I observe Maria as she cries in pain from whatever Coal is doing to her. She is forced to bend and shift into her wolf as she screams in pain, and it hurts me to see what is happening to her. But what hurts more is when I look at her and see her for what she is. That is after she has completely shifted into her black-furred wolf. She is the one. She is the black-furred wolf that has saved my life in very delicate situations more than once. As I look at her I see the black wolf that saved Keirah and me when we escaped from my uncle's warehouse. The black wolf who fought the brown wolves when Keirah tried to escape on that rainy day. I see it all. She meant it when she said she was my protector. I shout at Coal. “You are hurting her. Stop it right now.” Coal just looks at her, and her fur on the skin erupts with fire. She jumps out of fear. It is a boiler kind of fire on her skin. Maria cries in pain as she rolls to the ground of the dungeons, trying to put it off. Her whole skin
“Unfortunately, no werewolf is allowed to kill the other. Especially a sucre of one clan being a part of killing another sucre. “Killing a werewolf has brought you and Maria in here. She did something unforgivable in the pack. Her punishment would have been different if she killed a wolf from our clan. “But she killed wolves from the ground clan. And you killed an entire army that was sent to bring you in. So there is no getting out of here until a new Alpha has been crowned. “The only decree acceptable to kill a wolf in the situation is via the Alpha King's order. Or during the next full moon fight for the crown when all the Sucres have been stripped of their powers..” “So what you are telling me is that during the next full moon, you will all be powerless. You won't be able to use on me the witchcraft powers you are using to threaten my life with?” “You are taking all this in a wrong way. No one is threatening you with the power. And... Yes, during the fight, all council members
Hearing James’s voice, which I haven’t heard for a whole month, gets to me because at some point I thought I would never get to hear him speak to me again. I thought he was also dead. I thought, just like Zia, he had abandoned me. Thinking about that brings me to the last image of Zia’s dead body in my arms. That memory will never leave my mind. “Luciano...” he calls for me and tears find their way to my eyes, and I sob nonstop. The pain and grief I thought I was done with pours in me. It is as if I am reliving Zia’s death again. Every other question that I want to ask about him comes to my mind. “Luciano... are you still there? Are you okay?” he speaks to me again and from the tone of his voice, he is crying too. I should be the one asking him that. I should be the one beside him at these moments. I want to ask him how he is doing. How he is surviving without the one person who meant the world to him, his mother. I want to ask about Keirah and baby Lana. And Don Mauro and Erede.
“I promised him freedom, and I meant it. He can get out of here now if he wants to. He can be free. But Luciano can only attain that kind of freedom he wants when he accepts his birthright as the Alpha King.” “Ooh …was that the plan? Well, Luciano and I have a different plan from yours.” Words from Coal suffocate me. My uncle tried to break me and almost succeeded, but he did not. But the council members of this werewolf pack broke me. They made me stay still. They made me scared. Coal's words remind me of how vulnerable I have gotten in the last month. “You have just made me furious. What did you do to my brother? You hurt my brother. You broke my brother apart. You should not have put a hand on my brother.” “He is safer here than anywhere he could ever be. You can never get to him. And even if you make it inside the pack, which is impossible unless Luciano accepts his birthright and initiates you into the pack. “Let me remind you that everyone here is a wolf. Don't be a solo sh
“You have just done the most stupid thing you could ever do, and that is initiating a human into our pack behind our backs!” “I don’t know what you are talking about.” ‘Fenrir, what is happening?’ I shout at Fenrir, but I feel him deep in sleep in my head. ‘Hey, I need you to wake up and tell me if you did anything. ‘I don’t want you to hurt, James. I will never forgive you or myself if anything bad happens to him.’ There is silence again from my wolf. He has said nothing to me for almost a whole month now. “Don’t play smart with me. You have signed him to his death, Luciano. You have killed your friend. If you have initiated him. And he is already here. “He won’t stay too long in the pack borders before the pack feels too much for him. All the humans that were initiated in the pack. They did not come on happy occasions. “It was a punishment for them. It was a punishment from our people to humans. A few hours in here, he will want out and he will run out of the pack on his own.
In the following second, the whole building with the dungeons is shaking as if there was some kind of earthquake. James splits down from above, hanging on a rope from one of our escape helicopters. Holding two guns in both his hands, he steadily jumps directly into the dungeon. He doesn’t waste time as he walks up to my cell and shoots my cell door open. Setting me free. I am free. I am free. I recite that in my head, but my body and mind don’t seem to agree. My body and mind still do not agree and they can’t seem to agree at thinking this is possible. I watch as James walks into the cell. And I am still frozen in place. I still can’t believe it is real. I pull myself to run up to him, and there is still something that is pushing me back. The idea of the energy surrounding the cell gate. I am expecting to feel the force that has always pushed me off the cell doors, but as I take steps closer, I do not feel it. Realizing that, I burst off running to him. I am already in tears w
Maria is James’s mate! My brother has finally found the ‘one’. I turn my eyes to James, expecting to see him excited. He always wanted this. He always wished to meet a woman that would love him. A woman for him to love and have a family with. And she is finally here. And by James’s reaction, I don’t think he understands this. I don’t think he is getting this or the magnitude of the announcement or the word ‘mate’ from a werewolf. James is pushing Maria off his body by force and shouting at her angrily. “Who is your mate? Do you see a monster in me that looks like you? What the fuck is wrong with her?” Maria still holds on tightly to James as James continues shouting. “Get away from me.” He pushes her away with all the force he can gather, and she stumbles a step back. He then for the second time points a gun at her again. “Did you play a part in kidnapping him, too? Did you play a part in hurting him again?” Instead of getting mad or angry or frightened, Maria is still smiling
“I do not want to hurt you. But you are forcing my hand.” James continues to shout angrily at Maria, who still doesn’t move an inch. It is as if she is frozen in place. When I take a deep closer look at her. It gets to me. It’s not her doing. Her wolf has taken over. I remember the first time Fenrir met Keirah. I have experienced firsthand what Maria must be going through. The feeling I cannot explain how it feels after the wolf in Werewolves meets their mate for the first time. It’s not her mind working now. She won’t be able to move even if she wants to. She must do the impossible to fight her wolf. If not, her wolf won’t let James stay an inch away from her. “Do you need a bullet penetrating your skull to make you understand what I am saying to you?” Maria nods, smiling broadly. I climb off the rope and walk right up to James to explain to him the situation at hand. But before I can say anything to him, James interrupts me. “What is her deal? “What is with those smiles and no
James quickly stands up. And his eyes travel to the doorway hoping to see his brother and there is no one there.Then his eyes travel to Maria, but Maria has not moved an inch she is lying down in the same place that she was in, and she is still hissing in pain.He runs over to help her off the ground onto a sofa beside Baby Lana’s crib. As he helps her off the floor, she is looking at him with questioning eyes wondering. ”It was not me!”“Then who is it?”“It’s me!” A weak voice from behind them makes them turn around to see Keirah holding Don Mauro’s tablet in her hands.She raises the tablet in the air for Don Mauro to see it. And she is wearing an angry weak smile but a savage one. “I made the biochips. I know a way or two to undo them. A few codes and I have sent enough shock to shut their minds out. Did you think me stupid to show you everything?”She tries to get out of bed, but it becomes hard, and Maria motions for James to help her. James puts down Maria dashing to her side
Don Mauro’s whole body is shaking with fear. That he can’t even hold the tablet in his hand anymore. And the tablet drops off his hands falling back on Keirah’s bed.He quickly takes the baby out of Dr. Patel’s hand. Readying himself to run. “You are coming with me.” He threatens Dr. Patel.As soon as Don Mauro and Dr. Patel start moving. Dr. Fred, who has been for a while standing too close to the monitor, senses something.There is a flicker of movement that appears on the monitor. A faint but unmistakable rhythm emerges on the monitor.And just like Dr. Fred, everyone, including Don Mauro, James , Erede and Dr. Patel turn their concentration and are all looking at the monitor.It then becomes so loud something that everyone, including Maria who had lost consciousness, opens her eyes wide to the monitor.The room is in silent as their eyes widen in disbelief. Keirah’s heart begins to beat once more, and her vital signs start stabilizing.Tears of joy are on Dr. Fred, but they are al
The happy celebratory noise erupts through the tablet from the werewolves at the pack and from Erede beside James. This makes James quickly to bring back his eyes to Don Mauro’s tablet screen and he joins Erede in making the happy noise after observing how happy everyone is from Luciano’s win. To James’s surprises Don Mauro is smiling too. From the look on his face, he wanted Luciano to win. As if remembering something. His face changes into a serious murderous one. As he quickly gulps in his remaining whiskey on his bottle and throws the remaining piece of cigar on the floor putting himself together as he announces to his goons. “Time to go. We are done here. Kill everyone in here....everyone including that sleeping baby in her crib. And that unconscious woman Maria too. “I don’t want anyone in here to walk out alive. And lock the room after you are done. We need to move fast. Our job here is done. “ I need to prepare myself for my coronation speech. I don’t want to have it broa
The sound of Dr. Fred stumbling backward makes Don Mauro turn his full attention to him and by the look on Dr. Fred’s face, everyone in the room can tell.That whatever Dr. Fred is going to say is not going to be good news. There is so much panic surrounding him, and his fingers still holding Keirah’s hand that he just used to check for her pulse and any sign of breathing on her nose are trembling slightly.He swallows hard with fear written all over his face as he tries to speak, “She is dead,” he whispers, his voice barely above a hoarse murmur. “Keirah is dead.”There are painful tears on everyone all over the room except Don Mauro and his goons who all look unbothered. “That is bad. You ....” Don Mauro speaks as he motions for Dr. Patel. “Get Luciano’s dead bastard out. I want to see what the fuck that thing looks like.“It had a fight in it. What a disappointment. I thought we had a future together, I thought it had the Solana genes dominating it. And giving up was not an option.
“Yes…ME! I am going to rule over everyone from now on. Not just humans, but werewolves, too. Imagine being me.” Don Mauro laughs so hard that happy tears threaten his eyes. “See….take a look.” He raises his tablet in his hands and takes it around, showing what he is watching to everyone in the room. He is smiling happily. “I have eyes in the pack. Although I can’t get in physically. I can now see everything and use my army inside the pack. One word and I can flash out the whole pack in a blink.” On the screen of the tablet, that Don Mauro is taking around. There is a live feed of Luciano fighting with another man in a combat fight. Luciano is no longer in his white porcelain skin, and he is back to the human Luciano he has always been. Covered in his original tattoos as he fights another man. Luciano is fighting with all his might and so is the other man. When Don Mauro gets closer to his son, Erede. Erede questions him. “Who is Luciano fighting? Is that the famous Water?” “No...
James struggles to see the horror unfolding in front of him. As the pack leading doctor crumples to the ground, lifeless and betrayed. And the very loud beeping noise continues to make it to all his ears. This was not his plan. The plan was to save her. James’s fight crumbles like a fragile wall battered by an unstoppable storm. He stops moving. He stops fighting. He stops everything and stands like a statue in the goon hold. As the monitors continue beeping urgently. Informing everyone that this is the end road for Keirah. Erede, on the other hand, grips his chest, tears falling out of his eyes. “NO.. KEIRAH …NO.” He watches in disbelief, his mind struggling to comprehend the nightmare before his eyes. The scene puts him in more shock, and he is frozen in place, his senses overwhelming him. But this does not affect his father. With a cold, calculating gaze, Don Mauro surveys the room, scanning one person after the other. As if daring anyone to try him again. In his eyes, everyone
Maria’s mind is already racing. As she steps out of the room, she is in an alert mood and ready for anything coming her way. Her fight instincts from her experiences in the attacks that happened in the pack are full on. By looking at the dead bodies, she has just realized that things have taken a wrong turn and that the fate that awaits her and everyone she loves is not promising. The man that shows up in front of her ready to attack her tells Maria who the culprit behind this is. This person she is fighting is not a new face to her. She knows who he is. She knows him too well. He was once a person she called her people. And his way of fighting is primitive to what she can do. She tries to go easy on him. With full knowledge, he has no control over himself, but it looks like her good heart cannot be applied now. This man and the one now already holding her mate captive. They are not going easy like her. That makes her realize it is war. Kill or get killed. Especially because sh
“I am so sorry Maria...I don't think my father will be of any help in our situation. His obsession with winning is beyond what any of us can do to make him turn a blind eye and be of help. “And he also thinks Luciano is the biggest threat there is to him. And to protect himself from Luciano. He has been doing the impossible to assure himself of that. “And I believe he has succeeded that through Keirah. He knew just like Salvatore and Luciano’s mother, there was no way Luciano would harm him if he had Keirah. “He knows Luciano would put his life online to save her. That’s how he has control. It is not only Luciano, even with me. And I see it is all of you, too. You would all do anything for her. “ By having her in this like this. He has control over us. Keirah is the key to it all. She was also the reason I fell out with him. And the reason he had a better way to control me. “His jealous son was not ready to let Keirah go. After I found out about her relationship with Luciano. I co
“What did Doom want? ”“When Doom reached out to him for the first time, he asked my father if he could help him locate Luciano. My father did not trust Doom. And he refused to help. “He did not refuse only because he did not trust Doom, but because my father also did not know where Luciano was.” “When was that?” “That was when Luciano and all of you had successfully escaped my father from Casablanca.” “That is weird. Doom lied. Everyone in the pack knew where Luciano was. Everyone in the pack had seen through my mind link about his whereabouts because I had followed him. To the forest house. Doom’s only task was to bring Luciano to the pack.” “My father thought he was lying back then, too. He had trust issues with anyone from the pack. You had disappointed him. He thought you were working for Aero. And he thought just like you, Doom was also working for Aero, too.” “Me? ....Working for Aero?” “He thought you were working for Aero because you had bombarded Casablanca. He thought