[Alexander]I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I pushed off the chair, hearing it fall behind me, and kept sceptical eyes narrowed on the witch leader. I was trying to process, trying to find a loophole in what she said.“She led you to her pack! She led you to her Alpha.”“I read her palms before she did any of that. She is of Alpha blood, Alexander.”Alpha blood? How was that possible when Valerie was an Omega?“She told me herself!” I defended her. “She is an Omega of her pack. She led you to them to climb up the ladder. It’s not possible.”“Oh, but it is,” Elena said calmly, “She just doesn’t know it yet.”“Why are you keeping here?”Elena stood up gracefully, as if she was floating instead of standing on her own two feet and beckoned me to follow her. I wasn’t sure if she had some kind of an effect on me - after all, she was a w

[Alexander]I was determined to see Valerie one last time before I left. The witches seemed pleased to know that I was willing to give up my pack and myself, and I was just pleased that it meant my Valerie could be free from them.As I stood in the witches’ house, waiting on their leader, I thought about what it meant to give ourselves up. I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell Adam about the deal I just made. I would just tell him to stay at home, where he was safe. If there was one thing I did know was that these witches craved power, and would target Adam as soon as they knew he was my Beta. No. He’d be better off at home, with his wife Amelia and their daughter Ava.It pained me to think about what I was giving up for Valerie’s life. Not my own - I hardly cared what would happen to me - but the lives of the five werewolves the witches would choose. Each member had a family, had a life outside of this, and I felt like the villain in my own story.

[Alexander]One week. The witches had given me one week to gather my pack and have them ready for the scalping. I too had to mentally prepare myself for the most horrific death any werewolf had to endure.It was a tough decision to make, and as the days passed, it only became tougher on my head, like leaded weights being carried on my shoulders. I was finding it hard to concentrate, and the only thing I could think of was the ones I’d picked to give up to the witches.Among them, was not my Beta. I couldn’t bear to put my sister under the tremense stress of losing her mate, the man she loved and the father of their child. I’d be a savage beast if I had to do that. Already it felt as if what I was doing was selfish. But saving Valerie in itself was an act of selflessness. Perhaps I only looked at it that way to make it easier for me. But nothing could prepare me for what was bound to happen.I found it difficult to fall asleep, plagued by nightma

[Alexander]The voice I heard was stern, unlike anything I had ever heard before. But I knew that it was coming from inside me and couldn’t be heard by the others. There was anger laced in that voice, a throbbing bitterness, but at the same time, it eased my heart knowing that all wasn’t lost after all. Elena became alert, tilting her ears in the direction of the werewolf standing on the top of the mountain where we could see it clearly, its fur gently swaying in the wind while its magnificent sheen seemed to outshine the moon itself.I called out to the others, “Now!” when the witchwolves turned their attention to the wolf on the mountain, and we all sprang into action, fighting them off us, kicking them and getting back to our feet so we weren’t as overpowered as we were before the werewolf howled our attention to it. Their moment of weakness was our turn to gain the upperhand, and from my periphery I saw that the wolf was climbing down the

[Alexander]I followed Valerie as if it was the most natural thing to do. I knew who she truly was, and as her raven hair dazzled under the moonlight, I knew that the witch leader hadn’t lied to me.I wondered if Valerie herself knew what she was. It was as if leadership came to her so naturally, it didn’t strike her as odd. Perhaps she didn’t have much time to think it over, when she was busy saving my life and worrying about the pack I was ready to forsake.I cast the pain in my neck aside, praying I wouldn’t bleed out before we could eliminate our enemies. I took a deep breath to steady the throbbing pain and push its effect on me aside just long enough to see this through.“You will pay for this!” Elena spat venomously. Her weakness as a human witch was almost amusing, as she clutched her chest from where Valerie bit a chunk of her flesh. I was sure she fancied herself stronger than us, but with the scalp of our ancestor’s powers drained from her, she was as pathetic as her basele