Loyalty Pawn #2 Novels & Stories

"Also expensive." "Loyalty is never expensive compared to its absence. These people built NovaTech. They deserve to share in its success." The decision cost her several million in dilution but bought something more valuable…devotion. When competitors tried poaching her engineers with doubled salaries, they stayed. When crisis hit, they worked around the clock without complaint. She'd learned from Silvermoon that pack loyalty required more than Alpha commands. Her phone buzzed with another message from Thomas. This time, photographs. The Silvermoon compound looking shabby, maintenance deferred to preserve cash. The training grounds where she'd been humiliated, now cracking from neglect. The p

Outside, Thomas was leaning against the wall, watching a couple of kids race their bikes down the street. I tossed him the roll of cash. “All yours.” He eyed me, then smirked. “You look like hell. That guy almost whipped your ass in there.” “Almost doesn’t count,” I shot back. “Next one’s yours. Let’s see if you can keep your teeth.” That wiped the grin off his face. “Yeah… maybe we’ll stick to you for now.” “Thought so.” We headed straight back to Vega’s pawn shop. The man in the leather jacket was behind the counter this time.

The next morning, I dress in silence. Black jeans, plain sweater, no makeup. I tie my hair in a knot. I slip the only valuable things I still own into a little pouch like my mother’s earrings, the thin chain my father gave me when I was sixteen, a watch Zane once clasped around my wrist on my birthday. All of it, heavy in my hand, like pieces of the life I can’t go back to. The pawnshop is in the backstreets, hidden under a flickering neon sign. Inside, the air smells of sweat and dust, metal and desperation. The man behind the counter barely looks at me before his eyes drop to the pouch. He spills the jewelry onto the glass with greedy fingers.

Laura immediately corrected. “I mean, the young heir of the Crezford family is a freelance artist. I was told that he’ll be the one to draw your portrait this year. Doesn’t that make this year’s portrait special?” she giggled. “But pardon me, Miss. What do you mean by you’re not engaged at all?” Laura walks towards her dressing table. There, on top of the dresser, another photo of Olivia Reign is in a photo frame. “It’s exactly what it means,” she answers. She cannot get engaged and get married while pretending to be Olivia. That’s messed up.

He pulled up the Points Mall and realized that he still had 900,000 points left. After a quick search, he finally found something. Zombie Loyalty Potion: A potion that can make a zombie one hundred percent loyal to the host. Price: 10,000 points.

I smile as Theon finishes his oath, and the Council's member nods and then turns towards me. "I, Leah Waters, marked mate of Theon Blackwood hereby pledge my loyalty towards Alpha Theon and Black Moon Pack and vow to lead, support, and protect his rule and prosperity of Black Moon Pack as its Luna," I say, feeling the weight of this words, feeling the responsibility it places on my shoulder, feeling the new beginning starting for me. "I, Hank Stone hereby pledge my loyalty towards Alpha Theon, Luna Luna, and Black Moon Pack and vow to lead, support, and protect their rule and prosperity of Black Moon Pack as its Beta," Hank says.

Dark. ​Every face of every man I had hired, every lieutenant I had paid, every guard I had trusted to protect this compound flashed through my head. Lev. Tymoteusz. The outer patrol leads. I had bought their allegiance with pure, unyielding power and bags of cash. But loyalty built on fear and greed was a ghost; the second a bigger shadow stepped into the light, it vanished. ​I had built a fortress out of concrete and steel, thinking the world outside was my only enemy. I had forgotten that concrete only keeps out the cold. It doesn't stop the rot already living in the wood.

"I’ve got this!" I looked at the scratch. It wasn't bleeding red. It was a dull, sickly yellow. And then, I felt a pulse in my chest. The Loyalty Pearl. The small, hard seed the Priest had forced me to swallow when I first arrived. The one meant to ensure my 'devotion' to the North. It was reacting to the poison. It was vibrating. Hot. Thump-thump. It felt like a coal was burning through my lung. "It's over, rat." Lucas stepped forward. He raised the broadsword for the final strike. "The Pearl is the key. The Widow’s Kiss activates the shell. It’s going to expand until your heart bursts."

We’d always done it that way, and always would. He nodded. “Do you know the oath?” “I do, boss.” “Alright then. Karma, sambuca, please. Shotgun, when you’re ready.” She poured three shots, and was ready with a lighter. Good ol’ flaming sambuca. “I, Frank ‘Shotgun’ Yates, stand here today to pledge my loyalty to the Valkyrie, my club, my crew, my family on two wheels. To my fellow Valkyries, I swear to have your back on every road and every ride.

The header read: Feasibility Proposal for Acquiring Select Assets of Lane Corporation. A cold smile curved my lips. This was only the beginning. Outside, the city lights began to glow. Below the tower, a lonely, familiar figure still stood, gazing up at the gleaming skyscraper as if staring at something forever out of reach. Perhaps he would wait forever. But that had nothing to do with me anymore. I lifted the pen and signed my name in one unbroken stroke. —Sophia Lane. (The End)