Alice a lesso
*Alice's POV*My arm throbbed as Simon continued to hold it in the air. One of the swipes that Olivia had landed had grazed this arm and side. I was trying to be strong, but I couldn't help a gasp that escaped.Simon seemed to notice and lowered my arm, looking down at me in concern. I could still hear the crowd murmuring around me. Most of them were in awe. My cheeks flushed at all of the attention."Why did you force me to do this?" I grumbled out as I wobbled slightly. I was pretty sure that I had twisted one of my ankles trying to evade attacks as well.Without answering, he suddenly bent over and grabbed my legs, pulling me up and into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck naturally, despite the fact that I was still annoyed with him.I would never tell him, but I was glad he did it. I wasn't sure how much longer I could have stood up."I will take her back to my place to tend to her wounds," Simon announced as he looked toward the Alpha King.
*Alice's POV*I took a few more deep breaths, trying to calm myself down as I leaned against a tree during practice.It had been a few days since my duel, and my life could not have been any more different. Since starting training daily with the rest of the shifters, I was no longer a maid and was actually being treated like a decent shifter for once.By almost everyone at least.I glanced around the tree and back towards the group of people that were training today. Olivia stood off to the opposite side of the area, and even from this distance, I could feel her glare.We had a few classes together by now, and none of them had ended well. I wasn't sure how it was going to be training with Simon in a group setting, but it was even worse than I imagined.Instead of ignoring me like everyone else he trained, he would deliberately go out of his way to embarrass me during training. Just a few minutes ago, he had set a trap so that as soon as I backed up in a sp
*Alice's POV*The wolf was still bounding at us, when all of a sudden there was a loud whistle that sounded through the entire trees.I clapped my hands over my ears. Even without wolf hearing, that whistle was piercing.Then he came to a stop.Suddenly, without another look towards me or Olivia, he turned and took off. I stared after him in surprise, wondering what on earth could have made them retreat. And so quickly. They had almost gotten us.It had to be Simon. Please, be Simon.Olivia's fist suddenly flew at my face from the side and I didn't have time to react as it made contact with my cheek.My entire body twisted around at the angle and strength of which she hit me."Are you that f*cking dumb?!" I screamed as my already injured head throbbed again. I pulled the rope that tied us together as far apart as possible, so I could keep my distance."That's for what you said about my mom!" Olivia shrieked back, and then she came at me agai
*Simon's POV*After leaving Alice, I tentatively made my way to the Alpha King's office. Enough time had passed that he should have Olivia tended to, and I really needed answers—not only from him, but from everyone. The humans and mutated rogues were connected, and I had a feeling the Alpha King knew why.I approached the door to his office and took in a deep breath before knocking. "Enter," I heard his voice boom through the closed door. I gathered myself before turning the handle and pushing it open."Your Majesty," I began. "You elected to meet with me after managing Olivia's wounds. How is she?"I asked only out of courtesy. I didn't actually care.He looked up at me from the papers he was holding in his hands. "Ah, yes. Simon. Please, take a seat. She's doing well, thank you. You really saved the day."I responded only with a nod. It wasn't me, it was Alice. But he'd never admit that. I took a seat in the open chair across from him and pre
*Simon's POV*There was a light knock on my door, surprising me. I wasn't expecting anyone, and nobody usually dared to visit me except for Alice. But at this point, she usually just walked in, or it sounded like she would break the door down when she knocked.As far as I knew, she had no idea I had spoken to the Alpha King alone, and I planned on keeping it that way in order to protect her. When I saw her standing outside of the Alpha King's door earlier that evening, I knew that she was pissed. Whether it was at me for breaking my promise to take her there myself or with the king was yet to be determined.I just hoped it wasn't the former.Leaving Alice standing there, knowing the king wasn't inside, was challenging. God knew how much I wanted to tell her everything. However, I needed time to organize my thoughts. She was so smart that I couldn't let her find out I was hiding something from her until I figured out how to tell her the truth.I walked to
*Simon's POV*I was twelve years old, and I was staring down at my dead father at my feet. My older brother stood next to me, and when he reached out, I smacked his hand away."That's our father; why did you kill him?!" I yelled at him.Everything dissolved and zoomed by as another scene developed around me. It was now the day I left my homeland. Standing beside my brother was my now-dead uncle. It pained me to see him again.I, on the other hand, was fuming."This is all your fault," I sneered at my brother, hiding the hurt that I was feeling inside. "You are an evil man who murdered his own father. I will never forgive you for this and make sure the world knows the truth."My brother was speechless as I hurled my accusations. He was always seen as gentle and trustworthy and was hurt by my words. My sister howled in the middle of it all, trying to make us both see reason.I rushed out of the house, with my sister still crying and calling for me to co
*Alice's POV*Victoria stood in the doorway and watched as the giant beast stepped closer and closer to me. The fact that she had created a mutated rogue to look like Simon with the intention of upsetting me really pissed me off, and I cracked my neck from side to side.I wouldn't let this thing give Simon a bad name.I jumped in, letting my claws extend even farther as I went to slash its throat. But unlike the other rogues, it moved quickly and evaded the attack, countering with one of its own.My eyes widened, and I barely managed to avoid him by stepping back to reassess. This mutant seemed more cruel and delirious than I had ever seen.He charged back at me before I could make a plan, and I stumbled back, staying on the defensive. I dodged and dodged, falling further and further behind. My breathing started to get more and more ragged. I couldn't find a single opening, and I didn't have time to think about going on the offensive. My wolf whined in my head.
*Alice's POV*The first step of our plan was already underway. We were on our way into the palace with the cover of William to infiltrate and weaken the Alpha King.We had both agreed that the easiest way to take down the human lab was to install William as Alpha King. Then we could have the support of all the packs to find Simon and destroy the lab for good.William was outside, gathering all of the other Alpha to storm the palace, while I was sneaking in to weaken the Alpha King and prove him incompetent. The needles that held my gene fusion agent in them jingled in my bag.It was later in the day, but I decided to check the one place where I could usually find the Alpha King. I opened the door and was greeted immediately. "Hello, Alice," the Alpha King said as I walked into his office.My stomach flipped. Guess the surprise element was gone then."Hello, father…or should I even call you that?" I made a fake frown face. "Though you already knew tha
*Simon's POV*I lay in our bed stroking Alice's hair with my fingers as I admired her gorgeous naked body next to me. She slept peacefully, and I felt my heart swell inside my chest. I never had any idea that I would feel like this with her, or ever in my life.If I had known, I probably would have made a move sooner.Suddenly, there was a noise from outside, and I stopped moving for a minute, trying to hear as well as possible. I must be imagining things. Alice's nightmares must be getting to me now as well.Except this nightmare was real.I heard a sound again and heard my phone vibrate on the table next to the bed. I grabbed it and felt my blood run cold.The message was from James and read: 'We found you.' It was followed by a picture of the front of the estate. Then another came through as I sat there staring at the screen. 'Come out alone, and we can make a deal.'I knew that I had to at least try.Carefully, making sure not to
*Alice's POV*I woke up with a start, still laying against Simon's chest. My breathing was fast, and I tried to slow it down along with my heart rate. But Simon had already felt my movement and was fully alert."What is it?" he asked, sitting up so that he could examine me. "What's wrong?""Nothing," I sighed, pulling him back down onto the bed and on top of me. The warmth of his body soothed me. "It was just a bad dream.""What was it?" he still asked, but I felt his body relax somewhat against my own as he realized there was nothing seriously wrong. He kept most of his weight off of me though."Just something stupid," I played it off. "Olivia and James showed up to drag me back to the palace.""That is stupid," Simon smiled. I felt his soft lips press against my neck as he cuddled in closer. My heart fluttered nervously. "I would never let that happen."I chuckled at his confidence and began to rub my hand through his hair. The room was still dark,
*William's POV*The shifter world was falling apart.Ever since Alice had escaped from the human lab, everything came burning down. The Victoria lady that had taken me hostage in the lab had come out with a press release video of sorts not long after Alice went missing. The video served as a call to action and a threat all at once.And most surprising of all, it also led to the discrediting of the Alpha King. It was clear that he had something to do with the mutated rogues and people were not happy. Most of the packs even chose to no longer be subject to his jurisdiction.So here I was, on my way back to my own pack.With the fall of the Alpha King's popularity, my father, and the Opal Moon pack were more popular than ever. Our pack was well known for having helped multiple others fend off the mutated rogues in the past, and that was a good show of faith for the people now when so much was uncertain concerning this new breed."Ah, William, you are here!" m
*Alice's POV*Simon leaned in a closed the space between us. His lips brushed against mine, and I instantly responded.My body arched into his as I pushed back into the kiss, making it deeper. Simon's hand moved from my chin to the back of my neck and he pulled me in passionately. The other hand drifted to the small of my back as if he wanted me as close as possible. We both seemed excited to finally be kissing and didn't want to part. By the time we did, we were both completely breathless.Much better kiss than the first."Is that your answer then?" Simon asked between breaths with a smile that matched mine.I knew I should pull away. Knew that I was bad news for Simon. But at that moment, I couldn't even force myself to do it.The ferris wheel car jerked, bringing us back to reality as we had to get off and I was spared the embarrassment of answering. The operator opened our door for us and we walked out hand in hand.All of the people around the fe
*Alice's POV*I lay on the bed waiting for the knock that always came at this time of day.After I had told Simon to leave, I locked myself in the room next to his. I knew he would argue with me, but I wanted him to know that I was serious. If he got used to not seeing or having around now, then it wouldn't be so hard when he left.Days had passed. Despite my solitude and lack of communication, Simon still knocked on my door at least a couple of times every day and called out to me. Eventually, he would give up and just leave food by the door, but you had to give the guy credit for trying.He also hadn't forced his way in, which I knew he was capable of, and I appreciated that as well. Forcing his way in would get him nowhere, and maybe he realized that.I continued to lay there waiting for his knock.And waiting. Regardless of it all, I still waited.My belly growled and I sat up. Simon never went this long without bringing me food or attempting to k
*Victoria's POV*"Ahhh!" I screamed out in frustration and shoved over the last remaining office chair.The men around me shrank back in fear. After years of working with me, everyone in this lab knew better than to mess with me. I picked up the smashed monitor and chucked it across the room as well.By the time I had gotten back to the lab, it was completely trashed. The rogues had finished off what I was sure Alice and Simon had started. The smashed computer was definitely compliments of them since they were the only ones smart enough to actually destroy the tower as well."Fuck!" I cursed out loud, causing the others to shrink back even further.All of my experimental records were destroyed. Twenty years of research and experiments, and I had nothing to show for it. The only hope I had left now was Alice and her blood.I would have to get her back somehow."Bring me a camera now, we are going to send a message to the shifter packs," I ordered no on