Book 18: Half-Breed

Zayn

A calm, tropical breeze ruffles the fabric of my black cotton shirt. It’s loose, airy, and a far cry from the armor I’ve been wearing for three years. I’m not used to the fit, nor the feeling of the air on my skin. Nor the salt-scented breeze that ripples through fine mesh curtains lifting from the open-air archways that line the entire south-facing side of the room. A room that belongs to the Alpha King of the Packs of Meridem.

I have vivid memories of standing in this room holding my mother’s hand while she conversed with her father, my maternal grandfather, Papa–the Alpha King who effectively cut ties with the Grand Wizard and whose reign ushered in a new era of pirating that allowed the packs to spread out along the archipelagos and island clusters far south of Meccana. Papa had one thing that worked in his favor–the Alexandrite mines. Meridem, as an island system, is