He was still asleep when I left early the next morning.What gave me the nerve to go was the realisation that he didn't even know that the woman in the room with him was not Karen. How would he know that he was even in the room with somebody before going to bed?I return to the harem-to the condemnation of solitude that Alpha Grey has imposed on women for his pleasure- and the moment I walk in, all eyes turn in my direction. It does not help that many of them follow me so much that I feel them watching my back as I walk through the spaces in the room.My bed- unattended for two nights and left alone- is the only thing waiting to welcome me and I sit on it, pulling the cover over myself. No one says a word to me, and I say nothing to no one until Dara comes to talk to me."Gemma... where have you been?" She asks, sitting on the edge of my bed.I sit up to talk to her, grateful to have someone who I can speak with, at least to take my mind off Alpha Grey's theatrics. So I sit up and tal
Alpha Grey's POVI can say I have everything I want. When you started out as a worthless Omega and somehow have everything change so much that you rule over one of the biggest kingdoms of the world, and everyone elsewhere thinks you are a god, there is little else to want.But there is only one thing...My power has a limit.I dread the advent of the Blood Moon, and how it makes me weak at the very moment other werewolves become stronger. My attempts to fight the weakness have only met dead ends so far, and word of it has somehow gotten out, though it remains a rumour. What I know is that cowards exist, and one of them is going to be lucky enough to test this rumour.As the Night of the Blood Moon approaches, I feel the effects. My body does not feel the way it should-it even makes me feel sick-and I would gladly exchange it with another werewolf just to not be weak. It makes me vulnerable-brings me down to my knees, and makes me an ordinary Omega again. Wine seems to be my only anti
Alpha Grey's POV The only good thing about it is that it's only a minor breakdown.It passes almost as quickly as it comes, but only after all my men have looked upon me in my vulnerability and weakness, asking each other questions. A number of them rush towards me, their frames standing over me as they try to help me back on my feet. However I refuse them, raising myself up on the tip of my sword pushed into the ground. Even my powers feel weaker now, and far less potent."I'm fine," I wave my hand to all who have their eyes on me, standing up on my feet for all of them to see. However, they continue to watch me with worried looks on their faces, which only serves to enrage me.They pity me.They are all watching me in my weak moment."I SAY I AM FINE!" I bark at them, wanting to see any other reaction than the worrisome creases on their foreheads. "GO AWAY. ALL OF YOU. GO BACK TO YOUR DUTIES."The soldiers start to disperse, and I turn away from them, walking up to my bedchamber t
Following the fight with Karen, the harem becomes unbearable to be in.It is difficult to say which irritates me more: Karen's constant catcalling and mockery, the disdain of the other women who believe the White Crow is attached to me and envy me for it, or those who simply do not like me because many other people don't. Dara is my only friend, and I can tell she is withdrawing from me because the other women are starting to look down on her.For the most part, those are the least of my worries.I am not here because I want to be a concubine.I am here to kill Alpha Grey.With a whole year to do it, I am still gathering information on him and his weakness. Staying in the harem with all of the women accomplishes nothing given how much they already despise me, so I sneak out of the toilet window when no one is looking. I crawl out the window and carefully slip into the branches of the tree that has grown over it, moving slowly enough to keep myself balanced.I have to be stealthy as a
GEMMA'S POVMy knees feel weak as I realise he's seen me.There's no telling what he's going to do right now, but I know it can range from anything between humiliating me before every man standing here, to sending me away, to even killing me for finding a way out of the harem.I feel like running.Maybe I should slip away and somehow deny that I am the one he's looking at. I'm still thinking of what to do next when the unexpected happens, and he looks away at something else.Did he not see me?I know that he did. But maybe it's all for the best if he's chosen to look away. Ahead, the men are still counting, and I keep hoping I get chosen to fight the rebellion in the North. Living as a concubine is no life for me, and it will be unbearable in the long run. It may also bring me nowhere close to Alpha Grey."You," the bearded man counting my line points squarely at me, his face stern. "What are you doing here?"He has a big, rough table before him, with small pieces of wood and some
GEMMA'S POV "Get your hands off me," I growl, reaching for the sword hanging by my side."Why?" The voice asks."Because I can kill.""Well... kill me then."I try to move my arms, but the man holding me is so strong that I find it difficult to move. For all I know, it is the bearded man who came to confront me and ask me to go back home, as he must have been watching me while we were on the march, and following when I moved away."What are you waiting for?" He asks again.With a quick jerk, I send a backward kick into his crotch, and his hold on me is instantly released as he crashes down to the ground. At the same time, I pull the sword by my side and hold it up to his neck, barely able to see him with how dark this part of the woods is."Do you still want me to kill you, or are you willing to run off?"The man on the ground starts to laugh before grabbing the tip of my sword in his hand. Slowly, he stands up to his feet while I follow him with my eyes, unwilling to shed friendly b
Alpha Grey's POV Now I know Gemma.I haven't taken note of a woman for so long the same way I have her since the Queen Mother brought her to me. I noticed her difference and how she stood out on the first day she was brought to me- the bold green in her eyes that made me think of a cat, and the gold in her hair that reminded me of my own eyes- and chose to ignore her then. Only, she has found her way to me every day since that moment.It is known that when one werewolf kills another of his kind, the killer loses a bit of his soul. I also know that I have killed enough werewolves to feel the blood on them every time I wring my hands together, and that I may have all the power I want as king, but I have lost my soul bit by bit and taken up nothing in its place but the curses of the dead inside me. I know that the curses are the reason why I become vulnerable and fearful as the Blood Moon approaches, just like now.Yet, seeing her reminds me that I should have a soul.She reminds me o
Gemma's POVI stay on my guard for the rest of that night, watchful.The prospect of being sneaked upon by another stalker like the first, and the fact that Alpha Grey did it with so much skill to an already hired assassin like me leaves me unsettled. The Akari league and their rogue leaders are counting the days away, and being off my guard could cause a lot of trouble for me.And the mate-bond...That is the difficult part.I feel it every time he's close to me, his eyes gazing into mine-with my inner wolf howling to be united with him and marked by him. It even makes me worry if I can ever muster the will in my heart to kill him when I have to, with the Akari league waiting on me to bring their plans to fruition.Maybe I will only know when the time comes for me to do it.And when the time does come, I hope to use my hatred for the mate bond to kill him. If I can do away with my second chance mate, then I could just be free.Yes. I will be free.**Later on, I move closer to the me
ALPHA GREY She went silent. Then she asked again. "Who were they?""Swynford boys. Descended from me. I should be their great-great grandfather or so... I don't know. But I killed three out of their family's six children. The girl even wore my mother's necklace."At first, she was mute. Then she replied. "Everyone dies."I looked at her, at the nonsense she was saying, and she suddenly did not seem so good a witch to me. "Everyone dies. But I killed them.""For their skins. They would be honoured to know that they did so much for their ancestor."I thought of it, of the first boy with the broken arm that surrendered himself so I would set his siblings free. Brave as he was, the boy did not want to die. He only died because somebody needed to in the face of their threat. "No. They will never forgive me in the Land of the Dead. They will-"My utterance was cut up by the sound of her laughter, and I turned an ugly glare at her."On the positive side of things, you won't be going there.
ALPHA GREY The fact that the knife was sharp made it a blessing. I cut through the two young men with ease and without peace.There was a heavy, turbulent feeling within my chest as I worked, and I knew it was the beginning of my torment. Killing a fellow werewolf and without good reason came with a price-the tearing of your soul apart. I thought it was a funny bargain... losing my soul for some skin.My hands worked through the night, covering my arms in blood. And when I was finished, I rolled the skins up, looking at the bare musculature of the two young men. Then, I started to do as I promised, to bury them. I dug a grave so deep that it would take even more effort to dig up again, and put the young men in. With exhaustion, I started to cover the young men back, and just before sunrise, I had fully buried them.The whole time, I listened for the rest of their siblings, surprised that they were still hiding in the house and not making any efforts to run from me. The heavy feeling
ALPHA GREY "But you watched them kill me for something I knew nothing about. Your sister testified against me, and all because it began with a lie where I was made to come save someone from rape.""We only wanted to rob you and get a purse from you. Our parents are dead, and we struggle to find work. So we tried to rob you and let you go, but you killed our brother and left us with no choice but to find a way to avenge him.""I did not kill your brother with intent. I did not plan to, nor did I know when I did it."Already, I was starting to think of leaving them alone. But I needed a new skin. "I will only spare one of you. The rest will pay with their lives for my death. The only thing I will do as an act of mercy is make sure that your deaths are quick and not painful, unlike what I suffered yesterday. You will forget it as soon as it happens, like people in a dream."They looked around at each other, feeling like people in a dream, but aware that the threat I was was real and imp
ALPHA GREY By the evening of the following day I went out of the tree again.My feet were sure footed and determined on where exactly to go, and I was soon in the very alley where they had me arrested. This time, I had a different sort of hood on, and restricted my presence to the darkest shadows, waiting for my chance. People passed by me, but few of them actually paid any attention as long as I wasn't bothering them. Soon, I saw what I was waiting for.I had every face from the previous day etched into my memory, and there was no mistaking this one pulling the prostitute into the darkness, the both of them too caught up in their drunken laughter to notice anything else. I watched them from where I stood, and smiled in amusement as the lad pulled up his breeches and pushed himself into her."Enjoy, lad. This will be the last time you will ever be with a woman."I watched him pull back and forth while she moaned, and smiled when he slowed, pulling at her hair before completely takin
ALPHA GREY The sky was turning dark when they started to carry out their sentence.A gallows was quickly raised up for me, and I watched them all from where I stood on the platform, at all the people watching and waiting for me to die. For the first time in my life, I felt real hatred in my heart for other werewolves. They did not care for the truth. They only cared for whatever would make them happier and take them out of the miseries that had become a part of their daily life-even if it meant that entertainment was the unjust judgement and unnecessary death of one who was truly innocent.Not a word was even permitted for me to speak in my defence.I continued to hear comments and jibes about how ugly I was as they tightened the rope's noose about my neck. Then, I stood still as men who knew how to use arrows gathered and stood in position, ready to shoot at me. I swallowed as I thought of the young woman that brought me back and if she knew what was happening. She had told me that
ALPHA GREYWe ran down the stone pavement before turning down a lonely, dark alley.Almost immediately, the screams of a woman reached my ears and I ran even faster towards the five men I saw gathered around a spot. Without hesitation, I threw the first man I could get my hands on off to save the woman on the floor when wild bouts of laughter rose around me. The woman on the floor joined in the laughter and stood up before I saw that she was not a woman but a man yelling as one to draw attention. The five laughing men pulled backwards and stood in a circle while pulling out weapons."Give us all you own, and we'll let you go."I looked at them, and at the girl I followed, who had now burst into laughter herself while stepping back to let them deal with me. I looked them all over, noting how different their clothes looked from what I was used to before shaking my head as a no. I had nothing to give them."A stubborn one?" They laughed, before one of them with an axe moved and cut into
ALPHA GREY I looked up at her and at the smile on her face."What do you mean when you say I cannot die?""My spells have made you a higher kind of werewolf. Your type is already rare enough for you to be the only man generations of secret witches in my family can raise from death in two hundred years. Consider yourself a god, now, and conquer all.""I don't want to be a god." I answered, my voice weak.She looked at me with the same rage as when I asked her about my family. "You cannot help it. You are already one, and can do nothing but sit back and enjoy.""I am not one." I insisted."But you could breathe underwater and didn't seem to have a problem with it."I remember exactly what she's talking about-the way I floated within the glass. "That was water?""That is the least thing that matters to the both of us. There are other things, but chief among them is that you have enough power to become a god before my eyes and those of all who will set their eyes on you from now on. With
ALPHA GREYI had stared at this other man for a long time. He did not look anything like I was supposed to be. His hair was not the black that had belonged to Jack, but a white color that rode from the roots, leaving no space for any other colors. His skin was not smooth, but a rough mass of scar that felt thick and burdensome. His face was ghostly in its appearance with how it looked like that living face of a skull. He looked to be a different man from who I was altogether. Yet, he was the container that housed my awakened soul. His hands moved when I moved mine, and his fingers snapped when I snapped mine. His head nodded when I did mine, and when I spun around to see even more of the scars that plagued his back like barnacles on a ship, he did the same. That was when I was convinced that he-this man in the mirror was me. I could not deny it anymore.This realization brought me down to my knees in front of the mirror as it faded away, leaving me alone with the witch and her secre
ALPHA GREYI remember falling asleep with everything fading away from me.It was like falling asleep, and still yet the most painful sleep I had ever fallen into, so that I prayed to die and felt relief come over me when everything started to hurt less-when I felt everything lessening. My vision blurred, my skin felt less of the burning, and even the smell of my own burning flesh that sickened my gut stopped getting to my nostrils.All that remained was darkness, and all that was in the darkness were moving, lively images that flashed through my head of times long gone. There was the one of a younger version of my mother telling me she loved me and looking at me with eyes I knew told no lies. Of my father dying and leaving us... so this was what he felt when he was dying-this darkness and haze. Of my little brother dying shortly after... he too must have felt like this when he died. An image of the first time I earned money to feed myself and my mother from working on a farm. Of the f