My heart raced, pounding hard against my chest as I scooted closer to Alexander. The sound of marching feet receding deeper into the forest filled the entire area, signalling our arrival. We were finally here. "We do not engage until they've seen us," Alexander said quietly, his eyes glancing between Galiath and Damien. "We want to use our stealth to the best of our advantage." His eyes shifted to mine. "Understood?" "Yeah," I said with a nervous nod as I took in a shaky breath. "We don't engage until they've seen us. Got it." Alexander nodded before returning his eyes to the direction the rogues were headed. He lifted his right hand in the air and pointed in the direction of the rogues before moving out of the cover of the underbrush. Galiath and Damien followed suit and I continued on behind them. Our figured blended well into the shadows and I was glad for once that the forest was shrouded in near darkness. We moved from bush to bush, our steps silent and calculated as we foll
Alexander lifted his sword in the air and brought it down with so much fury, cutting the rogue in front of him clean in half. I gagged, nearly throwing up as I watched the top half of the body slip down from the second before landing on the ground. "That's the last one," Alexander said with a heightened breath as he walked over to the dead rogues body. "Take off the uniforms from the ones that don't look bad." I looked around, my hands still cupping my mouth as I searched for a clean rogues body to plunder. There was about nine of them and more than four could not even be recognized anymore. Their uniforms wouldn't be of much good to me if I was to take from them. My eyes landed on a rogues body big to far from the rest and I hurried towards it. Its hand had been cut off and it's neck had been slit. Left for the bloodstains on their armor, they looked more decent than the others. I immediately began taking off the armor, careful not to allow more bloodstains on me. I wasn't sure I
Alexander gave us one last glance before turning to the front. He lifted his hands in the air and dropped them down and soon, we began marching towards the rogues camp. I held tight my staff and clutched close to my side my shield as I made sure to stay not too far from Alexander. The aura around us slowly began to change as we continued on, a new type of silence falling upon us, enveloping the very first itself. The trees around us seemed to tighten around us and with each step that I took, I felt the need to turn back more. My hands reached for the gemstone on my neck as my breathing slowly began to heighten. I could feel the magical energy from it envelope me but still, just like before, it didn't provide the comfort that I needed. "Go low," Alexander suddenly said and we immediately crouched behind a small underbrush. I was wondering why he had asked us to stop when the sound of footsteps suddenly reached my ears. There
The dimly lit hallway seemed to stretch endlessly before us, the flickering flames on the torches hung on the walls dancing in the cool evening breeze. The torches provided little light for us and we had to rely on our wolf vision to maneuver our way through the large corridor.Alexander searched every room that we passed by, his hands clutching tightly his sword everytime a door was open. None of the rooms we searched provided much for us as they were mostly empty, and soon, we began doubting the info the spy had given us. I held onto my bobbing helmet as Alexander opened the last door in the hallway. Our eyes scanned the room but just like the others, it was completely empty. Alexander muttered a cuss word under his breath before closing the door behind him. "Zora isn't here," he whispered with a low growl as he turned back down the hallway, heading towards the front door. "Our Intel must have either lied to us, or they've
"What the hell?" I muttered, my eyes widening in disbelief and my voice etched with surprise. I slowly walked up to Alexander as I strapped my staff to my back. "How... how did you do that?" Alexander didn't respond right away, instead, he took a step closer to the rippling tapestry, half of his body disappearing entirely into the wall behind it. "It's a veil," he said with a low voice as he took a step back from the wall. "It's illusion magic. There's something behind it." Before I could react to his words, Alexander gripped the tapestry by its sides and yanked it down. A cloud of dust rose and filled the room, causing me to cough violently. When the dust had finally disippated, I found before me a narrow passageway leading into darkness. My heart raced as I took in the sight and a mix of fear and shock swirled within me. "The wizard that I was watching walked towards this door," Alexander said as he glanced over his shoul
The cold, damp air settled on my skin, causing my clothes to stick uncomfortably to my body. My armor and helmet were gone and in their place we're clothes that looked like rags. I groaned softly as I blinked in confusion. I looked up and scanned my surrounding-my new surrounding. The passageway was gone, it's darkness now replaced by a vast dust-filled chamber packed with chains and monstrous statues. Flickering torches on stone walls lit parts of the room dimly, leaving the rest in darkness.I grunted in pain as I looked down at my hands again. The chain wrapped around them hissed as they dug into my skin. My skin sizzled where it came in contact with the chain and I knew at once that they were made from silver. Beside me, Alexander groaned as he struggled against his bonds. The sound of the metal scraping against the ground echoed faintly through the chamber as Alexander tugged and pulled his chains. The more he struggled, the deeper the chain sunk into his flesh, causing streams
"CHANT LOUDER, DAMN IT!!!" Zora screamed as she grabbed the last chain holding her back and began tugging at it. She stretched her free hand out of the portal, grasping the air as if seeking support. "I can feel the air!!" she yelled as she continued to pull the chain. "Just let me free so that I can--" Zora's words were immediately cut short as something suddenly grabbed the hand that she had extended out of the portal and pulled it back in. I shifted my gaze back into the portal to see the broken chains suddenly rising in the air. "What the hell?" Zora muttered through labored breaths as she looked down at her newly restrained hands and found a chain wrapped around it. "No, no, no," she mumbled as she yanked at the chain. It broke momentarily, only for it to reform and wrap around her arms again, this time tighter. Zora, immediately noticing that something was wrong, instantly began scanning the room. Her gaze landed on me and the frown on her face deepened. Suddenly, she stretch
Zora stared at Alexander, disbelief and shock evident in her eyes. She held her bleeding belly as she fell down to her knees. Blood spewed out of her mouth, falling to the molten rock beneath her with a soft hiss. Alexander's eyes remained on the witch as she began groaning in pain, clutching her belly tightly. He made to walk towards the portal but then fell to his knees with a painful grunt, his sword clattering as it fell to the ground. "Alex..." I muttered as I quickly rushed to his side, wrapping my arms around his waist as I tried lifting him up. He placed his right foot on the ground but then groaned in pain the moment he tried standing up. My gaze traveled to the foot and I saw that he had a deep gash by the side, reaching up to his thigh.Where the hell did Zora take him to?"You'll be alright," I whispered in his ear as I began pulling him away from the portal. He reached for his sword but I quickly grabbed it and threw it to the side. "You're done fighting for now," I sai
CAYDENI gave them a puzzled look as the all stares at me. "What?" I asked. "How do you expect me to lure him out? The guy hates my guts. He's basically starting this whole war simply to ruin me.""That's exactly the reason why you are the best person to lure him out," Marcy replied. "He seems to be holding a deep and terrible grudge for you. All you have to do is tug on that grudge.""What?" I asked, confused. "I don't understand.""I'll be straightforward with it then," she said. "We can't win against that guy when his brain and mind are functioning properly. He is incredibly smart, cunning and overly cautious. He might make a mistake in battle but not one that we can exploit. He might also have a vast army by now considering all of the deaths he's caused. He's even had time to turn them into his minions. There's no telling the amount of abominations he can unleash on us.""I still don't understand what any of that has to do with me and how it helps me anger him," I replied, lookin
CAYDENI stared at Marcy, at her beautiful eyes as they stare back at me."You're right," I nodded. "He must going around and talking to anyone he believes would be strong enough to be a threat to him.""He won't be simply convincing them either," Rafael added. "He threated me with death when I refused. I believe the others would be getting the same offer I got, both the good and bad aspects of it. He gave up on killing me for reasons I wouldn't disclose but I don't think the others will get that luxury."We pondered it for a bit and Marcy started to speak."What do yo-""Switch," Raphael suddenly said, looking beside him. It took me a while to figure out that he was talking to one of the women he was sleeping with. "Oh, and pass the gag as well. I'm still having a meeting.""Oh, so you remember you are in a meeting," I hissed. "Couldn't you do this at a more convenient time?""You know me, Cayden," Rafael smiled. "I'm actually showing a bit of decorum here. At least give me some cred
MARCYFor goddess' sake, these two would never stop bickering. I couldn't help but sigh at Cayden's blatant response to her name, obviously angering Beatrice who stared back at him with resolute indignation."And I couldn't be bothered that this bastard is an Alpha," she retorted."Okay, that's it," I said. "Beatrice, you would have to excuse us for this conversation.""The Beta too," he added as Alex silently perused the documents, choosing not to involve himself in their conflict.Ever since Cayden accepted Bella back for the sake of my children, Alex had developed a form of respect for him. He still hates him with a passion but just like me, he has learned to tolerate him as well."I don't think it would be a good idea for Alex to not be present," I replied. "If this is about nobody, that is. He's been doing a lot of research on him and the kind of creature he is. I believe he would have some important information to share."Cayden seemed... displeased?It might just be my imagina
CAYDEN"What was I thinking?" I chastised myself under my breath, mentally facepalming at my impulsiveness. "This is all Jace's fault. That bastard."Jace's words had plagued me after he said them. He wasn't wrong. All I needed to do hear from Marcy was call her. It was as easy as that.But that was incredibly tough for me. I don't think I've spoken to Marcy since we started walking together. In fact, we've never talked on the phone from the day I knew her. Calling her now would not only put of character, but it'll be awkward as well.I couldn't bring myself to do it.I also couldn't deny the fact that I missed her presence in the pack. Hateful as she may be of me, she brightened up my mood when I saw her. This only increased after our imprisonment in the Bloodless Pack. She had grown to tolerate me and at least give me a chance to talk to her without it divulging into an argument about my horribly stupid past mistakes. She even allowed me interact with her children who strangely ca
MARCYHectic.That's the only word that best describes my return to the pack.It turns out having a competent Beta cam only make your work harder when you leave for a long time. Alex handled everything and being the man that he is, decided that there are some decisions that require my exclusive input and they were too sensitive to be discussed while I was in the Blue Heart Pack because of the possibility that we were being watched.That has only served to complicate my life more now that I'm back as I had a plethora of meetings, hours of perusing documents and even more hours of signing such that my wrists hurt.Knowing I would be going back, Alex was making sure I did all that could be done before leaving.I groaned audibly as I read through yet another document. Alex is in the chair opposite me as he silently read and sorted out other documents. We've been at this for five hours now and I am both exhausted and bored.A knock on the door attracts our attention and I hope against all
CAYDEN"Jace!" I yelled as I rummaged through my office in search of a particular document. "Jace!"Jace calmly walked in on my second call with his usual expressionless face. "You know, you could easily call me through the mind link. You didn't have to yell.""I do what I want," I retorted as I continued to rummage through my shelves while Jace stood there calmly, watching me.After a few minutes of fruitless effort, I turned to look at him. "Well?" I said with annoyance in my eyes. "Help me out, will you?!""You still haven't told me what you are searching for, Alpha?" He replied calmly. "I can't find it if I don't know it.""The contract we drew up with the Nightwalker Pack. I want that contract," I replied as I continued to check through numerous files and documents."May I ask why?" I looked up at him again, this time my annoyance turning into anger."No, you may not! Just fucking find it!""That's why I said you could have just asked me through the mind link instead of going
CAYDENJace's words bit deep. All I could do was stare at my Beta as he quite calmly admonished me for my foolish mistakes. I had no words for him as I stared at my table, unable to even look at his face."Well, who am I to chastise you," he shrugged. "I don't know what it's like to be Alpha and I've never ruled a pack. You probably were desperate at the time and I can understand that desperate times call for desperate solutions.""Jace," I sighed after a few seconds of silence between us. "What do I do to get out of this mess?"He didn't reply for a few minutes before taking a deep breath."Solve it."I finally got the courage to look up at him."What?" "First of all, get that weird sorry look off your face," he said. "An Alpha must never falter. You know that better than I do."I continued to stare at him, puzzled."I've never been in your situation before because I've never had to kill a woman I impregnated, so I don't have a set path I could advise you to follow," he continued. "
yCAYDENI tapped my fingers restlessly on my table as I sat at on my office. The atmosphere is quite relaxing with rays of sunlight illuminating the office through the window and a tranquil silence that would easily put anyone to sleep.Yet, I was restless.The door opened and Alex walked in distractedly as he eyes were glued to a few papers in his hand."Good day, Alpha," he greeted, still distracted. "You called for me.""Yeah," I nodded. "Take a seat."He promptly obeyed but still didn't look up from his papers. They seem to have him entranced."Eyes up ahead, Jace," I said as I tapped louder on the table to get his attention.He finally looked up at me with a question in his eyes, obviously displeased for having to look up from whatever he is reading."What do you have there?" I asked out of curiosity."Documents of our expenditure and a few other observations the scouts and administrators reported about the pack. Apparently, we might have neglected quite a bit in the past year."
MARCYThe atmosphere was tense in my office. I was on high alert and I scanned my surroundings carefully for any sign of his invisible minions. He knew they couldn't escape my eye so he brought none. Even still, I wasn't exactly at peace around him.There was something inherently wrong about his entire presence. Except for the obvious scent of death surrounding him, I can feel there was something else but can't quite place my hand on it.I don't want to admit it but he gives me the chills."A warning, huh?" I asked coldly as I tapped my fingers on my desk. "Are you gonna threaten me in my own pack?""I wouldn't be dumb enough to do that, would I?" He chuckled. "I'm hoping not," I replied."So, if I do warn or threaten you," he said as he leaned forward. "It's because I am confident that I can."I stared at him for a few minutes and leaned forward as well."Then you must be the most foolish being on earth, whatever you are."He chuckled for a bit and then leaned back."I like you, Al