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NINETY-FIVE | THE FIFTH TRIAL
Last Updated:
2020-08-01 09:12:54
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The Beta's Daughter NINETY-SIX | THE SPIRIT OF THE WOLF
As we neared the river, I saw something that I’d missed before. Tucked into the flowers was a small statuette, with a white pillar candle held in its centre. Beside it was a small, wrapped parcel of something; it looked like a collection of herbs, bound together in white twine.“The final trial is known only to those who have undergone it as the Spirit of the Wolf. It is a right of passage, as well as an indicator of your nature – it will guide you through your choice, and it will allocate your tribe for you,” explained Luna Carla.“What are they? What are they for?” I asked, my questions tumbling from my lips in quick succession.She smiled, and then led me over to the small gathering of items on the grass. “This is called the Candle Dragon. It is an ancient rite in our pack. The Candle Dragon is used for guidance. It is, however, not to be used lightly. It has been with the Lap
Last Updated : 2020-08-02The Beta's Daughter NINETY-SEVEN | WITHIN
My vision blurred as I followed the flickering of the candle’s flame. Then I felt as though I was being pulled forwards, and I let myself tumble into the darkness.I felt myself roll over, and then I scrabbled with claw-like hands to right myself. I stumbled onto my feet, and stared into oblivion. There was nothing for me to catch sight of; there was no way for me to orient myself. It was just… black.I span around, searching desperately for anything. The emptiness was vast, and then my vision began to blur once more. I felt compelled to sit down, and I crossed my legs as I had done before. I let my hands come to rest in my lap, and I stared forwards. There was a sound. It was like the beating of a heart, growing gradually louder with each breath that I took. I didn’t know where it was coming from, and then I realised: it was coming from within me.My eyes flickered, and the candle was back. The Candle Dragon had disappeared, and the rest of the space was still black. I rocked forward
Last Updated : 2020-08-02The Beta's Daughter NINETY-EIGHT | BEYOND
Samyak was waiting for me outside the pack house, and his eyebrows shot up as I neared him.The walk back from the river field had been slow and arduous, and each step had felt as though I was heaving lead bricks through the grass. I’d felt the familiar heat of tears prickling at my eyes, and my throat had formed a lump that became impossible to swallow.I’d initially been elated, after discovering that I was, indeed, a Pronghorn. I’d been filled with a surging kind of pride; one that had created delicate tingles in the tips of my fingers. But once I’d turned away from the Candle Dragon, the nightmarish visions I’d experienced came flooding back.If that was what was within me, there was no way to escape it. I wondered if everyone’s fifth trial had been so brutal, though I knew instinctively that they had not. Mine had been flooded with dark imagery, and seething words of promises long
Last Updated : 2020-08-02The Beta's Daughter NINETY-NINE | BENEATH THE STARS
“Wait! No, no, no,” Samyak chanted. My arm froze in mid-air, ready to push the kitchen door open fully.“What?” I frowned. I couldn’t smell anything; I’d assumed he was cooking us dinner, but the usual scent of fried onion and garlic wasn’t seeping through the air as it so often did.“Wait there. Sorry,” he added, poking his head through the crack in the doorway. He smiled dopily at me, and I cocked my head at him with a smile.“I thought you were calling me because it was ready?”“I was. But I just need you to grab me something from the bedroom. Then stand outside, right by the front door. Okay?”“Okay,” I nodded, the bridge of my nose crinkling with confusion. “What do you need me to get?”“Could you get me something warm – a big jumper will do
Last Updated : 2020-08-03The Beta's Daughter ONE HUNDRED | LUNA LAPIS
“I’ve set up a meeting with the rogue pack’s Alpha.” Ace sounded calm, but his eyes were wide and dilated. They were childlike, but not playful as they so often were; today, they were scared.We were stood uncomfortably in Alpha Felix’s office. There was a coiled tension in the air, like the wound neck of a python ready to spring. My body felt mechanical, like an automaton on autopilot, as Ace spoke.I felt the same fear reflected within myself. There was an undeniable pit, and I felt my sanity drop into it at his words. I inhaled, one single, shuddering breath, and then I straightened my back out, and stood a little taller.“When is it?” Alpha Felix asked.“Tomorrow. They said they wanted to hear what we had to say. But there’s one condition.”“Well?” Alpha Felix pounded his fist down onto the desk, so hard that his mug of coffee rattled. The liquid inside splashed, and a single drop slid down the ceramic. “What is it?” He barked.His temper had been short lately, particularly where A
Last Updated : 2020-08-04The Beta's Daughter 101 | DOUBLE-SOUL
“Arienne–“ Samyak said, his tone startled. His eyes no longer looked black; now they were a bright, translucent brown, like a crisp, autumnal leaf held up to the sun.“Why didn’t you want me to take this book, Samyak?” I asked. My own voice was devoid of emotion, and I could hear a sharp inflection to each word that I had not intended to use.He looked as though he’d been slapped. Outside, the sky began to darken with thick, oppressive clouds.“I – I don’t mind. I just didn’t think you’d want it,” he stammered. “That’s why I put it down.”“Okay,” I said, my eyes narrowed. I clutched the book close to my chest, and looked away from him, my nose and chin hoisted into the air.“Ari…” he trailed off. From the corner of my eye I saw him exhale heav
Last Updated : 2020-08-05The Beta's Daughter 102 | THE GREAT TYNUN
My heart shattered as Samyak pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. I could feel the force of his love behind it, of his fear and his regret and his guilt and his worry, all bundled up into one brief touching of lips to my skin.After a while the tears stopped, and I sat blankly, my eyes staring at nothing, as Samyak whispered in my ear.I shrugged him off, and turned to face him with flaming, dark eyes. He gaped at me, a fish with flapping gills, as I met his gaze.He looked soft. I felt hard, impenetrable. But he was made of curves, of pillows and cushions, of comfortable blankets and a thick duvet on a winter morning. I was the bitter chill that clung to the air like frostbite.“What’s the Great Tnyun?” I asked. My voice sounded cold, too.Samyak pulled back, and looked at me quizzically. “An old legend of our pack. Why?”&
Last Updated : 2020-08-06The Beta's Daughter 103 | AUTUMN
I found myself thinking about everything but the notes in front of me as we drove to the meeting point. I missed my truck; Samyak’s car was too sleek, too comfortable. I realised that made no sense, but I stuck my nose into the air as I thought it. Yes, his car was too comfortable.I settled myself back on the too-comfortable seat and stared resolutely out the window. The trees were thick with orange leaves, save for the evergreens rocking gently in the light breeze behind them. The curved edge of the road was littered with a myriad of brightly coloured leaves, in bold reds, ochre yellows, and wilted browns, that had been discarded by the gnarled branches above. Some of them looked damp and crumpled, sodden where they had been trampled into the tarmac.Samyak had not spoken a word to me all morning. There was an uncomfortable tension in the air, and it existed within our mate bond, too. I was not used to feeling nothing from h
Last Updated : 2020-08-07
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The Beta's Daughter 122 | EPILOGUE
I tugged nervously at my dress. Nami and Rosa were behind me, weaving flowers and plaits into my long, brown hair. It waved neatly, having been blow dried and oiled by my entourage. “Are you sure you don’t want any lipstick?” Rosa asked, fiddling with a daisy. She glanced at me in the mirror, her sharply plucked eyebrows raised.“I’m sure,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. They sparkled in the bright light, wide beneath the swathe of brown and gold eye shadow on my lids.“I think you look good without it, anyway,” Nami shrugged. She wound a small, black band around the end of the braid she’d woven into my hair, and then stepped back. “You’re all done, Ari.”“Thanks,” I smiled, turning from side to side to admire myself in the mirror. The dress was simple: I was draped in gold, tightly fitting and hugging the curve of my waist. It had a squared off sweetheart neckline, and I wore a shimmer of glittering highlight across my collarbones. My sun necklace, given to me by my parents, so very
The Beta's Daughter 121 | AIRINI
“It seems,” Alpha Gedeon smirked, “that an accord will have to be negotiated. Young Jacob is to be Alpha of your pack one day, if I am not mistaken. Airini will make a fine Luna; of that, I am sure.”But nobody was paying Gedeon so much as an ounce of attention, not even the wolves of his own pack. All eyes were fixed on Jacob and Airini.She, like Jacob, was covered in the mud and gore of battle. There was a deep, purple bruise blossoming along the side of her face, which stood out starkly against her white skin. Her hair was fine, golden gossamer that floated down to her shoulders. She was easily as tall as he was, but lightly boned and lithely muscled. She looked delicate, but sharp, like an ivory blade.I grabbed Samyak’s hand excitedly, and in that moment I knew that Jacob and I had never been meant to be. My love for Jacob poured out of me now, an expression of friendship and joy for h
The Beta's Daughter 120 | NIGHT
Death was easy. There was no pain in darkness, no anguish. There was no regret, no suffering. But there was no joy either; no elation, no sense of wonder. The darkness was all consuming, but it was not fulfilling. There was something missing, something niggling at the very farthest point of my mind.Then the darkness began to lift, and, though my bleary eyes stayed shut, a bright, golden light shone upon my face. I wondered if I would be opening my eyes into the afterlife, this first blurry vision of gold my eternal resting place.“Arienne?” Samyak murmured. “Arienne – please, open your eyes.” Then I heard him turn, shuffling despairingly to someone, anyone for help. “Why won’t it work?” He asked, his voice heartbroken, confused, like that of a child.This didn’t seem like death. Death was a painless, eternal nothingness. Samyak was crying, and I could see him w
The Beta's Daughter 119 | BATTLE
Alpha Brius was shadowed on either side by his family. His hair, red as blazing fire, stood out even in the darkness. The glow of the sun shone on it, blood dousing flame, and it rippled like water as he stepped forward beside his mate. I could just make out Luna Lucille’s classical features in the dim morning light, though her hair, darker than Brius’s, was obscured.“We said we would stand beside you,” he called. “No matter the task. You saved our son, and the White Elm pack is in your debt, Lapis Moon. We have come to fight at your side.”Luna Carla beamed, and walked down the slope to greet them, Alpha Felix at her side. “You came,” she breathed.“We did, Luna,” said Alpha Brius, bowing his head to her. It was a gesture of respect, and one that was not necessary under such circumstances. “You called, so we came.”I beamed dow
The Beta's Daughter 118 | THE DARKNESS OF THE DAWN
The sun was rising, the first glimpses of orange light tickling the purple sky of the dawn. I stared straight ahead, my flask of coffee going cold between my hands.They were coming, and we were ready.We’d been sent to bed halfway through the night. I’d struggled to sleep, but had fallen into its warmth an hour before I had to wake up again. The broken pattern of napping had made me more tired than I had been before, but my steely focus and determination was keeping me awake now.Samyak had excitedly filled his parents in on his gift, but when they had asked me about mine I’d had very little to say. Ryna’s aura, if that was what it had been, gave me hardly anything to go on. Samyak’s gift was real, palpable; we had both witnessed its effects first-hand. Seeing one maybe-aura was not much to brag about; besides, even if it had been real, I didn’t know what it meant.&nb
The Beta's Daughter 117 | AURAS
I felt my face pale. I clung to Samyak, my hands scrabbling at him like the terrified claws of a prey animal. The moon’s light glittered in my eyes, spinning slowly like a distorted, monocolour kaleidoscope.“Arienne?” Samyak asked, his voice whipping like static against my ears. “What is it? What’s wrong?”Black spots pulsed through my vision, but I shook myself, determined to find out more.Gedeon? What time tomorrow? I sent back, my mind scrambling to find his. But no reply came, and I felt myself falling.Before I hit the bottom, however, I yanked myself back up to the surface. The tidal wave was coming, but we had time. We were prepared, and we could be ready. We would be ready.I pulled back, and my gaze met Samyak’s. He looked soft, his lips plump and his eyes tender. They furrowed in confusion when he saw my own exp
The Beta's Daughter 116 | ORB
The next few days passed us by quickly, running together and blurring into one. Rosa and the other warrior wolves arrived, and we spent her first evening sat together in her family’s guest cabin, catching up and gossiping about Joshua, Jacob, and Samyak.The sunlight had slanted in through the window, warming the sides of our faces as we’d grinned. I’d caught sight of Ryna stalking past outside, and had watched her disappear into the woods with a grim feeling settling in my chest.Though I wanted to talk to Samyak, I found the days were slipping by without a moment for us to be alone together. The only part of the day we had to ourselves was at night, as we climbed into bed, and we were both so exhausted from the days of training that we fell asleep quickly, with little more than a hurried “Goodnight,” and a chaste, sleepy kiss.Our days were filled with training, both mental and physical. A
The Beta's Daughter 115 | BLOOD
“Blood?” Samyak frowned, a crinkle appearing between his eyebrows. “How will blood help us?”“It’s all in here,” I said, gesturing to the small, purple book.Luna Carla’s eyes widened, and she cocked her head to one side. We were upstairs in the pack house; all of the highest ranking wolves from both the Lapis Moon and Silver Crescent packs were in attendance, cramped together in the seating area by Alpha Felix and Luna Carla’s offices. The last vestiges of the sun’s rays were slanting through the windows, burnished gold warming our faces and brushing highlights into our hair. Speckles of dust span through the light, floating upwards and spinning slowly as they rose.“What’s this old book going to tell us?” Ryna asked, sliding one hand onto her hip. Her slim, blonde eyebrows raised slightly, and I sighed.&ld
The Beta's Daughter 114 | SILVER CRESCENT
“Mum! Dad!” I shouted, a wide grin spreading across my face. Then I was wrapped in their arms, and I was finally home. I felt complete; whole, though I hadn’t realised that I’d been missing anything until now. They towered over my head, and I felt safe, secure.Then they released me, and another set of arms tackled me from the side. I pulled back, and stared up into familiar, warm sea-blue eyes. His short dark hair was tousled, more so than usual, and stood up at irregular angles, falling in waves across his forehead.“Jake,” I breathed, smiling. I felt dizzy, overwhelmed, as he pulled me flush against his toned body.“Ari,” he whispered, and the hole inside me filled a little more. I’d missed him; not the person he’d been when I’d last visited Silver Crescent, but the best friend that I’d known for years, before mates and relationships and sto
