The moment I set my eyes on the man named Grayson, I felt an instant dislike for him; something about him was uninviting, and now I could see why. I couldn’t help but watch as he drank and laughed in his loud, unpleasant voice, even attempting to crack jokes. His pack members laughed—not because his jokes were funny, but because they felt they had to.Grayson grabbed one of the naked girls, and she giggled as he pulled her onto his lap. Without hesitation, he cupped her breast. “I think you have pretty tits, but I have to save myself for my wife at least for tonight.” He said, and everyone laughed at that. “I remember telling my father about my intentions to marry as many beautiful women as I could. He called me a fool; he said ‘one would have to do; you don’t need so many wives’… But guess what? He is dead, and I am Alpha now.”People laughed even harder like that was funny; I, on the other hand, was doing my very best to hide my grimace.“It’s time!” The Alpha called with a loud voic
Grayson finally walked out of the room after what felt like hours; the girl's sobs still stung my ears. I sat and I did… nothing.An elderly woman rushed into the room, perhaps to nurse the girl—that’s what I thought until I saw her walk out with the white sheet that was now stained with blood. A lot of blood. She threw the sheet into the air, and many reached for it, cheering for their Alpha.“A screamer she is… but I do like screamers.” He said with a smile.Grayson walked up to us. “Join us; the feast is about to begin.”Alexander rose, stretching his hand for mine; I rose without his help. Grayson led the way to the hall where we were meant to eat, drink, and party like a girl hadn’t been violently taken just a while ago. Our soldiers walked a good distance behind us.“Please, take your seats! Enjoy!” Grayson says, and we took the two chairs at the head of the table; he sat on the single one opposite us. The others joined in, taking their seats. Our soldiers took the first five ch
I rolled over on the bed—wait. Bed? My eyes snapped open. “Alexander?” I called, but there was no one in the room. Just then, the door creaked open, and a familiar scent filled the air. His scent. “Alexander!” I called again, and finally, he appeared before me. “I went to get you some food.” He said a smile—not a smirk, a smile on his face. I stared down at his hands; he held a tray of food. He was in a black t-shirt and jeans—I had never seen him in casual clothes before, and… damn, was he hot. “Are you… are you okay?” he asked. “Yes, I am.” I pulled off the covers and rose to my feet. A sudden dizziness overcame me, and I lost my balance. Before I could fall, Alexander caught me. The tray still remained in his other hand. “You should rest some more and eat too.” He said, leading me back to the bed. I accepted the tray of food. “I am glad you are awake; the past two days were not very exciting. I spent the last forty-eight hours worrying myself to near death." I had been asleep
In a few days, the wolfsbane was completely out of my system, I could finally walk without any support. So I decided to pay Aric a visit. I knocked on the door to his apartment, and as if he had been waiting right there, he opened it immediately and pulled me into a hug. “I wanted to visit you and see how you were doing, but Alexander is a bit more possessive of you now.” “It’s alright; I’m fine now.” Finally, he pulled away and shut the door behind him. “You would have died—I should have gone with you.” “But I didn’t. All thanks to Alexander.” “I might not like the Alpha very much, but I will always be grateful to him for this.” "He saved my life, and that’s why I’m here. I want to know what happened to the Gray Moon Pack and how I was able to make it here alive. "I don’t know all the details, but I heard that every pack member at the Wedding Feast was burned alive—none survived. What’s strange is that the fire didn’t spread. It never went past the hall; it just... quenc
Alexander wasn’t in his office; neither was he in the meeting room.I walked into Phil’s—one of the council members and the eldest among them all."Luna," he called, bowing.“Phil. I wonder if you have an idea where the Alpha is now.”“He is in the bar, Luna— I don’t advise you go to him now.“Why?” I asked.“He is a bit… occupied.”“Point me in the direction to the bar and I’ll be on my way.”.If he was having sex with a whore, I would feel it.I stopped before the 'bar.' The only thing blocking my view of the room was a curtain made of beads. I took a deep breath and walked in.The place reeked of alcohol as expected. I spotted Alexander; he had a bottle in his hand, and sitting beside him was Austin, another council member.Three naked women danced on poles; the one in the middle had her eyes trained on Alexander. The strange feeling I had felt earlier in the Gray Moon Pack resurfaced. Jealousy. I didn’t like the fact that Alexander watched them, though he made no move towards her
Alexander was in a fresh pair of pants, though I didn’t think he minded being naked.“You should join me for a drink, Kaida.” he offered.I did need a drink. I walked to him, trying to hide the discomfort I felt between my legs. I had asked for it, and I was given just that. It was fun; it was exciting, but now, all I could feel was pain. I had no regrets, though; I would do it all over again if time was taken back.Alexander helped me to the stool beside him.I accepted the glass filled with a light brown liquid. I didn’t mind asking what it was; I drank it all. He stared at me. “I’m a very bad influence on you.” He said.“You are.” I agreed, adjusting on the seat.“You are sore and in pain.”“I’m not.”“You don’t have to lie; I can see that. Perhaps I went too hard.”“I asked for it.”“You weren’t ready. I shouldn’t have listened to you.”“I was. I was ready.” I said and his eyes fixed on me. “I… I wanted to give you everything ‘they’ would give, so you won’t have a reason to want t
It was a dream. That much I could tell.I watched a younger version of myself lying on the bed, sickly thin. Her skin was pale as snow, and her breaths came in labored gasps. Beside her was my father, Alpha Trent, in his prime. He was handsome as I always knew he was, but he had a pained look on his face as he watched me; I was dying, and I could see that.“Nothing can be done for her—we’ve done all we could, but the sickness… we don’t understand it; we’ve never seen a thing like it.” a female healer said to him.“She can’t die.” My father says, “She’s all I have, and she cannot die. There has to be a way.”The healer walked closer to him. “There might be another option—the healer's lilies. But I would never recommend it; if it doesn’t work… she would die.”“Do it,” my father says without even a single hesitation.“Alpha, are you sure?”“Yes. She would die anyway; do it.”“The flowers are up the Everveil mountains—my grandmother told me about them. I know how to pluck them and keep th
ALIYA’S POVTrian rarely speaks.I wish he did; he stood there, day and night, but never uttered a word. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. The last time we spoke, he said he was from the North, which explained his pale skin; the Aureonnas had darker shades.“What is life in the North like?” I asked him.“Cold.” Was his only response. It was clear he didn’t want to speak to me.I picked up a book and began reading. I hadn’t even heard him move, but he was right before me.“You move very quietly.”“Do I?”“Yes.”“Every soldier should possess that skill, don’t you think?”“You are right.” I said, not comfortable with a man being this close. He sat beside me on the bed, and it took everything in me to sit still.“The North is more than just a cold place. As I told you before, there are humans, a lot of them, but there are also… werewolves. In the North, the werewolves still live in medieval times, doing things the old-fashioned way—just like the Aureonnas, your people, still do. T
3ALEXANDER POVI watched her sleep. I couldn’t say exactly when the insecurities set in, but lately she kept talking about how she’d gotten “fat.” She wasn’t—she was pregnant, strong and healthy for an expectant mother.I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. I’d spend eternity reminding her of her beauty if that’s what it took.It was time for work, but I didn’t want to leave Kaida alone—not with her due date only weeks away. Before heading out, I went to check on Alexa and found she was already awake.“Daddy, take me to Uncle D, pleeeease,” she begged.She was too adorable to refuse, but it was far too early.“It’s still sleeping time; he’s resting,” I said gently.“But Uncle D don’t sleep. He a vampire,” she whispered, as though sharing a top secret. I could have asked where she’d learned that word, but I already knew the answer.Then Kaida’s cry rang out from the next room: “Alexander! It’s coming—the baby…”My heart jolted. I raced back to our room and found her leaning against t
1.***PHIL POVTwo Years Later…I had never felt so nervous.The day had finally come — Selene had turned twenty-one two days ago, and soon everything between us was about to change."Good luck, friend," Austin said to me."You got this," Ruth, Austin’s mate, added, and I nodded.A year ago, Ruth had finally said goodbye to the Winter Pack and joined her mate, Austin. Their reunion had been beautiful, and the pair had been inseparable ever since.I wanted something like that too — though I hadn’t realized how badly until I met Selene.At many points, I had thought about canceling the plan of waiting, but this time, Selene had been the one against it. I refused to think too deeply about the reason behind that.Now I stood by the door to her house and knocked.I waited a few moments; there was no response, so I knocked again.A woman answered — a complete stranger."I’m looking for Selene. Selene Ashford?" I asked."Oh, the Ashfords don’t live here anymore," she said — and my heart drop
“The others are very angry,” Kyiv said to me. “They think I’m on your side, and that’s why I killed Skale. It’s no secret they don’t like me very much, so they’ve requested something from me—to make clear where my loyalty lies.”“And I’m guessing this thing they requested of you somehow involves me.”“That’s right. Let’s look at the pros of this operation. You’d get to leave the cell for a short while—after days of being locked up, that has to mean something. But then the cons: you’d be paraded naked in front of thousands of rogues, bound, and many would want to… touch.”“I have nothing to be ashamed of, but I’m more worried about your little plan with the plane crash. Aren’t you worried the news that I’m alive will leak out?”“I too believe this is a bad idea. Even if I stand to benefit in many ways — I’d finally prove myself a capable leader to the rogues, and the other rogue leaders would have nothing on me. But I still don’t trust their promises to keep the rogues silent, so the n
I stared at the water in the wooden bowl. I was so thirsty.Could anything be worse than this?At least I would have one less thing to worry about—thirst.I reached for it. It was far enough to cause some strain on my already bruised wrist as I stretched for it, and then I took hold of it.Just before I could lift it up, the bowl slipped from my bloody grasp and fell to the floor, the contents splashing across the ground.Fuck.Well,I guess I really have no option now.Something captured my attention — a blackish smoke swirling in the air, growing thicker with every second.Then, through the smoke, Daemon stepped out.“There you are, about damn time. I was starting to wonder if I was at the wrong place,” he muttered.“How did you find me?”“I made a very wild guess.” “Kaida — how is she?”He tapped on the transparent glass, as if testing its strength.“She’s perfectly fine, and she knows you’re not dead. But she might not be too happy about the fact that I didn’t let her come with m
“There’s a slight chance we aren’t dealing with a pack,” Daemon said. “Thank you for this information.”“Wait, you’re leaving me here? I just proved how important I could be.”“Yes, indeed. If you get any other information, just reach out,” he said, then turned around. He was really leaving.“Fuck you.” I muttered beneath my breath.“I heard that,” he called out. “I intended for you to hear that!” I said, but of course he was already gone.My gaze fell on Sebastian, still standing on the other side of the wall. He raised both hands in surrender before backing away. Frustrated, I stomped off..Kate arrived at the pack a few hours later. This time, she brought along her luggage.“You won’t really need all those for a few days.”“No, I won’t. But I’m not planning to stay for just a few days,” she said, walking into her room. I followed with two more of her luggage. “I’m moving into this pack,” she said finally, and I couldn’t deny how surprised I was at that.“Really?”“Yes,” she said,
I walked past the patrolling soldier and Phil, who followed after me.“I thought you said you were leaving? I was worried you’d do something rash, so I came after you.”Good thing he and the other patrollers hadn’t witnessed what happened earlier.“Plans changed. Guess I was about to make a rash decision — but I changed my mind.”“Are you okay?” Phil asked, inspecting me.I knew I didn’t exactly look my best — I’d spent god-knows-how-long in the healing room, then ran straight to pack my bags, dressed in nothing but the white gown the healing wardens had supplied. My eyes must have been red from crying. But every other person in the pack looked the same, if not worse.They were all mourning Alexander—I realized.Many cast pitiful glances at me.“Why did he have to go?”, “He was too young to die,” “He ‘was’ the best Alpha the pack had ever had.”Everyone had something to say about Alexander.I could hardly believe I’d run past all these people without noticing a single thing. On the wa
KADIA’S POVI woke up in the healing room.A pair of blue eyes watched me — Daemon. He looked… different, and it wasn’t just the new haircut. There was something about him that made him seem more human."Daemon," I called; my throat felt so dry.He seemed to have already prepared for that. He passed me a glass of water, which I quickly emptied.Everything came flooding back — the news about the plane crash. It became harder to breathe.“Kaida. Calm down.”"He's gone — he was in the plane when it crashed."I yanked out the tubes attached to my arm and rose to my feet. The movement had been too abrupt; the room seemed to spin.I felt hands guiding me back to the bed. I couldn’t hold in the tears.“He shouldn’t have been there. I made him go, and now…”“Stop.” Daemon said, cutting me off. “He is not dead. I visited the site; I didn’t find anything that indicated he was among the ones that died.”“You were at the site?” I asked, my heart speeding up with renewed hope.“Yes. The moment I h
ALEXANDER’S POVMy blurred vision slowly cleared, and I realized I was in what looked like a small, empty room.The wall facing me was made of thick, transparent glass.I couldn’t tell how they managed to get me in here—there was no window or door, only a narrow slot likely meant for passing food and letting in just enough air to keep the ‘prisoner’ alive.I could only assume there was some kind of hidden entrance.My hands and ankles were bound with thick silver chains.The chains felt excessive—I could barely move a muscle.More wolfsbane than I’d ever consumed in my entire life had been pumped into my system, completely immobilizing me and filling me with this nauseating, sickly feeling. I hadn’t realized I was shivering until I noticed the tremble in my fingers.The room was chillingly cold, and with the wolfsbane suppressing my werewolf abilities, I was no exception to the cold. I tried to summon flames. Nothing.Maybe I was just too weak to summon the flames. The crushing feeli
1KADIA’S POVWhen I discovered the news of my pregnancy, I had been so happy. But I knew a lot would have to change.I had to be more cautious—for the baby. That meant I wouldn’t be able to keep training the pack soldiers for much longer. Of course, I’d have to give up that duty eventually and it had become a part of my life. I would have to watch my diet, too. And then there were other things. Like the fact that I would grow big, and I might not look the same. My toned stomach which I had spent years working on would be no more.This had been the type of life I once abhorred, but everything was different now—I wanted this. I could see a future with Alexander, filled with laughter and little kids running around, and the thought made me smile.Lara was the first person to find out I was pregnant.After I discovered the pregnancy test was unmistakably positive, I was as scared as I was excited.Lara happened to be visiting the pack, and we kind of bumped into each other. She was all s