HELIOS’ POV“Helios..let me stay with you. I don't care if our mates appear, please. Just let me stay by your side.”Laurel’s words burn me to the core. I knew the day would come, I knew she would crave something more than just a physical relationship but I did not expect that day to come so soon.My heart sinks and I pull back from the embrace to take a good look at her. She puts on her patient face, which at the moment is a mask of poorly concealed exasperation.She is lost, afraid and achingly lonely. and to deny her what she is asking for would be akin to killing her with a poisoned sword.But she simply does not understand the power of the mate bond. I do. I’ve been there. I’ve seen with my very own eyes the devastation that follows when a mate bond is severed. It is a living nightmare.I let go of her and turn my gaze towards the window where the moon is hidden by t
LAUREL’s POVI wake up to the first few minutes of sunrise and realise that Helios is long gone. A touch on the cool silken sheets next to me tells me so. I get up from his bed and in the privacy of Helios’ chamber, my eyes trail to the wooden trinket on his dark mahogany desk.The early morning light bathes the box in a faint half glow and even though no one is here, I make my way to the box cautiously. Unbeknownst to Helios, I had awoken from my slumber last night to catch a glimpse of him brooding over something he had taken out of the box, something that seemed to glow red in the dark.Reaching his desk, I take another quick glance at the chamber door. It remains closed.But as my hand touches the cool surface of the beautifully carved box, I stop and shake my head. This is wrong. I shouldn’t pry into Helios’ possession. The fact that he had inspected the inside of the box so discreetly last night tells me that he does not want me to know anything about it. And that is why I preten
LAUREL’s POVSomething flies towards me at lightning speed. It is a broken piece of ceramic plate with a jagged end and I catch it in between my fingers, inches from my eyes.“What is the meaning of this?” I flick the broken plate away and it lands next to my feet, on a pile of other broken plates.“Beta Laurel!” A gasp comes from the very end of the living room and I see the twins jump to their feet. They tremble at my sight and both quickly turn their heads away, but their eyes cannot escape mine.Slowly, I cross the once beautifully decorated room and one of the twins, Cici backs farther away. Lala’s lower lips trembles. They are afraid of me.Good."Please…don’t tell Alpha Helios about this!” Lala drops to her knees, rubbing her palms in a form of prayer. She crawls to me on her knees towards me and starts to cry.Cici joins her twin in the chorus of tears.“If you knew this day would come then why did you mistreat the servants and destroy everything in the house?” I ask, exaspera
LAUREL’s POVTime waits for no man and in a blink of an eye, another day has come and gone. I sit by a small campfire next to my house and wait for my chicken wing to roast on a makeshift skewer stand. As the wing cooks, I pull up my hair into a tight no-nonsense ponytail.I had spent the night back in the comforts of my own home, marinating chicken wings and baking a cake instead of staying in Helios’ chamber. And for the first time in many days, Helios did not call for me either. I try not to think about him or what the future may bring and instead, just focus on my meal. The chicken wing is cooking just nicely, I can smell the charred smell of the marinade and my stomach starts to growl. Gingerly, I pick up the skewer and blow at my breakfast. The steam swirls in the air before it evaporates into the early morning sky. Hmm…this is going to taste so good. I close my eyes and open my mouth, ready to -“BETA LAUREL!”My skewer drops to the ground. Damn. What now?Rhode suddenly comes
LAUREL’s POVOver the years, I have gotten used to Helios’ silent steps. The man always moves as if he is walking on clouds so it comes as no surprise that no one realized his arrival until he stepped through the swing door.“Why would anyone take their own mate’s lives? Why would anyone break the sacred bond?” Helios asks once more. His eyes are especially hard on goatee guy who trembles visibly.“Tell me,” his gravelly voice echoes in the silence of the café. Helios may be one of the youngest Alphas around, but something in his voice; the coolness of his expression and the echo of endless experience make people think that he is much older.And so, for the longest time, no one answers. The whole place becomes so quiet one can even hear a mosquito buzzing by. Then suddenly, a young boy, no more than fifteen steps up and answers, “Sir..it’s because Ariel–“But no sooner does he begin to speak than a group of older men quickly wrap their hands around the boy’s mouth and body, preventing
LAUREL’s POV I walk through the woods, holding onto my injured arm. It hurts more than I would like to admit. I really need to be more careful from now on. But as I walk along the narrow path that will take me back to my home, my mind keeps going back to Ariel. That smile of hers was so chilling, and her eyes so dark and cold, as if she was a murd – Damnit Laurel, I scold myself. I must no speculate. I can’t simply suspect the redhead of murdering her mate just because she has a weird smile. I shake my head and walk around a huge rock that lays in the middle of the path. I don’t trust my instincts, especially not without my wolf, Daphne. I’m not thinking staright, hunger does that to me. Maybe I should eat something first bite first. Perhaps I’ll be able to think better when I have something in my stomach. And speaking of which, my tummy starts to growl and I realize that I haven’t yet take a bite since this morning. Boy, am I hungry. I lick my lips, remembering the cake I had ba
LAUREL’s POVStanding outside Helios’ chamber, I am suddenly filled with doubt. My hands go to my hair and I wonder if I should just tie it back up in a ponytail like I usually do. With my hair down, I don’t feel like myself. I feel out of a place, as if I am a different person…I feel vulnerable.One of the guards guarding the chamber door gives me a sideglance and I just about melt into a puddle. Geez…why is he looking at me so strangely? Why did I even agree to wear a dress?I flash him a brief smile but this smile comes with a slight feeling of uneasiness. Suddenly, I am like a young girl again with butterflies in my stomach.Except I am no longer a child and there are no butterflies floating around. I close my eyes briefly and take a deep breath to get ahold of myself. I am here to discuss with Helios about Ares and Ariel’s case, not gush over Helios’ abs.The door to the chamber opens and I step in before they swiftly close again.Except for the faint glow of the crescent moon,
LAUREL’s POVThe land of the Stormbreaker pack is not exactly what one would call a fruitful one. It sits right at the borders of a desert with only the Holy River as its source of water.The river, burning with the reflected rays of the evening sun greets us with silence. There is no welcoming committee to receive us, as is customary whenever an Alpha of another pack visits. Only their Gamma and a dozen or so warriors stand at the entrance of their land.“Alpha Helios,” the Gamma bows his head. “This way.”His face is grim and as we enter the gates to Stormbreaker, we are met with faces of their pack members. A throng of them; young and old, weak and strong, big and small, watch us from the sidelines of the rocky path with wary eyes. Then, from the crowd, a little girl steps out of the sidelines and holds out a tiny flower for me.She is a sweet child and she musters a smile. I smile back but before I can even stretch out my hand to take the flower from her, an older woman pulls her b