~ZIRAThe Moon crest was gone.I staggered back a few steps at the realization. My heart began to hammer violently against my chest. My intake of breath became short. All the color drained from my body and all I could do was glare at the empty stand."I failed," I muttered under my breath. My wolf sank to the pit of my stomach and I felt as if my world had come to an end.The Blackstones got to it first. "They have it," I muttered under my breath. They stole it right from under our noses. How could I let this happen? How could I allow them take it away from us? How was I going to face the goddess? What would I tell her?She gave me just one task and I failed. How could I have been so stupid? What is going to become of my family? Why did I not see this coming? Seeing as desperate as they were.Oh, my goddess! Mom was still out there and alone. They would try to go for her first! They would try to kill her instead of my father. Things were changing. This was not how it happened in the
~KAELWho was that?I turned in Bella's direction and saw her smiling seductively at me. My wolf twisted in disgust as I watched her approach me. She stopped before me and placed her palm on my chest."Where you looking for me?" She asked in a husky voice as her gray eyes burned with lust.I narrowed my eyes at her. "Are you about to cheat on Arden with me?" I demanded in a quiet voice.She chuckled and my wolf stirred angrily at the sound it made. I wondered what my brother saw in this woman. She could never catch my attention."This isn't called cheating. Especially with the fact that you both have the same face. The only difference is in your hair and eyes. He has blond hair and you have hair that is so dark, it drives me crazy," she cried and it sounded more like a moan. "And then your eyes. . .where Arden has dark orbs, you have this deep blue gaze that makes my insides melt," she added.I continued to stare at her with a straight face. I even folded my arms as I tried to find th
~ZIRA"The Moon crest is missing."The moment my dad announced it, I watched the facial expressions of the Blackstones closely so that I would be sure they had it. In conclusion, it was either they were very good at lying or they truly did not have it.I threw a glance at my mother and she stood quietly beside my father, mirroring his expression."What?" Uther broke the uncomfortable silence that had floated in."It was stolen," Father added.Uther stepped forward and shook his head at my dad. "You can't be serious. How could it be stolen when you're the only one who knows how to get to it?" He demanded.From the shock in his voice, a part of me wanted to believe that he did not have it. Or he was probably playing us again. If there was one thing I had learnt from their deceit, it was to expect anything. I was not going to be surprised if I found out that they were keeping it safely somewhere in their custody."Apparently, I was the only one who could get in but after what I saw in th
~KAELI immediately shot a glance at my father after Tyrone mentioned the status of the particles. I knew that he was going to be the most affected by this since he was secretly planning to sneak a particle into his pocket. This was so that we could pursue the Moon crest on our own."How can there be just two?" Father asked.The Alpha shrugged. "The thief must have known that we could track it down with the particles so they tried to take everything," he suggested. "That should not be a surprise to you," he added.This night was not our night despite planning a lot for this day. It had finally come and things were going south. I gritted my teeth at the sad outcome."How are we going to work with it?" Father asked."We'll have to work together in groups of two," The Luna suggested, speaking for the first time.Father nodded. "That should work. The Blackstones would take a particle while the Dragons would take the other one," he announced.Arden suddenly smiled at my father's brilliance
~KAELThe weight of his words registered in my brain and my wolf came alive with anger. I glared questioningly at Arden as I tried to understand what he was up to. He had a dirty smile on his face as he began to approach Zira.I suddenly remembered that our dad had encouraged him to bed or seduce her so that he would keep his place in her heart.Zira stopped and stared at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean? What perfect opportunity is it? What are you— " she began before stopping abruptly. Then she sent me pleading eyes that I understood as the words ‘save me.’As Arden approached her, she took tentative steps backward, in an attempt to escape him. Yet Arden reached her anyway and began by gently tucking all her stray hair away from her face.She stared up at him with wide eyes and I saw the way she gulped. She tightened her grip on the Moon crest piece and tried to retreat backward again but her back hit the wall and she ran out of room to escape.My wolf stirred with anger insid
~ZIRAI froze at Kael's sudden outburst. My wolf spurred to life at his actions. It made me feel good knowing that he was ready to stand up for me despite our differences.I watched Arden's expression turn into shock. He froze for a split second as Kael continued to pin him against the wall."What are you doing, Kael?" He whispered in his stunned state.His words must have gotten to Kael; because Kael released him immediately and backed away. He stared at his twin brother with wide eyes."I—" Kael managed to say before breaking off. He looked down at his feet immediately. I could feel the confusion radiating from him and my wolf shifted with concern.I wanted to go to him. I wanted to tell him that he was my mate, not Arden. I wanted to tell him that we were meant to be together, that he was probably living a lie. But all those thoughts remained buried in my mind, unable to escape."What the fuck has gotten into you, brother?!" Arden spat and pushed Kael's chest.Kael staggered back
~ZIRAAs a knife had sliced through my heart, I felt it cut into two and fall to the pit of my stomach. I turned a stunned look at him.Kael scoffed. "You're not my enemy? You think just saying that is going to justify everything your family had done to us?" He roared.And I flinched at his tone. My wolf sank at the harshness and I did not know how long I could keep standing before him."I don't know what you think we did but I can assure you that I only have good intentions," I retorted firmly.Kael broke into laughter. It was a pained laughter and it echoed throughout the room. My wolf twisted at the sickening sound and my heart only went out to him.Kael was hurting and I could see it clearly. I wanted to comfort him but I knew that he would not let anyone in."Go to fucking hell with your good intentions! Can your intentions und
~KAELMy fingers trembled violently as I walked out of the hall.My heart hammered hard against my chest as if I had just been running. My intake of breath became heavy and I soon realized that I was sweating all over.I stopped and stood against the wall. I squeezed my eyes shut in an attempt to center my thoughts. The storm in my head had only gotten more turbulent. I could not even think straight anymore. I had lost my skills in understanding my wolf's desires and it twisted and churned angrily within me.The only emotion I could identify was anger yet I could not tell why I was angry. It burned at my soul, burned at the pit of my stomach and ate me up from the insides.I balled my hands into fists as I thought of Zira,"Why is Zira the only clear one that I can think of?" I asked myself under my breath.It made no sense. She was the one I hated yet I was thinking about her. I thought about the moment that her fingers made contact with my cheeks. It had made my wolf leap with excit
~ZIRAWhen my eyes came open, they were met with darkness.I blinked multiple times in an attempt to force my eyes to adjust as quickly as possible. My body was cold and I doubted if I could move. I was trembling and mist kept escaping my mouth every time I breathed. My heart pounded heavily and my wolf kept stirring uncomfortably within. I felt uneasy as I could not explain what was happening. Was I dead?I forced myself to move and succeeded in getting into a sitting position eventually. I looked around the space and as my eyes adjusted, light began to brighten up the space. Sitting had chased most of the weakness away. I got to my feet and took in the space. The more I stared, the more familiar it became and realization finally dawned on me. I was in the same void where I had met the goddess the first time I died. "Hello?" I called. Like that was all the trigger needed, I felt the presence of someone extraterrestrial, of great honor and glory behind me. I instantly turned and
~KAELMy father's scream echoed through the space as thick blue mist rose in the air.I was still fighting with my supposedly uncuffed hands when I saw Arden's eyes go wide with shock. Then he instantly started running toward me as if to shield me from something. That was when my wolf growled menacingly and I looked toward my father just in time to see him launch a spear at me. As if on cue, my hands came free and I stepped forward but it was already too late. Arden took the hit for me. The force of the spear pushed him backward. He hit me and we both fell back against the pole that I had once been cuffed to. "I'm going to set the world ablaze! I'm going to destroy everything!" Uther screamed like he had lost his mind. The blue mist began to clear and for the first time, he saw that I was still fine and someone else had taken the hit for me. My heart sank as I turned a shaky stare at Arden who now had a long spear buried in the lower center of his body. I did not want to think an
~ZIRAI heard Uther's chuckles continue to echo around the space. I felt too weak to lift myself from the ground. I had cried so much that I could no longer stand. I felt numb and broken. I felt confused and lost. "Come on, Zira. The game is not yet over. We still have one more person to kill if you don't tell me what I want to know," he announced. The thought of losing Kael too made me shoot up to my knees. I stared at the man in disbelief. Was he really ready to kill his own son too just to make a point? Would he kill his flesh and blood?I turned a fearful stare at Kael. His blue eyes were filled with pain. "I'm sorry," he mouthed again. I could not remember how many times he had apologized to me in the last hour. He had been doing it over and over again. "Stop apologizing. . .please. . ." I said in a weak voice. "It's not your fault. . ." I said dryly. I realized that I was losing my voice. It was no surprise, given how much I had screamed and cried.Then I turned to Uther.
~ZIRAWas the world always this ugly or all the beauty had been taken out of mine? My mother gasped as her eyes went wide open. Father gasped, Uther laughed before he pulled the sword out of her body. She let out a pained sound that further broke my heart.The world seemed to slow down and all sounds around me began to echo. I did not know what to feel or how to react. I forgot how to breathe. I forgot how to speak. All I did was gasp breathlessly. Nala stopped dancing and I felt tears begin to form in my eyes. My father let out the loudest roar as the pain of losing his mate must have hit him hard. My mother still with her hands handcuffed behind the pole slowly began to slump to the floor. She was staring at me as if she wanted to say something. Blood spurted out of her mouth and she smiled at me. Then her body went still.My wolf sank to the darkest part of my mind and I had gone into shock. I just stood there and watched helplessly as my world had come to an end. "Zira. . ." I
~ZIRAMy heart skipped triple beats as I saw men spring out of the park and pounce on us. Kael let out a menacing growl as he prepared himself for battle. The first man that tried to grab me got struck by Kael's claws. This sent the man flying across the park. He let out another growl to warn them from coming. But the men were determined to apprehend us. Two more came at a time and he grabbed one by his neck as he struck the other man. Yet three more attacked him from behind. "Kael!" I screamed as they hit his head hard.This rendered him weak immediately and he went down on his knees. They used his moment of weakness to apprehend him and I did not try to fight back as they grabbed me. It was all futile and I wondered why Kael even tried fighting in the first place. They dragged us to the stream side of the park. From the distance, I spotted a set of poles arranged in a quite large circle. It was once used to play a dancing game in the old days. The center was where the dance batt
~ZIRAMy heart sank when I saw the note. My wolf continued its dangerous dance a plea to be unleashed. My world was slowly crumbling down before my eyes and I did not know what to do about it. My already trembling body only got more violent as I looked at the note."Do you want me to read the content for you?" Kael offered when he noticed that I was slowly losing it. I nodded and he took the letter from me. "If you want to save your parents, come to me unguarded with the Moon crest as my present. Meet me at the old park closest to Black City by sundown," he concluded. I could feel tears threatening to weaken me but I refused to cry. I needed to be strong. I could still fix things. The goddess would not let any harm come to my parents. Kael suddenly wrapped me in a protective hug. "We'll make it work," he assured me. "What will the goddess think if I give him the Moon crest? The whole point of my mission was to protect it not for selfish interests but for the safety of the world,"
~ZIRAI never expected what Kael did yesterday. But it turned out to be the best way to solve everything. I always knew that I would have to expose the truth to my parents but I never knew how I was going to make it work. I even had the fear that they would still not believe me after showing them the truth. But as fate would have it, the goddess just allowed me to sit down and watch the outcome of things unfold before me. I must have done a great job of planting doubting seeds in Kael to make him take up the job himself. I smiled as I looked up at him. We were now seated together in the packhouse mini lounge. My parents were seated opposite us and dressed in their usual royal attires. While I was clad in a short dress as always Kael wore his usual loose clothes. It was a set of blue this time that complimented his eyes. We had taken the liberty of explaining the entire truth from the top to the current state. Which was from the day I died to how I tried to convince Kael to find o
~KAELArden stared back at me in disbelief. Zira turned to face me and gazed at me with concern. "This was what was bothering you this entire time, wasn't it?" She asked. I only nodded. "I'm not done yet. I know that Arden still thinks that I have been brainwashed. Which is why I took the liberty of bringing proof!" I spat and turned to my father. Uther narrowed his eyes at me as he waited to see what I had on him. I revealed my satchel and took out his journal. "This here is my father's journal and it contains all the evil he has done. It even dates back to where his anger began," I revealed and placed the book on the table. Father widened his eyes and threw calculative gazes at the people closest to him. Then in a swift action, he launched at the journal on the table. But Tyrone was faster than him. He swiftly grabbed his foot and pulled him backward with one hand so that he landed back in his chair."I think that you have done enough! Sit still or I will be forced to take dras
~KAELFather looked as if he was sitting on fire. Eating had become a very hard task for him as he began to stir his potato aimlessly around with his fork. "Come on Father, what are you waiting for to tell us the intriguing tale of how my mother died? The world is listening," I teased him.Father began to grit his teeth but remained silent. He refused to speak. It was almost as if he was ready to sit there for eternity."You're always so eager to tell it. Why are you so quiet now? I wonder what might be wrong? Do you need help telling it? Should I begin so you can finish it?" I pointed out as my voice began to lose the amusement within and it started to turn into anger. Ocean began to dance wildly as my stare turned into hate. The more I looked at him, the more I asked myself if this man was truly my father. How unfortunate Arden and I were to be brought into this world by him. "Say something, Uther!" I roared. Everyone at the table flinched and that was when they realized that i