ALPHA KING XALEN~~“Really?” I barked.Anger built up within me as the hope I was holding on to seemed to be fading every second. I had so many people around me yet I felt so alone. I once had a plan for my life and future but now? Now I was lost with no hope of finding my way. Perhaps if Laura comes back to life. She was my compass– My moral and geographical compass. “We have searched and did everything we can, My King but there’s no evidence that the Queen was murdered.” My Royal Gamma, Wyatt, repeated as he fell on his knees before my throne. “Then have the trackers tear everything down,” I growled, barely keeping my ass on my throne.Wyatt was too scared to open his mouth so Evan stepped in and said to me, “The trackers did everything, My King. The Healers also testified that they found nothing toxic in her body. It’s a natural death–” “Don’t even tell me that!” I cut my Royal Beta off. “How can that be a natural death? She gave birth to Jodie without complications and two
HAYLEE~~I was drained of every bit of energy. Yet I was still standing in the kitchen where I had been since I woke up in the wee hours of this morning. I barely slept for three hours before I got up to prep for the warriors’ breakfast. It’s like preparing a meal for every member of the Crescent Moon Pack. After preparing breakfast with little to no help from the servants who used to do these chores before I was brought into the pack as a slave, I started preparing lunch for the chiefs of the pack because they would be having a meeting in a few hours and Owen had started talking about all I had to do for the Royal Family dinner. My sight was foggy, my throat was dry and the worms in my stomach were biting me, crying to be fed. However, despite having different dishes around me, I wasn’t allowed to eat any. Owen would kill me.“Just serve yourself a plate, Haylee. We need the strength. We need to sleep.” Liya cried into my mind. The last time I shifted and let Liya have a meal o
HAYLEE~~I didn’t know which one I paid more attention to with every second that passed without a word from the Alpha King– Owen’s shaky frame or the lips that kept parting only to close again like their owner couldn’t make up his mind. “I was ju-just correcting the Slave, My King. She was dis-disrespectful and stole–” If I was going to die, I would rather die a criminal who touched the King’s child and had the audacity to appear before him as his second chance’s mate at his beloved Queen’s funeral, than be called a thief for eating one spoon of rice. With that thought in mind, I cut Owen off, sounding more confident for some weird reason and despite the Alpha King’s presence, “I didn’t steal. I haven’t eaten in three days, My King and I know I’m a slave but I need food just like everyone else. I need food and sleep to function and I haven’t been having enough. If you want me dead, chop off my head or throw me to the rogues but please do not treat me like I’m lesser than–” “Shus
ALPHA KING XALEN ~~ I hated her. The way she constantly looked at me from under her long lashes. The way she inhaled. The way she exhaled. The way she walked. The way she looked in the servants’ uniform. The way her chest rose and fell as she tried not to let her eyes wander. I hated everything about her. The bright color of her hair. Her dull green eyes had only brightened when she stared at Jodie. The small curve of her lips as she smiled down at my daughter who had stopped crying like she was in some sort of magic land and not the arms of a slave… Fuck, I hated everything. Yet, I had to bring her into my home. After all, I couldn’t just drop Jodie with her and let her take care of my daughter in the Servants’s quarters where she had obviously been suffering– “You should have let me break every bone in his body.” Theo snarled in my mind, holding a kind of anger that was new to me. He was angry because the slave was touched by another man… because she was maltreated b
HAYLEE ~~ I understood that he hated me for reasons best known to him. But to be honest, I was a victim too. I have been all my life and the way he seemed to enjoy hurting me even though I was helping his kid was making it hard for me to breathe. My chest hurt. But my head was aching more due to the forced connection he– “You don’t speak much, do you?” The young woman Alpha Xalen handed me over to, asked, her eyes on me as if she was studying me. I have learned to be careful around Servants in this Pack since they all considered me beneath them. If my head wasn’t aching, I still wouldn’t speak to the nanny to avoid getting punched– “He wasn’t always like this.” I didn’t ask her but she supplied that detail anyway. “Well, he was hostile when he was younger but became very warm when he met the Queen. Losing her sent him back to his dark days.” I get it. He was suffering. But I have been suffering all my life and he doesn’t see me being a pain in his ass or that of anyone
HAYLEE~~“You do not belong here….” The voice I heard was soft and young, and it was supposed to be innocent and friendly, but it was everything but that. It was harsh and as I opened my eyes to see the small frame boiling with obvious anger before me, My brows furrowed. I could only stare at the little girl before me as I pushed myself off the nursery floor. I must have dozed off while putting Princess Jodie to bed. I thought working with Owen was hard but having a baby who won’t let me drop her for even a minute was harder. The good part was, I wasn’t getting slapped or starved. Aside from Princess Jodie, no one was yelling at me until now. “That’s my mom’s spot. Get up and get out of my sister’s room.” The young girl literally hissed at me. Her mom’s spot? Her sister? “Princess Sophia?” I breathed, Rather than respond, she seethed just like I had seen Alpha King Xalen do, “I told you to leave my mom’s spot and get out of my sister’s room.” I was standing in a cozy corner
HAYLEE~~“I swear to the goddess she was right here.” I had screamed three hours ago, my body trembling as he stared down at me with anger and perhaps worry in his eyes. Clearly, he wasn’t concerned about the way my heart was rising and falling rapidly, not when he was about to growl at me. But before he could, I added, “Princess Sophia showed up. She was furious. She sent me out of the room and I thought it was best to sit here while I waited for her to–” “But you fell asleep!” He shut me up, punching the nearest wall in a way that made me jump backward. “You fell asleep when you were supposed to be watching my kids.”“I didn’t mean to. I swear to the goddess–” I whimpered. “Enough swearing to the goddess, dammit!” He hissed maliciously, showing nothing but hate and disrespect to the goddess. That happened three hours ago and while I was shaken by fear and also been praying that the Princesses would return home, they haven’t and we have all been searching and by searching, I m
ALPHA KING XALEN~~My heart was racing. My soul was threatening to abandon my body. I lost track of time as I walked along with Evan, searching for all three of my kids. I was ready to blame the slave when I found out Jodie wasn’t in the Palace but when I heard her mention Sophia’s name, I knew my daughter was back to be a sweet indispensable pain in my ass. Sophia was a menace. No one would call her this but yes, she is a crazy five years old and Laura was the only person she ever listened to. But now, Laura was gone and she wouldn’t listen to anyone else which was why I had to send her to the Healers even before the funeral because I knew she would have thrown tantrums all through the funeral and create a scene that wouldn’t be good for her reputation–“Somehow, it sounds like you are describing yourself,” Theo muttered despite how weary we both were. “You were a menace and a crazy bastard before Laura came into our lives and now that she is gone, you are back to the old day
HAYLEE~~“I told you so.”If Liya wasn’t trembling with rage within me, I was certain those four dreaded words would be echoing endlessly in my mind. My wolf would have said those words to me, but even though she didn’t voice them out loud, I could still hear her furious voice in my subconscious because, truly, she told me so.Heck! Liya warned me severely.“I knew she was a snake, but I didn’t know she would go this far,” Liya hissed into my mind, frustration coursing through her. “I didn’t like her from the start, but I also couldn’t see why she would want to kill you. Even when I forced you to keep that sample from the smoothie, I was just trying to be thorough and cautious.”Well, thank goodness for that, because how else would I have known that the only person who willingly offered to be my friend when I started living in the palace was, undoubtedly, my faceless enemy?Flavia, who had been quietly working, suddenly gasped, “I can’t detoxify you alone. We either get you to the
HAYLEE~~Flavia barged into Sophia’s bedroom, where I was with the kids, her eyes wide as the sky but also cloudy.I dropped the book I had in my hands instinctively, ignoring the soreness of my body. I assumed I had to get used to the muscle soreness that I had been experiencing due to my training session with Xalen.“Are you okay?” Those were the first words that Flavia uttered, even though Sophia and Asher were trying to get her attention.I could see her fingers trembling as she tried to wrap her arms around Sophia and Asher. The scent of her worries invaded my nostrils, almost suffocating me before I answered, “I am okay. Are the results out?”My eyes were heavy, but just like I had ignored my sore muscles, I had been forcing my tired eyes to remain open because I wanted to read more about the various abilities that each faction within the werewolf community had.“They are, Haylee, and they aren’t good.” Flavia let out a shallow breath. “We should get you to your room. You nee
ALPHA KING XALEN~~Everything Rowena told us about Alpha Richard's offer simply proved that he had a secret weapon—or what was supposed to be a secret weapon. With every passing day, I was leaning closer to the red wolf theory, but we were still stuck in a state of dilemma.I mean, even with all of this, I still couldn’t bring Richard in or punish him because, while everyone in power would believe me, normal subjects wouldn’t. They would see me as a tyrant, and that would further divide the realm.“Richard knew what he was doing. He planned this perfectly,” Theo hissed within me.My wolf’s statement made me wonder just how long Alpha Richard had been putting these plans in place. Obviously, he had been making moves even before I was born. How do I beat him then?“You know he loved you, right?” Rowena muttered, snapping us all out of our thoughts, even though she was looking at Roy’s red face. “He hated that you and the king couldn’t get along and always looked forward to your visit
ALPHA KING XALEN~~“Welcome, Elder Rowena.” I breathed before the dark blindfold that Wyatt had put over her face came off.The older woman blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the light in my office, before she exhaled, “My King.”Her eyes fell on Roy, who was sitting on the couch opposite my office desk, and Rowena muttered, “Alpha Prince Roy.”Roy simply nodded her way because he didn’t trust her, even though I had assured him that she could be of help to us. After training with Haylee this morning and making sure we didn’t miss breakfast time with the kids, I asked Wyatt to get Elder Rowena and bring her into my home office through one of the secret tunnels.I also asked Wyatt to blindfold Rowena so the secret tunnels would remain just that: secret. In fact, I had to direct Wyatt through the tunnels because that was the first time he would make use of them.Rowena went straight to business after I offered her a seat. “May I know why I was abducted from my home and dragged thr
HAYLEE~~“Ouch!”I cried out as Xalen overpowered me for the umpteenth time since we began sparring. I have lost count of the number of times I have landed on my back, even though I could tell Xalen was holding back.It’s a good thing we weren’t doing this in the open where other warriors would see me getting my ass handed to me. It would have been shameful.“This is shameful, Hay,” Liya groaned within me. “You haven’t landed one blow, even though that was the first move he showed you.”“Would you like to try?” I gritted at my wolf, rolling onto my side even though my entire body protested. “Perhaps I would have mastered the first move if you hadn’t been making fun of me.”Rather than being of help, Liya has been having a good time, laughing loudly each time I lost my balance and fell. She did the same even after I called her out, and I could feel anger rising within me.“Don’t beat yourself up, Hay.” Xalen’s voice pierced through my boiling rage and thick frustration. “It’s only y
HAYLEE~~I had to sneak out of bed before daybreak the next morning because Flavia asked me to. According to her, we needed to keep tabs on the servants, especially those who prepared the royal meal in the kitchen. Since we couldn’t trust anyone but ourselves, we had to do the spying ourselves.“We either find the poison before they start preparing breakfast, or we catch them red-handed,” Flavia muttered as we entered the empty royal kitchen. Even the servants were still fast asleep.Before I could respond, Flavia added, “I discreetly tested everyone’s blood to be sure we all haven’t been poisoned. I found out that you are right. You are the only target, which means the poison is added to your food after the general preparation.”“That’s a relief,” I whispered to Flavia, who had started searching the kitchen cupboards and cabinets. “I doubt the poison will be kept here, Flavia. Especially now that it is clear that it does not affect me.”I had been trying to think like whoever was
ALPHA KING XALEN~~“We had a long talk, Xay,” Haylee breathed after we settled into bed for the night.Due to our schedules, talking in bed before we fell asleep had become the new normal. I was more than happy to chat with her in bed as I recalled a time when I couldn’t share such moments with her because I thought keeping her away from me was for the best.“She told me that Allison would lose her power because Alpha Richard would cut her off from the source, which I believe is a Red Wolf in capacity,” Haylee added, staring at the ceiling as she lay on her back. “I also read about the first Red Wolf today.”As she told me about the information she gathered, I watched her closely, her voice fading into the background as her beauty and obvious interest captivated me faster than her enchanting voice.“She’s breathtaking.” Even Theo agreed with me.I mean, what on earth is this beauty that Haylee seems to unlock with every passing day? I knew I was in love with her, and love tends to
HAYLEE~~“Give it back, witch!” Allison’s screams kept getting louder, and even though the servants weren’t in my sightline, I could sense their presence as they lurked around to be a part of the drama.Xalen, who had had enough of Allison, seethed, “Witch? We all know you are the witch, and if your witchy powers have somehow disappeared, so be it. Good riddance to bad rubbish. So shut the hell up.”The smile on my face grew bigger as my mate came to my defense, but I was happier because Allison’s face dropped, and I could see just how lost she was without the power she had stolen.“I won’t stand for this! She took my throne. She stole my mate, and now she has taken the only thing that matters to me!” Allison cried out, genuinely disturbed.Rather than calm her down, I breathed with a smirk, “Shouldn’t your baby be the only thing, or in this case, person, that matters to you? I can only imagine what kind of mother you would be, Allison. My heart goes out to your child—”“Don’t you
HAYLEE~~While waiting for my test results and Xalen’s return to the palace, I dug into the one book that seemed to have held on to my attention and mind—Cursed in Crimson. Just like Flavia narrated briefly, the first red wolf was quite phenomenal and pitiful.Reading about her felt like torture because I could have sworn I was transported back in time to the era and place she existed. I could have sworn I felt every whip and lash she had to endure, even though she was powerful enough to destroy the entire realm.“They even formulated a poison just for her,” Liya gritted within me as my eyes caught the name of the poison.“Crimsonbane,” I muttered, letting the name of the deadly potion roll off my tongue.Apparently, that was the only concoction that could harm a red wolf. With the right amount, the first Red Wolf was manipulated, controlled, and forced to commit many evil deeds. Also, with the right amount, her heart stopped right after she laid the Crimson Curse.I also discovered