“You said we weren't going to train!” Freya's complaining voice came up. “I didn't say that. I said 'something like that'.” Nebra countered as she blindfolded Freya's eyes and stepped backward. “It also seems like you promised I won't get hurt.” Freya scoffed, “If this continues, I'll drop dead before the combat tournament ends.” “Don't be like that. You're almost three days into the tournament. The main tournament begins tomorrow, you need to be prepared for anything.” Nebra shrugged, relaxing on a wall. “But…” “Shhh!” Nebra shushed, and an eerie silence fell in the room. “Umm, Nebra? Are you still there?” Freya called out when she no longer heard Nebra's breathing. However, Nebra didn't respond. So Freya reached up to her face and attempted to pull off the blindfold.“Don't do that.” Nebra's voice came up. “Ah, thank goodness. I was worried you left me. I mean, that'd be a good thing.” Freya was saying, but changed her words midway. Even though Nebra stole her most of the t
“I didn't think you were interested in the combat tournament.” Nebra said as she walked beside a stone-faced Neon. “I couldn't say no when you got eliminated, and they needed more people.” Neon replied with a blank look. “I see.” Nebra nodded then stopped walking. Neon subconsciously stopped walking as well and turned to her. “The combat tournament will continue with teams made yesterday until the sixth day of the tournament.” “Why does it sound like you're leaving? Are you leaving, Nebra?” Neon asked, sensing the shift in the air. Nebra smiled and reached out to feel Neon's cheeks. “Of course not. It's just for a few days. But I know I'll make it back before the seventh day of the tournament. Just promise me you'll look out for yourself and Freya.” “You're really leaving. And worst of all, you're leaving without me. What happened to always being there for each other?” Neon seethed, taking a step backward. Nebra moved forward and forcefully grabbed her head, “This isn't the time
It was soon the fourth day of the combat tournament. “To be honest, I didn't think I'd make it to the fourth day of the combat tournament.” Miguel yawned as he walked to the field along with Freya and Neon. Being paired with these two girls for the past two days, he came to realize Freya was naturally a quiet one, while Neon thought talking to people was a waste of her time. So in conclusion, he did most of the talking whenever they were together. “The look of surprise on everyone's faces when we returned to the field with nine precious stones was epic! And certainly something I'll recall for a long time.” He chuckled, slowly sprinting forward. Group 87 showed up and rescued most of the weaker groups, then told them to run back to the field, so they wouldn't come across any other group. With no weak group to prey on, numerous stronger groups were disqualified, and the weak ones were retained. So, out of 50 groups, about 20 groups were disqualified. “I wonder what today's task w
Neon watched Freya walk away with a hint of interest in her eyes. The rumors lied. Freya Armstrong is nothing like they made her out to be. When Neon first joined the team, her jealousy borne hatred towards Freya for taking Nebra's attention away from her made her unable to get along with Freya. Furthermore, the rumors said Freya was a person who cared only about herself and felt like she was above every other person. It also said the omega hated everyone stronger than her because of the hardship meted out on her by the members of Blackwood Pack. Hence, she interacted with fewer people. “I also need to pack a few things. Meet you here?” Neon heard Miguel ask and turned to see his signature smile on his face. “Yes.” She mumbled, then watched him walk away. Ten minutes later, Miguel returned, but Freya was yet to. “Should we go see what's keeping her? I happen to know her room number.” Miguel suggested. Neon wanted to refuse, but a part of her urged her to agree. So in the end, s
"I can't help but notice that none of you seem to be panicking." Miguel complained as they walked through a dense forest to get to Bloodstone Pack. To keep humans away from discovering werewolves and because of werewolf hunters, werewolves chose to settle in places that could only be reached by people strong enough to face dangerous animals. The forests surrounding each pack along with the animals that roamed around it was enough to keep any adventurous human away. "What are you scared of exactly?" Neon, who was leading the way, asked. "I don't know. Maybe wild animals or rogues. Or even werewolf hunters." Miguel shivered when he mentioned the last name. "Werewolf hunters haven't been able to find us in more than a decade, Miguel. But you don't have to worry about that. The Council will never send us to somewhere we're likely to encounter them." Neon replied, successfully calming Miguel. "Okay. That's a little comforting. But what about the wild animals?" Miguel asked, only to b
Gerry and a few other pack warriors led their three visitors into the pack, leaving the rest of the warriors to guard the pack's border. Freya noticed that as they advanced into the pack, people were scurrying away into their homes, tightly shutting their door behind them. “After engineering numerous attacks and losing our loved ones to them, we informed the pack members to run into their homes whenever they see new faces in the pack. Anyone who passes through the border shouldn't be wrestled with, since he or she is likely to have fought and won against the pack warriors there.” Gerry informed, seeing how inquisitive the three teenagers looked. “That sounds like a nice strategy. Has it helped in reducing the number of deaths?” Neon questioned. “Usually, the pack loses 4 to 6 lives whenever the rogue visits. But now, we don't lose any and if we unfortunately do, it's not more than two.” Gerry responded, a hint of sadness in his tone. From the looks of it, he was the chief pack war
Neon was flung to the floor before she could ascertain what was going on. “Princess, what's that look on your face? I seem to guess you don't recall who I am.” The man chuckled, grabbing the stake from the rogue on the floor. Neon stared at him as she crawled backward. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't deny the fact she really had no idea who he was. Could he be someone Nebra wronged in the past?“That look of confusion on your face is by far the worst look I've seen on your face. So I'll cut to the chase and tell you who I am.” He hissed, stepping closer to her. “I'm Theophilus Mooney, and the scar across my face is the handwork of your elder sister, Nebra.” He scoffed. Only then did Neon recall who he was. Theophilus Mooney, Nebra's first beta and friend after she left the Council with her. Three years older than Nebra, but followed behind her when she beat him fair and square in a fight. He was the ideal friend until he began developing improper desire t
The first thing Freya saw when she opened her eyes ago was an old, but carefully maintained ceiling. The originally white ceiling had darkened to dark brown. She closed her eyes again before the scene of her being in Bloodstone Pack with Theophilus about to violate her, flashed into her head. Freya sat up immediately, only to be held down by someone. She reacted, prying the person's hand from her before raising her hand to hit whoever it was. “It's me.” Neon said. Freya paused and glanced beside her to see Neon. “Neon?” “I'm alive.” Neon smiled wryly. “What about Theophilus? Did he leave on his own, or did the Council send backup?” Freya questioned, glancing around her. Neon raised an inquisitive brow. “Don't you remember what happened?” Freya held her head and closed her eyes, trying to recall what happened after she heard someone complain of being woken from her sleep. However, she felt a terrible headache come on the harder she tried to remember. So she shook her head. “I
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