Lucianne shoved aside the thoughts of how good the reception was underground as she turned around to pick up the empress’s call.
“Pelly?”
The response came out ominously, “Aunt Lucy, there’s been another abduction. Twenty adults and two children have been taken from another village, Saber Vagary.”
Lucianne’s facial expression squinted in despair before she asked, “How far was this from the Falling Vines?”
“23 miles north.”
“Without bloodshed?”
“Without bloodshed,” Pellethia confirmed, and added, “We&rsqu
Are you more like Greg or Xandar when it comes to history? 👀 By the way, here’s how I remember the names of vampire villages: First Village (FV) = Falling Vines (also FV) Second Village (SV) = Saber Vagary (also SV) Hope it helps :)
When the introductions were done, Xandar and Lucianne followed Greg through a cream-colored corridor which had so many turns that it felt like they were in a maze. There were doors the whole way in but some were actually red herrings - certain doors open up to walls, not rooms. This was a precaution taken to buy time to escape, if they were ever found.They finally entered a room with the same cream walls with a rectangular glass table placed in the middle. What was odd about this room was that there were no office chairs. Not one.After those who followed the royals from the police station entered, Hailey closed the door. Greg placed his palm flat on the table. A faint blue glow scanned his handprint horizontally, vertically and around the shape of his palm before the blue words “ACCESS GRANTED” appeared in the middle of
Xandar continued linking, ‘He knew where the third supplier was but didn’t tell us.’‘Can you blame him?’ Lucianne retorted.A pause. Xandar linked in disbelief, ‘You’re taking his side?’‘No, Xandar,’ That simmered down some of his rage as Lucianne continued, ‘I’m taking the side of whichever creature has been scarred for life because of ONE legally punishable act that the law says they committed, which might not even be wholly their fault to begin with. If they’re wrong, sure, punish them. But there’s an endpoint in making them carry the blame that is, sadly, not practiced in this kingdom. We have to change that.’‘And
Lucianne’s eyes cleared to find Xandar holding her to his chest and drawing comforting circles on her back shoulder, soothing her earlier inferno. She parted their bodies and looked him dead in the eye as she said firmly, “We are NOT putting anyone in the kingdom around the Forest of Oderem.” Xandar blinked as he thought about what she said before suggesting with a cheeky smile, “Well, we could put them IN the forest instead, it’ll b—” “XANDAR!” Xandar chuckled and pecked a kiss on her forehead before assuring her with a smile as he stroked her forearms to soothe her, “Okay, okay. Until we know more about the forest, we’ll keep the experiments in our mental archive.” Another kiss on her cheek before he muttered, “Over-responsible Queen.” Lucianne sighed with relief, and turned, only to have a still-thinking Greg say, “Instead of lycans and werewolves, I suppose I could get a few willing humans to exper—” “NO!” Lucianne exclaimed even before he finished. Her volume and ferocity ma
Greg didn’t answer the deputy. His sights fixed on Lucianne, giving her time to figure it out because he knew, without a doubt, that she could. Lucianne was pondering deeply before her sights went back to the hologram. She pinched the screen to reveal the whole werewolf and lycan territory. Her eyes squinted slightly to see if there was anything underneath the familiar geographical area everyone was familiar with.Greg came over to tap on the ‘routes’ icon, and hundreds of red lines appeared on the hologram that Lucianne took a shocked breath as she stared blankly at what she was seeing, taking a step back to get a fuller view.Greg murmured, “It’s good news because the underground territories connected by those hidden passageways are limited. If no one saw them aboveground, then the search s
Lucianne thanked a smiling Christian when she took her daughter from him and started speaking animatedly in a hushed tone to her little girl. After mind-linking her husband with her large orbs, Xandar glanced at Greg in concern before giving into his little freesia. Lucianne smiled and pecked a grateful kiss on his cheek before approaching Greg with Reida in her arms. Stella stayed with Xandar and Christian, who watched the queen take hasty steps towards the other duke.Ivory and Desmond stopped looking around; Hailey stopped talking; and Alissa’s gum-chewing came to an awkward pause, but no one was as shocked as Greg was.When Lucianne was right in front of Greg, she positioned Reida to face him as she spoke to her, “Reida, this is Uncle Greg. Want to say ‘hi’?”
When Lucianne saw Tate and Margaret holding hands, she instinctively touched her husband’s arm as her eyes sparkled when they met his smiling ones. After pecking a light kiss on her forehead, Xandar muttered, “Looks like it went well.”Margaret’s surprised eyes shot to her daughter, and Lucianne motioned Stella to go to her. Although hesitant, Stella obeyed and took careful steps towards them. Margaret let go of Tate’s hand when she pulled Stella into a relieved hug, and Tate came over to embrace Lucianne and greet the king and the duke.When Tate saw Greg holding Reida a small distance away, he stared for another three seconds before he asked, “That’s the other duke?”“Yeah, why?” Lucianne answered simply.
‘Aunt Lucy?’ It was Lucianne’s favorite nephew.‘Liam, sweetheart. You can mind-link!’Liam had just turned four. Wolves could only mind-link when they were six or seven, with a few exceptions like Liam. His voice shook a little when he said, ‘I t-tried so many times. Um…Aunt Lucy, a-are you coming home soon?’That was a very unusual question. The fact that Liam forced himself to mind-link her was another thing to be worried about. She tried to mask her anxiety when she continued speaking to him in a soft, assuring voice, ‘Well, I’ll have to ask Uncle Xandar. We’ll discuss it and make the trip there with little Reida soon, okay?’‘N
In the early evening at Blue Crescent, Alpha Juan got Luna Hale to promise that she would stay in the pack house with their pups while he came out to greet Alpha Zeke, Luna Zelena and Gamma Raden from Blood Eclipse, Gamma Sylvia from Crimson, and also Luna Lovelace from Midnight, along with the pack warriors they brought with them. Juan stationed six of his own warriors around the pack house just to keep his family safe.When Juan reached his allies, he hugged each of them and uttered gratefully, “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”Zeke swallowed a lump in his throat and exchanged an uneasy glance with Zelena before he addressed the Alpha, “There’s something you should know, Juan. See, when we were on the road, Ta—”“AHEM!&r
Dear readers,Thank you for giving “The Rogues Who Went Rogue” a chance, and for following through to the very end. I hope that this sequel was entertaining enough to keep you engaged, and empowering enough for you to draw strength from it whenever you need the boost.I hope you can spare a few minutes to rate this novel and leave a review here and on Goodreads. It'll help a lot in seeking new readers and sharing the love!To anyone who dropped comments with encouraging words from time to time, thank you. You have no idea how helpful these have been on the days when I experience severe fatigue or writer’s block.Now, with regards to what’s in store for the next book in the Coalescence of the Five Series, it’s this - in Book Three, we’ll be acquainted with hunters and a potential duchess, but the publication date cannot be confirmed as of yet. I am discussing the contractual terms of a writing project with another platform, and if that proceeds, I would be working on that book in the s
As he gently took the baby girl from her mother, everyone braced themselves for the deafening screams that would usually follow. But what came next was just soft coos as Enora leaned against her uncle’s shoulder, resting her head there with a soft smile. After a few quiet moments, Greg glanced at the child before looking back at Xandar and Lucianne when he questioned, “What did you two feed her this morning? What sorcery is this?” Christian had a theory, which he shared as he walked over to Greg, “Maybe she’s starting to warm up to us. Let me try.” As soon as Greg reluctantly detached Enora from his shoulder and the baby realized that she was going to a different adult that was neither one of her parents, she screamed and started tearing up as she pressed herself again
The ceremony to return the title was held in the abandoned castle next to the Forest of Oderem. Pellethia had an unexplainable feeling that it had to be there, as did Lucianne. When the servants went to have the place cleaned up, all praying that they weren’t going to encounter anything out of the ordinary when they did their job, two among the sixty cleaners entered a room on the highest floor that was covered with a very thick layer of dirt and dust. When the two servants assigned to clean this particular room opened the windows to let in some air, a dash of breeze came from the forest and blew at a part of the dirt on the floor, making the poor servants flinch before instinctively holding each other as they quivered in fear. When nothing happened for the next few moments, they slowly released their hold of each other. Th
Gerella walked gracefully down the aisle, and while all eyes were on her, her sights stuck to her groom who looked like he was close to tears as he beamed at her. When she reached him, he offered her his hand to help her onto the platform. The music stopped, and the guests took their seats once more. After the marriage officiant recited from the Scriptures of Matrimony, he announced that it was time for the exchange of vows. Toby began, “Ella, from the moment we met, I knew that my life was never going to be the same again. Not only can I now boast about being the only one among my friends to get the most beautiful hybrid for a wife, your mark practically gave me the license to also gloat about being able to see a discretus when they cannot. You have no idea how much fun I’m going to have lying about a discretus’s presence when we’re training.”
7 weeks later “I’ve actually already had two. They taste pretty good.” Toby told Lucianne as they stood by the table with the trays of cupcakes. He then added, “I’m glad she decided to start a business out of this. Her baking skills are fantastic!” Hailey made those cupcakes. She was now a probationary kindergarten teacher on weekdays and a baker on weekends. She and the other mavericks still worked for Greg, but they were free to indulge in their hobbies and passions when they didn't have maverick duties. Some even pursued career paths that earned a salary the 'normal' way. Jade opened a cyber café which attracted lots of youngsters, and Hailey baked cupcakes or made pastries to sell to Jade’s customers. She offered him a small percentage of her earnings for his space. Some even came in just to buy her baked goods.
After Margaret managed to compose herself, she cleared her throat, looked into Tate’s eyes that held so much love and assurance, and began reciting her own set of vows, “Tate, when we met, I thought that our bond wasn’t going to last. I thought that a rejection would follow, from you or me, or even from the both of us. You haven’t the faintest clue of how relieved and happy I am that I’ve been proven wrong. Very wrong.” “I was wrong to think that our bond is a mistake; I was wrong to judge you based on the title you inherited; and I was wrong to think that you could never love me the way I didn’t know I needed to be loved. Never in my wildest dreams could I’ve imagined falling in love again, and never did I think it was someone as perfect as you are, Tate. I held so much hate from my past, carrying it throughout my life, even scaring away a few acquaintances with my untamable inferno, yet y
The Alpha of White Blood got cheers and claps even before the bride emerged. He was pleased to see that his pack members were not giving the vampire guests odd looks, and he was proud that, when he raised this matter with everyone weeks before the wedding, they seemed more excited and welcoming than reluctant and disapproving. What surprised him most was that the vampires didn’t sit at one place, but were scattered among the wolf and lycan guests. The Alpha wanted the integration but he definitely didn’t expect to get it this soon. Tate took a good look around to commit the sight before him to memory - the memory of his closest friends and pack members here to celebrate his and Margaret’s special day. When his eyes fell on Lucianne, she linked, ‘Margaret’s more t
3 months laterAlissa was pulling Gabriel by his arm through the rows of white, yellow and beige flowers in a nature park where Tate and Margaret decided to have their wedding ceremony. In the sea of White Blood pack members, Alissa finally found the creature she was looking for.“My Queen, this is Gabriel, my second-chance mate and husband. Gabriel, this is our queen.” Alissa said with the widest smile that Lucianne had ever seen. Alissa and Gabriel tied the knot two months ago in the marriage registrar’s office, with only the attendance of her triplets, Gabriel’s brother, Greg, Hailey, Desmond and Ivory.Lucianne smiled warmly at the nervous-looking man in a tuxedo. “Well, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Gabriel. We’ve heard a
Alissa’s furrowed brows and puzzled eyes shifted to the door, and her defensive instincts kicked in. She extracted the hard drive from her laptop and slid it into the custom-sewn compartment in her jeans. Reaching for the loaded gun and heading for the door, she tried to guess who that could be. The property was bought under an alias. Her landlady never came up in the last ten years she stayed here. Greg and the others usually gave her a heads-up before dropping by.She looked through the keyhole to see if she was able to get anything from the slit. All she saw was a sand-color shirt. She was also picking up a delightful yet somewhat familiar scent of oak and rain. The knock came again. She pressed her ear to the door, where she heard a heavy sigh before something was placed on the floor as the footsteps retreated.Alissa waite