LYRA’S POV
The awful smell of blood hit me as I looked at my clothes and saw blood dripping from it. I looked around as the world suddenly became slow and then saw bulging eyes gazing intensely at me and their lips moving but couldn't be heard by me. They pointed their fingers and I looked at their lips trying to figure out what they were saying. “Murderer!!!” one of them said as he pointed towards me. I couldn’t understand what he meant by that as I looked on in confusion. “Bloody killer.” another said. Just as my eyes fell to the ground , I saw the lifeless body of my parents lying there. My life flashed before my eyes as the air suddenly became thinner and my breath quickened. I opened my mouth but empty words came out. “Eat their bodies!!!! It’s all your fault, cursed child!!!” another yelled. I dropped down on my knees as I stretched my hands and touched my Mother’s face. It was as cold as ice as I suddenly felt goosebumps around my body. Tears dropped down my face as I shaked her lifeless body on the floor vigorously and just as I stooped, she got up and looked at me dead cold in my eyes. “It’s your fault…you will never find anyone to love you!!!” “No!!! It’s not my fault!! No!!!” I screamed loudly as I suddenly felt water on my body and I jerked awake. I looked around in confusion as my body dripped of water. “Welcome back to the land of the living bitch…you have work to do.” Christina said. Christina was the pack slut who had a thing with the Alpha and because of that, she felt like the whole pack revolved around her as she could do as she pleases. As for me, when my parents died a few years ago and I had nowhere to go to, I was faced with the decision to either become a rogue or be a pack slave and I chose the latter. From the moment I became a pack slave, life at the Diamond moon pack has been a living hell for me. I was sent on errands everyday and every minute without rest and I wasn’t feeding properly. Even at the age of 18, I was looking so frail and boneless and because of how malnourished I was, I haven’t had the opportunity to shift. “Are you deaf bitch!!! I said you have work to do or should I go tell Crane that you are lagging off??” she asked with a smirk. Crane is the Alpha of the pack I am currently a slave in and because Christiana services his bed, she feels she doesn’t have to accord him respect by adding Alpha to his name. I didn’t want any trouble with Alpha Crane because he was heartless and so I got up faster than the speed of light from where I was napping. “No…what do you want me to do??” I asked. “First change out of those clothes…you look like a lifeless chicken.” she said as she looked at me from my head to toe. “It’s all your fault bitch!! You drenched me with water.” I wanted to say to her but I kept mute. “Yes.” I silently muttered. She walked out and I looked for what to wear. As I opened the tattered bag my clothes were in, I knew that searching was going to be futile because I had nothing to change to. I only had three pairs of clothes, two of which were so badly destroyed that at a point I felt the clothes had started calling my name to let go of them....and the last pair wes the one I was currently putting on which just got drenched with water. I sighed deeply as I looked around the store room where I slept. As the pack servant, I wasn’t allowed to have a decent room except the store room which smelled like spoiled food and animal feces. The walls were old and cracked and cobwebs were so embedded in the ceiling that one would assume that I was a distant relative of spiders. The floors were coated with hard concrete and I slept on them like that because I had no bed and no cloth to spread on. I had just one poorly constructed window that couldn’t even lock properly and when rain poured, there wasn’t any difference between standing outside the rain and the store room. I closed the bag and went out like that as I was willing to accept the consequences of my action. “I thought I asked you to change your clothes, you bitch!!??” Christina yelled. “I have nothing else to wear…this is the only good pair of clothes I have.” I said. She suddenly raised her hand and slapped me so hard on my face that it stung. I placed my hand on my face as I rubbed it softly to reduce the pain I felt. “What the hell is going on here??!!!” Alpha Crane asked as he walked in on Christina and I. “Hey baby…she is…” “Haven’t I told you to address me as your Alpha??!!” Alpha Crane said to Christina as he cut her short. I chuckled softly in satisfaction as my head was still bowed. “Sorry Alpha…I asked her to do something and she refused.” she said. “What did you ask her to do??” This was the part where I was going to laugh because what she asked me to do was not worth getting slapped for. “I…I…I..as…asked her to…d..deliver a message to you and she refused.” Christina said as she stuttered. “That is not true Alpha.” I said. “Did I ask you to speak!!!” he yelled at me. “No Alpha…I am sorry.” I said as I bowed my head. I bit my lips so hard that I was sure it drew blood as tears gathered in my eyes. “The Alpha of the Tiger wood blood pack is on his way here….I want everything to be ready for his arrival and don’t you dare make any mistakes.” he said to me. “Yes Alpha.” I said. I was glad that he didn’t punish me for the lies Christina told against me. I have heard stories about the Alpha of the Tiger wood blood pack and how ruthless he was and so I decided to avoid him as much as I could. After about two hours of working, I was finally done and so I reported back to Alpha Crane and he dismissed me to rest for a while. I walked to the wood nearby and sat down on a rock as tears rolled down my face while reminiscing about the death of my parents. They were both killed by rogues and I was blamed and ounsted out of their pack for their deaths. Suddenly I heard noises as I stood up in fear. After looking around, I suddenly smelt something so alluring like pinewood mixed with raspberry. A figure then walked out and as he stared at me, I gasped in fear as his eyes bore into mine. “Mate.” he said.THANE'S POV The vial was warm in my palm, too warm, like it held the weight of every sin I had just committed. Alpha Hyperion had handed it over like a god bestowing judgment and I'd accepted it not because I trusted him, not because I respected him, but because I was desperate.Desperate for my mother.Desperate for the only family I thought had my back and was about to stop Hyperion.I didn’t look back once as I left his cursed territory. I couldn’t because If I did, I’d see her again…Tyla…my mate.The woman I had just shattered with five cruel words."Tyla Niver, I reject you as my mate."I didn't want to do it and the more I thought about the look on her face after I rejected her, the more I hated myself and everything I stood for.Even thinking about it made my chest ache.My wolf had been eerily silent since I spoke those words, and I knew he was mourning just as much as I was.I clenched my jaw as I entered the pack borders. The guards saw me, but none dared ask questions.
TYLA'S POV The moment I heard those whispers outside my door, my entire body tensed."She doesn't know yet.""Not yet…It’ll only panic her." "What if it’s already too late?"My heart thundered inside my chest. What didn’t I know? What were they hiding? My first instinct was to swing the door open and demand answers, but my better judgment…perhaps Lyra’s calm influence….held me back.Instead, I pressed my ear closer to the wooden door, straining to hear more but the footsteps were already fading, swallowed by the thick silence of the hallway. I clutched my belly protectively, a sinking feeling growing in my gut.“Lyra?” I whispered into the stillness of my mind. “Did you hear them?”Silence again but in the midst of that silence I felt it like Lyra was trying to tell me that something was wrong with my pup.“What do I do?”At that moment I was so confused and alone and I didn't know what to do or who to talk to.I decided to just stay alert and listen while carefully observing thin
TYLA'S POV The dungeon was everything you’d imagine it to be.It was cold, damp, and heavy with despair. The stone walls felt like they were closing in with each breath I took, and the air reeked of mildew and old blood. Chains clinked in the distance, some from other prisoners… others, I wasn’t sure.The guards didn’t say a word as they dragged me down the winding stone steps. I begged, pleaded, screamed… until my voice turned hoarse and my legs gave way.“Please…” I whispered, “I’m not a threat…I’m carrying a child.”But they ignored me. One of them shoved open a rusted iron gate and tossed me inside like I was a sack of trash. I hit the stone floor with a cry, my arms instinctively curling around my stomach.The door slammed shut behind me, echoing like a final judgment.I lay still for a while, trying to calm my breathing as Pain radiated through my side and my head throbbed, but it was the silence from my wolf, Lyra, that hurt the most.“Lyra,” I called softly. “Please ta
TYLA'S POV“Tyla Niver, I reject you as my mate." Those words kept on echoing inside my mind repeatedly as I walked away from Thane, away from Alpha Hyperion.My feet stumbled through the thick underbrush of the woods, each step dragging more than the last. My body screamed for rest, for comfort, for peace, but my mind..oh, my mind…was louder. It screamed betrayal… Loss...Pain.The wind rustled through the trees, cold against my damp skin. My torn dress clung to me, soaked in blood and sweat. My hands trembled against my belly, trying to protect the only thing I had left..my baby…My pup.Tears welled in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not here and definitely not now."Lyra..." I whispered brokenly to my wolf, though she was silent inside me. She hadn't spoken since Thane rejected us. It was like she’d gone into mourning.The trees thinned as I walked further, my vision blurring. Darkness encroached at the edges of my eyes, and the cramping in my abdomen sharpened. B
THANE'S POV “Your precious mate is under my care…if you want to see her and your unborn child again, meet me at the glass hour pack before dawn tomorrow and come alone….your Father, Hyperion.”The once proud Alpha of the Pack now sat in the center of his hollowed-out soul, the weight of a kingdom's fate balanced against the heart that beat only for her as he kept on reading the note Hyperion had sent over and over again.Tyla.Gone.Taken.By the one man whose blood Thane now regretted sharing….Alpha Hyperion.Thane stood before the tall, frosted window of his chamber, his jaw clenched and his knuckles white. The echo of the message haunted him. Thane didn’t tell Rico and he didn’t tell Emmy. He didn’t tell the pack members or anyone as no one could talk him out of it. He wore silence like armor, because anything less would break him apart.He left before dawn.The path leading to the forbidden ruins was littered with shadows. Winds howled through the trees like ancient spirits
THANE'S POV I sat down in my study as the sun Shone brightly into it.I was restless and I didn't know what to do or how to calm myself. I stared at the map laid out before me..borders, routes, possible enemy territories and all of it blurred in my vision as a storm brewed in my chest. None of it mattered if the root of all this madness, Hyperion was still breathing.I suddenly mind linked Rico.“Alpha?? Is there a problem??" Rico asked.“Come to my study now." I said."I will be there right away.” He said as I ended the mind link.A few minutes later, I heard the door swing open, and Rico walked in, stiff and unreadable as usual.“You sent for me?” he asked.I nodded, motioning for him to sit, though I remained standing as my mind was too restless.“I’m thinking of going to see Hyperion,” I said plainly.Rico blinked and then he laughed. “Good one, Alpha…you almost got me.”“I’m not joking.” I said as the room fell deathly still. Rico sat up straighter, the smile vanishing from