ANMELDENDEXTERAI stayed where I was, half-hidden in the narrow basement passage, my body pressed lightly against the wall as I watched the room ahead.The space opened up wider than I expected. It wasn’t bright exactly. It was just bathed in a muted, amber glow that came from crystal sconces embedded into the stone walls. At first glance, it looked like a library with tall shelves lining the walls, stretching from floor to ceiling, packed with books, scrolls, sealed chests, and odd artifacts that glimmered faintly as though they carried a life of their own.But to anyone with deep thinking, this wasn’t a place for leisure reading. It was easy for me to tell despite that I couldn't see all clearly from the distance.My gaze shifted to the large desk positioned at the center of the room where Elder Vaelorra stood.She had her back partially turned to me, angled just enough that I could see her profile. Spread across the desk was a massive book which looked old and thick. Its cover was dark an
DEXTERAGetting the route to Vaelorra’s address was a bit of a hurdle as I wasn’t very familiar with the pack. At some point when I got several feet away from Roxanne’s mini-clinic, I decided against proceeding to the elder’s residence. ‘This is all but a bad idea.’ My subconsciousness warned. There were several reasons my intuition guided against the decision. Asides not knowing the direction, it was way too late. Dark clouds began to take up the sky and it would have gotten darker by the time I got to the supposed destination.Also, I had close to no idea what Vaelorra was really like up close. Roxanne said she was the best approachable, but she could as well take badly to unwanted guests at that time of the evening. Yet, I wanted answers desperately. I was greatly invested in finding out what that logo or symbol meant and in finding out Vaelorra’s possible intent for visiting me at the dungeon. ‘You can do that tomorrow when the day is bright.’ My subconsciousness offered but I s
DEXTERACould it be a coincidence? I sifted through my memories, replaying the incident in vivid detail. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became it was the same symbol.My head snapped toward Roxanne. “Can I get a pen and paper, please?”She gave me a quizzical look, before motioning to a nearby corner. Moments later, she returned and handed me a small jotter and a pretty looking ballpoint pen. “What do you need this for?”I smiled, collecting the pieces from her. “You’ll see.”Relying on the memory alone, I sketched a rough but recognizable version of the symbol onto the page. “Does this look familiar to you in any way?” I asked, turning the jotter towards her.She reached for it, observing the sketch I scribbled down. She studied it for a while, her gaze flickering between me and the jotter in between her fingers. Roxanne averted her gaze back to me, shaking her head. “I don’t think I recognize this in any way.” “Oh,” I muttered, a bit disappointed.Roxanne stood
THORDeucalion’s return to the study jolted me from my reverie of thoughts and pent-up fury.“Did I not tell you to leave?” I snapped at him.He carefully made his way to stand in front of my study desk, caring less about my anger. “We need to talk.”I tapped gently on my desk. “Whatever it is can wait.”“No, it can't.” Deucalion growled. “It can only be now, and you have no choice but to listen to me.”With obvious hesitation, I turned to face him. “So, what's the not-so-urgent, important topic.” “I’ve been meaning to ask you about your connection with Dextera.” He said boldly. I huffed, calming myself before broaching the topic with him. Did I expect this? Somewhat. Only that I did not expect him to put his first foot forward anytime soon. Not when we had a great threat to be concerned about—one which already had a great effect on my mental health. “What exactly do you want to know?” I asked, trying so much to avoid discussing her on a deeper length.“Everything. As long as it c
THORIngrid Bernard.The name tasted sour and sounded devilish no matter how hard I tried to be rational about it. I weighed it in my mind, turned it over, tested it against logic and facts, but it refused to settle.Could she truly be behind this?The last time I checked, Ingrid Bernard was dead.I had orchestrated it myself, watched the process from start to finish, and signed off on the confirmation. I had ensured there were no loose ends and no room for resurrection, talk less of whispers of survival. Her death had been clean and final; as she deserved.Yet, Woodhound was bleeding. The borders had been breached with mastery, records were altered and rogues moved like they had a map of my territory engraved into their bones.It definitely wasn’t coincidence. It was all a big plan which I failed to notice. I believed I had it all under control, but Freya just spelt it to my face that I slacked off at some point. She made me realize coldly that I faltered and was slowly misplacing m
DEXTERARoxanne's eyes lit up the moment she saw me. “Oh my, you're awake. How do you feel now?”“I feel tired and empty inside.” I replied honestly.She continued cleaning up her freshly used materials, taking a minute to flash me a small, genuine smile. “It’s normal, given the physical exhaustion your...‘other part’ incurred on your human.”I managed a smile in return. She was the first person in Woodhound to not say the word ‘beast’ to my face. Despite that I knew the other part of me was nothing but a monster I couldn't control, her choice of words gave me a strong sense of hope. Perhaps I could be like every other werewolf one day.“I’ll be needing your help with painkillers.” I stated. “The ones you gave me the other time worked like magic.”“As it should be.” she breathed.I lowered myself to a chair, patiently waiting for her to finish up her task. “Is something wrong?” Roxanne's voice jolted me back to reality. “What’s got you so deep in thought?” She wiped her hand with a
THORI returned to sitting but Freya asked Dextera to bring her a chair. A part of me wanted to excuse her, but Aero wanted her close to us in that state she was. Sad and in tears.Wordlessly, Dextera did as instructed, dragging a chair from a distance closer to Freya with trembling hands. The soun
DEXTERAThor's gaze upon me when Freya went unconscious made my insides curl with extreme fear and anxiety. His gaze reminded me of Kestrel and every pack member at Bisclaveret. The same way they looked at me, regarding me as nothing but a monster was exactly the same way Thor looked at me; with a
DEXTERAThat night went by in a flash. After placing everything in order and retreating to my room, I had fallen asleep quickly, comforted slightly by the silence even if it felt like sleeping beside a ticking bomb.But when I stirred again, the light streaming into the room already felt harsh.I t
DEXTERAI cursed under my breath and snapped my head away, mortified at myself after staring long enough to inscribe the details of his two hundred and seventy bone in the depth of my mind.Good goddess, what the hell did I just walk into?“Staring like that, do you want it in you?” Thor's cold voi







