Veronica's Pov
Tears stung my eyes as I spurred the horse to move faster, the wind clawing at my face. My heart felt heavier than lead in my chest as I recalled how Indrik had spurned me, disgracing me even before his maid. The path before me blurred as the tears poured without restraint. Reaching the golden gates of the palace, I barged in, barely noticing the beautiful sights that rolled past. The horse pulled to a stop before the palace and I slid off it, not caring about what happened to it as I ran into the palace. I could barely see ahead of me as I made my way to my room. "Where are you coming from?" The booming voice of my uncle stopped me in my tracks just as I reached out toward my doorknob. My entire body trembled at the realization that I had been caught red-handed. I knew I was supposed to turn around but my face was still wet with my tears so I didn't dare to. "Vee?" He called again, more softly this time as he started to approach me. An involuntary shiver consumed me again as I wished I could just open the door and escape his questions. "Uncle!" I tried to speak but it came out as a croak and another tear rolled down. I subtly raised my arm and made a futile dab at my face, hoping I could avoid him seeing it. "Veronica?" He called again, this time, his warm breath on my cold neck making me more skittish as he placed a warm hand on my shoulder. "Are you..." His voice hardened as he turned me around to face him, "crying!" He finished, his blue eyes burning with a kind of vengeance. I shivered again, knowing I was definitely in trouble this time. "Who did this to you?" He growled, his huge arm growing tighter around my shoulder. My eyes flitted as I thought about what to do. He couldn't know where I had been. No! If he did, he was going to bring hell down on the both of us and I couldn't afford that. I managed a short laughter. "What? No! I only went for a short ride through the woods. The horse was fast and the winds were harsh which got my eyes tearing up. That's why..." I pointed to my face and added a wide-eyed helpless look that he could never refuse. His eyes narrowed as he moved in closer, running his eyes over me. He spun me around slowly and by the time I came face to face with him again, I knew that he hadn't bought it. "Where in the woods did you go exactly?" He asked coldly. I laughed again as his eyes trailed from mine down to my feet. I followed it and panicked at what I saw. I needed to draw his attention, and fast. "The pine woods, uncle. I have been feeling so cooped up these past few days and needed to clear my mind. The place always manages to cool me down. You remember the first time I went there? You had taken me there?" I was smiling but it soon faded when he would not raise his eyes from my feet. My heart flew to my throat as he slowly raised his head, his eyes incredibly stormy, the way they got when he was extremely mad. "When did the pine woods sprout a river?" His voice was calm but I knew better than to buy into that. My lie had been found out. "Uncle!" I tried again but his icy cold eyes shut me up. "You went to see him again." He muttered distastefully, his jaws set as he eyed me like he was trying to decide whether to beat me up for being such a fool or beat me up for being such a great fool. "Uncle, I..." "How could you?" He snapped, his huge muscles tensing like he was about to pounce. Something told me I knew who his victim would be and it wouldn't be a deer. "After all that...that.. imbecile has done to you! To us! You still choose to go to him? Do you have no shame, girl?" He growled angrily, his voice reverberating all over the long corridor. The guards were standing still like they were trained to, acting like they were totally oblivious to what was going on. Maybe they were, because they wouldn't dare to spill a word of what happened here but that did not make me feel any better. Not when my uncle, the Alpha was towering over me with eyes that were blazing with anger. I knew my uncle wouldn't hurt me but they didn't stop me from feeling like cowering before his rage. Luckily, someone stepped in to save me, right before I passed out from a panic attack. "Rudolph? What is going on?" My aunt appeared out of nowhere. "Aviel!" My uncle moaned as he turned toward her. "Can you believe she went to see that...mongrel?" He spat the last word out like it was still a term that was too honourable for the one it addressed. My aunt glanced at me but it wasn't with judgement. She moved closer to my uncle and placed an arm on his chest. "How about we talk about this later? The poor girl looks exhausted." He looked like he was going to protest but against his wife, my uncle stood no chance as he was led away. I sighed as my shoulders drooped. I opened my door and stepped in, glad to be free from that episode. Inside my room, I removed my golden heart shaped locket and placed it on my bed. Reaching for my hair, I snapped a hair strand. In my other hand was a strand of black hair. I entwined the two and carefully folded them into the locket. With a smile, I returned it to my neck. He might not know it yet but Indrik is going to be mine.Indrik's PovThe days have been crawling by slowly. Way too slowly. What with my master refusing to train me. I have tried everything I could think to do, from begging, to threatening, to trying to make her life a living hell all in a bid to get her to train me but she stubbornly keeps refusingNow, having totally run out of options, I have been starting to grow a little bitter. So bitter that I now send her on errands more for malicious reasons than to get her to change her mind. I looked around the room and groaned in annoyance. Everything in the room seemed to be placed there to make me mad. From the plush rugs, to the beautifully painted walls, to the magnificent designs above. Everything. I groaned again as I got out of bed. Yeah! Another reason I was so mad was because I had recovered fully or almost fully, at least. Enough to move around and enough to start training but my master still would not agree to train me. I got dressed and stepped out of the room, eager to get a brea
Luna's PovIt has been a week! A week since my master has awakened. A week since I have had to endure his endless bullying as well as the sharp tongue of his, what is she again? His sidekick? Friend? Bootlicker? Sheesh! They all fit perfectly and she is just as evil as he is. You know what? Scratch that! She is much more evil. While he was still behind bars, I had thought she was bad, but now that he is free, I was finding out that back then was her being nice. Today, Indrik had sent me on an errand to go get, what did he call it again? "Wolf spit?""Wolf spurt!" Jamil corrected with a grunt as he dropped a bale of hay in a brown horse's feeding trough. The smile he had on his face as he answered my question made me scowl at him. This wasn't a joke! He was wearing a sleeveless whitewashed vest that might have once been yellow above short trousers. His long hair was held in place with a clip allowing him to work without it getting in the way. His body glistened with sweat as he checke
Luna's PovMy eyes widened as I took in the scene before me. "What?" Jamil was a little later in spotting what I was seeing but when he did, his growl was even louder than mine. I ran over to the site of the chaos, my heart hanging in my throat. Sure, I loathed my master but this? This was a little bit too much. Indrik had been surrounded by his half brother, anchor moustache along with his minions. They were laughing cruelly as they toyed with him. Why and when he had left his room, I had no idea but what I was seeing made me boil over. Leon and his friends had crowded around my master and were laughing him to scorn as they teased him endlessly. "Weakling! Come on, fight back if you can." One of the minions cackled as he shoved Indrik hard, sending him stumbling on wobbly feet to another. That one punched him in the face, sending him crumpling face first to the hard floor. "What is the problem? Too weak to fight? Come on, get up brother." Leon jeered as he approached the coweri
Luna's PovThe men closed in on us and I looked around frantically, trying to see if there was anyone around that could help us. We were out in the empty space between the three palace buildings and the smaller ones. Well, not exactly empty because a pretty patch of flowers sat in the center of this space. The buds glowed brilliantly in the fading sunlight. Too bad I couldn't enjoy the view. There was no one around, not that I could see at least and for some reason, I was convinced that even if they were, nobody would try to interfere. I tightened my hold on Indrik as I gritted my teeth. "Get away from them!" A voice suddenly bellowed and right before my eyes, I watched as the buff men were sent flying with painful cries. In no time, they were all sprawled on the ground and Jamil stood above them, scowling angrily. The men quickly scurried to their feet but none of them dared to move closer again as their eyes shifted from Jamil to Leon whose robe looked rumpled as he looked like he
Luna's Pov I opened my eyes feeling rather groggy and achy. I yawned lazily, stretching my limbs and was rewarding with the satisfying crunch of muscles rearranging themselves. I squinted, taking a look at the room where I had spent the night with the aid of daylight that was streaking in through the window. I nearly fell off my perch as I realized that this was not my room. Looking around, I noticed Indrik still on the bed, snoring softly as he slept. His hair spread all over. The bed, his eyes, his mouth. I smiled as I brushed the hair away from his face. I did a doubletake as my eyes fell on his face. Like I had done so many times while he was unconscious, I slipped into the stool on which I had spent the night and propping my cheeks on my hands, admired his face. Despite the numerous wounds, he always managed to look so spectacular when he was asleep. With his sad eyes closed and his facial muscles robbed by sleep of their crankiness, he looked like an angel in his sleep. I remai
Indrik's PovI woke up to my head feeling like it was being hit over and over with a heavy hammer. Groaning, I tried to get up but my arm collapsed under the strain, sending me sprawling once more. I tried to open my eyes but all I could see were tiny yellow dots dancing on a frenzy. "Luna?" I called weakly but no one answered. "Luna!" I called again, a little louder only to be met with the same silence. I felt around the bed to see if she was still sleeping somewhere there but felt nothing. I groaned in exasperation wishing I could fire her with the way she got me feeling like I was the maid and she the master sometimes. Knowing that no one was coming, I attempted to open my eyes again. This time, my vision was a little bit clearer but my headache wasn't getting any better. I raised my hand to my face and felt bumps that weren't there yesterday. My eyes clouded with tears of humiliation as I recalled what had happened the other day. Leaving my room with the intention of getting som
Indrik's PovIn between using my medicine, eating breakfast, taking a walk out to the garden and making small talk with Luna, night arrived sooner than I expected. Through all these, I noticed that something was bothering Luna. She would suddenly stop and stare at empty air till I called her attention or stop mid-speech and frown, her brows furrowing on deep thought. Despite myself, I couldn't help worrying about her but my attempts to make her tell me what was wrong with her all ended up falling through. With night descending and her helping me to my room, I found that she was starting to shed her worried skin which for whatever reason made me feel a little relieved. "I will go get your food now." She informed once I was in my room and left before I could protest. Usually, I was supposed to eat with the rest in the palace dinning hall but due to the state of my health, I was excused till I got better. While she was away, I thought about what we had discussed earlier. "If you man
Blaire's Pov From the moment Indrik had brought that woman into our pack, I had known that nothing could come of it except bad news. This became a reality when she suddenly started to shout in the middle of the night, shattering my face relaxation routine. I would have ignored her if not for the reference she made to Indrik. As it was, I cursed as I dashed to my room. She continued to wail until I pushed the door open after which she stopped abruptly. She had been standing over Indrik in the dim glow of the oil lamp. She turned toward me with what seemed like a smirk on her lip. "You are just in time." My eyebrows arched as I noticed that she was definitely smiling. "What is going on?" I scowled, wondering what kind of craziness she was trying to work up. "I don't know! Why don't you come and see?" She turned and the color drained from my face as I saw what lay on the bed behind her. "No! No! No!" I muttered as I rushed toward the bed hoping with every fiber of my bein