*Alice's POV*Everything was going black…I grabbed at Simon's hand, which was still wrapped tightly around my thin neck in a final attempt to save myself.Maybe I shouldn't stop him.Then that familiar sharp pain shot through my hands, and I felt the wolf claws emerge. Simon's hand released, and I gasped. Air flooded my lungs, easing my lightheadedness. My vision started to come back as well, and I blinked as I saw Simon's hand covered in blood.My claws had sliced into him.Simon stood there, staring at his hand in shock.In disgust, I started the repeated process of grabbing the claws and painfully ripping them out. The pain was almost a comfort at this point, a punishment for having this nasty wolf blood taint my body.Just as before, my hands slowly returned to normal. They turned back into fingers. Little by little, they slowly healed, but the blood still covered my hands while my breathing started to get back under control.Simon stil
*Alice's POV*I woke up the next day and was surprised that my ankle was no longer sore.Sitting on the edge of the bed, I finally moved my way forward to stand and put weight on the foot.It didn't hurt at all. I tentatively walked a few steps, and it worked well. My ankle was almost entirely healed. It was unbelievable, but it was true. There was always one good thing about the nasty blood that flowed through me: the rapid healing process. It had definitely come in handy over the years of punishment that should have left me dead. However, never before had I been able to heal so quickly. I was still worried about how I was going to work with injuries today. But now, I didn't have to worry. My purpose was to be able to defeat the palace guards and leave the palace. I didn't care how to fight the abnormal rogues who lurked outside of the walls, I just want to leave. But in order to get there, I needed to lie to Simon about why I wanted to fight. Wh
*Simon's POV*I walked around the corner of the hall, away from Alice, and toward the two boys that were arguing. And that's what they were: boys.James and William stood relatively close to each other, but I wasn't worried about it turning into a physical fight as of yet. William was more soft-hearted and didn't turn to violence at every opportunity, and James was just simply drunk. I could already tell."You are crazy! How can Alice be your mate?" James was practically yelling at William. I could hear the echo of his voice reverberating off the walls. "Does your wolf really sense that Alice is your mate?"William now stood in silence."She's seducing you!" James continued to yell. "Trust me, dude, I get it, she is a gorgeous girl. But she is smarter than she looks. I'm not saying that you shouldn't play with her a bit and get what you want, but I am just saying I don't want you to be used by her. She's a b*tch, but I've heard she's great in the sack.""T
*Alice's POV*"What is this I hear of William declaring you as his mate?" Joan asked as she walked into the kitchen to find me doing the dishes from lunch."You already heard?" I groaned. "Didn't you just get back?""So it's true?" Joan looked flabbergasted. "Yes, I just got back, and that is all the palace is talking about!"That's not good."Yeah, it's true," I told her. "He just blurted it out earlier. I got annoyed and walked away, though, so that's all I know, really."Joan kept her eyes on me, but once she was satisfied that I had no interest in William, she sighed and asked me no more questions.This wasn't good. Olivia would be looking for me to torture me if she knew anything good had happened to me. There was no doubt in my mind that she'd already heard the news, and she'd be furious—jealous, even. I needed to hide before she could find me.Then, I thought of Simon.Maybe I could sneak over to his place and wait for him to return.
*Alice's POV*"How did Simon save you?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. I couldn't get the idea of Simon, the savior, out of my head.Alan simply shook his head, but right when I thought he might answer, the phone that was still in his hand began to ring.I saw Simon's name pop up on the screen."This is Alan," he quickly answered once he saw who it was.I was standing close enough that I could hear everything that Simon said as well."The meeting is cancelled for today," his smooth voice came over the phone, making my stomach turn. "I'm sorry, Alan. Next time, I will tell you earlier."He seemed to be in a very quiet place, surrounded only by the rustle of leaves being blown by the wind. I couldn't hear any other sounds."What happened? Are you alright?" Alan asked. "You never cancel a meeting."I leaned in, wanting to hear what Simon was going to say. But instead of giving answers, he asked his own question."Is Alice with you?"My
*Alice's POV*Simon continued to walk towards me, and I panicked. I wasn't scared of him, but I was scared of his reaction.I had no idea why he laughed, but I knew he wasn't laughing because he was happy. There was no smile in his eyes.Great. After annoying him in the morning, I touched his nerve again. I stood there and watched him come towards me. I tried not to show my nervousness, but my feet just couldn't move. Olivia was stuck in the mud, and I was stuck in Simon's gaze. Our situations were different, but it was somewhat the same.Maybe I shouldn't have used Simon to scare Olivia. He eventually would hear about it from someone else if he didn't show up at this moment. But now, he was here and earlier than I expected. I thought I would be waiting until dawn.Suddenly my ankle was grabbed by a hand. Olivia reached out of the mud puddle and pulled on me, trying to use me to climb up. Because I was distracted and let my guard down, I was dragged backw
*Alice's POV*I took back my previous thoughts about punishments. I really hate running laps.It was almost dawn, but I still couldn't stop. Whenever I stopped, Simon would hit me with a pebble. I was not a kid anymore, but he still punished me for my behavior. Somehow, that made it even more humiliating.Curse him.At this point, I was over putting on the act for Simon. He never fell for it anyway, so what was the point? I threw away my usual sweet smile and disguise and became who I truly was on the inside: a mouthy shrew.I had been running for hours at this point, and my patience was running thin the more and more exhausted I got. I never took my eyes off him, and I scolded him every time I ran by the tree that he was leisurely sitting in once more."I can't believe you saved Olivia. Didn't you hear what she was yelling at me?!" I said the thirtieth time I had run past, but Simon had no reply.The forty-third time by: "Maybe if you didn't d
*Alice's POV*I wiped the sweat off my brow and brushed the dirt off of my hands. The sense of accomplishment I felt as I looked at my final trap made it worth it.The last few nights had been full of Simon teasing me, so I decided that I was going to get him back.After the night when he made me run until dawn, we officially started combat lessons.However, it wasn't in the way I was expecting or hoping.He had been provoking and teasing me every night until I would mutate. Simon believed that for me to be truly strong that I needed to quit rejecting my mutations and use them to fight. And it pissed me off.I knew that shifter blood was stronger, but that didn't mean I magically liked it. So, he had to provoke me every night in order to get me to change.Simon would corner me or rush me or do whatever he thought necessary until I would shift. Most of the time, it was rage that caused me to shift, but occasionally it was pain as well. Or even surprise