Kaiya A strange kind of hush falls over the castle. Usually, there’s always someone bustling around, off to do one of the many things needed to keep this place running like a German train schedule. Even in the middle of the night, I can hear guards calling out to each other on the grounds, or the sound of Omegas running through the hallways. Tonight, it’s like a grave. As quiet as the catacombs. Around midnight, the silence unnerves me and I get up to ask Oswald about it, but he’s not on his post. I turn my head in every direction, but there’s no one. I'm all alone up here. Feeling a little nervous, I go to the last person I want to see. Bowden. He came by earlier, but I refused to talk to him. He left again without saying a word. “Why won’t you talk to our mate?” Elowen asked when he left. “I’m angry at him.” “It wasn’t his fault,” she said. “He tried to protect us.” I didn’t listen to her. She’s a wolf, and she will do anything her mate asks her to do without question, even
KaiyaEven the castle lights that usually shite brightly throughout the night had been dimmed. Now that Elowen is awake, I have no problem seeing where I'm going, but the darkness makes me uneasy. It always has.A few times, I walk past some lower-ranking guards, but none of them tries to stop me. They follow me with their eyes until I’m out of sight, then the next set of guards follow me. It’s very strange.It’s not until I reach the entrance to the dungeon that someone actually blocks my way. “Your majesty,” the dungeon guard says. “The night is better spend in your room.”“Are you going to stop me from entering?” I ask, jutting out my chin, daring him to do it.“No. I am merely giving you a friendly warning.”“I will be fine.”“Who do you want to see?”“Clar- ah…Shannon.”He nods and steps aside. “Through the bars only.”“Fine.”I descend the dark staircase leading to the lower floor. My sneakers thud dully on the compacted earth floor. The air is thick with the scent of despair an
Bowden I wake up in the forest with Kaiya curled up in my arms. She moans softly and cuddles in closer to me, sliding her soft body across mine, sending charged little bolts of electricity running up and down my spine. I’m not stupid enough to think this means that she has forgiven me. Our wolves took control last night and did Goddess only knew what. They don’t care about the politics and games we play with each other, all they care about is their mates. I’m covered in a thick sheen of drying blood, but the only blood on Kaiya is transfer from my body to hers. She’s has Dorian’s ugly necklace clenched in her hand. Her hair is knotted and messy, with twigs and leafs woven through the tangles. Even now, dirty and covered in blood, I find her irresistible and I have to fight with everything I have not to wake her with a kiss. There was no controlling my Lycans last night. Even as I handed down the Alphas’ punishments, I knew that it wouldn’t be enough for them. They wanted those trea
Bowden Over the next two days, I barely see Kaiya. She shows up when she must and goes to any appointments that pop up on her calendar, but she avoids me like a bad memory. It doesn’t appear as if there will be retaliation from the other Alphas. If there were even a whisper of retaliation or rebellion, someone would have reported it to me already. I hear mostly good things, Alphas praising my decision, and the visitors treat Kaiya with the necessary respect. The Lunas adore her, she represents everything they want to be, and they keep her busy all hours of the day and night. Sparrow, Leonard’s mate, asked permission to stay at the castle. When I enquired as to why, she just said that she can’t go back to the pack where she was disgraced. Deacon has taken a liking in her and keeps her close to him. He even put her to work in the infirmary, where he’s training her to be one of his nurses. As I do every meal time, I invite Kaiya to have supper with me. And just as she has done every
KaiyaI stare at my image in the mirror. So much has happened since, and it seems so long ago now, that I can scarcely believe it's actually happening.I turn this way and that, still gaping at myself in sheer disbelief. It's difficult to bring my past and present together. I can hardly believe that I'm looking at the same person that just over two weeks ago struggled to get herself out of bed so she could work a double shift to pay for her broken down old car. They don't look the same, and they don't feel the same.The bodice of the gown is plain and undecorated just as I wanted it. The neckline is high enough to hide Bowden’s mark, and from the waist, the gown cascades into a voluminous skirt, the layers upon layers of diaphanous fabric floating around me like cloud.The skirt shimmers like diamonds when it catches the light, casting an ethereal glow around me, and my hair falls down my back in soft curls, pinned back and away from my face with purple wild flowers.This is exactly w
Kaiya My hand cramps tightly around Bowden’s as he walks me through the gathering to the front of the hall. The place is simply decorated, with only the same wildflowers in my hair as centre pieces on the tables, surrounding softly flickering lanterns. The place looks like a fairy garden, and is beautifully romantic. “I thought you said it won’t be a big to-do,” I say through our mind link. “This isn’t a big to-do,” he grins back at me. “Do you like the decoration? I specifically asked the Omegas to keep it simple.” “Yes.” I sigh. “It’s very pretty.” “Relax and have a little fun, hm?” Bowden says. “We’ll eat, we’ll dance-” “Dance? I don’t dance! No one said anything about dancing.” “You’ll be fine.” He laughs softly and squeezes my hand. “I’ll teach you.” The castle’s soothsayer meets us at the front. The old woman has a huge grin on her face. I lift my dress so I can step up onto the podium and face the soothsayer. “What a joyous day,” she declares. “It has been too long since
Bowden The moment I put Kaiya down, she drops her shoes and stumbles past me right to the bedroom. I watch her go with a little smile on my face. The bottom of her white dress is filthy, and she’s wrinkled from top to toe. It’s difficult to believe that she was raised as an Alpha’s daughter. No matter what pack she belongs to, or how they treat their she-wolves, an Alpha’s daughter is usually considered to be above every other female, and they are raised to behave like little princesses. My mate is behaving like she grew up in a cave or with a feral pack like Stone Wood. “Bowden,” she calls from the bedroom. I unstick myself and follow her tired voice. She’s standing in front of the mirror at my dressing table, swaying from side-to-side. She’s not drunk, but the wine definitely didn’t help her current state. “Do you need help?” I ask. She looks over her shoulder at me with her sleepy eyes. My mouth runs dry and my heart bottoms out. She is a mess with her make-up slightly smeared,
BowdenThe moment I step into the hallway of the guards’ quarters, I know the cat’s out of the bag, and we’re not stuffing that mangy feline back in there. The hall is crawling with curious Lycans while Elias is standing in his room letting out soft little mewls of terror.The empty sarcophagus lies on the floor, Jaeger is missing, and Julius is standing on the bed, rising up like a ghost no one wants to see.“Kaiya,” I mind link with my mate on pure instinct alone. “Are you still awake?”“Kinda. What’s wrong?”“I need you to come down to Elias’s room. We have…a situation.”“What kind of situation?”“Ehhhh.” I stare up at the risen figure. The corpse’s head is still covered with the sheet, but he’s standing on the bed and blindly reaching out with his shrivelled, mottled black-grey arms. “I’m not quite sure how to explain this. Just come down, and…prepare yourself.”“Whu- Whu?” Elias whimpers behind me.I’d tell someone to get him out of here, but everyone’s having a pretty similar re