Aralyn's POV
-Two months after the battle-"Marcellus Riggs, I hate you! Have you heard me, you motherfucker?! I hope you will live for eternity and watch everything you hold dear rot in Hell in slow and excruciating pain. You twisted piece of shit." I screamed at the top of my lungs while his face remained dreadfully expressionless.My memories drifted away back to the day of battle between Sentaya and Malleteagan and to the feeling of relief that rippled through me when Lycans were defeated, and they started to retreat.But…sense of urgency and horror replaced the relief momentarily when Hades' army started to surge into the battlefield. A whiff of massacred Lycans wafted to Hades himself. He wanted strong Lycan servants in his army, the ones of souls untouched and untainted by Sentaya and Denexus, so he could have them malleable and under his thumb with no leverage, nuisance or obstructions.And under the pecking order of Soovare underworld, Wengarthria, as the centre of hell, has priority in picking and choosing the souls over Oribus. Sentaya found that very annoying, but she could not dispute Lord of Hell or his son Marcellus, who was also his right hand.That means that the souls of Lycans would be taken in Wengarthria as leverage. Lycans, new Wengarthrian servants, will be blackmailed to do Hell’s most sinister and perverse errands in a bid to get their souls back. Sentaya's serene face with a barely noticeable smirk is now long gone. She went berserk, although she tried to mask this. She knew confrontation with Hades would not be as swift and smooth as with Malleteagan. It would be futile. They are fighting with the same weapons and forces. They are fighting with the dark magic, necromancy and energy of forsaken souls. At the same time, Malleteagan has no dark magic in him but only white magic. Also, Malleteagan fights with physical brutality and strength, rarely with magic.However, only dark magic can affect Sentaya and her forsaken in the battle, not brute force. Yet, her predicament underlies in the fact that Hades had the same black necromancing magic of forsaken souls of the underworld as she did. But he had a significant advantage on his side-he was the lord of the underworld realm.With a grunt and groan, she had to let his minions harvest the Lycans to the deepest pits of his inferno.Malleteagan‘s POV-Back to the present, two days after the battle.-Odium perdet Endymionis primogenitum sanguineum. Hora mortis eius non cognoscetur donec amor deiectus ex cinere non resurgat et radicem eius frangat, sanguis odii sanguinem quaerit et manu amoris ductus effunditur.I woke up from my worst nightmare with the loudest gasp and scream that felt like I was taking the last breaths to pump into my lungs. I dreamt about fucking Aralyn and prophecy again. Her deceased whore of a mother that I strangled with my bare hands, then bit her head off with my teeth and ripped her heart out, was repeating those fucking words in my head. She scribbled them with her bloody finger on the wall of some fucking cell, and Aralyn was lying in there shackled and lifeless. Fucking Larissa looked as if I had not killed her at all, apart from fingers that oozed her blood and magic as she scribbled on the cell wall. She turned around and looked at me with her signature annoying smirk on her face. Five years since I squeezed the fucking life out of her. For five fucking years, she has been haunting me in my dreams. Every fucking night. Bloody nightmares became even more vivid after Larissa’s death.The nightmares I had before while I was chasing Larissa and Aralyn for 13 fucking years now seem like a rom-com. I have asked for answers to this fucking riddle. I went across the realms and sought the best mages and prophets. I have been looking for an explanation for over 18 years now. More than 18 fucking years have passed since I spent that one dammed night with that fucking bitch Larissa. That night, I thought I had met my destined mate, and I just submitted to her…with my body and soul. I mated with her, overstepping my own boundaries and rules that I set for my Lycans. Since the last battle of Amaralva, between the Thessalian and Aeolian tribes, no Lycan was allowed to mate with anyone else apart from Lycans. Those who wish to be mated with non-Lycans must turn their mates to Lycans, or they will be banished.And, yet, I fell under the spell of Larrissa, the damned Thesalian witch, the bastard child of Noosha. She rejected me when I asked her to allow me to turn her into a Lycan.Still, I had nevertheless mated with her in the hope that she would allow me to mark her sooner or later. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of my end. I woke up next to the Goddess of ethereal beauty. But I was frazzled. While slut slept peacefully, I was lifted in the air and struck by a black thunder of magic that struck my eyes. It slivered, rippled and sifted into me, causing the blood-shattering and all-encompassing pain. It choked me, and I gasped for air. The cacophony of demonic voices whispered: “Don’t worry, firstborn of Selene and Endymion, you will not die so soon. Our master would never allow it, not before you have served your punishment for this sacrilegious theft.” the voice then cackled, and soon everything fell silent.The only sounds I could hear were rhythmic breaths of my fated mate, who was still sleeping and the sound of my joints shattering and dislocating while fur spurted across my skin.But beneath the fur, an inscription of the curse rippled across my arms, illuminated in moonlight haze. My teeth elongated, and my fingers morphed into paws, now decorated with massive talons. Atrocious pain echoed through my body, and this magic that surged in me forced the shift of my Lycan. It ached worse than when I shifted for the first time over a millennia ago. I don’t know why, but this shifting hurt as fuck. Is it because this shift was sort of magic craft ridden or what? Did she do this to me? I turned around and looked at her.Larissa was still asleep, but she whispered those Ill-fated words of the curse on repeat. She is the one who made me a beast, while I wanted to give her the world. I lunged towards her and was about to tear her apart before she gasped loudly, grasping the air. She robotically opened her eyes, but her eyes looked nothing like they did a few hours ago. Her emerald eyes were obsidian black fog. I have seen this already somewhere. This reminds me of someone, but I can’t seem to remember whom. She looked absentmindedly with these dreadful eyes to an undefined point on the ceiling. Before I managed to rip her apart for casting a curse on me, she vanished in the thick black fog. I was left alone in this beast-like state.Since then, I have gone through thick and thin and across the world looking for an answer on how to break the curse.I was explained that those cursed words translated to:The hatred will destroy the bloodline of Endymion’s firstborn. Its death hour will not be known until wilted love does not rise from ashes, and until it is not shattered to its root, blood seeks blood, and blood of hatred is to be spilt.I was told that the curse would be broken once I spill the blood of Larissa and her firstborn-Aralyn.And I have been chasing this little bitch for five years now, since slaughtering that slut of her mother. "I hate this bitch. Will I ever get my claws to rip her bloody heart from her body". I murmured under my breath, still trying to regain control after the bloody nightmare. Same shit every night.Back to reality. I turned around just to find some insignificant woman next to me. I looked at the nameless bitch from last night, who was still sleeping, tangled around my waist like a fucking snake. "Get the fuck out of here" I punched her in the ribs, and she woke up knocked out of bed with a loud gasp that mimicked mine from a few minutes ago. Her stupid eyes were filled with pain, fright and surprise. She made her fucking ass scarce in a split second and scrammed, sauntering through pain, hopefully with few ribs broken, just as a reminder to not get her hopes up that she is anything else but a current plaything. I am certainly not making the mistake that I did with Larisa. Ever again. “Well, slut, you were just a bed warmer and cum bucket. Now get the fuck out.” I yelled after that no-named nobody. I scoffed. What does she think, that I will marry her…or what, I thought to myself with a chuckle.But forget about that. The whore from last night is irrelevant. I must focus on what matters. I must get rid of the whores spawn. I need to extinguish the life of that little bastard child and quickly. She is haunting me the same way her gut-wrenching mother did. We are on our way back to Nerzelis, my piece of peace under the sun, where I can let this beast locked in me loiter freely. I hate him. Erzelus, my Lycan, is a constant reminder of how this Thessalian wix from Lapiths fucked me up. Erzelus was somewhat tameable before she tainted him with her magic. If that night of weakness hadn't happened, I would not be in this plight now.So many of my people gave their lives yesterday. They died because this witch fucked me up years ago. It was just one night that I submitted to her seduction.Oh my God, that pussy was so sweet, as a fucking nectar, I just couldn't resist. And now what? I am cursed to be a beast for eternity. People are dying because I was too weak to resist dipping my bloody wick in the illegitimate daughter of Noosha and Arcanus. Arcanus is more or less harmless. He is a warlock king from the Thessalian tribe of Lapiths in Larissa.However, I am the grandson of Calice and Vendelle, a royal couple of Aeolian warlocks. So Arcanus is not a serious rival, but Hades' wife Noosha, now that is the force you don't mess with. And I have messed with her fucking daughter, and now I am paying the price. Fucking Noosha and her curse. Or is it Noosha’s curse? Fuck, the Thessalian bitch is dead, and she is still haunting me. I punched and tossed the tray with different crap they brought me for breakfast and got up.I went out of the tent to see my army, to assess the damage from the clash with fucking Sentaya."Omar, debrief", I commanded."326 Lycans dead and left at Oribus, my king, 29 from elite warriors team, others from A team of warriors. 98 Lycans from different teams are wounded, four critically. Healers are dealing with them. They say that they will be able to heal them, but it will take a while for them to recover. Healers are unsure if there would be any permanent consequences to their health, though. Beta, Gamma and Delta are not wounded, Sir." Omar said."Thank you, Omar. Keep me posted on critically wounded," I said."Will do, Alpha", he said and left me alone in the camp.Two more days to get back to Nerzelis, and we will regroup and re-strategise. I need to find a way to get a hold of that fucking bitch of my daughter and squeeze the living shit out of her. I need to break this curse.Aralyn POV-The day of the Oribus battle-***Trigger warning: scenes of physical and emotional abuse***"Where are you, little mouse? You can get out of your hole. The danger is gone."I trusted her, and that was a mistake.Well, blame me for being stupid. She warned me over five years ago that I shall trust no one. I came out and saw the absolute havoc in front of me. Hades' army came scything and harvesting everything on their way. They have picked up the corpses of fallen Lycans in front of the pissed-off Sentaya. She looked calm, but you could feel the scorching anger boiling behind lifeless pits that were her eerie eyes. I looked at the army and felt like my heartbeat had stopped entirely. I had heard stories about him when I eavesdropped on the chats between Sentaya and Denexus. Still, I never actually saw him until today. Hades' army was led by Marcellus Riggs. Rumour has it that he is Hades’ illegitimate son. He looked at me as if he saw through the cloaking spell that Senta
Aralyn’s POV ***Trigger Warning: scenes of physical violence and emotional abuse “Good morning, sunshine”, I heard a voice in close proximity before I felt water spill on me from a barrel. Silver shackles on my wrists and ankles were biting my skin viciously already. Water mixed with what smelled like wolfsbane made every inch of my tormented body sizzle and burn. The pain was unbearable. His minions laughed sinisterly. Then Marcellus came closer and grabbed my hair in a movement that felt like he was about to rip my scalp off. That tug forced me to lift my head and look straight into his face. And fuck, did he look good-that, crazy voice in my head again. What’s going on with me? I should have been mortified by the Satan that was holding my scalp in a gut-wrenching grip. Instead, I was looking at a few messy, stubborn, auburn locks which faded to a warm honey shade on their ends while they ran away from his neatly styled hair and formed almost a halo around his strong an
Aralyn’s POV ***Trigger Warning: scenes of physical violence and emotional abuse. I have the same nightmare again. It was about her. Mother. Oh Goddess, how I miss her. This nightmare seems to just be on repeat, over and over again. Every time I close my eyes, it becomes more vivid. This started to happen since I was in Wengarthria. In my nightmare, I see the fight between my parents and the moment when my… Malleteagan…rips my mother's head off and pulls her heart out. I see him eating her heart, looking at me. Then, his face morphs into Marcellus. I am trying to run away, but I can’t make it this time. He catches me, and we are in Wengartria again. His beasts torture me again in that cell. Then he stomps over me and starts to rip my limbs from my body. Finally, he decapitates me and rips my heart out. Then I hear those curse words and wake up. This happens over and over again every time as if I were in some endless Groundhog Day hell-loop. I am afraid to slee
Aralyn’s POV ***Triggering content: scenes of physical and emotional abuse Travelling from the white room to wherever the dungeons were was not long. I squinted to adapt to the darkness of that bloody dungeon. My hands were tied behind my back. I was in a kneeling position with legs as well tied around my ankles. Marcellus was just in front of my face. While he looked straight into my eyes with his now obsidian pits, which replaced his steely grey eyes, shivers went down my spine. With a dreadfully low and calm voice, he asked me: “Will you eat?” He emphasised every word with his eerily quiet voice, and his luscious mint scent wafted to me. I felt sweat protruding to my skin along with primaeval and raw fear of him. My anxiety and fear of the devil before me, coupled with a sore and dry throat, rendered me unable to form a sound. I looked at him, trying to open my mouth to form a word, but I couldn’t. He furiously pivoted and side-kicked me directly to my barely recovered jaw, dis
Aralyn’s POV I woke up in that bloody white room again. Luckily, no one is around. But fuck my luck. I am strapped with silver shackles again. I looked at my hands, and apart from a few almost-healed bruises, I looked as if nothing had happened. Oh God, don’t tell me I was out for a few weeks again? I tried to move my jaw, and it worked amazingly, as though it wasn’t broken two times in the past few weeks. Is this the Lycan healing at work? I know I was a mushed mess of meat and broken bones when I was awake last time. I was lashed, scalding “soup” was poured down my throat, my whipped body was dipped in wolfsbane, and then I was beaten to the pulp when I was conscious last time. Now, my body looks as though I was on a spa holiday. Whatever, as long as I am alive and healthy, and as long as I can find a way to get myself lost from this fucking mess. I remember hearing Sentaya’s voice when I was out, but I can’t remember what she said. If I manage to get myself out of here, I will go
Naevres POV“Fuck! No! Bitch!” I screamed after her. I stupidly believed her. I could feel unknown magic before hearing the brief commotion and those very words: “Fuck you, Marcellus, fuck you, Wengarthria. See you never again.” The bitch fucked me up. I believed her, and she signed my death sentence without even thinking of the consequences of what will happen to those who stayed here after her escape. Marcellus will have my balls fried for this. He had acted overly strange since she was dropped off in the dungeons weeks ago. He was babbling about unresolved childhood issues and vendetta occasionally when someone mentioned her. Still, I felt like there was way more behind this. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something is fishy here. Well, either way, I am dead meat.What a fuck am I going to do now? Shall I try to escape too? Fuck no, with his abilities, Marcellus would find me in one breath, and when he would, I would be in an even more fucked up position than I already am.“
Aralyn’s POV “I am Nethanaiah of Charterwallis, one of the elder mages of the land of faes. I mean no harm, especially not to the daughter of Malleteagan and Larissa,” she said, watching me with bright citrine eyes. Her eyes sparkled like the eyes of an owl on this gloomy night. Platinum blonde hair falling on her shoulders carelessly made her look angelic.“How do you know who I am? Where am I?”“I can smell your father's magic blood running through your veins,” she said, and I cringed. “I can also smell your Lycan, powerful, primaeval and of the royal bloodline, sitting in the pits of your mind waiting to awake for the first time. She will be awakened tonight. So, to answer your question, it is not hard to put two and two together, Aralyn, especially when you are an ancient, almost primordial mage like I am. In these many centuries that passed by, I have seen it all. There are not many stones that I have left unturned and not many things that I haven’t seen. There are no many thin
Aralyn POV I woke up in a charming little cottage near the lake where Merlius beat the shit out of me. I have heard Merlius and Nethanaiah trying to whisper in the distance. Probably to not wake me up. “You have to control your Lycan, Merlius. You could have killed her. I thought you could help her understand her Lycan side as I cannot help her with that, but now I am not so sure anymore. You cannot control even your own Lycan. How will you be able to help her then?” she scolded, and he hung his head low, eye cast down as a little boy who was embarrassed after being scolded by his parents. They were sweet.“Sorry, sweets”, he sighed and kissed her forehead. ”look, I went out of my mind when I sensed your scent on her, and she did not smell like a rogue but did not smell as if she belonged to a pack either. And then your scent all over her was enough to make my Lycan go bat-shit crazy….” he sighed and continued. “I did not even register that this was the scent of a female Lycan and no
Elantra’s POV I was unable to bear this tension, danger and peril as I watched the cold steel of the blade pressed against Malie's skin and her life hanging on a thread, depending on the whim and mercy of mercurial vampiric Fae. With determination, I spoke out: "King Kandreah, I, Elantra Proserpina Morterey of Wengarthria, am hereby granting you permission to enter the main Macabantran encampment and any of the subrealms of Wengarthria, which are under my jurisdiction! I have done what you asked for, now leave my sister alone”. As I uttered those words, I heard Malie crying out a desperate “no” to me. I could see the relief, hope and determination surge in his eyes as he realised he had been invited. Without a shred of hesitation, he turned around with an obvious intention to leave both of us as if nothing happened, as we meant nothing to him. He obviously didn’t give a damn about us or about the mate bond. We were liter
Elantra’s POV What is your name, love?” he asked me with a palpable rage and an undertone of mockery in his voice. “Elantra,” I responded obediently as if I were the little girl in front of the executioner and not a daughter of the lord of Hell. I knew that the knife on Malie’s throat was a promise that he would kill her on the spot if I didn’t comply. Yes, Malie can be a handful, but she is my twin sister and soulmate, and it would break my heart if something happened to her. I love her, and I want her to live regardless of her being a bitch most of the time. "That is too long for my liking. Ella…darling, I wanted to share something with you and your sister…. Ooh, sorry love, I didn’t quite catch your name…” He smirked and turned his golden-eyed gaze to Malie. She told him to fuck off while struggling in his embrace, trying to set herself free. He whispered something to her ear so quickly and under his breath that I couldn’t even catch what he said despite my c
Elantra’s POV Malie nagged me to visit the battlefield for days, telling me she had found her mate. It was useless to remind her that we Mortereys have little to no chance of finding a mate. I have told her that she is delusional, but when she wants something, there is no way to set her mind off that. And now she had one goal - to visit Macabantrah and test the mate theory out, and for some reason, she is adamant that she want to go there with me. I don’t know what this all was really about: did she want to test the waters of mate bond? Did she want to convince me or herself that this is possible and that maybe she really found a mate? Whatever the reason, I could see that she was consumed and perhaps even excited with the idea. I mean, who could blame her; we spent eternity doing our “job” as dark celestials, daughters of rulers of Hell and Wengarthrian royals. I don’t blame her for wanting some sense of normalcy and to break this millennia old cycle of loneliness. But I als
Kandreah’s POV When I saw Hades’s twin daughters together, I finally understood what people think when they say they can’t see the difference between me and my brother. These two look like doppelgängers! They were as alike as two peas in a pod, and both looked exactly like the woman my warriors described to be seen during the Sanguineabbys and Konneyard battles. Both had ash blond hair smeared with subtle shimmers of lilac - as if they spent all day rolling and rubbing in the field of lavender in full bloom to achieve this hue in their hair. They had those same daunting eyes: one lilac eye like Noosha and one cobalt blue like Hades. Both were as slender as a whippet and had faces that could launch a thousand ships, but their aura stank worse than a fish market on a scorching summer's day. They radiated wickedness, danger, and spite like a pair of black cats crossing your path under a ladder, setting my skin crawling like someone tossed a bucket of spiders on me. To te
Kandreah’s POV While standing helplessly in front of the Macabantran gates, I went through all the stages of grief in the blink of an eye. I went through denial when I managed to work through my pain and drag myself while being pain-stricken with Thersar’s torment in front of the Macabantran gate. I was appalled with horror in front of my eyes. As Thersar’s demise-ridden pain wrecked through every nerve of my body, I watched his last moments with disbelief. Just when I thought that this was the final blow, which would be my undoing, the closeness of my soldiers who died in the battle started to shatter my body inside out, gnawing at my mind and soul. The death of every single soldier in my army was a new blow to my already broken body and heart. After initial shock, denial and disbelief, uncontrollable rage erupted from me. I screamed and tried many ways to break in and barge into the castle, but nothing worked. Even what it meant to be an attention-seeking roar of rage came
Kandreah’s POV We were passing through this infamous shortcut, which was more like a sewage-like labyrinth if you ask me, when I bent over and stumbled with an unwilling groan before I fell on my knees and stubbed my hands into the dirt and mud of Wengarthria. I felt so weak and dizzy, as if I was just seconds away from collapsing. The high-pitched, blaring sound grated through my ears, threatening to split my head in half. It reminded me of the ringing of life-supporting machines when someone dies, but as if someone put amplifiers on them. Beads of sweat protruded along with searing pain, the ache like no other which surged through me, piercing and rippling through my body. Every drop of blood in my body felt like it was scorching, sizzling, and as if it was about to combust in flames before turning to ashes. The agony was unbearable. It felt like I was dying. Only once before, I felt the pain like this, when I lost my soulmate. Regardless of the severed bond between
Erzelus’s POV But it looked like someone in the background had greater control over the forsaken Lycans than I did because drums rattled again in the next moment, along with a command rumbling to forsaken Lycans to attack. It overpowered and overrode the natural inclination of forsaken Lycans to submit to their Alpha. I am not their Alpha anymore. They do not answer to me anymore. They are not part of our pack anymore, and if there was even a smidgen of doubt in their logic, reasoning and where their loyalty now lies, it all became clear when they started attacking Lycan troops. My Lycans were over-excited with my comeback, and this idling is not something we can afford. This can cost us battles and lives; we have no time for this. Because, on the other side of the castle, dwarves, Fae, and witches were still in the ruckus of the battle against Wengarthrians. I stepped in while handholding Lev and roared: “Drop the fucking formalities! Lycans, regroup! Flank the Allies! Shield the
Erzelus’s POV The interior of the encampment was a vast, oval-shaped, dark and massive hall the size of a coliseum. Instead of walls, the encampment was enclosed with grand window-like structures, which seemed impenetrable. These window-like walls didn’t allow even a figment of light to protrude. Each window was adorned with vile and despicable frescoes depicting the destruction, apocalyptic violence and scenes from the underworld. In every corner of this eerie city-sized castle, there seemed to be an attempt at creating a macabre amphitheatre. It was as if a disturbed and malevolent architect had deliberately sought to challenge, mock, distort, and contrast every conventional thought, philosophy, aesthetic, and norms in rational thought, art, architecture, and culture, transforming them into something dark, ominous, and bizarre. This colossal castle seemed like an erratic response of a sinister rebel in architecture, a hub for defying the traditional building. Every corn
Erzelus’s POV Mark's contorted body serves as a testament to his tragic death and grim fate, symbolising just one of too many lives that have been and will continue to be lost in this relentless battle. The weight of lives lost became heavier as I scanned through limbless, scavenged, deformed and mutilated remnants of warriors from both sides, which hung from the ceilings. The cadavers blanketed the grotesque frescoes and icons of the Macabantran encampment. Bodies were strewn everywhere, suspended from ceilings and windows, littering the ground— that is the grave extent of casualties that this battle yielded. And many more are to yet die before the battle finishes. The windows were sprayed with blood and innards of diverse creatures who lost their lives, looking like someone had a paintball battle with leftovers of burnt shepherd pie. Corpses and bodies of soldiers from every walk of life were flailing across the Macabantran fort; mush and gore were everywhere, littering th