What happened after that was a flurry of events which barely registered. I flew around like a headless chicken trying to get the people who Valens couldn’t get in touch with. The elders had been alerted but some of them fell off the grid. The borders had been secured, Valens and Jabari in a meeting while I gathered the other elders. “Elder Malek?” I asked Luna Levana who was running around with me. “A traitor.”“There’s still one elder left that I haven’t been able to contact.” I sank into my seat, my back aching along with my feet. “Is it the Elder that was taken to the dungeons this morning?” My attention snapped back to Levana. “Yes! Goddess, I’m already out of it!” I sighed, realizing I’d already forgotten about the earlier incident with Elder James. Everything was happening all at once and I just woke up. It was already driving me insane. How much trouble would Skylar cause me before she actually succeeded in ruining my life? How much longer would I have to deal with her ter
I flew out of the car and rushed to the house but Jabari caught me before I took five strides, pulling me back.“My friend is in there. Your mate is in there!” I yelled at him when he stopped me. “Do you know what he is doing in there?” I asked but his expression was unreadable. “Stay in the car. Whatever is going on in there is a potential danger to you. I’ll deal with it.” He tried steering me back towards the car but my feet were quicker than his. I dashed past him and raced through the familiar front doors into Celeste’s home. I was surprised to see her wrestling her brother to the ground. She was beating a bag into his face but he gained the upper hand in a matter of seconds, struggling weakly against her. “Just listen to me for a second!” He called in a harsh voice. “I am still your brother.” They both noticed my presence at the same time. He paused, looking up at me. Celeste took that time to push him off her with a violent force. She scrambled to a stand and in a flash, he
Celeste kept throwing up. We had to stop twice on our way for her to throw up. Her complexion had turned pasty with her face turning an ugly green colour. I hadn’t seen Jabari since we got home. He’d excused himself once we got into the house. I could sense him around the premises but he hadn’t come close to the part of the house Celeste and I were in. I shot Valens a quick text to tell him we’d gotten home but I still hadn’t received a reply after more than an hour. By now, I expected he knew what happened but he still hadn’t reached out to me. “I’ll make you a cup of mint tea,” I said to Celeste, patting her clasped hands as I left the room. She didn’t say anything in reply, rocking herself back and forth. I met Jabari in the kitchen when I went in. He was running his head underneath the faucet. He raised his head when I walked in and I was taken aback by the redness of his eyes “I killed her brother.” His voice was a hoarse whisper when he spoke. He cleared his throat and shoo
‘Come in if you dare,’ I replied the unknown number and set my pocketed my phone.“Celeste, I have to find Jabari,” I said to my friend, standing. She rushed to her feet to block me. “No, wait. You can’t leave until you promise you’ll spare my parents,” she grasped my shoulders. “Please, Aysel.”“Your parents are traitors. As much as I would do anything for you, this is outside what I can do. Except they aren’t part of this, there is no way I will let them walk free.” “I – I know they will be punished but maybe – maybe a sentence? I don’t want to lose all my family, please.” “When the time comes for that, I’ll see what I can do.” I tried to sidestep her but she blocked me again. “You promise?” “I promise.” I was starting to get impatient but she was adamant about getting a promise. “Now, let me pass. Skylar is here.” Her eyes widened and she looked around as if expecting Skylar to be sitting in the room with us. “Where is she?” She asked, still looking around. “She just texted
“You are coming with us,” the taller of the two men said. He was right beside my bed. There were guns pointed at me from two different angles. One wrong move and it would be adieu. “I’ve been instructed to stay home.” I shrugged. There would be no wrong move. I felt a deep calmness inside me and it had nothing to do with the short sleep I just woke from. There would be no wrong move. I could almost see how everything would play out. Magic whispered in my veins, secreting through my system. It helped me stay calm, giving me a sense of control. My wolf stirred and she too felt the calmness. She did not pace, did not ready herself for an attack. She was relaxed as if we didn’t have guns pointed at us. One of the men cocked his gun. I smiled at him. “You have a lot of nerve coming in here. Did Skylar tell you how dangerous it would get?” I stretched in bed. “Get out of that bed!” One of them hissed when I continued to grin at them. “Or what? You shoot and miss, and I promise, you w
“What do you mean you let down the security? We are just going to let her walk in?” I almost pulled at my hair. I didn’t because he hugged me, cutting me short mid-rant. “Stay still a while. I have to be out of here soon.” He pressed his cheek into my hair. “I’ve missed you today.”“Valens, is this a good plan?” I asked, my hands going up to wrap around him. “Are we certain it’ll work?” “It will. I know who she is working with.” He pulled me closer to himself, squeezing me for a second before he let go. “Who?” I asked. “Some guy I thought I ended last year. Alpha Callan. He is Skylar’s mate.” My mouth rounded in surprise. She’d found her mate? Of course, he would be someone that had a bone to pick with Valens. The world always seemed to align for Skylar when the time came for her to do evil. She didn’t even have to try hard, there were always people to do her evil work while she lurked in the shadows, dishing out commands. “An alpha mated to an alpha? Nice,” I said, trying to fo
“I’ll go get it,” I volunteered. Several pairs of eyes turned to me as I spoke. Throughout the night into the day, I followed Valens around, rallying the warriors and trying to keep their spirits high while Valens discussed strategies with their commanders. Not unexpected but we hadn’t seen Skylar when we expected her. I knew she would prefer to make a sneaky entrance than arrive when she was expected. I felt like I knew her schemes better than these strategists but they had won numerous wars while I had no experience. We were at the southern borders where we expected would be the easiest part for Skylar to enter the pack. The elders had decided there was no point going out to find her. We could lure her in and have the upper hand that way since we would be battling on familiar grounds. “Gavin will drive you.” Jabari threw his keys to a burly warrior who I’d come to know was named Gavin. “You are sure you know where it is?” He asked me. “Yes, it’s in his office. I’ll be back soon.
VALENSI should have destroyed this pack from the beginning. I should never have let their disrespect and brazenness mount to the point where they thought they could defy me once, twice, and then start an insurgency. Redville did not matter until I took over the pack. They would not have lasted another fifty years as a pack without going bankrupt or succumbing to rogue attacks considering the two idiots they had in line as Beta and Alpha. I saved Redville because it became mine but Zavier and his men had no honor. I would teach them. “He is somewhere around here,” the warrior who alerted me to Zavier’s presence on pack lands said, pointing to a dark alley. I could indeed scent Zavier. I did not need him to be pointed out. He carried the stench of one who would soon turn rogue. The scent pricked my nostrils and made my wolf edgy. What the warrior beside me didn’t know was that I was not born the previous day. I could scent an ambush from miles away. Did he think I had no nose to sme