HAERAThe preparation for the rematch today was more hectic than the one for the first one. Or maybe the first Duel was equally as hectic as this and I wasn't around yet to be part of it. Whatever the case may be, everyone was on edge about the entire thing. There was something that made today different. And I could tell it was the uncertainty of who would finally become the Alpha of the pack. I'm sure us maids have it worse. Even worse than the two Princes who will be having their final fight today. Orders were being barked around and I'm shocked Gennora isn't the only one who makes maids shake in fear when she speaks. Dina, the Head maid of the Imperial place was equally as cold as Gennora. She was older but looked like she has served the royal family all her life. Her eyes flamed whenever someone is doing something wrong or just not doing it the way she liked. Her high-pitched voice claimed the air and almost drowned the sound of punching doughs, clattering plates, boiling waters a
HAERA. Blood was the first thing I saw after a punch landed on Alpha Prince Zachary's face. The blood spluttered in the air and he staggered trying to keep himself from falling but his opponent delivered another blow right in his guts that made him collapse to the floor. And that was the first round. I kept a palm on my mouth to keep me from squealing out in horror when the blow landed on his face. Everyone else cheered, drums rolled and the dignitaries all clapped and shared views as if they were watching a game. I was the closest to the signatures on the single line I and the other maids formed and so I was able to see the other pack heads nod at Luna Hegna while she smiled proudly and grinned from ear to ear like a Chesire cat. Of course. Her son delivered the first blow in just a few seconds into the duel. Everyone else was enjoying this but I wasn't. The thought of it never sat well with me even before I knew that the prince is my mate. No one deserves to be treated like a curse
HAERAIt took the scream of one person in the crowd to jerk all of us awake from what seemed like a daydream and a slumber. Luna Hegna. It took her frantic run through the crowd to get to her son who was thrown somewhere off amongst the crowd for everyone of us to actually realize what just happened. Everything happened so fast it was almost impossible. I was in a daze long before I saw my mate throw his opponent off the podium. Prince Tybalt shifting into his wolf was the first thing that put my heart in my mouth because it scared the shit out of me to see how big he was. He could sink his large teeth into anyone and they could get badly hurt before they're able to heal up. It was that fear that gripped me when I saw him. But the way prince Zachary effortlessly threw the wolf off of him was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. While everyone is trying to get out of their dazed state, he was standing on the podium, under the scorching sun. Breathing so hard I feared his chest would
HAERA The room seemed like it was closing in on me. I felt my stomach drop into a bottomless pit and I felt myself getting suffocated by the room I was in. It was a spacious dining hall. Enough to contain way more than the twenty diginatries sitting around the table. The biggest I've ever seen yet it suddenly feels so small for me. So cramped for me. The hall suddenly turned silent. Silent and grim like a graveyard but I was the only one who knew that because it was in my head. My head was the one that drew a blank line the moment the Alpha made the ground breaking announcement. My mind was the one basking in silence unlike the hall that was now bustling with shocked murmurs, excited whispers and surprised but hushed voices. My entire being is in total disarray even as my brain tried to pinpoint exactly what was going on. Trying to understand why my mate just announced someone else as his mate. Trying to understand why he's staring at her from his own end of the table with a gentle l
HAERA. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me because I didn't have the heart to stop. As I ran, my tears poured down in torrents down my face and I kept bringing my hand over my face to wipe them off. The tears blinded me, so much that I kept tripping on things as I ran and barely saved myself from falling from each trip on something. I had just one place in mind. The only place that has been my solace ever since I was old enough to serve as a maid in the pack. I've always looked cooking and so the kitchen was like a second home to me asides the cramped up room that sleep and wake up in everyday. Balfour would tease me and say my mother probably gave birth to me while she was cooking in the kitchen. Each time Gennora had her eyes on me because of something I did or mostly because the very day was my birthday, I would run to the kitchen and help Balfour with things around the kitchen. I was assigned to the kitchen at age thirteen on his demands. He told the head maid as the Alpha of
HAERA. I didn't expect anything to change the next day. In fact, I wasn't hoping for a miracle whatsoever to happen and for the Alpha to come to his senses and come running to me. No. I didn't think everything was a dream when I woke up the next day. I didn't pinch myself in hopes that I would wake up from what seemed more of a nightmare than a dream. What was the point anyway? My life was miserable; dream or not. And so I woke up the next day with no expectations. And really, nothing changed. I was still in the cramped up room I shared with the rest of the entourage of my pack. I still waited in line to wash up. I still joined the rest of the maids to clean the kitchen and the venue of the Alpha Duel. Head maids Gennora and Dina still barked orders at us with their high-pitched voices. It wasn't that I accepted my fate or what has come to me, it was just that I didn't find the will to fight for anything. There was nothing to fight for in the first place. Nothing was different. Excep
ZACHARYI heard the commotion outside of my tower before my door swung open and almost broke out of its hinges. I didn't have to look to know who it was and so I didn't let her distract me from reading the map of the woodlands that was spread over my table. I didn't even have to hear the intruder speak before I knew what they were there for. After all, I expected the reaction when I made the decree this morning that the Previous Luna of the pack was to be sent out of the Palace to one of the many houses owned by the Alpha family. I knew Luna Hegna wouldn't take it well and anticipated this kind of reaction to the decisions I made as the new Alpha of the Imperial pack. "You insolent brat! How dare you?" Luna Hegna seethed at me from where she stood by the opened door in my room. My Beta ran in after her breathlessly and I could feel his helplessness at the situation. It took about fifteen minutes to keep her from coming into my room but she still got in anyway. "Please...you really hav
HAERAEverything went back to the way they have always been once I returned to my pack. The daily routine of waking up go Gennora's angry voice, cooking in the kitchen, doing other chores that's required of maids in and out of the palace and then going back to sleep only to wake up few hours later to repeat the process. When I returned, Balfour and Ulric were so elated to see me. Balfour cooked up a feast for me secretly as a late birthday meal while Ulric took me out with the other guards to play around the fields under the guise of patrol. As much as I was downcast by my experience at the Imperial pack, I did my best to hide it from both men because of their efforts to make me happy. I smiled whenever I was with them only to shed tears when I retire to my room. And it's only being two days since the Alpha Duel and since we returned. The only things that seemed to have change is the celebratory air all around the pack. It was nothing short of good news that the Princess of the pack h
EPILOGUE. HAERA.(A year later)Where in the world is he?I paced the length of the room with frantic and erratic steps. Up...down.Up...down. Just like that. My covered feet made tapping sounds on the ground with how I took more than a step in a second out of worry and fear that something might be terribly wrong somewhere.Opaline was behind me and probably looking at me with more worry than I felt now. In her arms, was my days old baby boy whose traditional naming ceremony as a new pup born into the werewolf clan was today. My little son came as a bouncing little blessing to me and my mate. It was just what we needed to complete our perfect family and our perfect life. Life over the past year has been nothing short of that for the both of us and even the people of the pack at large–perfect. With Tybalt gone and the peace of the pack restored, all I and my mate had to focus on was our duties as the leaders of the pack. I was officially the Luna and I never imagined the acceptance
ALPHA ZACHARYThat kiss was different.To be candid, everything was different when I was doing it with my destined mate.The marking process, the ritual, the coronation ane every damn thing in between was special.But the kiss was different in a good way.Why wouldn't it be when it was our first kiss. The very first kiss we shared as destined mate.It was our first even though it wasn't my first.Saying I regretted every moment I spent with Ilvira would be an understatement and even though I was at fault too, I couldn't stop myself from hating her and her biological mother for coming in between Haera and I.They came into my life to ruin this.I should have been enjoying this bliss ever since I became Alpha but Gennora just had to ruin it.I decided it was time to stop thinking about my past and what I had missed with Haera when she moaned into my mouth during that heated kiss. A kiss that left me hungry for my mate.For my Amanisa.I loved her new names but it was Amanisa for me and
HAERAThis kind of news was great but at the same time unbelievable. Before the arrival of the news, Basil had been complaining and whining about how he felt useless by staying with me."I thought he was jealous of our relationship. Why entrust your safety with me?"Basil had complained as he termed "protecting me" as "babysitting me". I kept hitting him on his back to shut him up but what harm could my fragile hands do to him?"He doesn't like you but he trusts you to protect me."I had tried to clarify but Basil gave me a silly response regardless, earning himself another slap on his back."Will you feel safer when you kill me, your supposed protector?"Basil had barked at me and I was close to hitting him again but Alan's arrival saved him from me. I wasted no time showing my worry and also asked Alan about the situation."Everything is under control, Princess Haera."Alan responded without a hint of what actually happened. His face was void of emotions which made it difficult for
ALPHA ZACHARY. That feeling was clear and certain. I sat in front of the mirror, looking at myself and my features, the changes and the parts that didn't change as well in the past few days. I was reminded of this moment by that feeling that tells you you have been in a place before with only a few things being different in the situation of things. The last time I sat in front of a mirror like this; with that somber expression on my face, was the day of the duel months ago. The very day that changed my life and my fate. I recognized the look on my face that day as that of a man who wasn't willing to fight. I didn't need anyone to tell me and I didn't need my wolf to remind me even if he took it upon himself to do so. I remembered how the maids prepped me up and prepared me like I was attending some ball and not a battle that would determine my faith. I was simply like a ram that was being taken to the slaughter; fattened and all dressed up for my blood to be spilled. All the feel
HAERAWe were stuck in the wilderness and in time as well.This place is the perfect definition of timeless and unchanging. Except for the usual nightfall and daybreak, there was nothing that signifies the time of the day. It was morning again and to be honest, I have lost track of time.The first few days were traceable but I got tired of keeping tabs on the number of days and nights that we had spent in this strange place when there were other things to worry about.Perhaps it was the thought of how Alpha Zachary and I would escape this open prison that made me forget how many days we had spent walking, searching for a new way out, going around in circles, and being each other's strength.Or perhaps it was as a result of the growing bond between my mate and me. Either way, it was all Tybalt's fault.I must commend his quick thinking though. He found a way to make sure Alpha Zachary and I never get out of here alive if we manage to survive the fall like the other time.My mate had b
HAERAThe anger boiling inside of me as I yelled at Zachary was one whose reason was unknown to me;not entirely unknown but just strange because I was angry about a lot of things yet relieved at the same time. It was dangerous for him to have followed me and then try to save me by jumping in. It was stupid and even though it reminded me of my own self, it didn't make me less angry. He never listens to me and does things his own way, that's the only reason he could have tailed me all the way to the cliff. How the hell did he even do it? My relief was only from the fact that he was right there, in front of me, safe and looking confused as hell. I had thought of the worst after Tybalt drugged me and had me brought down here but seeing him out of danger and safe was what made me feel relieved. But I wasn't near done yet. His presence might bring me relief but still, it was dangerous for him to have followed me. "Why the hell did you come all the way here with me?huh? You never listen! You
ALPHA ZACHARY The light but severe weight on my head was crushing my skull painfully. I wasn't fully conscious of my environment but I could bitterly sense my discomfort in every part of my body. My eyes were clenched tight as I groaned out in pain due to everything that felt painfully out of place. Naturally, I tried to reach for my wolf as I rubbed my head but I couldn't feel Serge like I was supposed to. My mind was blank of every other emotion that wasn't pain and uncertainty. I wanted to keep my eyes closed and remain in the same position but I was uncomfortable due to the rocks that were pricking my back. I changed my position slowly but without gritting my teeth in pain. The process was slow but thankfully, I was able to control my arms which had been laying limply beside me. I used my hand to reposition myself into a sitting posture as I fluttered my eyelids with caution. All of my other senses as an Alpha seemed to be failing me because I was unable to sense the scent of my
HAERAI pried my eyes open but it was still dark all around me like I still had eyes tightly closed and like I was still back in that darkness that consumed me when I fell to the floor and the one I've been in for longer than I can remember. I knew I was knocked out for a long time because of how weak and rigid my body felt. I closed and opened my eyes a few times, trying to assure myself that I was really out of the blackout moment which time frame I had no idea about. It was all the same, no matter the number of times I opened and closed my eyes. Nothing changed and I was convinced that it had nothing to do with my eyes. It has to be where I was huddled at. The thought of it brought about my next question. Where was I? The memories of my last moments before now haunted me and echoed in my head, making a sharp pain that I had paid less attention to, sear through my head. It made me wince and try to sit back but I couldn't even move a muscle. Not because I was weak and tired but becau
HAERA Shouldn't it be a crime for news to affect living creatures' emotions? The annoying part is that the word "news" has been subdivided into good and bad which are usually out of our control. As much as I understand that some things just have to happen, I still didn't like the news I received a few seconds ago. Why couldn't we always get those things we wanted? Everyone knew that the best news that I wanted to hear at this moment was about my mate regaining his memories but that didn't happen. I was standing in front of my Papa, forcing myself not to show him how much his information affected me even though I wanted to act like a child...his child. "Are you with me?" My papa questioned when I didn't react to his announcement. He just told me that he has to return home because something urgent came up even though I still needed him here...with me. He was an Alpha after all and Alphas shouldn't stay away from their pack longer than necessary. "Yes, Papa but do you have to leave toda