Right from childhood, Miranda and Walden have chosen each other as mates and were to be married on one of the future cardinal conferences, things went well between the two until the rogue war which disrupted the gatherings, the packs gradually became isolated from each other and Miranda and Walden’s relationship suffered, before he started getting closer to Samara, the daughter to the beta of the night shadow pack.
After the gatherings resumed, Walden was no longer as close to her as before, probably because her pack’s status degraded, it was like he was even ashamed to be seen with her. Whenever they met, it was always Samara this… Samara that, she didn’t need anyone to tell her that Walden didn’t love her anymore, but what could a princess who wanted to save her pack do???
Now that she’s made this decision, she’s going to stick by it till the end, she doesn’t know what the outcome will be, the only thing she is sure to do is what her wolf says, “follow your heart….”
“Ma’am?”
She turned to see the healer, Roku standing in front of her in her father’s room, only the gods know how long he’s been there, calling her.
“S-sorry, I was just distracted,” she apologized.
“I understand the pressures you’re facing dear princess. Its never easy.”
She nudged her chin in the direction of her father, who now lay asleep on his bed, “how is he?”
“Hmmm… I will not lie to you princess, I’ve managed to give him some herbs that will calm his heart down, he’s sleeping soundly and I will keep checking on him at intervals….” The healer showed resistance to continue speaking but Miranda knew there was more, “what is it? Tell me???”
“I do not want you to worry too much by giving all the details, the only thing I CAN say is that if there’s ever a time you need to be the strongest in life, it’s now. The alpha’s time will soon be near, we can do nothing more but wait till the day he draws his last breath.”
Miranda closed her eyes, wishing it would shield away the pains but it didn’t. The thought of losing her only family hurt more than she could ever imagine.
“I’m sorry princess…. I’ve done all I can,” and with that, she heard the sound of the door close. She was now all alone with her sleeping father.
She burst into tears as she rushed to his bedside, crying profusely, taking his hand in hers as she stammered, “t-t-this…. This is all m-my f-f-fault…. I should have…. I should have agreed to the postponement and n-now look… look at you.”
‘Calm your heart dear,’ Lily said then. ‘It’s not your fault.’
Of course, her wolf is right. Her father has been sick from many years ago, losing his mate to the war, his wolf, it damaged him completely, gave him a paralyzing sickness, and through the years, Miranda had always known that day would come; the day the healer just spoke of, the day alpha would draw his last breath, she’d always thought that her heart would be strengthened and she’d be ready for when that day came; but apparently, she was not, she was not ready to be left all alone in this world.
She was still holding her father’s hand when she felt him move, he’s woken up, she quickly wiped off her tears with the back of her hand, not that it did anything to hide the fact that she’d been crying, but still… her father hated it when she always cried because of him.
Alpha Luther had opened his eyes to see Miranda staring down at him with reddened eyes, he began to speak very slowly with much difficulty of course, but the words he had to say to her were very important, pain could not stop him.
“How many times do I have to tell you that crying ruins your beauty, my princess?”
Sniffs, “father…. you’re awake!”
“Of course… I am.”
“Oh… I’m so sorry father, I shouldn’t have said that…”
Luther cut her short… “no, you SHOULD have…It is I who has refused to see the truth for so long, everyone is pushing this wedding on you… forcing you to carry on with it for the Lotus… no one even cares to know whether the union between you and Alpha Walden will fail or not…”
“Oh father…”
“A failed union between the both of you in future will only bring enmity between the two territories, creating an even bigger problem than the one we had before. I’m sorry Miranda… I’m sorry that I refused to tell myself the truth before, I refused to see that my princess is no longer a princess… but is now a queen…”
He paused for a moment, catching his breath before he continued. “I support your decision, because I know that you will make a good alpha one day Miranda, you will one day bring the Lotus out of the dark tunnels, and you will make us all proud!”
She brought his hand to her lips, and kissed it softly.
“Thank you, father, … I promise, I will not rest until our people rise from the ashes again!”
**********
After the talk with her father, the healer came in to give him another dose of his medication before they both left the room, so the alpha could have some quiet time. Now that the alpha was inactive and the beta won’t be around for a few days, Miranda was the one in charge. Her father had given her his blessings even though he knows that in the eyes of any other wolf, she’s doing a foolish thing by calling off the engagement, but this time, she just wants to trust her heart, just this once, then see what happens after that.
She called on one of the guards.
“Dereck!”
“Yes milady?”
“Beta Valledor has headed to the conference, right?”
He nodded, “yes ma’am.”
“I have to inform him of my father’s condition, he also has to know about my canceled engagement so he won’t have to go ahead with the preparations. Send for the driver, I’m heading to the cardinal conference now.”
The cardinal conference, the mother of all gatherings amongst the twelve wolf tribes, held annually at the goddess’s crescent, also known as the great wolf’s headquarters. Every year, all pack members would gather there for the grand event which involved performing an ultimate sacrifice to honor and worship the wolf gods, this was a very crucial sacrifice that no tribe dares miss out on, everyone can’t attend of course, but the law states that every single tribe must be represented on the sacrifice ground, and even though the Lotus pack members do not really have the chance to attend, there must be a representative from the pack there to join in the ritual. The Beta of the Lotus pack, Beta Valledor, is usually the one to perform this honor, and has been doing it for a few years now…. But amongst all the warnings and proceedings of the great sacrifice of the cardinal conference, only one wolf tribe dares to flout the rule of representation, and that tribe is none other than the great s
Soon after a few minutes of waiting, the receptionist came to inform her that Beta Valledor was seen in the guest lounge.“Thank you!” More than happy to leave this pit of snakes, Miranda got up and headed towards the guest area, led by the hotel attendant.Valledor was in the guest hall among other pack leaders that were lodging in the hotel for the conference, they were all seated in the lounge, drinking, celebrating, exchanging conversations and laughter. Valledor couldn’t help but boast amongst his peers about the wedding tomorrow.He was a bit tipsy from drinking, but still found words to say, “those of you who look down on the Lotus pack and say bad things about us, you will eat your words when our princess marries the night shadow alpha tomorrow, once we join forces with them, you will never dare to say bad words about us again.”“I hope to see that day,” one of the alphas of the twelve tribes, Caspian said. “But for now, that your princess hasn’t joined alpha Walden in matrimo
Lily ran until her legs could take her no farther, her legs ached after running for so long, till the point at which she felt she would die if she took any more steps, stopping underneath a tree to rest with her head laid down on the forest ground. She looked up panting for a few minutes as she lay, telling the time from the skies, evening had come, she’d better be running home now, else she’d have everyone at home worried. Even though she still felt crappy at what happened a few hours ago, it still didn’t make her change her decision, neither did it make her regret what she did. Nothing, no matter how worse things got, would ever make her regret her decision of refusing to marry Walden.After resting for a while, she got up from the ground, it was a good run, and it was time to go home now. It was when she looked around that she then noticed that she’d entered a different territory. With the different trees and plants that grew around this area, also with the different soil, she coul
“Move it miss! You dare not keep the alpha waiting!”Miranda trembled as each step she took brought her closer to the silver packhouse court, where her fate would be decided for intruding on the pack’s territory, her head was bent as she walked in chains past the city gates, where the majority of the silver wolves lived. As she passed, she could feel their glances pinned on her; the strange prisoner that was being taken into the court to meet with Alpha Damian, she was a she wolf, and she looked so small and innocent, mixed glances of worry and pity overshadowed her as she was taken in.Finally entering the court,“On your knees!” The guards behind her didn’t wait before pushing her mercilessly, so that her knees hit the ground with such painful force. She’d heard a lot of stories, but she never thought it would be this intense. Why were the silver wolves so cold to strangers entering their lands in such manner? And why the HELL didn’t she check properly before wandering into this pla
“Kill her!”Maybe this was the end; this was truly the end for her, she wasn’t sure that there was anything she would say that would move him further, this man was harder than a brick wall, with a heart made of steel.She saw the executioner approaching her then, wearing a mask, a large axe hanging from his hand, ready to carry on with her sentence.Her wolf cried out then.“What are you doing!!!! You can’t give up! You can’t let him kill you just like that!!!”Lily was right, she can still do something about this; maybe there’s a chance her life might still be saved. She began to plead again, her view in line with where alpha Damian was, holding his gaze with desperate eyes, Lily tried to see if she could reach out to his wolf too.“Please! Don’t kill me alpha Damian! Please…. there has to be a way! Anything! I’ll do anything to prove my innocence to you! Anything!”It was almost too late! As the headsman held out the axe standing behind her, in a few seconds, it would be the end, he
Watching the body being taken away, fear pierced Miranda like a knife at his words, but still she didn’t know where the courage to speak so boldly came from.“What do I have to do to prove to you that I am not the enemy?”Everywhere became silent as the alpha contemplated on what to do to regarding the lotus princess’s claim. It took him a while to finally figure out the best way she could vindicate herself. The silence was once again cleared by the sound of his voice.“I will send a message to your father that I am holding you captive for trespassing on my lands. He has to respond to me within three days with the official seal of the alpha of the Lotus pack, only the alpha holds such power. If he does this, then I will know that your claim is true.”“But….”“What?”“What if… what if he can’t….? What if he is unable to respond by that time?”“Then I’ll know you’re a fraud, and you’ve already seen what I do with frauds.”She began to cry again, “No, no, no….! You don’t …. You don’t und
Miranda shook from the chilling cold in her prison cell, this was literally the worst night of her life, with the only company she had to keep here being the rats and cockroaches that inhabited this dark and cold cell, she wasn’t even given a blanket. How cruel could these silver wolves be? She wondered.Don’t worry, it’s just three days, it will be all over after then, she tried convincing herself, but it was not working. She didn’t know which was worse; letting alpha Damian kill her or going back to marry alpha Walden after everything that had happened. Even though she didn’t like the latter, it sounded much better than dyeing a gruesome death and leaving her people behind to suffer.After hours of tossing and turning on the ground, she finally managed to close her eyes for a bit before she heard some squeaky noises and a sharp pain on her finger. She opened her eyes to see a small rat chewing on her finger like it was a piece of bread. She growled, quickly grabbing the rat in her c
Miranda trembled as she approached his quarters, although she was thankful to this man for sparing her life, and also thankful to him for taking her out of that nightmare of a cell yesterday, he still terrified the life of her, and now, she was going to meet with him in his chambers! Alone! Oh, how she dreaded this moment! She didn’t want to go to him at all!She walked until she reached her destination, now standing in front of the large double doors, hesitant to knock.“You can do this!” Her wolf cheered her on and then she took the bold step.Knock-knock-knock She waited and waited, no response, scared to knock again, especially with the endless warnings madame Jane had given her about meeting the alpha before she came here. “You only need to knock once, no matter how long you have to wait, do not disturb him, he hates that. Do not speak to him without being spoken to, and most importantly, you must never… never question any decision he makes.”She shivered, standing there, her pa