Chapter 01
I heard footsteps the moment I left the busy market and walked into an empty street. Truth is, I had noticed - or maybe suspected - that I was being followed about twenty minutes ago but I had ignored it, as I went through the market shopping and maybe giving whoever it was a chance to just get tired and leave. But the feeling pressed on - and walking into this forsaken street was just an attempt to draw the person out and ask them why the hell they were trailing me. As I walked deeper into the streets, my heart skipped a beat when a thought flashed through my mind. What if Ezius has found me and sent people for me? But he has no idea that I was alive even - besides it's just one person. I can easily do away with them, at least I hope so. I quickened my footsteps, yet keeping it slow enough to ensure that the person several miles behind me wouldn't suspect that I was aware. When I saw an opportunity, I rounded a corner and hid, waiting. The footstep drew near, and nearer while I waited, keeping my breath steady and preparing to pounce. The moment I noticed the person was close enough I grabbed an arm just before they could turn and flipped - the lady - around pinning her to the war. “Why are you following me, and who are you?” I hissed, my fingers wrapping around her throat. She didn't fight back nor resist. Instead she smiled and bowed her head slightly. “Greetings Alpha Rhea.” I froze at the name and my hand dropped from her neck immediately. I have not heard that name for a long time now - six years to be exact, and I wasn't in any way prepared for the chills it sent slamming down my spine. “I do not care who you are.” I said backing away, “but Rhea is dead and she was no Alpha.” Her smile faltered and she glanced around as if to ensure that there was no danger around before she took a deep breath. She looked not older than twenty and although I could sense no danger from her aura, I could still sense her strength. She might look beautiful, and innocent but something told me that this is no innocent girl. “My name is Lisa, my lady -” -”stop calling me that.” “- and I was sent here by Damon.” Again, I froze at the name but I shook my head and took more steps back. I have no idea where this lady has come from or why she was here. And even though every part of me wanted to ask her what she wanted, every part of me yearned to know, I couldn't. That part of me was over. That part of me was buried several years ago and I had no interest in bringing her back. So I should not care about Lyra or even Damon. “Go back to whichever hole you came from, Lyra. Tell Damon that Rhea is dead.” I turned and started walking away but I groaned when I heard her following me. “You know for the past few days I have been wondering. Is it worth it? Living as a poor omega, being bullied constantly. This life you chose, the life you threw away your life for, is it worth it?” My breath quickened with anger as I turned towards her sharply, “I did not throw my life away! My people did, my people casted my away and turned their backs on me. So yes! It's very much worth it. Now the only reason your head is on your neck is because I can sense that you are nk threat. But do not push your luck.” “Forgive me, if I went too far. But not all of us turned our backs on you. We need you, Alpha Rhea…” “I am not..” “Your Uncle - he has completely taken over the entire city and he has subjected everyone under a reign of terror. Our people are dying.” I tried to hide my shock under a neutral look, because I didn't want her to see how I cared. “Again, I do not care. Your people - not mine - should think of a way to get themselves out of the predicament. This is my home now.” And I meant that more than anything. Once before they were my people, once before I had loved them, just like my father taught us to. But it didn't take them much to turn on us, murdered my father, my mother and… I shook my head, unwilling to let the memory in. That is all in the past and I have already made up my mind to not think about it. “Goodbye Lyra. Tell Damon that you did not find me.” I said, turning to stride away. Luckily she didn't follow me this time around. “Your uncle found Freya, your sister.” Lyra yelled behind me. My steps almost faltered but I kept on walking, not daring to turn back and ask her what she meant because I knew it was a lie. Freya was dead. I buried her myself years ago. But her words followed me until I got to the big mansion which had been my home for the past three years. The moment I walked into the big gates, I took a very deep breath, pushing the encounter behind me. I will not think about it, nor will I worry. So with a refreshed resolve I walked into the house, a huge smile in place. One of the reasons I refuse to visit the past is because of the fact that I was living a damn near perfect life right now. I'm engaged to a powerful Alpha who loved me dearly. Even though I didn't really get along with his family, I still would not trade it for anything. I got out of a situation and made the best out of it. It took a lot of will, a lot of grit but I rebuilt my life and started afresh as a different person. And it will remain that way. My smile however dropped, when I walked into the sitting room and I saw Darius sitting on our long white sofa with his sister, Amara and mother beside him. They all looked angry, and the tension in the atmosphere was so thick, I could cut through it with a sword. “Oh there she is!” Amara called when she saw me. I tried not to look concerned or bothered as I approached them, keeping my smile even in place even though my instincts were blaring red lights. “Hello Darius, I didn't know you would be home so early,” I said touching his shoulder but he flinched away, making me drop my arm back to my sides. Okay, what was going on? And why was he glaring at me like he was two seconds away from snapping my neck. “So you still have the nerves to come in here and act like nothing happened? Pretend and act innocent, you whore?” His mother yelled standing up. I frowned, this time letting my confusion show on my face. “Excuse me?” “Just take a look at her face, mother. What a great actor. I've always warned you two that She's just nothing but a pathetic whore.” Amara snarled, her lips curled in disgust. “I do not understand….” Before I could finish my sentence, a sharp should filled the room, followed by the sharp sting on my left cheek. It took a moment for my brain to realise that I have just been slapped by Darius's mother. My eyes stung with unshed tears as the pain filled my face and I looked at Darius who was just staring at the expression with a cold look on his face. He did nothing to stop it, neither did he say anything the way he normally does whenever his family tries to bully me in his presence. “Darius…Darius, what's going on? Please talk to me.” He didn't and that left me more confused than anything. “What's going on, is that we have finally caught you in your act.” Amara hissed, shoving me with both arms and I staggered back, “From the moment I set my eyes on you, I always knew that you were only after my brother's wealth, but never did u imagine that you would stoop this low. And he really did nothing other than love you!!” I glanced between the two women who were glaring and practically shooting daggers at me with their eyes. “Are you going to just stand there and look Clueless? Fine! Amara, show her the pictures.” With a smirk Amara took out her phone from her pocket, swiped it open and shoved the screen to my face. I had to lean back to see whatever it was she's trying to show me. “This! This is what we are trying to say. Now you cannot deny or lie because you have been caught red handed.” But I couldn't talk even if I wanted ro. No, because I was too frozen to even move or shake my tongue and talk more to form a coherent speech. I stared at the photo on Amara's screen with wide eyes, my heartbeat skyrocketing. That was me on a man's lap wearing nothing but red lacy lingerie. Except - the woman in the picture wasn't me, even though she had my face. I could recognise that look and blue eyes anywhere. That is my sister Freya. Several thoughts ran through my mind, and I could feel my knee shaking as I kept staring at the picture. Freya was dead - how come? How did Amara get this photo of her? Again, how on earth is my mute sister still alive? “Too shocked to lie? Cat got your tongue? Because there's even a video - incase you want to use photo editing as an excuse.” Amara's cold voice snapped me out of my haze and I turned immediately to Darius who still hadn't said a single word. Surely, he knows that I would never do such a thing, doesn't he? Of course he trusts me, he can't just believe this. With shaky knees, I staggered towards him and fell on my knees giving my fingers into his pants as I looked at him with tears. “Darius, please listen to me. Look at me - you have to believe me. I love you. I would never do such a thing.” “I would believe you, Narnia,” he said, his voice gruff and low, “but the evidence is right there before you. So how do you explain that?” “I swear on my life, Darius - that…that isn't me. That's my sister. Yes. I have never told you about my family, that's my twin sister and…” Darius shoved my hand away from my laps and I collapsed on the floor as I saw the disbelief in his eyes. Of course he doesn't believe me. Even I realise how stupid the words sounded as they came out. Amara laughed, “Seriously, twin sister? That's your best defence?” But it's true! I wanted to tell, but I couldn't because my chest was closing up very tightly. I wanted to scream and plead - anything to make Darius believe me and stop staring at me like I was some sort of traitor but no sounds were coming out from my throat. “I trusted you, Narnia.” Darius said and I flinched at the hurt dripping from his words, “I trusted you, against all odds. I chose to love and believe you and this is how you pay me back?” I didn't do it. My cheeks were wet with tears. I didn't even know we're falling. My head was spinning and my stomach was so tight that it hurt. I didn't do it. “I didn’t fall in love with a whore. Neither am I going to marry one, so as from now - this relationship, the engagement is over. You are nothing more to me than a stranger and I want you out of my house in the next hour.” A scream left my lungs as his cold words delivered blows straight to my heart and gut. “No!” I whispered, my voice coming out more horse than I thought it would, “No no no. Please, no!” He cannot do this to me. I clung to his pants again but he just kicked my hand away. No, God please no. “Serves you right,” Amara said, “I'm glad that my brother finally saw you for who you are.” “I'm proud of you Darius - for getting rid of this rag. Now you can comfortably let Vivienne back into your life, especially now that she's pregnant with your baby.” I snapped my gaze to the woman, as her words registered into my mind and gazed at her because surely I didn't hear her right. What? “Oh do not look so shocked. You have been sleeping around with different men!” She snapped. The remaining shred of strength, hope I was holding onto crashed and shattered into a million pieces as I looked up at Darius, my vision blurry with tears. “What is she talking about?” I whispered, my stomach turning. “I was feeling guilty about this for so long,” Darius said, “but I guess that's unnecessary - considering what you have been doing. Yes, Vivienne is pregnant with my child.” He ended that with a nonchalant shrug. “You slept with your ex?” “Darius and Vivienne have been seeing each other since she came back into town two months ago.” Amara explained and I gasped out a bitter laugh. “Two months ago…” I repeated the words and laughed again. Two months. Two months he has been cheating on me and now - now this. After everything I have given and sacrificed for him, he pays me back by cheating with his ex? I had nothing else to say. I stood up and cleaned my face with my palm then turned to Darius with an angry glare. “I curse the day I met you, Darius Grey! And I swear to you by the time I am done making you pay for this humiliation, you will regret ever being born. Count my words…I will make you beg, just as I begged and I'll make you suffer.”FREYA The wolf’s tooth felt heavier around my neck than ever before. Not because of its weight, but because of what it now meant. Elias sat beside me in the stone chamber, a bowl of untouched food between us. Neither of us had spoken in over an hour since reuniting. Words felt too fragile. Too dangerous. I stared at my bruised knuckles. I had slammed them into the wall that morning… not in rage, but to feel something real. Something louder than regret. “I’m not here to apologize,” I finally said. Elias didn’t look up. “Good. I’m tired of empty apologies.” “I’m here because I still believe in what we fought for. Even if I lost sight of it.” He looked at me then. Slow. Guarded. Still sharp as ever. “So you’ve really chosen her?” he said. “Rhea… after everything?” “I haven’t chosen her,” I said. “I’ve chosen to stop Xavier.” I stood, pacing. My bindings were gone, Rhea’s gesture of trust, or bait. I didn’t know which. “I don’t know who’s still loyal,” I muttered. “
FREYA’S POV – THEN ✦ And suddenly, the memory crashed in… I was twelve again. Mud squished under my boots. Laughter soared from my lungs. Rhea yanked me through the thick summer woods like the world was ours for the taking. “Come on, slowpoke!” Rhea grinned, her braids bouncing, eyes glinting like she had secrets to share with the moon. “I’m not slow!” I gasped, my legs burning as I sprinted behind her. We burst into the clearing, our clearing. The grass was tall and wild, brushing our thighs. Flowers dotted the earth in bursts of violet and gold. A crooked tree arched at the edge like a guardian bowing low, its trunk scarred from carvings long forgotten. I collapsed onto the ground, letting the earth hold me. Leaves tangled in my braids. “When I’m Alpha,” I panted, “I’m banning running.” Rhea plopped beside me, smirking. “When you’re Alpha?” “Yeah. Why not?” “You’d fall asleep during war councils.” “Exactly. Peace by naps.” We giggled until our stomachs hurt, l
A silence fell.Thick.Brutal.Final.Freya wept on her knees, the ring still clasped in her trembling hand. The weight of her return was heavier than any blade.I looked at Damon.Then at her.And the part of me that had cried, prayed, and bled for her… died all over again.“I want her confined,” I said, voice like ice.Freya gasped. “No. Rhea… please…”“In the western tower,” I ordered. “No visitors. No light. No lies.”“Rhea!”But I turned away.If I didn’t, I’d break.If I didn’t, I’d fall to my knees and hold her like when we were children, hiding from thunder under the same blanket, dreaming of the world we’d conquer.But that world was gone.And so was the girl who once dreamed beside me.She was his now.Even if she didn’t realize it.Even if she swore she wasn’t.She’d brought his poison to my gates.And I couldn’t afford to let sentiment ruin us.Not again.Not with war already devouring everything.“Take her,” I said, quieter.Damon obeyed.Freya didn’t fight.She just sobb
The fortress didn’t sleep that night. I stood at the war table with a map stained in blood, ink, and ash. My hands hovered above the southern quadrant where the cursed forest stretched out like a scar. The walls trembled with the sound of steel. Women cried behind closed doors. Children were ushered through tunnels beneath the stone floor, not knowing if their mothers would follow. We weren’t ready. But we’d never be. I didn’t build this war for readiness. I built it for reckoning. “Alpha,” Jared muttered as he strode in. “Six more bodies. All ours. They got to the armory. Poisoned the first water tank. Bastards were disguised in our own colors.” My knuckles cracked. “How many traitors?” “Too many to count. But most of them are dead now. Damon’s men caught three trying to scale the keep.” “And?” He didn’t answer. Good. Because if they weren’t skinned, I’d be doing it myself. I moved back to the stone balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Blood had already sta
The fortress walls loomed ahead, their dark stone washed in the golden glow of torches lining the border. Shadows stretched across the courtyard as the last light of the setting sun dipped beyond the horizon. The weight of the enemies we captured pressed down on us, reducing the air with unspoken tension.I could feel the eyes of my warriors following our every move, reading the story written in blood and bruises on our bodies. I had returned victorious, but the battle wasn’t over. Not yet.Damon paraded the prisoners ahead, his grip firm on the youngest one’s arm. The rest of them were bound tightly, their faces grim, their pride shattered. But I wasn’t naïve enough to believe they were broken yet. No, men like these clung to their purpose like a drowning man to driftwood.The scent of wet earth and sweat clung to them, mixing with the faint smell of a coppery tang of blood. Their wrists were rubbed raw from the ropes binding them, yet none of them spoke, none of them begged. That si
Darius POVDarius slammed his palm against the stone wall, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. The impact sent a dull ache through his arm, but it was nothing compared to the storm raging inside him.Lyra is Alpha Rhea.But Alpha Rhea of the Crescent Pack was dead. The name still didn’t seem right to him.He had spent years believing the Alpha of the Crescent pack was dead, believing that the woman who was to sit on the throne of the Crescent pack had vanished without a trace. And now, not only was she alive, but she was an Alpha… his ex, technically.The truth banged in his skull like a war drum. He clenched his jaw, his mind replaying the moment over and over the moment she stepped onto that throne, her presence commanding, her power undeniable and every warrior in that hall had bent their knee without hesitation.She hadn’t just taken the seat. She had owned it. The woman he once called his wife had deceived him. No, not just deceived him… she had made him a fool.He