"Why will the goddess give us such a mate?" My wolf wailed in my mind.
"I Alpha Kenzo Stewart, reject you princess Rona Campbell as my mate!" He said coldly. I staggered as pain blinded me, it was finally happening, I got betrayed once more. "Now get her for me!" He ordered his men. "In your dreams!" I howled as my wolf took over. My mind went blank immediately, while she took over my consciousness. What I realized next was me back on my horse, escaping in a haste. "Ara, how did you do it? How did we escape?" I asked. A series of memories flashed before me, and I saw her transform and tear the person behind us apart with her claws, before jumping over the blockades, all in a few minutes. She also sprayed something on them that momentarily blinded them, before mounting the horse. "Thank goodness your mom packed the delirious powder for us!" She said, as I increased my pace. Tears dripped down my face at Kenzo's betrayal. Even though I didn't know his identity as my mate, we had gotten close in the past few months, and I regarded him as the brother I never had. His gentle and warm smiles were all fake, I know that now. My heart immediately got filled with worry. What if he informs the emperor that I survived? I continued the next few weeks without destination, just trying to get as far away from Kenzo as possible. I just kept traveling straight in the opposite direction, I wanted to leave this area and go somewhere it would be impossible to recognize me. Somewhere very far. My food ran out twice and I had to go into the towns to buy food. However, my money was also going down. I began to buy spices instead, killing and roasting animals, while only eating a little bread, in order to preserve money. I was definitely exhausted by everything that have been going on. I sat down on the forest floors to sleep a bit after my dinner. The weather was very cold, but there were no blankets. I leaned against the trees, pulling my cloak closer around me, while shivering. I had since hid my money, weapons and jewels in various parts of my body. I was always prepared to run, so I can't afford to relax. Only my bag of food and water remained strapped to the horse. I soon slept off while leaning on the tree. After a while, I tried to wipe my face only to realize I couldn't move my hands. My eyes immediately snapped open in shock and I gasped. I was inside a fucking net. Someone trapped me while I was sleeping! How did this happen? I always wake up at the slightest sounds, or my wolf wakes me up, ever since I started running. Why didn't I hear them attacking me? "The sleeping powder will wear off soon. We need to move her to the camp. She's indeed very beautiful. She will sell for a lot at the brothel" I heard a male voice say. My heart immediately skipped a beat. Slave traders? Did I just fall into the hands of slave traders? Tears formed in my eyes and I quickly sniffed it back. I have to be strong. What kind of bad luck is following me around? No matter how fast or far I run, I always get into a huge mess! From losing my parents and pack, to becoming a fugitive, being betrayed and rejected by my mate, to getting attacked by robbers. I had managed to escape the robbers with a gash on my arm, and have been applying herbs to clear it, but it has not completely healed yet. Now this? Will I get sold into slavery? Oh Goddess! 'calm down. Why do you keep crying? Damn! Your tears were probably what weakened us to the extent that mere sleeping powders could be used to overpower us, damn!' my wolf growled, obviously angry with me. I immediately kept quiet for fear of annoying her further. The men stood before me, and one gave me a creepy smile before tearing the net. But my hands were tied too. They threw me into a cart and I sat down grudgingly. I immediately realized that the little satchel containing my clothes was still on my back. Why didn't they seize it? The cart stopped and they dragged me down. I saw other people tied up. There were cages and carts parked at one corner. I was pushed to the side where young girls stayed, and I staggered trying to regain my balance. "Someone escaped!" I heard one of the men roar, and they quickly gave chase. In a few minutes they came back with a man. "How dare you try to escape?" Their leader roared, and poured flaming coals on the slave that tried to escape, burning him alive. The man's screams reverberated all over showing the immense agony he was enduring. They began to flog him mercilessly with horsewhips, tearing his flesh. I watched them chop off his limbs before finally killing him. "Anyone else that tries to escape will have it worse!" He roared, trying to instill fear in everyone. I swallowed the lump in my throat and kept quiet. Soon it was bedtime, and I carefully chose the edge, close to the forest. Others were huddling around the fire since it was cold, but I had my plans. They're peasants so they value comfort and are easily frightened. However, I am a warrior, I can't give up. I slowly removed my hair pin and began to pick the chain on my legs covertly. After an hour, it opened, and I reached for the dagger I hid in my boots to cut open the binds on my hands. I began to look around once I cut it, while pretending to be asleep and chained. I quickly crawled to the forest and began to run. I heard a furious howl just when I thought I was safe. "That girl escaped! Make sure you find her!" The voice reverberated in the dark night, making me shiver. I clenched my teeth and began to run. It was nearly dawn when I changed into the last pair of clothes in my bag, a white silk. I quickly used my wolf's fire to burn the rest of the clothes and satchel. They will be looking for the girl in dark blue silk carrying a satchel, however they won't find her. I continued my race. Now I have lost my horse, and I have to continue on foot. I ran for two days straight, without food, only eating fruits and drinking water, if I saw any. They didn't stop chasing me, they were confused at first and lost my trail. But like some magic, they found me again. "Check your hair," my wolf said in frustration. I began to ransack my hair and loosened all the pins. A strange green crystal fell off, alarming me. 'Damn it! No wonder. It is indeed as I thought. No wonder they always follow up, no matter which corner we divert to! They affixed a tracking crystal to your hair, probably when they first captured us!" She growled, and I gasped in shock. They were gaining on me, so I kept running, but I soon came to a dead end. I was at the edge of a cliff whose bottom I can't even see. The road suddenly stopped here. If I jump down that distance, I will definitely die. If I let them capture me, the same fate awaits me. I could hear their footsteps and hunting dogs approaching. Godess, what do I do? I said a short prayer and jumped down, I would rather die a free man.EIGHT MONTHS LATEREMPEROR RICHARD'S POVA lot of things had happened in the past few months. Just when I arrived to smuggle her out, she opened the door to my greatest shock. Even more terrifying was the fact that she shifted into a giant white wolf with ice, flame, and blood wolf attributes later that night.I couldn't understand it till she explained to me about merging souls with the real Erica to transform her bloodline, by ingesting some of Erica's heart blood to transform hers. Crazy things happened. Even after healing the people, she insisted on confessing the truth when she could have continued to live as Erica using her new ability. The council insisted on her execution for Alex's death, trying to kill me, and the murder of Erica. Worse was the push from Annalise and ice flame territories. I couldn't believe that a maid who loved her so much would one day see her with so much hatred. But I guessed, the one she loved was Erica whom she grew up with, not Rona the imposter. A
RONA'S POVMy heart was beating erratically in the carriage I was currently in. In a moment, the celebration had turned sour and the food had settled like lead in my belly. After the harbinger of unwelcome news broke it to everyone, it was discovered that the plague was caused through the use of dark sorcery. Worse, it came from the area of my previous pack, twisting my belly in knots. I couldn't help but think that someone who knew my secret was trying to blackmail and ruin me, by making it seem as if I had something to do with the plague and was trying to bring the empire down. Now, I was regretting carelessly blurting out how I initially wanted to kill him. I just handed them more ammunition to use against me. The solution that was brought forth was for me to open the ice moon temple, belonging to Erica's mother's family as the only surviving female descendant. I had tried to avoid it, but everyone pushed me to go, saying that I only needed my bloodline to open the relic temple.
EMPEROR RICHARD'S POVThe table was set before us and the new set of musicians began to entertain the guests while the food was served. Of course, they have been eating and drinking wine since they arrived. Those that came earlier even had breakfast twice before the party. I made sure of that. No one in the imperial city was allowed to have an empty stomach during my birthdays. This was the main banquet, when I will finally eat in the hall with them. Food was served and my inner circle officials joined us in the table. The likes of Liam and Conrad didn't have a permanent spot because they have been too busy. I wanted to invite Harvey, but it seemed my wife didn't like her family. So I would rather not upset her. Maybe later, I would see them in private and check if they needed anything. I turned to Erica, and the scowl was back on her face. I looked up to see why. The girls were still staring lustfully at me. I really couldn't help it. I didn't ask to be born so handsome and charis
RONA'S POVHearing those alphas mutter about my biological father being a traitor made my heart feel clammy, and the seat suddenly became uncomfortable. Even Richard's enemies agreed that he was an upright emperor. Why then did he massacre my clan? Or did I make a mistake? Could my father have done something horrible to make the entire pack responsible? Now that I think of it, mom seemed to have mentioned how she couldn't believe my father couple do that to her? What on earth did he do? If it was true that my father betrayed his emperor, then my situation would be more precarious than I initially thought. Even if I gave up on revenge to remain by his side for restitution while investigating the case to get the answers I seek, I might still not be safe. If my father was truly a traitor that did something that implicated the entire pack, I as his daughter would never be able to escape death. Richard would hate me more than he ever loved me. He would never forgive me for deceiving him
EMPEROR RICHARD'S POVI could see my wife vibrating from jealousy as she watched the young women from different clans drooling over me, while whispering that they also want to marry me. Even the married Lunas couldn't advert their eyes as they fantasized, despite being accompanied by their alphas. Old materialistic bitches. Erica had walked in, all radiant with smiles, filled with happiness, her shoulders high with pride. But now, she was scowling so hard that it had become obvious to everyone. I could hear people muttering about it. Although most people had their attention on me and the lavish gifts I received, some still noticed her unhappiness. Perhaps I was sick and twisted, but I felt incredibly happy watching her jealous and glaring at the women trying to make passes at me. Under normal circumstances, I would have punished them severely for staring, or threatened them with my aura. But having a pretty wife beside me, jealously guarding her man, caused me to sit back and watch
She knew she looked sexy yet she dressed like that to an official event. Who was she trying to seduce? Aish! Ah! My heart! “Your majesty.” She whispered, sending goosebumps down my spine. Her voice was soft and sweet like a lullaby, and every move she made was elegant, graceful and incredibly seductive. Even I was mesmerized, how much more Richard, that sex machine. I looked at him but found no change in his expression. Anyways, he was the emperor and was used to controlling his expression, hiding his thoughts perfectly. “Your majesty, it has been a while. Did you miss me?” What the hell? They seemed close. Richard kept quiet, ignoring her question. Just as I was about to rejoice because he gave her the cold shoulder, his eyes ran over her body and she stylishly moved, letting him see more of her inner thighs through the slit, and also exposed more swell of her boobs. Someone gasped out in anger. It took a few seconds for me to realize that it came from me. I quickly controlle