HUNTER'S POV.I’ve thought about all the people that are going to care if I die, they’re only handful and they’ll get over my death before I’m even buried so I have nothing to worry about. I calm my raging nerves with slow and deep breaths as I approach the front gate that is heavily guarded with hefty looking men that can snap my neck in only a matter of seconds.They don’t spare me a glance as I approach the gate, they just open it like they’ve been expecting me. Did Nikolai bribe the guards? He couldn’t have, he specifically said; you are on your own in there. Surely, he would have told me if he bribed the guards. It must be the uniform that I’m wearing.I pass through the gate and marvel at the size of the building. It’s huge. The windows look like glass doors and the walls are remarkably spotless. There’s a garden too and it’s adorned with all kinds of flowers, I can’t take in the
HUNTER'S POV. I don’t know why I said what I said. I feel so stupid. I thought I was over her but seeing her again—her beautiful eyes— they remind me that I’ll never be over Winter. I was willing to risk my life for her, how did I not see that I was still in love with the woman? I take deep breaths and remind myself that Nikolai is the better man for her and my job is to help them get together not to run away with her. I set the plates down on the kitchen counter and turned to leave. “Going somewhere?” The woman with blazing red eyes asked me and I almost tripped, I didn’t even hear her come in. Can this day get any worse? “No, I was just about to get started on the plates.” I answer and she narrowed her eyes at me. I wait for her to walk away but its like she has nothing better to do than to stand there and gawk at me. I end up doing all the dishes, cleaning the floors, wiping every surface clean and when it was time to take out the trash, I knew it was my only chance to escap
PATRICK'S POV.“I guess it’s today then.” I’m cladded in my royal regalia, ready for the ceremony and I thought I’d stop by and say hi to my little prisoner. She looks better than I expected, I thought that she would have ripped off all her own fingernails by now out of nervousness. Her hair looks even better than it did when she arrived here, there’s no single strand out of place. Am I treating her better than I should?“I guess it’s today.” She replies calmly. I think it’s the first time I’ve heard her speak since she got here.“You sound calm. Do you no longer have fears?” She smiled, something I’ve never seen her do. I still don’t get why Nikolai is so smitten by her but she’s got the looks, that’s for sure.“I still do, I’ve just. . . come in terms with them.” She replied and I raised an eyebrow. Her confidence is somewhat strange but there’s something I’ve come to realize during my lifetime and it’s that different people have different reactions in the face of death. Maybe this
PATRICK'S POV.“Congrats son.” I greet Nikolai making sure there are enough people to witness it. I give him a side hug and pat his back gently. He smells nice, like he always has. I don’t hug him very often, unless the occasion calls for it but I know what my son smells like, I always do. In the eyes of the crowd we are a loving team and it’s not entirely far from the truth. We are a team, just not a loving one. I felt Nikolai's love for me. . . . and practically everyone else fade slowly after his mother’s death, all his emotions slowly being swept away by pain and loneliness.As a good father, I should have been worried and I would have been worried if he weren’t my first son. He was going to have to rid himself of the emotions anyway, it just happened sooner. I watch my son go from a loving, sweet ever-cheerful kid to a cold hearted warrior. The soft look he used to have in his eyes, vanished. As an Alpha, I was proud. Proud of the monster I created, proud of what he grew up to b
HUNTER'S POV “The king is dead!!” someone cries and gets the attention of everyone in the room. They all turn to face him with different expressions, some angry, some shocked and some amused. I stare at him with nothing on my handsome face but utter confusion. “Hey, what did you just say?” Nikolai asks walking towards the guy in his unnecessarily long and shiny royal regalia that is making his movements so slow, it seems like he’s walking but not leaving the same spot. I almost forgot he’s the king's son. Wait, the king is dead?! “I saw him, lying on the floor, he was lifeless.” The guy repeated, breathless. He’s panting heavily and balls of perspiration roll from his face ceaselessly. His clothe is soaked too so I take it that he ran all the way here from wherever it is that he claims to have seen the body of the King. I take a closer look at his face and he’s not someone I know neither does he familiar. I take an even closer look as if I can validate what he’s saying by looking a
NIKOLAI'S POV. He died way sooner than I expected, not that I’m sad about it, I’m not. In fact, I don’t know how I feel about his death, yet and I don’t know if I might figure it out or not but for now, all I know is that I don’t feel anything. I am completely devoid of any emotions whatsoever. I watch as Hunter and the guard struggle to carry my father’s dead body, he’s not a large man, he’s bulky but not large. I’ve seen enough dead bodies to know that it has nothing to do with their size or how much they weighed when they were alive, dead bodies are just naturally heavy. I guess that’s why people say “dead weight.” I think. Bringing just a few people here to see him in this state was me doing my father a favor. He would never have wanted to be seen like this, he was a man of great pride. I can’t believe he’s now a “was.” It feels so unreal. “Where are we taking him? Hunter asks. I saw a smile creep up on his face when he was staring at my dad's body. I remember how confused he
WINTER'S POV. Turns out Patrick didn’t die unprepared. He’s still haunting me even in death. The guards are determined to leave as many bruises as possible on my body before killing me as instructed by their king. Their dead king. What are these guys? Zombies? “I know he instructed you guys to do this but I want you guys to know you no longer have to. He’s dead.” I say trying to talk them out of doing whatever it is they intend to do with me before the inevitable but they pretend like they don’t hear me. Maybe they don’t so I try again and one of them snaps at me. “Shut up!” he yells in his deep voice and I comply. No need to hasten my death by making them even more angry than they already are. They haul me out of the house through the back door. I wonder why they go through the back? It’s not like any of the maids can stand up to them except maybe the one with red pupils, that woman can scare the shit out of anybody without even trying. Her face does not in any way match her v
HUNTER'S POV. “Where is he? What’s going on?” Sherry asked me, worry washing all over her flawless face. Everything is okay but he’s busy kissing someone else and he never even had any intention to marry you in the first place. “Hunter?!” She yells and I realize I’m staring at her instead of answering her question. Wait, she knows my name? “Sorry, what?” I say and she walks past me in frustration but walks back when she realizes that I’m her only chance at finding Nikolai. “Do you know where he is?” I don’t know what to tell her or how to tell her. Would Nikolai want to tell her? My dilemma comes to an end when Nikolai emerges from a corner hand in hand with Winter. I guess I don’t have to tell her anything now. I walk past her but I don’t know where I’m going. I just want to get out of here. “Hunter.” Winter calls but I pretend not to hear herm. I keep walking and she catches up to me and touches my shoulder. Her touch sent sparks flying through my body. She doesn’t eve