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31. Ivan
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The Beta's Prize 32. Ivan
Cherish remained in the infirmary whilst I was segregated from the team. Anxious days ached by. Encased in my small room I paced like a wild animal. The fear of her succumbing to her injuries plagued me constantly. I had no information, nobody came near my door as though my fall from grace was as catchable as flu. The anger at how Cherish had fallen prey to them ate me up. I barely ate or slept, hearing nothing, either from the infirmary or from Vincent. She couldn't be dead. I know Martha would have at least told me that somehow. I hope so. I also knew I still had to take my punishment. Perhaps I would be dead before she recovered. Killing a fellow teammate was probably more disliked by Vincent and Kingsley than Denton’s abduction of Cherish. Finally I was summoned. A smirking Kingsley tapped at my door, surrounded by guards toting stun guns. He had left it four days, building up the anticipation of just how horrifically he intended to make me pay for damaging his "product". The
The Beta's Prize 33. Cherish
When I finally woke, I was terrified I har somehow been transported back home. The dark, musty surroundings, the smell of too many bodies in a small bleak space made it all flood back. For a second I panicked that everything had been in a dream, until my vision cleared and I realised the dark, windowless room was unfamiliar and the woman gently dousing my head with a soaked sponge was Martha. “You made it,” she whispered, a sad smile on her creased face. Her brown eyes scoured mine, though I had no idea what she was searching for. “I have no idea how, but you did.” “My wolf,” I whispered weakly, “we met,” as I sipped from a cup of water. Martha clasped her hand to her chest. “Now if that is not the hand of Fate, the very Moon Goddess herself in action I do not know what is! To bond with your wolf, to gain shifter healing in the very instant you needed it to survive? Blessings indeed!” It was too much to think about right now. All I knew was I had never felt such hunger. My stomac
The Beta's Prize 34. Ivan
Kohl had been working overtime since Martha told us Cherish was returning. I slept for longer than I ever thought possible whilst he worked to repair my damaged flesh. Shifter healing can only do so much, I woke to find myself stiff, aching, and still covered in bandages. I managed to get myself something to eat and have a wash before crashing out on the bed again, my back facing towards the ceiling. I was sound asleep when the crashing of Cherish bursting through the door woke me. She didn’t have to say a word, I knew it was her from the scent of berries that drifted across the air plus the way Kohl leapt to attention. He must have been exhausted from healing me, yet he was as active as a puppy in her presence. “Ivan,” she whispered as I heard her footsteps patter along the wooden floor. The mattress sank as she lowered herself. I was swiftly confronted by the overwhelmingly gorgeous image of her blue eyes and blonde-framed oval face staring at me from the other pillow. My eyes sea
The Beta's Prize 35. Cherish
He stopped kissing me and propped himself up, so he was completely leaning over my body. Even with his bandages his body was one of a god, every muscle exquisitely chiselled and shaped. His presence was suddenly more serious, intense. His voice had ougher, gravellier tone that sent thunderbolts of desire straight to my core. “If I can’t trust you not to hurt my back...” “You can,” I urged, stroking his chest. Halo sent skittish, giddy excitement racing down my body alongside the lustful sparks of desire from Ivan’s kisses. “I don’t think you can, but let us see,'' he growled as he guided my hands up to the wooden headboard of the bed. As he gently curled my fingers around the wooden rails he whispered into my ear, “now do you need tying or can you and your minx of a wolf behave?” The dark desire oozing through his rugged voice combined with the golden shimmer in his eyes left my heart pounding. The closer he got the more the smell of apples encircled my senses, I was drowning in
The Beta's Prize 36. Ivan
It is only by the narrowest of margins that I did not kill Cherish this afternoon. Hurtling blindly towards a precipice, the fat head of my length actually pressing against her entrance, the hurricane of sparks pleasuring me, to then turn away at the last and not thrust it inside her was monumental. Kohl had howled at me in anger for not giving in, he is desperate to connect with her wolf but I won’t. Not just because she might not survive but because that act…well for me it is love. Love is not something I am willing to surrender to in this place. I cannot. For her sake and mine. Love makes people fools. I bitterly remind Kohl to remember the depths love has already taken us to. The only reason we are trapped within the Axelon gang's clutches of death is due to the ruined ashes of what I thought was the truest love one could encounter. That of one’s mate. “Sorry,” I gruffly uttered as her eyes sleepily fluttered open."I should not have called you mine.” To my shame her pretty fa
The Beta's Prize 37. Cherish
After a night in silence, returning once more to my bed of towels I am bathed softly by Martha. She looked at my green and purple wrists with confusion as I soak in the tub. “Cherish, is everything okay?” “It is,” plunging my arms into the murky water, “we had some fun that is all.” “Some fun,” she replied with a sarcastic click of the tongue, “is that what it is called now.” I squirmed in embarrassment, “yes, Ivan has made it clear this isn’t a…match or relationship.” “Ivan has?” Martha undeniably interested but I couldn’t say much more on the matter. Even if Ivan was blowing hot and cold like a monsoon he had asked me to keep the escape trunk idea to myself. There were too many sides of Ivan to understand. How could someone so sweet and softly mannered be able to turn away from someone so easily? When his resolve snapped and he lunged at my body, his hot, feverish kisses were like a man possessed yet he was able to turn himself back to stone? Maybe I am merely a plaything,
The Beta's Prize 38. Ivan
A serious, sombre Cherish returned from the bathhouse late yesterday evening and climbed straight into the trunk, fitting the lid over her head. “I fit, there should be no problems,”, avoiding any eye contact. /Good/ Kohl murmured even though I knew he was stung at her coldness. I have to remain strong and stop giving into the softer desires within. Cherish clearly knows it is more important to escape from here than to indulge in a romance with someone destined for a grisly death. I need to follow suit. “Thank you Cherish. I will let you know the rest of the plan soon.” She merely nodded and took herself off to the furthest corner of the room with a book. /It is for the best. She is being sensible, probably taking sound advice from her wolf./ Though Kohl is talking sense, the idea that she will be out of here and I will be…well exactly as I once was is a struggle to comprehend. The only thing making it bearable will be the fact that some of my honour, as a Beta Warrior will be res
The Beta's Prize 39. Cherish
I despise waiting. If this ordeal has taught me anything about myself it is that I truly hate waiting around and I really hate not being charge of my own life. The room just feels smaller, more enclosing with every passing minute. By the time I hear footsteps I am almost frantic with worry.The last time this kind of meeting was called Ivan was almost whipped to death. He knocked softly at the door as I pulled away the chair and unlocked it. His face was ghastly white, green eyes vacant as he almost stumbled back into the room. “Ivan, what’s happened?” Taking his arm I guided him to the huge mattress and made him sit down. Then I ran over to the fire and prepared a kettle of tea. He looked to be in shock. He sat looking down with his elbows on his knees, hunched in silence. I placed the hot drink by his side then softly sat next to him. “There is no escape now. I’m sorry but that plan is over,” he said flatly. “Do you want to talk about it?'' The chill in his voice made me cold,
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The Beta's Prize Epilogue 6: White Forest Ball (Cillian)
Without thinking I shouted “Stop!” causing the cloaked person to sprint. “GUARDS!” I screeched, unable to mind-link members outside of my pack. Why was the entire fucking castle asleep! Sprinting after the cloaked figure I saw nobody else, no guards, not even a servant to help me catch the stranger. Arriving at the huge foyer of the castle, surrounded by flickering torches, hanging tapestries and miserable grey stone walls I had nothing to follow. They had vanished into thin air. All I knew from the build around the cloak was that they were a man, a man wearing long black trousers. Giving up the chase, I headed back to my room, flights of stairs, leading me to nothing but duplicating corridors of arched doorways, presumably student accommodation. The door to my parents’ suite remained open. “Papa?” I knocked softly to no answer. /Cillian, I am so sorry/ Vez said, realising before I did that my world had been knocked from its axis, shattered like porcelain. On the double bed, wrappe
The Beta's Prize Epilogue 5: White Forest Ball (Cillian)
I understood immediately why Papa never took us to many of these charades. Standing there in a pompous white shirt, on display like a prize pig at a fair I was happy to escape with Genevieve into the masses. I wasn’t so happy about Nikolai. We had only met briefly during a few childhood meetings but as a man he oozed anger and resentment. What for, I have no idea, but my sister and her wide eyes clearly thought it was the hottest thing she had ever seen. Silently, from my chosen distance, I watched his charisma overwhelm her, my own heckles rising. /She asked you to let her be an adult, to make her own choices/ Vez urged. Ever since first shifting and Vez came into my world it has been like having two fathers, both eager for me to prosper as Alpha. Our wolf fur was as red and fiery as my hair. I cringed, remembering how Jackson had laughingly called me the Infant Inferno, leaving me furious. Vez however, despite our fiery colour was sage, calming and fair. My papa tried to downpl
The Beta's Prize Epilogue 4: White Forest Ball (Genevieve)
Having to walk in behind my parents I felt like a child amongst women. Despite the stunning dress, the styled hair and jewels I’d been given, the ballroom had a strange feel about it. I felt watched ,studied, but not in the usual way, like at home in Cragstone when crowds gathered. One person’s gaze had me flustered. The smell of burning spice made my eyes widen in fear, urgently seeking out the owner. As though we were in danger of attack, then I saw Nikolai Romanov. He headed up towards our little royal enclosure furtively, as though he was breaking in. He was just as entitled to be there as the rest of us and yet his fearsomely dark eyes were stuck on me. He offered no greetings to anyone else, not even his parents. My heart flipped, what do you do when someone looks so blatantly at you? He wasn’t undressing me with his eyes or anything crude like the silly Kharkov boys. Instead, he was seriously, steadily looking at me as a person. Almost the same age as me, already nineteen and
The Beta's Prize Epilogue 3: White Forest Ball (Ivan)
I know exactly why she is nervous. It’s not ideal and we’ve put it off for so long that it’s brought the formal gold bordered letter from Alexander to force our attendance. They are so young, the twins are barely even adults. If they find their mates tonight there it is more complicated than they realise. For Kharkov’s girls, or Lyon’s boys, when they make their match it will be a simple case of falling in love and finding a place to live and be happy together. Our children, should it be from a rival pack, will see alliances drawn up, decisions taken out of their hands as their parents become a tangle of wants and wishes. Should my beautiful, delicate little Genevieve be drawn in with that dark-haired lout Nikolai, what then? He is the future Alpha of White Forest, as Freya is to live in Rising Star. I would lose my darling girl. I know it is just the mindset of a scared father. I am a proud, happy man, terrified of nothing the world can throw at me. Except for damaging my family'
The Beta's Prize Epilogue 2: White Forest Ball (Cherish)
I gasped at the sight of our intruder. Cillian, my beautiful boy, had somehow transformed into a powerful, charismatic man, his white shirt open at the top showing the sculpted chest he inherited from his father. His coppery red hair had an even fierier tone than Ivan’s, almost sheer red, whilst his eyes had eventually turned blue like my own, despite starting green. He had a strong, masculine jaw and his figure had developed over the past year. He had trained like a beast with Kharkov and Jackson, as if preparing for his mate by getting into perfect shape. “Are we ready to do this parade then?” he grumbled, fiddling with his cufflink, the rasping depth of his manly voice still making me wistful even after years of it breaking. “How has a white shirt made you look this grown up,” I said softly, adjusting the collar of his shirt whilst he towered over me and his father. The squidgy faced little boy who hid behind my skirts clutching stacks of buns he had stolen from Martha was no m
The Beta's Prize Epilogue 1: White Forest Ball (Cherish)
** TWENTY YEARS LATER ** “I cannot believe it has truly been so long since we were last at White Forest,” I murmured, standing in the same suite we had used so many years ago. Back when I shouted at Helena and suggested she had failed Ivan. The four-poster bed and stained glass windows were unchanged. As if we had simply stepped back in time. The sight of the balcony, where I had once stood in only a black cloak for Ivan to devour under the pale blue moonlight made me smile and Halo purr in remembrance. “You are as amazing now as you were then,” Ivan murmured, approaching me with a grin. In his late forties he was getting somehow even more handsome with age. His hair remained the stunning copper beacon I looked for first in every room whilst his frame remained strong, tall and muscular. Although my heart had two other beacons to contend with in Genevieve and Cillian, Ivan’s strength was the tree which my roots had grown around. They had turned eighteen last winter, Ivan insiste
The Beta's Prize 106. Cherish
Although Ivan’s silly trick with the balcony made me laugh, we were soon back in the same glum mood we had left the dinner party with last night. The stone walls around us swirled with confusion, the footsteps of unknown servants constantly pattering by made me feel watched, edgy. At home, in Cragstone we knew exactly who roamed our smaller world. “We should just ask Helena outright,” I snapped in frustration, “they’re discussing us and our babies so why shouldn’t we know.” Ultimately we had the matter taken out of our hands. A small, elderly male servant summoned us for breakfast with Alpha Brandon and Luna Hollie down in the dining hall. Kissing the babies and leaving them with Kharkov and Penelope we made our way for attempt Day Two of the so-called Conference. As expected the four of them were already there. Brandon raised his hand as soon as he saw us enter and saw Ivan assessing the situation. Alpha Alexander for once looked distressed. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes wer
The Beta's Prize 105. Ivan
My worst fears were confirmed. This wasn’t a proper conference, there was no respect for our attendance as the leaders of the Shadowlands pack, it was some ridiculous notion by Helena to try and fix her own ego. Kissing Cherish softly as she tended to the babies with Penelope I informed Kharkov I was heading for a stroll, he could stay with the women and enjoy some breakfast. His face lit up at the prospect, whether it was breakfast or the company of the women I could not tell which thrilled him more. I loved the fact he had such a bond with Cherish. Having someone in your corner like that, it’s how I used to see myself and Helena. Different but the same. /If everything had stayed the same, we would have been dead in a ditch long ago. Some things have to change/ Kohl murmured sagely. I agreed with him, but I still regretted my lost friendship. Heading out of the huge double doored stone archway I found myself looking down upon a splendid view of the surrounding forest. It was so
The Beta's Prize 104. Cherish
When the servant brought us into the dining hall it was just as grand as I expected. Huge golden candelabras and chandeliers lit up a picture perfect room. The usual tapestries and war scenes I had grown used to seeing at White Forest were not present here. Rising Star was a gallery of landscapes. The valleys, lakes and forests depicted everywhere gave the castle a softer feeling than I had expected this pile of stones to provide. Even the soft rugs were welcomely eyed by Halo, my feet still not fully healed made me want to jump to the nearest chair. I preferred this castle to White Forest, though as Halo warned me, that may just be because I had lingering reservations about Luna Helena and her knowledge of Fate. Ivan, bless him, knew my feet were not fully healed yet and made sure to have me seated comfortably before anything else. Alpha Brandon and Luna Hollie were kind and gracious hosts. They clearly adored Helena and Alexander, a cosy coupling that we were on the outside of.
