MasukChapter 11: Avalyn's POV
Sara and Dawn scurried out of the room, leaving me to face my doom in the hands of the beautifully evil woman.
She moved with such grace my mouth was left open as I watched her take slow steps to the bed. Then ever so calmly, she lowered herself onto the bed.
She brought her hands to her lap and then slightly turned her head to look at me. Every moment she made was done with such poise, I knew at once that she must have been royalty.
"What's your name?" Her smooth voice whispered.
I opened my mouth to respond but no words left my lips. My throat suddenly felt dry and I quickly gulped down my saliva. Then I tried to speak again.
"I— I am Avalyn Howard," I stuttered.
She corked her head to the side and then ever so slowly, she brought her hand to my hair.
I flinched but I dared not move away from her touch. I sat there frozen in place like I was glued to the bed and watched her next move with hawk eyes.
She let her well-manicured fingers run gently through my hair and then she looked at me with those steely eyes again.
"Avalyn, do you know why you are here?"
I shook my head before the words left my lips. "Umm... No..."
"Ah, I see Greg didn't tell you," She said almost like she was talking to herself. Then she looked back up at me again. "That's fine. I will tell you." Her cold face cracked into a smile and my blood ran dry.
She was smiling but my heart squeezed at the evil that reflected in them.
"You are here because my husband needs a breeder," She said so calmly, I could have sworn the woman I was looking at and the one speaking were two different people because how did she sound so calm when she looked so scary?
"Do you know what a breeder is Avalyn?"
Again I shook my head first before replying. "Umm... No?" What was a breeder?
My heart sank deep in my stomach as I remembered the tales of those who had found themselves in werewolf territory and how they never returned.
Were they going to harvest my organs and use them to breed other creatures?
"From the look on your face, I am guessing you don't know what that is," She said with what looked like a pout on her face.
She was mocking me...
"You are going to give my husband —the king, a son. An heir to the throne. As soon as you deliver, I will kill you myself. So you don't have to get too close to anyone, because you won't be here forever..."
When I thought my blood had dried, I was mistaken because now, my body was only working on oxygen.
"What?" I choked out as hot tears spilled down my cheeks.
The hand she had been using to caress my hair gripped the back of my hair tightly and she placed her finger across her lips, motioning for me to be quiet despite the burning pain she was causing to my hair.
"Don't you even dream of telling anyone, you know why?" She asked as her free hand wiped at a fresh tear that dropped on my cheek.
I shook my head and she smiled, that cold thing she did with her lips.
"They won't believe you and then your death would only come quicker..."
I started panting as a large lump sat in my throat and I couldn't even breathe properly anymore.
"Be a good girl and get pregnant quickly for me..." With that, she got up from the bed and straightened her clothes, then she turned and left the room like she was never there to start with.
My body started trembling as the true meaning of her words sank into my brain.
I was going to die. They were going to make me pregnant and then they would take my child away. And then they would kill me.
I covered my mouth with my hands to keep the sobs from leaving the safety of my lips.
"Oh, my God!" I whimpered.
Why was this happening to me? What did I do wrong? I was just a simple girl living with her parents... They took me away and killed my parents and now all they wanted was to use me to make a baby and then they would kill me?
"Oh, dear!" Sara's voice rang in my ears but I was too broken to cover it up.
What was the point, when I was going to die either way?
She came through the door and rushed to my side. "Are you okay? Why are you crying?" She asked with concern in her eyes.
I didn't know if it was her profession that made her feel concerned for me but either way, I was falling apart and she was the only one who cared enough to come to me.
I hugged her tight and she held my trembling body.
"I don't want to die... Please I don't want to die..." I cried clutching her coat.
"Oh my dear, nobody is going to kill you... Don't say that!" She said, trying to console me.
I shook my head and the waterfall splashing down from my eyes flew all around me. "No, I know I am going to be the breeder that lady told me... I will do that. I will do anything you ask of me but please... Don't kill me..."
"I am just a simple orphan without anything to her name... I wouldn't tell anyone... I swear! Please...." My cries were becoming hysterical and try as much as she could to console me, but it was impossible. I couldn't stop.
Sara pulled back from me and looked at me closely. Then she walked to the table by the window.
"I am going to give you this injection. It will help you feel better when you wake up," She explained but I shook my head refusing whatever she wanted to give me.
"Please... Help me... I need to go back home... I can't stay here... Please... Don't let them kill me..." I cried so much my head was starting to hurt.
Even if I had nothing to return home to, it was best I left. I wasn't one of them. I couldn't even give them what they wanted. Why did God let this happen to me?
"Please..." I begged to bring my hands together.
Sara stood back and watched me with sadness in her eyes. She dropped the syringe and came to sit with me. She held me in her arms like a mother would have done to her child.
This only brought me more pain.
"They say that... When someone dies they look down on us from above... Why isn't my mother looking down on me from above? Why is she letting me go through this?" I sobbed my voice breaking with the pain in my heart.
"All my life... It's been sorrowful and painful..." My mind went back to my stepmother. It went back to my father.
They treated me worse than a slave. But they didn't kill me. Hope kept me alive. Hope made me think that one day I would meet my helper and that all would be well with me...
"But no... I have known only pain... Why?" I cried covering my face with her shoulder.
"Why?"
Sara gently patted my back. Running her fingers through my hair to try and calm me. "You will be fine. Please trust me, Avalyn. Crying will not help you here..." She whispered.
But I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't run away. No one would let me go back either. So what else could I do, if not shed tears?
"You speak like they are not going to kill me..." I mumbled as my body shook from the waves of my pain.
"No, Avalyn, they won't kill you."
"But that lady said they would..." I cried out desperately. I know she said I shouldn't tell anyone but what was the point of waiting? They would eventually kill me whether I said it now or later.
"The Luna?" Sara asked with raised brows.
I shook my head and sniffled more tears away. "I don't know if that's her name but the elegant woman with blue eyes..." I replied.
Sara let out a sigh and held my hands. "Avalyn, that's the king's wife. Our Luna probably just said that to put some fear into you. She is the sweetest person in this pack. She won't kill you, trust me," Sara said and her words came back to me.
They wouldn't believe me.
Sara said she was a sweet woman. The sweetest person —unless we were talking about different people, the woman I met was anything but sweet. She was pure evil with a beautiful face.
"Listen to me, you haven't met the King yet," she said, wiping my tears with the back of her hand. "Only he can truly decide what happens to you, okay?"
For some reason, I feared he was going to be even worse than his wife.
"I don't want to see the king. I just want to be here with you..." I said and wiped my eyes. "The breeder thing —it can be done here, right?"
Sara's face went pale as she looked at me. "Oh dear, you don't know, do you?"
"What do I know? What —what am I supposed to know?" I stuttered.
"You have to mate with the King as his breeder..." She said.
Chapter 100: ScarlettThe morning sunlight spilled through my windows in golden beams, painting the marble floors with streaks of light.And for the first time in years, I let it wash over me without flinching... without feeling like it mocked the darkness I carried.It felt good. I felt good.Because today wasn't an ordinary day, it was the day I was finally letting go of all my burdens.For so long, guilt had been my companion. Guilt for falling in love with a man who had betrayed my family...But today, it was all gone. Because I now knew for sure that Asher was a changed man.He was no longer the man hungry for vengeance. People now sang his praises. He was now the king who cared for his people, the man he had pretended to be...Now, he was truly that man.And my heart ached in anticipation of seeing him again after so long.My hands smoothed the silk of my long dress as I smiled at myself in the mirror.I had sent an invitation to him about Blade's coronation, but this was going
Chapter 99: AsherScarlett's words sliced through me like an arrow that didn't kill, but left just enough damage.My eyes moved to the knife in her hands, but rather than see the blade, I saw the way her fingers trembled with pain.I saw the tremors of hurt that shook through her like violent waves...I saw the love even in her anger... And this was more painful than the death I had wished for myself.Seconds ago, when I heard her voice, I thought my mind was screaming down another memory.Even when I opened the door for her, I thought my hallucination had brought the worst out of it. I didn't want to believe that she was real...That the ritual Fiona had done could wear off...But when she slapped me, I realized this wasn't a dream or a hallucination. It was real.She was real. And the ritual had truly worn off.And right now, as she stood before me with the silver blade trembling in her palms, asking me to take my life again, I felt stupid.I felt weak and I felt broken over and ove
Chapter 98: ScarlettAs the jubilation of the revelation went on around me, I felt a tug in my chest and that same feeling returned…That unease that something was missing. Or that I had to find someone…The tears of joy on my face dried up as I watched Bee… I was happy that he was my brother. I was happy that after so many years of searching, I had found him.But for some reason, finding him didn’t stop that itch deep inside of me.The same feeling I had been getting ever since the day we got requested from Willow’s wicked clutches… What was it?My thoughts became jumbled and my emotions blanked out.Somehow, I was no longer in the celebration. I felt detached…Subconsciously I looked around. I didn’t know what I was searching for, but it was almost like I could feel someone watching me.I knew this was ridiculous to even say out loud considering the amount of people that had trooped into the hall to celebrate with us…But this stare… they felt different.Yet as I turned to search ar
Chapter 97: AsherAt least an entire week had passed since the war with Willow and her shadows.Life had sort of returned to normal for everyone else… except mine.Albert took care of burying our dead. Greg took the Black family’s soldiers back to do the same to their dead as well.But Axel couldn’t travel due to his injuries. He and the rest of the royal family had to stay behind. And that meant, I had to watch from the corners how Scarlett readjusted to her new life.She was still hurt and broken from the loss of her aunt. And seemed mostly distant and angry about the whole thing.I watched how she watched the crystal she had taken from Willow’s lair. And I could only pray it gave her the comfort she desperately sought.At least knowing that she was dealing with her grief— the same grief that I had caused, made it easier for me to make peace with myself.To make peace with my life.I had told myself that my life was worthless the moment I realized how much I had ruined hers. No matt
Chapter 96: ScarlettThe war was over. But my pain remained.How could it even go away? How could I begin to live with the new grief?It was already hard living without my parents. Not knowing if they were alive or not… it was already hard surviving without my younger brother, Blade—“Oh goddess,” I whimpered as tears filled my eyes again.With all of this pain, how was I supposed to add Aunt Emily to that list?And this time, it wasn’t an uncertain feeling… it was real. I knew what had happened because I saw it myself.She wasn’t lost or wounded or simply dispersed by war. She was gone.She was dead.My tears flowed even faster as thoughts came to me like a storm. I saw the scene happening before my eyes again…There was this pain in my chest that I couldn’t ignore. It was like a feeling that I had to do something.I had to find something or someone to replace the pain.As for Axel, it was easy. At least he had Violet and his baby by his side.But I had no one.No mate. No one to kee
Chapter 95: AsherAs the last breath shuddered out of Willow, her shadows screamed— The sound was like a thousand voices howling in agony.They immediately started dropping off her body, disintegrating into ash with a wave that shook the entire place.And like a detonated sequence, the rest of her army also started falling. One by one they collapsed into smoke, just like the ones on her.Truly she was their control because within minutes, the battlefield was filled with dark smoke as all the shadows fell.As everyone realised what was happening, a thunderous howl of victory tore through the place as everyone jubilated.Yet all I could do was kneel there, still holding her body.Her head dangled to the side, with that unsettling smile still there… as though she had won something I couldn’t see.I could still hear her words, her curses and her promise to return. And the more I stared at her, the more irritated I felt.My fury grew, expanding into a knowledge my father had long taught me







