Zander's POV. It was strange how easily we always found out way back together. We argued, she'd pushed me away and yet we'd somehow always managed to snap back together, somehow she always fell right back into my arms. And I loved it, but there was a small part of me that acknowledged the fact that it would not always be this way, especially when she finds out…"Zander!" Selena calls out, snapping me out of the rabbit hole of thoughts I was spiralling down. I turn to her and smile appreciating the little sundress she had on today, a light blue that blends with her skin and makes her dark mane of hair stand out a little bit. Selena is by far the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, especially in that sundress, faded scar and all I am yet to find a female that would dare hold a candle to Selena in terms of beauty. "What are you thinking about?" She asks bringing my attention back to her curious face. I smile. "Thinking about how good you look in this dress," I reply softly and then
Zander's POV. The warriors quarters are basically empty, except for Roy and two of his warrior friends. They all instantly straighten up when I and Selena get closer to them. Like the kind person that she is, Selena spares them a calm smile meant to put them at ease, but that only makes my frown deepen at the sight of her smiling at another man. Was the thought petty? yes. Did I care? No."Good morning Alpha," The warriors chorused and bowed low at the waist, I barely spared them a glance and instead faced Roy whose eyes were already pinned on my mate. "Ron," I say and fold my arms, he jolts and turns to me with a guilty expression on his face as he bows. I stare at him blankly and wave at him to get up. Selena slides away from and moves to hug Roy, one look from me though and he shifts awkwardly and stretches out a hand instead. "Oh, I-" she begins, but I tug her to my side and stare Roy and his pals down. Yes, I trusted him enough to leave him with Selena for a day, but I didn'
Laleh's POV. What I felt was beyond satisfaction, from the general disorganisation the entire room was tossed in when he made the announcement to the fury on Zander's face, all of it brought an intense feeling of satisfaction rushing through me.So this was how sweet revenge could feel? I bite back a coy smile and meet his eyes, exuding a smugness that I know was messing with his head. "Now, if you would all keep quiet for one minute and sit down, maybe we can continue this meeting," Tristan says, tightening his grip on my waist. I tilt my head to the side and reach out with my magic to calm the pack officials.All of them had different things to say, all their opinions varying from support - like the limp dicked bastards that they are - to outright disapproval. I ale note of those who aren't on our side and make a mental note to deal with them later. If our plan was to work fully I needed all the officials on my side. I already have the Beta, two Gammas and a Delta, I still needed
Selena's POV. I fell asleep long before Zander got back. After three hours of sitting alone in my room waiting for him to get back so we could spend our last night before the hunt together, I finally gave in to the weight of sleep pressing against my eyeballs. When I woke up I was unsurprised to find the room empty and devoid of his scent and even though the significant lack of him near me left an ache in my chest. Like that time I was avoiding him after misinterpreting his words. I get up and out of bed, ignoring the mess of sheets and slipping into my bathroom. Today I would be making a visit to those that needed my help. Alpha Ezra has been doing significantly better and has made it clear that he didn't want me wasting too much time on him when there were other people who actually needed my help more. So my day wouldn't be as packed, a visit to the people on the other side of the pack and then I'd return to the mansion to laze about and count the days until I could see Zander a
Zander's POV. I felt a panic that wasn't mine. It flooded my body in one instant and was gone the next, but it left a terrible feeling in my chest afterwards. I paused mid step and pressed my hand against a tree to steady my breathing and search for where something like to come from. I wasn't the type to have hot flashes of emotions or random swings of anxiety so I knew there was something off about this but I didn't know what.I reached into Aziel to check but he was oddly silent and repulsive to my promotings. I toss my head back to think and I hear Callum approach me slowly. "Alpha?" He says in a concerned tone, shifting a little so the rest of the troops could pass. Naz is a little ways ahead, scouting the area and keeping a close eye on the higher ranking wolves or I'm sure she'd have rushed back as well to coddle me."I'm fine, just feeling a little confused," I mutter lowly and straighten, meeting the stares of the passer bys. Immediately their gazes dievert in fear. Callum
Selena's POV. I woke up in a dark room, my head was swimming and there was a metallic taste in my mouth. I blink as I regain full control of my senses, the room was dark so there wasn't much to see, the floor was ceramic and cold and it smelled damp with the hint of blood.I try to sit up, but the pain in my shoulders and head stops me immediately. I shut my eyes and try to remember where I was and how I got here exactly, with the oinding in my skull and the fog over my brain it was remarkably hard to think, and then it rushed back to me in an instant.Me taking care of people, the sudden screaming, the sight of rogues flooding the small dusty valley, losing Ana in the crowd and then the handkerchief pressed against my nose and the sweet smell of whatever thing had put me to sleep. I shoot up instantly ignoring the loud protest of my joints. I couldn't care less about my throbbing head right now, I was in some unknown place and I was taken by the rogues.I had to get out of here. I
Zander's POV. As expected the moment I shoved her room door open she wasn't there, her bed was laid in the way it always was, the corners were tucked in neatly and her scent was so faint that I knew she hadn't been in here for a while.The panic in my chest had mostly faded into a small ache but still it was concerning to even be able to feel that ache, at all.Callum walks into the room behind me, taking note of the pained look on my face. His eyes make a small round around the room and I'm sure he has noticed what I did too and as drawn a pretty simple conclusion. She was gone. I feel anger rise up in my throat searing hot and sharp in my chest. It felt like a new burn that pressure was being applied onto. And I was struggling not to drag out my own hair at how frustrated I was feeling."I'll tell the remaining warriors to scout the area, maybe it was within the mansion grounds," he starts but I stop him with a shale of my head, the panic in my chest changes to a burn and I can f
Laleh's POV. Satisfaction at last.The mansion was mostly quiet following the news of the rogue's attack on the abandoned side of the pack. While many were bothered by the rogue's ability to break through the border and feared that they would launch a full scale attack on the pack soon I was too busy relishing in the feeling of both calm and chaos, while at the same time enjoying the obvious distress Zander was in. I'd spoken to Ryder before they'd taken the wench, she hadn't been able to put up much of a fught and as per my instructions he'd sent one of his most fucked up torture artists to mess with her mind a little bit, taunt her about her mother's death, dangle the truth in front of her then retract it and watch her already fragile mind scatter as she's launched back into grief. And from what I've heard so far it was working, while she was displaying much more fight than expected she had lost it a little bit.I giggle to myself and blow off the bubbles from my arm, smiling at t
Zander's POV. I'd planned several times how I'd kill my brother. It's a sick thing to think about one's own twin, but I'd hated Tristan from the very moment we'd come out of my mother's womb together. I'd planned a slow death for him, I wanted him to watch as I took over the pack, I wanted him to see me take down every single thing he'd put in place, I wanted him to watch me make him obsolete once more. But I'd brushed all that away the moment Selena's body fell limply against mine. I could feel the few borders I'd kept up collapse in one instant and before Tristan had the chance to move I was on him, my hand was at his neck and my teeth were buried onto the other side. He screams under me, scratching at me, hitting in the eye nose and trying to break my teeth, but that barely worked on a regular wolf talkless of me, so undaunted by his little attacks I buy down and before he can react even further I rip a huge chunk of flesh out of his neck. His screams increase as I tear into his
Zander's POV. If not for the fact that her scent was everywhere. It wouldn't be the first time I'd dreamt of her, gliding into my office like that, saying that she has decided to forgive me, then she kisses me and I touch her and she moans and then I wake up. Sometimes I just dream of her walking into my office to talk to me, to laugh with me again, to slip her hand into mine and smile at me that bright way only she knows how to, I felt happy once again at peace and then I'd wake up… back to my miserable reality where she couldn't even look me in the eye. I hate it, I hate it. I hate not having her around, I hate having her so mad at me, I hate knowing I'm the reason she cried so pitifully that day. I miss her so fucking much.But in the midst of all the chaos happening in my mind, in the midst of all that turmoil and pain I was still planning, searching for ways to finally bring my brother down once and for all. While I knew Selena's current grudge with me was all on me I knew tha
Selena's POV. I was never a particularly cruel person. My mother raised me to be many things, strong, uncompromising when need be, tactical when making decisions, kind and many many other things that she crafted to make me the next great leader. But cruelty, I was unused to turning eyes away from people if they needed help, I was uneasy when it came to making decisions about execution or anything that had to do with murder and now even with everything I knew about him, I was still hesitating to make the decision that would get me the revenge that my family and I rightfully deserved. I had no trust for Tristan. Just because he suddenly woke up and told me about Zander's secrets doesn't mean we were suddenly friends. I wasn't stupid, telling me was more for his benefit, even though I wasn't sure how it was possible for me to kill a whole ass cursed Prince, getting Zander out of his way would benefit him a lot more than it would me. Two sides of me were conflicting here, one part of m
Selena's POV. Not even Ana's arms around me can comfort me at this point. I'm beyond distraught. The only thing going through my mind is an image of Zander standing over my mother, covered in blood smiling that same unhinged smile that was on his face when he came to rescue me that day in the woods. He was a monster, a violent bastard. He'd not only killed everyone I'd cared about he had the guts to fuck me afterwards and touch me with the very same hands he'd used to tear into my pack mates. These are the types of thoughts that are constantly making rounds about my brain. The majority of them were curses thrown in Zander's direction, others were shards of glass piercing into me as punishment for sleeping with the man that had killed my family. I was stupid, very stupid I'd let lust and infatuation drive me into the arms of a monster. Why? All because he'd shown me a little bit of kindness while I suffered in this pack. A nagging part of my brain feeds me with the thought that may
Laleh's POV. I could only laugh. Watching Selena in a state of clear turmoil might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. Prompting Tristan to tell her about what really happened to her family was the right choice after all.I can't say I was surprised to find out Zander was behind it, though we'd chosen to rule their death as suicide it was obviously not. Their bodies were ripped about brutally and purposely and savagely enough that even I was disgusted. Digging into their deaths though was more for curiously reasons than anything else, a creature that could easily murder a whole pack of healers like needed to be assessed, I needed to know if I had a friend or a foe on my hands and guess what, the fee sources that I'd had all painted back to Zander, a little while before he made his return known he'd slaughtered every last person in that pack.Of course the information was secret and extremely hard to gather, but there was nothing a couple of charms and a good han
Zander's POV. Fucking Tristan. I shift back and tug on a pair of trousers as fast as possible, ignoring the pointed stares that are tossed my way as I run up the stairs in search of my mate. I can't even imagine the state Selena is in and only the goddess knows what he told her. I burst into her room to see her on the floor, her hair is a mess, one side of her face is swollen and very bruised, and her eyes are distant. Horror rushes through me as I remember her last encounter with Tristan, the way she'd pushed me away and shut me out for weeks, she'd barely eaten and was just a teary mess, all because he'd spoken to her, I wonder what he'd said now.I kneel in front of her trying to get her eyes to follow me. But it remains fixed on something very far away, cold and closed off to me. Second only to the time she was kidnapped I've never been so scared in my life. "Selena, Selena please talk to me," I say stroking her face and trying to get her eyes to settle on me.She blinks and
Selena's POV. The first few days since I woke up were odd, I spent them walking about the mansion in a haze and trying to regain my bearings, obviously that took a lot of time and Zander was there through it all, holding my hand and muttering encouraging words to me as I sweated out the last of the drugs. But even with my torturously slow recovery I wasn't blind or dumb or weak, I still noticed everything, for example the clear absence of Naz and Callum, Zander's distracted nature and the tension radiating from everyone in the pack I'm guessing it's because the time for the coup was drawing nearer but I don't understand Zander's sudden tension with his friends, not that he'd answer me if I'd asked him about it, rather he'd dodge the question and disappear for hours to 'work', I wasn't buying it I knew something was wrong but I was much too tired to even fight him on this. Instead I bent to his prodding and his gentle touches, I basked in the feelings and sparks that danced about us
Zander's POV. I've never felt such a deep sense of relief before. Watching Selena's eyes flutter open must have been the most comforting thing I've ever seen, because I could have melted at the sight of those lovely brown yes meeting mine again, yes they were hazy, but I'll settle for that after watching her just drop to the floor in a dead faint in that forest and after haring Naz say that she was drugged heavily and make might not wake up for weeks. That was five days ago and she was awake now. I could feel the relief in my bones, even Aziel was calm for the first time in weeks, he was the main reason I wasn't able to fall asleep really. When Naz would pry me away from her bedside and forcee to get some rest all I could har was Aziel's voice in my ear screaming at me to do something or he would himself, and honestly I was much too tired to control him so for once I bent to his will and actually do something. I went to the dungeons and hit that rogue as many times as I could, I tor
Selena's POV. This time I woke up in my room to the sound of people speaking in hused tones about something that sounded extremely important, in the sleepy haze I was in recognized Zander's voice, tight and commanding as he spoke to who I assumed was Callum, my limbs feel heavy and my tongue is limp in my mouth, but at last this time I woke up on a soft bed instead of the cold hard floor.I struggle to open my eyes and when I do it's barely a crack. I squint at the brightness of the room around me, used to opening my eyes to a piercing darkness for the past few days. My head isn't pounding this time but the glare of the light is working up a headache low-key. The voices around me come into more of a focus now and I can hear the distress in Zander's tone. I hold my breath for a minute to enjoy the smooth, easy baritone of his voice. I never thought I'd miss the sound of someone's voice this much, I shift and try to lift myself up but my limbs are too weak and my head is much too heav