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
The rain finally came down in Elyria and it came down heavily like it had been long kept against its will and had just finally broken out of the prison that kept it. Lighthning cracked through the skies and it brought with it the loud rumbling of thunder that cried loudly and violently.As the strong winds blew and the storm raged outside, Maya and Ivone cuddled under the sheets to keep each other warm. Ivone slept quite soundly, covered up and cuddled by her partner, with the rain serving as a lullaby to her, but Maya on the other hand could not catch a wink of sleep.She held Ivone sleeping in her embrace and kept her eyes on the curtains as they swayed with the wind that blew into the room, picking and twisting the curtains to dance in the breeze. With each crack of lightening, she felt her heart seize to beat and she looked down at Ivone, wondering how she could be so calmly sleeping in this raging storm.Without making much of a noise, and as easily as she could, she laid Ivone d
"Princess Maya of Nyxoria?"Alpha Ardon had been standing outside Ivone's room, what brought him here, he could not tell exactly but he knew he had left his chambers decisively and had walked all the way here. He had not intented on speaking to Ivone, no. At least not so late at night as even he would find that creepy. But as he stood outside her door, he had heard the noise from inside and could tell that there were more than two people in there."Triston?" he had thought at first, but then he had not been able to sense him. His scent was not there. And then he had heard that."Princess Maya..."He counted six men in the room when the door had been opened, with the man in front holding on to the wrist of the girl he had heard them refer to as "princess Maya", and his frown deepened.Maya gasped and fear settled in her heart as Alpha Ardon fixed his eyes on her. Those red glowing balls sitting in his eye sockets bore his anger into her being and she suddenly felt chills climb up her s
The rain continued to pour down heavily without showing signs of letting up any time soon. The constant flash of lightening and the loud roaring thunder often broke into their minds, but this time, Triston was unbothered by that. He stood in front of his men and before Ivone and Maya as they spoke but nothing of what they were saying went into his mind, not after what Ivone had said to him. "Your father knows about her!" The rain had eroded parts of the castle grouns and had formed streams of water passing through the courtyard and heading for the drain. Triston stood in one of those streams but didn't really seem to notice. He had his eyes fixed on Ivone who was holding Maya protectively behind her and she was saying something to him. Another flash of lightening and the crack of thunder brought his mind back to the present moment and to what Ivone was saying. "Please Triston!" she yelled out, "You have to let her go, she cannot stay here. For my sake, please!" Triston looked at
Alpha Ardon had killed five of the men who had dared to invade his castle and was down to the last one whom he had severely injured but wanted also not to end him too quickly. He slowly circled the injured and limping werewolf who positioned himself in the middle of the room, limping and following Alpha Ardon with his gaze as he circled him, stalking him like a prey.Alpha Ardon growled as the thunder roared and the lightening flashed. The wind broke into the room, sending a chilling breeze that swept the curtains up and whipped them in the air.The injured werewolf didn't whimper or attempt to beg for his life as the one befor him had done, and rather than impress Alpha Ardon, it just irked him the more."I should be grateful for this invasion," Alpha Ardon said to the werewolf who still held him in his gaze. His cold and angry gaze. Alpha Ardon growled and stopped circling the werewolf. He crouched down lower and flexed his shoulders as would a tiger getting ready to pounce, "This n
Maya had only gotten as far as to the outskirts of the last village before the forest when she was met by three men having on their shirt an emblem of the Nyxorian army. She slowed down and stopped, transforming back to her human self as she got close to them. "Princess Maya!" one of them said out loud as he ran to her. Out of her mind with joy, Maya ran straight into his arms and cried, hugging him tightly. The man, not expecting the hug, stood still in shock, with his arms held out but not holding on to Maya. The other two looked on in surprise at first before they signalled to the man she was hugging to pull her away. "Er... Princess Maya..." the man called and held on to her shoulders, breaking the hug and pulling her away from him. If Alpha Prince Reyes had seen what had happened, all three of them knew that he would have had the man's head rolling on the floor, even though he had not been the one who initiated the hug. Maya sniffed and wiped away the tears, "I'm sorry, I'm j
She shed tears for their sacrifice because she knew that no one who faced Alpha Ardon would make it out alive. Right noe, all she had in her mind was to get to her brother and to be safe. Her brother would always make sure she was safe, even if he would have her locked in her room for months, as long as she would be safe and in Nyxoria, she would not complain. Alpha Ardon broke into the forest, leaping over upturned roots and under branches. Despite the rain and the irregular flow in the direction of the wind, he could still very much pick up the Nyxorian princess' scent and it drove him on. He was so blinded by his desire to catch up to her that he had not seen the werewolf who had been lurking behind a tree until it struck him hard in the face. Alpha Ardon winced and crashed down to the ground, he stayed down for a second before he got up on his feet. He fixed his eyes on the werewolf who had dared to hit him and he barked at the Beta. "You insignificant...!" Alpha Ardon barked o
Ivone sat on top Triston's bed, already changed from the dress that had been soaked wet by the rain. The sun had not yet risen but they all knew it was already close to dawn. She sat with her legs folded and had her attention to the open door leading to the balcony and she just allowed her mind wander as she stared at the curtains swaying in the wind. The rain had long stopped and only the wind remained, though it was not as ferocious as it had been when it had come with the heavy rain. Triston stood by the doorway opening up to the balcony, he had his arms crossed over his chest and his body leaning on the wall. He too like Ivone, had his attention outside, looking out for when his father would return. He had already imagined his father returning to the castle covered in Maya's blood and having with him her body, or more gruesomely, just a part of her body as his prize. He shut his eyes, bowed his head and let out a sigh, perhaps just as Xaren had said, they should be preparing for
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