“No power? NO POWER!” Dorien bellowed now, not caring anymore about being overheard by pack members or spies.
“Brother!” Reyland whispered urgently, the concern in his voice and eyes palpable.
The heir swallowed, his breathing calming down a notch as he shook Reyland by his shirt.
“How can you SAY that?” Dorien hissed as his eyes almost fervently searched Reyland’s
“You know –” he pressed, but Reyland cut in.
“I do. That’s why I’m not afraid,” he urged, watching his brother closely.
Seeing Dorien about to protest more, Reyland placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“It’s what I said Christmas morning. Do you remember?” he continued, bending lower, leaning closer to Dorien.
“We know about the blood. She did not. Now, for one second, just one second, Dorien, imagine someone made our father do what HER father has bee
What Dorien knew, and knew well, was that his brother was a skilled strategist.He had seen through his act of changing the topic, but he had a lot of respect for his brother, almost as much respect as their father did.He was willing to be pulled along, in so far as it was a direction he was willing to go.“You, brother, are a real danger to this pack, do you know that?” he mumbled.“What do you mean?” Reyland asked lightly, stepping forward.A muscle in Dorien’s jaw ticked.As his back was to Reyland, Reyland did not see his face.And because Reyland was not practiced in using wolf abilities, he did not sense the change in Dorien’s aura.Dorien’s face was pale, his eyes were wide, as he stared ahead, looking at nothing, his eyes quaking in their sockets.He heard me? Dorien mused.He doesn’t take the blood. He hasn’t taken it since I forced him o
“We were not afraid or concerned.”“We walked up to their fire and stared at it.”“We had never seen such a thing before. I don’t remember any fire before that one,” he continued in the same monotone, shaking his head slowly.“The men stared at us until one of them, seated opposite where we stood, stepped forward and spoke to us.”“He was a tall man. A giant in our eyes.”“I found out much later that he was not so big. Not so awe-inspiring.”“But I was a child.”“I didn’t recall having ever seen another person other than the one my size, beside me, holding my hand.”“We gazed up at him, our necks bent all the way back.”“He squatted down, and his eyes were black.”“Dax giggled,” he said with a half-smile, his eyes clouding over as he relived the memory while sharing it.
“Dax and I have had an understanding since the beginning.”“He is my brother, my other half.”“This has always been the case.”“Your mother, my mate, was the only person who separated us.”“When she came, when we met, my world became brighter. I became lighter. Something I did not know was missing, joined with a wandering wolf.”“Before her, there was only one road before me – blood, wars, death.”“When she showed up, I had options, choices, chances that I could never have dreamed of.”“Your mother…was my redemption.”He paused, his eyes filling as his chest heaved.Marian stared wide-eyed at her father.Since the battle, four years ago now, where both her mother and younger brother had died at Dax’s own hands, never had her father spoken about her mother.Not like this.Not with such pa
Corien’s eyes closed as he turned his face sideways. This was the first time he had looked away from Marian since he stood from his meditation.Without looking at her, he continued.“Dax has wanted my family dead from the day I started having one, but he knew I would not live without them,” he commented neutrally.“They were losing. Nikal is the strongest wolf in the pack, if not this side of the border lands.”“Dax had to stop him.”“To do that, he had to break me.”“So, he did.”“With that act, I was left with only one family. Only one light.”Corien turned damp eyes to his daughter.Marian held her breath.“He KNEW I wouldn’t survive without you.”“So, he kept you alive.”Corien paused again. His face was white now, and Marian had started to sweat.“Only Dax and a handful of wol
The shock made Marian’s reddening vision clear.Dinka retreated.She stared open-mouthed at her father.“Alpha,” Marian breathed, her hand moving absently to her bruised cheek, which was already healing.He stared down at her imperiously.“Do you hear me, Marian?” he pressed.Marian closed her eyes tightly and breathed in deeply. She sat back down on the bed, her back straight, opened her eyes, and nodded at her father.Corien sat at the edge of the bed, beside her.“They took their blood, every red moon, every blood moon. About two or three times a year,” he continued neutrally, his voice back to being mechanical.“They used it sparingly, storing it for months until they could replenish it.”“Only very few of his closest men got to use it. They got what they wanted, enhanced strength, speed, healing.”He was speaking faster now, coldly, cutt
About the same time, a runner entered the great hall of the Bloodrayne pack.He knelt before Alpha Tobias and spoke with his eyes on the ground.“Alpha, the Lightmoon pack has closed its borders. Since the incident two days ago, no one has been allowed in or out,” the runner reported formally, in a deep, steady voice.“Our people have not been able to give any new information. All guests from their party are still within the grounds,” he continued in a neutral tone.“And links?” Alpha Tobias droned, gazing lazily at the messenger.“None, Alpha. They have blocked all pathways,” he replied smoothly.Alpha Tobias paused, gazing darkly at the messenger.“So, why are you here?” Tobias tossed irritably at the man posed with one knee on the ground and a forearm resting on his raised knee, head deeply bowed.The runner raised his head slightly. His eyes flickered to Misha, the
“Nothing of this can be disclosed,” Tobias continued happily in the mind link with Misha.Tanner froze in his retreat, his back to his masters.“You, Tanner, will not speak of this to anyone,” Tobias continued in Tanner’s mind, pulling him into the secret conversation.“We will make all the plans, all the arrangements between us and a select few.”“Does the one who brought you the message understand the implications of his words?”“No, Alpha," Tanner responded in the link, his back still to the Alpha and his son in the physical realm, as he bowed to them in their mind space.“Keep it that way,” Tobias droned.“Yes, Alpha,” the Head of the runners replied respectfully.Tanner knew exactly what Tobias meant.The Head of the runners resumed his swift exit from the Alpha’s throne room before his Alpha said or did anything more.There was more than one reason his men dreaded their Alpha.He had creative ways of making anyone regret their mistakes, and sometimes, he didn’t even need a reason
About an hour later, it was nighttime at the Lightmoon pack grounds.Dax walked slowly through the trees, making his way back from where Bentax had taken them.The moon was bright. It shone through the thinning forest as he got closer to the pack compound, illuminating his shredded muscular form.Every inch of his body was tight, every line was defined.Dax’s form was glorious.And he hated it.His form was what had taken away from his pack, his family, Corien; even before that she-wolf his brother, his friend – now his prisoner and enemy – had married, had shown up.But that was not what was on pack Alpha’s mind as he made his way back to his people.His thoughts were fully focused on how Marian, the last person on earth who stood between him and his brother, had attacked him.Me! He railed in his mind and his heart.In front of the whole pack!And I had not be
Marian was on fire. Her breath was caught in the place his hands were moving.Her nipples pushed against the material that covered them as his fingers stroked them, purposefully.She exhaled, shuddering, and his fingers moved to her underarms where he found what he was looking for.He inhaled and began to unwrap her.Her chest heaved as the wrappings fell away.Her breasts sprang forward, the right one almost striking Reyland on the lips.He breathed out, his warm breath caressing the taut nipple of her right breast, and Marian bit back a squeal.She was losing.Reyland kept his eyes on his work, undoing her stomach as his breath grazed her now exposed, heaving breasts and her upper belly.As he released her lower waist and the wrappings finally fell away, Marian leaned back to escape his warm breath, and Reyland’s eyes roamed slowly to her sleek middle, fully parted thanks to his wide girth, which she was kneeling
“I told you that we need to talk,” Reyland continued in the same hoarse tone.Marian could feel that he was no longer erect, and she deflated as well as she focused on listening to him this time.“And we really need to.”Without looking at her, he reached for the last potion and held it between them.Marian leaned back, still sitting across him.“Drink this. Eat. And let’s talk,” he said softly, raising his eyes slowly to meet hers.Marian, who had been gazing at his lashes since he had stopped looking at her, met his sapphire eyes with tears in her own.She swallowed.She wanted to say many things to him, to assure him that she would accept anything from him, anything at all.Instead, as she listened to his racing heartbeat and heavy breathing, her mind calmed.She parted her lips as she stared at him with meaning, her erstwhile sultry gaze now humble.Reyland&rsqu
Pulse racing, Reyland slowly removed his appendages from her mouth as Marian swallowed the pill whole, her dark eyes on his deeply flushed face and dilated pupils.“Ha!” he breathed as he stared at her.“I swallowed it,” she whispered, “I need another one. I’m to chew, right?” she asked innocently, her voice as husky as if she had cotton in her throat.Reyland stared wide-eyed at her, slack-jawed.“You…you can’t…you shouldn’t…Marian,” he stammered, at a loss for words, the heat rising at the base of his neck, and at the base below his belt buckle.The she-wolf instantly got whiff of a scent that made her sit up.Reyland’s face got redder, and Marian’s body couldn’t take the sight.He made to stand and she moved, breaking parts of the bandages that still graced her body.She straddled Reyland and kissed him without restraint.
As far as every pack member knew, Alpha Dax had never been so magnanimous in the past. At previous ceremonies, he was never seen until the event commenced.Today, he was seen everywhere. It was both comforting and unnerving.In addition, the Alpha heir was also in tow.Though many whispered that this might have something to do with his growing responsibilities within the pack as he would soon turn twenty-one and there were things he ought to take over from his father, sooner rather than later, it was not usual either.The heir usually moved about on his own, with their Luna-in-waiting, Risa, accompanying him, but today she was nowhere in sight.The pack was also aware that their guests were still around.Normally, they should have left after Christmas, but they were all still around, and the compound was still in lockdown.They had every reason to be somber, to be uneasy.As the pack stewed in their doubts and hope for a peacef
“What are we gonna talk about?” Marian asked haltingly as she eyed the now serious Reyland, while her mind fought to stay focused on their conversation and not his overwhelming cuteness.Reyland glanced outside, through the window. He rose and walked over to the thick curtains. Letting them loose slowly, he responded with his back to her.“I wanted to talk about you…and me…But, I think it’s late now,” he replied casually.Curtains down, he turned to face Marian in the now darkened room. The lamp in the corner of her room was still on, casting deep shadows around.Reyland proceeded forward, toward the door, his eyes on hers.“You, princess, have had an incredibly long day,” he continued, clicking on the lights and brightening the room in a clear white light.Neither wolf blinked as the lights came on.Reyland smiled gently.“I think you should sleep. We can talk in the morning. It could be our own little ceremony,” he said in his warm voice.“There are guards outside,” he continued smo
The Marian he had dumped had not been the vibrant she-wolf he had fallen for. She had not been the lively, bold, outspoken girl he had taken into his heart, and into his bed.After the battle, she had lost her shine, her light. She became dull in her manner, in her speech. They had had to sneak around to meet.He had even let other she-wolves touch him before going to see her, on purpose. And she never said anything, never called him out.He continued making promises to her even as he purposefully kept away, and she had not challenged him in any way.His real, original Marian would never have let anything like that slide.She had changed, and he had lost interest.==========But, upon her return, right from their first exchange, he had finally seen the girl he had known for almost ten years, and his pulse had quickened.His heart had beat like it used to when they had first kicked things off.His woman.An alpha she-wolf and warrior of no mean ability.Someone who was his before anyon
Dorien, Alpha heir to Lightmoon pack, felt a tension in his head and his chest that he had not felt in years.A pressure and a pang that made him feel suffocated.It was a tension he had felt almost daily since he first came to Lightmoon pack. A tension that hardly went away unless his mind was busy with something hard, painful, or terrifying, like training, raiding, or fighting for his life.As he felt those aches now, in real time as he stood in his father’s empty office, his breathing grew rapid and unsteady.In seconds, he was breathing through gritted teeth as his eyes darted about, searching for and seeing nothing.At the corner of his mind, he heard his adoptive father’s, Alpha Dax’s, voice warn him about controlling his emotions, but after what he had seen in the office a few hours ago, he didn’t need Alpha Dax talking to him about control.He shook his head, driving Dax’s voice away.He paced the
Years ago, the Lightmoon pack had hidden Corien’s gift of dreams.His gift had been a secret known to only a few, all of whom were sworn to secrecy – not just a promise, but a blood bond sealed through spells had been made.This had been done to protect not only Corien but also the pack, as they gained great advantages in attacks and advances from their rivals and enemies through his premonitions.In public, within the pack, no one ever spoke loudly about his strength, his healing, or his proficiency in battles.Whatever their thoughts may have been, whatever fantasies anyone dreamed up, at most, Corien was referred to as ‘special’, or ‘different’, or ‘unique’, when shifters praised him, when they were in their cups, or when they gossiped, nothing more.Then the war happened, and he became ‘token’, ‘prize’, and ‘fallen’.After half a year to two years, for th
Any concerns or requests could be brought to the Elders; however, they would never actively involve themselves in resolving any issues.Their presence was intimidating and could be hard to bear.Many meetings were not done face-to-face, but rather, through intermediaries – younger, but still elderly, shifters who lived with the Elders and presented cases to them for their input.Their rule was simple – they did not interfere in pack politics or battles. They had all had enough of these during their individual reigns and had no taste for such things in their old age.All of them had been around during the time of the previous Alpha, the one before Corien, the one who loved wars, battles, and blood, the one who used his people as objects and pawns for his schemes and conquests.And they had done nothing.They had been there when Corien had taken over from that Alpha, by force of arms, and they had done nothing.