ADESSA.
“The Alpha woke up!” Dexter, Kael’s Beta, yelled from the living room.
My body went rigid as the words slowly sank in. I immediately left the housemaid I was speaking to in the kitchen and rushed to our bedroom.
Kael, my mate, had a car accident a month ago and went into a coma. His condition was getting better, and recently, he began falling in and out of consciousness. He would wake up for a few minutes and stare blankly. He wouldn’t speak, or he wouldn’t even look at anyone. And then he would fall into a deep sleep again.
I continued with my routine to keep the household going while his Beta and Delta were doing their best to run the pack. But since I was the Luna, all the final decisions were up to me.
I kept a brave face to everyone, but in the silence of our room at night, I would cry myself to sleep. I missed him and the security of his presence.
I wanted him back.
I haven’t given up hope that one day he will wake up and everything will be back to normal.
It seemed that day was today. He finally woke up and began talking.
But returning to normal didn’t happen. At least the way I wanted it to be.
“Don’t touch me. Who are you?” He asked. His voice was as cold as the winter night. He was staring at me with furrowed brows as if I had committed a heinous crime against him.
I rushed to our bed, and I couldn’t stop myself from holding him. I was about to hug him when he growled at me.
Kael hated being touched and was never affectionate with anyone except me. He was a fair and good Alpha, but he kept his distance. But never with me. I was allowed to hold him or hug him in public, putting on a show that we were in love. His smiles would always just be reserved for me.
It seemed he had forgotten that.
“I’m... I’m Adessa.” I answered as I forced a smile despite the tears stinging my eyes. I was so happy to hear him talk.
“Are you my nurse? I don’t think I allowed anyone to just grab me like that...”
“I’m your Luna...” I said, trying to meet his gaze.
The room fell silent, and I felt it closing in on me as his eyes dilated before a scowl covered his whole face.
“What the fuck?” He growled once more, and his eyes went to his Beta, who was standing behind me. “Where is Desiree?”
“Alpha, calm down. I will answer all your questions, but let’s wait for your physician. He’ll be here in a couple of minutes.” Dexter told him.
“Call Desiree and tell her to come here. Or take me to her!” His words cut deep into my soul.
My jaw tightened as I blinked back the tears pooling in my eyes. I tilted my head up as I met his gaze again. “You placed an order not to allow Desiree inside this house.”
“Am I asking for your opinion?” His nose flared as he glared at me, but before any hateful words could leave his mouth, the door opened, and his stepmother came in.
Kael’s father died when he turned twenty-four, and he immediately took the position of the Alpha. His stepmother, Miranda, stepped down as Luna but had never stopped acting as one, even after my marriage with Kael.
She would always be the first one to complain about anything about me or things I’d decided on. She only stopped when Kael requested for her not to meddle with my decisions. He also gave her a home so she could move out.
Kael’s act only fueled her hatred for me.
And yes, she never stopped letting me know that Desiree was a far better choice than me.
“They said the Alpha woke up?” She asked as she walked in without even throwing me a glance.
She was followed by her Omega, who rolled her eyes upon seeing me. She hated me for being an Omega like her and a Luna.
“Miranda, where is Desiree? And why is the woman here claiming to be my Luna?” Kael asked her, and it was getting harder to fight my tears.
The former Luna’s eyes widened as her eyes darted to Beta Dexter.
“He can’t remember the Luna, but his physician…” Dexter was not able to finish his words because Miranda had already cut him off.
“Desiree is on her way here. She just went to check the flower shop that delivers flowers here every three days to decorate your room, but she’ll be here soon.” She said sweetly as she stood beside his bed, a wide smile playing on her face.
That was a lie. I was the one organizing the flowers around this room because I wanted him to wake up to a beautiful view and for him to know, I was always longing for him.
“I don’t think it’s fair to give credit to someone who has never stepped foot in this house for a whole year. “
“What do you mean?” Kael asked.
“As I said earlier, you ordered not to let her inside the house. The flowers you see around here are my…”
“Take the Omega away from here, and she’s not allowed to enter this room until Kael orders so,” Miranda said firmly, looking at the Beta.
“You can’t do that. I’m the Luna of this pack and the mistress of this house.” I spoke as my chest heaved.
My eyes went to Kael, who still had a dark expression on his face. He was just looking at me.
“Beta Dexter, I said take her away from here. It is not good if Desiree sees her when she comes.” Miranda kept talking, motioning with her hand while glaring at Dexter.
“I said I’m not going,” I said firmly before looking at Kael again. “Kael, please tell Miranda…”
“Alpha Kael…” He cut me off before I could finish, and his deep, cold voice sent shivers down my spine. “Leave…”
My jaw tightened at his order, and my heart shattered to pieces.
“You don’t remember me, and yet you’re not going to ask me anything about how I ended up here?”
“I said leave!” He was almost growling.
A hand snaked on my arm, and I tilted my head slowly to look at the Beta. I waited for Kael to growl or reprimand Dexter for holding me as he would on occasions that the Beta accidentally held me. He would never let any male touch me. But he did nothing this time.
“Let’s go, Adessa,” Dexter said.
He dropped the title Luna from my name. It was then that I knew I was losing this battle.
I took one last look at Kael as I pivoted my body to follow Dexter’s guide, and my heart just broke again. He wasn’t even looking at me. He was already in conversation with his stepmother as if I were just a waste of space, not worthy of being looked at as I exited his room—our room.
I slowly pulled my arm away from Dexter as we walked the corridor. “You will tell him about me, right?”
“Yes, I will. But I cannot force him to believe anything.”
“I want to be there when his doctor arrives. I want to hear what he has to say about his condition.”
“That decision lies with Kael.”
“But he can’t remember me! So, of course, he will not let me be there!” I snapped at him.
“There’s nothing I can do, Adessa.”
“Luna Adessa!” I gritted my teeth, trying to suppress my anger.
“Just Adessa…” He replied. “Until the Alpha asks me to address you as Luna again.” He gave me a smug smirk before turning his back to me.
KAEL.Landon and I rushed out of the cave and trekked through the remainder of the forest that would lead us back to the arena. The moon was on the verge of setting, and if the first ray of sunlight reached the arena without us, I would be eliminated.So we kept running, following the direction on the map.We still had a long way to go when we spotted something on the ground. It was still far, and the area was still dark, but I could see it flinching. I reminded Landon to be careful as we approached it.“Beta Andres!” Landon yelled, and we immediately ran toward him.Color had already drained from the face of the Beta, and his face was turning purple. Poison. “What happened?” I asked as we crouched in front of him. I had totally forgotten that this man tricked and abandoned us. His eyes were pooling with tears as he clutched my shirt. “The viper that bit me…”He didn’t need to finish his words. We already understood what happened. I thought that the viper story was not real. “Did
ADESSA.“Another team enters the arena…” The voice on the speaker echoed around us. My lips quivered and my eyes blurred with tears while I remained standing straight, staring at the underway canal where I knew they would emerge, praying to the goddess that it was him and Landon—alive and breathing. It felt like an eternity before I saw something take a human form in the dark, and then a light shone on his face. It was Landon. A smile curled on my lips at the sight of him. They made it on time. But it was wiped away the moment the shadow of his body came into view, and it revealed that he was carrying someone—a limp body. An earth-shattering shriek ripped from my throat as my knees gave way and I collapsed. I would have hit the ground if my father hadn’t caught me. But I still ended up on my knees as I shook from my agony.“No! No!” Heat rose from my stomach to everywhere in my body, and my eyes felt like they were burning.My head snapped to the right as I glared at the King, r
KAEL. “There’s one more team, you can still be saved. Good luck, Alpha!” Those were his last words before he ran away. And then he was gone. He was also not injured. He played with us all along. “One more team will still come…” Landon said. “But we won’t trick them. Right, Alpha?”I turned around and looked at him. He was still holding the lever, and despite the smile on his face, his eyes watered. Only four teams entered the cave, with two teams out and then us, there should still be one—unless they were the dead ones. “Landon…” I wanted to tell him the other team might be dead. They might be the blood we saw. “It’s not them, right?” He knew. He was not stupid, but he wanted to keep his hope up. “They just got lost, so they’re not yet here.” He chuckled, but his tears fell, and my jaw tightened. We were doomed. “I will step back inside,” I told him and put my foot to cross over, but I ended up being blocked by an invisible barrier. My eyes widened as I pushed a hand in front o
KAEL.I waited for Beta Andres to raise it more and was ready to nudge Landon to run for it when the stone dropped. My head tilted to look at Andres. He let go of the lever.“Once you let go, the stone drops. So obviously, one has to stay here to do that.” He explained. “Nicholas left you,” I said. “What choice did he have?” He scoffed. “What would you do if it were you?”“Did he show you what’s on the note given to him at the entrance?” Landon asked. “He didn’t. But he said, that if one makes it out and makes it on time, he is assured of a spot in the next round.”My heart clenched. He didn’t tell him the whole truth—that the one left behind would be considered dead. It was a possibility that no one would come until the creatures in here ended their lives. The mere thought brought chills down my spine. I had no idea how far this game would go to claim a life until I saw the pool of blood somewhere. It was shifter’s blood. Someone bled, and if he were not assisted right away, the
KAEL.They weren’t joking when they said the cave was enchanted. I had no idea how many shadows I felt surrounding us, but most of the time, we couldn’t see anything. Being the last to enter was surely an advantage. I had no idea how many hours we’d been trekking through this cave using the map they had given us, but no threats came.But we did see in the aftermath. Orcs’ heads were cut off, and a huge viper snake was struck in the throat before it was butchered. Its eyes were still open, but it was already dead. We also saw burned ashes of decaying creatures but we couldn’t identify what they were, and I ordered Landon not to touch them for precaution. When I thought they had taken down all the creatures inside, we encountered a water nymph by the lagoon.We had no plans of killing her. I thought her challenge was for us to pass the lagoon by ignoring her song. I thought there’d be no physical struggle—otherwise, she’d be dead in the hands of the others. I underestimated her. She
ADESSA. THREE DAYS had gone by, and I heard nothing more about the latest task, and it was making me worried. I had no idea if the others made it out alive, especially Kael and Landon. Yesterday, news reached me that an Alpha was in critical condition and was lifted for medical care, but his Beta didn’t make it. He was pronounced dead on the spot. I hung on to my consciousness until they dropped the name of the Alpha and Beta, and when I heard it was not Kael, my body still collapsed. I spent the whole night crying for the man who died and the Alpha fighting for his life. I never thought this would really happen. That someone could lose their life for this stupid game, all in the name of my title. And sitting here at the podium, waiting for the unknown, was slowly killing what was left of my sanity.“Stop crying, Adessa.” Father told me as he held my hand resting on my armrest. “You will never understand. I didn’t wish for this.”“They knew what they were getting themselves into
ALPHA DRACO.I signed up for the Royal Games so I could take Adessa home with me because I needed her to fix me, but I didn’t sign up to hang out and spend time with the Royal Family. The fucking hell I cared about them.So last night, when I was informed that I would join them for breakfast, I thought of ways to dodge it. But I eventually realized that I had to suck it up. I needed Adessa, and I would swallow whatever fucking pride I had to get to my goal. As soon as I arrived at the pavilion where the breakfast would be held, I told my Beta I wanted to use the toilet, and he could wait for me in the lobby. I didn’t want to be the first one to enter the breakfast hall. I was walking down the long corridor to the private restrooms, to where I was pointed, when I heard small footsteps behind me. From the scent that lingered in the air, I knew it was Felicity. How would I not? This was the only scent that could awaken everything inside me—including all my demons. “What do you need?
ADESSA.“Desiree quit her job because she came back. I was giving her money for her apartment and for everything her child needed. Without me, she had no way to work and take care of her child at the same time…”Miranda was still talking, but nothing was sinking in except the part where Desiree had a child. I didn’t even question that she was Desiree’s mother because all I heard was about the child. “Is it Kael’s son?” I asked, unaware that I had already reached out to hold Esmaeel’s arm for support. My brother held me, supporting my body so I could remain standing.“No, no, no…” She said as she shook her head. “It’s not his son.”“Don’t lie to me.”“Desiree has a child from another man whose name I don’t even know. The same man that Kael caught her in bed with.” My hand went to my mouth, suppressing myself from gasping. Rasmus. Desiree had a child with Rasmus. “I’m not lying, Adessa… You can ask me anything now, and I will tell you the truth in exchange for my freedom. Please let
ADESSA.I had no idea there was a Beta task that happened last night. I couldn’t believe Draco won this part, and I had to see him for breakfast. But if anything, at least I wouldn’t be dining with him alone. I was told the whole family would, so I didn’t need to coerce myself to talk with him. I hadn’t forgiven him for all this mess, and I never thought I would. I was also only informed last night that the current task would last for three days, and we would never hear from the participants unless they got out and finished the challenge. I kept bugging Esriel about what task lay ahead, but this time, he kept his mouth shut and avoided me, which made me worry more.I woke up early despite not being able to sleep at all, because aside from breakfast, I was finally meeting Miranda. She was captured a few days back, and Father wanted me to face her.As much as I would rather not deal with her, I had to. I also wanted my father to find out that she sold me to Draco as a slave. But if I