I didn't like going to the forest in the middle of the night. Neither did I like my brother’s annoying girlfriend, Eliana. But on that fateful day, I agreed to help him look for her. When Edmund told me that she was missing, I told him it was for the best. Instead of laughing at my inhumane joke, Edmund started sobbing. He looked so sad and broken that I eventually agreed to help him which turned out to be a terrible idea.
The moon cast an eerie glow over the vast forest as we made our way through it. Edmund matched my long strides, struggling to keep up. As we ventured deeper into the forest, the silence become stronger.
“I don’t think we’ll find her,” I said, feeling tired. We had been searching for over an hour and had not got any lead. “Maybe she ran away.”
“Don’t say that,” Edmund said, making me roll my eyes. “She came in here to find some herbs. She must be around the Western plantation.”
“This is very risky,” I said, the same thing I’d said repeatedly. “Jackson King took over that plantation. If his men find us there, we will be killed. Maybe they killed her for trespassing.”
“I know that, but his men are not always here at night. Eliana said they spend their evenings and nights at Hive bar. That’s why she decided to come here in the evening.”
“Fine, I hope she was right. I can’t believe I’m risking my life for that brat.”
“Shut up.”
I gasped and stopped. “How dare you tell me to shut up when I’m here because of you and your stupid girlfriend who-
Suddenly, a resounding crack sounded as a bullet collided with the massive trunk of a beech tree. We ducked just in time as shards of bark flew in different directions. The bullet ricocheted and whizzed through the air. For a moment, we stayed silent and still. After recovering, Edmund crawled closer to me.
“What are we going to do?” he asked.
“How am I supposed to know?” I said. “I swear if I die today, I’m going to haunt you forever.”
My brother ignored my threats and moved closer to me. I could feel his body trembling. When I looked into his blue eyes, all I could see was fear.
“We’re going to have to run,” I told him. “It’s the only solution to this madness.”
Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the sound of cracking branches and rustling leaves. I tensed as my ears perked up. I could hear the sound of footsteps traversing towards us.
“Let’s go,” I said and stood up, gesturing for my brother to follow me. We started running in the opposite direction to avoid the warriors. Silver bullets flew past our heads as we ran through the dense forest, occasionally using trees to shield ourselves. The warriors were faster than us and I could feel closing in on us. I could have run faster, but Edmund was slow and I could not leave him behind.
I heard a thud and looked back, only to see my brother falling down. I didn’t have to think about it twice. I ran back and tried to lift him up, but he was very heavy. I could hear the warriors getting closer, but soon became more focused on removing the silver bullet that had lodged itself in my brother’s chest and was quickly shutting his body down.
“Stay with me, Ed.” I said, trying to get my hand through his chest. I could feel his heart losing strength. Then it just stopped.
“NOOO!” I cried as I dug through his heart, finally locating the small bullet and pulling it out. Unfortunately, it was too late. Edmund was gone.
“Ahhh,” I cried out, looking up only to see that two warriors surrounded me. The metallic M on their uniforms shone in the night.
I siphoned strength from my wolf as I stood up. The tallest warrior lunged forward, swinging his sword towards me. At lightning speed, I evaded the blade and countered the attack with a swipe of a poisoned dagger I had carried with me. I tore through his uniform, leaving a huge gash of red on his chest. He charged at me and I sunk the blade through his chest before kicking him. As he fell to the ground, the other one lifted his gun to shoot me, but I lunged forward and grabbed it. We both fought for the gun he was trying so hard to shoot at me.
He managed to take control of it and push me to the ground and then tried to shoot. I closed my eyes, bracing for the worst. It never came. When I opened them, he was reaching out to his pockets, looking for more bullets. I grabbed the poisoned dagger from the other man and swiftly stood up, stabbing the second one before he knew what was going on.
When he was down, I reached into the pockets and removed the bullets before loading the gun and shooting both in their hearts. Dropping the gun, I went and lifted my brother before carrying him to the pack.
When I reached the pack house, I was exhausted. I placed Edmund’s body on the courtyard, knelt beside it and started wailing. Lights were turned on in different rooms and doors started opening. A minute later, there were several people in the yard.
Suddenly, I was pulled away from the body and forced to stand. Looking up, I stared into my father’s blazing eyes. I moved closer to hug him but he pushed me with so much force that I fell and hit my head on the ground. The searing pain I felt was nothing compared to what had happened. Edmund died because I refused to be an adult and stop him from doing something stupid.
“What is the meaning of this?” he growled. The crowd suddenly become very still and quiet, all eyes on me as I tried to stand up.
“It was his idea,” I said, feeling a lump in my throat. “I’m so sorry that I agreed to go along with when I should have stopped him.”
Without warning, my father appeared by my side. He grabbed my neck and started squeezing it tightly. I stared at him, wide eyed, thinking he was going to kill me.
“Stop it, Andrew!” My mother yelled. She appeared by my side and started prying my father’s hands from my neck. After some time, my father let go of me and I staggered back, afraid to look at him.“I’m giving you until tomorrow,” my father said. “After that, I don’t want to see your face around here again.”Tears were falling down my cheeks as my mother hugged me. “Take my son inside,” he ordered the men and walked away from there. My mother led me away from everyone, towards a tree. “What happened?” she asked as we sat on a wooden bench under the tree. Lights from the security poles spread light to where we were. Amidst terrible sobs, I told her everything that had happened in the forest, and how I had managed to escape. When I finished, she pulled me close and held me tight.“Do you hate me?”“No, what you did was terrible but I have lost one child already. I can’t lose you and your other brother as well. I’ll send you to my brother. His pack will take care of you.”I pulled away
My hands shook vigorously as I clutched the tray of tall glasses. I could feel a sense of danger lingering in the elegantly decorated entry hall. Every step I took towards the formal living room felt like a step closer to my death. As I drew closer, I could hear the hum of conversation emanating from the room.Suddenly, a hazy scent become prominent to me, a very nice woodsy scent. Realisation hit me immediately as I became aware that I would find my mate in that room. My heart started to race even faster and I developed a feeling of eagerness in my body. This made me move faster. The dimly lit room was a sea of well-dressed people and sweet smelling extravagant perfume. The music was slow and nice, blending in well with the quiet conversation going on inside.A few hands reached out for the drinks in my tray and I tried to maintain an easy smile as I glided around the white room. Something was pulling me towards the front of the room. All of a sudden, someone grabbed my wrist and s
Jackson’s POVBryson was the biggest alpha in the central region. With his arrival, every region was represented. The formal living room had a powerful aura given the presence of the eastern, western, northern, central and the southern giants. Us, the big five, had to stick together in order to continue holding the power we had.Bryson was the biggest threat to me. Although I was still at the top, his pack closely rivalled mine and was coming up at a high speed. Sometimes it even scared me and I had to look for ways to keep him down and ensure he didn’t become better than me. That’s why I tried my best to keep him very close. “Hey man,” I said when I saw him.“Happy birthday, King” he said, giving me a short manly hug. “Thank you. What took you so long?”Bryson went ahead to spin some bxllshit to explain why it took so long for him to arrive. I listened even though I knew his lateness was intentional. He was always trying to one-up me and for peace, I always acted like I didn’t noti
Jackson King’s offer of a perfect life as his mate and luna was very tempting, but I knew everything came with a price. Life by the side of a man like him who only cared about himself couldn’t possibly come without misery. But that was not what made me reject the offer. If I accepted his offer and got too comfortable, I knew I would get side-tracked and might forget why I was there in the first place. Jackson King had indirectly killed my brother and I was not going to let that death go unpunished. I had to get justice for my brother and prevent more bloodshed for Jackson King’s comfort.Besides, I did not want his blood money. I could never be happy enjoying money that had been made off the backs of unwilling slaves.“No,” I said, shaking my head. I stared at Jackson, feeling nothing but hatred and anger towards the man. He seemed shocked by my answer.“What?”I repeated my answer and let him know that I wanted nothing to do with him. Suddenly, I could almost feel the room getting c
Jackson.Shell shocked, I stared at her as she chewed the large piece of meat she had bitten off. I was speechless as I stared into her defiant large brown eyes. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. Having tried very hard to ensure that my reputation was the worst it could possibly be, I was utterly shocked by what she had done. Everyone knew not to mess with me because I was not the best at controlling my temper. Had it been any other person, I’d have snapped their neck without thinking twice, but for some reason, I could not raise my hand to hit Kelsey. When she finished eating the meat, she crossed her hands over her chest and leaned against the wall then stared at me. I tossed her the remainder and she caught it instantly, before biting large pieces and chewing them. She had surely worked up an appetite. As I watched her eat it, I started to feel a strong feeling of attraction towards her. I realised that her stubbornness and defiance was making me want her even more. M
I was feeling extremely cold. Opening my eyes, I screamed when I realised I was at the bottom of a fast filling transparent water tank. The water was extremely ice cold. I quickly struggled to stand up, wondering how I had got there in the first place. I remembered drinking some juice and then falling asleep. The water reached my waist but was filling up pretty fast. I screamed out loud but the sound stopped inside the tank. I was pretty sure no one could hear me from outside. I coughed out water that I had swallowed while at the bottom. The tank had a narrow opening at the top which was giving me the air I needed to breathe. I panicked as I saw the water level going up. In only a few seconds, the water was already at my neck. I continued to scream and shout, calling out for anyone to come and get me out of there, or turn off the water. The door did not open and I couldn’t hear any sound except that of the water. In the end, I watched helplessly as the water filled up. I tried to re
Jackson.“Just let her out,” I told Joshua. There was no point in keeping Kelsey in the water tank since she’d decided not to give in. she had been there for over ten hours, alternating between consciousness and unconsciousness but still refused to give in to my conditions. “Okay,” Joshua said and left the room to do the needful. After a minute, I decided to follow him, a part of me wanting to see how she was doing.When I got to the room, she had been pulled out already and was standing near the tank. She was shivering and her white dress was hanging on to her skin like second skin. I could see all the soft, nice curves. I wanted to continue staring but then again, the two guards inside could also see her like that. My wolf growled.“Get out,” I said to the guards. “Bring a warm cloth for her to cover herself.”“You sound like you care,” she said after the guards had left.“What if I said I did?” I asked.“I wouldn’t believe you,” she said.“That’s good, because I just couldn’t stan
After getting approval from his boss, the guard who had been standing outside the door led me out of there. We went out of that section of the building, finding ourselves in the backyard. There were two women sitting on a wooden swing under a small tree. As the guard led me out, they stared curiously. I could tell that there was something going on in their minds. When they started talking, I judged from their expressions that it was all about me. I made a face at them and followed the guard towards the end of the building with the dungeon.As we entered the building, I noticed that the women had stood up and were following us. I forgot all about them as we got inside and I was taken to the cold dungeon. Before the guard could lock the door, the women arrived.“Hey,” one of them said. She was tall and blonde. “We would like to speak to her for a second. We need some answers from this woman.”“That’s not allowed,” the guard said to her. “She’s a slave who should be isolated.”The smalle