ALPHA KING XALEN~~“If you didn’t call for an urgent meeting, then who did?” Uncle Calvin’s shock was evident in his wide eyes and open mouth.“Clearly, Allison did.” I breathed out, a smile creeping across my face. “She is indeed quite smart, which is precisely why we can’t let her have her way, Uncle Calvin.”Using my uncle’s title, which conveyed our close biological ties, only happened once in a blue moon, but after the kind of tense conversation we just had, it felt like a rare blue moon had risen in our midst. “I now know what is truly at risk, thanks to you, but if we do nothing right now, we are allowing Alpha Richard and Allison to assume they are the ones pulling the strings. We have to turn the tables against them.”Uncle Calvin sighed heavily, shaking his head. “I don’t see how that is going to happen, My King.”What? Did I hear him right?“Is he really saying he can’t support our fight against Allison and her family?” Even Theo was stunned by my uncle’s unexpected resp
Princess Allison’s POV ~~“Perfect.”My wolf chimed in my head as soon as Alpha King Xalen stepped forward in the court of elders, where he was still the king but also held accountable.I had to resist the urge to smirk or chuckle out loud as he called me a liar and claimed he could prove it. What a fool he was! A hotheaded king, but his mind was small, and I could see him becoming my puppet in the next forty-nine days. I saw that clearly now. It seemed impossible before, but I had come to realize that he was no match for me.“Are you claiming that this royal guard didn’t assault the princess in the worst ways possible?” Elder Vernon, the second most powerful elder in the court and also the man I knew I had access to whenever I wanted because he and my dad were friends, uttered, asking Alpha King Xalen the question that would push him deeper into my trap.These elders, all twenty-something of them, must really enjoy having Alpha King Xalen in this court because it was the only place
ALPHA KING XALEN~~I have heard that acting was becoming popular among the younger generation, but today, in the court, was the first time I saw what acting really was. It was one thing to pretend and another to act.And I must say, Allison’s acting was a ten out of ten.Was I stunned? Hell, yes.But did I let her see that? Well, I tried to hide it until she played her last stunt, forcing my jaw to drop as it fell.Allison looked me in the eye and whimpered, “I’m begging you to protect my image, Alpha King Xalen. It will be all I have left after I return home to my pack, failing to become the queen they believed I could be.”She was playing the pity card so well. To those who didn’t see the way she was ready to take the guard’s manhood in her lying mouth, she appeared innocent and miserable. She made it look like she had been betrayed by me, even though I had nothing to do with what she did with the guard.Who knows? She might have been sleeping with other guards before I caught he
HAYLEE~~From the rumors flying around, Alpha King Xalen had a long day—long enough to take his mind off punishing the servants for throwing a party. Or so I have heard. However, I believed I had a longer day because I had been juggling through my fuzzy mind, trying to remember what went down last night, especially between the Alpha King and me.Thinking and having to take care of the kids all by myself didn’t go well together, as the kids needed my full attention.I had been with the kids all day, and now Alpha King Xalen was standing in the living room where I had been with the kids and some man Princess Sophia had introduced as her uncle. I also saw the striking resemblance between the Royal Advisor and the unfamiliar man, but I still couldn’t leave the kids alone with him.This is why Alpha King Xalen walked in and found me in the living room.“There’s tension,” Liya muttered into my mind after Alpha King Xalen and Roy entered. “Definitely bad blood between the cousins.”Oh, I s
HAYLEE~~“Haylee, we need to talk. Meet me in the garden at dusk. It’s urgent and important. — Jose”My heart raced as I folded the note neatly, my eyes scanning the handwriting I was familiar with hastily.Surely the note was from Jose. He didn’t have to write his name on the note for me to know. A couple of emotions swirled within me: anxiety, fear, and maybe a bit of hope. I had been trying to get hold of Jose all day, but all my attempts were fruitless as he had been in court with Princess Allison.Why did he want to meet in the garden? Why couldn’t he wait by my bedroom door for me or find me somewhere in the palace? What’s with this secret meeting? I honestly hoped he wasn’t about to tell me about his feelings again.“I suspected something was bothering him this morning when he walked past us without uttering a word,” Liya said in my mind. “Whatever he has to say, it’s our chance to ask him about last night. We have to seize it.”Liya was right, yet my heart kept racing as I
ALPHA KING XALEN~~In spite of how the previous day drained me, I woke up in a better mood this morning. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I slept with my kids around me and in the bedroom where Laura and I created them.I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about those days.This was the first time I would be smiling genuinely at the thought of Laura, and also last night was the first I would spend in my matrimonial bedroom after Laura’s demise.I believed that was my way of trying to connect with her before I began the fight against Allison—a fight that would save my kids and the realm and probably secure a future with Haylee.“So, goodbye to Laura?” Theo asked me, even though he knew the effect those words would have on me.“She will always be a part of my life, Theo.” I wasn’t saying goodbye. I just couldn't.“If you aren’t saying goodbye, how will you take Haylee? What space will she hold in your life? Will she have to compete with the ghost of Laura?” Theo ask
HAYLEE~~The tension in the pack was undeniable, and the source of that tension was within the same palace I was living in. I could feel it during breakfast, and even though breakfast ended many hours ago, I could still feel it as Banita, Maeve, and Orla discussed the execution that would be happening soon.“His parents are old, and he is their first child,” Orla muttered with pity.Maeve rolled her eyes. “You can’t pity him, Orla. He dared to touch the Alpha King’s woman. That’s a big crime.”“But seriously, I have known him for years. He isn’t someone like that. I can’t seem to wrap my head around the whole drama,” Orla countered, talking about how the guard who was to be executed in a few hours was her neighbor growing up.Benita didn’t have much to say since she didn't know the guard. The four of us were in the kitchen as usual because that was the only place big enough for all four of us to be at once, and of course, I was holding Princess Jodie, who kept playing with the stra
ALPHA KING XALEN~~She shouldn’t be here, not with my baby in her arms.And did she leave Sophia and Asher alone at home?I was trying not to be mad as I thought about why Haylee would choose to leave two of my kids at home and bring my newborn to the execution ground. It’s no news to anyone that children under the age of fourteen are not allowed on the execution grounds.“Might be news to her. She isn’t a member of this pack, after all,” Theo defended Haylee, speaking calmly before I could catch up to Haylee and demand she leave immediately.Or maybe it was the fact that I followed Haylee’s gaze and found Allison and Jose standing side by side that made me change my mind.“If you had made her a part of this pack, you would have been able to speak to her through the mind link without causing her pain,” Theo pointed out, reminding me that even though Haylee had been living here for the past forty-two days, she still wasn’t an official member of my pack.“I will see to that as soon as
HAYLEE~~It was instant, sudden, and soul-crushing. It was consuming and extremely painful. It was the kind of pain that I had never experienced in my life.Coming from me, a young woman who has experienced pain since she was born? Coming from me, who had to endure every kind of pain ever known to my kind?However, all the pain I have experienced in my life, combined, doesn't sum up to what seized my body in an instant, throwing me into the very source of agony.“Ah!” I cried out sharply before I could stop myself.Sophia, who was in my bedroom with me, looked at me with concern. It pained me to see her face knit with worry, but I couldn't help it. In fact, it felt like the devil himself had decided to pour his entire lake of fire into me.My sweat glands became hyperactive just as suddenly as the pain. I couldn't breathe properly. Heck! I couldn't seem to think properly.“Haylee,” Sophia called out to me, but I couldn't respond.I couldn't use my tongue to speak, but I could scream
ALPHA KING XALEN~~With every second that ticked by, the flame of fury burned hotter within me.With every word that came out of the mouth of the man that I have looked up to for many years. The man who has made me resist the urge to go to war. The man who raised me and taught me the principles that my dad abided by when he was King. With every word that came out of this man’s mouth, I questioned every message we had shared. I questioned the feeling I had for him. I might not show it much, but I actually respected Uncle Calvin. Heck! I adored him. He became my parent after I lost my biological ones. Scratch that! He became my parent after he killed my biological ones. He wanted me dead as a matter of fact. He wanted me dead so he could have the throne. As if he hadn't done enough damage to me, he disrupted my mate's bond, tricked me, stabbed me in the back repeatedly, and even now, he wasn't remorseful. Yet I didn't make a move to rip his tongue out of his fucking mouth. I nee
ALPHA PRINCE ROY’S POV ~~“Tell me everything you did, Calvin, or you won’t live to see the next hour.”Xalen’s anger pierced through my soul as he snarled at my dad, whose fear was evident in his eyes. Not to digress, but never has he looked at me like that. I am no king after all. He has been acting nonchalant since this argument began, and not that I planned for Xalen to overhear us, but I was glad he did. At least now I would get answers out of the man who called himself my father. “Xalen–” My dad struggled to pull himself together. But Xalen barked at him, “Don’t even dare use my name, Calvin. Just answer the same question. You know better than to lie to me, right?”“You don’t understand–” My dad tried again. But yet again, Xalen cut him off, “Do I have to force the truth out of you? You of all people should know what I am capable of.”It was as if I was no longer in the room. It was as if it was just Xalen and my dad, just like in the past. But unlike those days when the
ALPHA KING XALEN~~“Roy LeRoy!” Uncle Calvin shouted at Roy.That was strange because every time Roy was mentioned in his absence, Uncle Calvin showed nothing but happiness. He was always happy to see Roy, as far as I knew, so what was going on with them?“You aren't going anywhere until you tell me what I need to know, Dad,” Roy seethed angrily.I was standing outside their entrance door. I was about to knock when I heard the noise and perceived the unnaturally thick tension between my uncle and his son. Since I had never seen them argue, my interest spiked immediately, and I hid my scent to conceal my presence as I listened to their argument.“This is wrong,” Theo said to me, yet he helped me heighten my senses so I could hear the duo clearly from where I was standing.“I have told you why I had to send you away and lie that Xalen wanted you gone, Roy. What more do you want? An apology? Or would you like me to turn back the hands of time so you can stay here and fight with your co
ALPHA KING XALEN~~“I can confirm that this body and the Queen's body share similarities, and their deaths might be as a result of the same cause,” Flavia said after hours of doing her thing with the guard’s body. The daylight was sneaking into the cell from the windows, illuminating the mess the guard's body had become after whatever Flavia did to him.“Can you be more precise? How are they similar? Can this help me in any way?” I asked, even though Flavia didn't know the entire story.Even Wyatt didn't know the entire story.It was just Roy and Haylee who knew what Laura had done and why I was anxious to get proof to back the claims I would have to present to the elders and the entire realm before it was too late.“My King, just like in the Queen's case, the body is clean of everything that could kill a werewolf. There's no poison, no sign of silver, and definitely no sign of struggle. It looks like a natural death, but even a natural death usually has causes most times. However,
ALPHA KING XALEN~~“How did this happen?”That has been the question on my mind since last night. It has been echoing in my mind all night, yet I haven't come up with an answer.Wyatt was with me, but even he couldn't help me solve the mystery he broke to me last night. Perhaps I need to go back a few hours.After Wyatt called me out last night, I struggled to detach Sophia from my body, but when I eventually did, I had to rush down to the cell where Wyatt was waiting for me. I found him standing over a still body, and I immediately recognized the palace guard who Allison slept with and framed.Yes, he didn't die.Wait a second. He is dead.But he isn't supposed to be dead.I didn't kill him the other day, even though I made everyone believe that it was his head that was chopped off by the guillotine. The plan was to keep him alive but locked up in a private cell so no one would be able to get to him.The plan was to have him testify against Allison when I finally got other undeniab
HAYLEE~~I tried not to be disappointed when Alpha King Xalen didn’t make it to my room that night. The memories we created together during the day were more than enough to keep my heart fluttering through the night. However, I was quite disappointed when I didn’t get to see in the next morning after performing my morning duties. I wasn’t the only one who was unhappy, though. Sophia was too, because she assumed she would wake up to him just like she did yesterday.Asher didn’t seem to care much. He simply wanted to have breakfast. But Princess Allison, who was even more disappointed than Sophia and I combined, didn’t hide her disappointment when Xalen didn’t show up for breakfast once again. The kids and I didn’t know he wouldn't make it to breakfast, so we made the mistake of going to the dining hall where Princess Allison had been waiting. As soon as I realized that Xalen wasn’t there, I reversed, but I couldn’t make it out of there before Princess Allison could see me. “Where
ALPHA KING XALEN~~The laughter, bubbling, squealing, and giggling didn’t end at the park. It continued in the car and even as we walked back into my palace. Although it was obvious that Asher and Jodie were worn out, they still had the energy to make loud happy noises with Sophia. And as always, Haylee went ahead to join them, fueling their happiness, and I must admit that nothing had ever felt perfect. This right here felt like family. Scratch that! I mean to say, this right here was family. Haylee didn’t fit in. Instead, she was right where she was meant to be. Even though I hadn't told her about my theory about how she was my first mate, I held that in my heart, using it to free my mind of every pain that Laura had caused me. “You shouldn’t think about her right now. We had an awesome day. Don’t let the thought of her ruin it.” Theo cautioned me, wagging his tail in my head like some lovebombed puppy. “Hey! I’m no puppy!” “That’s why I used the word LIKE,” I scoffed, emphas
HAYLEE~~“Goddess knows I want to see Kaylee's face right now,” Liya grunted within my mind, but that wasn't all. She added with the same passion, “I wish they could see us now, here with this beautiful family.” Honestly, I wished I could see Kaylee's face as well. She, our dad, and Alpha Jett believed they sentenced me to death, but look at where I have found myself. I would be lying if I said the journey wasn't hard, but the good thing was that I got here. I was here in a park with Alpha King Xalen and the kids. I was laughing as I went down the slides with Sophia and Asher, my inner child who had been deprived of all of these, came to life, living for the very first time.Maybe I did die, and this was paradise. “Huh. That's far-fetched. It's not paradise until Allison is gone and you get crowned, Haylee. It would be paradise when Kaylee and Dad get to attend your coronation ceremony. It would definitely be heaven when Alpha Jett sees you living the life he could never have gi