HELIOS’ POV
I stand by the lakeside and watch as Laurel’s figure disappears under the canopy of trees. She is going home. I should too, but for some reason, my feet are rooted to the ground and I cannot tear my eyes away from her.
For some reason, my heart goes out to her.
It is only after she is long gone that I finally start to move. This is the first time I have seen Laurel cry.
“You made her cry,” Apollo, my wolf chides, stating the obvious.
I roll my eyes at his remark and continue my stride toward my residence. Maybe I should have gotten Laurel to stay at the packhouse instead of with her parents. At least I would be able to keep an eye on her.
“Oh, what a wonderful idea! All the better for her to hear you hump her sister!” Apollo is very sarcastic tonight.
“Shut up.”
“You shut up. You’re the reason she’s in this miserable state.”
I shake my head and smash a fist against a pine tree, scaring a few owls and they quickly hoot and fly away.
In a sense, Apollo is right. I shouldn’t have slept with her sister…Janie? Jasie? What was her name again? I sigh. I can’t even remember her name, let alone how she snuck into my chamber.
In my defence, my mind was not sound back then and I blame it on the full moon. I was delusional and could not control my primal thirst; the desire to fuck any hot-blooded female that came my way and to suck their blood dry.
“You should go after Laurel and apologize,” Apollo suggests. And when I do not answer, he asks, “You like her don’t you?”
A shadow falls over my heart. I do, I do like her. I may even love her.
I can still remember vividly the first time I laid my eyes on her. She was only sixteen then and it was her first day at the pack warrior training. She had long wavy hair, the colour of chestnut and it was tied back in a ponytail. And her eyes were the colour of the ocean, blue and clear like a beautiful summer’s day. She was petite compared to the other trainees, but there was a glint of fire in her eyes, a determination I had never seen before in any of the warriors.
The first few months of training were the toughest for her. She failed at almost every challenge but she did not give up, not even when countless voluntarily walked away from the training, citing it to be too tough for them. Never once did I hear her complain.
And finally, when the day of the trial came, she beat every other contestant on the field and I knew without a doubt that she was the only one worthy of becoming Beta.
Laurel Moon, she is a breath of fresh air in my life. She is the reason I wake up with a smile in the mornings, the reason I forge on when all hope seems lost. Somehow, this girl has the power to make me breathless, whether she knows it or not.
But she is not the one meant for me. She is not my mate. Somewhere out there, she has a mate waiting for her. One who is truly deserving of her love.
“She’s not my mate,” I echo out loud and nod to myself. Jamming my hands in my pocket, I continue my walk back home, stepping over fallen logs and brushing away twigs and branches that stand in the way.
“It’s a good thing too. The Moon Goddess made the right choice. She deserves someone better, someone healthier. Not a freak like me. I will only bring her pain.”
I think of my illness and how it has plagued me since that fateful night many moons ago. Growing up, I would often ask why I had to carry this curse, why I had to suffer like this every full moon. But I do not ask these questions anymore. I just have to suck it up and live with it.
“But she likes you.”
Apollo’s words stop me in my tracks and I hesitate before answering, “Girls are attracted to bad guys, but they don’t take them home. They marry the good guys…Maybe she’s got Stockholm syndrome.”
It’s a horrible joke. None of us laughs.
I walk some more, all the while listening to Apollo continue on with his incessant nagging. He sounds more like my mother than my wolf.
“You cannot deny that she has feelings for you. And the fact that you asked her to settle down the twins? That was just cruel,” Apollo continues, rubbing salt into my wound.
I growl. “What would you have me do? Leave one of them behind in the hands of the madman? You know how crazy Nox is. They wouldn’t last a week with him. They’d die before he has his fill with them.”
And that is the truth. My uncle is a psycho. He tortures his slaves just for the sake of it and if I hadn’t openly abolished the sex slave policy when I ascended the throne, Nox would have tortured countless more to death in his home. Only the Moon Goddess knows how many secret slaves he has hidden in his basement right now. If he weren’t father’s younger brother, I would have cast him out of the pack a long time ago.
But blood runs deeper than water and father had made me promise with his dying breath that I would shelter Nox for the rest of his days.
I can only hope that Laurel could see things from my point of view when I told her to settle the twins at the villa. It was the right thing to do. I have no intention of bedding them, beautiful as they are. I just don’t want there to be another bloodshed in Nox’s name.
A few hundred steps later find me back at my residence. The guards see me, stand erect and salute me. I give them a brief nod and retire into my chamber. I am exhausted, as I always am when there is a full moon. Today has been a great stain and I hope to be able to sleep well tonight.
But the sight of a dried bloodstain on the wooden flooring catches my eye. I go down on one knee, run a finger through the dried blood and close my eyes.
Laurel’s blood.
How is it that her blood can subdue the monster within me? I do not understand. But I do know one thing, what I did to her tonight simply cannot be forgiven.
“Arghh!” There is sudden pain in my heart as if a thousand poisoned swords are plunged into me. The poison burns and yet it sends a chill into my heart that not even the Moon Goddess could ever warm.
“What the fuck?” Beads of sweat form on my forehead and I clutch my chest. My heart is pounding like crazy. My brows furrow and my face turn into a scowl. Even Apollo is keeping quiet now.
Something is not right. This hasn’t happened before. Is this another seizure? No…it usually only strikes once on a full moon, never twice. And Laurel’s blood…it should have quenched whatever animalistic rage that I have within me.
I sit on the ground and try to calm myself down. It takes a few moments but the pain does recede even though it never really goes away. This is strange…it’s different from anything I’ve ever felt before, it is as if I’m drowning in someone else’s pain.
Could it be Laurel’s?
I shake my head. I need to find her, I need to know that she is fine.
I open my mouth to summon my guards but stop just before I can utter a word. If everyone knows she comes twice a night, it will only fuel the gossip mill. No, I do not want Laurel to be the talk of the town again.
I will go to her instead, that is the very least I can do for my Beta.
Taking a deep breath, I force myself to my feet. I will go to Laurel myself.
HELIOS’ POV I grab a tiny glass vial and hang it around my neck via a string. It is a special ointment made by our pack doctor used to accelerate the healing of wounds. I could use this as an excuse to see Laurel. Her residence is on the other side of town and it will take at least an hour by foot. So I shift; my bones snap and break as my body starts to change and mend while my muscles tear and reform to my wolf structure. It fucking hurts every time I shift but it has happened so many times that I’ve gotten used to it. My skin burns and stretches to take on my wolf shape before dark black fur finally covers my body. The shift is complete and Apollo is now free. He lets out a howl that echoes into the night and we immediately tear through the woods, running as fast as the wind can carry out feet. My lungs burn and I gasp for air. This is usually never the case. On a normal day, I can run rings around my land without even breaking a sweat. But tonight, as the full moon rides high i
LAUREL’s POVI wake up from a dark dream to hear muffled sounds coming from far away. Someone is upstairs talking to mother and father. And the voice sounds hauntingly familiar…Helios?My head feels like it’s about to split open but I force my eyes open anyways and wince at the bright light from the lone light bulb that swings above me. The brightness stings my eyes but it doesn’t matter.Helios is here! A tiny flicker of hope starts to grow within me. Help…I need help. Helios, help me!I try to call out but I am gagged. I try to stand but both my hands and legs are still bound by the metal chains.Helios I am here. Please…help me!I hear the sound of laughter…Jamie? Somehow, she sounds different. Then the footsteps fade as if they are walking away. Is Helios leaving?No, no, no…. don’t leave. Save me, please. Set me free! Someone…ANYONE!Desperate, I struggle violently only to end up falling forward on the cold hard basement floor and banging my head. I try to summon my wolf, but to
LAUREL’s POV It is the second day of my entrapment. I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell that a new day has begun if it weren’t for the tiny rectangular window that sits at the top of the wall. Father had barred it with wooden planks painted in neon pink years ago to stop the rodents from scurrying in and out but years of neglect have left the planks rotting with no replacement in sight. Streams of warm morning sunlight shine through the dilapidated window and specs of dust dance in the light, swaying ever so gently without so much as a care for this world. And as the dust dance in the air, I lay on the cold damp floor, still chained to the chair. I inhale deeply. if only life was that simple and carefree. My head is throbbing, my arms are burning and my back is cramping. But I continue doing what I have been doing all night long. I continue to rub the chains that bind me against the chair, hoping against all odds to break free. I try not to think about why all this happened
HELIOS’ POV SLAM! My fists connect with the mahogany desk and Rhode, my administrator from the pack council jumps in fright. “What did you say?” I growl as I lean over the table and stare into Rhode’s face. Rhode blinks rapidly, pushes up his glasses and opens his mouth to speak. But when his eyes fall on the dent I made on the desk, his words come out more as a squeak. “Um…Beta Laurel Moon applied for a few days’ leave.” I frown. This has never happened before. Laurel has never taken leave from work in all her years as a Beta. Is she still upset with me? Is it because I slept with her sister? ‘Of course, it is you dickhead,’ Apollo chides at me. ‘You bedded her sister…of all women.’ I sigh and wave Rhode off. He immediately scampers out of my chamber, almost bumping into the wall on the way. This guy is the only omega in my pack who wears glasses and still walks into walls. Apollo continues, ‘She didn’t even want to apply for her leave directly from you. I’m telling you Heli
LAUREL’s POV ONE HOUR BEFORE HELIOS ENTERS THE DARK FOREST I haul myself up over mother’s old furniture, chairs, and cupboards to climb to the top of the stack where the window lies. And with trembling hands, I yank the planks off. The rusty nails give way, the wood crumbles and the dilapidated planks disintegrate into a flurry of dust. Then, balling my fingers into a fist, I smash the window. CRASH! The glass shatters into tiny pieces and shards of glass cut my skin but I do not care. I've already lost so much blood, what is a little bit more if it can buy my freedom? Then, a moan comes from the basement floor. It is Jamie and I know she will wake up soon. There is no time to lose. Quickly, I tear off the emerald curtain that frames the broken window and wrap it like a shawl around my head. I know I need to get to safety, but I doubt if anyone will come running my way to help if they see a green-colored walking corpse. A wave of dizziness hits me as I try to squeeze my way out
LAUREL’s POV It’s very quiet here in the Forbidden Forest. The air is cold but I keep warm under a blanket of twigs and dry leaves as I lie near the entrance of a cave that I stumbled upon after what felt like an eternity of running away from Helios. Pinpricks of stars dull the lightening sky, signalling the dawn of yet another day. Carefully, I brush away the leaves and check on the wounds on my hands, thigh and face. They are not healing as fast as they should but at least I am not losing any more blood. Jamie won’t be getting her energy drink from me today. I try calling Daphne again as I did many times the night before but no surprise there, she does not answer. I don’t think I have ever felt so alone in my life. A sudden growl from my stomach reminds me that I haven’t had anything to eat in three days. I am hungry, very much so. But there isn’t a single animal here in the forest for me to catch, and neither are there any mushrooms or fruits that I can pick. I let out a pent-
LAUREL’s POVThey say that you can feel it when your mate appears. First, your gazes meet and then, an invisible bond, stronger than life itself forms between you two; a bond so irrevocable that the life you once lived before will never be the same again.Someone once said that the feeling will hit you like an unstoppable juggernaut, crashing into your very soul before igniting a flame of desire and possession that will burn within you for all of eternity, going strong even after you enter the gates of the afterlife. I have never met my mate before, nor have I ever felt the imprint of one but I have heard enough to know when a person meets his or her mate.And Jamie has met hers.“Mate,” she whispers, her voice, or rather, mine echoes through the now eerily quiet square. Marty stares at her unblinking as he too, mouths the same before a peal of laughter erupts from Nox.“Goddess! You two are mates!” he roars, palming his stomach and throwing his head back to laugh some more.Helios c
LAUREL’s POV The hand tightens around mine and lifts me off the ground, dragging me out of the hut. I stumble and fall, all the while gasping and wheezing for air that eludes my lungs but I am given no respite for the hand that drags me yanks me along brutally as if I am a criminal; a prisoner of war. The fabric that wraps around my face loosens and though I desperately want to cover up my face, I am unable to do so. Poisoned fumes fill my every being, my eyes moisten as tears spring out and I almost black out. It is the intense danger and the impending doom of death that keeps me conscious. The owner of the hand lets out a strangled hiss and curses. His breathing is heavy and laboured but he does not let go of me. Then his body spasms as he hauls me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and with the fog confusing everything, I cannot tell who it is. But I do know one thing, he is bringing us to safety. He morphs into his wolf form and thick fur takes over his human skin. On