Aidan had resented that lycan ever since he had first set foot in the temple following Rhiannon. He had hated his scent from the very moment he had smelled it, and he had envied his stupidity, or his determination, to let his wolf walk beside Raksha in front of everyone. But what triggered every last one of her nerve endings was seeing him achieve a partial transformation in a second, as if propelled by a small explosion.His hair turned from gold to gray, extending almost to his waist; his body seemed to give off a shockwave full of power as his eyes took on a deep black color, and his claws emerged with a jolt.With one of them he grasped the wrist Rhiannon was offering him, brought it to his nose gingerly, sniffing it for a brief second, and then, before Aidan could make a single move to avoid it, he closed four sharp fangs on the snowy, delicate flesh of her forearm.Rhiannon did not utter a single sound of protest, but the muffled growl that escaped the Alpha’s throat made all ey
“This is going to turn into a massacre very soon,” Raksha muttered, directing her communication solely towards Akela as she watched him shake and slowly get up after being torn from Aidan’s body.“You think?” the wolf replied sarcastically. “What on earth are we going to do?”“We?” Raksha snapped angrily. “Well, the only thing to do here is for your lycan to put his head down and beg for his life.”“Raksha, we always knew this was going to happen when Rhiannon found out about the truth! We said we’d handle it together!” Akela retorted. “It’s one thing to handle the matter of his identity and quite another that he had the nerve of trying to take the throne! I never imagined he would dare!”“He was really doing it to protect her... I wasn’t on board with it, either, but you can’t doubt his heart!" Akela claimed, and Raksha growled angrily at him in front of everyone.“I don’t care about his heart or his intentions. He had us locked up! He knew who Rhiannon was and still he dared to ac
Dozens and dozens of lycans joined Rhiannon and left the temple with her. One would have thought that perhaps, only the older ones who have knowledge of the history, or the lower classes who didn’t exactly enjoy the favor of Casthiel’s lineage would join her, but the truth was that even two of the main Alphas of the packs went with her.“We will make a three-hundred-kilometer run north to the nearest safe place where we can regroup,” General Gallagher said a few minutes later, but not before turning to Rhiannon with a questioning look in his eyes, waiting for her approval.“No one must be left behind,” was the girl’s reply. “It hasn’t even been a quarter of an hour and I can guarantee that all of your heads have a price on them already. The squads loyal to the king will start hunting us soon, so no one can stay behind,” she said, looking at the nearly two hundred lycans who had followed her. “Do you all have open communication with your wolves?Many shook their heads; they were young
“Akela, get inside me. Now!” Aidan called his wolf back and Akela didn’t resist because he knew it wasn’t an unfounded command. As things stood, Aidan’s safety... or at least his life, could be guaranteed, but the only way he would be protected was inside his lycan. After all, he was living proof of Aidan’s disobedience to the laws his own parents had enforced on the lycans for centuries.“What did you do, Aidan?!” the king shouted, turning to his son just as the guards finished clearing the temple of the Goddess.Confusion reigned and rumors of what had happened that night would spread like fire on dry powder. In the center of the orchestra only the king and queen, Aidan, Myra, and General Nader, who did not dare leave his daughter alone in front of the wrath of Caerbhall Casthiel, remained.“What did I do? I won my wolf! And I’m not ashamed to admit it,” Aidan answered with determination. “The only thing I regret is that I spent six centuries torturing him instead of making him a pa
Rhiannon came out of the bathroom with her long hair dripping water and tried to dry it with several towels after getting dressed. At least, they had had the common sense of leaving clothes fit for fighting and not a princess dress. She sat down on the floor, by the window of her room, and hugged her legs, looking outside.She was tired, her soul ached, and yet she knew she could not sleep. Perhaps that was the weight that betrayals left behind, always looking over your shoulder, always having one eye open, and always distrusting everyone, even those closest to you.Her father had been betrayed by his generals, it was hard, but everything was hard in a rebellion and in a war. However, with her it had been different, she had been betrayed by her mate, there was not a single being on earth closest to a lycan than their destined mate, and if she had been betrayed by Aidan, it meant she could be betrayed by anyone.“Are you going to run away?” she heard Maddox’s voice and turned to find h
No one knew exactly how the fire that engulfed half the royal house had started, but the following day the New York Times carried the news on the front page that the residence of one of the oldest and most respected families in the city had burned to the ground.The truth was that it was not a big deal, but it certainly meant that Rhiannon of Isrion’s words had struck a chord in the minds of many lycans, or else no one would have dared to start a fire since no one was buying that it was an accident.“I hold you responsible for all this!” the king shouted to Erea as the losses and defectors were listed, especially those who had openly rebelled against them and left with Rhiannon.“You can also hold me responsible for the crown on your head,” the queen replied, “that you are so reluctant to pass on to our son.”The king answered with a grunt, but if in times of peace quarrels were not a problem for them, this had just turned into a war, and everyone was pretty sure it would be an import
“Nut bread? Are you serious?” Brennan asked exiting the plane, after hearing absolutely everything Aidan had told him.“Well, Lidora Nader probably has a lot of answers, but she’s still the Crazy Wolf of Astan, and from what I saw, she doesn’t talk unless there’s a loaf of nut bread on her lap,” the Alpha replied with a frown.“You’re worried about her, aren’t you?” his Beta murmured, and Aidan just nodded.“I don’t know how to feel about all this. I know my parents are lying to me... and these feelings of Rhiannon’s... I know there’s no way she can fake them, there’s so much hate in her that I feel as though she’s just breathing so she can get revenge.”Brennan nodded, he had sensed that too, but right at that moment he was more concerned about how Aidan felt than how Rhainnon did.“But I still can’t follow her with blindly and forget the blood that runs through my veins. I know it may seem selfish, but I can’t trade six and a half centuries of my family for someone I met two months
Rhiannon could understand perfectly why that lycan did not want to accept the Keqzhara. It was difficult for someone used to being free to suddenly find himself bound to a destiny he had not foreseen, and something must be said: the Keqzhara spears were a destiny in themselves, they were the constant path of the protection of the lineage of Isrion, and it was a path that did not admit detours once it was the spear that chose you.Unfortunately, the strongest of the Keqzhara had chosen, and she had chosen him, only the Goddess knew why. In the end, it became impossible for him to bear it any longer, and he had to reach out to touch it... but no one, in years, had seen a partial transformation like that.Milo emerged on Maddox’s skin and his spirit remained there, restless and ready, darkening as he joined the Keqzhara in a strange way. Rhiannon recoiled, for that kind of power, or rather, that potential for power she had only seen in one other wolf since she had left the Watchtower...