The hall is silent when I step out.This is a human building so I know I don't have to worry about stepping on some weird plant trap the Lycans use in ensuring their houses are safe from thieves back over the barrier. I've never been able to figure out why there a barrier or why there's a need for it. If I could guess, I'd say it's so we don't kill the humans and so they don't kill us.I've never been around any humans to be able to judge how violent they are. They could be good people, kinder than the pack my parents run and kinder than any Lycan I've met.My feet move the moment I hear the sound of footsteps recede and I proceed on my mission. The outfit I'm in is a simple one. Pants and a shirt, just not so simple that anyone who saw me would think I was obviously here to steal.I could be mistaken for a guest in these. A female with a different sense of fashion and style and maybe at that point in time, this outfit will be my saving grace.I stop at the foot of the stairs that l
The door creaks and I run to the nearest shadow I can find, throwing myself behind one of the stone pillars in this place and making sure not to touch anything.I'm sure half of the objects in here are rumored to have been able to work miracles a few hundred years ago.Or maybe a million years ago. No one really knows. The last Lycan that could access the power of the moon had died a very young death.Now these things are just artifacts in a huge place and this isn't even half of the whole thing.I track the steps of whoever this is as I control my breathing at the same time.The steps I hear are cautious, wary, not the steps of someone who should be here.I barely hear the footsteps coming from down below before I'm out of my hiding spot, grabbing whoever this is by the arm and pulling them into that area of darkened shadow with me.The scent of something warm fills my nose and from the way she goes rigid, I know she's the one immediately.The door to the museum opens and the sound o
She walks into the room and the chatter of those around me dies down.She looks stunning in the dress, but she's been stunning in every dress she's worn since she came here so I see it as normal now.My normally stunning werewolf bride, who I am yet to kill and who is not supposed to be here at this moment.I wait for her to forge a path to me. Lycans are proud creatures, so she has to draw her skirts up and bunch folds of the fabric in her hand to walk well, and even when she does, she bumps into as many people as are around us before she finally gets to me, huffing."I am so going to rip this monstrosity of fabric up when I'm out of it ."I chuckle and bring the glass flute in my hand to my lips."Cain would kill you."She goes rigid at that and I cock an eyebrow up at her. She regards me for a moment, makeup letting her features look even more surreal and the dark substance used to outline her eyes making them look like deep wells.Great warm pools of brown. Black and brown give m
My mind struggles to come to terms with what just happened and I find myself blinking repeatedly.There is disbelief on my face, pure disbelief and unbridled shock. How the hell did that just happen?My eyes drift to Raymel's form still passed out and unconscious under the contents of the table he had crashed into. My heart twists immediately at the sight of him.He had looked really angry and annoyed with himself, like he couldn't help but feel stupid that he had trusted someone like me. I know what he was really annoyed about was the fact that he had underestimated me.Or rather underestimated Cain and all his badassery.Cain was the one who helped me get into this gown, helped me braid my hair, helped me apply the light makeup now on my face and he was the one who told me to splash some of the champagne on my dress when I came here. He didn't tell me why, just said I should do it.He had also told me some other things, things I realize I have to thank him for when the time comes.
"I see you made it here in one piece?" Adelaide nods and keeps on looking around so I shake my head and pick up the menu. She did well considering the fact that she's still alive. Lyros hasn't killed her yet, and I'm reluctant to accept the fact that it would have hurt me if he killed her. "What are we here for?" I look up to see her still looking around but there's a sparkle of suspicion in her eyes now. The look of fascination has now become an act, and she's wary of the reason she's here now. "Lyros has sold you to me." Her eyes snap to meet mine and the horror in there almost makes me feel bad. "What?" I chuckle and turn back to the menu. "You're the one asking the foolish questions. What do people do in restaurants?" She frowns and crosses her arms over her chest while slinking into the seat slowly. "You could have just said we're here to eat y'know." I nod and tap on a particular dish. "I could have but I didn't want to." This will go perfectly well into my stomach
Cain kissed me.My hands are shaking as I scrub my skin with the soapy sponge. There's little I can think of like this and everything I think of somehow brings me back to Cain.He kissed me.Cain fucking kissed me!But why?I scrub harder and step out of the bathroom with a towel around my chest. I almost slipped on the wet tiles, which would have been stupid because slipping on that and falling would just hurt, not provide answers to my questions.But Cain kissed me didn't he?Almost on cue my mind brings me back to the moment, both of us with our feet in the lake, petals floating near his and my skirts bunched up in my laps so I could enjoy the water to its full extent.We were in some park and the moon had shone off Cain's hair so magically, his eyes almost looked surreal and so did the rest of him, like a vision dropped right from the skies and right into the space beside me.My heart was aching, and then he turned my face and kissed me!"Arghhhhhhhhhhh'"My bed welcomes me with o
"No."I blink and meet Cain's stare like I'm not scared. "Why not?""You'd die before you even moved a finger against that thing."The fact hits me like a slap in the face but I harden my heart all the same. "Leah was terrified because of that when she came to my room. She could barely speak well.""So what? You want to charge out blindly and try to attack this thing? Even the warriors aren't allowed outside the building for too long. Security has become heavier and everyone is feeling something they haven't known for a long while now. Leah isn't the only one who's scared, so think well before you take any rash steps. You'd die and no one would mourn you."Cain's words are scalding hot and i swallow all of them down like coals of fire down my throat"I can still be of help" He glares at me but i continue "My guess is that this intruder is only after Lycans, but i'm a werewolf.""Get to the point."Lyros walks in through the doors and the atmosphere becomes noticeably colder. He walk
What in the goddess's name am I doing?Lyros is standing just beside me and I can't get my hands to work properly. His voice is like cold ice down my back."You seem nervous, Cain."I nod and grip the pencil tighter. "I'll be fine."I can do this.I've done this a million times and I've never been this unfocused. The map is on the table in front of me and I set to work. Scouting enemy territory is something I've done for as long as I can remember.I know of the passageways that lie under King Galan's home and I know of the ones under Alizadeh's.I know of the walls King Rafie has around his city and I know of the evacuation ships docked at their borders.The world that separates us from that of the humans is a world on its own. Some parts closest to the barrier have been touched by modernity, some others that still lie inland, that lie way inland, have not smelt anything like technology. They have seen it and rejected it, deciding instead to be trapped in what the humans would call t
Cain grabs onto my waist and kisses me, hauling me up and plastering me against him. His voice is a rough husk in my ear as he whispers “You did it, Adelaide.” Tears run down my eyes and he hugs me, holding my body to his as I sob into his chest. I don’t think I'd believe what just happened if someone told me it would a few months ago. All I wanted was to be free and run off to hell knows where, but I'm glad for what I did. Now I know I have parents, parents who loved me and a mother who would have done anything for me. I’m not just the pack omega destined to be maltreated and beaten for all of her life. The suffering I went through changed me. It gave me tougher skin and with the power of my heritage… I've just won back my kingdom. Freedom is mine if I want it. Freedom, and power, and love, if I want any of it, and all of it, and I do. I really do. I kiss Cain again, just to cement the fact that we are a thing now. We’re more than a thing. I’m wearing his ring. He’s as much
Lyros is no longer the all-powerful Lycan lording his majesty over the weak populace. We are powerful in our own right now.And in the face of real power, the Lycan king can only do one thing, cower, like a coward.Lyros attempts to run but almost like he knows it’s futile there’s no spirit in it. Lycan speed might have given him a chance, but running was just one final way of making a dash for his life.I flash and slam Lyros with my sword, the blade slapping the side of his face and drawing blood as he tumbles to the ground. I lean down and whisper close to his ear,“I don’t intend to kill you Lord Lyros.”I feel his heartbeat intensify as my words graze his ears but I continue confidently, “I intend to make you pay for all you’ve done. For the young girls you plucked from weak werewolf packs, only to kill them after torturing them, their dreams ended and hopes cut short because of your wickedness. I intend to make you pay for the cities you’ve attacked, the people you have killed,
I rip through the fabric of space as I burn.I feel the Lycan’s flame coursing through my being and it sets me on fire with the force of a supernova. I feel the strength of a thousand stars in me. The flames lick at my dress, burning it short and tattered, turning me into a version these men see, but which they don’t see at all.I wonder how many times Lyros has looked at me and seen nothing but skin. Nothing but clothes in pieces, flesh for the taking, a body to be claimed, and a mind to have fun with.I wonder how many times he’s seen skin and ignored the fire that rages in my heart. Ignored the love I have for the simple things. Ignored the fact that I am more than just skin and flesh, that I am heart and brains and emotion. That I am not his plaything.I am a Queen, and this Kingdom is mine.I kill the King beyond the border first. The battle with him takes less than an hour.In my hand is a sword hot as flame and solid as diamond. Rafie attacks me next so I slay him too.Raymel
We all stand in wait for her.Me, Rafie, Alizadeh, and Galan, all four Lycan kings, we wait for a weak omega female and something hollow rings in my chest. It was stupid to think I could find love.Even before the truth of Elara’s betrayal was revealed to me, I already knew. I already knew something was wrong with my heart and that I couldn't love properly anymore.I should have left it out of the cards, left love to those foolish enough to crave it but instead, I had to go ahead and try to keep her. Adelaide made me imagine something hot and exciting between us, something fiery and passionate, but at the end of the day, she’s expendable.She’s always been. Only I matter.A kingdom rests on my shoulders.“Is she on her way?”Rafie’s voice grates against my nerves but I nod. I’m not angry at him anymore. He’s doing what I didn't have the strength to do.Galan chortles where he stands and I feel my hands clench. I should kill him for using his trickster magic on me, but he saved my life
“How sweet.”Cain’s hand stops immediately and my foggy brain can’t even make sense of what’s happening. Has Cain taken me to the point of release this morning? Yes.I’m worried I might be a horndog.I turn to see Safira leaning on the doorframe. Her dress is so pretty, it drapes over her body like liquid and damn, I almost forgot how pretty she was.She smirks as her eyes meet mine, “Should I leave?” Cain answers sweetly before I can and his reply makes me chuckle. He goes “Yes please.”Safira’s hand twitches and a pillow launches itself at the back of Cain’s head. I let it hit and burst into subdued chuckles when he lets out a slight “oof.”Safirs sighs and shakes her head “You have a meeting in like six minutes. Will you be down?”Cain smirks lazily and shrugs. Safira’s gaze darts to me and she fixes me with an inquisitive stare, “Will he be down?”I nod because despite how much I want him to stay with me and kiss me silly, he’s already explained to me how things are here.He has
Diane visits me one last time in my dreams. She smiles at me and though my heart breaks, I smile back at her.I know this is the end. This is the last time I will see her, and as we stand on the sandy beach, our eyes locked on each other and the resemblance undeniable, I let her embrace me as a mother would her child, and I cry so bad my heart feels like it’s going to break.Diane kisses my forehead and wipes my tears, “You’re stronger than your pain my love. You know that right?”I want to nod. I desperately want to nod. The moment I saw Cain, the reality of what had happened to me seemed to come crashing down on me. The moment I saw Lyros instead of him, saw flashes of me and him behind my closed eyes each time I blinked….. How do I live with that?How do I live with the knowledge of all the things I did with the man I hate? A man who used me?I wish I could forget.“This is fire Adelaide,” I clutch Diane closer as she pats my hair down, tears still streaming down my cheeks “Like g
Anger makes my teeth crack as Adelaide asks me a question. She looks up at me, uncertainty in her eyes, her expression scared and bleak.“Would you still love me, if I showed you what Lyros and I have been doing these past few months?”Something threatens to snap in me but I know what this is.I’ve seen this before. I’ve done this once.I nod and Adelaide’s shoulders shudder. I can see how fervently she’s trying to control herself. How ferociously she’s attacking the emotions that are surging forth.Something’s happened, and when I ask her, she tells me everything.Trapped in a memory chain of the Lycan King’s making for three months, her magic being the thing he used to fuel that spell, Lyros turned her magic into her trap, and then she tells me what the memories were about. Entire years' worth of memories of her waiting for him patiently in the fortress.Memories of how he saved her from her pack and brought her to a better life in his care, Memories of how she became his personal p
Cain and Safira comfort me and tell me it’s okay. I can feel Cain’s concern for me like eyes at the back of my head.He’s always staring at me. He looks at me with such intensity that I feel all the things in my stomach churn and my thoughts go filthy. Memories flash past my eyes each time I close them.Memories of me and him in this world.Memories of me and him in a cave, happy sated smiles on our faces and our bodies totally unclad. We’re nude, and we’re comfortable.I see memories of deep and easy loving. Love that took me to the peak of pleasure, and threw me off the edge of my climax, again, and again, and again.My body begins to warm and Safira hits me on the arm, “For skies’ sake, Focus Adelaide. Are you sure you’re okay?”I turn to her and at the sight of familiar deeply tan skin and obsidian black eyes, a smile lights up my face. “I haven’t spent a day here and I’m already being mothered.”Safira grins and chuckles at that, and I feel light in my heart.She and Cain give
My heart melts with each passing moment i listen to Cain’s words and I almost can’t believe this is happening.My mind tells me if I blink he’ll go away, so I keep my eyes wide open, and I stare at him. I know it’s real when he stares at me in that same way.The lines of Cain’s face look new to me now. His warmth feels so familiar yet so alien. There’s an air around him that I can’t place, but I love every bit of it.I love it the way I love him, and when he leans in to kiss me again, I can feel the desperation in his touch. He’s as scared of me leaving as I am of him not being real in this moment. Finding him shouldn’t be this easy.It shouldn’t have been this easy, yet it was and I can’t seem to believe that.A sudden scream makes me cling to him like a frightened puppy until my brain realizes i know that voice.I know the texture of that squeall. I’ve heard that feminine tilt before.Safira’s scent invades my senses immediately and a warm body plasters itself to mine. She’s sobbing