Axel's POV According to its name, a spiked whip has jagged metal spikes, intricately embedded along its coiled length, with each spike enough to tear through flesh with remarkable ease. No matter how powerful your healing abilities were, you would still feel the excruciating pain of having your flesh torn before it had the time to heal. And it was a process that would repeatedly occur. The handle was carved from sturdy oak, one that wouldn't break so easily and could withstand the tortures of time. One of the Elders instantly retreated, taking one step at a time backward with his gaze darting from my face to the warriors holding one whip in their hands. “W… What do you plan to do?” He stammered, and I smirked deviously. “What does it look like? Didn't you want an elevation in your status?” I asked, crossing my arms with a smile that didn't reach the depths of my eyes. The elder flinched, a
Axel's POV My brows shot up in surprise, but apprehension. I stared at the trembling Elders at the center of the hall and couldn't help but to pursue my lips in annoyance. What would Exalia think if she saw this scene? Looking at the old men groaning in pain, I suddenly felt irritated and angry. I should have eliminated all of them instead of bringing them here. Initially, I brought them here with the mindset that Exalia still feels a touch of belonging to the pack and the people. And I intended to use this to make her accept me, but now I couldn't help but to think that I've made a mistake. Moreover, it wasn't clear to me why Exalia, who had always shown her obvious detest towards me, would want to see me all of a sudden. Apart from the feeling of having my heart scratched by something, I felt a slight trepidation. Especially when I remembered all I have done to her family members. Could it be that
Exalia's POV I glanced at the man with complex emotions, but the one that prevailed the most was hatred and a slight disgust. Back in the Pack, my life couldn't be considered to be smooth sailing, but I had my family with me. Yet now, I have no one, and he even imposes his will on me, forcing me to do things I never wanted to. He wouldn't allow me to live for myself, nor did he give me any leeway. If not for him, the only two family members I had would not be missing by now, and I wouldn't have to worry about them each and every day. Moreover, he claims that I am his mate; I'm very sure he's just trying to force me to be with him. Although I've been rejected, I still feel the broken bond with Jake. It's obvious he's merely lying to have me to himself. “I want to leave.” I repeated when I noticed how silent he had become. With his gaze fixated on me, I stared back, not cowering in the slightest.
Exalia's POV Axel's lips curled upwards in amusement, “I have what it takes to keep you here forever. If I don't want you to leave, then you won't be able to.” He asserted, staring down at me with that same sickening smile.I glared at me, my boiling anger simmering, and on the verge of erupting. But I held back, my gaze boring at his smug expression.“You can continue pushing your weight around, in due time, Alpha Jake will come back and take me from here. You wouldn't even be able to do anything because he's my true mate. For all your strength, you are just an empty, cold tyrant. Hiding behind your title won't change that!” I spat out maliciously. A flash of something ominous flickered in Axel's eyes instantly, his smile faltered, and the temperature in the room suddenly became lower.A bad foreboding emerged in my heart, but I would rather not show any signs of weakness. I didn't want him to see me as a delicate vase, meant to be kept and confined in a space.“What did you just
Exalia's POV“You…" Unable to utter any word, I could only glare at the culprit behind my frustration.Yet, his back remained upright, and his gaze was calm like an old, ageless well, having no ripples or fluctuation.“Your meals will be brought to you at the right time, and your training will continue when I feel it's right.” He added calmly, as if he had the right to make decisions for me.“I won't eat your food, I don't even want to train with you or be in your presence!” I yelled in indignation, the skin around my eyes turning sore.Staying in such an unfamiliar place, not only do I feel uncomfortable, but I felt like an outcast. Now, I didn't even have the right to walk around, who wouldn't get angry at that?“It's for your own good, believe it or not. Until you star
Exalia's POVThe stench clung to my pores, as the rotten eggs splattered against my skin, eliciting a tear on my flesh.Stones came afterward, strong and merciless, each hitting a different part of my body each time - my legs, my arms, my forehead, none was spared.I staggered backward, trying to use my arms to shield the rest of my body, but the attacks came relentlessly, bypassing my weak defense and landing on my already frail body.The copper scent of my blood wafted into my nose, and the pain that flared through my body made me wince repeatedly. “No, I really did not do anything.” I retorted weakly, my voice drawn by the cacophony of insults around me.“Murderer!” One yelled, followed by another one.“Slut! Temptress!” Each word is more hurtful than the last, and they hurt more than the stones and rotten eggs thrown at me.Initially, due to my father's position in the Pack, they would merely cast scornful and contemptuous gazes at me, but now that I had nobody to defend me, they
Exalia's POV I let out a low gasp, feeling his sturdy, hard times chest against my palm, and I could feel the heat from his body transferring to my hands.It was burning.Some women still didn't know what was going on and rattled on. They probably didn't recognize Axel, and even though they were fearful of his oppressive aura, they still parted their lips to talk.“Are you also one of the men she seduced? Let me tell you, that woman is a jinx. Nothing good ever comes from interacting with her.” One woman spat out, hatefully.Another chimed in, “She will ruin you, so you better leave her to us before it is too late.” She uttered through gritted teeth, the sound almost palpable.I could feel the slight tremors from Axel's body, and my heart shook; He was angry, furious even.Yet, the women did not stop and continued hurling words of abuse towards me, making me burrow into Axel's embrace unconsciously, to hide.And, when I realized what I had just done, my cheeks burned in embarrassment
Axel's POV At first, I was taken aback, a sharp pang of surprise struck me, and I was unable to register her words.Then, disbelief took its place, and I stared down at her pretty, oval face, dumbfounded. Exalia's coldness towards me had become something I was already getting used to, her first request seemed almost surreal.An unanticipated joy swept through me, but I hid it under the mask of coldness and anger. I had expected more malice and hostility from her, especially after holding her in my arms without permission. But, her reaction was unexpected. She didn't struggle, nor did she glare at me in hatred as usual. I was thoroughly moved, I would be a fool if I didn't agree to her request.Although I was unwilling internally, I wanted to punish this bastards severely. It was the first time my mate would initiate a conversation with me, so I didn't have the heart to refuse her.“Alright.” I answered briefly, I watched as Exalia snapped her head up at my response. Her beautiful ey
We soon began our journey back home, and If I told you that this journey was easy, call me a liar.We were all hungry and famished, and we had all run out of water and food supplies.“Let’s quickly head home, I wouldn’t like for us to sleep in this dead place for another night,” Alex said as he walked faster, and urged all of us to do the same.He was no doubt very correct, there was no way we would sleep here for another night.I began to wonder about what we would eat, because I had become famished and hungry, and so had everyone.“I’m hungry,” I whispered to Alex, and he looked at me, and was about to tease me, but he suddenly stopped.“I’m so hungry too, it’s a pity we do not have Šÿ belly satisfying food at all.We thought about plucking fruits to eat, but to our utter dismay, there was no single fruit that was present, despite all the trees in sight.“It’s very hard to believe that despite all these plenty trees, there’s no single fruit to pluck.” Kofi said, speaking out boldly
Exalia’s pov.We all took a deep breath and sighed, and then we began our journey back to the top.The whole atmosphere was now calm and peaceful, nothing like we had ever seen since we came to this forbidden place.Alex clung on to me, he held my hands tightly, not letting me out of his sight.Mabel crouched beside Alex, still scared as usual. Poor Mabel, she had witnessed more than her eyes could see, and more then her mouth could speak. “Alex, thank you so much for your love and support,” I said to Alex, feeling the love and reassurance he had for me.He looked at me and smiled. “You’re welcome my dear, but you don’t have to thank me, I’ll always be there for you.” He said , smiling and pecking me on my cheek.“We’re going to throw a big party once we get out of this mess,” he said to me, still smiling and looking at me lovingly.“Uhh, let’s just celebrate it privately, I don’t really fancy big parties all the time.” I replied, appreciating his party idea.“Hmmm, alright my love,
Exalia’s pov.We all took a deep breath and sighed, and then we began our journey back to the top.The whole atmosphere was now calm and peaceful, nothing like we had ever seen since we came to this forbidden place.Alex clung on to me, he held my hands tightly, not letting me out of his sight.Mabel crouched beside Alex, still scared as usual. Poor Mabel, she had witnessed more than her eyes could see, and more then her mouth could speak. “Alex, thank you so much for your love and support,” I said to Alex, feeling the love and reassurance he had for me.He looked at me and smiled. “You’re welcome my dear, but you don’t have to thank me, I’ll always be there for you.” He said , smiling and pecking me on my cheek.“We’re going to throw a big party once we get out of this mess,” he said to me, still smiling and looking at me lovingly.“Uhh, let’s just celebrate it privately, I don’t really fancy big parties all the time.” I replied, appreciating his party idea.“Hmmm, alright my love,
Exalia’s pov.To be very honest, the task before me was not an easy one, and any one who was not physically, mentally and most importantly, spiritually strong could not handle this at all. For what seemed like days now, we had been battling these demons.The water around me was initially green, but then I noticed something. It had slowly began turning blue, not just any could blue, but a brilliant blue. The light also began to spread upwards towards the skies and it touched the root of the tree and then went on to touch the branches of the tree above the ground.As this happened, it screamed loudly, a loud cry of agony, pain and liberation, all at once.And just in the moment, it’s form quickly disintegrated into a disgusting and irritating splash of dark particles.These particles were absorbed by the earth, maybe as manure or maybe as something else, but that didn’t matter to me at all.With one final push and surge, I plunged my self up to the surface of the water, gasping despe
Exalia’s Pov. It was like a dream world and not real life, all these seemed to be happening in a dream. How could this even be possible? What kind of tree talked and spoke? What in the world was going on? At some point,I started to pray that i would wake up from the dream.An anger seemed to well up within me, and I began to blame my ancestors.What in the world were they doing with creatures like these? Were they mad or something?How did they even discover these kind of creatures? Let alone, make a pact with them, and why did they not continue to fulfill their own side of the deal? Why did they fall? It was getting late and I needed to stop blaming and take action to solve the problem at hand. But deep down, I knew it was a reality and not a dream. The water around me started changing colour rapidly, I had never seen anything like it in my entire life. I had become exhausted and tired, but I kept on pushing for my goal, I must achieve my aim.Something that was once black, wa
Exalia’s pov.The whole atmosphere turned humid and pale at the very sight of this creature. Alex froze where stood, he was way to terrified to move an inch. For the first time in my life, I felt powerless and defenseless, I knew that non of us werewolves stood a chance against this creature.There was no amount of clawing or biting that would make a werewolf defeat this creatures. They were way to spiritual and supernatural, and I don’t remember werewolves having the ability to fight spiritual beings. We existed in the world of physical matter, and we could only fight physical creatures and not spiritual beings that disappeared and and appeared randomly at will.This creature was a creature of nightmares, it looked so unbelievable. It was half tree and half beast,and it’s body was a mass of tree roots and more than five branches.It’s facial features were very grave and they bore an expression of agony and so much rage. “There, that’s the corruption itself, that’s the embodime
Exalia’s pov.The fall was so terrible and it felt like it would never end. There wa so utter darkness all around us, and i couldn’t see any one. No one would understand the fear and doubt that was going on in my head except me, I had thought that we were falling to our deaths and we would die in this forest. I thought we would never make it out alive and back to the pack. What if we died here? How would our people find our bodies? How would we be buried? Where we going to make it out of here alive ? So many thoughts went through my head and I could not help but panic. I was in so much doubt and terror, and my heartbeat was so fast and intense that I knew my chest was going to break at any moment. We had finally landed, but it wasn’t on the ground, it was inside water, I hit my leg on a rock at the shore and I had hurt my ankle. “Ouch!” I screamed, not expecting the landing at all. I gasped for air immediately, and I pulled my self together, finding out that we were in an underg
Exalia’s pov.Yara was done listening to the ghost and I argue with one another, she moved towards tree and started to perform a ritual of purification immediately. Her hands glowed with light as she began her ritual purification excercise, and we wall watched on in awe. She started humming and dancing, then she began running around the tree and Alex and I thought she had run mad, but Kofi and Oba asked us not to worry, that it was all part of the purification process she needed to do. She began chanting words and casting spells that seems to penetrate as affect the very core fabric of reality before our very eyes. Alex walked up to me and stood beside me, he held Mabel tightly in his left hands and held me on the other hand, his touch was a reassurance that no matter the situation or the problem, we would always face it together and find a way to tackle it. Soon, Yara’s chants increased and her voice became louder. The ground began to vibrate and then shake like an earthquake, b
Exalia’s pov.Without further delay, we would begin the journey to locate the world tree, so that this madness would stop immediately. Alex took a few minutes to reset the pack before we took off, he called Marcus aside and left he and Lena in charge of the pack’s leadership while we were away. “Marcus,we’re going to have to do this for our own good,” he said to Marcus, explaining to him how grave the situation was. Marcus, his forever loyal servant listened to him attentively and promised him that he and Lena would lead the pack and govern well in his absence. “You have my wordy dear Alpha, everything will be just fine, and I wish you guys good luck in finding the world tree.” Marcus saluted his Alpha and left the room immediately. We soon began the journey to the heart of the world tree, and I must confess, it was not an easy one. It clearly wasn’t something to be taken lightly, as the Africans has asked us to carry along a lot of foodstuffs and weapon supplies. We prepared