KAYLA.“Lucien” I was used to calling to his name and he was used to shutting me down. “Kayla, no!” He muttered but it was a tad bit late to convince me otherwise. I’d seen the way his pupils dilated when I asked that question and his initial silence told me all I needed to know.“Listen to me, you’re being irrational now” He turned around, storming down the hill but I trailed right after. “Lucien, you can’t challenge him for Alpha—““I’m not!” He yelled back at him, forcing me to halt in my tracks. “I’m not. Just fucking let it go, no one must hear it from you. Do you hear me?” His eyes went cold, sending a shiver up my spine as I heaved in a deep breath. I really thought running was something I could do everyday with him but today was so unlike the previous. And now, I wasn’t so sure that he’d changed after all.Maybe it was just a layer that facaded his true self and his truest intentions. “Just—“ His voice calmed after realizing how loud he’d yelled at me and his shoulders flatte
KAYLA. I sat by my windowsill in the darkest hour of the night when all of a sudden I heard a knock upon my door. The frantic thud was loud enough to pull me out of the million thoughts that raced through my head. And when I turned around, my eyes met the ever compelling ones of Lucien. “What are you doing here?” I softly asked, without really fighting his presence this one thing. He was hesitant with his words, only clearing his throat as he closed the door behind him. I got up from the chair and we both walked to the opposite edges of the bed.“Knew there would be running tomorrow after everything that happened, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay” Lucien stuttered, sticking his hands into his back pocket and I raised my eyes to look back at him. “It’s hard I know, seeing your father that way. Even with everything, it doesn’t mean it will hurt less” He comforted and it struck my mind that damned be the day that Lucien Cordero was the one to comfort me.“Ridiculous” I crossed my
LUCIEN.There was something about Kayla’s lips that drew me towards her, never willing to let go. She wrapped her arms around my neck and my hands stuck up her dress.I was breathless between her lips, overcome with the most feral urges as I pushed her against the wall. I ripped her dress over her head and when I pulled away, her arms fell right beside her. She had an earnest gaze in her eyes and her chest rose and fell.Kayla” I growled with my wolf purring at the surface and she bit into her lips. This was a side to her I’d never quite seen but repercussions was never a thing I worried about. “We shouldn’t be doing this” There was a smirk across my lips and her hands pushed into my chest. I fastened it tighter with mine and we walked across the room. “But Rafael—“ I muttered.“Rafael doesn’t care, why should I?” She snapped back at me and I knew that was the only and last time I’d mention him that night. “Tonight, I don’t belong to anyone but you” Her lacy whisper sent a shiver u
LUCIEN. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO YEARS AGO.“I have something for you” Her ever-gleaming eyes lit up as she brought out a syringe from her pockets. My gaze fell to what Juliet was holding in her hands and I arched my brows. “Is that?”“Visane” She scooted closer to me with a shrill chuckle and I couldn’t even pretend to be taken aback. Juliet was spontaneous and there was seldom anything that she could do that would truly surprise me. It was the first of many things that I was drawn to.“Yes!” She squealed. “Except it’s actually mixed with phutesenol and a spell—“ “A spell?” My eyes widened. “You always wished for a way that we could spend our whole lives together and Lucien, this is finally it” The smile across her lips dropped and there was so much emotion in her eyes that I was compelled to say yes.“Being immoral scares me” I muttered, darting my eyes to the needle but Juliet wavered it off with a scoff. “Except you’re just not immortal, you’re immoral with me” She locked our li
LUCIEN.ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO YEARS AGO.“You don’t know what you’re doing” I dragged Rafael behind the door and pinned him to the wall. “You see what she did to the both of us, we don’t know for sure what else she’s capable of!” I growled.“What more do you want from me brother?” He asked. “Leave her!” I raised my voice and he pushed me off him. “Stay away from Juliet. She’s danger, she’s evil and she would destroy you” Rafael still tethered close even after what had happened because of how much he was compelled to believe she loved him. Which made it even harder for him to see where I was coming from. Juliet was not only a cheater, she was a traitor who was marked by several clans as an insider, a spy. She was even believed to have started this great war herself but yet, Rafael couldn’t see past her blue eyes, and dainty curls, her sweet, soft voice and her ever glowing skin.“You’re only jealous!” He couldn’t see past that. “Jealous?” I echoed in disbelief and he shoved me w
KAYLA.It usually started off like this. Clouded vision, aching joints as I staggered to my feet. The sharp scent of forest air piercing through my lungs and the utter disorientation that stemmed from the realization of being lost. All my nightmares started this way, after so long of not having them, alas they were back to haunt me. The tall shrieking trees rose up four times my height, beating against the winds with its wavering leaves and I looked around from the corner of my eyes before taking the next few steps. I knew what was coming, either Rafael would tumble out of nowhere or it would be the other strange wolf. However, both were usually followed by a shake in the grounds like an earthquake. So I knew what to expect, haven being here a couple times but something pricked my conscience that the rug was to be pulled from my right beneath my feet.And the forest always had its surprises. And like I guessed, startling me the next second was a crow which appeared out of nowhere
KAYLA.Ever since the attack, a majority of the Blood Moon pack were in confinement. Rafael even went as far as to lock up both April and Sebastien in a cell under close monitoring ever since Rose. For about a day, Veronica was in there as well but since she came out, she has been barely seen around the pack.It was almost a blessing but on second thought, it made me even more scared that now especially she knew about Rafael’s baby, she was hiding and plotting something more ruthless. The thought that she’d always known crossed my mind too, and that she was the one who poisoned me.Or maybe it was April, my own sister turned enemy.Or both.I paced right in front of the cottage room, realizing there was only one way to find out. Behind the door was Christina and she was the only one who still had a sense of freedom besides myself. I could only imagine what she was going through after what happened with Ross and now dad.However, I still knocked after contemplating for a few seconds, I
KAYLA. There was a glint that sparked in Christina’s eyes and a lone tear which escaped and she began to shake her head. “I’m so sorry” She muttered and a furrow came between her eyes. “For the nth time, you didn’t do anything wrong” I answered but she withdrew from my hands.“Actually,” A lump formed in the back of her throat. “I did” And her words caught me by surprise. “Kayla, I might have been the reason you lost the baby” Even moreso now that I batted my lashes.“What?” I immediately blurted out. “I know you told me not to tell anyone but then April, she was eavesdropping one day and she heard you and I when we were talking about the child and she forced me to tell her. She tricked me and convinced me that I could trust her and she was my sister, I thought I could” Christina went on and on, wailing while my heart started to race.I pushed a hard lump down my throat, clutching my chest.“It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry and I don’t deserve your kindness. Nobody should have to go
KAYLA.SIX MONTHS LATER. The sweet scent of the morning tickled up my nostrils as I opened my eyes slowly. His arms that wrapped around my waist clinched me closer to him into a tight cuddle and Rafael decorated the lines of neck with soft, delicate kisses. His heated breathes nourished my skin and I chuckled.He was used to that, kissing the part of my neck he’d marked a few months ago. He didn’t miss that each morning and now, it served as the best erogenous zone in my body.“Good morning beautiful” He whispered, biting the tender lobes of my ears while slipping his hands through my nightwear and I clinched my head to him, a soft chuckle escaping my lips. And it took everything within to withdraw my whole body from him.“Come on, Rafael” My eyes fell to the clock before they widened. “We can’t” I shook my head and he pouted his lips. “Shit we can’t be late to our own wedding” Both of us chuckled and before I grasped the silky nightwear, I leaned into him.His hands framed the corn
KAYLA.My heart jackhammered inside of my chest as I arose, standing still for a moment. The wind was in the trees and even though the moon was out, the trees shielded me from it, leaving me in utter darkness. Immediately I opened my eyes, it was as though I was in the nightmare which had taunted me for months.Only it was no longer a nightmare. “It’s real,” I muttered to myself. “This is real.”The whistling clusters of the leaves overshadowed my voice as I took the first step forward, throwing my head over my shoulders. I could almost sense her, Veronica like she was close and my body tensed. Immediately I heard a thud from a distance, I picked up my pace.It all happened so fast, the dash and myself speeding into the forest. My hair danced across my shoulders as I took to my heels, straddling along a dark path. The only path. When all of a sudden the earth began to quake like it all was about to fall apart in the next second. I closed my eyes, whimpering beneath my breath but I d
KAYLA. There was some red between dark clouds and a pungent scent of smoke that filled the air. My hands rested against my chest and I could feel it pounding, as it'd done all through the day. But finally the time was nigh.It was now.As everyone chanted for the two brothers to walk through those doors and into the fields, it dawned on me that everything had led up to this very moment. My hands grasped the amulet and I heaved a deep breath."Are you okay?" I didn't even have to look to recognize Brenda's voice. My eyes remained fixated to the fields, hoping for one of them to come and maybe say they changed their mind or that there wasn't any battle.A million possibilities filled my head but might I add, unlikely possibilities.Something that Gerald had said stuck with me in moments like these, about how deep rootedly, being a Lycan was being a beast. And I didn't have to understand every little thing but if this was the prophecy, how long would we spend trying to avoid it.My bigge
It wasn’t until hours had passed that the doors opened to Rafael and by that time, I was sitting by the edge of the bed, already waiting for him. “Rafael” I called his name and the moment his eyes locked into mine, the silence that fell between us was almost deafening but his eyes—those stormy grey eyes which was so full with emotion spoke a thousand words.“Rafael, I’m sorry” I whispered.“My brother?” Was all he said and I couldn’t have felt more worse in that moment. “It just happened—“ I stopped myself, cowering my head knowing full well that there simply was no excuse. Not the fact we weren’t speaking or that he was away and Lucien was there for me in such a tough and complicated time.Not that.Because then it would make it seem as though I just used Lucien selfishly for myself. But it wasn’t the case, the case it was however didn’t slip out of my lips even as it fell wide open. And so we both just stood there with tears brimming at surface of our eyes and I whispered for the
KAYLA. I saw Lucien from a distance and my heart dropped into my chest.I took a step forward and then came to a halt because of how afraid I was to face him after everything but I knew I had to do this—I knew this was one my chance to tell him the truth. “Lucien” Even before his name escaped my lips, he turned around and there was a slight exhaustion that washed across his face. “What do you want?” He rolled his eyes to the back of his head.“I want to talk to you.”“Well I don’t want to talk to you” He tried brushing past my shoulders but I instinctively held him back. He stopped in his tracks, slightly taken aback by my words.“Well I want to talk to you!” I yelled. “Lucien you can’t go through with the fight” I muttered, only when he met my eyes and then he turned around. “I’m serious!” I made my way around him as well, halting in front of him.“Do you know what will happen? I’ve figured out the prophecy after so long and that is one of you must kill the other for the crown and
RAFAEL.My hands clinched around the railings of the balcony as I looked over the castle gates. The winds that gushed into my face was fresh but cold. By this time every other year, winter would come and there would have been so much snow that it would hard to see any ground surface.But alas, that was the one of the many things that had changed around here. Heaving a deep breath, I had come to accept that Black Mountain isn’t what it used to be and this year would be our first time without a Mountain Ball. It should have been today but with everything that had happened, it wasn’t really feasible.Not that the decision was up to me since I was one leg in and another out with the whole Alpha title. There were still so many questions but there was no way we could have the ball knowing Veronica was out there.She had already hurt one of us which means she was still waiting somewhere, for perhaps the right time to strike. And it was so difficult knowing some part of me was to blame for th
GERALD.I staggered out of bed that fateful day, taking a moment to heave a deep breath. Fateful, it sounded like a bespoke understatement. Today was a gruesome reminder of the accident that took Lydia’s life. Or as some people would call it—an anniversary.It had been nine years now, but somedays it feels like it was yesterday. It feels like I’d only started grieving and the hurt would hit more on those days. I could never see it as an anniversary because whilst everyone else was preparing for Christmas or the Mountain Ball, I was reminded of my need to mourn.But this year, it was different. It was also worse. “Can you do it?” Rafael stood at the door as I tried to stand amidst the bandage across my healing chest. He helped me up but asked again. “Are you sure you can oversee the execution?” He added.And her face was all I saw behind my eyes—April. It was today, her execution was today. I knew Rafael didn’t remember what today was and honestly I’d like to keep it that way. I could
KAYLA.In the dead of the night, I jerked from my bed, sweaty and gasping for breath. My vision was clouded and my entire premise, disoriented—I had just awoken from yet another nightmare.Reaching to my nightstand, I grasped the necklace in my hands before clicking it around my neck. Of course I knew that without wearing it, I’d once again be whisked the bad dream. I didn’t forget it, it was intentional.It’s what happens when you’re backed against the wall.I was between trying to feel something other these overwhelming emotions that stemmed from Lucien and trying to find out more so I’d be able to prevent it if it truly was the future. But neither had worked, not only was there not a new development but waking up, I felt just as miserable with everything that happened clinging to my memory like a troubled past. I knew it would take more than just sleeping it off but I’d give anything to feel a little better.By the next second, my face was palmed in my hands and though it was just
KAYLA.“What exactly happened out there?” Pushing through the doors, the first person my eyes landed on was Gerald and he was laying almost unconscious across the clinic bed. Rafael was right beside him, a finger stroking his jaw and it didn’t take me a second to notice the tense air. “Oh my God what happened to him?”“He was shot” Christina found her way next to me before folding her arms. She was trying to hide her nervousness but her glassy eyes gave her away. “Shot?” I echoed in shock.“Has the search party been called off?” Rafael asked and it was Sebastien who stepped forward this time. “Everyone is back and the doors are closed per your order” He took a bow and this was usually Gerald’s line but seeing him across the bed, he was barely conscious.“Rafael what happened?” I urged and he pushed a hard lump down his throat. “It’s Veronica—Gerald thinks he saw her in a flash by of a second he was shot. “She was the one who pulled the trigger so that doesn’t just mean that she kne