Ruby's POV Kat carried Elena in her arms and the sight was so comical, I wanted to laugh but I refrained. Elena's blood stained Kat's clothes and I could make some out dripping on her shoes. I allowed her to go forward, directing her to a different path but the one we took here will lead us away from Valerian's city not to it. Time was of the essence right now, I wouldn't have her bleeding on my watch. I whipped out my phone and dialed the number I'd been in contact with so frequently the past few weeks, I practically could recite it out loud by heart. "Yeah." He picks up on exactly the third ring as always, just like he loves to make me squirm a bit before he answers. "It's me. Ruby." I reply my voice low, glancing towards Kat. I could never be too cautious with these people, anything little thing and they'll snitch on you faster than you can blink. "I know who it's you. What do you want?" Such a rude ass motherfucker. He never greets, answers the phone with his name, or say
Zayn's POVI hesitated before answering.Duncan was the Alpha of the Tatum pack, taking the role from his now-deceased father.The Tatum pack was a well-known werewolf pack in the eastern part of this region basically due to his predecessor's influence. Back then even as a child, I used to hear stories of the then Alphas taking over cities and towns and their incredible prowess during battles. They established the name of their pack and made it the most feared in this region. No one didn't know of the Tatum pack here.But now I think it's safe to say that his ancestors would be rolling in their graves if they figured out what he's doing with the legacy they left behind. They still have the numbers and that reputation but they have grown complacent in their past victories and made no move to strengthen themselves.However, we still need their numbers to strengthen our victory."There's no reason for you to bother yourself about that." I lifted my glass to my lips, drinking down the fru
Valerian's POVI held her in my arms as we sped quickly towards the house, I wanted to shift and place her on my back but I feared each second I delayed was one she couldn't afford, so I just hurried."Sir! This way!" One of my men yelled, directing me through another unfamiliar route. I wasn't familiar with this route considering how long I've been in this city.It was becoming a familiar occurrence though, that I would always be picking Elena up from onedangerous crisis to the other and it wasn't nice at all.We came out of the area and I hastened to where some cars were packed at the mouth of the trail and went to the closet one, the door opened before I even got there and I placed her in the backseat not giving a fuck if her blood stains the leather. I moved to the passenger seat and ordered the man to step on it.I briefly worried about Sophia and the lady I had confronted earlier but that was quickly wiped up my mind as Elena let out a small loan.I looked back at her and saw h
Elena's POV I lay down on the bed staring at the ceiling for so long, my eyes started to cross. I wasn't sure I had the energy to get out of bed today, I just wanted to close my eyes and shut the world out. I can't believe how my so-called running away went awry so quickly, and what went wrong in the woods last night. Or was it two nights ago? My memory was a bit fuzzy.I turned my head to look at the window, catching a glimpse of the outside view. Judging by how high the sun was overhead, I'm guessing it was late morning or mid-afternoon. I know I should even try to get out of this bed, but I can't just make myself too. I was utterly exhausted. I just wanted a break from everything. The fighting amongst packs, Zayn and Ethan, death threats, the constant trying to kill me and me always ending up here. I closed my eyes for a bit to relax and slow down my thoughts when I hear the door open to let someone in."Hey." Valerian smiles as he comes over to my bedside. "Hey.." I felt
Elena's POV He sits back down on the bed, his weight pressing down on the sheets and he has this expression on his face like he doesn't want to be one to tell me this because he knows I wouldn't like what he had to say. "While you were," he waved a hand at my body. "healing, we found something.""What?""Zayn and Ethan are doubling down on this. They've gone to several packs to form alliances with them so as to get stronger to take over this city." Hpats my hand as I sit there, absorbing his information. "That's not even the worse part, Elena, but what they're doing to some packs that won't side with them, it's horrible." His voice breaks and I move to hug him. "So what are you going to do about it?*"What we always do. We're going to fight back the Red Sun Hill city never backs down from a confrontation.""I-" I start an idea popping into my mouth. "Don't." He stops me by placing a hand over my lips. "I know what you're going to say, and don't even think about it." I giggled. "I
Elena's POV I walked around the mess of the area, talking to people and handing out some relief items I had in my possession.There was a small gathering of women at the far end and I hesitantly approached, not sure they might want me to come in their midst.But I was welcomed, I guessed after all I had done to help out today, they felt more comfortable around me now."Hi." I waved to everyone around, kneeling down so I could sit monk-style with them in their little circle.They included me in their conversation and we all laughed together and talked about stuff.It was mostly inane stuff I found that they were discussing to get their minds away from the recent disaster."I mean you should have seen him, his face was horrible," Annet said."If that's horrible, you should see my grandma's face." Janet quipped the young lady whose family is still missing.Peals of laughter erupted from our little group causing people to look over at us.Honestly, I can't remember the last time I was sm
Zayn's POV I was relaxing on the veranda, letting the warm morning breeze dance with my hair.My eyes were closed and I brought my left hand holding the cigarette up and brought it to my lips.I took a deep drag on the stub and sucked it into my chest, following that with a deep inhale before I exhaled out roughing, puffs of air forming around my face.Huhmmmm…. so soothing.Cigarettes don't really do anything to shifters, seeing as we burn the nicotine so fast before it gets to our lungs, blotting out any chance of getting high.But I do like the repetitive action, somehow I find it soothing.I have been meaning to stop for a while now, but it is a terribly bad habit to break.I let out another puff of air, inhaling the sweet smell of the cigarette when my ears prickled, hearing footsteps coming this way.I sighed, my calmness fading instantly and annoyance fast taking its place.I gave explicit orders to not be disturbed for some hours, were they deaf?I wanted to luxuriate in the
Zayn's POV "MY decisions are in the best interests of our city!" I roar at them, losing my cool. Maxine stood up to stare at me eye ball to eye ball. "You and I both know that they are not. You're just doing this so you can get your mate back, who you lost." He sneered at me.I want to punch that stupid smug expression on his face away, and my hands itched from resisting the urge to do this. "If I were you, I'd be careful with what I say next," I said, my tone deathly calm.I was seconds away from snapping his filthy neck from the rest of his body."Or what? You're going to kill me, just like you did whoever stands in your way?" He threatens me.And that's it I didn't know when I'd left my seat and was about to wrap my hands around his fragile throat. But then Old Man Kruger came between us, stopping us from effectively finishing each other off."ENOUGH!" He bellowed, his old wrinkled face twisting with annoyance I stared at Maxine with hate shooting from my eyes, my whole body t
Ethan's POV I jerked awake out of the darkness with a deep gasp, clutching my heart which felt like it was going to jump right out of my chest.I felt my chest knit itself back slowly in my chest, and I felt the faint sharp cut still worrying me."What do you remember? Can you hear me?" Someone asked, leaning and blocking the light, which upset me. And of the three men, one guy came close being brave to check on me.I remember his cute, innocent eyes peering at me...I loved when those same eyes were bleeding with fear.I tried to raise my other hand only for the hand to stubbornly refuse my command, the other hand however have graduated enough to learn movement.Before even the next morning, I had already learned about the major languages in the country and can strangely pronounce them.My body and joints felt very awkward like they weren't mine and it took some getting used to.I moved forward, my muscles grinding against my bone, creating a very unpleasant experience.I wanted to s
Valerian's POV Ethan was so caught up in what he was doing that he didn't hear me coming in time and only turned back at the last minute.I rushed towards his knees, tackling him to the floor.I raised my fists and brought them down on his nose, breaking it with a sick crack.I lunged again but he dodged, rolling to the side and I lost my balance."Why. Won't. You. Fucking. Die?" He banged my head against the floor harder with each word he uttered as he tightened his hand on my head.I reach out to hit him but He rolls and leaps to his feet kicking me in my stomach. I curl into a ball as fresh pain blooms in my stomach as the kick reopened the wound. He didn't care, kicking me harder, so much so the force made me fly backward hitting the window and shattering the glass to pieces.I was so badly hurt that I didn't move after I slumped to the floor, just moaning in pain."Fucking pathetic prick." He spat, stumbling to his feet, and walked drunkenly towards Elena. She scrambled back,
Valerian's POV My heart was in my throat as we sped back to the city, all the while inside my mind I was beating myself up for not seeing everything they had planned out sooner.I should have known it was all a setup.I've heard stories about how sick those men were and I can only imagine the twisted and depraved things they were doing to my pack mates, people who right now were looking up to me for help….and I let them down."You'll drive yourself crazy if you don't stop." Jared came to stand beside me where I was fidgeting. I couldn't keep calm, eager to get back home and fight."I can't stop!" I hissed, whirling around to turn furious eyes at him. "It's all my fault that this is happening. I was in such a hurry to get to Elena, I rushed in blindly avoiding a lot of blinking red flags.""Blaming yourself won't help our people, pulling yourself together will."Due to my whole display in the woods, everyone kept away from me giving me a wide berth.I didn't like messy killings prefer
Somewhere on the outskirts of Red Sun Hill CityZayn's POV The soft rays of the early morning sun were filtering through the clouds and I moved around impatiently, waiting for the signal.We were all gathered here since yesterday, camping in their backyard. It was quite hard to conceal this large number of people from the city's radar but our people on the inside helped with that, diverting any attention away from us."What's the status?"I spoke into the earpiece I'd wired into my ear for easy communication, while one eye was on my mate. She was by Ethan's side, her head swept to the side to display her collar which was a symbol of our ownership. "It's a go, sir." A voice squeaked over the earpiece, quite difficult to hear but I easily got the message since it was what I'd been waiting to hear all day.Immediately I signaled to the Alpha for them to kick into action, then called Trent to the side.He jogged over to meet me, decked in his battle gear with several daggers and a knife
Valerian's POV "Hey," Jared calls out and I turned from where I was on the balcony to stare at him, watching his long legs eat up the space before he crossed over to where I was."Heard anything from her yet?" It had taken him a few hours but he healed from the wound, and after being placed on mandatory bed rest he was back to his normal jovial self.The search was still out for Ruby but I doubt we would catch her, I had a feeling she was long gone.I turn back, looking down at the activities taking place below.I was at the Court for some meetings- which seems never ending recently - and also because I needed to think. Being clouded by Elena's things and her scent in the house wasn't helping me think clearly.I had needed to come to a fast decision on what to do, either to forget about Elena and try to move on with my life or to fight like hell for her.I was quite torn about it for a while, the natural instincts as Alpha to protect my pack weighing heavily against my selfish desir
Ethan's POV"I've been thinking," Zayn announced out of the blue, gesturing for us to take a walk down the line of trees by the cabin away from prying eyes. "About what?” I ask, watching two birds tweeting at each other.“Elena.” The sound of her name was like a blaring alarm which caused me to look up at Zayn.“What happened to her?” I think back to the unconscious woman lying on the floor a few feet away from where we stood.“I want us to perform the mating ceremony today.” He informs me, not looking anywhere near me.“That’s sudden,” I turned to look at him. “what caused the change?” “If she’s mated with us, she would truly become one with us in every aspect physically and up here” he tapped the side of his head looking fierce. “she won't be able to hide anything.""You're not giving her the choice?"We might have not been the most loving of mates but there are some lines I do consider extreme, we are mates but performing the mating ceremony has to be the choice of both people i
Ethan's POV I watched Zayn down drink after drink of alcohol, trying to blot out whatever he was feeling.When he first found out, he yelled, raged, and raked for the longest time until I thought he wouldn't stop.I totally understood why she would do that, she was a simple creature that just wanted love and to be loved, unfortunately, she got saddled with the wrong people but what made Zayn so angry was that she was going to take our child away from him.I opened the door quietly and looked at where Elena lay unconscious on the floor with the mark on her thigh.Zayn had rubbed wolfsbane into the wound to ensure that it didn't heal properly, even if it did heal, it would ensure that his name would forever be branded on her thigh.I had initially wanted to stop him thinking that that would be too much and it would definitely make her hate him all the more, but then I understood that he was hurt and he needed to lash out, in whatever form.After he stomped out still angry, his marks on
Elena's POV I was rudely awakened when someone dragged me out of bed in the morning by thrusting the covers back, letting the chill of the morning air kiss my skin, and winding their hand around my arm, pushing me out. I blinked my eyes several times to clear the grogginess and focus on the brick of a man dragging me away, my night dress flapping around my feet. I whimpered when my bare foot stubbed on a table, effectively clearing the sleepiness from my eyes and the man turned to look at me and I realized it was Zayn. I sagged in his hold with relief and looked up at his face. "Za-yn slow down!" I shrieked when he increased his pace. He rounded the corner, his long legs eating up the floor and I hurried behind him walking twice as fast to keep up. He almost ran down the stairs, still dragging me without paying any attention to me or even stopping. If I thought my words were going to convince him to let up, boy was I wrong, because if anything he started to walk faster. "Zay-n! P
Valerian's POV "Someone get me, Jared!" I yelled to the entire room not speaking to anyone in particular, raking my hand through my hair in agitation. I've been trying to get across to him but to no avail. We were supposed to meet up this morning but he wasn't picking up at all and after a while, the calls were going to voicemail. I was getting worried, it was not like him to dismiss an important meeting without cause. "Sir." Someone called my attention to the front and I turned in that direction, meeting one of the younger shifter's earnest gaze. "I've tracked his phone as you suggested, its location is still pinging that it's at his house. 'So why wasn't he picking up the phone?" I mutter to myself. Then I picked up my keys and dashed out of the room like my tail was on fire. The beta assigned to drive me today saw me rushing out of the building and standing up in a hurry, to jump into the vehicle but I paid him no heed, rounding to the driver's side and I sped off without lo