Present time, 2022“Kenji! Magnus! You two-faced monsters! Come out from wherever the hell you are and face me!” I yelled while gripping the steel bars. I kept screaming, it didn’t matter if there were other prisoners inside. I needed to talk to Magnus and Kenji. Desperately.They tricked me. How could they do this to me?“Be quiet-“When I turned to the prisoner who tried to shut me up, his voice quivered and he took a step back. Why wouldn’t he? In this town, I was known as the worst criminal of all. I was the sinner who cannot be pardoned that other criminals would shrink away from the sight of me.I got rid of my own humanity and sold my very soul to Kenji. I became their loyal servant and killed numerous people, wolves even, to get them the blood they needed in order to become hybrids. I could not be late in delivering the blood bags because Magnus, Kenji’s righthand man, would tell me that his master’s powers would weaken and it would affect Therese.And I couldn’t allow that to
LUTHER held my hands and begged, “Stop using these hands to kill people and surrender now, Pa.”When I closed my eyes, I saw him trying to wipe my tears away. He kneeled beside me and with a haunted look on his face, he whispered, “Pa… why do you love seeing me suffer? Don’t be like this. Stop killing me. My heart is not as strong as yours. I’ve barely recovered. Please don’t kill me again. If you do that, I don’t think I could survive again. Do me a favor. Just this one thing. If I’m going to die, at least let me die by the enemy’s hands. Not by my father’s. That would be too much of a tragedy, don’t you think?”My shoulders shook when I wept for the countless time today. When I was younger, I didn’t know why a father would treat his son the way he treated me. I made a vow to be different once I become a father myself. But I was no different. I had hurt my own flesh and blood. I trampled on Luther’s heart so many times before and even attempted to kill him.I didn’t even get to teach
AS IF ON cue, I heard Suzanna’s voice.“Sir Luther, Sir Magnus has arrived.”Not long after and I saw Uncle Magnus rushing to Kenji’s direction.“I heard what happened. I’m sorry, Luther. You know I trust you. But I can’t let my son stay in this place as he recuperates. He’s the only family I have. I need to take him to the hospital to make sure that he’s okay.”Uncle Magnus didn’t give Kenji the chance to decline. He guided his son along with his bodyguard. Kenji just sighed and waved at me before leaving. And then he mouthed, “Sorry about this, buddy. I will give you a call later.”I nodded. “Please do. Get well soon, brother.”Their limousine was gone before we knew it. It was as if they were all in a hurry to leave. I turned to my team. “How did Uncle Magnus know what happened? Who informed him?”All of them shook their heads. And I believed them. None of these men would act alone. They would normally wait for my order. I didn’t see Kenji use his phone either. It was impossible fo
(Suzanna)“LUTHER is surrounded by many good people. That even if something were to happen to me one day, I am not worried at all. I know you will be there for him. May it be as Suzanna, the chef, or something more. You’ve stayed silent for so long. And I have nothing against that. There is peace in silence. But I believe there is bravery in standing your ground and speaking up.“There is hope, too, that the moment we end our silence, it could be the stepping stone for things to get better. I believe in you, Suzanna, the way you believe in Luther that’s why you stayed with him this long. I hope when the right time comes, you will make the right choice.”I almost cut my finger when I heard Alexandra utter those words. I put down the carrot and the knife on the table before I looked at her, wide-eyed.“What are you saying, ma’am Alexandra? I don’t understand. By chance, is this a prank?” I pretended to look around even if I didn’t feel any presence near the kitchen aside from hers.Alex
IN AN instant, all of them had vanished and had been transported to the place where the sword was located, to the place where another betrayal was waiting for Luther and his team.I knew this would hurt him again. The wounds in his heart had not healed yet and by the end of the night, he was going to have more of them. But I could not stop it. I could not interfere any further than this. This was his battle and his destiny.But just like the first crimson wolf, I refused to worry and chose to still believe. Because before Luther left, I saw another vision. It was his wolf. It was surrounded by a huge flame as red as its fur. But it was not burning. It was like he was acquiring its strength from the fire itself.And I saw the wolf stirred… which meant that it was about to wake up anytime soon.(Luther)THINGS happened so fast. The wind had gotten so strong that we were forced to close our eyes. When we opened them after the wind had stopped acting up, we were already in another place,
I unconsciously dropped the gun I was holding. My knees weakened that I had to lean on the rock formation inside. This can’t be real. Kenji and I grew up together. We even played video games together when we were teens. We hang out together, went to bars when we were still in our rebellion phase, and then we changed together.We always did things together. From planning the headquarters, dreaming of freedom, to executing that plan. There had to be a hidden camera somewhere in this place. Kenji must be cooking up another prank and just dragged poor Uncle Magnus in this.Uncle even went to our house to offer his prayers for my family a bunch of times and made us recite bible verses, for heaven’s sake. How could someone like that be a Vampire?“Kenji, what’s the meaning of all this? What are you doing there? This is a joke, right? You must have wanted to get the sword to surprise the team so we wouldn’t have to exhaust ourselves in trying to get it. And you succeeded. I’m proud of you, b
“SIR LUTHER? Can you recognize me?” I heard Isaac whisper.He looked intimidated at first, but he shook his head as if he was bracing his self. He didn’t step back along with the wounded members. Instead, they closed the gap between us and held out their hands.I was about to accept their hands when I saw how my hands had become. I stepped back, unsure what to do, and found myself howling.‘Hush, darling. You are okay. I’m with you. Focus on my voice alone.’When I heard Alexandra’s voice inside my head, I closed my eyes and laid onto the ground while hearing her sing a lullaby for me. It was the same lullaby I sang for her when I carried her on my back.I winced when I felt my body jerking and breaking once again. But the pain was tolerable because this time, there was no fire anymore. Alexandra’s voice was like a refreshing water calming my soul. It sounded soft and sweet. It was like she was singing to placate my heart as if she understood my pain.When the lullaby ended and her vo
MASON walked away while putting his earphones on as if he didn’t want to hear the sound from the gun.“That asshole! If only I didn’t need money, I wouldn’t have worked for him,” the guard uttered. The rest of the guards followed him out. Only two guards were left to monitor me.When Mason closed the door, the guard in front of me still looked extremely pissed. But his expression changed upon seeing a glimpse of my breasts. “You are going to die soon. It will be a complete waste if we were to throw your body right away. Why don’t I play with you for a while?” He laughed. “At least while you’re still soft and warm. What can you say, lady beast?”“Quit it, Rico! Sir Mason would kill you if he finds out what you’re planning to do.”“No one would find out if you wouldn’t run that big mouth of yours, Arki.” Rico winked at the other guard. “Besides, if you’re envious, we can share. You know me. I love sharing good stuff.”When the guy called Arki eyed me with lust, I did my best not to show
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