The moment he thought about killing the Princess, Shadow was engulfed in red fire from the binding vow. The front door was pushed open, and Stefano rushed in. His hands glowed in blue before he grabbed Shadow's arm that had the binding vow's mark. Clavier quickly injected himself with a cure. He didn't intend to inject himself with a lethal virus from the beginning. The Princess was already cured. What Clavier did to himself was simply give himself a poisoning that led him to the severe symptoms. He didn't intend to die before getting to the bottom of the matter about Shadow.
"It's just a first-degree burn," Stefano informed Clavier, who could barely walk properly. "My power managed to suppress the binding vow for now. The King wouldn't notice it yet. That should give us time to think."
"And the others?"
"They will arrive soon. Get yourself properly treated."
"No," Clavier said, walking past him. "I
"I did send you a text that we've evacuated the building, and before Celeste left, she looked perfectly fine, aside from those love bites you put on her neck and arms," Vincent said. "She walked properly and didn't seem to be in pain when she walked. So, I assumed she was fine, considering she had to handle you almost half of the day. That girl's tenacity is no joke."Brandon studied Vincent's face to ensure the latter wasn't lying or joking around. Although Brandon remembered what he did to Celeste during his rut, there was something else that he felt was missing. Vincent did mention that Celeste was doing okay and was attending a meeting in Stefano's realm and that she didn't look like she would collapse from exhaustion, but Brandon still couldn't convince himself about it."Yo, we need to join them in Stefano's castle," Amanda said from the kitchen after receiving a brown paper that soon turned to ashes.Brandon
Brandon smiled. "Trust me, I have a solid plan.""I hate that smile." Mira pointed to him. " You're going to do a bad plan. But, let's listen to your plan.""Is Shadow well enough to take us to the Sovereign?""Oh, hold up," Celeste interjected, stopping Brandon. "What the hell are you thinking?"She couldn't believe what she heard coming from his mouth. They did everything they could to stay alive to this point, from surviving the mission as Kennedy Strauss' people to surviving an attack from Lucien's hunters. Those weren't small efforts and certainly weren't easy to achieve either. Celeste was reminded of the faces of the werewolves who died during the attack, and she knew she wouldn't survive another day if Brandon died. The Sovereign was far from a forgiving place for someone who admitted treason against the royal family. The punishment would be death."He's only suffering a
It baffled Brandon when Lucien regarded him as an idiot. What kind of idiot would surrender himself without a plan? Brandon thought of everything—from A to Z. He wouldn't have surrendered himself if he knew he would die. Lucien underestimated Brandon's capability to think of a plan. People thought the duty of a Gamma just mainly risked their lives to death to defend the pack. Brandon wasn't just the voice of the pack or the messenger between the Alpha and his people.Wrong. Those were just a fraction of his duty.A Gamma was a strategist just like the Alpha and Beta. He was involved in planning just as much as Cohen and Liam. Brandon didn't become a Gamma just because he was strong. Brute strength would be nothing without intelligence.At this moment, Brand
Walls collapsed as Stefano and Lucien fought in the basement. Brandon ordered Vincent to bring Celeste to a safer place while he thought of a way to keep Lucien from fighting Stefano further. Clavier jumped into the fight, trying to separate the two men. Clavier only avoided Lucien's attempt while the latter kept coming after Stefano."You dare speak about humiliation when it was you who humiliated my family in the first place?" Lucien roared in anger.Brandon caught Lucien's body and locked him in a tight grip while Clavier helped Stefano to stand. The Daemon High Lord didn't even throw a punch. He was simply avoided Lucien's punch."Stop it," Brandon said, tightening his lock on Lucien's arms."I have no honor? Pathetic to think that when you were about to betray them," Stefano said, dusting his clothes."Enough," Brandon said sternly. "We're leaving right this instant."It took them four hours to get back to Stefano's castle. Lucien
Brandon stared at the recently taken photos of King Ozigus' Kingdom. Stefano's tracking team did a wonderful reconnaissance around Sovereign and King Galos' Kingdom. Several photos showed Emma Kincaid marching out of her army earlier than expected—and without the presence of her strategist, Lucien de Vicenzo. It looked like nothing would deter the vampire woman from achieving what she wanted.A few minutes later, Vincent reentered the study room, but Clavier and Shadow followed him. Even though Brandon doubted Shadow's loyalty, he trusted Clavier more than the assassin. If Clavier trusted Shadow to be in the study room, nobody could question why."That's..." Shadow's fingers reached for a photo of the army who would be on the frontline of Emma's regime. "...not from the third realm.""Of course it's not," Clavier said. "That's her vampire armies.""The ones we didn't get to kill," Brandon added."Because they were never in our realm, to begin
Trees surrounded them as Shadow led them deeper into the woods. Fog covered the ground. They couldn't look to where their feet stepped on the ground. These nameless woods on the mountains would be where the resistance resided, but Shadow hadn't returned here for quite a long time."Their encampment should be near the waterfall," Shadow told them as he looked around to find the familiar trees the resistance used to guide the encampment.Brandon led the blindfolded Princess. Her mouth was taped, and her hands were tied behind her. Brandon and Celeste walked behind Shadow and Princess Henrietta. The third realm was no different than any other realms that Brandon had visited. The sixth realm was a barren desert after Alistair wiped out the entire life forms from there. The third realm had everything that the remaining realms had. The only difference was the people who lived there. The third realm was mainly occupied by shapeshifters. There was no known history of hum
Celeste blinked in confusion. She shook her head, denying what the man had said to everyone. There was no way she could Ozigus' daughter out of a sudden. Ozigus only had one child, and that child was Princess Henrietta. There couldn't be another child. His other wives couldn't conceive despite their long marriage with him.But as much as Celeste wanted to deny every bit of the man's words, deep inside of her, she could feel the truth in his words. Shadow seemed to trust the man as much as he trusted himself. There was no way the man would lie in front of Shadow, who was clearly had contributed something significant to the Resistance's survival. The Resistance didn't seem the type to dishonor those who sacrificed themselves for their cause. Shadow took a great risk by keeping their survival secret. That secret could have triggered the binding vow.Maybe this was just a dream. Celeste would wake up from it soon. She laughed nervously as she pinched her thigh because it a
"Are you going to return?" Mira asked as they settled down near a tree after receiving news from Stefano.Clavier looked at the Alpha and his beta, ready to follow Emma Kincaid's army marching towards Galos' Kingdom. If all of them returned now, they would get to nowhere in stopping the war. Clavier doubted Shadow would return after hearing the news. Brandon and Celeste were equally determined to stop the war, so why would they return to Stefano's castle when the High Lord himself could handle the case?"No," Clavier answered. "We'd just continue with what we're doing and get over it. Stefano can handle it. He didn't ask us to return."It wasn't like Brandon's plan entirely. He did manage to get Lucien's attention by gambling with his own life and others. Everyone knew Lucien would have anticipated the t