LYRA"It's not what it looks like, you were hurt and I…" My mind was spinning nonstop, I couldn’t even believe the amount of nonsense I was saying.He just kept looking at me, his frown growing deeper and deeper."What did you see?" His harsh and cold voice suddenly cut through the air."Can you understand what I’m saying?" I replied excitedly, worried he wouldn’t understand me since he hadn’t spoken at all.I tried to get up, to escape from this embarrassing situation, but his calloused hand grabbed my arm tightly."What did you see?" He asked again, his tone sharper and more dangerous this time."Just that you fought that animal and defeated it," I answered, pulling at my arm, though he was my mate, I didn’t like his threatening aura.I didn’t dare confess what I had discovered in his wolf."Can you smell me? You and I…""Shut up," he interrupted suddenly. I had forgotten how rude he could be, but his eyes quickly shifted to a direction, and my instincts also kicked in."Some peop
LYRA"We have to stop this!""Don't shout," he replied through clenched teeth, his dark eyes scanning the surroundings cautiously. "I don’t know who you are, but if you want to survive, follow the pack’s laws… or the next one on that pyre could be you."His words were so cold they cut through me like ice, his gaze piercing, full of storms.My chest tightened, I wanted to scream at him to stop being so indifferent, we were fated!But he simply turned his back and walked away through the huts.The agonized roar behind me sent a chill down my spine, and the smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils.I hesitated to turn around, knowing the barbarity I would witness."Don’t do it, Lyra. It’s horrible… don’t look," my wolf warned."I have to, Aztoria," I told her as I slowly turned. "I need to accept where we’ve ended up and what we’re up against."My silver eyes reflected the flames and the pain-twisted expression of that woman: an image that would never leave my memory.This continent wa
LYRA"Did the relapse happen in front of that woman? What do you know about her?" My heart started pounding when I heard her mention me.Through the narrow gaps, my eyes watched Drakkar, waiting for his response."No," he said firmly. "She knows nothing. I just found her in the middle of the jungle.""Is that so?" The healer eyed him for a few seconds, distrustful. "It’s fine if she didn’t notice your peculiarity. If she had, it would be a problem, and you’d have to eliminate her.""Miserable old hag. He’s not going to betray us." Aztoria was way too confident in him. Me? Not so much.We were complete strangers to Drakkar. He couldn’t even feel the bond. We had to get close to him, earn his trust."Here’s the medicine." She crushed some leaves in a stone mortar, and I kept my eyes on her, memorizing them.I was grateful for the strong scent of the herbs. It helped my power conceal me."Let it sit and chew it later." She wrapped the paste in a leaf."I don’t have to be an Alpha to know
VALERIA"Are... are you sure, Esther?" I ask with a broken voice.My heart races, filled with happiness."Very sure, Luna. You're pregnant.""Why haven't I been able to smell it, or his father?" I ask, worried."It's very recent, perhaps that's why. Give it a few more days and you should be able to sense the pheromones."She replies, and I nod, my eyes blurred with tears.I am the Luna of the "Autumn Forest" pack.Three years ago, I married the man I love madly, despite not being destined mates, my Alpha Dorian.I've given everything to be the perfect Luna, the pillar he can lean on. However, a shadow looms over my marriage—the topic of an heir.I've never been able to get pregnant, and I admit I don't share the bed with Dorian as often. But I know his duties as Alpha keep him extremely busy and stressed."Please, don't tell anyone in the pack. I want to surprise my husband.""Don't worry, Luna, I won't say anything. Congratulations!" She smiles at me, and I return the smile, overflow
VALERIAHe bites my thigh viciously and drags me beneath his body, controlling me mercilessly.I try to resist, to call for help, my hands clutching my stomach, trying to protect my pup, but his claws, like deadly weapons, pierce my skin, tearing apart my small, vulnerable body.I have to raise my arms instinctively when his sharp claws aim for my face, and I scream in agony as a deep wound slices across my cheek from my forehead.Leaving my belly exposed, he struck our child."Nooo, not the pup, please, Dorian, not my son!"Tears poured endlessly from my eyes as I begged him, but his canines tore through my flesh, and his claws dug into the depths of my insides with chilling cruelty, seeking to rip out the life growing inside me.I don’t know how long this agony lasted—I sobbed, pleading as long as I could speak.The pain in my entire body was unbearable, but worse was the pain in my soul, bleeding and shattered.I was discarded on the ground like trash, on the edge of a precipice, m
VALERIAI hear piercing screams, the sound of shattering glass, a savage roar, an Alpha's growls, struggling, and fighting.Something hot splashes against my face and arms.My claws shred, and my canines tear.I can't stop. I can't. Rage consumes me from the inside, demanding release.I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not conscious of myself.All I know is that when I regain control of my body, the first thing I see is my blood-soaked hands.I'm kneeling on the floor, everything around me drenched in red, wreckage, and pieces of what once was a powerful Alpha—Dorian.What have I done? What in the name of the Goddess have I done?!I stare at his severed head, lying just a meter away from me.Those honey-colored eyes still stare back at me in frozen terror, and I feel bile rising in my throat.I vomit to the side, unable to hold it back, disgusted by this scene of death and violence.Did I do all this? There's no one else here.I scan the area, not knowing where Sophia went. The only th
VALERIA His entire demeanor screamed, I'm the damn master of everything here, the absolute ruler.I immediately lowered my head, trembling.It didn’t matter that I lacked an inner she-wolf— the power radiating from that man felt like it could suffocate you, crush your soul, and he wasn't even standing that close to me.He was a Lycan, the superior species of werewolves, the ultimate evolution, and I was almost certain this was the most powerful of them all—Aldric Thorne, the Lycan King."Sasha, take out the trash and make sure my next personal maid isn’t a scheming whore, or she'll lose more than her head," his deep, cold, and intimidating voice echoed, followed by the sound of footsteps retreating."This is a disaster. That's the fifth one in two months. I don’t know what goes through these girls' heads. I warned them," the housekeeper muttered as she approached, pulling a small vial from the dead woman’s hand."Another one who tried to drug the King with an aphrodisiac. Idiot. I'll
VALERIA"Aahh, it’s horrible, she’s deformed!""You’re just jealous, that’s why you want to keep us away from the King!""The Lord has said you must leave now," I repeated impassively, standing at the foot of the bed while they hurled insults at me.But I felt nothing—not cold, not heat.I thought about how to get them out since, weakened or not, there were three of them and only one of me.Just then, loud knocks echoed from the side door leading to the hallway, a door I hadn’t even noticed before. It had to be the person sent to remove them from the castle.I walked over and opened it, revealing two sturdy servants who entered without a word.The women began to resist, covering their nakedness, screaming that their bodies were only for the King, threatening that our heads would roll.I didn’t need to be here long to see through their lies.That man had used them like disposable objects and was now discarding them like trash.The blonde rushed toward the door leading to the dining hal