Dancing on the golden ashes - Chapter 148: Monster cave

“And if someday you see me, remember to forget my name, or karma will bow.”****For Awuor’s power, her people had done the unthinkable, in the history of werewolves.Her beta and brother, Dom, murdered their mother, the Sicario luna and blamed it on Awuor. In his grief, her father didn't bother to try and find out the truth, instead, for murdering her mother, he gave his daughter the worst punishment any alpha could ever get.He banished her from home, but Awuor’s wasn’t the usual banishment. Her father neither stripped her of the alpha title, nor did he make her a rogue. Instead, Alpha Sicario forced Awuor to be an exiled alpha, a woman so powerful, but with no one to rule over.Her mate, Jer, a power-hungry bastard, stepped up to rule the Sicario pack, since Awuor, the reigning alpha, was away, and Jer never once sought her out. Just like everyone else, he had betrayed her when he claimed a different woman, without rejecting Awuor.As the gates of Sicario closed on her, as her people watched her in disgust and disappointment, the daughter of Sicario had just one thought.A PROMISE of destruction & vengeance; she would ruin them all.***[EXCERPT]“Either you're from the Dawson pack, the Bluemoon pack, or the Sicario pack, because you're definitely not from our Greyson pack. You must have done something really stupid for your alphas to banish you, even though you have no scent of the ferals.“So that could mean you're not a feral, but you're certainly not that important to your people. You seem to have an attitude and reek of power, that's why you don't appreciate anyone talking to you like a regular wolf.“But all of that doesn't matter right now, because you are the unwanted little wolf. The girl without a home, the rejected wolf who can't be claimed by anyone else. You're dressed in banana leaves because you have no clue how to make proper clothing on your own.“— or even check the feral cloth reservoir on the west of this forest. The fact that you have stayed so close to the other three packs is because you don't want to be away from home and are somehow hoping that they'd want you back.“Allow me to spell it out for you and make it easier for your probably useless brain to understand, little wolf, no one wants you. I'm only taking you to my alpha because your presence here is a nuisance to us, and for some reason, the alpha is interested in you.“And before you get any ideas about mates and whatnot, our alpha is already mated. So will you get up on your own, or do we have to take you stripped? Because I for one have no problem doing that. We could just treat you like the rogue that you're not,” Adolf said to Awuor who still had her angry smirk on.

“201th, 202nd…”Zhou Can, an Intern of Tu Ya Hospital, a Grade A Provincial Tertiary Hospital, would silently count every stitch he finished.His target today was to complete 300 stitches and fight for a place in the House Officer recruitment two days later.[Congratulations on completing your 100,000th suture and triggering the EXP system. Medical skills and surgery practice can be obtained.]Zhou Can shook his head hard.What the hell is this?Something even more magical happened as he thought about it.An interface appeared in front of him.[Zhou Can, Intern.][Pathology Diagnosis, Level Two. Current EXP: 89.5/100. Outstanding House Officer-level diagnosis ability.]A surgical legend was in the making.

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

******

“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

“Commander Lu, there are rumors that we are sleeping together, we have a fling!”