"I look pregnant." I looked down at my tummy which my figure-hugging dress could not hide.Despite knowing I was overeating, I continued to eat because the food was just too good. Valens, rather than caution me, encouraged me to eat and eat until I became too full to even have a sip of water."You will look good with my pups." His eyes fell to my stomach and a spark of possessiveness lit his eyes but they faded fast. "I am uncertain I can have kids." He looked away from me, pain in his voice."Why not?" I took his hand in mine. We sat in his car, still in the restaurant's driveway."It is a part of my curse. My lineage ends with me." He shook his head and my heart fell to my stomach but I refused to believe that. I knew it deep in my heart that we would start a family together."You told me you'd give me twins. A boy and a girl," I reminded him. It was meant to be reassuring but it failed. It seemed as if I'd reminded him that he could not always carry through with all his promises.H
*LUCIEN*I stared out of the window until the skies darkened, lost in my thoughts. A lot of things had happened in such a short time and it made me appreciate things I took for granted before.My father was missing, my mother was hysterical and my sister wasn't talking to me. There was also the issue of my mate mating with someone else and my mum packing her things and leaving the house this morning without a word to us. In a nutshell, my life had fallen apart and it didn't look like it would be fixed any time soon.When I finally managed to pull myself into a semi-working condition to grab dinner, my wolf perked up. A voice like a rushing wind slammed into my mind.It was the Alpha's Call.The Call was rarely used except on the occasion of the Feast of the Moon. In fact, I'd never heard the Alpha's Call except in the times of the Feast but when I heard it then, even if it didn't sound like the Call I was used to, my wolf recognized it and I knew what it was for.It was physically imp
VALENS"They are not best of friends but they sure are friendly," Clover said. I nodded absently at her report. I wanted to know all about my little wolf's relationship with Lucien but something plagued my thoughts.This morning, I woke to my mate smiling down at me. She was usually asleep when I left for work but not today. Not only did she wake before me, but she also didn't move. She stared down at me with a sweet smile. She said good morning to me with a honeyed voice and then she kissed me sweetly. Then she climbed atop me and gave herself to me in the gentlest way.She walked me to my car when it was time to leave and her eyes grew really sad when I got in. I had to tear myself away from her because my wolf was feeling overly protective after the way she looked at us this morning.I picked up my phone and stared at it. I didn't know what I was expecting but I kept checking it every minute."Are you listening to me?" Clover asked.I was good at listening while distracted so I kne
LUCIEN"It's unfortunate that I'm stuck with you." Skylar scrubbed a hand down her face. "I can't even tell Bethel because who knows what hoe he'll blab it to after getting high." She hissed, falling into a seat."Do you have a plan, or did you call me out to nag at me?" I eyed her, propping my elbows against my thighs as I leaned forward in my seat."Their Mating Ceremony can't happen, so we're going to disrupt it.""How do we go about doing that?" She looked at me with disgust shining in her eyes. It wasn't my fault I wasn't an evil mastermind like her. I'd grown up with love and care so I had no reason to be such a schemer. Unlike her."We need something against Aysel.""Why her? Why not Valens?" Again, she gave me a disgusted look. "Stop looking at me like that." I fingered the neck of my shirt."You are idiotic. I knew you didn't have a lot of sense but I'm surprised I'm only now seeing how daft you are." She stood again, pacing the room. "Because he can leave her. She can't leav
"I am Luna Levana of the White Moon pack." The woman standing before me introduced herself. She had a soft demeanour and a kind smile that immediately put me at ease. She was tall and slender and wore loose jeans with a classy top."Hello," I gave a small wave."White Moon pack is the second pack the Alpha Prince conquered." Another woman stepped forward. She looked older than Levana but carried an innate fire and vibrancy that made her seem younger"I am Avalon Von Stein, the Royal Historian," she introduced herself."It's a pleasure to meet you." I smiled at her. Her inner vibrance gave off a nice warmth that made me comfortable with her."The pleasure is all ours, Luna Aysel. You have liberated us from bondage and to you, we owe a huge debt." Both women lowered their eyes and bared their necks in a coordinated gesture that made my eyes smart."Luna Levana will coach you on the duties of a Luna while I have been instructed to teach you the history of the royals from the first king t
When we got back to the penthouse, I flopped into bed with tired legs. I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep immediately.The bed dipped beside me and I felt Valens' warmth against my left side. I wondered if he felt as sated as I did then. He turned and I felt his stubble graze my cheek. We'd had fun today and I'd discovered a side of Valens that I didn't know existed. The playful side. I'd seen his stern side, his domineering side, his sexual side but today I saw him smile more times than ever and he made me laugh often."Tired, huh?" He stroked my arm but I didn't want to admit to being tired so I shook my head. Unfortunately, I let out a yawn right after."Woah there, don't swallow me," he teased. I covered my arms with my palms to hide my darkened cheeks. "Listening to a lie is funny when you already know the truth.""Stop." I laughed underneath my palms."Look at you ordering me about." I took my hands off my face to look at him and my breath caught. He was leaning into me,
Something tickled my nose and my eyes opened slowly as if in a trance. It took me a good ten minutes to figure out where I was. I was in bed in the basement of the pack house where I once stayed but I had no recollection of how I got here.I cast my mind back to try to remember if I came here to get anything but the only thing I could remember was the text I received from Celeste. I groaned at the pain that exploded in my mind when I tried to force myself to remember. There was a mental barrier that no matter how much I pushed, I could not get through.'Artemis?' I called my wolf but she still seemed to be asleep.I was tired and groggy when I came out of the pack house basement. A man greeted me as I passed but my head felt as if someone was banging drums inside. My feet were shaky and my vision blurry but I managed to get into the elevator and move to the penthouse.My legs carried me to the bathroom because for some reason, my skin crawled. I felt dirty as if I fell into a gutter.
I heard movement at the entrance and quickly scrambled up. I didn't know what to do or how to proceed. My first instinct was to hide. To hide from Valens. To hide from the world. To hide from the reality setting in. I wanted to somehow hide from myself too. I wanted to hide from the disgust crawling on my skin. I wanted to hide from the anger consuming me. I just wanted to disappear.I also wanted to sleep. I wanted to close my eyes and open them to see none of this actually happened. I wanted to sleep and wake up to see all of this had been a terrible nightmare and not the reality I was about to face.Who would I tell? How would I bring it up?I didn't even have the complete details. I could not say for certain how it happened or why it happened but it happened. Those pictures were proof of the violation. Proof of the lack of empathy, the wickedness, with which I'd been treated."Sagira?" I heard Valens' footstep approach and suddenly I was scared.I wasn't properly dressed. I didn't
“… I now crown you, Alpha Valens Thomas Castillo I, the king of werewolves.” The temple reverberated with applause as the oracle crowned Valens. She placed the crown on his head, took a step back, and curtsied. Applauses followed after that and I was grinning from ear to ear. I looked at the smaller crown which had been sitting beside the king’s when the oracle stepped towards me. I had a smaller one that was a replica of it. It was the same one Valens’ mother wore on the day she died. He’d let me wear it on our Mating Ceremony and it meant everything to me. I didn’t know it then but him giving me that crown was the best way to let me know that he had let go of his past. He had left the path of vengeance and chosen to look forward to a future with me. He let me, a daughter of a traitor from a line of traitors, wear the crown his beloved mother wore in her final hours and he was able to smile and laugh with me as I wore that crown. “Do you, Luna Aysel Valens-Castillo, swear before
*VALENS*“I promised you would feel my wrath, didn’t I?” I looked down at the girl I once called my friend. I looked down at the girl that I once favoured. She made numerous sacrifices for me. She fought for me and with me but at the end of the day, she did not know not to mess with me. “I have prayed for forgiveness,” she said, looking up at me. “I have prayed away my sins. At this point, Vee, I don’t care what you do to me.” She sat down, her feet trapped underneath her. “If you had not come back, I would not have known. Do you know what you took from me?” Why did I quiz her still? I wanted to reconcile the Clover I used to know with the one before me. I wanted to see if there was anything left of the other girl, a person to mourn, perhaps. I never loved her the way she wanted me to but I loved her. She was my friend. My confidant. Now, she was my enemy. “How do you even know the child was yours?” She looked up at me. “All I ever wanted was to protect you, Vee.” “No, you wanted
“I don’t care what happens to the rest of them. I want Zavier hanged. He will be an example to this pack of what happens when people challenge me,” Valens was saying to the Elder who was to conduct the trial of Zavier, Skylar, and all who aided them in invading Redville. So the trial started. It took two weeks for us to work up from those who were minor parties in the insurgence before we made it up to the trial for Skylar and her father. They would all be tried on the same day and their verdict was already settled.I sat in the front row with Valens beside me. In the past two weeks, things had been strained with him. I wanted to pretend it was because we had so much to do, getting the pack together after the invasion and preparing for trials every day, but I knew I was wrong. I told him everything the moon goddess told me about my mother and since then, things changed. He had simply said he’d suspected after I got my magic, but nothing more than that. “The Alpha will pronounce the
AYSELArtemis wasn’t bluffing when she said the magic was stronger when we shifted. I hadn’t shifted in a while so I hadn’t noticed but the minute I changed from human to wolf, I felt like an entirely different person. Artemis was stronger. The little training we’d received was certain to make a difference in confronting Skylar but the magic we now had was everything we needed and so much more. When she moved, she moved with better grace than ever before. Skylar’s wolf and Artemis met midair, rolling off to the ground but not before Skylar smacked the edge of Valens’ desk. I was atop her when we went down, my claws digging into her brown wolf. She tried to wiggle out of my grip, tried to get my claws dislodged from her neck but Artemis had a far superior grip than she expected; it was evident in the surprise in the wolf’s eyes. I wasn’t the timid girl she used to know. I was not where I wanted to be, having barely hit half of my full potential, but I was far, far away from the per
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
“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.
“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
“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
‘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