Ella’s POV
“I did it!” I yelled, my voice as loud as it could be.
“Yes, you did it.” Dad smiled at me. “It was a minimal progress but you’re finally showing some signs.”
I couldn’t believe that I had done it. I had gotten my hand out of my dad’s hold. I had done it. I was excited. I risked a glance at Kevin to know how he felt about my victory. It had taken me a long time to break out of dad’s hold but I would call it victory still.
Kevin gave me a slow smile and then looked away. I smiled back, my face bright. He didn’t look as excited as I hoped that he would but that was progress enough for me. I would take that.
He hadn’t spoken to me since I woke up today and I knew he was probably dreading the training later in the evening. He was the first to get to the training ground, wincing everytime I cried out in pain. I knew that he secretly hoped that I collapse so he could swoop in to be the hero and tell my dad that he was right and I wasn’t ready yet.
I didn’t want that to happen though as I was willing to get stronger and tougher. I had to stop looking at him throughout the training as he was being a distraction with his sour looks and winces. He made me want to give up on the training and rush to his side so I could ease his heart.
Now that I’ve bested my dad a little, I felt I could look at him and didn’t mind his slow smile. He must be finding it hard to feel happy when he had been worried all day.
“Go to your man and come back in the next two minutes.” Dad said, stretching his arm. “He looks like he will faint soon.”
I didn’t think it was me who made his arm hurt-I knew his arm wasn’t hurting-but I was glad he was making it seem like that to me.
“I will be back, dad.”
“Don’t take your time.” He said, sounding more like my coach than my dad. “I will come and drag you off if you take more than two minutes.”
I ran towards Kevin, knowing my dad wouldn’t make an empty threat. I had only two minutes and didn’t want to waste it getting to where my mate was.
“Did you see that? I improved today.” I smiled at Kevin. I didn’t believe I could do that today and had thought I was only going to warm up. I guessed almost dying gave me the motivation I needed to go harder.
He nodded. “I saw it.”
I frowned. “What is wrong with you?”
“My emotions are all up. I was worried one minute and proud the next minute. Now, I’m getting worried again knowing that you would go back to train in the next one and half minutes. I don’t know what to feel or think of.”
“Let’s give you what to feel.” I smiled as I leaned up on tiptoes and kissed him. “Think of the kiss and how better it can get instead of worrying about me throughout the training and driving yourself crazy.”
He looked glazed when I looked at him, his eyes shining with desire and I couldn’t resist giving him another kiss. I was elated when his hands tightened around me and the kiss got deeper.
I broke off from the kiss with reluctance, knowing my time was almost up. “Now you know what to feel.” I said and walked off before dad came to drag me off.
Kenneth’s POV
I was the leader of the rogues and that said a lot about who I was and how I acted. I was raised-more like trained-to believe that I was strong and could have anything or anyone that I wanted.
I hissed at my current situation, finding it hard to believe that I was in this mess and I had no one to blame except that blasted blood moon pack alpha boy. Everything I knew had gone wrong since the moment I ran into them five years ago.
It didn’t matter that I had killed the female warrior. All that mattered was that I hadn’t been able to get rid of all of them. I hadn’t been able to kill the young alpha after all these years. I hated leaving an enemy alive and Kevin was more than an enemy, I hated him with passion. He was making me feel like a disgrace to my background and all that had been drilled into me that I was the strongest wolf and of the fiercest race that ever existed.
What was this? I couldn’t believe none of my men had been able to get rid of him and bring reports of his death to me.
I was now convinced it was time to stop this game I was playing. I wanted to prove to myself that we were stronger than they were and wanted to kill them off without having to turn into wolves. It seemed like I had underestimated the brown wolves and we couldn’t kill them off as easily as I had thought.
I wondered why those bastards were so stubborn and holding on tightly to their lives.
I scowled, wondering where those I had sent to look for them and fight them off were. I had been mad with fury when the news had come from the Utopia town that the female slave I had sold recently had escaped and there had been a nasty fight at her master’s home.
I didn’t have to rack my brain to know the slave they were referring to. It was her; the one the alpha had been yelling at to run that day five years ago. She was the one who had fallen into the river and made the alpha scream out in pain.
I had enjoyed hearing him cry out that day and thought that was the end of her until I saw her few months ago. I had recognized her her when she had gotten down from the carriage to save me not knowing that nothing was wrong with me and it was only a ploy for my business.
I had made a fortune from kidnapping and it was a bonus when I got to sell a girl the alpha bastard I hated seemed to care about.
I knew who could have gotten her out and was annoyed that they were going to spoil the perfect business relationship I had with the slave traders of the utopia town.
I had made a vow to myself that day to kill them off and had sent messages to all the groups lurking around for victims to kill the werewolves when they find them and make sure they don’t get to their homes.
The perfect revenge to the crash of my ego that they had been responsible for would be having them die on the road instead of their hometown where their pack could mourn them and having vultures peck at their flesh.
“Finally,” I breathed as I watched the messenger bird that we usually used to.
I had given them a way of working when it comes to the werewolves. One of them in the group had to stay behind and hidden to watch the battle and write reports of what happened.
I stretched out my hand and let the bird land in it. I removed the tiny scroll attached to his legs and read.
The men are dead, not a single soul is left except me who stayed behind to watch on a tree. The female is injured.
I crumpled the note in my hand and hissed, my eyes narrowing with anger into slits. Not again. They had killed off my men again. I wondered how many men I had to risk to kill them off.
I wasn’t even comforted by the thought that the female wolf was injured and probably dying. I hoped she died. That was the best way to wreck the alpha wolf but I wouldn’t count on it.
I stood up from where I was sitting, forming my next line of action in my head. It was time to fight this wolf to wolf.
It was time to let the big bad black wolf come out to play again.
I straightened the note to read the words again and imprint them in my memory. I got angry the more I read just the way I wanted. I was about to throw it away when I noticed the scribbles on the other side.
PS: Two wolves of the Blue River pack fought with them.
I frowned, wondering what that meant. Had the two packs reunited? If that was the case, it meant I now had more enemies and the war had gotten fiercer.
I was ready for it even if I had to stake my life on it and I was confident I wasn’t going to lose it easily as my men had.