Alexander POVI watch in silence as my castle guards drag Victor away. He is not even struggling against their hold. His bright blue eyes never leave Natalia's unconscious body until he is out of view. I cannot help but feel a little guilty as I look down at Natalia. Her lifeless body is my own fault. I should have known that injuring Victor would cause her pain as well. She is, afterall, a very special wolf. Her castle guard steps forward and tries to gather her limp body in his arms but I growl at him protectively. He steps away with his neck bared and I scoop Natalia into my arms and rush her back to the castle, sending a mind link to the pack healer along my way. The pack healer is waiting for me outside of Natalia's room as I come barreling through the castle corridors with her in my arms. The healer looks down at her wounds in shock. "Did you do this to her?" His eyes are opened wide as I lay Natalia's lifeless body onto her bed. "Not on purpose," I tell him. "I g

Natalia POVA stinging pain shoots from my shoulder as my eyes flutter open. Looking around me I realize that I am back in my room at the castle. I do not remember how I got there. Another aching pain comes from my shoulder as I try to move my arm. "Don't move," a sweet voice says quietly and I look to my side and see Nicole changing bandages on my shoulder. "What happened?" I mumble with a hoarse voice. Running and grabbing me a glass of water, Nicole helps me to sit up and lifts the glass to my lips. I greedily gulp down the water and it soothes the hoarseness in my throat. Nicole holds her hand over my forehead and gives me a satisfied look. "Your temperature has gone down," she says with a smile on her face. "What happened?" I ask again. "How did I get here?"Nicole chews on her bottom lip as she considers whether to tell me the truth or not. "Alexander brought you back to the castle after the fight," her voice is timid as she speaks. "Fight?" I question. "I don'

Natalia POVThe doors to the dungeon open loudly, scraping against the floor. Alexander comes storming down the dungeon stares and stands outside of my cell. Standing with his hands on his hip he says nothing to me, just glares in my general direction. It has been the same routine for the past few days. I am not really sure how long I have been down here. My clothes are sticking to my skin and my hair hangs limply around my face. Today Alexander glares at me and taps his foot like he is thinking about something. He pulls a large, metal key out of his pocket and inserts it into the lock of my cell door. "You have two hours to make yourself presentable," he says as he leaves me alone in the open cell. Hesitantly I step out of the cell and I look down the long cavern system that would lead me to freedom. My heart aches to go in that direction, it aches for my mate. But I do not want to piss Alexander off. Sighing to myself I head towards the exit from the dungeons. As I pu

Victor POV "No, No, No," I yell out over the rogues that are training in front of me. The rogue wolves that are fighting one another in wolf form halt their mock battles. "You have to work as a cohesive unit. You have to learn to work together as a team without the mind link. Start again." Stepping back I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. The wolves are restless this evening because of the full moon that is approaching and no one is putting their all into training. Even Sergio skipped out on training tonight. He claimed that he needed to go to the Kingdom, undercover, in order to watch over the beginning of the games. In reality I think he is hoping that he catches the scent of his mate. He claims that he does not want a mate but every wolf wants their mate. Leaning back on my hands I watch as the wolves fight in front of me. It is less sloppy but it is still not perfect. There are exactly thirty days until the Blood Moon and we have to be ready by then and

Natalia POV"How long have you known?" Victor growls and looks at me with intensity in his eyes. Swinging my legs over the other side of the bed. I walk away from him. Refusing to meet his lingering gaze. Walking over to my wardrobe I finger through the dresses one by one, pretending like I am considering what to wear. Victor walks up behind me, placing his nose in the crook of my neck, he inhales deeply. Before I realize what is happening he has dropped to his knees and is sniffing my stomach, holding me in place by my hips. "Victor," I say as I try to fight him off. "Stop. This is embarrassing." "Is it mine?" He asks as he fearfully looks up into my eyes. Scoffing at his question, I rip his hands from my waist. "How dare you ask me that?" Adeline is pushing forward in anger and I know that my eyes are swirling from green to silver. Grabbing one of the dresses from the wardrobe I storm off into the bathroom that adjoins my room and slam the door. Once I am alone, I b