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 respo
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
Princess Allison’s POV (24)~~I have screamed. I have cried. I have broken every breakable valuable in my bedroom—or should I call it my prison, because it was beginning to suffocate me? I have even considered returning home to my father.Yes, he will punish me, but at least he will help me get my powers back. I never knew he would take them away from me. Hell! I didn’t even know he could take them until Haylee made me see the truth.Goddess! How I wished I could blame Haylee and finally find a way to tear her apart with the support of the pack members that had sworn to protect me. However, she was right. My dad had screwed me.Ever since I discovered that my power was gone, I have been thinking. I have been trying so damn hard to make use of my intellect and come up with a plan that would help me defeat Haylee, claim the throne, and make my dad lick my feet.However, I haven’t come up with a single plan. Or, more appropriately, I haven't come up with a single perfect plan.How do
HAYLEE~~The anger swirling within me was unlike any emotion I had felt before.I had experienced intense sadness, but even that didn’t come close to what I was feeling in that moment as I stared at Benita’s scared but unremorseful face. She was a reminder of every bad occurrence that had marred my life.She was a reminder of how meaningless promises and bonds could be.She was a reminder of the one curse I thought was broken—no one could love me genuinely.Alone in this cruel world, I began to wonder if anyone truly loved me. My heart shattered at the thought that Xalen’s love might be fake too. Flavia as well. What if I were back where I started?Yet I was in a different setting, where everyone pretended to love me, unlike the undiluted hatred my previous circles hadn’t hesitated to show me.“That’s your emotions talking, Hay. You know Xalen loves you. You can feel it through the bond, and the fact that you can converse with Aradia is further proof that he isn’t faking his feelin
ALPHA KING XALEN~~Saying I was angry would be the understatement of the century.These past few months, I have lost a lot of people who mattered to me. Even though Laura turned out to be a snake, losing her affected me, and Uncle Calvin’s death remained a trauma I couldn’t get over as fast as I wanted.And now, Haylee was poisoned by one of the servants in my home?There was no way in hell I would allow her to go scot-free. There was no way in hell I wouldn’t make an example of her!“First, Ghostflower juice, and she still had the audacity to use Ashen venom?” Theo gritted angrily within me. My anger boiled hotter with every step I took toward the one place that smelled like that bitch—her bedroom.I knew she wasn’t there, but I needed to get my hands on whatever was left of the venom she fed my woman. I couldn’t shake off the need to get rid of it along with her. I got to her bedroom, ransacked it, and found vials of poisons laid carelessly within her bedside drawer.To my utmost
HAYLEE~~I could have sworn I died.I could have sworn that death swallowed me the second my lids closed, but somehow, those same lids fluttered open after I almost became best buddies with the darkness of death. I didn’t know how long I had been out.But if I were to assume, I would say I was unconscious for about an hour or maybe two.There was this sharp sound ringing in my head, and I just knew I needed to sleep for a long time; still, I had to ask the two concerned women standing beside the bed, “Did you get it out? How long was I out for?”I groaned as I tried to push myself into a sitting position, hoping that the block Liya placed between my mind and Xalen’s didn’t fall when I lost consciousness. Gasping, I added another question, looking deep into Flavia’s eyes this time, “Has he found out?”She knew I was talking about Xalen. I could tell from the way she looked at me, but what I couldn’t tell was the next words Flavia blurted out: “No, he hasn’t, Haylee. It’s been five m
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 need
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