It was bright and early in the morning when Reyes gathered some of his trusted men to the underground dungeon for a meeting. It didn't matter what his father said, he would go ahead with his initial plan of sending some people into Elyria to get Maya out. His father might be the one recognized as the ruler of Nyxoria and have the title of Alpha, but it was he who led the Nightshade pack, and it was he that most of them regarded as their Alpha and he knew they would do as he would request.Usually, their meetings were only held at night when most people would be asleep in the castle, that was to avoid prying eyes and ears from hearing whatever it was that they discussed, but recently, Reyes had started calling for meetings during the day and without a care in the world if news got to his father about his perculiar meetings. He was Alpha Prince, and as such was allowed to have his own committee to overlook some certain affairs.His people were standing around the stone table when he wal
"According to what Ivone told me, they should plan to attack somewhere around here."Triston, Jaxon, Revin and Xaren gathered in an open room on the ground floor of the castle. The room had a round table fixed to its center with the chairs pushed all the way to the walls. On one side of the room was arranged fully armoured statues, about twelve of them, and on the other side were piles and piles of broken chairs and other broken things. The room had only two windows and both were on one side of the wall, positioned on either side of what should have been a door but was only now a huge rectangular gap in the wall. Hinges were still fastened to the wall, but it would seem that the doors were never put in place or they had fallen away and were never replaced.The open room overlooked the spacious courtyard and despite how open it was, it made it the perfect place to hold a meeting like the one they were having now, all the while having their attention on the outside to observe what was
Ivone pulled Maya behind her as she led her partner through the castle's courtyard and headed for the stable. Maya had complained to her earlier in the morning, while they had been in the room, of being bored after their chat and she had decided to give her a tour of the castle, a castle she herself was not all that familiar with. "Are you sure it is alright for me to be out and about like this, Ivy?" Maya had asked her this question repeatedly throughout their short journey from their room to this courtyard. And each time, Ivone had assured her. "Yes, it is very alright," she had replied with a chuckle and squeezed Maya's hand gently, giving her a reassuring smile, "As long as we stay clear of the Alpha that is, but not to worry, he hardly leaves his quarters, and I don't think he is in right now." The sun was high up and the day was just too beautiful to be cooped up inside, it was literally begging to be spent wandering and galivanting. On days like this in Nyxoria, she and Dama
He was angry at them right now for coming down to the courtyard, but he knew it was more than that. What fueled his anger more was the scene which he had witnessed when he had been forced to barge into her room in the early hours of the morning because of the sounds that had been coming from there.He shifted his gaze to Maya and his wolf growled at her, wanting to slash her pretty little face open with its claws. To him, this Nyxorian princess had violated his mate and he should not let it slide, but then there was noting he couold do because the two of them had recognized one another as the other's mate. He was just on the outside crying desperately to be let in. Confusion had left him needy and helpless.He could not get that scene out of his mind, Ivone laid out on the bed, open and vulnerable with her legs spread open. The expression on her face. He could not get Ivone's voice out of his head and he fisted his hands.Her voice...Just hearing her moans had stimulated him and had
She swallowed and he continued, the smirk having vanished, only to be replaced by his very cold and mean gaze. It was very obvious now that he didn't like her. He didn't like her one bit."You will get into that drum and stay under.""What if she dies?!" Ivone voiced out, coming to stand inbetween Maya and Triston, having Maya protectively behind her.Triston straightened and replied to Ivone nonchalantly, "If she doesn't get into that drum, she will die. If my father finds her, he will behead her and put up her pretty little head on a spike."Maya swallowed and grabbed a hold of Ivone's arm. She was scared now and it pleased Triston. She should be scared, next time, she would not wander out of the room unnecessarily."Triston, stop scaring her," Ivone cautioned him with a frown. But Triston right now, didn't have a care in the world for Maya.He narrowed his eyes at the scared princess and brought a hand to place on his chest, and with a sarcastically sad face, said, "I can imagine h
It was the first time in forever since Triston had the chance to spend time with his father like this without the two of them going for each other's throats and as he sat atop the horse over looking this vast farmland they had ridden to, with his father quiet beside him, he realized that he actually liked this."Your mother used to love coming here," He suddenly said and Triston turned to face him, worry was very evident on his face. First of all he was warming up to him, and now he was taking about his mother?Alpha Ardon took in a long and deep breath, then let it out slowly. It had been a long while since he had come here. In fact, ever since the death of his wife, he had avoided coming here. This would be the second time he was here since he lost her."Don't look at me like I have lost my mind," Alpha Ardon said to Triston and then chuckled."Forgive me," Triston said and bowed slightly, "But I cannot help and be worried.""Worried about me?" Alpha Ardon asked and looked at him wi
Triston looked at him with a slight frown of worry etched across his eyebrows and the skin of his forehead furrowed. Anyone who didn't know his father, the Alpha Ardon Valtor of Elyria would see him now and look past his well built and muscular body and think of him as a man weak and consumed by grief, and maybe it was for this reason that he never allowed this part of him show, not even to him, his own son.And maybe for that, Triston was most grateful. If he had grown up under the guidance of an overly emotional father consumed by the grief of loosing his mate, he might have developed as a man different from what he was now, and he wondered what that would make of him. One had to be strong to endure the loss of a mate and to live as though one was not affected, and that was what his father had done in the twenty years following the death of his mother.Triston began to reason, if he had been blessed with a son before Damaris had been taken away from him, he was sure he would have li
Alpha Ardon chuckled and then scoffed before saying, "It is for that very same reason I had taken no Delta, I would not have my son and heir forced into contending for a throne that should be rightfully his when I am gone, unless he is incapable, of which I know you are not."A smile came to Triston's face and he looked away. Although indirectly, his father had just commended and complimented him, pointing out the fact that he thought of him as someone worthy to sit on the throne of Elyria after him."Alpha Prince Reyes Thorold of Nyxoria is planning an attack on Elyria," he suddenly said.Alpha Ardon let out a loud laugh and then when he settled, he faced Triston and asked, "Does he dare?"Triston scoffed at his father's pride and a smile crept up to his face. He shook his head to reply his father, "He isn't attacking Elyria head on, but has planned to attack one of the villages situated close to the border and far away from Nyxoria.""You are serious," that wasn't a question but a c
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
Zina shook like a leaf caught in the storm, despite the fact that she was no longer in the castle but had ridden out of the castle only one hour after being with Reyes and had come to their house to be with her mother, she still felt the fear which she had felt before when she had been in the throne room and she could not get the memories nor the images out of her mind. She felt shattered and mentally vulnerable in this monent.She held the still warm cup of tea her mother hand offered to her ten minutes ago in between both hands and placed it on her laps. She looked into the cup at the brightly coloured red liquid but all she could see was blood and she could not forget that taste in her mouth. With shaky hands, she flung the cup away, sending it crashing into the wall beside her where it shattered, spilling all its contents."Zina!" her mother called out in surprise and in anger and she walked up to her sitting on a chair by the table, "What has gottne into you?!"Zina turned to her
"That is impossible," Alpha Ardon said lightly and turned away from his son, walking back towards the window, "There is no way they could be mated, right?""You have called for war with this, and Nyxoria would be sure to respond," Triston said but that was not what was really bothering his father right now.Alpha Ardon looked at Triston in disbelief and then pointed a finger at him, "But you had called her yours the other day. You had called Ivone yours."Triston sighed and placed both hands on his his, looking at his father in unbelief, was that really his problem right now and not the war that was now inevitable?"Should that really be the issue bothering you right now, Alpha Ardon of Elyria?" he asked but his father was unfazed."You had called her yours, what about that?"Triston gritted his teeth, "Ivone's scent is muct too similar to her sister's, Damaris, who was my mate, it confuses my wolf into taking her as my mate."Alpha Ardon chuckled and clapped his hands once, wearing a
Alpha Ardon stood in his room facing the window, he was fully dressed like he was just about to head out but he had remained in his room when one of the workers had come to tell him that his son had requested an audience with him. He had found it strange because Triston almost never requested an audience with him, if he wanted to talk with him, he usually would just find him and talk, but this time he had requested?He had considered it too much of a hassle to go down to the throne room, so he had sent back his message that Triston meet him in his room instead, and now he waited for his son to come, he was intruiged to know what exactly it was that his son wanted to talk to him about, although he could guess that it had something to do with the Nyxorian princess he had killed earlier.The sun was high in the sky, Alpha Ardon had planned on going to Goral to see how the people there were faring after the attack yesterday. He might be seen as a cold, unloving and hard to please person,