MIKHAIL “Lycan King Mikhail.”Staring at my reflection in the mirror, my Beta’s voice echoed behind me as he stepped into the room. His tone was calm, steady, but my head wasn’t. My chest ached in a way I couldn’t explain. I looked perfect in this black tuxedo, the silky material hugging my body like it was made for me. The handkerchief was neatly folded in the side pocket. My hair was pushed back, not a single strand out of place. But I didn’t feel perfect. I didn’t even feel human.“It's time,” he added softly.I didn’t turn. I didn’t blink. I just stared at my face like it didn’t belong to me. “Where's Rosanne?” I asked, trying to sound unaffected. Trying to sound like she didn’t matter. Like I wasn’t thinking about her more than the woman I was about to marry. Pathetic, right?My Beta walked up beside me, adjusting his own bow tie. “Lycan King Mikhail, you shouldn’t be thinking about your breeder right now.”He called her that again—breeder. I hate the word now. Hated how empty
ROSANNEI felt freedom. No, I tasted it. Seeing Anita with her signature smile plastered on her lips, my heart almost exploded from joy. I embraced her, letting my tears spill down my cheeks as I inhaled her scent. She is alive, breathing, and free. With my palm on both sides of her cheeks, I ran my fingers over the small scratch on her face, “Anita, I'm so sorry this happened to you.” I choked, my shoulders trembling as a sense of relief washed over me. Nothing could explain how happy and excited I felt at this moment. It felt like a large rock had been lifted from my chest, giving me the opportunity to breathe after an extremely long time. Then someone cleared his throat, a male, stepping out of the woods with a hood over his head. “You guys arrived on time.” It was Axel, the same pack warrior who always sparred with Landon. I wriggled my brows, trying to understand what was going on, and Axel's smile widened. “Rosanne.” His eyes trailed towards Anita, love swirling in his eyes
MIKHAILOver the last few days, my entire pack was a mess. Rosanne, my breeder, was gone—with my child in her womb. Apart from the fact that it was an abomination, it was driving me nuts, driving me insane. Each day, I'd step into her room to bathe in her scent, to inhale it, to pray to the moon goddess she'd return back to me, but each time my guards walk into my study to tell me they didn't find her, I'd crumble again. I wrecked my wedding. Irene became the saddest bride, and worse? I didn't give a damn about her tears, about her sadness. All I could think about was her—Rosanne. I made Irene sign the divorce papers because she made me lose something important—an heir to the throne. And the damn elders that tried to stop me, I made sure their lives were a living hell. I should have done that a long time ago, I should have stood against the elders, fought with them over the goddamned wedding. Now I regret ever taking those vows. My biggest mistakes ever. Heading towards the cou
ROSANNE If someone had told me I'd be here, in the woods, walking through paths I'd never passed before, I would have denied it. As days passed in a blur, these three people—Anita, Axel and Yvonne—became my family. Each night, we'd all gather around and have a decent conversation, it was the only way we'd been able to survive. The little food Yvonne and I brought had been exhausted, the water as well. Right now, any chance at a lake was all we got. I almost forgot I'd been married to a Lycan King once in my whole life. Glancing at Axel from where I laid, my lips curled into a soft smile. I still found it hard to believe he and Anita were in love. Not just in love, they were deeply in love, and for them to hide such a relationship for months freaked the hell out of me. Darkness covered the thick, tall trees. The flickering flames casted dark shadows around, shadows that threatened to join the flames in the blazing dance and become one with it. You could almost feel the shadows—li
MIKHAILThe thick, sharp scent of blood hit me even before the large doors were opened. My jaw clenched. Something was wrong, I could feel it in my gut, the feeling that something grave had happened. The doors burst open a second later. Derrick stumbled in, covered in mud and blood. One side of his shirt was torn, soaked in red. He was limping, and his hands were shaking like he’d seen a ghost.“King….king Mikhail..” he breathed, falling to one knee. “I—we—we found her.”My heart skipped a beat. “Rosanne?” I asked, taking a step forward.He nodded. “She was with them, a man—Axel—and two women who…looked looked identical.” He coughed out a mouth full of blood, his hands trembling. “They were well trained, we lost…lost our men, all of them.” I stared at him, trying to understand what the hell he was saying.“They didn’t try to run, Lycan king Mikhail,” Derrick added. “They fought hard, like they had nothing to lose. And Rosanne…”He looked up at me.“She changed. She wasn’t the same g
ROSANNE “We're here.” Axel whispered, staring at a small building a few meters away. We'd walked through the woods for a few more hours before we crossed the pack border. Right now, Anita's breathing was getting shallow, she was getting weak, and it'd freak the hell out of us if she didn't make it. Axel inhaled a deep breath, his arm tightly wrapped around Anita. With his hood covering most of his features, he took a step forward. “I'll go in first. Whatever happens, don't come out until I get in.” “Doesn't he recognize you?” “We're not on good terms.” He limped, his arm tightly securing Anita next to him. She'd lost consciousness, but her heart was still beating. She was pale, so pale you'd think she was already dead. Yvonne and I watched as Axel stood outside the small building. He knocked, ever so gently, like he was afraid of confronting whoever was in there. And when there was no response, he knocked heavily, pounding hard due to the urgency of the entire situation. “Do you
MIKHAIL“I don't think putting a bounty on her head is the right idea, Lycan King Mikhail.” My Beta, Hudson, walked after me, his heavy footsteps pounding in my ears. As days passed by in a blur, I'd thought of several ways to get Rosanne back, and that seemed like the perfect way to drag her back here. Alive. “It's the right idea.” I said quietly, taking a turn towards the courtroom for the daily meetings. Last night, I spent a few hours in Rosanne's room—just inhaling her scent. With each day that passed by, it was getting harder to live without her. Sometimes, I'd close my eyes and see her staring at me. Other times, her voice would echo like she was here, but she wasn't. It was more like being haunted by a ghost, a really pretty one. Placing a bounty on her head wasn't really the best idea, but it was all I had. Wherever she was, she'd be dragged here just because of the enormous price. Soon enough. “She'll hate you, King Mikhail.” Hudson's voice dropped to a quiet whisper, li
ROSANNE Last night, after much persuasion, the old man—Leonard—eventually gave us the wolfsbane for Anita's treatment. Axel had stayed with her throughout the night to make sure she was okay, since the wolfsbane could be quite harmful as well. I hadn't seen Leonard today, but I was sure he'd be carefully thinking of other ways to drag me back to the Bloodmoon pack. “Axel, are you there?“ I knocked on a wooden door, patiently waiting outside with a small bowl of warm soup. Yvonne and I woke up quite early to prepare this delicacy for Anita, just so she'd feel a little strengthened. It took a few minutes before Axel opened up the door, looking in a brighter mood. “Hey,” he smiled. My lips curled up, “she's awake?“ His eyes trailed over the small bowl of soup I held. He reached and collected it. “Thanks Rosanne.“ He sighed, holding it carefully. “She's not awake, but her wounds are healed. She should be awake soon.“ “Okay.“ I wrapped my warm hands around myself, taking a step back
MIKHAILI stared at my phone, trying to decipher the text, Landon had sent, “Will be staying longer than expected, something came up,” The words made no sense, “Xavier, have you heard a word from Landon since he travelled to the human world?” I asked.“Xavier!” I growled, throwing a book in his direction.“Would it kill you to use your words?” he hissed, his hand rubbing the part the book had made contact with.“If you had paid attention, rather than stay fixated on that device, maybe you would have seen it coming,” I snapped.I was angry, not at him but at the way things had been in the past few days. Knox couldn’t be tortured until he had fully recovered, and until then I had to sit on my hands waiting for something— a sign to drop from the sky pointing to where Rosanne could be.“You need to get laid,” Xavier grumbled.I growled, the sound snapping him into shape, “You will lead the next war,” I threatened walking out of the room.I was lenient on him, letting him enjoy the privil
HUDSONThe silence never disturbed me, and neither did the angry glares that my men sent my way. Killing one of our own was abominable, a law I would happily break a thousand times over.My eyes flickered to the enchantress in my arms, a soft smile coiled across my lips as I watched her furrow her face deeper into my body.The action filled with me with a fussy feeling, I was excited, and even though she was passed out in my arms, I liked it. It calmed my wolf and took away the rage I had felt earlier.And in that minute it dawned on me, that I was weak, a broken soul, waiting for her to fix me. Change me. I wasn’t going to fight her—never! Not when she is everything that I have always longed for— prayed for.A gentle breeze blew, and my lungs exploded with her scent, reminding me of the colour that had been added to my grey world.My body tensed, we were just by our border. I would be reporting to Mikhail, and for the first time ever, I felt doubt.What was going to be his cause of a
HUDSONWolves circled her, their fangs bared as they tried to scare her.I had jumped down the minute after she did, but I was too late, my men had already had her cornered. They were toying with her, waiting for her to move, then they would attack, tear her piece by piece until she was nothing but bones, a reminder of who she was.“Stand down!” I barked, my wolf surging forward. But my words were on deaf ears, Mikhail’s order stood firm, commanding their will.Her green eyes met mine, and instantly I was filled with a new order—protect.I lunged, landing right in the middle, blocking her from their vicious eyes, “Stay behind me,” I growled.She nodded, her heart beating loudly in her chest, the sound reverberating through my body. Her touch was soft against my back, a buzzing feeling surrounded the spot where she touched.“No one harms her,” I sneered, my claws drawn.For her, I would go to the end of the world—killing the men I called my family if need be.“Get out of our way beta H
HUDSONBACK AT THE GOLDEN RISE PACK…“Kill!” the single command that broke through my control, snapping my beast, filling us with the thirst for blood.The sound of their screams excited me. I was carnage bathed in the blood of my enemies. This was absolutely my scene.The warrior beneath me shuddered, blood gushing out of his open stomach. I grinned, my claws digging deeper into him as I pulled out his intestines, enjoying the way his face contorted in pain before the life drained out of his eyes. My eyes glowed red, filled with malice, as I savoured my kill. “They couldn’t even defend their home,” I hissed, crossing over his body as I moved towards the door he had been protecting.I was on a mission, “No one lives!” Mikhail’s voice echoed through my mind, drowning me.Knox has been foolish to go after Mikhail’s breeder. His thirst for power had sentenced his people to death.I pushed the door open, ducking just in time as an arrow whizzed towards me, its tip aiming for my head.“Yo
ROSANNEWe moved in silence, each man understood the severity of our quietness. The darkness and the trees were perfect covers, hiding us from anything that might have been hovering around.Aiden cooed, his lips moving against my chest looking for my nipple. These were moments that I should be enjoying, smiling as I fed my children, but I couldn’t. We were here in a forest running from an unseen but scary danger. Trying to be alive. We were nomads. Lost souls wandering around without a place to call home.My eyes looked around the group of people that were with us, their faces stricken with pain and determination, all looking for a better life, a new hope.We all wanted the same thing, a place we could call home. A place we could believe in.The ground rumbled, the forest coming to life. Birds moved through the trees out of fright. And from the silence, a growl echoed, deep, primal, hurt.“Lycan king,” Axel muttered, his eyes looking back to where we had come from.My heartbeat spiked
MIKHAIL“Names!” I yelled, my fist clenched as I stared at Knox, he was fighting, barely living. I needed to know the people that I would be hunting down.Knox coughed, blood slipping out of his mouth as he tried to move, “Here,” Blair said, placing a cup by his lips. “It will give you energy for the journey ahead,” she muttered.“Speak, or I will rip your tongue out,” I commanded, my voice heavy with authority.“Rosanne,” he coughed. “She was a monster, her powers…”I lunged, my fist colliding with his cheek, how dare he called Rosanne, my Rosanne a monster. She was peace, beauty and a ray of peace. I was the monster, not her.“Mikhail!” Hudson screamed, pulling me off the man who looked like he was about to die. “Are you going to kill our only lead?” he yelled. I straightened myself, shoving him off of my body, “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again,” I hissed.Hudson bowed, his neck bared as he showed mem the respect that I deserved, “I am sorry Lycan King,” he said, keep a mu
MIKHAILMy heart clenched at the large claw mark on the wall, just where Maverick’s head rested.Not a message, just a deep primal warning.Fear crawled up my spine. But not for myself or my men; but the thought of something, someone harming Rosanne and my child.My Rosanne.“We have to keep on searching,” Hudson muttered behind me, his voice sound far, like he was buried among the bodies littered here. “She has got to be here somewhere, she is a fighter,” he mumbled. His words felt like they were meant to comfort himself and not me.He was still fighting hard to see the positive in all this.The once thriving rogue settlement, No man’s land had been reduced to ashes, bodies thrown around like…The thought made me shudder, I should be happy that Rosanne’s body wasn’t in the rumble, but then where was she? Shouldn’t she have been patiently waiting for me to come and save her? Wasn’t she scared of the new, and real world she was seeing?My ears strained, and the sound of a faint heartbe
MIKHAILTrusting Blair to be the compass to No man’s land was one of the most terrible mistakes I had ever made, “Would you stop grinning or I will make sure Hudson pulls out all your teeth,” I hissed, my patience growing thin.It has been more than a day since we had set out to bring Rosanne and my child back. Blair had forbidden us from using the cars, her excuse; cars make her sick, and when she is sick, her powers seem to disappear.I wonder why I still keep her around. She has been nothing but a pain in the ass all through this journey, blabbering and sharing jokes that sounded like torture to the ears.“Sorry,” she muttered, completely unaffected by my threat.I rolled my eyes at her, “Are we anywhere close to Maverick’s land?” I asked, looking at the dense forest that we had been trapped in.I had taken a few men, the journey wasn’t meant to be this long. The plan was simple, find Ross, and bring her and my baby back. And for the traitors, make sure that they find their end at
ROSANNE“Whatever it is that you have to say, you can say it here,” I replied in a clipped tone. I wasn’t going to be separated from my children again.Ryan smiled, “No one is planning to take you away,” he said in a soft tone.“What do you want?” Axel interrupted, his eyes looking around the men who had been loyal to Maverick. “As you can see we are on a time crunch and we need to leave,” he hissed.I gently squeezed his shoulders, signalling that there was no harm in hearing them out. “What he is trying to say is that we are most grateful for your kindness and letting us dwell with you. But we must leave now. And we are sorry for any harm that might have come to you. All of you,” I said, sounding more diplomatic than Axel.Ryan smiled, his eyes sparkling with delight as he heard my little speech, “We know what you have suffered in the hands of Maverick and we would like to apologise for that,” he muttered.I kept a straight face, hiding my true emotion from showing at the mention o