“What…” Gavin’s eyes widened in disbelief “You… Mated with a wolf?! You despicable piece of shit! You don’t deserve to be called a tigress!”
“Because of people like you, I believed it.” Octavia gave a small, stiff smile. “And I spent years refusing to accept my mating bond and rejecting my mate, just to not hear words like that, the same ones I used to hear when I was a lonely orphan. But if you want to tear me apart for defending an innocent person, then you're the ones I should have told to fuck off a long time ago.” She growled, determined, before pulling down the collar of her blouse, revealing the bite mark near her shoulder. “See that? That’s my claim mark and, if you guys can’t handle it, then I offer to gouge out your eyes! After all, you are the only ones who shouldn't be called a tiger! Now stop this shit,
Even after two days, Hunter still felt terribly helpless when he looked at that damn closed door. He could have isolated those stupid old men, helped Eli intimidate the other tigers who had come here to look for the bastards, and prepared his wolves to fight every single member of the Valiant pack who was planning on coming here to try to kill Corinne first, during or after the trial...But he hadn't been able to do the main thing. Prevent her from locking herself in her own room as if she were really guilty.“Corinne...” he knocked on the door gently, before turning the handle “I know what you're going to say, but I brought your dinner and this time you have to eat it. It’s not enough that you decided to isolate yourself in that room.”"I'm not hungry." A murmur answered him and, as in
“What?” her strengthless body between his arms, as she slowly raised her teary eyes towards his “What did you...? Please, if this is your way of saying that you feel obligated to take care of me because we are mates...”"You did not listen to me?" Hunter growled, tilting his face towards hers, as that feeling boiled inside him like never before, finally free, like water destroying a dam “I don't feel obligated to do anything for you, damn it! Everything I'm doing is simply for you, Corinne! I could fight my wolf instincts, but I couldn't fight what you made me feel. Not the damn nature, the lasso, or any other shit! You! Only you!" he admitted “And, hell, I know you deserved a better and more romantic statement, but that was the wolf you conquered and now you won't be able to get rid of me! I love you, Corinne! I love the eyes you are so repulsed by, I love your ability
“Get out of my way! You can’t stop me from seeing my sister!” Nicole screamed, loud enough for Corinne to hear her clearly on the other side of the door, even though the sounds of the commotion outside were rivaling her words “Get out! Now!"“Please, Princess Nicole, step aside!” the tiger guards practically begged “She already tried to kill Prince Declan. If he dies, she will definitely do the same to you, to have a clear path to the title of Alpha. Even Diego has had his security increased, as the council seems satisfied with the stance he took in standing against Alpha...”"Shut up! Never say again my brother is going to die!” Nicole demanded, her voice breaking, “And never say again that my sister was responsible for what happened! You guys should be looking for the culprit, not stopping me from ge
“There are no footprints on the window of the room where Corinne and Declan were, nor in the garden below or in that part of the woods, which is the most likely place the culprit could have run.” Isabelle reflected, thoughtfully “That… It’s very strange.”“They managed to enter our territory without being noticed before. They probably did it again.” Hunter growled, doing his best to hide the tension in his tone. “But no one can do what they did without leaving a trace and we will find them, no matter how deep we have to go into the forest.”“Don’t you think we should go back to calling for backup?” his cousin asked “It might be dangerous to go alone. Besides, everyone's so busy keeping an eye on the tigers and preparing for this damn trial... They'll probably only realize you'r
That almost silver wolf reminded Hunter of something, but he didn't have time to let his mind work on it, as soon his beast was free too, leaping into the air to meet the attack of that bastard who had gotten his paws on Declan Valiant and blame Corinne for that. Just like that day when they had had a quick fight, Hunter was sure that defeating that bastard wouldn't be easy. The vassals who called him Alpha always seemed desperate to protect the man, but the truth was that he had been just as well trained in fighting as Hunter. To the point that, whenever the leader of the invaders managed to dodge one of his attacks, claws or bites, Hunter wondered how he was able to do this. His uncle Daniel had taught him all of that when Hunter was just a boy and, even though he was only 7 years old at the time, it had still been some of the best and most useful lessons he had received, before his father became the Al
“That's... That's madness...” Felix growled exactly what was on Hunter's mind, as both Isabelle and Aiden looked towards the man tied up in the center of the underground cellar they used to keep the prisoners away from the pack, although everyone who had been captured had found a way to kill themselves and now there was only...William. The cousin he thought he lost 23 years ago.“That must be a lie.” Aiden shook his head in disbelief. “They have a wizard with them, don't they? He or she must surely have found a way to copy your uncle's face and try to manipulate us with it..."“Is this the lie you’re going to tell the pack when they find out about me?” William sneered, “You guys are disgusting.”“Is&helli
“What did you say?” Hunter tried to maintain his cool, even though those words left his wolf in a state of alert like just a few times in his life.“You fucking bastard!” Felix snapped “Do you think you can dirty my family’s name like that?! My brothers would never hurt each other...!”“Are you talking about your dear brother Owen? The same one who once left my father injured and alone in a hunting competition when you were children, but managed to get away with it because he said he went to get help and got lost?” William growled, causing a deep silence to fall on the entire room “It was always very clear that he always wanted to get rid of his older brother and become Alpha, but you were never able to look beyond the beloved Owen to see that!”&ldqu
With hands shaking and his chest feeling like it was being torn apart, Hunter unfolded the pages that Isabelle's faint had put together again, noting how it was actually his mother's paper, with the same flower symbols on the edges and the pastel color, even though time had corroded the edges, yellowed everything and even whitened the words that were written there in black ink in a handwriting that, he couldn't deny, was Ellen's, without a doubt.With his breath caught in his throat, he hesitated for a moment, his mind spinning as if that seven-year-old boy, the same one who had moved into that house hand in hand with his mother, scared to know that now he would have to learn to be a leader, wanted Hunter to stop. That child begged him to just consider that everything William had said was a lie and that his mother, the woman whose teachings motivated him to be the Alpha he was until now, was not a heartles