Sheika Naya, a middle eastern princess who lives in isolation, seeks for freedom. Escaping from her father's strict ruling, she finds herself living a normal and yet risky life in the bustling city of New York. Still being trapped in lies about her true identity, Naya crosses paths with Finnigan Langston- an Omega from the Nightshade Howlers of the Eastern Coast. Both are escaping the lies that are continuously trapping them, they find strength in each other's presence as they search for answers in their respective dilemmas.. Will love be enough to defy what nature dictates? A story that rewrites the mythology of wolves, creating a more relatable world where love stands against the betrayal of time, culture, and lies.
Chapter 1 Prologue
"Sheika Naya, Sheik Harun and his family have arrived," Cora, her daya, told her.
Naya looked down, as if trying to protest against what that day held for her. "Daya Cora," she muttered, almost on the verge of breaking down. "I don't want this," she uttered, voice cracking along with the trembling of lips.
Cora served as her daya or nanny, she had been with her ever since she was three. Cora watched her grow, she knew all her heartbreak, hopes, and dilemmas.
She moved closer to Naya, took her hands and pulled it closer to her heart. "I could only wish I had the power to change the course of your life, Naya," she sighed, while fixing Naya's burqa.
"Harun is just like my father, even if he is taking me away from the corners of this palace, I am sure that he is just going to give me the same world- probably even worse."
"This has been happening in your culture even before you were born. Even up to now, women are only expected to do what men would ask them to," she explained, tears flowing from her eyes, as she softly caressed the sheika's face.
"Help me," Naya begged while keeping a strong grip on her daya's wrist.
"How?" she quickly replied, wondering about the strange possibility that she can do for the princess.
"Help me escape, Daya Cora, please."
"How can we do that?" Cora curiously and worriedly asked her, feeling sure that no escape plan could ever outsmart the strict ruling of Sheik Rashid-- Naya's father and the ruler of Kingdom of Azhamir.
Naya frowned, allowing her tears to start falling from the outer corners of her eyes.
"Death," she hissed, turning her head towards the direction of the window. "If it is the only way to get myself freed from all of these."
"No!" Cora growled, and then covered her mouth with her hand as she started to tone down her voice. "I am not letting you do that," she added.
"What kind of life is this? I don't have freedom, and I can't even make my own choices." She sneered, moving her gaze around her room that was luxuriously designed with real gold and everything royal.
Her duvet was soft, filled with fine feathers that went very well with her cushion. Her sheets were a mixture of satin, silk, and velvet. The whole area is filled with the sweet woody fragrance of uod that was exclusively created for her.
"Sheika, please...."
"Stop calling me sheika or princess!" She demanded, allowing all the heavy emotions to take over her mind. "My life is far from being one! This is slavery!"
Cora moved to hug her, calming her as she had broken down already. "You know that I spent my entire life serving and loving you, and I am willing to do everything for you to see the world that you truly deserved."
In their tradition, a woman would wear a burqa during engagement. It's a garment worn by the Azhamirn Women that covers the entire body with only a thin sheet of mesh to cover the eyes.
"Take it off," she ordered Naya as she was taking off hers too.
"What?" she wondered, but quickly did as her daya said. "They will kill you!" she exclaimed,, realizing that her daya would switch Burqa with her and pretend to be her.
"If it is death that will set you free, then be it!"
"N-No, Daya!" she snarled, stopping her daya from pushing through with such a quick and careless plan.
"It is now or never," she replied.
Cora grabbed a kohl eyeliner from Naya's pile of makeup products, and then she started lining her upper and lower water line with it. She quickly dabbed the makeup brush from a black shimmery eyeshadow and applied it to her eyelids.
"I am sorry, Daya!" She cried, already regretting her actions that made her nanny risk her own life for her.
"I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life watching you suffer, Sheika Naya," she narrated. "One day, your freedom will set everyone else free!"
"I will return and I will get you, that's a promise!"
"Run!" she whispered in Naya's ear as she kissed her for one last time before they went out of the room.
Naya had prepared for the day that she would escape, although that was not how she thought it would be. Putting her nanny's life at risk was something she never thought about. She had imagined herself running away, escaping the palace on a dark winter night was how she imagined it to be.
Sheik Rashid had a very strict way of treating her as compared to her siblings. Yes, she was able to attend school but she was heavily guarded, and her classmates were not allowed to speak to her and must keep at least a 2-feet distance.
Luckily for her, she had made a good relationship with her professor who was originally from New York. Naya remembered one time during her exam, she was shocked to see a note on the test paper that her professor handed her.
Let me know if this is the kind of life that you want.
Naya answered that, she wrote down about her situation in her family and asked her professor to help her escape. Three months later, Naya was handed an American Passport with her photo on but with names and details different from hers.
This is the farthest that I can go, just do everything to leave the kingdom.
Naya had been keeping that note along with the passport for over a year now, and it was her inspiration to escape the life that she thought she did not vouch for.
Engagements in their culture were different, men would only present the gifts that he had for his fiance. Jewelries, money, gold bars, and a promise of a brilliant future-- the usual engagement offerings-- without talking to the woman and without seeing her face.
Women were not allowed to speak, and must not be seen with their face uncovered. She was confident that her Daya Cora would not be discovered easily, and she prayed that Cora could go back to her room undiscovered. At least, if that would successfully go as she imagined it, Cora would not be punished for her escape, and her nanny could only pretend to be doing something else while she was escaping.
Later that afternoon, before the sun kissed the dunes of the Azhamirn Deserts, Naya had successfully left the palace unnoticed. She went to a mall near the airport, bought herself some ordinary clothes, suitcases, and everything that she could need.
She was smart enough to think of putting on some jewelry that she would eventually pawn or sell once she reached her destination. She also withdrew some cash, and decided to transfer some amount of money to a certain bank account that her professor gave her.
She knew that it would be easy for her father to trace all the transactions, but her professor made sure that the bank account was somehow fraudulent.
Naya took her makeup off, realizing that the absence of her perfectly winged eyeliner would actually make her look softer and more ordinary. She was wearing ordinary clothes, no hijab, no fancy purses, and no luxurious shoes.
Her siblings had more middle eastern features than her, her naturally fair skin and hazel eyes were proof enough for her to know that she was different from them-- probably the same reason why she was treated differently by her father.
"Welcome to the United States of America, Ms. Noelle Norris," the immigration officers greeted her as her passport was being pushed back to her.
Naya could only smile, the freest one she had made in her life. "Thank you," she graciously replied.
Chapter 1 Prologue
02/05/2023
Chapter 2 The Escape
02/05/2023
Chapter 3 Bagel & Root Beer
02/05/2023
Chapter 4 Midnight Growl
02/05/2023
Chapter 5 The Beggar
02/05/2023
Chapter 6 A Cold New York Night
02/05/2023
Chapter 7 Unexpected Recognition
02/05/2023
Chapter 8 Sunset in Central Park
02/05/2023
Chapter 9 The Search
02/05/2023
Chapter 10 A Quick Celebration
02/05/2023
Chapter 11 The First Full Moon
12/05/2023
Chapter 12 Uncertainties
12/05/2023
Chapter 13 Choices
12/05/2023
Chapter 14 The Cure
12/05/2023
Chapter 15 Breakfast in Bed
13/05/2023
Chapter 16 Hawk's Eyes
13/05/2023
Chapter 17 Conflicts & Lies
13/05/2023
Chapter 18 Sharp Ears
12/02/2025
Chapter 19 The Falcons
12/02/2025
Chapter 20 The Diner
12/02/2025
Chapter 21 Wrong Decision
12/02/2025
Chapter 22 The New York Noise
12/02/2025
Chapter 23 The Savior
12/02/2025
Chapter 24 Thunderstorm
12/02/2025
Chapter 25 Birth of a New Alpha
12/02/2025
Chapter 26 The Refusal
12/02/2025
Chapter 27 The Captive
12/02/2025
Chapter 28 The Ambush
12/02/2025
Chapter 29 The Retaliation
12/02/2025
Chapter 30 The Unexpected Return
12/02/2025
Chapter 31 The Warning
12/02/2025
Chapter 32 A Lovely Morning
12/02/2025
Chapter 33 The Connivance
12/02/2025
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