ANNA'S POVBoth the Alpha and I were distracted from our conversation as we watched the young lady walk towards us.She was about my age although her eyes looked older, the telltale signs of hardship and a painful life aging young eyes.She walked with her head high and purposeful steps but one could see that it was all a mask for the fear that was in her.She looked entirely out of place, her bland, cheap clothes a striking contrast to the magnificence and beauty of the palace.She looked unsure and there was a hesitant look about her, as if she was not entirely certain about what she was doing.Her whole demeanor attracted me to her and I was eager to know what she was here for.Her eyes flitted from Alpha Lartes to me while our eyes were both fixed on hers.She went on her knees when she got before the Alpha but I could see the struggle it took her to do it. Immediately, my heart went out to her."My King, I am your humble servant, Abigail Penwell," the lady said and I was amazed a
ANNA'S POV"What do you have against the prince?" Alpha Lartes came to my rescue as his words drew her attention —even though it was reluctantly, she moved her eyes away from me.She was silent. The whole room was silent as we waited on her.She looked calm on the outside but I could see that there was a waging war inside of her. She was in a dilemma and she was regretting her actions."Do you know what happens to people who waste my time?" Alpha Lartes asked as he leaned forward towards her.My heart started to race on her behalf.I did not know who she was. I had no idea as to what she had against me but I was scared for her. I did not want her to die.She took a deep breath and then she started, "My King, I am here today to assure you of my allegiance to your throne and rulership," as she said this, she went down on one knee.There was a pain in her voice. She sounded as if every word that came out of her mouth was a dagger that was piercing through her soul. It was not a pain cau
ANNA'S POVOnce again, the room was as silent as a graveyard."I need a name," Alpha Lartes said.Abigail was quiet.I said a prayer to the goddess to come to Xavier's aid. As much as I hated the fool, I couldn't let him die.Not now and not by Lartes' hands. If anyone was going to kill Xavier, it should be by my hands and on my terms."What is the name of this person you talk about?" Alpha Lartes asked again. I could hear his anger growing in his voice.He was trying his best to keep his cool. I could see from the rhythmic tapping of his feet that there was a rampage broiling inside of him."I am scared my King," Abigail said."Scared of what?" Alpha Lartes bellowed. "I have assured you your life and I don't intend to go back on my words. If you tell me what I need to know, you will live. But if you refuse to talk, then so be it," Alpha Lartes said his voice threatening.I could see the emotion I had noticed about her as she first walked into the throne room. It was regret.She now k
XAVIER'S POVI had been on my way to my room to change when the sound of my uncle's growl drew my attention to the throne room.I was shocked to have heard my uncle's growl as he had not taken matters into his hands recently and had left it to the guards and so I was amused and on my way to see who was unlucky to have brought my Uncle's feral wrath on them.I walked to the throne room and it was not till I reached the door that I saw in amazement who was the benefactor of my Uncle's wrath."Abigail!" My wolf cried within me in panic as I saw what my uncle was doing to her.I did not let any other thought cross my mind and immediately, I lunged to save her.I thought I had let out all the anger in me already but seeing Abigail's throat being squeezed like a sponge, a new anger arose in me and it built up in a matter of seconds.I knew that my strength was no way near my uncle's since he was a much older Lycan but I knew if I fought smart, I was going to be able to win him and so I did.
XAVIER'S POV I held my breath as I awaited my death sentence.Abigail still did not glance at me even as my uncle referred to me.I had always thought that I was not scared of death but right now, as I awaited Abigail's response which could lead to my death, I realized that no matter how tough one was, death was its humbling factor."Do you know what I will do to you if you don't talk? I will sit you upon a hot stove, your hands tied behind your back while you watch as I rip out the tongue and eyes and every single body part of your family members piece by piece till all that was left was an unrecognizable block of torso," My Uncle said in a voice so genuine and sincere one had every cause to believe he was going to make good on his threat."I won't kill you. You shall live, daily on the brink of death, wishing so dearly for it but never getting it," My Uncle continued.My Uncle was never one who threatened. He felt like it made him look weak. He believed in just doing and no one wou
ANNA'S POVHer face was determined but I could see through her and I saw how she contemplated betraying Xavier or not.I was worried because just like her, I was not sure she was not going to betray him.Once my family was involved, I would pick my family over any other thing."Help me, goddess," I prayed.If Xavier lost his life today, my people would die with him. This was not just the end of his life but me and my people as well.The coward was the reason I was in the palace and without him, I would have no use thereby no alliance between my pack and his."I need to do something!" I said to my wolf."Don't you dare! What do you think the Alpha would think if you stepped in?" My wolf discouraged me but I did not want to believe her."You are supposed to be gaining his trust, not losing it!" My wolf added.She was right. But the situation was looking bleak. I needed to do something. Not only for my people's sake but for his as well. I did not care what would happen to the incompeten
ANNA'S POVI listened for her footsteps but I could not hear anything. She was obviously careful so her footsteps would not make any sound.I sniffed the air trying to see if I would pick up her scent but there was totally nothing. She had masked her scent too. She was wise. She had made sure no one would be able to track her down.I should have given up since the odds were not in my favour but I could not let her get away. I needed to meet her. I needed to understand what was going on because it did not make sense to me.I knew that Xavier had a hand in the rebellion against his Uncle thanks to what happened the first day I arrived but I still could not believe that a coward like him who could not even stand up to his uncle would be able to lead an entire gang so notorious it made the almighty Lartes worry and would earn such loyalty from them.I needed to know if he was just an informant from the palace, a role which would make much sense as cowards were known to be snitches, or if
ANNA'S POV I could not see anything. The room was pitch black.The hairs on my arm rose as they sensed the presence of someone else in the room.She was in the room with me.I was so excited to have found her but I reminded myself to stay calm.After a while of nothing happening, I started getting anxious. I suspected that this was nothing more than just a trap.As if sensing my suspicions, she then started to move, causing me to follow her.She unknowingly led me through the darkened room, into a corridor.I was not surprised that the palace had such a place as I knew it was normal for a palace to have hidden tunnels and so on. What I was surprised about was how Abigail knew about these places.She was so sure of her safety in this place as she never glanced over her back to check if she was followed. But I still kept a lot of distance between us.She finally came to a stop at the end of the corridor.I strained my eyes to look in the darkness and I saw that it was a wall. I had exp
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