~Amara~
My body stilled and I came to a halt as I heard the voice very close to me. Elsie had told me about some wolves who had been ostracized by Lucian for betraying the pack and how they always roam around in anger, killing anyone who comes from the pack. I can’t even decide between them and wolf hunters who I should be more scared about. My hands instinctively went to my belly and I sent a silent prayer up to the moon goddess to protect me and my baby from whatever this is. I slowly turned around and came face to face with perhaps the ugliest man I have ever met in my entire existence.
He was burly and tall with a wicked sneer on his face. A fresh cut which was perhaps gotten during a tussle lined his left cheek. When he opened his mouth to speak, his breath reeked of a mix of garlic and alcohol.
“You reek of ShadowClaw. Aren’t you the little wolf that Lucian has been hiding from everyone else like a priceless trophy? Hm?”
I shuddered when his fingers brushed my skin. This suddenly felt like I was about to relive a nightmare that I had struggled to overcome. “N-no. I am only a servant of the alpha king. I have always been in plain sight. I am not the one you’re looking for. You must have mistaken me for someone else”
I stood, my whole body trembling from fear while he circled me like a predator checking out his prey.
“So, what you’re saying is that you are a servant who is trying to escape from her master? Do you know the punishment for escaping?”
My throat suddenly felt so dry and I barely recognized the tiny voice that escaped from my throat. “Please, you have got it all wrong. I will never try to escape. I know too well that the punishment is death and I will not put my life on the line for such a frivolous want. Please, just let me go”
“Do I look like I care about your miserable life?” he cackled and continued. “I really do not care. Lucian has what we need and since he values you so much, maybe he can trade us what we want for you”
“No, please. I am not important to the alpha king and he doesn’t even know who I am. I am going to be useless to you. Just let me go please.”
He coughed out phlegm from his mouth onto the ground. I almost retched at the sight but reminded myself that these people will not take lightly any form of disrespect or insult. The fresh cut on the side of his cheeks had flies coming in to feast on it. How could someone be this dirty? But then I didn’t have the privilege to judge who was clean or not at that moment. This man who looks a little crazy wouldn’t hesitate to tear my throat out. At least that is what I think.
“You must think that we are so stupid, little wolf. You were sold to Lucian to be his breeder and as we speak, I know that there is a little pup growing right inside of you. Did you try to run away with Lucian’s possible heir?”
My hands unconsciously hugged my belly. I took two steps back, more scared than I was at first. Who are these people and how do they know so much about me? My stay in Lucian’s palace is almost a secret. Only the maids that served me and made sure that I looked presentable for Lucian to pour his seed in, and the few guards in the palace knew about me.
“I-I…” my ability to put words together vanished when I saw him brandishing a wickedly sharp gleaming knife at me. I prayed and hoped that Lucian would finally feel the mate bond that I’ve been hearing ever since I turned twelve and appear here to save me just like in the movies. Who was I kidding? This isn’t a movie but a real life scenario. Lucian would never stress himself with a runaway breeder like me. Does this mean that it is the end for me?
“Now, you’re going to come with us quietly to our pack or else you get hurt. I honestly do not care if you’re dead or alive or if you break your bones into little tiny pieces before we get to our destination but because our alpha has commanded us to not let you get hurt, you need to behave like a nice dog. Do you understand?”
The alarm bells went off in my brain. Did I just jump from the frying pan to fire? I looked back and saw that I was already surrounded. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to escape. I was supposed to meet Selene and take refuge in their camp, not get abducted by some wolves that scarily know so much about me.
I tried to mind-link Elsie or anyone at all but everywhere felt blocked. Was I kidding myself? That is something which I can never do for some sort of reason. I couldn’t even think of shifting into my wolf to fight off these people. They will kill me off in just one blow. Gosh! How can one person be so weak and useless at the same time? To not even know what to do to save herself from impending danger?
“Don’t hurt me please. I just want to go somewhere far away to start a new life for myself. I wasn’t going to cause any problems, I swear.”
Just at that moment, I bolted off without warning. I didn’t know how or what gave me the idea to do that but that was the dumbest thing that I might have ever done. Before I could get ten feet away from them, I felt a blinding pain in my thigh.
I finally decided to start updating this story after so many months of procrastination. I'm so nervous to know if anyone will actually enjoy my story. Leave me a comment if you read this chapter, pleaseee.
Adrik paced the breadth and length of his study impatiently, huffing as he did so. “Where is she? Where are they? Why aren’t they here yet?” Adrik’s right hand man Chad, sat on a 1990 classic grey chair and motioned for him to do the same. “Calm down Adrik. I’m sure they’ll be here any minute from now. She’s too weak for them not to be able to handle” “This wouldn’t be the first time that they’re disappointing me. Sometimes I wonder if I should have just gotten myself more suitable persons to handle the work for me” He sat on the edge of the chair, the ring on his forefinger impatiently hitting against the table in front of him. His eyes flew to the clock on the wall and trailed out back to the window. One could easily see that his patience had run thin. What if those idiots failed to deliver the job as promised? Getting that woman would mean killing two birds with a stone. His grand plan will finally work as he will have the special child immediately after he is born. The bonus po
I see you’ve gotten the tropy that you have been looking for”. A middle aged woman who looked like she had seen the worst things that life had to offer, sat on a couch in Adrik’s sitting room, her legs crossed. She gave a lopsided grin while looking at Adrik who was fixing them some drinks at his private bar. Adrik turned with two glasses of wine and walked slowly towards her, a victorious glint shining through her eyes. He handed one glass to her and took a sip from his. “For a supposed trophy that has been causing havoc in my kingdom, I expected much. But she was just average” “Well, she hasn’t been treated well by your aides, not that we want to spoil her but you should know that she is carrying the child that you have always wanted. Nothing should happen to it until it is born” Adrik nodded. “I know that. That is why I still have the patience to tolerate whatever is spilling from her mouth. Such hassles". The woman smiled and fixed Adrik a serious gaze. “What are you going
I woke up with a throbbing headache and a split skull. Yep, I could definitely say that my skull was split in two because why do I feel like someone performed an acrobatic on them? I tried to move my hands and met with stiff opposition. I pulled a little bit hard and was rewarded with a sharp pain in my wrist. Startled, I opened my eyes and looked over at my hand. I was chained to the head of a bed with a handcuff. I looked around the room; this definitely wasn't the prison that I was confined to. This space was much better and cleaner. It almost looked like a normal person’s home but I knew that having a home was far from me. “Sweet. You’re awake. I was wondering whether to baptize you with a pack of ice cubes. Thankfully you got the memo before you woke” My head turned to the sound of the voice. It was him. The same werewolf who had ordered my abduction. Then the realization hit me. I was supposed to have been out of here by now. I pretended that I had collapsed after they ope
I looked at the petite omega who was brushing my hair. She looked so thin that I wondered if the last time that she ate good food was weeks ago. Are omegas treated that badly in this pack? Lucian, no matter how ruthless he was, never treated an omega badly to this extent. Not again. How did Lucian’s name come up again? I really need to find a way to get rid of the thoughts that keep intruding into my head. I sighed and looked at the omega through the mirror. “Why did Alpha Adrik order that I be cleaned and brought to his bedroom?” She kept on brushing my hair, pretending to not understand what I was saying. Were they sworn to an oath of secrecy too? This pack is strange for all the right reasons. Adrik must have them at the edge of their seats. Is he that ruthless? Even more than Lucian? Uh-uh Here we go again. That’s it. No more. I sat up and looked at myself in the mirror. Within a few days, my eyes have sunk a little into my sockets and my collarbone has become a bit conspi
The shock of the impact paralyzed me for some seconds before I finally regained myself. I had it coming right? I mean, dress up and come to my bed equaled this, didn't it?He pressed me more into him, all the while forcing his tongue down my throat. His breath tasted like rotten tuna and his animalistic growls made me want to tear him apart. Not in a good way, trust me. My opinion wasn’t any of his concern as he continued his assault on me with his hands.His mouth finally left mine and went down to my neck and I got a much-needed breather. I could feel him growing harder and harder on me and his ragged breath poured on my ears like a generator that would soon run out of fuel. Maybe his mate would have found it sexy but I definitely did not. I wanted to get out of this room; I wanted him to get his hands off me. And goddess knows that I wanted to choke him so much there and then.“Get on the bed and spread your legs”, he ordered gruffly.I swallowed hard and pressed my lips together.
“Amy…wake up Amy”A guttural sound that I was never sure could come out from my vocal cords escaped my lips. Someone was shaking me frantically and whoever this person was, he or she was bent on stripping me of the rest that I had managed to get not too long ago after the excruciatingly tiring tasks that Adrik signed over to me for the day.I tried to move my feet but they proved uncooperative, like they were tied together and placed underneath some kind of rock. Yep, that was how tired I was. And honestly, all I wanted to do was lie back and enjoy the little solitude that I had left before the next morning. but this person was insistent.Oh, goddess! Has Adrik sent one of his thugs to come pick me up for another tete-a-tete? I had barely survived the last desecration which he made on my body and I am not yet ready for another one.Surely he cannot be this insatiable when it comes to women? And besides he has a whole harem. What’s
Days after the incident with Alpha Adrik, I was let off on some heavy jobs that I had been doing. I know that I should be glad and even grateful for that but you know what they say about dining with the devil. One has to use a long fork to be prepared for when he decides to suddenly tear your throat out from your neck in the middle of dining. I was worried. I worried that by the time he decided that I must have been healthy enough to start the tasks again, he would increase it to three times whatever I used to do. Honestly, I’d much rather continue at this pace. But how can I stand against the almighty Adrik’s decree? I decided to take a little walk around the garden of the manor to clear my head because it was a little fuzzy. All my plans to leave this place have fallen through and from the hard-faced warriors that I see at every corner of the manor, I just knew that escaping this hell is not a reality anymore. A tiny kick in my belly suddenly rooted me to a stop. I gasped in surpr
“Well?” Adrik said, looking from Chad to me. “Share the joke so that we all can be merry.” Chad stepped in front of me and bowed stiffly to Adrik. “I was about to fetch her as you requested, alpha. We were about coming to you” “Indeed. Seeing as I have watched you two from a distance for about ten minutes now, I’d say you were really quick in the discharge of your duties, Chad.” His bloodshot eyes made me shudder. I’ve seen him furious before but this time felt different. This time, he was enraged and it felt to me like it was more than the fact that his Beta wasted time to bring me to him. It was in-depth, and a little personal. I quickly went around Chad knelt and threw myself on the ground before Adrik. Hopefully, his egoistic side will turn a blind eye to whatever it is that is making him rage and focus on the weak little female who is lying on his feet. I grab a foot and place my head on it, making sure to show how vulnerable I felt before him and how much I was at his mercy.
~Lucian~I watched as Amara walked away, her back stiff, her head held high. But I knew…I knew that she was hurting. And I had let it happen. I could have run after her, given her reassurance that her fears were invalid, and kissed away the sadness on her face.But I helplessly watched her walk away, visibly hurt from my actions. I hadn’t realized how much I’d hurt her, and no, I’m not trying to make excuses for my shortcomings. Granted, Maya’s arrival had swayed me for a moment, but that doesn’t mean that I’m considering starting up anything with Maya.All I wanted was for her to get better, and for me to get the closure that I’ve so desperately wanted all these years. No matter what, Maya was a woman that I once loved, and a woman who had died carrying my baby…or so I thought.Right now, though, she was starting to cross her boundaries by spilling nonsense to Amara. And now I have to try harder to make amends for the damages that se might have caused by her words.“Lucian,” Maya cal
~Amara~A week.It had been an entire week since Lucian’s first love had come back from the dead, and in that time, Lucian had become a ghost in my life.If he wasn’t tending to Maya’s every need, he was listening to her endless sob story or fawning over her like some love-struck fool. He had barely looked at me, barely spoken to me. And worst of all, he hadn’t even checked to see how I was doing.Even after I pleaded with him to stay with me that night. Even after I told him that I wasn’t feeling good because of the baby; he still went ahead to be with her. He never even came back the next day, or the day after, to check up on me and see how I was faring.I placed a hand on my stomach, feeling the faint stir of life within me. Did he forget? Did he forget that I was carrying his child? That we were supposed to have left this place days ago to prepare for the birth of our child? Or had Maya’s return erased everything we had planned all this while?I clenched my fists. No. Something wa
~Amara~I paced back and forth across the room, my mind racing with too many thoughts, none of them making any sense. My heart pounded against my ribs, restless, uncertain.Lucian should have been here by now. But instead, he was with her. No, I wasn’t trying to be mean, or inconsiderate, but this all felt wrong to me somehow. None of what had just happened sat right with me. I felt like Lucian and I were about to lose the connection that we had just built.I ran a shaky hand through my hair and exhaled. I didn’t want to feel like this. I didn’t want to be jealous, or insecure, or whatever this strange feeling was twisting inside me. But how could I not?Lucian had told me; he had sworn that his first mate was murdered. That he saw her lifeless body with his own eyes. And yet, the woman who collapsed into his arms, the woman who had called out his name, was the very same mate he had believed dead.How was that even possible?I sat on the bed, tapping my fingers against my knee. But a
~Lucian~No way.I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.My body turned rigid, my breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, my mind refused to process what was right in front of me. Was it because I’d spoken about her the other day? Was that why her ghost decided to visit me one last time?I glanced over at Amara, trying to know if she could also see the woman in front of us. The expression in her face said that she could see the figure. Same with Selene and the other werewolves.They were all staring suspiciously at the woman, their weapons drawn. All it would take was a command from Selene and they would strike. I should say something, but I was too dumbfounded, trying to place the pieces of the puzzle in my head.She stood there looking as confused as a newborn cat whose mother was taken away. Her body swayed slightly, as if the wind alone could knock her over. Her clothes were torn, hanging off her like rags. Dirt and dried blood smeared her once beautiful skin, and her hair wa
~Amara~Everything finally felt okay.For the first time in what felt like forever, there was no tension between Lucian and me. No anger, no lingering hurt. Just peace.I had forgiven him; not just in words, but in my heart. And because of that, I was finally able to look forward to the future we had ahead. A future I was now willing to share with him in his kingdom, where our child would be born.It had taken time to get here, to move past the betrayal, the heartbreak, and all the chaos that had come with it. But Lucian had fought for me. He had proved himself over and over, and I had finally allowed myself to believe in him again.The decision hadn’t been an easy one. The rogue lands had become a kind of refuge for me, a place where I had healed in ways I never thought possible. And Selene had become someone I deeply admired. She had opened my eyes to a different side of the world. To a different kind of strength.Two days from now, Lucian and I will leave. But tonight, we were cele
~Amara~That night, I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t just because my baby decided that midnight was the perfect time for him to go on a rollercoaster, but because of what Lucian had told me.It would have hurt so much holding so much pain inside, and not having anyone to share it with. I couldn’t imagine what it had done to him, and how much it must have mandated him to change.All these years, I’d misunderstood him, and I never let him try to explain himself. I started to feel a little guilty, but I quickly schooled myself. It wasn’t really my fault if I’d misunderstood him all this time. He could have explained things to me sooner if he trusted me enough to handle his secrets.“I think it’s time to forgive your father, little wolf,” I murmured, stroking my belly. “What do you think? Do you think I should keep up with this grudge? Or should we just let everything go?”I received double kicks, which I took as a sign of affirmation from the little life inside of me. A smile lit up my face,
~Amara~ I waited with expectation, waited for him to recollect himself and tell me about this thing that had happened long ago which I was not aware of. It wasn’t just because I wanted to hear it, it was because of the way his face contorted with grief as he lowered his head, almost as if he was fighting back tears. He couldn’t be possibly fighting back tears. Alpha kin Lucian never cries. If he was about to cry, then this event must have hurt him tremendously. I found my heart reaching out to him, making me realizes that the feelings which I thought was buried has never been buried. I cared about this man, and I still care about him. I was hurt seeing him hurting like this. “Lucian,” I called softly, my hands itching to comfort him, “Talk to me please.” He raised his head and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped tightly together. His eyes, usually so fierce, looked haunted. “I’ve never told you about my first mate.” The mention of another woman, hi
~Lucian~ Despite my initial mistrust, Selen’s Pack had become a surprising comfort to me. I found myself being drawn to their unrestrained way of life. They were free, untethered, untamed, and fiercely independent. At first, I’d thought that they were not to be trusted. That they were threats to the kingdom and the Packs around them. But the more time I spent with them, the more I’d come to understand them. The rogue wolves were an enigma. They were untamed and unpredictable, but they carried a raw sense of friendship and closeness that reminded me of something that my kingdom had long lost. Their laughter echoed in the woods, their disputes were resolved without formality, and their freedom was intoxicating to witness. “They could thrive under my protection,” I said to Selene, standing by the edge of the clearing where a few of the rogues were sparring. “With a home in my territory, they’d have safety, stability. They wouldn’t need to live like rogues.” All day, I’d been trying
~Amara~A week after, I still hadn’t gotten over the thought of what had happened. Selene had been protective, almost like a mother. Always fussing about my baby, and what I should or should not do in order to have a safe delivery.According to her, it was only a matter of weeks before my baby would be born. The news had come gladly to Lucian, who on many occasions had tried to talk to me. But I was never in the mood to listen to him.Somehow, I blamed him for all the misfortune that had happened in my life. I blamed him for the death of every single person who had meant a lot to me. I always told myself that if only he had treated me well, and seen that I was his fated mate…if he had loved me the way that I loved him, maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.But who was I deceiving? We all knew that my mother who allowed my stepfather to sell me out for money was the cause. She didn’t fight for me because she didn’t want to be on the bad side of her husband.I sat beneath an old s