19 Years Ago Young Hazel opened the door to the house to see the house full. It was buzzing with familiar faces which all belonged to her relatives. Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice her presence as she walked around. She found her way to the living room where she found her father and twin brother seated next to each other, all smiles. "Today will be a memorable day for our family. All thanks to my son and, of course, my daughter." Finn Hunt cheered, raising his glass of champagne and clinking it with Hezell's. "It's all thanks to you, father. If you hadn't found a way to contact Braeden Vause and talk him into doing this, none of this would've been possible. It's all thanks to you, dad." Hezell replied humbly and drowned his champagne. Finn Hunt smiled proudly and drowned his glass as well. As he dropped the empty glass on the table, his eyes happened to meet that of his daughter's. "Hazel, I didn't know you were back." He called out, causing everyone's attention to dart to
Cheyenne paced to and fro worriedly in her room.Her father left a few minutes ago after locking her in this room. It was a room with high windows, making it impossible for her to escape through them.But even if she did get to the window, from where she stood, she could see the steel bars fastened to the window. There was no way she could push that down.She got tired of walking around and slumped on her bed with a sullen face."Ma'am, your food." A maid's voice sounded outside the door.Cheyenne's eyes lit up, seeing it as an opportunity to escape. So she got up and quickly turned her back to the door."Take the food away," she said, tilting her head to the side, enabling her to see the maid's every move.However, as the maid turned around to leave, she suddenly fell to the side to reveal someone else standing in front of her.Cheyenne turned and staggered backward, seeing an unfamiliar face."Cheyenne Nichols, was it? You're beautiful, and I have nothing against you. But for my fre
"No, no, no! This wasn't for you. Why didn't you kick me away? Why didn't you hit me or even claw me, Rose?"Sarah's sobbing was the first thing Nebra and the others heard as they rushed into the living room.Rose stood in front of Sarah with her dagger dipped into her chest."Don't pull it out!" Nebra reached out to stop a panicking Hunter."She's bleeding. Why isn't she healing? She's a fucking werewolf!" Hunter sputtered, grabbing fistfuls of his hair in confusion."Lance told me of a werewolf that'd probably be protecting his sister. So, I laced my silver dagger with Lycanthroxin… just so it'd kill even if he's just scratched by me." Sarah sniffled, soiling her hands with the blood on the dagger."I didn't want any of this to happen."The whole time, she refused to look into Rose's eyes for fear it'd cause her to die faster.Rose slowly felt Sarah's face and smiled weakly. "I hate it when I see you cry. It takes away your beauty.""Well, I can't exactly help it right now." Sarah g
"Kill her? Why do you want to kill her when you're supposed to be looking after her? And what happened to your head?" Landon was the first to speak as he glanced between the two siblings."Hezell is—" Hazel tried to say but was cut short by Hezell."Don't believe a word she says. The only explanations she has ever sputtered are lies," he glared hard at her."If you know what she's about to say is a lie, then why do you bother? You look like you're scared we'd believe her."Sarah had never been a fan of Hezell's. So she immediately grew suspicious, seeing he was finding it difficult to keep still.Hezell paused briefly before shifting his darkened eyes towards her direction."Because I've had enough of her and her lies. I don't want any of you to be victims of it just like I was. So just let me kill her now. I'm sure Cleopatra wouldn't mind."Naturally, everyone else believed Hezell without a doubt. The woman in question was his sister after all and someone who had killed thousands of w
Landon's head snapped towards Hezell. "What is that supposed to mean?" Hezell calmly massaged the space between his brow. "I've told you not to believe a word she says, but it seems that's the only thing you're listening to." "Defend yourself then because that sounds like a solid allegation against you," Sarah said, looking straight at him. "Defend myself? Why should I when everything she said is a lie?" Hezell raised a brow. "We don't know that; that's why you'll be defending yourself. Give us reasons why we shouldn't believe her. But if you continue keeping quiet, we'll have no choice than to believe every word she said," Neon chimed in, raising her guard. Hezell stared at the suspicious looks on their faces for a moment before his lips stretched into a tight smile. "I’m afraid there's no need for me to do so again since it seems like you all believe her." "If you really have something to do with what happened, I'll never forgive you!" Nebra stepped forward and uttered coldly.
"They aren't here. Let's head to the next street."Neon sighed and released the raised window blind before walking back to the people in the living room."They are still looking for us.""Why do we have to hide here when we can just head to the Council and tell Cleopatra everything?" Sarah asked loudly.Neon and the others had given up trying to reason with her, fearing it would only agitate her more. In the end, they understood she had every right to be angry since her mate had just died."Because the moment we leave, Hezell will be able to track us," Knight responded."We may be short of Rose, but I'm pretty sure we can take him if he attacks us," Kourtney said, uttering her first words in two days."Most importantly, why do we have to live in such a nightmare when we can just hand over the person he's after to him? We're the kidnapped ones, after all," Hunter frowned, glancing at Hazel, who sat quietly at the other end of the room."From what we all saw, Hezell has gone erratic. He
"I went through your laboratory and your reports at the hospital. You are dying, and if care isn't taken, you can drop dead any day," Hezell revealed as he stared into Jerome's face."How you snuck into maximum level protected places without being caught doesn't surprise me, given you just got into a house I just fortified. Tell me what you want, and if it's fine by me, I can think about letting you in on my business," Jerome retorted, sitting on his swivel chair."The countless human research you're doing won't save you. The next two generations to come after the Nichols still won't find that cure because nature doesn't give the same thing twice in different ways," Hezell leaned his back on the wall.It took a few seconds for Jerome to grasp the meaning behind those words, and his body trembled in excitement. “There's a cure for my illness already in existence?”Hezell nodded. “The bite of a werewolf.”The smile on Jerome's face immediately faded. “Bites, scratches, I've tried them be
"Hezell now has an agreement with Jerome Nichols, which gives him access to most of the places in the human city," Hazel informed as they stepped foot into the woods at the other end of the city.Sarah bent beside Neon, who placed a hand on the ground with her eyes closed. "You hear that? If this woods isn't it, we're as good as dead because a certain witch will find and unalive us.""Maybe if you don't whisper that into my ears every three minutes, I'd be more focused," Neon opened her eyes and glared at Sarah."I'm distracting you? What the hell are you saying? As a rogue beta, I thought this is what you do all the time. After all, you're always on the run from your enemies," Sarah tsked, folding her hands underneath her bosom.Neon ignored her and straightened up."This is it. Whoever this person is, he is skilled in covering his tracks. But from what I just uncovered, there are hundreds of werewolves following him in this woods. We have to be careful not to be ambushed by them.""
Jerome Nichols' House,"We've gunned down every werewolf we know about, and for those we are yet to find, we're doing our possible best to bring them in," a Werewolf Hunter stood opposite Lance and reported."What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jerome Nichols yelled at his son as he rushed into the house.Lance dismissed the Werewolf Hunter with a wave of his hand and walked up to Jerome. "Just taking care of business, Dad.""Taking care of business? You're tearing apart everything!" Jerome seethed and looked around him. "Where's Hezell? Why didn't he stop you?"Lance adjusted his tie with a stoic gaze. "Hezell... isn't here."Jerome spun around in disbelief. "Where did he go? And who authorized you to do this then?""He had something to take care of and left the house to me. But then the man he left behind passed on an instruction he had received to me," Lance said and leaned towards his father's right ear. "He said we were in great danger if he didn't call the house seven hours
“What?” Sarah straightened up seeing Joshua and the four other witches step backward. “The barrier is opening up on its own.” He glanced at her warily. Knight, Landon, Adley and Kourtney got serious recalling what Joshua had said before he began trying to reopen the barrier. “Why do you all look surprised? Did you really think they stood a chance against Hezell just because they were Alphas? Bless your delusional heart.” Mendoza's mocking voice came from behind them. “Release me and I'll consider talking to him to at least keep one of you alive. That's the great length I'm willing to go just for old times’ sake.” However, the group ignored her and armed themselves with the guns her pack warriors had taken with them. “Those things you're holding won't deter him.” Mendoza stated the obvious. “I swear if you keep talking you won't be alive to witness what would happen in the next one minute!” Adley glowered, glancing behind her shoulders to look at her. Mendoza frowned and as muc
Hezell suddenly laughed. “I didn't think I'd ever be captured again, but just to be safe, I left a few orders that should be carried out if I don't call Jerome Nichols’ house hours after leaving.”“I never should've let you out of the Council for any reason whatsoever,” Cleopatra clenched her fist tightly.“It's not your fault. He just has a way of getting to people,” Nebra exhaled, glancing at her.“This isn't something that can't be taken care of. A quick trip to the Council should solve it once you return with Council guards,” Steele uttered calmly.Cleopatra looked away from him guiltily. “I sent half of them to the human city to help Hezell out in searching for you since he told me you were captured by Hazel.”“You… how do you come up with these things? You make life hard for others even when you're totally powerless,” Neon sighed, glaring at Hezell.“You can't blame me for trying to stay alive,” Hezell shrugged and looked down at the chains on his wrists. “The massacre will cont
Mariah gasped and stumbled backward, while Freya sat up and proceeded to stand on her feet. Her previously pale face had brightened, and her dull eyes were now full and vibrant.“If you wanted to kill me, you should've done so on the podium. A knife into my abdomen without the boring words you said would've been just fine,” Freya stretched and glanced at Mariah.“You were unconscious just a few minutes ago. So how is it that you're suddenly so hale and hearty now?” Mariah asked and warily got on her feet.“I woke up two nights ago, but I discovered I couldn't move. It wasn't until this morning that I realized Lalisa did something that made me weak. When Hezell killed her, the magic began wearing off. But when your goon brought me here, meters away from Lalisa’s body, the magic wore off totally,” Freya explained with a shrug.Mariah didn't know when she swallowed nervously. This was the Freya she knew, but at this same time, she didn't feel like she knew this person in front of her.“A
"I know no one has ever told you this before, but you're misguided. You're doing things for the wrong reasons," Terry didn't to struggle with Hezell as he knew his attempt would only be futile. Hezell's eyes were cold as he tightened his grip on Terry's throat."Hezell," Freya called out to him weakly, her voice barely audible over the scuffle. He flung a half-dead Terry down the stairs before rushing to her side.By the time Terry reached the foot of the stairs, his eyes were barely opening, and his breath had become a raspy whisper. None of the heartstealers had the heart to help him as they feared it'd make Hezell see them as his enemy. Nebra, on the other hand, hurried up to him. She held his arm, ready to relieve him of some of his pain, but he stopped her with a feeble gesture."There's no need. I'm more than ready to finally meet my ancestors," Terry coughed weakly, forcing his eyes open, "And you shouldn't be so eager to help the man who almost sacrificed your cousin.""Us
While they remained outside, attempting to reopen the barrier, Nebra fell onto a pile of sand once she was inside the barrier. She groaned and rose to her feet. As she patted away the sand that had gotten into her hair and clothes, she raised her head and looked around.The sky was blue and crystal clear, almost like a painting. Just ten meters away from her were numerous rows of houses.She cautiously sauntered towards them, but much to her surprise, she didn't come across a single soul.She was still wondering if she was dropped in the wrong location when she heard shouts coming from a particular direction.At the same time, the sound of numerous hearts beating at once overwhelmed her.She zoned out of her wolf hearing and rushed towards the direction of the shouts until she walked into a town square filled to the brim with people."So many heartstealers," she mumbled in disbelief, staring at the people who she feared numbered more than two thousand.Her attention was drawn to an el
"Hezell... what a bastard!" Sarah seethed as she got flung backward by the barrier.She waited for a few seconds and didn't get an expected rebuke."What? You didn't find anything wrong with what I said? You don't find me wh... Neon?" She glanced around to see Neon was nowhere to be found."Steele and Hunter are gone too," Knight said, noticing his two competitors were absent."Nebra too," Kourtney scoffed."That's ridiculous. Where could they have gone?" Landon frowned. He refused to believe Nebra somehow made it into the barrier and he couldn't."If they aren't here, that only means they slid into the barrier just before it closed," Adley stated the obvious truth."I was at least a few inches ahead of Neon, so how could she have gotten in and I didn't?" Sarah hissed, waving Adley's words aside."Well, it's not that surprising given she's a beta and you're not," Adley retorted, meeting Sarah's enraged eyes."Beta? What's so good about being a beta? I'm going to be stronger than a bet
Joshua's brain momentarily shut down as he stared back at the man. He had every reason to believe they were serious, but for some reason, he was hoping they were just messing with him. However, one minute later, and they still had the same suspicious look on their faces."Cat got your tongue?" One out of the two men across from him raised his brows provocatively."Mr. Hezell won't take it lightly with you once he hears of this. But if you explain things to us, we might put in a good word or two on your behalf when we report you to him," the second man across from him added seriously.Realizing that what was happening wasn't a joke, Joshua slowly raised his hand, getting ready to mumble a memory-erasing spell when the man next to him suddenly laughed. He widened his eyes a little bit in surprise as the other two joined him in laughing."We totally had him fooled," one of the men across from him laughed."He was first confused, then horrified. I'll give anything to see that look on his
In the woods where Sarah's pack is located,"You took off the chains, but we're still pretty much your prisoners, aren't we?" Sarah hissed as she was pushed into a room by a pack warrior.She stopped talking, seeing the others in the room as well. "Tell me you dragged them in here the same way you did to me.""This isn't the time for one of your incessant whinings, Sarah," Neon hushed."So you think it's okay that I was dragged in here like I can't walk by myself?" Sarah asked provocatively."Hezell has been informed of Freya's whereabouts, and he's already on their territory. It'll only take him a few hours to get through their barrier," Mendoza's voice successfully drew their attention to the other end of the room where she was.Sarah looked away from her and glanced around the room, which turned out to be the armory room."You have guns. I take it you stole them from the humans," she commented, picking up a pistol. "Ouch!"She dropped it immediately when it burned her palm and glar