Ellie’s POVAustin takes me into a room I haven't been to before. It is downstairs and located behind a tiled door in the sparkling kitchen.The room is old and smells of neglect. It is populated but not well furnished. I see canvases propped up on wooden stands. There are different varieties of pallettes whose colours are covered with dust and cobwebs. The canvases look brown and the brushes appear unused and hard."Sorry about the place," he apologizes, as we stand before the neglected room."Was this a drawing room?" I ask."It was.""Who did all this?""I did."I shake my head. "You are really full of surprises today. So what happened?""Duty happened. I moved here when I became Alpha King and was forced to lose interest in trivial things as art, for the survival of our limited number of people."I look at him. "Art isn't trivial. Why would an artist like you belittle it?""That wasn't me talking, Ellie. That was my father then."He meanders his way through the dust and boxes, hea
Third POVHis words hit them all like a bag of nails, tearing emotions and convictions and doubts, leaving bloody sentiments all over the floor like confetti. Eyes go wide with surprise when Austin makes his declaration.Ellie stands under his arm, her neck sagging against her shoulders, face down like a village commoner unable to look upon the eyes of the King.There are a lot of murmurings and curious smiles. For a moment, the focus on trivial party talks is stolen and Ellie and the Alpha King are on the lips of everyone.Austin's eyes await on Sofia and her sister, but they do not move. However, it is Sofia's sister whose ego is more bruised than any other.Austin turns to Ellie with a concerned look on his face. "Sorry for leaving you like that, Ellie. This was my fault."Ellie simply nods, not wanting to say something in front of these people. At the corner of her eye, she notices that Sofia grabs her sister by the hand to one corner.Austin puts a hand around Ellie's shoulder an
Ellie’s POVThe Cathars Alpha, Gregor, looks at me with unbridled anger. His eyes glow a bright blue and I somehow lean backwards in case he tries to grab at me.Austin has warned me of my sense of humor and how I must try to keep my sarcasm in check.Noted.But sometimes, some people just try to cut at whatever keeps your temper less raving, even when you are hanging on a rope that's six feet off the ground. They want to see you fall, want to see that bloodthirstiness come out of you even if you are not necessarily bloodthirsty.I think he loses his confidence because all he does right now is stare at me like a black cat, but I don't accept the staring contest anyway.I try to reason with him. "Look, whatever I said came out the wrong way. I didn't mean to cause any injury to your self-assurance."He sniffs like a curious bulldog, irritated. "Oh, you think I'm injured? Maybe your perception of that word is twisted. How about I straighten that out for you, huh?" And the big bad wolf s
Ellie’s POVI wake up the next morning glad that my head doesn't feel like Muhammad Ali's opponent. The table lamp is still on. I must have fallen asleep under the weight of my thoughts and forgotten to turn it off.I get up and look out the window. At the far end, across the Sylvan obviously inhabited by wolves and other predators, there is an expanse of land mostly littered with broken down rocks that look like pebbles.I watch as an eagle swoops down there and picks up a bush pig. It rises to a height and then lets its prey drop, following right behind it. The pig screams like a male banshee and suddenly stops its noise the moment it lands.I tone my wolf senses and hear the thud from where I stand. It reminds me of Gregor's knees hitting the carpet. The airborne predator easily picks up the animal again and flies North, if North is actually where I am from this vantage.I start to get curious about everything concerning Austin. What makes him so powerful, even over another Alpha o
Austin’s POVI notice Beta looking sideways at me, probably wondering what measure of a plan I have conjured in the recess of my mind.I almost want to explain to him that it isn't some show of abracadabra. Just resolve. One which puts me in a position of being a better family member. Care for her as her father did, or even better than he did. And by her, I mean Ellie."Pull up here," I tell the driver in front. He pulls into the driveway of a boutique. The sign mounted on an iron bar reads:CatchoosMen & Ladies Boutique"Are you meeting someone here, Your Majesty?" Beta is all inquiry.I unlock the seat belt and put my hand on the door. "No, Beta. I am getting out here. Meet you back here when I'm done.""Your Majesty?""What?" I snap. "Am I being questioned now?"He says nothing and I exit the car and head for the doors. I step aside for a couple pushing a trolley full of twelve-by-twelve boxes and bloody red knickerbockers. Almost spooks me.The lady at the counter looks at me wit
Ellie’s POVI have always wanted to make myself believe that planet Earth turns as slowly as possible so that the lives of those living in it can keep up with its twists and turns.But even as slow and steady as it is, we all cannot keep up with the surprise demon.The crazy stuff Jaden has texted me does not pull off any warnings in my head at first, knowing that Austin is a walking block of uncertainty. I mean, all Kings do have some weird amount of secretive shit they always do. Think Norse chieftains and Indian Maharajas. But this right here before my eyes is mind-blowing and a joy killer.The image here shows that the Alpha King, Austin, once, deliberately, sacrificed the life of a gamma warrior by his side in the war against vampires so he could win. I almost throw up at this. It feels unfair. Like the world is spinning faster than usual at this moment, trying to ruin things.I cannot tell the look on my face, but if I am to say something about it, my countenance borders on mani
Third POVIt is a crazy world with a lot of insanities running in between, and then shocks, that one would think he is constantly sitting on barbed wire. Or they rather, because Grace and Joan are shocked.They haven't seen him for a long, long time, since high school. Best times and days missed.Grace, who smiled at Ellie, always had a crush on the Alpha King. He was handsome, smart, and quite gentlemanly. Some of their teachers then, branded him as the most quiet student in the class.There was a day when Austin was absent from school and their Philosophy teacher had to punish the whole class for creating a hullabaloo. He had made a particular reference to the boy who always sat at the back of the class, keeping his cool, but capable of writing anything he was asked to. He expected them all to emulate Austin. He never bragged, in as much as he was royalty.From that moment on, Grace began to have eyes for Austin. It wasn't the teacher's exaltation of him that prodded her, it was jus
Third POVThe sky is the color of horse vomit. Ugly, and grotesque in between. For the fact that it is the weekend makes the day seem a little bit awkward, as if there's been some mistake and it should be Monday instead of Saturday. The traffic is much, the snake skin road looks tireless, every damn where is grumpy and lackluster.It's a stakeout today also. Ellie and her team of detectives meet at Jaden's place by eleven in the morning to finalize things up. They are in the garage and Jaden is quite nervous, keeps looking out the window, checking if someone's coming close to the building."You should lose the edginess, Jay," Anna says. "You're making me worry about you.""It's my dad's garage, Anna. If he sees me having a convo with two girls in here, he'll think we're about to have a threesome."Ellie makes a face, puts one palm over her mouth like she's holding back a puke."How many porn videos have you watched this week, Jay?" Anna asks."Why?" Jay says. "What has that got to do