It was time for me to see Selena.I had told Conrad where I was headed, another submissive ploy at getting him to trust me.“Are you sure you’re ready to see her after all this while? After you left, she was heartbroken. She barely left the house. I had to send some of the soldiers to check in on her.”Ever since I left? Of course he would word it like that. He would refuse to take responsibility. At least he had the decency to see Selena through it. I wondered how angry she must have been at him.“I’ll be fine, Conrad.” I nodded, waving him goodbye as I walked out into the street.It was almost as easy to shake everyone’s stares and whispers as it was before. The only thing I found uncomfortable was not knowing what they were saying, this time. The announcement of the mating ceremony had been passed two days ago, right after Conrad had proposed.I now had three days to make my mark in Conrad’s heart and head, enough for him to not change his mind about the ceremony. I also had
I was out of the bed before Ferra could reach me, but that didn’t stop her acceleration. She swung once at me, which I dodged before Conrad could restrain her.“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?” she screamed at me as Conrad tried to talk her out of it, pulling her as far away from me as possible.“Ferra, I need you to take a deep breath. This isn’t healthy for—”“I don’t care, Conrad! Now you act like you care!?” She thrashed roughly in his arms, futilely attempting to escape from his hold. “How dare you tell me what’s healthy and what’s not healthy when you go ahead and announce to the whole pack that you’re having a mating ceremony with her!?”A slight feeling of triumph crossed me. I never paid much mind to how Ferra would react to the news, but her reaction in that moment was playing out in my favor. She would try to scratch at me and hunt me and I would stand there, shaking with my tail between my legs because I didn’t mean to hurt her.Just perfect.“Ferra, I don’t—”“You don’t g
“RUN!” My wolf howled at me, her voice almost splitting my head in half from the inside. I wanted to oblige. I mean, who wouldn’t want to run when an Alpha’s wolf was running toward them, ready to tear them apart?My feet were glued to the ground as I watched my mate approach me, a murderous intent in his eyes. Today would be the day he’d kill me. It was all my fault. I deserved it. I couldn’t run.I was a murderer, after all. A traitor.A crushing force had me on my back, the air knocked out of my lungs. I didn’t want to make an attempt at breathing, but an instinctive gasp escaped my lips.It took everything in me to stop myself from struggling as he sat on me, suffocating me. That was the easiest way he could kill his mate, and I accepted it.Tears flowed out of my eyes. Maybe I deserved to die, but not our child. He didn’t know he was killing his child, as well. Would that change a thing if he knew? Would he even want the child?To test the theory, I pushed through our mind
One Year Ago. “Athena!” Selena’s voice pierced through the thin walls of our home. I would never understand why she yelled when even the sound of a pin-drop could be heard from anywhere. “Yes, Selena?” I called out softly. I heard her marching up to the attic, where I did most of my sketches and paintings. The attic had the best view of the stream behind our house, so I figured it would be the best place for motivation. It was. She climbed up the ladder leading to the attic and shook her head with a sigh as she sighted me. I was huddled up in front of the window. It was cold, but I was making a sketch of the stream. I wasn’t done just yet. “What are you doing here, all by yourself?” Her voice was soft and smooth, like velvet, when she didn’t yell. She had the kindest eyes I had ever seen. Take it from me, since not a lot of people looked at me kindly. “I’m always here, all by myself,” I giggled as she sat beside me. She shut the window, eliciting a frown from me. “I was sketchin
“Do you even know what you’re talking about? The Alpha’s birthday party? Absolutely not!” I heard the finality. She was never letting me go. I expelled a sigh and nodded. “I understand.” Her eyes softened. “I’m doing this for your own good. You don’t know what happens at those kinds of places. They’ll talk down on you.” “You’re not going, are you?” I questioned, making sure. I didn’t want to have a run-in with her when I snuck out. “I don’t want to.” She shook her head. “I won’t go, then.” I smiled at her, making sure to hide any sign of deceit.We spent the entire day binge-watching the Twilight series, just how I liked to spend birthdays. Selena always complained about how the werewolf didn’t get the girl, but it didn’t matter to me. It was Bella’s choice. “Aw, come on. I bet she wouldn’t have suffered this much—” “If she had ended up with Jacob, you say that every single time we reach the birth scene.” I giggled, kissing her cheeks. I held her tighter each time there was a
Mate? I couldn’t have one just yet. My mate was an Alpha. I was an Omega. Was that some sort of a sick joke? He never took his eyes off of me as he descended the stairs. People started to notice. They were now paying attention to me. I finally found a way out of my daze and turned, running away. It took everything in me to do that, for two major reasons; one, I was running away from the Alpha who was apparently my mate. Two, I was running in a long dress and heels. After falling and scraping myself a whole lot, I finally got home and slammed the door behind me. I slid down with my back against the door as tears rolled down my cheeks. I was not ready. I wasn’t ready to leave Selena. I also wasn’t ready to be without my mate, especially now that I knew I had one. How could I be mated to an Alpha? Omegas were the weakest link in the rank, and the Alphas… Well, everyone knew who the Alphas were. When I asked for the moon goddess to be with me, that was the complete opposite of what
I sat in the kitchen, watching and waiting. His footsteps pounded closer, my heart beating in sync with it. Selena was behind him. I could almost smell her worry. Now, he was standing right behind me. It would be embarrassing if he could smell my arousal. I knew he could. I just hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t acknowledge it. Not in front of Selena, at least. “Stand.” It was not a request. Far from it, even. I stood, my legs pulsing as I struggled to maintain balance. He walked toward where I stood, now in front of me, his eyes assessing me like a predator would its prey. Now that I thought about it, we were more predator and prey than mates. “If you have anything important you would like to take with you, now would be the right time for it. Fifteen minutes.” He set a time, his eyes keeping a record of every movement, every twitch my body made. I hurried out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my room, the first and only things on my mind being my art supplies.With shaky hands,
Half shifted. I was still standing on my two feet, but my body was full of hair and my claws were bared. I was as confused at my form as I was fearful of my mate. As soon as I had slashed him across the face, he had shifted. Now, all three wolves were growling at me. What shocked me the most was how Raya was not willing to back down. She growled back at all three of them. I was still trying hard to take full control, but it was to no avail. A heavy weight pushed me to the ground. Ferra’s wolf snarled at me as she tried to bite into my skin, but I managed to fight back and push her off of me. Frazier came next, his grey wolf larger than Ferra’s. Before he could reach me, though, Conrad’s wolf was in front of me. He growled at Frazier, causing Frazier to whimper and back off. Ferra shifted back into her human form, naked and flawless. Her red hair cascaded down her back as she approached me and Conrad. “Whose side are you on, Conrad?” she snapped at him, staring his wolf down. His
I was out of the bed before Ferra could reach me, but that didn’t stop her acceleration. She swung once at me, which I dodged before Conrad could restrain her.“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?” she screamed at me as Conrad tried to talk her out of it, pulling her as far away from me as possible.“Ferra, I need you to take a deep breath. This isn’t healthy for—”“I don’t care, Conrad! Now you act like you care!?” She thrashed roughly in his arms, futilely attempting to escape from his hold. “How dare you tell me what’s healthy and what’s not healthy when you go ahead and announce to the whole pack that you’re having a mating ceremony with her!?”A slight feeling of triumph crossed me. I never paid much mind to how Ferra would react to the news, but her reaction in that moment was playing out in my favor. She would try to scratch at me and hunt me and I would stand there, shaking with my tail between my legs because I didn’t mean to hurt her.Just perfect.“Ferra, I don’t—”“You don’t g
It was time for me to see Selena.I had told Conrad where I was headed, another submissive ploy at getting him to trust me.“Are you sure you’re ready to see her after all this while? After you left, she was heartbroken. She barely left the house. I had to send some of the soldiers to check in on her.”Ever since I left? Of course he would word it like that. He would refuse to take responsibility. At least he had the decency to see Selena through it. I wondered how angry she must have been at him.“I’ll be fine, Conrad.” I nodded, waving him goodbye as I walked out into the street.It was almost as easy to shake everyone’s stares and whispers as it was before. The only thing I found uncomfortable was not knowing what they were saying, this time. The announcement of the mating ceremony had been passed two days ago, right after Conrad had proposed.I now had three days to make my mark in Conrad’s heart and head, enough for him to not change his mind about the ceremony. I also had
For some reason, Ferra’s words were not registering properly in my head. I was aware of what she had said, but the disbelief clung to me like a parasite. My mind was rejecting it, begging for it to be untrue.Ferra couldn’t be pregnant.I felt a kick in my stomach, queasiness following. I felt sick. Was I heaving? I was heaving.“Athena—”“You’re pregnant?” I cut Conrad off, staring at Ferra. I knew she was not lying. She would not lie about something like that, right?“Over six weeks gone,” she confirmed, never taking her eyes off Conrad as she said it as if daring him to say anything in his defence. “Since you know how fast werewolves give birth, you should know the heir to the pack is arriving soon. I advice you to return to wherever it was you came from.”I dropped the brush in my hand, taking shaky breaths in and out as I looked out through the window at the scene whose beauty they had destroyed for me.This was supposed to be a good thing. I was supposed to take this news
I had watched a lot of movies with different depictions and descriptions of what heaven looked and felt like. Some said it was a long, endless path of gold. Others said it was nothing but white with angels and your loved ones all around you.Now, I believed everyone had a different experience of heaven. My heaven was far different from white clouds and golden gates.My heaven was the coolness of my being the minute Conrad kissed me. It was the little sounds of approval he made whenever I did something right, like lightly tugging at his hair and pulling him closer.The heat within my bones was replaced by the rush of immense pleasure flowing through my veins in response to him.This was my heaven.“Athena,” he gasped as our lips finally disconnected. “We can’t go any further. I don’t want you doing things you’ll regret later.”“I won’t regret a thing, Conrad,” I assured, but he wasn’t convinced.“When you’re ready. For now, I want you to tell me everything Deimos did to you in f
I would stab Conrad straight in the heart.Deimos’ words played on loop in the back of my mind. Earn Conrad’s trust, give Deimos information on Conrad, stab Conrad.After everything I had come to learn that Conrad did to me, the whole idea should have appealed to me. I searched inside myself for the elation from the image of holding a knife right above Conrad’s chest, the look of shock on his face followed by realization.Nothing.I was not a murderer.Even when Frazier died by my hands, I still found it hard to believe. Besides, I was out of it when it happened. It may have been my last resort and it was out of self-defense.What excuse could I come up with if I succeeded in killing Conrad? It would be more of an act of revenge more than it was an act of self-defense.Was revenge worth killing a person over?For his revenge, he exiled me. He didn’t hold a knife to my throat for killing his Beta. Then again, he called for a fight to the death match so exiling me for winning a
I didn’t know everything I felt. I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. It had been a week since I found out the truth and cleared my doubts.I had been ripped away from my home and cast aside like a useless rag. Nobody would come for me. Even if Selena wanted to, she would most likely be exiled. I didn’t think she would want to sacrifice that much for me, especially since we had fought over something I didn’t remember.One thing I knew for sure was that I was angry.Angry at Frazier for challenging me to a fight. Angry at myself for not knowing how I had killed him. Angry at Ferra for every single thing she did and said ever since I met her. Angry at Conrad for simply existing.The one person I wasn’t angry at was the man standing in front of me with a punching bag, encouraging me to throw a heavy punch – Deimos.He made no attempt at quelling my anger or trying to make me understand his brother’s point of view. In fact, he fuelled it even further.“I just don’t understand!
The sun was setting when I opened my eyes again. I was in the softest bed I had ever been on in a long time, an equally soft blanket covering me. For a minute, I imagined I was dead and that I was in heaven. I half-expected the Moon Goddess to walk in.The door opened, but it wasn’t the Moon Goddess. I turned and found Deimos walking towards me with a tray of food. The aroma wafted through my nostrils, making me sit up.“You’ve been out for quite a while now,” he said, setting the tray on my legs. “Crêpes and freshly juiced oranges.”“Thank you.” I smiled at him as I dug in, only realizing how hungry I was when I had the first bite.“What happened to me?” I inquired.“We were training. You were learning how to climb up the ropes when you fell. You hit your head very badly, but you’re fine now.” My hand instinctively went to my head to feel it, but there was no pain.“My head feels fine,” I commented, going back to the crepes and making sure to chew properly to avoid choking.“W
It took just a few minutes of staying in Selenoid to know how different it was from Crimson pack. They were like day and night, cold and heat, happiness and sadness – very easy to tell apart.It was very obvious Selenoid was technologically advanced, while Crimson pack chose to do things the traditional way. In Crimson pack, a selected number of people would be chosen to be warriors after vigorous training. Here in Selenoid, everyone was a warrior and trained as equally as possible from the age of sixteen, even the Omegas.Everyone treated everyone else as an equal. Levels of strength didn’t matter here.They recognized me as their Luna.I didn’t know how everyone seemed to recognize me when I just arrived about one day ago, but I didn’t miss the subtle bows they sent my way whenever they saw me, not minding how rough I looked with damp hair and a bodysuit.“Good day, Luna,” they would say, either staring at me with bright smiles or avoiding eye contact.It felt great.It made
One of two things had happened: Time was frozen, or I was frozen in time.I stared at Deimos, waiting for him to laugh and tell me he was testing out a joke on me, looking to see how I would react. He did not.I was not frozen in time. Time was not frozen. My legs carried me backwards, keeping me going until my back hit a flat surface behind me that wouldn’t budge. There was nothing but air and a few feet separating me and him now.“You can’t possibly be serious,” I said with a disbelieving shake of my head. “I’m your brother’s mate, remember? Conrad’s mate—”“Yes, I understand that. And that, precisely, is why you’re also my mate.” I didn’t understand. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I didn’t want to say anything that would prompt him to explain it to me.“Athena—”“Don’t. I don’t want to hear it.” Not yet. Maybe not ever.“You actually do have to listen to me at some point. I suggest you get the whole thing explained to you now, to get things over with.” He shoved his hands in his