LALEH’S POVI watch as the guard walks in with the elderly man, Theodore. Tristan immediately turns to face him with anger blazing in his eyes. I can see the veins bulging on his neck as he demands an explanation for what happened.“I want all the elders to be removed from the council, call for another council, and have it that Zander’s banishment isn’t lifted”Theodore stands tall, his face calm despite the fury emanating from Tristan. "I'm sorry, Alpha," he begins. "But as an elder, it is not my place to interfere in matters of pack leadership."Tristan scoffs, "Not your place? You're on the council, Theodore! You're supposed to be advising me, not sitting back and letting my brother and his pack walk all over us."Theodore stays composed, "I understand your frustration, Alpha. But we have to respect the traditions of our pack. The decision to pardon Zander was made by the council as a whole, not by me alone. I was the only one that in fact stood against it"Tristan grits his teeth,
SELENA’S POVThe loud siren blared from a corner of the mansion, indicating a successful raid that had just be accomplished.I hadn't heard that siren sound in all the months I've been staying here because the wariors rarely ever go out to protect their territories anymore.Zander has been back for three days now and everyday, he leads his men to scout the territories and make sure it remains protected.As usual, at the sound of the siren, I hopped out of bed and scampered to my window, making sure to duck as I spied on the sweating, shirtless men returning from a successful raid.… On one sweating, shirtless man in particular.Alexander freaking Morgenstein.It was becoming a habit, spying on him and sneaking glances at him when ever I could. Zander was quickly becoming my obsession. My tradition. My religion.As usual, he was grinning and talking with his blond haired, straight faced beta, who said something that made him guffaw loudly.I gazed at him longingly.His skin was the col
SELENA'S POVMy heart is racing in my chest, pounding against my ribcage like it's demanding to be set free. My hands are clammy with sweat and I can feel the water bottle slipping through my fingers. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, but it only makes me feel more self-conscious. Why am I feeling like this? I've talked with guys before, so why is the thought of talking to Zander and giving him a freaking water bottle making me feel so hot and embarrassed? My mind is racing, trying to come up with an explanation for my sudden physical reaction.Ana is cheering me on, but I can barely hear her over the sound of my own heartbeat. I know I need to keep going, but every step feels like a monumental effort.I squeeze the water bottle tightly, using it as a physical anchor to keep myself grounded. I know I can't let my nerves get the best of me, but it's easier said than done. I take another deep breath and force myself to keep moving forward, one step at a time. Maybe if I
ZANDER'S POV:As I gaze at Selena, I am struck by her beauty and elegance. "Thanks again, Zander," she whispers her gratitude for my help, and I am drawn to the sensuality in her voice. My mind races, and I forget to respond immediately, lost in her presence."Five times is enough," I respond, finally, and she chuckles. I am captivated by her laughter, and I admire her grace despite the hardships she's faced."You gave me hope when I was hopeless," Selena continues, her eyes dropping to her fists clenched tightly on her knee. "You don't even know what you've done for me. You saved my life, Zander."I am taken aback by her words, wondering if she was going to hurt herself sooner or later. My heart starts racing at the thought, horror making me pant harder.I can't think about it. I can't think about the possibility of losing her.Still, I marvel at her strength. She's probably the strongest woman I know. I realize that my previous experiences with rescuing her may have influenced m
SELENA'S POVAna and I were chatting when we heard a loud knock on the door, breaking our light hearted moment.Ana's eyes widened as she looked at me, "are we gonna…"I shook my head quickly and placed my index finger on my lip, signalling her to be quiet.She snapped shut at my reaction, listening with baited breath as we both waited for whoever it was at the door to leave.We both knew that it couldn't be Roy because he'd just barge in if he needs to see either of us, so it had to be someone from Tristan. With Zander around, I was feeling more and more brave and didn't want to answer the call if I could get away with it."Selena?" A vaguely familiar voice called out. "I know you're in there. Open the door. I have a message from Zander."Ana and I both groaned, although it was a relieved sort of groan. It was Ana that went to open the door."How did you know?" She whined."Werewolf, remember?" The voice said calmly. "I can smell you."I recognized that voice! It sounded like Calum.
SELENA'S POVI opened my mouth… to do what? I don't know. Probably to lie to him… but something else stopped me in my tracks.With the wispy, barely there sentient creatures roaming around the entire room, you'd think that I'd be used to all this madness.No.Because right before my eyes, I was stunned when the shadows around Zander took the form of a large doberman, right in front of us.It looked almost real. It was staring at me with a cold precision that made me stop breathing. When I tilted my neck to the side, it copied my move, its void black eyes still intent on me."Did that… Did–" I stuttered incoherently and looked at Zander to decipher my gibberish and explain what just happened.But all I could see was amusement on Zander's face as he took in my petrified one."Did… did that shadow j- just turn into a dog?".Zander chuckled, coming to stand beside me. "His name is Aziel, he is totally harmless." I arched my eyes in disbelief. There is no way that I am believing a shape-
SELENA'S POVI'm quiet as he smears the salve all over my wound, gently and with precision, careful to avoid my eyes.I'm breathing him in, mesmerized by his earthy, spicy scent and even my wolf is whining in my chest, desperate to have him pull me into him and touch him and feel him.My cheeks heated up at the direction my head was going.I'm embarrassed by my thoughts and look elsewhere, trying to focus on something else other than how good he smells and how much I like the gentle way he's holding my face and applying the salve.My eyes fall on the scar, running from the side of his left eyebrow to his left cheekbone, the only thing that marrs his ruthless beauty.Before I can think better about it, I reach out and touch it, taking his face in my hands to hold him still.My heart starts racing when he leans into my hands and closes his eyes as I gently stroke his scar.This just got too sensual too quickly. It's obvious that I'm a sucker for this man. My insides turn to jelly and my
Selena's PovEvery day, there's always some bad news that comes our way, making it seem like our progress is in vain. As we huddle in my room, I feel the weight of our situation. Tristan has cut the budget for meal preparation in half, leaving us with smaller portions than ever. It's clear that we need to act fast to resolve this issue. We have barely enough food to feed ourselves, let alone the homeless people at the market. I suspect that this is Tristan's attempt to provoke Zander by giving him and his men crumbs for food."It's like everyday, that bastard thinks up new ways to be even worse," I murmur to myself, forgetting the audience in my room for a moment."My my, Selena. Did you just say a curse word?" Ana asks, grinning at me. Brown eyes light with humour.I grumbl gibberish under my breath and scoff at her."Must be all that time you're spending with the cursed prince. He's rubbing off on you, I'm telling you."Immediately, my cheeks flush hot and pink.I mean… maybe she
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