ZARAMANNI (BOOK ONE)

“Can someone tell me why the fuck I had to take the back route?” Beta Zoey asked from the entrance of the throne room, an angry tone in his voice. As he walked into the large room where others were waiting for him, he continued, “Are we being cowards in our land now? That is pitiful.”

“Beta Zoey, you are in the Alpha’s presence,” Sham spoke solemnly from where he stood. Sham had taken a position very close to the King. In his hands was a small box that contained the King’s special dagger. “Show some fucking respect.”

“Sham,” Zoey called the man with a certain distaste. “I think you are the one that needs to learn respect. All I did was ask a question.”

“Well, you are in the presence of the Alpha King. You can quit complaining...” Sham narrowed his eyes and his lips formed a tighter line. “... Beta Zoey.”

“That’s enough,” Alpha King Darren, whose mind had been questioning the sudden appearance of the Vampire Overlord, spoke.

Sham placed the small box beside the King and went to join the line of Betas that faced the King.

Alpha Darren continued, “Lord Elias won’t be joining us, so let us start this meeting. Luna Laura, do excuse us.”

King Darren didn’t look in his wife’s direction. The side of his eyes barely managed to catch a whiff of her gown which flowed angrily as she was led out of the room by one of the guards.

Once brief silence wrapped the room, the King’s eyes scanned the small gathering.

The Betas were all present.

Beta Fam for the Batani Pack, Beta Howli for Verano Pack, and Beta Zoey who stood for the CrownBlood Pack.

It had been decided in earlier meetings that Sham would represent his Pack which barely had a presence in the Kingdom in past years.

The pack was called Minamo Pack.

The pack lived up to the meaning of their name.

Minamo in the moon goddess’s language meant the invisible ones.

The people of Minamo Pack surely made their existence a mystery to the rest of Zenrada.

But, Sham was the first person to change that narrative.

He was the first wolf from that pack to have a hand in Kingdom affairs.

He went from being a nobody to someone with hands in the administration of the Kingdom.

The only pack that wasn’t represented in that room was the Addai Pack- the very pack of the men who had tried to kill the king when he had just arrived from his long journey to Amarxona.

They were the black sheep of the Kingdom so no one looked their way unless they caused trouble for the kingdom.

Ever since the fairy attack, the Addai Pack had been quiet, so the Alpha didn’t bother with sending a message to them. He believed leaving them alone would be the best for everyone in the Kingdom.

When the King cleared his throat, his gaze intently fell upon the men. And, he started the meeting. “The Vampire Overlord is in front of the palace gates waiting for us to open our doors.”

“What?” Zoey spoke from where he stood, one of his brows arched, fury on his face. “How dare he? How audacious can these creatures be?”

“That’s the same question in my mind,” Alpha Darren responded. “And I cannot begin to imagine why he has come all the way from Skullis.”

“Perhaps the heads we sent him frightened him,” Fam said.

The King shook his head. At the same time, murmurs that disagreed with Beta Fam’s statement erupted.

“The Overlord of Skullis is not one to be easily frightened by mere heads. After all, those vampires were rogues who meant nothing to his kingdom.” King Darren sighed deeply after his words, a little line of worry etched on his forehead right after.

“Then why?” Beta Howli’s voice was barely audible in that large room.

“We can find out if we let him and his entourage in,” Sham uttered, his eyes trained on the King as though waiting for a reaction.

“I am not going to let that wretched soul into this palace,” the king quickly retorted after he quickly formed his long hair into a bun. “Gamma Sham, have you forgotten? Or are you just plain ignorant? Skullis and Zenrada have never been allies for a reason. For centuries, things have been that way.”

“I am well aware of that, Your Majesty,” Sham replied, his voice reverent.

“Then why would you think I would let those people into my Kingdom? I am not going to disrespect the struggles of our ancestors by letting such unruly beings into this palace. If possible we could chase them out of our kingdom, but,” Darren briefly paused his hasty words, “I am highly interested in knowing the reason for the Overlord’s audacious visit.

After he helped Amarxona attack Zenrada, he sure has a lot of nerve to show up at our gates.”

“So, what do we do? The palace is one of Zenrada’s sacred grounds. So the Alpha King is right, it would be stupid and disrespectful of us to let the Overlord into this building,” Beta Zoey spoke.

“We have other buildings out there. We can move the Overlord and his entourage away from the palace entrance for now. Their prolonged presence in front of the gates can get nauseating for our people.” It was Sham who spoke. “I can suggest a place.”

“Go on,” the King urged him.

After clearing his throat, his hands on the belt that held his sword, he said, “I would suggest moving them to the Crown-Blood Pack’s manor.”

“Excuse me?” Zoey spat from where he was. “Your majesty, that’s bullshi-”

“Let’s hear what Gamma Sham has to say, Zoey. Stay calm,” the king responded, his gaze now settling on Sham.

“As I was saying,” Sham and Zoey gave each other nasty side looks, “the manor is the perfect location. It is closer to the palace, so the Alpha King won’t have much trouble while traveling. We will also have better access to guards should anything wrong happen.”

“Hmm,” King Darren hummed while he scratched the hair on his bearded chin up which he hoped he would remember to shave.

“Your Majesty, are you considering his suggestion?” Beta Zoey spoke, a deep frown of concern on his face. “The manor is as important as the palace and as the present owner of the manor, I am against the idea.”

“I love the idea.” The King’s response shut Zoey up. “But I understand Beta Zoey’s concerns.” Rustling sounds filled the space as the king adjusted in his seat. “Let’s go about it this way. We will meet the Overlord and his followers at the manor. But, we will have the Overlord reside in one of the abandoned buildings in Crown-Blood Pack city.

So, when we intend to meet, a word will be sent to our unexpected visitor to meet at the manor. I believe that’s a fair conclusion.”

After his response, King Darren especially trained his eyes on Zoey who immediately nodded and eased the frown on his face.

“Let’s all start preparing for our short journey to the manor,” the King continued his talk. “Gamma Sham, you will have to stay back at the palace and take care of some things and I hope you understand what I mean.”

“But…”

“The Palace can’t be left empty and ungoverned, Sham,” Zoey added, a particular delight in his voice. As he locked eyes with the Sham who was about to protest the King’s instruction, he said, “We will take care of the Overlord’s concerns at the manor. So, you can stay here and sort out issues till the King is back.”

“Beta Zoey is right. The Luna will be here to assist you, Sham, so do the Kingdom this one favour,” Darren nodded while he wondered about the cause of the visible rift between the duo. “Besides, if things go wrong in the manor, we need someone to reach out to for help. That has to be you, Sham.”

“That’s fine, Your Majesty.” Sham gave in and he curtsied.

Feeling weary, King Darren got up from his seat and looked out of the open window that was on his far left. “Send word to the guards at the front gate. The Overlord and his entourage should be led into the Crown-Blood Pack city. One of the residential buildings that are in good condition should be offered and they are to stay there until word from the Alpha reaches them.”

“Noted, Your Majesty,” Sham replied from where he stood.

“This meeting is adjourned. Let’s all meet at the manor before dusk arrives.”

After paying their respect, one by one, they left the room.

“What are you playing at, Gamma Sham?” Zoey asked Sham who was walking ahead of him. His question halted the man’s steps.

“I could ask you the same,” replied Gamma Sham. When Sham faced him, Zoey lifted an eyebrow.

“I did nothing, Gamma Sham,” Zoey spoke softly. “But as for you, I could not help but think that you suggested using the manor because of an ulterior motive.

“I was just offering the Alpha King a better option.”

“Hmm.” Beta Zoey wore a short smile, his eyes momentarily landing on the porcelain ceiling whose artistic writings were intact. “Why can’t I help but think that you made that suggestion because you want to see Zaramanni?”

Sham scoffed. “How delusional can you get, Beta Zoey? Besides,” Sham took a threatening step closer to the taller man, “if I want to see Zaramanni, what is it to you?”

“Zaramanni is my mate.”

Sham laughed. His shoulders danced and his cackling suggested that he found Beta Zoey’s words ridiculous. “I guess you are delusional. How would Zaramanni be your mate?”

“I have no intention to discuss with you the things I feel for her but I guess we can wait for the full moon to come back. After all,” Zoey took a quick look at the sky, “Zenrada’s sky is finally getting her colour back.”

“You are delusional, Beta Zoey,” Sham repeated.

“No. I just found my mate and I can’t wait to see her again. See you around, Sham. I hope you enjoy taking over the throne for a brief moment.”

“Is that what this is about?” Sham stopped Zoey before he could take more steps. “Do you dislike me because the throne was given to me by the King before he left for Amarxona?”

“Why bother asking what is known? Of course, I dislike you. I won’t dispute the fact that you have done a good job so far with the kingdom. But, I still dislike you because you give me a terrible feeling. Now that Zaramanni is in the picture, stay away from her or my dislike can get ugly. Too ugly for you.”

Zoey began to walk away.

“She’s not your mate.”

Sham must have had the intention to provoke Zoey with his words. But Zoey didn’t turn despite halting his steps. All he said was, “When the moon fully rises, we shall know if that is true or not.”

Then, he walked away, leaving Sham to clench his jaw while annoying twitches pulled the sides of his eyes.

~

Zaramanni had no idea when she fell asleep.

All she knew was that she had taken the bath she wished to take, jumped into bed, and continued the disorganized thoughts that riddled her mind during her body wash.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up from a long sleep.

Zaramanni yawned as she stretched her body. She was about to turn and check for Clarissa when she heard sniffling.

With deep concern on her face, Zara remained in that position which had her at a disadvantage.

She wanted to turn to face Clarissa so badly, but she didn’t want to trigger the woman any further.

As Zaramanni contemplated how to go about things, Clarissa’s voice suddenly broke into whimpers.

Sad and pitiful were the muffled cries that came from the blonde woman.

Then, she began to speak, her voice shivering because of her tears.

“My baby… M-my baby…” Clarissa’s whimpering soon turned into sorrowful moans which deepened her tone with its sadness. “Wh-why? You are all that I have. Why won’t you come back to me? P-Please…” Her sobbing intensified. “Moon goddess… I… I beseech you. Please… Please…”

Zaramanni’s heart ached for the she-wolf.

Beyond the smile Clarissa had been putting on ever since her loss was deep pain that was etched into the innards of her heart.

Zaramanni decided to quit pretending that she was still asleep.

She wanted to console the woman one way or the other.

The sobs which were gradually getting loud reached Zaramanni’s ears once again and the girl quickly jumped out of her bed.

And, her eyes darted toward Clarissa’s bed.

The woman wasn’t there.

With a deep frown, Zaramanni scanned the room. When she finally sighted Clarissa, her heart tugged with fright. And, with bulging eyes, she raced toward the window that the woman was about to climb.

Before Zaramanni could reach Clarissa, the she-wolf’s feet were already placed on the window sill and Zara screamed, “Clarissa, no!”