All Chapters of Hazel's Awakening: The Lycan's Heartbeat: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Authors povRyder had been pacing through the packhouse, his head full of frustrations and doubts. Unsettled had been how he’d felt around Freya for over a long time now, but he’d ignored his intuition, pushing it aside as though their problems were minor.He reached her study as he knew it was time to confront her and ask her deep questions but while there, he heard quiet moans from inside which halted him in his steps. Heart racing, inexplicable dread widening its grip on him, he knew something was wrong.He pushed open the door and what he walked into hit him like a blow to his face. There in her study, Stark, a trusted guard, was on top of Freya. Ryder saw red and didn’t stop to question just exactly how fast he was moving as his fist met Stark’s head with a force enough to propel the man across the room as stark landed on the floor with an unconscious slump.Freya scrambled to cover herself, her mouth open in shock and her heart pounding against her chest. “Ryder, wait, please—”

Authors povRyder stood in his study, breathless from the rage that had overtaken him only a few minutes before. The whip lay sprawled across the marble floor, metallic spikes stained with Stark's blood. Now the room was still but for his breaths, they were ragged through the silence. He stepped to the doorway, pulling it open and speaking coolly to the guards stationed outside. "Enter."The guards came in then, faces like stone and eyes that gave nothing away. They had heard Stark screaming, and they were too smart to ask any questions. “Take him to the dungeon,” Ryder said softly, his voice just loud enough to be heard. “Lock him up.” He leaned down into Stark’s face until they were nose-to-nose. “And he doesn’t leave until I say so.”The guards nodded hurriedly and rushed forward. They seized Stark by his arms and yanked him to his feet. Stark screamed in agony, his legs buckling beneath him, but the guards held him upright as they hauled him up and out of the room. A train of th

Authors povWithout another word, Ryder turned and walked out of the healers quarters. The forest was quiet for early morning but it did nothing to calm his beast down. He moved swiftly through the pack’s territory, his mind set on what must be done. Telling no one what he was going to do; Ryder knew there would be no time for explanations.Coming to a stop at the edge of his territory, Ryder looked back, seeing all that had been his, all that he was leaving behind and felt his heart break but his mother was his world and he would move heaven and earth if it meant getting her back even if she didn’t know him.The journey to the Blackthorn Mountains was long and hard. Ryder moved quickly, his long powerful legs taking him over rough ground and through thick forests. The river Maren had told him about would be his guide. It sparkled in the sunlight as it wound through the land he traveled over. The farther into the mountains he got, the rougher it became. Hills turned to cliffs with sha

Authors povThe woman nodded, tears welling in her eyes, but Ryder could tell the tears were fake. “Yes, Alpha. hazel was given to us. We raised her as our own. She was… she was like a daughter to us.”Ryder’s chest tightened, and he leaned back in his chair, struggling to process the information. Hazel—the girl he had banished—was the one he had been looking for. The one who could save his mother. The irony of it all was almost too much.“Where is she now?” Ryder asked, his voice barely louder than a breath.They shared another look and their eyes turned sad. “We don’t know,” the man admitted reluctantly with a trace of regret, “After you drove her away she left the territories. We haven’t seen or heard from her since.”Ryder’s fists clenched at his sides, his nails biting into the skin of his palms hard enough to draw blood. “You know something. You have to. Where would she have gone? Who would she have turned to?”The woman’s expression crumbled as a river of tears cascaded down he

Hazel’s povThe past few weeks had been nothing but a blur of anger, pain and isolation. I sat in my room; the walls seemingly closing in around me; my mind a hail of emotions. I couldn’t will myself to do anything, not eat, not sleep. Hell, I couldn’t even bring myself to cry. I just sat there all day, staring at the white washed wall across from me with my hands casually resting on top of my stomach in an eerie sort of stillness as the hollowness reminded me every second that everything was gone. My baby… my child was gone.Again the events leading up to that moment played over and over again like some sick recurring dream that refused to be shaken off. The attack at the mall, the chaos. I had thought I was safe but life proved it’s limitless ability to betray me over and over again.I hadn’t left my room since the day I got back from the hospital. I couldn’t face anyone. Not the pack, not Orion, not even myself. I was too angry—angry at the world, angry at the people who had hurt