CELESTE'S POVWe continued to journey through the carved road in the middle of nowhere until we reached a safe distance where Sam thought it was best to stop and cover the rest of the journey on foot. I thought getting past the guards at the border would be hard, but clearly I have underestimated Sam and his ability. Before I could even have time to question his plan and its stability, we had walked right past the security and were headed straight to my father's house. It felt surreal, and I found myself actually shaking my head numerous times to figure out if that was actually true or not. Only when we had reached my father's house did I actually believe that I was really in the Moonstone Howl pack after so many years. My father's bungalow is a place I have called home for decades, my comfort, somewhere I would run to after a whole day of despair, I would curl up in the bed and seek comfort from the stuff around me until the next morning. My home. Everything was exactly how I reme
CELESTE'S POVThe journey to the Moonstone Howl pack was strange. Strange in the sense that the whole path had been remodeled. Places I remembered to be once covered my trees and bushes were now buildings and factories. If not that Sam was with me and he sure as heck knew what he was doing, I could have said we had lost our way at some point. Even at that, as we journeyed, I still had my contemplation, and I only felt relieved when I saw the large, famous mountain that indicated the border of their pack. I lightly tapped Sam on his upper arm and pointed toward the mountain for him. "I think we should stop here and continue the rest of the journey on foot." It's still a bit far away, but I don't want to take chances, especially after Kaiden had found out we were interested in coming to his pack. I knew him like my nightmare; he would try to bend every power under his control to make sure we didn't get what we wanted. And did I ever tell you he has a lot of influence? Well, there you
SAM'S POV"Shit!" I usually have this absurd thought here and there that when Killian died, I was going to be happier than anything about his demise. In my head, I was thinking, at least, now I get to rule the pack without any stress. But when I walked into that room and saw him lying lifeless on the floor, my heart sank so deep I nearly collapsed myself. I just knew then and there that dealing with his death was not going to be as easy as I thought. I knew right there that I still adore my brother even though I was interested in his throne. I learned at that moment that no matter how interested I was in the throne, his life mattered more to me. The childhood we had is never going to just fade away, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. In a blur, I was right in front of him, shaking him vigorously, all the while trying to move him away from the blood on the floor. "Killian?" I called for the umpteenth time, this time around slapping his cheek in the process, attempting to wake
KILLIAN'S POVI knew Sam and Celeste were putting in a lot of work to help me escape this situation, but deep down in my heart, I knew the possibility of me escaping unharmed was little. Only I knew what was going on inside of me, and although I wasn't the type to give up, nothing motivated me to hold on, nothing to fight. Soon, Malthus will take over, and that's it for me. My concern now was not to hurt anyone while at it. So far, he was going to stick to hurting just me. I will be good. And while being alone, I have thought a lot about the whole thing. It's very unlikely for him to take over my body and just vacate the pack; he will try to continue ruling as me, he will do whatever his intentions were, but under the canopy of my body. I don't want that. So I have concluded that I will have Sam end my life quietly when things start to go south. I wasn't sure whether he would agree to do that or not, but I sure as heck would have to find a plan B just in case he turned that down. The
CELESTE'S POVWe all stared at each other at the same time, confusion in mine and Sam's eyes, while Victor's carried worry. Within the blink of an eye, Sam pushed Victor into the bookshelf and closed the wooden door. He then, in the most casual way, walked to the door and pulled it open. Out there stood Elder Corwin and a few guards behind him. To say I was taken aback would be an understatement. What on earth was he doing here? Not like I know much about how packs are operated, but I know enough to understand that pack Elders aren't meant to be moving around with guards for whatever reason. They were called elders for a reason; they should be scarce. "Corwin?" Sam gave him a once-over, sharing the same kind of surprise on his face. He seemed to want to ask "What are you doing here?" but somehow decided against it. Instead, he waited for Corwin to speak next. "Well, look who is here? Who would have thought?" Corwin beamed, staring over Sam's shoulder into the room. I did not attem
CELESTE'S POVIt took a lot of willpower for me to turn around and leave Killian without giving in to anything. I wanted to hug him, to assure him that all would be well and that I would find a solution for him, but I didn't trust myself to keep Victor out of the story. The minute I began saying it, I just nodded curtly and walked out of the room without looking at his face again. Returning to the cabin proved to be more challenging than moving away from it. Now the pack was bustling with cars and werewolves, some in human forms while the majority freely moving around in their wolf forms. Although no one stopped me, I could feel the intense and curious gazes on every visible part of my body. They were staring and owning up to it even when I turned around to confirm. Which makes me wonder if I was wearing something that stood out oddly to them. But as I mentally ticked the boxes in my head, I realized my dressing was very normal. So what warranted the stares, I never found out. "You