The moon hanging above the forest was still full and the light it cast made the clearing in which she stood look eery with the darkness of the forest around her. She stood close to the edge of the clearing, underneath the shadow of a tree because standing under the moonlight made it feel like someone was pointing a light down at her, making her open to everything and anything. She didn't feel comfortable with that.Heck, she didn't feel comfortable staying here, but she had to in hope and anticipation.She had felt strange when she had heard the call. Strange because she had immediately known who had ben calling, and strange because she had aslo known from where the call had been coming from. She had been standing on the balcony in her room when she felt it. It was not something she could have ignored even if she had wanted to, and that was because her wolf was reacting very strongly to it."Mate."She recognized the feeling after her wolf had said that, it was slightly similar to the
It was Elyria's night for the mating ceremony, and everyone's attention was on Alpha Prince Triston Valtor to find a mate. But Triston sat uninterested in the chair reserved for him right beside his father, on an elevated platform so it was obvious that all eyes were on him. He sat with his elbow propped on the arm rest and his fingers on his chin, supporting his head which laid lazily on his knuckles. His father, much like him, also sat looking uninterested as the ceremony went on.As he observed some of them find their mate and proceed with the next thing, it was then that Triston realized he had not been given the chance to mark Damaris before her demise, and as he watched the others do so, he felt a painful prick in his heart. Sitting here and going through this was torture for him, should he just announce to them that he was not going to find a mate anymore because he had found one and lost her?No. He sighed and rolled his eyes as he observed a couple mark eachother. Announcing
He walked into the bath house in the stable and walked under the showers to wash as much blood as he could off of him before he proceeded into the main building. He would not want anyone to see him covered in blood and begin to have weird thoughts in theor head about him. He st=hrugged his shoulders as he walked the hallways, not that he cared much right now, but for his father's sake and the need to keep the rumors out, he would do this much. He still had the smell of blood on him anyway.As he walked on, he caught sight of a small brown wolf leap over the fence into the compound, and he observed as it transformed into its human self. He frowned as he watched Ivone sneak around and into the building, then head upstairs in the direction of her room. He delayed a while before he followed her.Ivone stepped into her room and let out a sigh of relief after she had quietly shut the door behind her, grateful that nobody had noticed her absence nor had anyone seen her sneak back in. She blu
It was actually surprising to Triston that his father had not objected to burying Damaris in the royal cemetry, owning to the fact that she was Nyxorian. But then, she had also been his mate, even though it had been for a short while, they had been bonded.He had chosen not to ask what his father's reasons were and had just gone with it. Perhaps somewhere deep in this Alpha's cold heart, he could understand the pain of loss, afterall, he had lost his own mate as well. Triston had chosen to stay away from all preparations regarding Damaris' burial and had requested a closed casket ceremony, for reasons known to him. He didn't want to see her face. He didn't want to be reminded of the fact that he might have to spend the rest of his life without a mate.It had started to rain midway through the ceremony and he had requested an umbrella for Ivone. His father had left as soon as the first drops of rain touched him, but Triston remained under the rain even as the little showers became a f
She had seen him on one or two occassions from a distance, and she had observed him, he didn't seem the type to want to have a quiet word with a Nyxorian girl, even though she was the sister of his son's mate. She had noticed that Trison never mentioned him when he was talking to her, or at least he tried not to. It already gave her a clue of what the relationship between the two of them was like."With my sister gone, I wonder if he has it in mind to send me back to Nyxoria," She asked herself. It would be the most likely reason for him to want to speak with her and she shuddered. She could not afford to step into Nyxoria right now, it would mean her immediate death and she could already hear the dreadful sound of Zina's satisfied laughter and she shuddered again. She turned to look around for Triston, if he would be there present with his father, then she was sure she had nothing to fear. But she remembered he had taken off earlier and her shoulders dropped."I'm doomed.""We shou
"Why would he get married again?" Alpha Ardon asked the question to himself but Ivone, thinking she was being asked, gave her reply."I believe it would be for us, his daughters. So it would be easier for us to fit in and learn from having a mother figure."That caught his curiousity, "Fit in?""A strange man in a strage land could not successfully raise two girls all on his own.""How old are you?" he suddenly asked and Ivone looked up at him, only briefly before she lowered her gaze back down as he still had this cold look in his eyes."Eighteen..." she stammered. The question, as simple as it was, had thrown her off.Alpha Ardon hesitated for a moment. He just stared at the girl but his mind had begun to wander even as he still questioned her, "Your father, do you remember his name?""Lothan Thane. That was his name.""Lothan-"The doors to the throne room was suddenly thrown open, interrupting their conversation and both Ivone and Alpha Ardon turned their attention to the entrance
"We should declare war on Elyria for this!"Alpha Prince Reyes stood before his father in the throne room pacing and trying to argue his case. He hated the fact that his father was being too lenient about handling this matter that had been dragging on with Elyria. If he were the one on the throne, this would not be an issue, he would have gone to war with Elyria long before now and conquered them.Alpha Korvin Thorold sat tired on the throne, resiting his head on his fisted hand which rested on the arm rest. He was tired of having this conversation, or argument, with Reyes every now and then, despite making clear to him what his stance on the matter was and will continue to be."Reyes, I have told you this several times before and I will repeat it again for your understanding," he said to him with a sigh, "I will not be the first to... Nyxoria will not be the first to strike. As long as neither kingdoms attack, we will remain in peace.""Peace?!" Reyes was amused and he chuckled, desp
Dathan smirked and remained humbled before him. He was Alpha Prince Reyes right hand man, a delta werewolf, and just like Reyes, he too wanted to declare war on Elyria. It was in support of Reyes wishes, even though he had something selfish up his sleeves that he planed on revealing, but it would all be in due time. For now, he would help Reyes achieve his aim in any way that he could."I feel you are delaying on that aspect, Alpha."Reye smirked, he liked being addressed as Alpha. He shook his head, "Skip that, are they all gathered?" he asked him."Gathered and waiting your presence so you can address them," He replied with a nod, bowing even lower and maintaining that sly grin on his face."Good," Reyes let out a forceful breath and turned to walk out the room with Dathan following him closely.For months, he had been gathering men faithful to his own cause, feeding them with what the new Nyxoria would be like under his rule. Knowing his father and his soft and meek ways, he knew t
Triston stood in front of the decaying horse, the earth around it had been thoroughly soaked in blood and the smell of death was heavy in the area. He could pick up two distinct scents from the blood, one belonging to the horse and the other belonging to a human, Maya's, he presumed."That was a stable horse from the castle," Xaren pointed out, drawing Triston's and the others attention. He had gotten down to a squat position at the head of the horse and was holding up a brown leather patch he had taken from the horse, pressed into the leather was the Elyrian royal crest. He stretched it over to Triston.Triston reached over and took the atch of brown leather and studied the crest on it, it was definitely the Elyrian royal crest so this was a horse taken from the stable, one that Maya had ridden that night no doubt. He looked down to the ground where he stood, in the middle of the soaked up earth, Maya must have been killed right here, at this very spot."Focus Xaren, the dead horse i
"It has been six days since Ivone left the castle Triston, are you not even a little bit worried about her? Where she could be and if she is doing alright?"Jaxon had come to the stables with Triston who seemed relaxed most times, and then out of it the other times, and he was sure that this Alpha Prince was worried about Ivone but was it his pride that was keeping him from actually showing concern? He suspected that they might have had a fall out but how big of a fall out would they have had that would have been enough to make Ivone leave the castle and probably leave the kingdom as well and Triston would not do nor say anything about it.Triston remained quite, standing beside his horse and stroking the animal's neck. He was worried about Ivone but he had refused to show it because he had been angry at her, for the words she had said to him and her behaviour towards him, he had been so angry at her. He had not noticed her absence on the first day and even on the second day until Jax
"What are you talking about?" Reyes asked him with a frown and Kasier's head came up, his gaze rested on Reyes. "If you are going to have me killed or imprisoned for life, I am requesting that you allow me see my family one more time before yoou carry out your judgement on me." "I'm not going to have you killed, Kasier Archon," he said with a relatively calm voice and a weight lifted off of Kasier's heart, imprisonment may be better than death, he thought, but Reyes continued, "And I am not going to have you imprisoned either." Kasier Archon was perplexed and it showed in his facial expression, if the young alpha was not going to do either, then what was it that he had in mind to do to him? Surely, letting him go was not part of what he had in mind. It could not be. Not for Reyes Thorold at least. Reyes observed the confusion in Kasier's facial expression and in his eyes, and somewhere lurking behind that confusion he could still see the fear. He grinned. "I am going to reinstate
He had only been Alpha for a couple of days now but he felt he had been carrying the title for much longer than that, one of the main reason he had wanted to become Alpha was so that he could have the free will to rain down attacks and war on Elyria, but for some strange and unknown reason even to him, he had delayed all that and instead had been dwelling on the kingdom's affairs, affairs that could easily be dealt with even in his absence.He sat on the throne in the throne room, a place where he had been for hours attending to one problem presented to him to another. Frankly, all these seemed boring to him and it was easy to tell because he had been yawning more frequently now like someone that had been deprived of days of sleep. Dathan stood beside him facing forward, with Reyes rise from Alpha Prince to Alpha, his own rank too had increased and now he was the second moost powerful person in the whole of Nyxoria."When will this all end Dathan?" Reyes asked him as he sat lazily on
She opened her eyes slowly but her vision was still a blur and somewhere in the back of her head ached. She blinked severally until her vision was cleared and she looked around the place she had come to find herself in. Last thing she remembered, she had been in the forest surrounded by three men and had been knocked out by a drug of some sort, and now she had woken up in a place that seemed like it was a basement in a house. Her head still ached and she tried to lift her hand up to her head, only then did she realize she had been tied up. Her eyes widened as she looked at the ropes binding her by the wrists to the arm of the chair she sat in and her feet were hels in chains. She suddenly began to hyperventilate and struggle against the ropes but it was of no use as they had been tied tightly. If this kidnap had been orchestrated by Reyes, then she needed to do everything possible to get out of here or her life would be in danger. She cursed as she looked around the place for anythi
She was back in the forest, back to the exact same spot where Maya had been murdered by Alpha Ardon of Elyria, the air still carried her scent and the strong smell of both her blood and that of the mutilated horse. She tried to imagine how Maya must have felt in that moment, if she had been here scared of dying alone, if she had felt the cold, how much pain she must have been in, and the feat that must have invaded her heart knowing that she could not escape death. She went down on the ground and squatted, then placed the flat side of her hand on the patch of earth that had drank Maya's blood and she cried. "I'm sorry," she sobbed and buried her face in her knees. She hated how she was feeling now, so very guilty and so very unworthy, like she should have been the one to die in Maya's stead. Maya would never come to learn of her betrayal and she would never get to apologize for that. She lifted her head up and took in a deep breath, trying to stop herself from sheding any more tear
"Did you find her?" Triston had asked her calmly but she didn't give an answer to his question immediately. He watched her from behind as her shoulders heaved and she brought her hand up to her face before crossing them. He guessed she had wiped a tear and then he heard her sniff before she responded to his question. "No," her voice was choked, "There was blood though, I saw that, enough to soak up the forest, there was also a bloody tree branch and a dead mutilated horse." Triston took in a deep breath and let it out, he wanted to console her so he took a step towards her but then Ivone spun to face him, she was crying hard and he could see clearly the pain and anger in her eyes. "Did he have to kill her in that manner?" she asked Triston, "The same way Damaris was killed, using a tree branch?" He didn't know what to say to her, he was not sure how he should reply her but he so badly wanted to console her, he just didn't know how, "Ivone... I..." "And where is her body, Tristo
Ever since he had brought her back from the forest that eventful morning, Ivone had been in her room sleeping. She had been knocked out for a full day and it had kept Triston so worried that he had checked up on her every hour just to be certain that she was indeed sleeping and not slowly slipping into death. Early the next moring, the first thing he did after waking up was to go to Ivone's room to check up on her again, to see if she had woken up and in what state of mind she was currently in, but he was shocked when he found an empty bed and his heart rate began to spike as his heart beat accelerated. Quickly, he grabbed the arm of the servant girl that happened to be passing by in that moment and he yanked her to himself. The girl in fright, dropped what she had been carrying and yelped, but Triston, seemingly unaware or not concerned of how his actions had affected the girl, fixed an angry look on her and shook her slightly as he asked. "Where is Ivone?" The girl trembled in f
The woman lived by the outskirts of Nyxoria, all the way over on the other side. It had taken them almost half the day to ride to her place and with her mother hammering on that fact that she would have to return back to the castle, Zina knew that this visit would not take long.She had seen the woman only twice in her life and this visit would be the third time. She never associated with her because her mother had forbidden her for doing so, said it was to cover their tracks, but even without that, Zina knew she would never even want to associate herself with the likes of the woman because she gave hr the chills.Her house - if it could be regarded as one - stood alone in a clearing and was omnious to even look at. Smoke rose from the chimney, telling them that someone was home and cooking, but with her reputation, Zina wondered if she could evengo anywhere. She remained attached to her mother as she led her through the clearing and into the house, once inside, their nostrils were hi