(Luther) IT WAS back. I saw it. Alexandra’s wolf had opened its eyes. It growled furiously. It was only for a while and the sound was not as loud as it used to be because it was still in pain but it was enough to be heard clearly. It struggled to rise and it fell down but its eyes were now fully open. It was still wounded, but its wounds were no longer as severe as before. It seemed as if it was… slowly healing. Another miracle was happening right before our very eyes. I was discussing things with Giovanni at my office when Isaac gave me a report about my wife’s situation. Giovanni just got back in the country but we had to cut our conversation short when we heard about the commotion. We went to the garden and both of us were taken aback after we saw how Alexandra held Richard’s sword. There were alphas present in the area, too. All were ready to protect the lunas of their packs. The commotion was that big that it could shake the empire. And Alexandra knew it. The Council had alrea
‘THE Queen’s lover, I found out who it was. The man was no other than Valerian Willers. It doesn’t ring a bell, does it? That’s because that was not his real name. His birth name was Valerian Theodore Alvarez, he was the hybrid all of us had seen at Magnus’ birthday celebration. He was also Kenneth Alvarez’s half-brother.’Giovanni’s report had never left my mind. I had always wondered who the heck that ‘Val’ was. It was a nickname I had heard my wife whisper in her sleep for weeks now. And every time, she would call him so sweetly.‘Do you think he knows who she really is?’ I remembered asking Giovanni.‘I’m guessing he didn’t. If Valerian knew, I doubt he would take her in. But now, the probability of him knowing the truth is a hundred percent.’Alexandra told me there was nothing to be jealous about. But then every night, she would call another man’s name. Some nights, she would cry. Other nights, she would smile as if she was remembering a fond memory only the two of them knew abo
(Alexandra)Five years ago…IT happened again. I coughed up blood in the middle of the lessons. When my classmates and professor looked at me strangely and began to whisper words to one another, I stood and ran to the nearest comfort room. I locked the door and began throwing up on the floor.I had gone to the hospital many times, but they all said that nothing was wrong with my body. And yet, I kept throwing up blood. And it would happen without warning. I could not even make friends in this state. Each time I would try, my body would make a mess of me in front of everyone. They avoided me for this, saying that I must have been cursed by a witch or I must have contracted a virus.There were rumors wherever I went.I sat on the floor. My legs had gone limp. Thankfully, no one used this comfort room on the third floor. After my schoolmates found out that the ‘virus girl’ was using this room, no one had dared to get in. It was just me here. I glanced at my wristwatch. I just had to stay
WHEN I quickly withdrew my hands from Val, he and Nick looked extremely hurt. They changed their eye color and when they looked at me, their faces were back to normal. But that was a sight that was hard to forget. Val tried to reach out and I shivered. I scoot over until I fell on the bed.“Please don’t come close. Just stay where you are!” I said in a trembling voice. But Val stepped closer. And when he did, I screamed. “No! Get away from me!”“Cassey, I’m not going to hurt you. If that was our plan, you wouldn’t have been alive until now.” He turned to Nick. “We have no choice. Hold her, Nick.”“What are you going to do to me?” I asked, still horrified. “Don’t touch me!”“Are you sure about this?” Nick looked anxious.“I read about this. My father did the same when my mother was suffering. I could do this too,” Val replied before he slit the center of my palms with a dagger. Tears rolled down my cheeks out of fear and out of the excruciating pain that followed. I wanted to free myse
“YOU LOVE her a lot, don’t you? Me, too.”I glanced at Valerian. He was the first to break the silence between us by saying those words. He was sitting on the ground and was leaning on the steel bars with his eyes closed as if he didn’t want to see me. Heck, the feeling was a hundred percent mutual. I despised being here.But I had to see him at least. I had to see the reason why Alexandra was wavering. I had to see if he was real to her the way she was to him before I could let them meet each other.Amid Alexandra’s anger, I left her in the room and had the guards surround her to stop her from meeting her lover.‘All right. I will do what you want. I promise to stay here but in return, promise me that you will not hurt him, Luther,’ I remembered her saying before I went out of our room.‘And if I do? Will you hate me?’‘No,” she sobbed. ‘I really hate myself right now for being the reason why you’re wearing that kind of expression on your face, Luther. And I would hate myself more if
(Valerian)I DIDN’T have to look into the mirror anymore. The emotion written in Sinclair’s eyes mirrored what I was feeling. He was jealous of the seven years I spent with his wife while I was jealous of the eternity he would get to share with her.Seven years? That was a rookie number compared to what he would have. He didn’t know how fortunate he was. I would give my all to trade places with him, to have a shot of that eternity with her.While looking at Sinclair, memories of the past all played in my mind like a CD. It was Cassandra wearing a Santa Claus’ costume early in the morning, mischief was dancing in her eyes, as she greeted me a loud ‘Merry Christmas’. Before that, she filled the house with Christmas tree, with glittering lights, gifts, and who could forget about the socks she hung all over the living room?All the socks had handwritten letters in them for me and Nick about the reasons why she loved us. And then she read them in front of us while blushing.‘I can’t think
(Luther)DEEP inside, I was hoping Valerian to give me a reason to end his life. If only he was half as cunning as Kenji or as the Vampires I dealt with, I would have no problem crushing his heart with my claws.But Valerian’s every word was about my wife, about how to take care of her better. I only knew Alexandra and not Cassandra. That’s why we also knew different ways of loving her and protecting her. And right now, his ways worked better than mine.Thinking of how much pain I was unknowingly inflicting on Alexandra had made me feel embarrassed to be called her husband. I regretted how I flipped out. I could now see what she saw in this hybrid.After some time, Valerian released my collar.“I’m sorry. I tend to lose my temper when it comes to her. I may have been born a hundred years earlier than you, but up until seven years ago, I didn’t know anything about love. You can call me whatever you want, but I didn’t really believe in it,” Valerian said. “Meeting Cassandra had changed
(Alexandra)I BROKE out in cold sweat after seeing the warriors marching toward a specific direction. From the balcony, I ran to the door and opened it. A man I had not seen before quickly bowed upon seeing me.“Greetings. I am Giovanni Montenegro and I will be your personal guard beginning today. I feel happy to see you again, your grace,” he said in a hoarse voice as if he was trying to contain his emotions. “Please count on me. My loyalty lies with no one else but you.”“Lift your head and look at me, Giovanni,” I commanded.When our eyes locked, I immediately recognized that emotion in his eyes. I saw it in Nick and Val’s eyes before, too. I knew right away that Giovanni was an ally. He was with me. Meeting him was like meeting a long-lost friend. The connection was still there.“Then as your first task, Giovanni, I want you to report to me what exactly is going on outside this house. When I was in the balcony, I saw several knights. And they don’t look like they were out to train
LUTHER’S fingers grazed my cheek as he stared at my face. He swallowed when he glanced at my lips. Seconds later and he pulled my head and waist as he claimed my mouth. He nibbled on my lower lip, urging me to open my mouth and when I did, he hungrily pushed his tongue in until our tongues met.When he finally let my mouth go, he took a rough breath and rubbed his erection against my stomach. “You look so lovely again today that I just wanna devour you right here, right now, Mrs. Sinclair.”Although completely aroused, I held it in and just smiled. “You can’t. Dad texted me an hour ago and said he’s preparing a victory party for me. We need to go back to San Antonio. How did you even escape from Iris?”“No worries. I told them that I was promised a date and I would claim that promise today. They seemed to understand. Dad told us to take our time, he’ll look after our princess. She even happily let me leave by myself. She had one thing to say, though. She said it’s her Christmas wish.”
(Valerian)“THE ROYAL family from the wolf empire is here to give their greetings and gifts to Your Majesty,” Matteo, the host of the event, announced. The guards opened the castle doors and from there, Alexandra, Luther, and their daughter appeared and walked towards the center of the hall, towards me.After Alexandra’s wolf reappeared, her hair was back to being crimson and so was her daughter’s. Luther’s hair, however, was still ink-black. It was the only thing he retained from his human genes. But whenever these three were on the edge of their emotions just like what happened in San Antonio before, their hair would all turn crimson along with their eyes.Together, these three could move mountains.Iris was at their middle. I stared at the Luna Queen, she was as stunning as before, but whenever I see her lately, her beauty just transcends everyone around her in another level. I guessed it was the radiance in her eyes. She was happy and it showed. She was shining more than ever.See
‘THE CRAZIEST thing in the world happened, but I cannot tell you about it yet, little sis. Telling you will spoil whatever scheme your moon goddess is cooking up. So, don’t get too disappointed if I will shut up for now. But be assured that Val is okay. He was just shocked and confused. Let him be. This is his first time being in this state. It’s actually fun to watch him rattled,’ Nick assured me. He winked. ‘He will figure it out and he will get over it, trust your big bro.’ ‘When?’ I asked. Nick laughed. ‘In fifteen to twenty years, I guess?’ Nick seemed to be having the best time of his life teasing Valerian. Even now, he was grinning beside Val who just ignored him. He turned to my direction and tenderly smiled. “I’m proud of you,” he mouthed. “I know you will be great.” “Thank you so much,” I replied. Halfway through the red carpet, I glanced at Giovanni who quietly walked with me. Just like my husband, he had come a long way, too. All of us had matured. He had become one
(Alexandra)MY POSITION was the closest to Beatrix. I could have stopped her from killing herself. But when she shook her head and looked at me with weariness in her eyes as if she was begging me not to take another step, I couldn’t move my feet.This was her wish: to be one with the man she loved. As heartbreaking as it was, I had to respect it.“Beatrix!” her parents yelled and sobbed.She confessed it to me while I was still pregnant. Kenji was the second mate given to her by the moon goddess. It was something she didn’t have the courage to tell even to her own parents knowing that they would not be happy about it anyway. It was rare for wolves to be given another mate after the original one dies. In fact, it was so rare that there were no records of it anywhere.Trix could be the first to experience such phenomenon and there could be a reason behind it, reason which Kenji and Trix had an eternity to discover.My knees staggered, but Luther was quick to grab me by the waist. Both o
(Beatrix)I HAD a secret that I could never admit to anyone. A month after the tragedy that killed my best friend, I was able to recover. At that time, I was about to go back to my duty in the pack but on my supposed to be last night at the facility, Kenji paid me a visit.His voice was gentle as he talked to me. He spoke like an old friend of mine. His eyes were affectionate as he called my name. He didn’t talk anything about vampires and wolves. Kenji only talked about the time we dated. And I pretended to be crazy so I could keep seeing him, so I could keep being with him in my own way.And maybe I had really gone crazy. Who would have imagined that I could stay in that facility for seven years all for him? For a chance to hear his voice? But for me, that facility had become our secret place, our hideout.‘I’m the world’s richest man. I have everything that money could buy, Trix, but I would swap them all for a day to be with you again, to feel your kisses one more time, your hugs,
THE WIND grew more violent as each second passed. The birds that were resting on the branches of the trees all squealed and flew away. We were yet to see the hybrids, but we knew they were here. We could feel it as tension sizzled in the air. We could even smell it. Their blood scent was everywhere which meant that we were now surrounded by them.And when Kenji had finally made his appearance, the steel gates flew towards our direction. But we were quick to evade them. There were hundreds of hybrids and they were all wearing red cloaks. I saw the faces of the men who made my mother suffer. And when they sneered at me as if they were remembering the same thing, my blood boiled and my body shook with anger.“The reports are true after all. My best friend and my mentor are indeed in one place and are working together. What a reunion,” Kenji said as he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. In fact, he had a dead look in his eyes as if he was uncertain about tonight’s outcome as well. When
I STOOD up and ran my fingers through my scalp. “When you told me to escape with you back then, I wanted to do just that. It was not just you. I wanted so badly to forget, too, Trix! I would do anything to forget even for a day. I want to escape, too! I want to be with you, too! But I can’t forget their cries. It haunts me all the fucking time.”I kneeled before Trix and when I could no longer stop myself, I held her hands and buried my face in them, relishing the familiar warmth that I could not feel in any other place no matter how hard I searched.Only Beatrix could do this to me. If it was not her, it would not work. She was my sanctuary. The voices were still there, I could still hear them. It seemed like I had been cursed to hear them for as long as I lived. Or maybe my mind was just playing with me, maybe I had gone crazy. My mind was a wretched place to be. And so was my heart.But with Beatrix this close to me, the voices were not as loud as before. It gave me the chance to l
(Kenneth)“HAVE MERCY, your majesty! I am still your father-“The old lying son of a bitch didn’t get to finish his sentence when I swung my sword onto his neck. His head rolled onto the floor along with the rest of the Mages who swore their loyalty to me. It sucks how Valerian was right again. The clan who abandoned me before because I was not as strong as them only came to find me after they heard how I rose to the throne. If I didn’t discover what they were secretly planning to do behind my back, they would have overthrown me and would have tossed me on the streets, poor and powerless.Their plan backfired, though. I killed them before they could even do that to me. Using a spell, I stole all of their magic.They were only after my throne, my position, and my army. To hell with them all! I don’t need them! They could rot in hell and after all this, I will see them there. In hell will be where our next family reunion will take place.After I killed the man who claimed to be my biolo
(Alexandra)“GET up, Alexandra. Shift and run with me.”When I heard Dad’s voice, I wiped my tears away and rose. His eyes were full of compassion as if he could relate to what I was feeling. He gave me a soft smile.“Shall we go?”I nodded. When he shifted, I followed him and shifted as well. Together, we ran in the woods as quickly as we could and howled. It was the farewell ritual that I didn’t get to do for Mom before and Dad was allowing me to finally do it for her now.It was seven years late, but I hope Mom could still hear it… including my apology and gratitude. While we were running, I was taken aback by the huge number of wolves who ran behind us including Luther. They howled along with us until we reached the lake once again.When we all transformed, the women took me someplace else and I just let them. They prepared a white silk dress for me to wear. They assisted me as I wore it. When I