***I was shoved into the large hall where the injured rogues were kept, the strong stench of their blood almost made me throw up. Ryker introduced me to the doctor they captured and told him I would be assisting him in tending to the rogues' injuries. Derek wasn't exaggerating when he said estimated the number of injured rogues, they were indeed thousands and I could only imagine the number of lives that were lost in the fight. The rogues were not thoroughly trained, from their skills one could easily tell. They majorly depended on weapons and brute forces, and they lacked physical tactics. While the Ocean Howls Pack had fiercely trained warriors and heavy weapons, the rogues had only weapons to fight them with, hence they ended up on the losing side. I turned to find Ryker behind me, glaring at me in a way that caused an uneasy jump in my belly. I tore my gaze off and got to work as he requested. I let the doctor, who already looked worn out and obviously beaten, attend to the
***Three days later, the wedding preparations were made. I wasn't sure how Derek managed to rush things up but I was unfazed. I sat in a cabin, staring idly in the cracked mirror as my makeup was done. Derek had made arrangements for the wedding and selected rogues that would attend. Glancing at my reflection in the mirror, I knew I looked like I ghost. My makeup was smeared all over due to my lack of cooperation, one would think I was going to a funeral rather than a wedding. My wedding. I stared blankly into space as my bridal gown was fixed on my body, and the dressers poured out compliments. Talking about how beautiful I was and how Derek would fall on his knees at the sight of me. I scoffed. If only he could just die. I was led outside and taken to the place the wedding would be held. The venue was in front of a river in the rogue territory and Derek was already waiting at the podium, dressed in a grey tailor suit. While he smiled at me, I pushed my gaze into the crowd, sea
***Due to the rogue blood in my body, I was losing my strength and fastly losing consciousness, but my healing power didn't stop struggling to take full control of my being and fight out the effect of the strange blood in my system. When it did, I gradually gained momentum and just as I began to force my way up, my legs were locked in a tight grip. I looked down and saw one of Derek's warriors, the others were swimming towards me professionally. With my strength from the healing ability and my Luna skills, I began fighting him off. I wriggled and kicked until he finally let go of me and I finished him off with a sharp punt across his face. The other rogues reached me and I fought them off too, their blood stained the water and it took a while to get rid of all of them. I watched as their body drove down the river. I started swimming up, using my little experience to fight off the waves while holding my breath. I was no longer choking but I couldn't deny that I still felt highly u
"My love..."A sort of calmness settled in my belly just from hearing his voice, I didn't know when I gripped my chest and breathed out loudly. "Ellen? Baby, are you there?" He now sounded worried and scared."Yes. I'm here, Ace."He breathed out, "I was so worried when I couldn't reach you anymore. Where are you? Are you okay? Are you in trouble?" "I'm fine. Really, I'm good," I said, glancing at Marissa. She smiled, picked up my empty cup with hers, and walked away."I was so scared.""Oh baby, I'm so sorry. I'm truly sorry for everything, I should have done better. I should have searched harder, I should have done everything until I can no longer do anything. I'm sorry for not putting in enough effort and letting you suffer. I'm so sorry, Ellen.""It's not your fault, stop blaming yourself," I assured him, "I never blamed you. Not once since I got into this."I couldn't tell if he was crying but there was a brief silence, I feared the connection broke and when I started to speak,
***The black wolf hopped on the henchmen and I heard the cracking of skulls. When it turned to me, its paws covered in blood, and our eyes locked; I felt a sense of fulfillment. Derek took a few steps back, dropping my hands as he transformed and charged at Ace. While they fought, both pack warriors faced themselves and battled. I noticed the old woman trying to crawl away from the bloodlust and I immediately rushed to help her. I moved her to a safe corner and began untying the ropes. Once her hands were free, I went at once for the rope on her legs, I struggled until it came off and then helped her sit. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?""No," she shook her head, sobbing. I could hear her heavy breathing as her trembling hands clutched her chest and I knew she was scared."It's okay, Marissa. Everything is okay now, I promise. Nothing will happen to you, I will make sure of it," I assured her. She glanced at the fight scene, shuddered, and withdrew. I pulled her to me, hugging
***I breathed out the moment Derek and his men left and the warriors began taking out the bodies. Ace walked to me, and I wanted to jump into his arms but Marissa was still holding me tight. She had stopped shaking now but still gripped my shirt. I turned to Ace and he smiled in understanding. "Hey, Marissa. They're gone, you can look now."She sniffed and the moment she released me, I threw myself up and swooped into Ace's embrace. We stayed like that for a while, inhaling each other's scent and letting our thoughts confess our desires. The reaction from our bodies was enough to tell us how much we missed each other.I couldn't speak. Among the million words stuck in my stomach and waiting for release, I couldn't find the one to relieve first. For a moment, I just wanted to be locked in his embrace for life without saying a word. I knew he felt the same way because he didn't speak too, his strong arms bound me to himself but not a word left his mouth.Even without speaking, we b
I was wrong when I thought our problems were over after we defeated Derek and saved the villagers. Although there was no encounter with Derek for the entire one week of my return, the pack house was still in chaos. The heat of the attack could still be felt in the underworld as many packs were harassed in the process by the rogues. Ace was still bent on finding the Rogues that abducted me and Derek was nowhere to be found. He didn't even return to the Crimson Pack. I didn't know if that was the truth or if Jeffrey was simply hiding him but even a thorough search couldn't provide him from the Crimson Pack and around, and Ace wasn't stepping down with his quest. The Ocean Howls pack wasn't one who stepped down in a fight and Ace was determined to bring all the perpetrators to book. He had Henry supply more weapons to the warriors in the Eastern borders and every other border owned by the Ocean Howls Pack. They were all on the lookout for Derek and his goons. It became the talk of the
"It's the Rogue blood," I told Ace. "It's working, Ace. I can feel it," I sobbed, still in his arms. "We don't know that for sure.""I do. I know it now. Ryker injected it into my body, I thought he did it once but he might have done it other times too. I'm going to lose my powers. I'll become useless again.""No baby, you're not useless. You were never useless, not to me at least.""I'm sorry, Ace. I'm so sorry.." I broke down again. Why now? Ace was already battling so much, he already had a lot on his plate and now I was making him worry about me too. Why must I be so unlucky? Why can't I be a proper Luna? At a tough time like this in the pack, I couldn't even help my mate. Instead, I was making him worry more. A wave of guilt rushed me and feeling Ace's arms around me, hearing his words of assurance made me feel even more guilty. I should be the one assuring him. It should be me comforting and helping him right now, not the other way around. "Ace, I'm sorry..""No, I'm sorry.
-My fingers ran through the gemstones, a grin resting on my face. "This is forever beautiful," I cried, letting him twirl me around gently until I was facing him. "You sure you don't want this one instead?" He asked, referring to the expensive gold necklace on his palm, seated in a jewelry box. "That one is a bit old.""I'm sure," I beamed. "It was through this necklace that I was able to know that you were alive. I was ready to give up to Ryker. I had prepared to die after he killed the warriors, but this gave me a reason to live."As I spoke, I remembered the Rogue maid who had lost her life for revealing Ace's situation to me. Bless her soul. I was alive because of her too. "To me, this is the most beautiful jewelry in the world, and it is important to me because it is important to you, too."Ace nodded, his eyes lighting up. I could sense that he had briefly recalled a part of his past. It was the day of the coronation for Ace's new position and we were in our room after get
-My thumping heartbeat decelerated as I stared at Derek's lifeless body, my eyes filling up with tears of relief and gratefulness. Ace dug his claws into Derek's chest, uprooting his heart and signifying the end of the war. Like a whiff, all the memories and history I had with Derek raced through my mind. "It's finally over," I heard Acantha sigh, and the tears dropped from my eyes. It was really over. Derek was dead! It was over for good. My nose crinkled in disbelief, my eyes furrowing as the reality settled within me. My gaze shifted to Ace and despite the loud chants and celebration, I could hear the beating of my heart clearly. Despite the amount of people around, my eyes could somehow only see Ace. Amongst the crowd hovering around him, his gaze found me, too, and before I could burst, I swooped into his arms. He caught me easily and I buried my face into his chest, releasing my emotions shamelessly. Two of our greatest enemies were now gone for good!Ace nuzzled his face
-Ace held my hand, stopping me from getting any closer to Derek. "This is not over, I promise you," he gritted, his eyes sending daggers at me.We watched quietly as he contested with the pain, trying to subdue it. He attempted to get up several times, cussing violently every time he failed; his eyes were filled with rage and determination as he continuously tried to move. After a final hectic attempt, he crashed to the ground and burst into laughter. "It's funny how easily fooled you can be, Ace," he cackled, blood dripping slightly from the side of his lip.I figured he was trying to buy time and gather his strength again so he could take us unaware but before I could act, Ace charged at him. "No, it's funny how you think you can stall me while you buy some fuckin time," Ace grabbed him up roughly. "Why?" Derek scoffed, feigning strength even though he was limping. "You're scared I'd beat your ass up if I wasn't in this situation?""We both know what the truth is-"Then why d
-Ace glared at Derek, making sure his body obstructed mine."You will have to go through me first to have her!"Derek's steps faltered, and he seemed even more angry. "If that is what you want then I shall do as you please and get rid of you.""You seem to use your mouth a lot, don't you?" Ace scoffed. "I use it better, too; you can ask your little mate to tell you what I mean."I put my palm in Ace's, ensuring he held me, and preventing him from rashly going at Derek. Derek was trying hard to provoke him and it made me wonder what he was up to. "We had a little fun while you were out there in the wilderness, struggling to survive."I opened my mouth to speak and vehemently curse at Derek for lying but Ace beat me to it. "She must not have liked it as much as you think seeing how she still tricked and escaped from you. She came back to me, that should tell you a lot of things.""Still she betrayed you!""Oh Derek," Ace breathed out, "you don't get it, do you? What matters is whos
-We stood in the open, ensuring that the passage to our secret safehouse was out of sight. Everyone took their position, mine was beside Ace, as we heard the enemy's footsteps approaching. I held my breath, trying not to squirm under Ace's hold. I knew he would at once detect my discomfort and send me back in. I didn't want that; I wanted to face Derek; I burned to see him fall with my own eyes. Derek showed up first, leading the warriors of his pack; he growled and roared as they approached us, arrogantly announcing his presence. Ace moved me to stand behind him and I stayed without arguing. I took the chance to fix my discomfort, ensuring that I showed no weakness in front of Derek. "What a surprise, it is indeed true that you survived. Fuckin luck," Derek mocked, scoffing at Ace. "Well, it's too bad because this time, you're going to the land of the dead, and there is no escaping it.""If I were you, I'd do more fighting and less talking. Did you forget you're in my territory?"
-With Henry's suggestion, we swiftly gathered around. He had already drawn out a quick plan on how we were going to face Derek and his goons, and he discussed it with Ace. Inputting Acantha's suggestion, we came to a conclusion on how to face our attackers. Ace stepped out and dished the instructions and everyone immediately set to work. Leaving out the pups, younger and ailing wolves aside, the rest of us came together to be grouped in smaller forms. There were many hidden parts of the Ocean Howls pack that the Crimson pack or any other pack was not aware of. Ace had reconstructed the country after his father's defeat in a way that we would mostly have the upper hand against the enemy. That was a big advantage for us. Ace regrouped the warriors into ten smaller groups and individually gave them a goal, coordinating each group separately. Some groups were focused on studying maps of the Ocean Howls Pack territory and securing strategic locations for refuge in case our attackers
Ellen-"Our only way in now is through the emergency back gate; hopefully, through it, we can arrive at the pack house in time before Derek's men reach it," Ace revealed. He was a lot calmer now. "Who else is aware of this entrance?" Acantha asked, being cautious. "Only Henry and I know about it. Out of safety, we didn't reveal it to the pack members yet. I constructed it as an emergency exit for situations like this, there is also a safe house behind it. I believe Henry must have evacuated the members to the safe house," Ace spoke. From the tensity of his breathing, one could tell how furious he was. The situation had gotten chronic. If Acantha hadn't stopped him at the time she did, from running after the warriors, things could have taken a drastic twist. I didn't want to imagine what could have happened. Ace led us to the emergency exit, and we walked as quickly as we could. If we could arrive before Derek's men, we would be able to prepare ourselves beforehand.
"Your bravery reminds me of your father," Acantha voiced after being quiet for a while. "No matter how hard I try to overlook it, I see his face when I look at you. How did he die?"I lowered my gaze, talking about my parents had always been a sensitive topic for me. It was something I didn't fancy discussing with anyone. It was the only topic that could break an Alpha like me. Georgia was the only one who had successfully managed to get a word out of me concerning it, and it was probably because she experienced the torture with me. "I'm sorry for bringing that up, it's fine if you don't want to talk about it," Acantha apologized. "No, it's okay," I bit my lower lip, making my expression stoic. I needed to get over it, and also build my relationship with Acantha. For Ellen's sake, I wanted to do this. "I was twelve when he was murdered, he died trying to protect me after we were attacked unaware. My mother was killed on the same day, she was raped to death, and I was made to watc
-"Ace, I-I can't. My powers are gone," Ellen vibrated, her hands shaking out of fear, her eyes teary. I glanced at the beasts who had already reached us and I pushed Ellen to my side so my body was facing them.She started to shake her head, trying to stop me from my thoughtless decision but I was hell-bent on protecting her. With her powers gone, it was even more dangerous for her to be close to these beasts. I would rather die than watch her face that fate. In despair, I prepared for whatever was coming, determined to fight even to death. Just as they growled, attempting to jump at us, I felt a familiar presence and her voice echoed through the cave when she spoke. "Acantha!" I heard Ellen exclaim in excitement. I turned to find Acantha emerging towards us, holding a staff in her hand that radiated a great amount of power. The strength that exuded out of her alone was enough to cease the beasts' steps. Calmly analyzing the situation, she stepped in front of me, facing the bea