Xander's POV:The night was long and excruciating and Delilah was constantly on my mind. I insisted Lucas to go and fetch some sleep before the morning but he was persistent not to leave my side. As for me, sleep was the last thing on my mind. I kept rewinding all the events that happened in the last two days.Long into the night, Lucas and I were occupying the couch when I informed him about the attacker who broke into Delilah's room and asked his opinion, "Do you think he is with Asteria in all this?"After a moment of thought, Lucas sighed, "Even if he is, it doesn't change anything for us. We know nothing about their motive yet."I bit on my lower lip, "What if he is the actual mastermind before all this?"Lucas answered in a low voice, "That is all to be discussed later, Xander. For now, we are confirmed after Delilah's scent in the basement and signs of the portal being opened that Asteria was the one who took her to another realm."We tried to look at all the events from differ
Xander's POV:The guards exchanged their looks and replied hesitantly, "We were not aware of your arrival, sir."I looked dead into his eyes, "Then you better go and inform Ragnor that I am here to meet him."Cowering under my gaze, the guard nodded and scurried inside the palace.While waiting for him, I paced around restlessly. After about five minutes, the guard came back and bowed slightly, "Warlock Ragnor Zephyr would be pleased to meet Lycan Xander."With hurried strides, we followed the guard inside. While passing through the old and rusty corridors, Adeline took in everything with wide eyes. Every once in a while, Lucas would point at different war paintings on the walls and brief Adeline about the significant battles of history.Finally, the guard stopped in front of a spacious hall. From my childhood memories, I remember vividly that it was where the throne was.Just as expected, entering the hall, I saw a huge metal throne perched at the far end. The ceiling of the hall had
Xander's POV:Settling back on the couch, I took a deep, calming breath, and relayed to Ragnor about what happened in the last two days, revealing only what was necessary. After I was done, I expected him to ask many questions but all the fucker had to say was, "Is she your mate?"When I continued giving him a death glare without answering, he glanced at Lucas and cooed up, "Or does it not matter to you too?"Why did everyone was so obsessed with titles? Was it so hard to accept a relationship outside the mate bond?Ignoring his mocking smirk, I raised my eyebrow and grunted, "Are you in? Or are you not?"Leaning his back against the couch, he contemplated for a moment and then shrugged, "I mean, it's not much of a hassle for me. I just have to open a portal and," the pride shone in his eyes as he flaunted, "I can do that even with closed eyes."From her position, Adeline deadpanned, "I guess you OUGHT to close your eyes while doing magic most of the time. So that doesn't count as a sk
Delilah's POV:After Stella informed me that Xander could be trying to reach out to me, every minute seemed like an hour. I desperately waited for him to try again but hours passed by and there was no sign of him trying to open the mid-link again.Every once in a while Stella would enter my room and ask with hope shining in her eyes, "Any word from the Lycan King?"My gut twisted every time I had to answer her in negative.I was lying on the bed, tossing and turning restlessly when I heard a light knock on the door. Stella padded into my room and inquired, "Did he try again?"I sank deeper into the mattress hopelessly, "Nothing yet."Her shoulders slumped as she sat beside me, "Do you think he has given up?"Her words were like a dagger to my fragile heart. I didn't need to think before shaking my head violently, "No, that's not possible."Silence prevailed after that, during which I thought about the events of the last few months. So much had happened between us, the doubt and insecu
Xander's POV:"Your claim to being the most powerful warlock seems like a bluff if you can't even open a portal for us," Adeline said while flaring her nostrils, her heated gaze on Ragnor.When the mind-link was shut down, I rushed back to the grounds. On my way, thanks to my super hearing, I could hear a verbal battle going on.Ragnor quivered his eyebrow, "Oh, so should I prove my abilities by turning you into a little, ugly frog?"Lucas stepped in front of Adeline protectively and screamed aloud, "Just stop it, both of you. Is it the time to fight like this?"Adeline raised on her toes behind him and blabbered over Lucas's shoulder, "Tell this to the 500-year-old childish warlock who knows nothing about maturity."Ragnor snorted sarcastically, "Says the girl who..."I growled while storming into the grounds, "Shut the fuck up, everyone."A heavy silence fell over the place as everyone clamped their mouths shut and they all turned to me in unison. Lucas stepped in my direction with
Xander's POV:Eyes on Lucas, I commanded him, "Let's go back and prepare the warriors before we leave for the Shadow Realm."Adeline wrinkled her nose, "It would take so many hours to go back to the mansion and return with the warriors."Ragnor barked a burst of proudful laughter, "That's why I always emphasize the importance of being in the good books of Warlocks." His eyes narrowed down at Adeline, "But you never bothered to listen to me, right?" He folded his arms in front of his wide chest and jerked his chin to the side.Adeline rolled her eyes, "Old, grumpy, and moody warlock."Before they could start hurling insults at each other again, I grunted in a warning, "Ragnor..."Despite their differences, Adeline seemed to have much influence on him as he too tried to roll his eyes like her, rather poorly, and huffed, "Talk about being grumpy..."As soon as I shifted a death glare in his direction, he waved his arms, "Okay okay, I never refused to help in the first place, did I?"Witho
Xander's POV:As soon as we stepped on the other side of the portal, we met with pitch-black darkness. Many of us were confused as we looked at our surroundings. Closing the portal, Ragnor informed us, "It's the Shadow Realm. The sun never rises in here."One of the warriors observed aloud, "So it's always night here."Ragnor corrected him, "The moonless night."Adeline came forward through the crowd, "Why would Asteria choose such a realm? There must be a reason, just like behind her every other act."Deborah let out a bitter chuckle, "Why else? It's because of that ancient vampire she is so in love with."Lucas joined the two and two together, "Vampires can't survive in the daylight. It burns them. As the sun never rises in this realm, it's the perfect hiding spot for Lucien where he can roam around freely." As soon as he realized it, his head flew in my direction. Our eyes met, understanding settled in, and we both smirked at the same time. While favoring Lucien, Asteria had dug he
Xander's POV:Ragnor used his magic to light up the empty and dark corridors. Rushing through them, we reached the grounds of the palace where a little army of vampires was waiting for us. They were tall and pale, their fangs were on full display, and with the hunger they were gawking at us, it was apparent that Lucien had kept them deprived of blood for quite a time now so they were all ready to feast on us.Lucas moved beside me. I opened our mind-link and he grunted, "They are thirsty for blood."Baring my sharp teeth, I hissed, "Well, in that case, I feel bad for them as they will not be getting much of it today."I did a quick sweep of the castle around me, assessing the surroundings, and then stared into the hollow, bloodshot eyes of the vampires, Blood was the only thing on their mind as they flung in our direction. They were fast, so very fast that when they moved, all we got to see was a blur of them. With the speed of light, they moved around us like blurry figures.Before m