Accalia-“I am not going to ask you again,” My father grumbled, his voice muffled by the bedroom door.“Unless you are willing to discuss this, I am not coming out of my room!” I yelled.“This isn’t up for discussion!” His authoritative and thunderous voice echoed through the hallway.My father has never yelled at me, so I knew that I was testing his patience. Since the day I was born, he has doted on me. No matter what I asked for, he gave in to me. I should be the one giving in to him now, but his request was over the top.“I am not going to agree to an arranged marriage.” I mumbled, knowing fully well he could hear me.“I love you, Accalia, but you can’t become the Queen without a King.” His voice softened, but his tone was still demanding.When my great-grandfather was the Alpha King, he helped establish peace with the humans. Now, humans and werewolves co-existed. Other supernatural creatures were still in the dark, but our kind overpopulated the world.Almost five hundred years
Zydan- After hanging up the phone with my parents, I crushed my phone in my hand. My assistant and best friend, Jaxon West, opened the filing cabinet on my desk and pulled out a new phone. I had a tendency to break phones, so I had a stock of them in my desk. “Why don’t you just agree to the arranged marriage?” Jaxon asked. Without answering, I grabbed the phone and programmed it. I shouldn’t have to explain why I didn’t want to be forced to marry someone because of their title. Even if I didn’t have someone in mind, I wasn’t interested in marrying someone who was spoiled and pampered. Unlike my parents, I couldn’t care less about someone's title or place in the world. “You would be able to become the Alpha King.” Jaxon said as he sat in the chair across from my desk. Glaring at him, I reached over and grabbed my stapler before throwing it at him. He caught it and returned it to the desk. I knew he was teasing me, which is why I hadn’t thrown it too hard. “Since your parents are
Accalia-It was only twenty minutes into the party, and I was already trying to plan my escape. My father forced me to follow him around the ballroom, interacting with strangers. He wanted to introduce me to everyone he saw, even if he didn’t know them.At least Alpha Hynes was keeping his distance. I spotted him the moment I entered with my father. He was sulking in the back of the room, talking to a guy with his back turned toward me. My father kept trying to make his way toward Alpha Hynes.Whenever we got close to him, Alpha Hynes maneuvered to another side of the room. I admit I was a little curious about him now because, unlike everyone else, he was the only person who wasn’t trying to win favor with my father. Maybe he was like me and didn’t want to get married.“Your daughter is beautiful.” A woman wearing a white glittering mask that didn’t match her ugly green dress said.I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. She was the tenth person to say I was beauti
Zydan-“Where the hell did she go?” I asked, but no one was around to hear me.Now frustrated, I walked up and down the hall, checking every room except the bathrooms. If Eclipse hadn’t stopped me, I would have caught up with Accalia. I didn’t know if Accalia intentionally had him block me, but I doubted it.Even if Accalia was the Alpha King's daughter, she had no power over any member of the Renegades. Maybe they knew each other, but I didn’t think that was the case. Right now, I don’t care about anything except finding and talking to Accalia.Walking back down the hall, I considered returning to the party. Perhaps she had slipped past me when I checked the other rooms and returned. Either way, I needed to talk to her. As I walked by the bathrooms, a female emerged, colliding with me. I instinctively grabbed the female before she could fall.Once I was sure she was steady on her feet, I released her. Stepping back, I looked at the girl, ready to apologize, but saw the familiar dazzl
Accalia-This man has clearly lost his mind. Who in their right mind would approach a complete stranger and tell that person to marry them? Taking a bite of chicken off the skewer in my hand, I studied him intently.His appearance looked disheveled. Either he had just come from a party and had a little too much fun, or he was simply on the verge of going crazy. His black suit was plain, without any distinguishing features. His tie was loose as if he had pulled at it out of frustration, and the top button of his white shirt was undone.The other reason he could be like this was that he was drunk, but he didn’t smell like he drowned himself in liquor. His short black hair looked as if he had rolled out of bed without combing it or running his fingers through it one too many times. When my gaze returned to his face, I couldn’t help but notice how blue his eyes were.It was almost as if I was looking into a sea of water, willing to submerge myself in its depths. His features were rugged a
Zydan-When we arrived at the apartments, I silently cursed. I owned the apartment building, so I knew how expensive each unit was. I asked Jaxon to prepare a cheap apartment with two bedrooms. Since I planned to meet with him after getting Lia settled, I was going to tear his ass a new one.“You live here?” Lia asked after I parked the car on the side of the street. “Now I am curious what you do for work.” Her head was tilted back as she looked up at the twenty-two-story building.I hadn’t planned to reveal my identity or that I was a billionaire. Closing the door to my car, I walked around without saying a word. After stepping onto the sidewalk and moving next to her, I had a reasonable excuse in mind that hopefully would satisfy her curiosity.“I am just an assistant, and the company I work for owns this building.” It wasn’t a complete lie since I owned the company.“You must have a killer dental plan.” Lia laughed.Her laughter sucked the air out of me for a moment, and I couldn’t
Accalia-Returning to my room, I fling myself on the oversized bed. Belly flopping on the bed, I laughed and kicked my legs a few times before rolling onto my back. Sighing, I gaze up at the ceiling. It slowly dawned on me that this would be the same ceiling I would look at for the following year.I don’t know what made me agree to marry someone I had just met, let alone move in with them. If my father got wind of this, there would be no telling what he might do. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got remarried and had another child just to spite me.I considered for a moment but shook my head. After my mother died, giving birth to me, he refused to be with anyone else. I often tried to get him to move on, but he always said the same thing.“Your mother was the light of my life, and I will never love anyone the way I loved her. When my time is over, I will be by her side for all of eternity.” He said every time I tried telling him to try dating.Seeing the love he had for my mother, even t
Accalia-Monday morning, I walked out of City Hall with Zy. I never had a chance to look at the marriage certificate, as Zy said he would hold onto it. We haven’t signed a contract yet either, but it didn’t matter because we had a verbal agreement.“I can’t stay long because I need to go to work soon, but why don’t I take you shopping to get everything you need?” Zy asked as we came down the stairs.I considered letting him take me shopping, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend alone time with him. This was the first time we had seen each other since the night I moved in with him. When I woke up to see my father, he hadn’t been awake. When I returned later that night, he wasn’t home.When I got up this morning, he left a note on the kitchen counter informing me to meet him at City Hall. I also planned to go shopping with Silica today to get a few things I needed and a few other things to help the apartment feel homier.“You don’t need to worry about that. I planned to go shopping wi
Accalia-“I already told you that whenever you are ready, I was willing. All you need to do is say the word. I know you wanted to wait to become Alpha Queen, so there is no rush. I will wait until you are ready.”My smile widened. “I am ready now.”Zydan’s face paled, and I wondered if he had second thoughts about marrying me. “Wait. Are you serious?”“I have never been more serious.” I nodded. “I realized that while I was going through all my memories again, I have always focused on what mattered to me and what I wanted. I thought I was making the right decision by waiting until my project was complete and becoming Alpha Queen before marrying you again. I now understand that when I get married was never important. Even if I am married, I can still abolish the marriage law for the future generations.”“Then when do you want to get married?” Zydan smiled, and excitement sparkled in his eyes.“Now.” I stated bluntly.“What about the wedding?” My father asked when Zydan threw my covers o
Accalia-Ow, my head, I thought as I started to wake up. Opening my eyes, I took in my surroundings but didn’t recognize where I was. I was lying on a large bed with a dark purple comforter and black sheets. I also wasn’t alone in the room.The person sitting on the edge of the bed was looking at his phone and not me, so I tried not to move. I didn’t recognize the man, so I didn’t want to make sudden movements until I knew the situation. I was oddly familiar with the man and the room but couldn’t remember anything.“Good, you are awake.” A voice I didn’t recognize spoke as someone I didn’t recognize walked to the side of the bed where the man was sitting.“How are you feeling?” The man, who had been preoccupied with his phone, quickly turned on the bed to look at me.Without a word, I slowly sat up and flinched when the man tried to help me. He took his hand back, but the look in his eyes was filled with pain. Sitting on the bed, I rested my back on the headboard and continued looking
Zydan-Rolling to my side, I avoid Shaw’s attack, but it takes a moment for me to get onto my feet. My ears rang from the hit he delivered when I put myself between him and Lia. Once I was on my feet, I prepared myself for another attack.A sudden burst of energy erupted around me, and it took me a moment to understand that it was Lia’s wolf. Since I was between her and Shaw, I witnessed the moment Shaw was hit with a small lightning bolt. It zapped him but didn’t seem to do any harm.When Shaw’s attention moved past me, I realized she had only used enough of a shock to get his attention. Turning my attention to Lia, I witnessed her transformation into a black wolf with the most captivating violet eyes I have ever seen. It wasn’t until now that I realized this was the first time I had seen her wolf.More than that, Lia’s wolf, Akira, had purple streaks of lightning swarming her as if caressing the fur on her body. The power that rolled off her was nearly ten times more intense than in
Accalia-Staring at the computer in a trance, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It has been two weeks since I sent Arielle and the other test subjects out. I thought it would take more time to determine the results from the final phase, but the indicators on the screen didn’t lie.The full moon was three days ago, and every test subject had maintained excellent results. I could have ended the final testing a week ago, but I put it off until after the full moon. I wanted to be sure there weren’t any issues. For the first time since I began the project, I felt as if a lot of pressure lifted from my shoulders.“Is something wrong?” Emily’s voice pulled me from my trance.“We did it.” I mumbled without taking my eyes off the computer screen.“Seriously?” Emily asked and then shoved me to the side so she could look at the computer. “I don’t understand this stuff, but the indicators are the best I have seen.”“We did it.” I repeated as if I needed more confirmation.Suddenly, I jumped out of my ch
Zydan-Upon returning to the lab, I watched helplessly as Lia became busy again. It wasn’t like before. This time, it was as if she needed to keep herself busy in order to survive. Every time I tried to approach her, she would move on to her next task.When the volunteers Darnell sent to us arrived, it took away more of her freedom. I tried to help her, but there wasn’t much for me to do. Everyone was working hard to speed up the research results. Over the course of three weeks, we went from only having Arielle as a volunteer to having twenty more.We tried to see if the results from Arielle’s implant would be the same without the full moon. After the second volunteer was implanted and was able to shift and have the same results as Arielle, they continued implanting more volunteers. I couldn’t begin to understand what was going on with Lia or why she was pushing herself too hard, but I knew I couldn’t do much to help.I had a feeling it had much to do with the pressure she was under a
Accalia-“Forgive me! I didn’t know.” The man who had greeted us when we arrived said.Shaking my head, I smiled and turned to face him. “It has been a while since I have been here, and although my identity is no longer a secret, not everyone knows who I am.”“I still should have sensed you.” The man kept his attention on his feet, with his head bowed.“I was severely injured recently, so my wolf is resting.” I stepped forward and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Seriously, it is no big deal.” I dropped my hand when he lifted his head.“Well, now that you are here, I will report the most recent developments. I assume you were at the Kenyon residence?” He asked, and I nodded in response.“The members who went after the attackers just reported back.” The man continued as I turned to open the office door so that we could discuss things in private.He stopped talking long enough to sit on a chair across from my desk. Instead of sitting, I leaned against the desk, resting my hip on the edg
Zydan-When the fire finally started disappearing, I was overjoyed. No longer feeling the need to keep spraying the house, I rushed forward to help Lia. The fire wasn’t completely out, but the majority of it was, other than a few small areas. The biggest issue now is the smoke.As I ran toward the house, I saw a group of people gathered, anxiously looking at the house. It looked like they were all inside the fire, meaning Lia had helped them escape. Looking around, I hoped to see Lia, but she wasn’t in the crowd.“Where is Lia?” I asked the couple huddled together, leaning on each other for support.“She went inside to save my son!” The man said, who I recognized as Darrion Kenyon’s father.“She is still inside?” My eyes quickly moved to the house, and fear plunged into me, nearly suffocating me.Even if the fire wasn’t as bad, it was still dangerous. With how many she had already saved, I assumed her wolf was reaching its limits. I tried to sense her, but the signal was weak. Without
Accalia-“What is going on?” I asked as I glanced at Zydan.“I don’t have time to explain, but we need your help. We are under attack!” Darrion yelled, and not even a second later, I heard a crash, followed by the call being disconnected.I rushed into the lab and quickly informed Emily that I needed to leave. “What is wrong?” She asked.“I don’t know, but I believe the Kenyon family is under attack. Darrion called me, and it sounds urgent. Due to their distance, I have no choice but to go myself. Can you handle things until I return?”“Don’t worry about things here. I will take care of them. We have more than enough staff.”“Thank you!” I turned away from her to talk to the tech team and saw Jason.Although he wasn’t always in the lab, he was the one person I knew who could handle things on a technical level until I returned. I barely took two steps before he yelled out to me.“Don’t worry, I got it from here. You take care of whatever you need to.”Nodding my head, I turned to leave
Accalia-“Arielle told me what happened with everyone after I fell asleep.” I twisted in my seat to look at Zydan.“I admit that I have let my thoughts run wild. There are times I feel as if I am not worthy of you. I feel I haven’t contributed enough when I see how hard you work. If I had done more, you wouldn’t be working yourself so hard.” His focus remained on the road as he spoke.“You know, I couldn’t do half of the things I can do if it weren’t for you and everyone around me.” I smiled as I took his free hand in mine.“You are the future Queen, the leader of the Renegades, and in charge of a project that can change the world.”“My identity doesn’t define me. I might be the future Queen, but that has much to do with who my parents are. It isn’t like I came from nothing and worked my way up to that point. As far as being the leader of the Renegades, you have a huge part to play in that.”“What do you mean?” Zydan glanced in my direction briefly before focusing on the road.“When I