I had been thinking of how to break the news to Amelia, when I heard a knock on the door."Come in" I said"Alpha" the healer greeted with a slight bow."Mm" I nodded. When he wasn't speaking, I asked "Is anything the matter?""Well, about Miss Amelia's pregnancy. With her present state, she won't be able to carry that child."I stopped what I was doing and asked "What do you mean?""Her womb is weak and her general health is not good for bearing a child" the healer said straightforwardly.I wanted my child but I wanted Amelia too. I rubbed my temple. "Are you sure?" I asked"Yes" he nodded.I sighed, absorbing the words from the healer. A fragile womb, Amelia's life was already in jeopardy. I couldn't afford to lose her or the child."What options do we have?" I asked, trying to fathom the revelation.The healer hesitated. "We could use a witch's incubator. With their special abilities, they could take care of the fetus and guarantee the safety of the child."I nodded, my determinati
What was she doing in my room?"I see you got yourself a nice position and room" she said, her eyes glinting with so much hatred.I was about to respond when she scoffed "A newbie tries to prove that she's better than everyone else, we'd see about that"When I heard her words, I decided to ignore her altogether. Over the years, I've learnt that it's better to ignore it all than to poke your hand in fire and expect not to get burnt.I folded my things and was about stepping out when she pushed me "I'm talking to you!"It was when we were facing each other at eye level, I suddenly remembered who she was and where I had seen her before. She had been the Queen Mother's maid but she wasn't mean, she had actually been nice to me.By Queen Mother I meant Cida's ailing mother. When she was slowly embracing death, there were maids kept in charge of her, to monitor her health. Lucinda was one of them.I remember her running around with tonics and healing incenses, trying to make Queen Mother he
She stuttered for a while before saying "It doesn't matter. Who knows what vicious plans you have in that head of yours?"Since she wasn't backing down, I started walking towards her like a tiger stalking it's prey "So you're really saying I purposely caused trouble for you mm? You're saying you did absolutely nothing to deserve my hate but I just decided out of the blues to make the Luna punish you? In summary, you're actually implying that a newbie like me knew that the Luna was allergic to chestnuts and even framed you in particular?? Hmm?"She had been walking back as I was talking. After I finished, she didn't respond but just glared and walked out of my room. I chuckled but made a mental note to myself, I needed to find out what happened in this pack for someone as nice as her to change.As I was straightening my clothes, something came to mind. If the Luna had released this early, that only meant one thing, the Luna also had a hand in her accident. The more she thought about it
Lucinda barged into my room. She looked calmer than before. "The Luna calls for you."What were these two planning now? I didn't want to deal with them now but I didn't have a choice, did I? I simply nodded and followed her calmly.As I entered Gina's room, I saw her being helped into a dress two sizes smaller than her size. "Tuck it in properly!" She shouted at Natasha, Natasha bowed and pushed it with all her strength.When I had watched enough to make me feel like throwing up. Lucinda announced my presence to the witch.She moved forward with a no-expression face. "Luna, Amelia."I strode to a more visible part of the room, and I couldn't help but sneer inwardly as Gina's gaze fell on me."Maids, leave for now," ordered Gina in a cold voice.Natasha curtsied with the other serving girls and left the room.Gina's smile twisted sinisterly. "Aurora, I told you that he wasn't interested in you; that he'd be done with you once he had gotten what he wanted from you, but you didn't lis
I stepped back, my eyes scanning and inspecting the tables. Everything was in order but I wasn't feeling at ease.I walked out of the hall and bumped into Mateo. Maybe he could help?He had apologized and began walking away when I called out to him. "Mateo!"He turned back, his face expressionless."Could we talk for a minute?"He nodded simply and we moved aside to talk."The Luna asked me to serve Elder Kato knowing fully well I know nothing about him."I watched his expression, expecting it to change but it didn't, seems like he already knew."So?" He asked."Uh, look, I know she's planning to embarrass me. She wants the Elder to be angry at me and the Alpha to be displeased with me so I need help.""How are you sure?" He asked with an eyebrow raised."Sure that what?" I asked confused."That she wants to embarrass you?"I looked at him like he was a fool. Was he trying to cover up the fact that I was right? Or was he trying to get under my nerves? " You know the kind of relationsh
I took a step back from the counter and stuttered "He asked me to get a potion possible to neutralize any thing""Anything?" She said already in thoughts."Yes" I replied nodding my head.She walked away from the counter, muttering somethings to herself... She got on wheeled ladder and moved it to a section where there were only a few bottles left.She picked two and brought it to the counter. Then she asked "Do you know if he wants to put it in a bowl of soup or rub it on the body?"I hesitated before answering "In a bowl of soup"She nodded and pushed back the tube, then handed me the liquid in a small bottle. "Two drops is enough. If immediately it comes in contact with the soup, it turns slightly yellow-" before she could finish her sentence, the animals started making noise.Their cages were clashing against each other and I could here many hissing sounds. "If it turns yellow, add one more drop. If it turns purple, serve like that."She completed her sentence before going to sepa
I didn't know why I decided to peep over the counter...maybe because I remembered her as a short old lady or maybe because I heard some rustling coming from there.Imediately, I saw what was there clearly; I screamed again and ran out. Snakes! Everywhere! Big and small, long and short! They were of many colors; all huddled up together, behind the counter. It was so creepy.I tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge. I started to cry, I only wanted to speak with the old lady, why was all this happening to me? I scratched at the door with my nails. Even though I knew my actions were going to be fruitless, my desperation didn't give me time to think of smarter ways to handle it.I turned back and saw that two snakes had made it above the counter and were slowly slithering towards me. I lost my senses and started scanning the room, looking for something to smash the door down. At the end I found nothing, then I remembered that with my wolf I could easily tear them apart, but imme
Lucinda sneered inwardly, what a way to paint black in white.She bowed with the resentment and anger she had tried to hide, now evident in her eyes "yes Luna"This didn't fully go unnoticed by the Luna. She almost choked on the the cup of tea she had lifted to her lips, did Lucinda know what she was planning?She laughed and scolded herself for being too cautious. Lucinda was a human pawn in her game. Even if she found out, she'd be willing to give up her life for her. Some people are destined to be slaves for the rest of their lives. While she was destined to have moved from rags to riches and she was going to keep it that way.As she wrapped up the thoughts in her mind, she heard that the Elder had passed the pack's border and would be arriving soon.Lucinda had made up her mind as she walked out of the Luna's chambers, she was going to wreck the Luna's plan. What had she been thinking? That the Luna liked her? Or that she was going to be under her protection for a lifetime? She ha
She came as a ghost, her step as silent as breathing, her presence cold that seemed to penetrate to the very heart of his pack. She stood before him, her eyes bottomless black as always, her lips as cold as ice."You owe me, Thane," she whispered, her voice sweetly tinged with threat. "And this day's payment."Thane's ground fell away beneath him. All that it had cost him those years of running, that effort to remain one step ahead of his devils, had been for nothing. He had seen today on the horizon, but there before him, weighed down by the burdens of his conditioned responses, a strangling sense of despair struck him.He looked at his pack, whose faces he vowed to protect, and knew he could no longer flee. He had to go back to Arachne, and face the wrath of what he had done, however repulsive. "As you will," he breathed out, his voice slick and unfaltering.The grin of Arachne spread wider, her hunt gleam eyes burning hotter."Oh, Thane," she breathed softly, her voice silky as poi
Bermont’s throat had been ripped out, his body lying lifeless on his desk, his empty face blankly regarding the ceiling. And beside him, Lyanna, her elongated body twisted into an impossible shape, her beautiful face contorted into face of terror.Thane's stomach lurched. This wasn’t a clean kill. It was a massacre.The room was trashed, desecrated by gigantic claw marks bigger than what any wolf could have left and through his friend. Obscene symbols, painted red, thick black smudges, painted on the walls. It was an abomination of deformed, ritualistic butchery, painted to look like that of some horrific supernatural being.Backwards, his wolf started snarling in shock and horror, receding and receding until Thane backed away. Not this. This kind of killing was not what he had signed up for.He suddenly felt like he was being watched. From a corner he saw her. Arachne.She had emerged from the shadows, her hands and lower forearm smeared with freshly-shed blood. She glowed."You—" Th
Years Ago-The room in Bermont's study glimmered blackly with unwritten things, weighed down by pungent smell of burnt pine and acrid taste of bitterness. Bermont, a huge fat man, collapsed over his enormous wooden desk, his shadow falling on pieces of paper here and there.His wife, Lyanna, at the window, statue of coldness, her eyes over some point far away beyond frosted glass. The theatre of authority, its rough tactlessness."You know you can’t be Alpha, Thane," Bermont told him, his tone laced with thoughtless disdain of a man who was certain he was in charge. "You were born to be a follower, not a leader. Learn that, and perhaps, perhaps I'll continue to allow that you might stay at my side. A pet, perhaps."The second half of that tense almost-snarl, cautious bite.Thane's fists were balled, fingernails pressing crescent moon shapes into palms. The wolf within him, that source of strength, snarled fury, its primal power bursting in harmony with his own.Years of that, of provi
The reality struck me like a sledgehammer. I respected her, I looked up to her, and never ever admitted that I loved her, not even to myself. I was just too afraid, too occupied being the person I was supposed to be, too afraid to be rejected.But now that she was in danger, I could not play games anymore. I loved her, had loved her for years, and would do anything to win her back in one piece.There was a knock on the door, shattering me out of daydreaming. Greggory stood there, his face creased with concern."Alpha," he said, "we have a problem."My heart sank. "What?""We've been told by the border patrol," he explained. "They did see tracks, off our territory, into the Nelder forest. But not ordinary tracks. Lena's."I bolted upright, my fists clenching. "Are you sure?"Greggory nodded. "Yes. They picked up her scent. She was definitely there.""But she's been gone for so long," I said. "Why would her scent still linger there?""We don't know," Greggory admitted. "But the prints s
"Words are breath, Alpha. An oath of loyalty must… be flesh." I touched him, my hand tracing the harshest plane of his jaw, feeling the shuddering under his flesh. "Kneel, Alpha," I commanded, my tone falling to a silky pitch, but supported by adamant authority."Pledge yourself to me, here and now, before the ancient powers that lie in wait within this caravan."There was a flicker of defiance in his eyes, the lingering of his Alpha pride. But that was quickly overwhelmed, smothered by the crushing weight of his desperation. Reluctantly, he knelt down, slowly, his gaze still on mine, an internal battle unspoken."Repeat after me," I ordered, my voice low and rich, calling on the inner strength that coursed through me, generating a sense of drama around the event. "I, Killian of the Skyline Pack…"He echoed the words, his voice rasping, just audible, every syllable a concession, a fragment of his freedom surrendered."Promise my allegiance."He stood before me, the gravity of the word
Shakira's POVMy frantic investigation had turned out to be nothing but murky suggestions and dead ends. Ancient texts mentioned domination spells, psychic intrusions, everything apart from the inexplicable, mass damp that hung over Killian's pack.I really couldn’t admit that I knew nothing of what was happening. Not to Killian. My well-crafted reputation of an infamous witch demanded an aura of omniscience, of proficiency at the divine crossroads. To reveal my fallibility, would be to destroy the illusion, to jeopardize all that I had struggled for. And to lose Killian… that was something I was not going to allow to happen.My defense would be in deception. I would pretend to have a solution, to stall and keep Killian in my control, while I desperately searched for a real one, or… created one myself.I got up from my chair, the groaning old wood grumbling a welcome creak in the still caravan. I gazed about at the crowded shelves of jars, bottles, and desiccated herbs. Ingredients. I
Killian’s POVThe weight in my chest was more than crushing, it was overbearing. Every beat a leaden weight in my chest, every breath a struggle. Shakira's words haunted my quarters, taunting me. What did it even mean, to yield to another, to a witch with such a reputation as that? The very thought sent a shiver down my spine.And yet, the happenings in my pack flashed through my mind, the stunned horror and fear on their faces, the unearthly incantation of "Simon is Lord!" ringing in my ears. Dexter's sickening smile, insincere, repulsive, revolved through my thoughts like a record stuck on a groove. My pack was falling apart, family by family, and here I stood, contemplating and hesitating to submit to Shikira's request.Delaying was not going to cut it any longer. Something had to be done but what? Xavier's suggestion of going out to other packs and begging for assistance was practical, logical even. But his advice was replaced by an increasing horror that compelled me to listen to
She took a deep breath, her eyes snapping open. The pool was calm, its reflective mirror of the moon's glow unbroken. Aurora was not. She could feel it. The power that lay within her was no longer latent. It was alive, humming with energy, the essence of White Luna.She looked at Selene, her eyes shining with sudden understanding. "I… I think I understand."Selene's face erupted into a warm smile."The way has just been opened, Aurora. There is much to learn, much to prepare you for. But you will not be doing it alone. I will be here, every step along the way."Aurora's heart was a tempest of the expectation and terror that battled within it. She was a goddess, a new White Luna. Her journey would be challenging, but giving up was not an option.The weight of a new life was heavy on Aurora, more heavily even than any material weight. She was the White Luna, a goddess reborn. Her mind was heavy with the words, a reminder of just how great a weight was on her shoulders. She looked at her
Those words hung heavily in the empty garden, alone-an affront to all she had ever conditioned to understand about the world. She was an Omega, the lowest one to exist within the pack, born to take orders and not give them. This… this could not be. And yet, visions, power flowing through her veins, Selene's presence here-everything screamed for a truth she could not help but believe."Preparations?" she managed to croak with a throat parched and raspy. "For what?"Selene's visage became unbroken. "For war coming. The war you saw earlier. One to raze not your pack alone but all the packs. A war unlike any other."Her mind was a wild knot of possibilities. The rumors of the Thane of Redblood-whispers of another foe-it fit together all too sickly. This, however, was not a pack war; this was a war against something older and far more evil than anything imaginable. Survival war."But..but I am just myself," she stammered without faith in herself, helplessly waving her hands. "I know nothin