XAVIER’S POVI could not believe my eyes. It was truly Anna. She was alive and well.After everything that happened, I concluded that my uncle had killed her. My wolf had mourned her loss and I was left with the scar forever etched in my heart.Seeing her again, in the flesh, after so much time, left me not only speechless but stunned. It felt like the goddess herself had returned Anna into my arms and just thinking about it caused my heart to flutter in a million positions at just that moment.My eyes ravaged her body and even under the dark uniform, I could see the contours of her body. It was really her and not just some replica. My wolf was already burning to touch her as it still doubted what we were seeing.“I do not have time for games girl. Who sent you?” Edna repeated her question and she saw that defiant look in Anna’s eyes. And I knew too well how terrible it was going to end if I didn’t stop the madness from happening.“I know her!” I blurted out and silence suddenly fille
ANNA’S POVHis words tore my heart apart. I thought the kiss was supposed to be a sign of him forgetting about all that had happened. And then we could move on from there.I thought the minefields were gone and we could finally be close. I thought it was finally time for me to drop the fear and setbacks I had concerning him, but I thought wrong.Xavier was very angry with me.I knew that fighting or explaining things to him wasn’t going to solve anything. I would have to use Xena and Kelvin. Besides they had a lot of explaining to do.“Return to the throne room, Edna will set you free and I hope you stay away,” he said and then walked out of the room.With a lump in my throat, I moved slowly from the room and walked into the throne room where the rest of the men and their annoying leader were sitting, waiting for me.“So, what do we have here…” the woman who I guessed was the Edna, Xavier had spoken about said.I raised my brows menacingly at her but said nothing. My hands were ready
ANNA’S POVI could not believe them. Maybe it wasn’t so hard for me to see Kelvin in that light but Xena, this was her brother we were talking about—a person she hadn’t seen in years.She should be concerned and worried, maybe even eager to see him but no, she turned her back on him and me. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I would get to the bottom of it whether she supported me or not.I yanked the blanket completely off my body and picked my boots from the foot of the bed. I quickly put them on and headed out of the room. there was no point staying with them when they didn’t trust me; there was no point when they couldn’t see the bigger picture in everything.As I got to the courtyard, I could have sworn that I felt eyes scanning my features from somewhere in the house but each time I turned there was no one there. Hissing, I concluded that it had been a figment of my imagination until I found solid proof.I went straight to the little cottage, my father and I shared —wheneve
XAVIER’S POVAnna was a curse on my life. I thought I had gone over the feeling of missing her but ever since I set my eyes on her, the days became longer and the nights colder.Forgetting her became a plague and hating her like I used to be a luxury I could no longer afford. My wolf had surrendered to her a long time ago and even though I was hurt, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.She had hurt me. She had humiliated me, but I couldn’t change the way my heart felt.I sat on my bed with my eyes reading the ceilings, thinking of a way I could undo the way my wolf felt towards her. My mind was already swimming on a string her love carried me upon, and I was exiting normal existence until a knock echoed on my door.I jerked back to reality and was glad at the door. As if my orbs could control it, it opened and it was Edna all dressed up in her fighting uniform, which was a black jumpsuit that hugged every muscular part of her.“Are you going somewhere?” I asked, knowing well that this
XAVIER’S POVThe journey to the other side of the island didn’t take as long as I had imagined. In less than twenty minutes, we were pulling up into the colorful town. My eyes were starting to hurt from the bright colors the houses and people were portrayed in. It wasn’t a sore sight; it was just strange to find any town this colorful at a time like this. But then again as I thought of the large body of water that separated them from the Black Moon Pack, maybe it explained why they lived so freely but considering the history Edna just told me, it would be unwise for them to think they were untouched. Lartes had pawns everywhere and as soon as he felt threatened, he attacked to keep them under his rule.Irritated, I turned my eyes away from the town and my eyes met with those of Edna who offered me a small smile.“I find the sight painful to watch too,” she admitted, turning to stare at her side of the car. “Kelvin is a fool for refusing to prepare his people for the worst situation
XAVIER’S POV“You are right, I didn’t come here to hurt my eyes with your rainbows, I came here to propose to you another chance to get revenge for our parents—”“You and I do not have the same parents. Do not say it as if we do!” Kelvin hissed, breaking through Edna’s response. “My parents are nothing compared to the whore that birthed you.”She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. “As much as I would have preferred to have matters differently, we share the same father. I am a Talon just like you are. And please do not insult my mother because you wouldn’t like how it would end!” Edna retorted and the fire in her eyes was enough to change the air in the room.Despite the cooling system, a hot whiff of air started rolling into it, and in seconds, I could feel the discomfort on everyone’s shoulders.“Enough!” Kelvin roared, slapping his hand over the side of the table. “I would not let you insult me in my own home!”“Oh, on the contrary, you started insulting me and I haven’t even said
XAVIER’S POVThe already thick tension in the room increased to a boiling level and I watched as Xena quickly tried calming Kelvin down. She whispered something to him, and he let out a grumble like an imbecile.I had to double-check that he was truly just a cripple and not a total nitwit too.With raised brows, I watched their exchange, wondering how my dear sister must have been coping with the fool. Did he think he had the highest anger level in the realm? Or did he sleep better lying to himself that his anger had catastrophic effects?What an idiot!If it wasn’t for the fact that my younger sister was in the room, I would have given him so much frustration for I was interested in seeing just how far his anger could go and what it could cause.Their exchanges finally came to an end and Kelvin rolled his chair out of the room without saying another word to me. The fool.The guard that had been standing by the door also followed him, leaving me with Xena like she didn’t need protecti
XAVIER’S POVXena left the room without bothering to have another word with me. My heart sank and I felt like I was losing my family all over again,Things were not meant to be like this. She was supposed to be on my side. We were supposed to fight together, side by side. Not like this.Lartes was going to come here, I could feel it. The town was growing, and it was only a matter of time before he sent his men down here. She had to be by my side. I had to make her see the reasons.As the guards approached me, I knew that I would take up their offer and stay in the place for a few days. Anything it cost to save my sister from the hands of the crippled king.“Do you want to escort you to the mountains, or would you take the room the queen offered?” one of the guards said with defiance in his voice.My mind was already made up and nothing he said had much of an effect on me.“I’ll take the room.” I got to my feet, and they led the way to the said room.At first, I thought the room in que
XAVIER’S POVAs the vessels landed on the shores of the island, a war cry was let out and everyone took position.At first, everything seemed perfect. The people in the town were packed away from the scenes. They were led to a safe location. Our aim wasn’t to kill them but to liberate them from the monster who was growing under their noses.As the people got cleared, we proceeded straight to the palace entrance with full attack, but it wasn’t met with force as the few guards present in the town were not even expecting what awaited them nor were they prepared for war.They were easily whisked away, leaving the gates bare. But as soon as we got to this point, that was when I realized that Kelvin knew we were coming. This wasn’t a surprise attack; it was a well-precedented attack.His men appeared from all sides of town as if they had been waiting for us to finish clearing the people away so that they would attack. They were more than we had anticipated and to top that up, their arrival
XAVIER’S POVLeaving Anna behind made me stronger. The further I got from the room, the more determined I became to end this war and curse once and for all.“Xavier, the men are ready,” Edna said as she joined me on the corridor as we headed out of the palace through the warehouse, which led us straight to the vessels.“The men are yet to be addressed and they are all waiting at the beach,” Charles said, and I nodded at him.“But there is one problem,” Nico’s voice filled the space and all three of us stopped to stare at him.There was a frown on his face as he joined us. “What is the problem?” I asked as he got closer.“We will have to do your coronation before you leave. It needs to be official before the realm’s flag can be raised.” Nico explained and I could already feel Edna’s hesitation beside me, but I had the perfect solution to this.“Call the elders, they shall be going with us,” I said and started walking away but Nico ran after me, stopping right in front of me.“But Xavi
ANNA’S POVAs I got to Xavier’s chambers, I went straight to the bed, hoping I could get some rest but as I lay on it, there was nothing relaxing about it.Every scenario and circumstance kept playing into my head. My father’s kidnapping. The change of the details of the curse. The probability of Edna being Xavier’s half-sister and then Xena wanting to place her life on the edge of danger…How could I rest?Xavier’s plan was a full-on attack but what if… that one question held the key to the outcome of so many lives. It was true that with a perfectly planned attack with everyone’s support, we could win it, but would Nico change his mind?Unable to calm my head as the thoughts came moving in and out of me, I got up and walked to the window. Watching as the men outside, sat gathered in groups.It was Nico’s men and Xavier’s men too. They were sitting together in groups as if they had not just been enemies a few hours ago.A small smile danced on my lips. It was a good development and ma
XAVIER’S POVThe room fell into perfect silence as they stared at me with shock in their eyes. My eyes narrowed especially on Nico who was trying to play me here like I was a fool.“So, according to you, it isn’t a crime for me to mate with my half-sister and also, it is perfectly fine if we go against what the elders said?” I said shaking my head and watching their reactions.While Nico had a defiant frown and I could guess that he was already scheming for the next words he was going to say to frame me up into his selfish wishes, Edna could no longer look at me in the eye.It was funny because the idea of her being my half-sister was still very strange to my head but nevertheless, as I said it and they were reacting like this, then it could only be true. The problem now was how they birth to her.“Xavier, listen to me,” Nico started up and I raised my brows ready to listen to his trash for a second time. “I know all this information is a little overwhelming but none of these stories
XAVIER’S POV“What?” We all echoed out in the room in shock.Our voice was of different intensity. Where Charles had the gentlest of them, I couldn’t control mine.“This is unbelievable. How can it be possible?” I cried out. I couldn’t believe this. “Edna can’t be an Octavian, from who? We all know that Uncle Lartes was never even into women to begin with! The man preferred men!”My eyes were narrowed, and my temples were squeezed into a tight knot as I tried to unravel the truth or even basic idea about the information that Xena had given me.“She is not from Uncle Lartes,” she whispered and the cloud of confusion in my head got even thicker.“How then?” I growled. “If she isn’t from Uncle Lartes, who then birthed her?”My father had just one brother and that was Lartes. If he didn’t have then whose child was Edna— as soon as the thoughts crossed my mind, I froze. This meant one thing, if she was an Octavian, then she was…“She is our half-sister?” I whispered, unable to say the word
XAVIER’S POVHer question left a ringing in my ears and the way she collapsed to the ground, caused a panic to start within me. I knew what her argument was based on was the right thing but why did loving her also feel right? Why did fighting for us, feel right?Haven’t we been through enough already?I left my position and went to her with a troubled mind of my own, but I was certain we could figure it out together. I reached out my hands to her and as they came into contact the flame spreading between us was the assurance I needed. This couldn’t be wrong.“Anna…” I whispered with a blank head but at least it was a starting point.She raised her sad tears filled eyes to me and I was about to start cooking up the first plan that came into my head when the door opened and Charles, the vessel captain, stepped in.He bowed before us and held the position. “My king, I have news from your sister, the queen of the island,” he said, and my brows rose instantly to my hairlines.“What about my
ANNA’S POVThe hours on the journey back were ridiculously cold and silent. Every man was to himself, and I couldn’t help but begin to wonder if there was something I missed while we were all there.As the water danced around its waves, I seemed to be the only one rational enough to notice. It got to a point that I became worried for the men as they could fall or worse could happen to them.But the goddess stayed with us. We got to the shores of Black Moon safely without any casualties. Yet the mysteries surrounding the men didn’t stop. Rather it seemed to spread even to the others as we got down.Even the men in Black Moon all seemed to carry around them a strange dark aura that felt wrong.“Let’s go see the King,” Charles said and we picked a representative from the two teams of soldiers we carried along with us.We were going to the head to the throne room but we were redirected to the conference room where we found Xavier, Edna and Nico all seated with long faces.My wolf was itch
ANNA’S POVI tried to think of an explanation to what I heard, but there was none.Everything around me started feeling off, and my heart was no longer beating in the normal way.I pulled out my walkie-talkie, and I wanted to dial Charles, but with no idea where he was or how it was in there, I decided against it.I returned my device to my pocket and moved the one I got from my father and his diary into my backpack, then I did a double back to the vessel.There was nothing I could do but wait, hoping that he would have more information when he returned.“Princess Anna, we got an interception from Black Moon but the connection was not stable enough for us to pick up anything,” the man we had left as a scout on the vessel said.“Oh, we will try again later in the night, connection is always better then,” I said, based on what Xavier had told me when he handed the devices to me.It was what Lartes had used to pass information from Black Moon to the island. It worked, we just had to fin
XAVIER’S POVI wasn’t even the one to reject it. Edna herself slapped her palms to the table and jumped to her feet.“No, uncle Nico. I am not going to be mated to him!” She cried out like I was some sort of plague but surprisingly I felt no hate towards her because it was a mutual feeling. I didn’t want to be mated with her either. I already had Anna.“Sit down Edna and listen to me,” Nico growled and for the first time since I have come to know him, I saw agitation in his eyes.But Edna had gone wild.She stepped away from the table and shook her head like she had suddenly become possessed.“Why should I listen to you?” She spat out and Nico narrowed his eyes and he searched for the right words to say but before he could even come up with them, edna continued.“No way! I have listened to you all my life. I have done everything you have wanted.” She beat her chest and pointed in my direction. “But you see this particular one, I am not going to do it. I am not even going to sit here a