The anticipation levels were something else for Anna as she was awaiting Roth by the streamside. Their conversation the last time had ended with him promising to teach her a thing or two about handling a sword perfectly.But then, she wondered if he had intended to get someone to do the demonstrations as he looked nothing like a swordsman. He seemed so calm that he looked like he couldn't hurt a fly. He looked very much like one of the children of the elite who couldn't afford to get dirty, as they would have their parents to deal with afterward. There just wasn't any trace of a warrior trait in him.His charm was an undeniable fact. She had yet to see anyone that had it like he did. Lucian came close, but he always seemed to be too serious to let his charm express itself fully.The wait was becoming uncomfortable as she soon found herself comparing Lucian to Roth. Why did he have to pop up in every single one of her thoughts? She soon heard some footsteps approaching hurriedly to whe
"What's happening here?" Lucian asked angrily with his brows furrowed at the both of them."What do you mean?" Anna asked back, wondering why he had shown up there and then, and why he was so curious to know what they were doing there.She had to had to admit that Roth had stepped a bit unusually closer to her, to help her perfect her posture, but then why was he getting so worked up about?"I meant..." Lucian's voice softened a bit, as he seemed to realized that it was awkward for him to get worked up in that scenario. "What are you both working on?"Anna looked on in slight embarrassment, as she felt some shame for him. He had probably come all the way down there to talk to her, most certainly, about their last uncannily romantic encounter, only to be met with the sight of her with another. With that scenario, it was becoming just a little clearer, what his intentions were for her."Sorry, I was just trying to help her fix her fighting postures and all that." Roth replied Lucian as
“Where have you been?” Anna didn't bother about hiding how much she had missed Barbara's company for the last couple of days. “You said you would join me that day, and you were suddenly gone.”“Sorry, I didn't tell you.” Barbara's face was without any visible expressions of emotions of any sort, and that was usual. “I was out of the territory for a while.”“Really…” Anna looked over to Barbara as they went on with their lonely walk down the path to the stream. There wasn't any other better meeting place where they could be perfectly alone, so they didn't mind visiting the stream too often. “Where did you go?”“I would rather not talk about it.” Barbara's response came just before Anna said the last words of her question. The answer seemed premeditated, and that was disturbing as much as it was suspicious. “At least for now.”Anna was briefly taken aback, but she couldn't complain or coerce her to give her a better response. She was convinced that she wasn't really concerned about what
It was morning. Yet again.Anna couldn't recall waking up and feeling that great. She sat up in bed with youthful vigor. She no longer cringed at the thoughts of Lucian, and that was a good sign. In a flash, she reminisced on the feeling of his lips on hers. It was so smooth, so crisp, so effortless, so titillating, perhaps too titillating to be the first thing to be thinking of immediately after she got up. But then, his words had breathed some life back into her.Getting up to her feet, and seeing the dim lights of the early hours of the day, she recalled why she had woken in the first place. Someone had been knocking on her door.“No way…" she muttered to herself. There was no way it could be Lucian. He wasn't that idle and also wasn't that keen on expressing his passion. She hoped it wasn't Roth as she made for the door.“Barbara?” Anna had her eyes on the last person she expected to see so early in the morning. She was Barbara, and she could be awkward at times, but why was she s
The pain of the sight was just too unbearable for Elsa, that she wished she hadn't walked in on it. She knew that it had been a rather unreasonable idea to follow Lucian as he snuck out of his fortress. Her curiosity had led her to see how her dreams of having the alpha to herself were sinking.The sun was up and shining brightly, but the day had suddenly become gloomy from her perspective. She just couldn't take it anymore, and she didn't have anyone to pour out her struggles to, but herself.“He kissed her,” she said to herself angrily, as she recalled the sight of Lucian sitting beside Anna and kissing her so passionately. How could he have stooped so low? “He kissed her!” She yelled.“Yes, he did.” Her wolf spoke up to her from within. “He seemed to have enjoyed every single moment of it.”“But what on earth could he have found in her, that's making him even break his own character? Lucian would never think of sitting on the sand by the side of that stupid stream.”“That stupid st
The pain at the back of Anna's head woke her before the surrounding voices did. The voices were unclear and indistinct, as the faces were blurry. The sun had almost left the horizon completely when she opened her eyes, which had her wondering what was happening.Her memory was quick in recollecting the rapid progression of events that had led to her current state. But then, she didn't recall holding anything in her hands when she had been knocked out.She sensed what felt like an arrow in her right hand, and what felt like a bow in the other. How did she end up with such items? It all felt like some dream she was waking up to.Perhaps, she had fallen asleep at the stream side while waiting for Barbara. Perhaps, she thought, if she shut her eyes and opened it, everything would go back to normal with her, sitting by the stream side waiting for Barbara to come join her.She shut her eyes in hope but opened them to the same sight. Something was desperately off with the whole scenario. She
"I do not want to believe any of it.” Lucian hadn't slept all through the night, as he had been kept up by an inner battle. The pressure on him was simply sickening. “None of it seems right, but—”“But what?” His wolf protested within him. “If you go ahead to punish her like all your people are suggesting, they will not bear the consequences of it with you. You're going to live a long, lonely life without your mate, and they will not go through that with you.”Lucian thought over those words as he lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. None of them who proposed Anna's death were going through the emotional trauma of having to make that decision with him.“It has always been the pack before yourself,” his wolf went on. “But now, you're going to put yourself first. You do not deserve the pain and loneliness, besides, there's no telling if she had actually been the one.”That was yet another question, he wanted to get to the bottom of. He couldn't just hurriedly make that decisi
"You can't go see her now," Roth said to Elsa, as she was about to step towards the door. "You'll have to wait a bit longer.""Why's that?" Elsa asked with furrowed brows, wondering if there had been a new development in Anna's predicament."Lucian is still with her." Roth's mood seemed a bit down as he made mention of that. He had obviously run into Lucian while he had gone to see Anna."Oh..." Elsa expected that. Lucian had probably been having a hard time dealing with all that was going on. She regretted not going in to encourage him, as she was sure that her quietness at the meeting on the night before had probably given him a good impression of her. "It must be a really tough time being an alpha in this sort of situation.""And it must also, really be a tough time being a stray wolf in a new clan," Roth spoke with a disposition that depicted compassion if not grief."You believe she's innocent, don't you?" Elsa sat on her bed, wondering how long it was going to take Lucian to be
“Oh sorry… I didn't know you both were here,” Elsa fumed out of the room, in anger, although she didn't show it outwardly. She had left the letter on the table before storming out of the room.“I've had enough,” she roared at her wolf. “I cannot keep up with trying to be nice to Anna while I watch Lucian slip out of my hands. You see how badly your plan had failed, Audra?”“Calm down,” Audra retorted. “You were not meant to walk in on that moment, in the first place. Just calm down.”“I'm done with calming down and taking things lightly,” Elsa snapped back at her, as she slammed her door shut behind her. “I'm going to make it happen my own way.” She sighed as she threw herself on her bed. “One more fake smile and I might just lose it already.”“I understand your pain,” Audra spoke to her suggestively. “You have been patient for quite a long time, and I guess that's weighing on you.”“Of course, it's weighing on me,” Elsa said. “Each day of the past three years has passed, only to brin
“I bet Craster should be thinking of giving up by now,” Lucian stated as Carlyle followed him from behind. “I don't think there's any way out of this for him. We have closed down every possible route for him and his men to gain supplies.”“That foolhardy bastard doesn't look like one who would give up easily,” Carlyle said as opened the doors of his alpha's chamber, feeling glad to be home after yet another conquest. “We'll give him a couple of days to think about it. Maybe seven days.”“That's more than enough time to regroup and prepare for a counter-attack,” Lucian protested as they both sat at a table in his chamber. “We must strike the iron while it's still glowing hot.”“Alright then,” Carlyle suggested, letting out a tired sigh. “Five days.”“Three days. We need them on their toes, and under pressure if we want their decision to be quick, and insensible.” Lucian leaned back in his chair. “That would be yet another territory under our grasp.”“Alright then,” Carlyle said, as he
Three Years Later…Anna wiped the blood off her sword as she looked down on the dead body in front of her. It was still surreal how she had gone from sluggish practices by the stream side to being at the forefront of the Lock Heart's bout with Craster's forces.It was yet another victory for Lucian and the Lock Heart pack, as they were just about closing in on Craster's territory.Yet another battle, she thought. All the battles seemed the same from the very first day she became approved to join Lucian's men. There was nothing new to it, as it was almost, all about going out, fighting, coming back, and waiting for the next time to repeat the whole process.At a point, it felt like Craster wasn't even putting any effort into the fights, as all their victories were almost flawless. She felt he should have just given up when he had the chance. But then, she knew how great the ego of an alpha could be to give up in a fight and give up his territory in the process. They would have to fight
Anna's eyes opened quite slowly until she was wide awake. She had thought she had been asleep in her room until she realized that, the scent of vetiver and musk were still strong in the air she breathed.She was still a bit doubtful of where she was until she tossed to her left into the thick masculine build which could only be Lucian's. It was then that it all dawned on her, all that had happened. She had indeed fallen asleep being beside him. Her wolf seemed to be unusually peaceful.There was darkness all over, and it was a bit hard to tell if they were in the dead of the night or the early hours of the morning. It seemed to be probably the former, as they had slept off by sunset.I shouldn't be here, she thought to herself, as she shifted a bit away from him. But then, his bed was quite too comfortable, and that comfortably annulled the thoughts of sneaking out of his room.Before she could make up her mind, Lucian's arm came over her waist, as though he had read her thoughts, and
“She was ours for the taking,” Lex ranted further.“Someone could have possibly been watching us from somewhere.” Lucian didn't want anything of that sort spreading about him. His people would possibly ask if his fortress didn't have enough room for the both of them.But then, he knew deep down within him that wasn't the main reason why he backed out from having her there and then. He couldn't care less about what the people had to say. It bothered him how much longer he could put up with the inward battle for restraint that went on within him.He wanted Anna, but then, he wanted her to give herself to him. By herself.The idea of the bargain didn't appeal to him, and he was afraid that it couldn't fill up the void that was within him. He had been searching for a mate who would be a partner and a part of everything he would ever do, and not one who would give herself to him only because of some bargain to make her stronger.But then, he was unable to deny how much he wanted her. He cr
"Yes, it's bound to be awkward," Anna replied to her wolf, as she headed towards the stream. The familiar scent of the leaves forced her to admit that it had been quite a while, and she wondered why Lucian had chosen that place for their practice. Was he trying to bring back memories? If any memories lingered, it would be that of Horace's treachery.“It's not meant to be awkward,” Ava replied to her. “He's our mate, Anna, and you should learn to embrace that and make it easier for the both of us.”She could feel her wolf leap within her as Lucian's scent soon came subtly into the air. His essence could entice anyone.“Get a grip, Ava.” Anna tried to still her wolf, which was almost in an erratic frenzy because of Lucian's presence. She wondered what Lucian's wolf looked like. “We're here to train, and not to catch any sort of feelings.”“He smells so good…” Ava's words echoed unpleasantly in Anna's head“Just stop…” Anna couldn't get herself to say how irresistible his scent was in he
“He's all yours,” Audra roared in Elsa's head.Elsa tried to restrain herself a bit more as she recalled how it had ended the other time. But he looked needy and hadn't pushed her away even though she was drawing dangerously close.‘You're smarter than that,’ Elsa reminded herself, as she wanted to wait for more cues to make her move. Lucian looked heavy, and it was just the perfect scenario, but she needed another convincing subtle go-ahead order.“You never need to worry about anything, Lucian,” she stood to her feet, calculating her woes every step of the way. “All you have to do is...” she stood behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders, and rubbing them gently, “is to look how far you have come, and all the obstacles you were able to overcome...”She felt like she could add more to that, to make him give her the cue she was desperately looking for. Her patience was running thin, as she was barely keeping herself from going all in.“Thanks...” he said, through a relaxed sigh.
“What?” Lucian could barely keep himself from teetering at those words. How could she? Why would she? Just when he had thought his happiest days had come, he was being met with such a queer request.Anna felt hesitant to repeat herself as she had spent it out the first time, but then, she had to clear him of every doubt. “I cannot be your Luna.”“What did you just say...?” Lucian felt his blood boiling through his veins at her words. Who does she think she is to make such a decision?He motioned towards her and she took nervous steps backwards. She saw the fury in his eyes and it scared her but she tried to keep calm.‘She can't possibly be serious...’ Lex stuttered in his head.“Why do you make such a request “Do you have the slightest idea of what you're demanding?” He stopped in front of her, his intimidating features towering over her.Anna gulped, “W… well, I know what exactly you're demanding, and there's no way in a blue moon that I can be your Luna or that of the Lock Heart,”
“Finally,” Lex said to him, sounding pleased and relieved.Lucian was unsure how to feel about Anna's reaction to them being mates. She was just as predictable as he had thought she was. Even though the pull was obviously gnawing at her mercilessly, she seemed to somehow hold get fort against it.“You won't have to try to put up with resisting her anymore,” his wolf went on. “That's almost the hardest thing to do. It was much harder than ending all those men Leola had betrayed you to.”But then, it was beginning to seem like the problem of trying to resist had ended, just to give way for another one. She seemed to resist him that time around. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up with that, after waiting so long to have her.“You are worried about her?”“Just a little bit,” Lucian admitted, but he wasn't going to show it in any way. Not to Anna. He recalled how badly it had gone the last time he had let his emotions get the better of him and was determined not to let anythin