LAUREL’s POV
The Sorceress stands and stares at me. Her eyes are so dark. As dark as the –
“Black mist?” the Sorceress answers for me and I go completely numb. Seeing my reaction, the Sorceress throws her head back and laughs. “Do you know where this power of yours comes from?”
I think back to the frayed papyrus that lies within the underground archive of Morningstar and I remember the story. It was exactly the same as my recurring dream. Only, the written words on the papyrus went on to further describe the catalystic events that soon followed...
‘The day came when the Alpha King could finally no longer live with the insanity.
“Oh Great Moon Goddess, please forgive me for my sins. Please stop this madness from spreading,” he begged.
And the Moon Goddess came, she stood in front of the Alpha King, radiant like the full moon.
LAUREL’s POV My wrist snaps and a cry of excruciating pain escapes my lips. And as if the Sorceress is an advocate for tortures, she twists my arm to an almost breaking point and forces me to my knees. The Sorceress towers over me, still holding onto my arm but surprisingly, her has changed into one of gentleness. “Does it hurt?” she asks. I grimace. “Yes.” She smiles and breaks my arms as well. All at once, a tsunami of pain shoots up my body and I let out a scream. She releases me the next instant and I fall to the ground, cradling my broken arm and wrist. But it does not take long before I begin to heal. The presence of the black mist within me no doubt speeds up the process. But there is a pain beyond the physical one. A pain that has pierced my heart and soul as I look up into the eyes of the Sorceress. The eyes of the woman who calls me her child. “Do you still not know who I am?” she asks once more. She reaches out to stroke my head. “You look so much like your father, Lau
HELIOS’ POVI should be fading into nothingness, I should be dying. But somehow I am not.Pain, red searing pain and a darkened cloud of confusion swim around me, but through all this, I feel the touch of an angel. I feel something warm and moist touch my lips.It tastes like blood; extremely sweet blood. So sweet that my lips begin to suck feverishly on it. I have tasted this blood before, many moons ago in my chamber but for some reason, I cannot remember how I tasted it before. Was it when I was in my beastial form?The flow of blood that has been steadily dripping from my throat finally begins to slow. At first, I think it is because my body is running out of blood, but then I realize I am healing, which should be impossible with a gaping hole in my chest. Yet, after a few moments, my vision clears and my heartbeat begins to grow stronger.I open my eyes.Laurel lies beside me. And she is feeding me her own blood through her wrist.A smile touches my lips and for a moment, I think
LAUREL’s POV As a child, most of the girls in my pack loved to play dress-ups and Lunas. But I did not. While my friends busied themselves with lipsticks and eyeshadows, I was busy decorating my face with war paints and playing witches and wolves instead. I wanted to be a warrior, I wanted to be a heroine, I wanted to be acknowledged. But most of all, I wanted to be loved. You see, my parents had always loved my sister more than me. It did not matter how hard I tried or how much I achieved; I was always my family’s second choice. But all this might just change today. Today, after years of fighting for my dream, I will officially become the Beta of Morningstar Pack. “Laurel Moon, come forward and pledge your allegiance to your Alpha,” the master of ceremony calls out from the grandstand and all eyes fall on me. The sun sinks beneath the horizon and the late evening breeze blows across Morningstar Square as I stand among the best warriors of the pack under the open sky. I inhale
LAUREL’s POV Helios, in his sleep, is sprawled on the bed, and on his lap is Jamie. She is naked and straddled on his thighs, sensually stroking his chest. And there are bruise marks all over her body. I quickly cover my mouth to stifle a gasp and watch in horror as my world comes crashing down with cruelty I had never known before. My heart shatters into a million pieces like glass thrown against the wall. But worst of all, I feel the sting of humiliation as I watch the only man I have ever loved in the arms of my sister. It is no secret that Helios has always been a womanizer, but among all the women that he has bedded, this is the final blow. Why does it have to be her? Why does she have to do this on the most important day of my life? And why does it have to be him? Did he call for me to come simply for me to see this? Does he not know how I feel or does he simply not care? Then, as if sensing my presence, Jamie turns her head towards me. Both our ocean-blue eyes meet and her
LAUREL’s POV “Yes, Alpha.” I head over to the next room and stand like a soldier at ease next to a massive throne of gold. Moments later, a fully clothes Helios walks in and takes his place on the throne. He throws me a knowing glance and nods his head slightly. Taking his cue, I call out to the guards, “Send Nox in!” Helios’ jaws clench when the doors open. He does not like his uncle, not one bit. The man may be of the same bloodline as Helios but he is a double-headed snake and a poisonous one at that. “Ahhh….my dear nephew!” Nox walks in flamboyantly with outstretched arms. The lights from the corridor momentarily shine on his clean-shaven bald head before the doors close. But Nox is not alone, for on both his sides are two gorgeous platinum blondes with violet eyes; twins, both in identical scantily clad dresses that do nothing to hide the shape of their breasts and silky-smooth legs that seem to go on forever. “Look at what I brought for you, Helios!” Nox says, stopping rig
LAUREL’s POV It's a lie. It's a freaking lie. But I refuse to answer them, I swallow the lump in my throat and forge on. “You seduced him to get this position, didn't you? Why would Alpha Helios appoint a woman as Beta? This is unheard of,” Lala taunts me. My fingers ball into a fist. That's it. They've crossed the line. “Oh puh-lease…she? Seduce Helios? Look at her face! Helios wouldn't be attracted to someone like her! A woman should know how to satisfy her man, instead of hoarding a man’s job. Beta, hah!” Cici exclaims, her voice rising loud enough for everyone around us to hear now. I take my whip out, crack it in the air and cry out, “ENOUGH!” The whip slices through the cold night air with a thunderous roar and the twins gasp in both shock and surprise. It never fails as a warning shot. I won’t hurt them but they have to know their boundaries. One of them, Lala, stares at me with eyes larger than the moon and begins to whimper but her sister, Cici is not backing down. She
LAUREL’s POV Tears stream down my face as I run through the woods, ignoring the dry branches and twigs that scrape my feet. In my haste to leave the house earlier on, I had forgotten to put on my shoes. But it doesn’t matter. The pain from the scrapes is nothing compared to the agony my heart feels inside. Growing up, I kept telling myself that my parents loved me, that they were just stricter with me because I am the oldest, and that they wanted only the best for me. But who am I kidding? No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, it was never enough. Never. So, I studied harder, trained harder, and worked harder than everyone else, hoping that one day, my parents smile at me and say, “We’re proud of you, Laurel.” And when today finally came, I thought that I would gain their favour, that they would finally acknowledge their daughter. But they never did. Even the blind can see that they do not love me. Soon I reach the lakeside, deep in the woods and fall to my knees. T
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 s