Talia's POV After cleaning up the mess the dough caused for almost an hour, I am tired already and need to rest. All hope of eating is lost now, and one thing is clear. "I need to proceed with the journey." I can't stay here despite the peace and love I enjoy. This place is just too small for me to reside. My concern now is how to tell George and Dave; they are already getting used to me, and I promise to always be there for George."Dave," I call slowly; we are sober now thanks to hunger, except for Dave, who had eaten with his Grandmother earlier. "Don't you think your Grandmother needs you now?" I say slowly.His face lit up, and then he frowns, probably realizingfrowneduld have to leave me. "She's probably looking everywhere for me now as we speak, but I don't want to leave you guys here like this. George, can we sort for some leftovers." "We'll be fine; go and attend to your grandmother, and please, Dave, don't you ever try stealing again. It will only land you in more problems
Talia's POV "Are the soups doubling?" The Inn owner's eyes widen, seeing each half-filled plate of soup doubling as fast as I can't even explain. The scene before me amazes me, but I compose myself quickly so he won't notice I'm as surprised as they are. Are the soups supposed to be doubling? The thought crosses my mind.The name of the soup calls my attention to the reason this is happening. It is called Enchanted Stew of Plenty, which explains it better. I smile, meeting the owner's gaze as he gazes at me surprisingly, and then back to the plates of soups. "Serve the guests now, please. It will take a long time before it finishes." I say, shoulders high and feeling myself for a job well done. The more the staff serve, the more the soup increases, and in no time, the Inn is filled with soups here and there, and everywhere is filled with food. Everyone is eating, and the Inn is becoming lively, unlike the moment we came earlier.The Inn owner and his staff treat George and me like V
Talia's POV Even without a wolf, I can smell wolves around. And I'm thinking the town ahead is a wolf territory. Panic sets in again because I aim to settle in a human world since the Moon Goddess has decided not to give me a wolf. I suddenly remembered the lie I told George about me, and since we were going to be together for some time, I think he deserves to know the truth."George," I begin, stopping him in his tracks. "There's something you need to know about me. I will need you to pay attention and try not to judge me ok?" "Don't leave me, Talia. I already know you're not human, if that's what you're planning to tell me." He clarifies, giving me a knowing look.I freeze. "Hun! How do you know? What do I look like to you?" How come he knew all this while and never told me anything about it? This revelation makes me question the kind of person George is. "Are you wondering how I knew you were a wolf?" George interrupts my thoughts and I nearly slip hearing those words from him.
Alpha Axton's POV"Alpha, I think we should go back now. We've come a long way and haven't even found any herb that can be useful, let alone a healer." Dane suggests tiredly, but I ignore him. He is speaking that way because he's tired I'm sure. The responsibilities of running a normal Pack are high, let alone a Pack of Misfits, where we all don't have a wolf.I know I have a lot to do to protect my Pack members from rouges attack. I'm trying here, but I guess I'm not just trying enough. I had gone on a trip for days and came back to meet half of my security men on their sick beds, been attacked by rogues while I was away. Now I have to get herbs or they die which I wouldn't forgive myself if this happens."Alpha, are you paying attention at all? You've been hurt too by that animal we met hours ago. We need to take care of your wounds. I'll advise we go back to the Pack and allow healer Ryda. He can...""Enough!" I halt him, raising my rolled fist for effect. "I don't want to hear tha
Talia's POV It's been days since we fell from the hill and were saved by Alpha Axton and his men; we are now perfectly fine. Alpha Axon and his people have been nothing but kind to me and George. With his help, I was able to get a loving human family to adopt George so they could give him the good things he deserves in life.Today, I'm being discharged from the hospital, now going to the hotel Alpha Axton prepared for me. I'm still thinking, still trying to figure out if this is the Misfit Town George talked about. I look outside through the car window, enjoying the ride and admiring the beauty of this town. Their houses are made from twisted wood and glowing stones, and the streets are lined with flowers that emit soft, calming light. But despite the beauty of the town, I can feel the mysterious looks of the inhabitants as I meet some people's gaze through their windows."Here we are, ma'am," the driver announces, opening the door for me to alight. I was so lost in my thoughts that
Bran's POV "Alpha, we should do something about this issue now and right here. We can't cross our fingers and watch our pups die just like that." A council member is finally speaking after several seconds of murmuring between them. I watch in silence, not because I'm weak or because I don't know what to say, but because I can't seem to figure out where all these are coming from."We've always respected you and your decisions since you were chosen to be our Alpha, but your silence in this issue is painting another picture." His gaze returns to the other council members like he is asking for their permission to proceed, and they nod, giving him the go-ahead to speak. "We can't help but think that there's something you have done wrong to bring us this calamity. Selene is angry at us for something done wrong. If not, why would our sacrifices not have been accepted by the moon goddess after a series of attempts, and she keeps on striking us with death and rogue attacks?" I look into spac
Bella's POV "You have to leave now! Before Alpha Bran meets you here or else your head will be fed to the Pack dogs." The nerve of Alpha Lucian's beta is to show up here. What is he thinking? Did he think I'm going to allow him to show up here and destroy everything I've worked hard for? For some weeks now, he has been on my tail, telling me lies in the name of custom, "rouges can't be born outside their territory", and who cares about that fucking custom? I have to make him leave before Bran comes out. That might arouse suspicions in him, and I wouldn't want that. "Leave now!" I shout again, but it seems this is not going to work. "Do you think I'll leave without you going with me? You don't belong here; you belong to us...well, till that pup comes to this world." He insists, mocking the guard's attempt to throw him out."Are you guys just going to cross your arms and watch this lunatic display? Aren't you going to throw him out now?" I'm trembling inside of me but faking composu
Talia's POV I stand swiftly as the footsteps are approaching, the sound louder now as if the person is coming closer. I glance around and find a stray log, big and thick enough to break someone's head in case they're enemies. I don't recollect speaking to anyone except Alpha Axton, his guards, driver and some of his maids. Maybe it's one of them though. I'm tempted to let my guard down, but I brace again, holding the log with my two hands on high alert in case it's not any of them. "Aaarrrrr!!!" We both are screaming, I close my eyes, lifting the log so high that it falls back behind me due to its heaviness. I open my eyes slowly to meet the gaze of a pretty lady; she should be in her mid-twenties like me. Her cute eyes widen in fear and her trembling hand is holding a beautiful flower."Hi..." I greet awkwardly, dusting them my hands on my trousers and stretching my hand to shake her, but she looks at me awkwardly before silently going to sit on the log I was sitting on earlier be
Aunt Merle The cup is warm in my hands, though my fingers have started to shake a little. From remembering too much and too fast. I promised myself not to recollect those sad days again. But the moment Talia mentions it, that old steady part of me takes over again. The part that always knew when to hold on and when to speak. I set the cup down gently on the side table and turned to her face. She sits quietly across from me, her eyes narrowed enough to show she's trying to piece together things faster than I'm revealing them. And maybe she is. She's always been quick. Elara would have called it "moon-wit," the gift of seeing through what's unspoken. That's part of her awakening anyway. I sigh. "The first thing she made," I begin again, smoothing my palm across my knee, "was what she called the Enchanted Stew of Plenty." Talia's head lifts a little. Her lips part. I see the memory hit her instantly. "Wait," she says slowly, "I-I made that. When I left the Starlight Pack. I was on
Merle's POV The sky is pale when I leave my house, a faint blush of pink stretching above the rooftops like an apology for the cold. I pull my shawl tighter around my shoulders, fingers stiff with age and something else I won't name yet. Something tugging at my heart, low and slow, like a warning hum in the bones. I dreamed of Elara last night. My sister, as she was and as she no longer is-or shouldn't be. She stood at the edge of a field I didn't recognize, surrounded by a stillnes so deep it felt unnatural. She didn't speak with her mouth. Her lips didn't move. But I heard her voice all the same, soft and clear as spring wind. She flowed in the air like she was some kind of liquid and then took someone else's form again before standing and backing me. Free me. It wasn't like a plea when she said it. It was a command. And I-I woke with my throat raw from unshed cries, sweat clinging to the back of my neck. But it wasn't fear I felt. It was certainty. Certain that something w
Talia's POV The ache in my chest has nothing to do with the trials. Not this time. It starts the moment I open my eyes and realize I'm still hearing her voice, not in echoes or memory, but as if she's still speaking to me through something beyond the veil. Free me. It won't stop circling in my head, curling into corners of my mind, I thought were hardened by now. But the softness is still there-the part of me that remembers how her arms felt, how her laugh sounded when I got my first shift wrong and ended up stuck halfway for a full hour. And since then, I couldn't shift again till I suddenly didn't see her again. I had believed my mother when she said we were relocating for good, and because I was being laughed at for not being able to shift. What if our relocation was because of threats or something? I heard of Grandma's demise shortly after our relocation, and I never got the chance to say goodbye properly to her. Could this be what I'm thinking? I sit up, slowly. The palac
POV: BellaI never planned to return to him, and definitely not here in his so-called chambers where everyone literally runs around when he barks orders. I don't want to be anyone's puppet. Not again. I vowed to rise all by myself and take my rightful position at the top.But life has a way of stripping your pride until all you have left are the bones of survival. And tonight, I walk on those bones-step by step-toward the place I swore I would never crawl back to.Ahead lie the gates of the Dark Council, adorned with ancient carvings and writhing shadows. They recognize me and that's because I don't seem to stay away from here. Even though I tried to stay away, they kept me like a ghost in their halls.I lower my hood. My face is raw from the wind and shame. I walk in freely as always. The guards don't stop me. He must've known I'd come.I walk into the chamber. It hasn't changed. The same looming pillars, carved obsidian thrones, and his suffocating presence cling to my lungs like sm
Marlik's POV (The Head of the Dark Council)They call me the Hand of Silence. The One Who Casts the Longest Shadow. But names lose meaning after centuries. What matters is control and purpose. And keeping chaos chained at the edge of the world.And yet, even now, even with the full strength of the Dark Council bent beneath my voice, my mind lingers elsewhere.Bella.Her name lingers like a thorn in my breath. It's distracting.I remember the first time I saw her. She was clearly broken, but not crushed. That's the type of woman I like. A young woman with fire behind her betrayal. Most who betray their pack run with shame and regret. But she held no regret. Only bitterness, and hunger-for power, recognition and for something more than what the Starlight Pack ever allowed her to be.She was cast out after her deception-the foolish plot to replace Bran's fated mate with a rogue's child in disguise. A gamble as bold as it was stupid. And when it failed, she expected death. Instead, she wa
Author's NarrationTalia stirs beneath her blanket, but her eyes remain shut. She's gone again, not in body, but in spirit.This is the second trance. The next gate is as the Moon Goddess has instructed.She wakes in a place where everything hums. The sky is gold. The ground feels like air. Light moves like water, rising and falling in waves. There's no wind, scent, or sound-just the heavy presence of something waiting.She stands, heart quiet but alert. She knows now not to speak because the Trials don't answer to voice, only to action. The Moonstone glows faintly on her chest, and she grazes it with her fingers. It feels warm and ticking, like her heartbeat.The light around her shifts, pulling itself into a straight path which leads her on as she takes cautious steps.After walking on air for some seconds, the golden air fades, and she finds herself in a clearing ringed by tall glass walls. Each one shows a version of her. In one, she's small again, clutching her mother's scarf. In
POV: The Dark Council Head "You should be scared of the man you're becoming. Despite all the powers and fights, you lack that inner peace you've always wanted. You have no mate, no children and most of all no joy. It's painful because I'm tied to you. And now I cannot even have my fair share of happiness just because you chose the dark part." Fen my wolf purrs. He won't just keep quiet for once. "I am Malrik. This is the life I have chosen, and as a part of me, you deal with it." When I said everyone turned against me when I was a nobody, I mean everyone including my wolf. Don't get this wrong. He was once my ally, but since I chose this part he turned. Fen and I had never agreed since then. At first, I was not happy about it, and I cursed Selene for giving me a wolf who was not always on the same page with me, but not anymore. He can think whatever or say anything. My plan stays. I had once been hidden. But not anymore. Now I shake the ground of every supernatural court. Vampi
POV: The Dark Council HeadI walk down the corridor in silence. The floor beneath my boots is cold, each step I take echoing through the hall. I don't enjoy the silence, but I've grown used to it. These halls remember everything. Every lie. Every betrayal. Every choice I made.She floats beside me, her spirit glowing faintly in the light. Elara. The keeper's grandmother. She was once a powerful wolf. Now, just a spirit. But still dangerous and still strong. I guess that's my mistake. I should have ended her life that night. I shouldn't have locked her spirit up. "You walked without permission," I say. My tone is calm, but it has a warning behind it. "Again."She lets out a dry laugh. "I don't belong to you."We keep walking. The torches along the walls flicker more brightly as she passes. Even fire respects her. That's always been the case."No," I object. "But you are bound here. You should know your boundaries. You can't just keep roaming about any time you feel like, you know; som
POV: The Old Keeper (The New Seer)I was never supposed to hear her voice again. But she never seems to stop calling and coming. The hall glows, a hint of her presence.The old runes on the walls emit a dim shimmer-not bright enough to chase away shadows, but enough to remind me that I'm not alone down here. I sit with my back against the cold stone wall, my legs stretched before me and one foot bouncing softly in rhythm with the whispers in my head. The whispers never stopped since she returned. Or let's say since she had been aware of my presence here.I remember once being brave and knowing who I was. Now I count moments by the number of breaths I can take before my past claws its way into my thoughts.And just like every time before, here she comes.Her voice reaches me before her form does-soft, low, and carried like wind through bone."You remember more than you should."It echoes through the hall like it's soaked in moonlight. Her hunting yet comforting voice. She's closer now