KeleighI looked at Arnold and even though he was injured, I felt little to no pity for him, I stared at him with no remorse in my eyes, eyeing him disdain my. Jake was arrested and we headed back home. Jake was beyond shocked that things would take a turn like that in such short time.A couple of minutes ago, I was doubting if I would live again and he was acting all powerful, just like the same way he did in the beginning, making everyone asides him look like a weakling only to end up as one. A few hours ago, my life was in his hands but in such a short time, his life ended up in my hands. How sweet it was for the tables to be turned!Arnold was not comfortable throughout the journey and Ryker did try to ask what was going on with him. I wished I could expose him but I wanted him to confess his own sins himself.The whole pack jubilated the moment we returned. We had left sorrowfully, not on our own accord but now, we were returning victoriously and happily.Arnold barely smiled as e
KELEIGH’S POVMy father’s claws gleamed in the light of the overhead lamp of the room as he raised his hand in the air, preparing to swipe. My breath caught in my throat as I pressed against the wall he had roughly pushed me into in a rage after he had caught I and Jake in the act of canoodling. He roared in fury as he bore down on Jake.I could understand why he was so enraged. Jake was the Alpha of the Moonlight pack, and my father was the Alpha of our pack, the Wesselton Pack. Both our packs have been in a bloody feud for so long that no one even remembered how it started in the first place. Countless wolves from both packs had died for generations over this feud.And Jake was about to be the next person.“My daughter!” My father growled at him. "How dare you!"My heart galloped with panic as I stared at the scene in front of me. My father in a state of half-shift, his clothes already partly torn from it. Jake, pinned below him, his eyes filled with so much fear and shock as he st
KELEIGH’S POV“Jake,” I said softly, pain lancing through my chest as I stared at this man, the man that I loved, now turned a monster overnight. I looked into those hazel eyes flecked with blood to know if this was all an act, if there was some other motive behind him killing my father and part of my pack.I saw nothing but darkness and hate. I could barely see through my tears as I stumbled over the several bodies on the floor and out into the night. I took a moment to take one last look back at the warehouse, the last memory that I will have of my time in the pack, the memory that would overshadow the others and haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. Then I turned and sprang into the woods, brushes and thorny shrubs tearing at me in my haste to get far, far away.The woods had never scared me before. I had practically grown up in the woods all my life, like the rest of the wolves in my pack. They were as familiar to me as my own skin, and how I had loved to revel in it. The fre
ARNOLD’S POVI stared at the girl, my eyes widened. I was stunned by her audacity, if not for the fact that things were normal one minute and the next everything began to spiral. I had been in bed, finally getting ready to get some sleep after working hard all night and then Ryker had come in like the kill joy that he was and told me that there was something that needed attending to.And that ‘thing’ that needed attending to was this girl, apparently. “The fuck is going on here?” I muttered to my twin after the girl had just rejected the two of us in front of the entire park.Ryker looked at me, his eyes gleaming. “Can’t you feel it? The mate bond is strong between us. We’ve found our mate, brother.”I understood that. But what I didn’t understand was her rejecting us, humiliating us in front of the entire pack by just taking one look at us. Who did she think she is, as tattered and dirty as she was, that we would want her in the first place?“Yeah, I know that,” I replied to Ryker,
KELEIGH’S POVI stared at the brothers, and they stared back at me. One face welcoming and pleasant, the other scowling and hateful. Two faces so identical, and yet so different. I wiped my cheeks and thought through my decision.If I rejected the pleasant brother’s offer, I would be out on my own with nothing to my name, and no property of mine. Not to mention the risks of running into Jake and his henchmen out in the wild was very high. But if I stayed, then I could be protected—for six months, at least. I had no intention of accepting either of them as my mate, but at least I could use these months to plan out my next line of action, gather enough resources to take me even farther away from Jake than I already am. I would be free of all my shackles then. “I accept,” I said, my voice hoarse from disuse. “I’ll stay here for six months.”“Motherfucker,” muttered the unpleasant twin. He banged his hand on the table again, but this time I wasn’t caught off guard. I noticed that his bro
KELEIGH’S POVI couldn’t leave the hall fast enough. Any more time spent in the dining hall and I would have broken down. Even now, I found myself hyperventilating. My head felt light and my brain was fuzzy. It was all too much. Everything was happening all at once and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I needed to get away from it all before I exploded.I had planned on going back to the room that Kara had assigned to me, but I couldn’t stay there. The room would feel too stifling for me and I needed space, I needed to breathe, I needed solitude. “Keleigh!” I turned back. It was Ryker calling out to me from the doorway of the hall. “Stay away from me!” I shouted back. “I need space.”I moved about the compound on instinct, avoiding places where people were gathered in. Eventually, I found myself in an orchard. It was far away from the rest of the buildings and was quiet. Just what I needed. I spread my arms out and took in a deep breath, the deep aroma of fruit refreshing me, calming me
KEIGEIGH’S POV:Blood. It was everywhere my eyes landed on. On the floor, splattered on the walls, and even on the ceiling.I saw my father’s corpse before me and my heightened tastebuds could taste the copper in the air, lingering like a reminder.Then I saw him.Alpha Jake, his face morphed into the semblance of a monster I didn’t know before.His face had been carved into with the dagger of darkness, revealing a hateful expression.He had found me..! How?!HOW?!I jerked awake, pressing my hand to my chest as I tried hard to take in breaths and exhale. It was such a hard thing to do that my chest hurt. My vision blurred and I reached up to touch my face. Tears.“Even in my sleep,” I whispered out hoarsely, my voice thick. “Even then, can’t you let me rest? Do I not deserve some reprieve from my mistakes?”I didn’t care for the darkness of the room, or if a monster hid beneath its depths. Memories flooded me, pushing through all my defenses that it felt like I would drown in them.I
SELENE’S POV:Her face alone pissed me off, and though I tried to contain myself and keep my pleasantness on my face, Ryker’s reprimands as the girl had left made me furious.I remembered what happened only minutes before I left the dining hall fuming.After my comment on the girl’s disrespect, I didn’t expect Ryker to lash out in the way he did.‘Be quiet. You have no right to treat Keileigh that way, much less act like you’re better than her. She has a higher rank than you, Selene. Don’t forget that,’ Ryker had said. I was dumbfounded then. Ryker, of all people, who was so slow to anger had become that new girl’s greatest defender. His warnings had bite to it, for unlike Arnold’s anger that could be easily soothed, his was like a hurricane that swallowed everything in its path when he lost it. And very rarely did he do so.Arnold came to my defense, rising up from his seat, and pointing his fork in his twin brother’s direction.‘You’re too hung up on this girl already, huh,’ he rema