Chapter 4: Betrayal.

MIA.

My father's feeble hands clenched around my face. His eyes began to water at that moment. I held onto him.

"My Mia." There was a crack in his voice, almost like he couldn't believe his eyes—that I was standing in front of him. That I was back. "Oh my God, Mia. It's you." His disbelief brought me to tears.

Who would've known that after so long, my father would be so happy to see me? His eyes were bright with love but there was quite an emotion left in them that I couldn't quite decipher.

I raised my eyes to the Pack surroundings, the drabness of the castle and the scanty fields that once bloomed with the brightest flowers. The utter fear in the people's eyes as they looked at me.

Lucian stepped forward to my side and I felt his hand slip through mine with a squeeze. I unarched my brows, looking at my Dad.

"Can we go inside now?" I asked him and a hard lump slipped down his throat. He gave way with a bit of hesitation. Perhaps it was after seeing Lucian—like I said, both Packs weren't exactly allies.

For all I knew, there was a time many years ago that they were. And both my Father and Simon used to get along but then something happened that all of that changed.

The Packs split and went their separate ways, staying on opposite ends of the Rosewood land ever since. Who would've known years to come, that I'd then meet Lucian and all of that would change? That we wouldn't see tribes or clans nor our differences, only love.

"Come on this way" My Father directed us through the doors of the castle and my eyes caught a glimpse of Kyra. Quickly, she darted her face away like she didn't want me to see her. Not the way she was.

The first thing I noticed were the bruises across her arm and the holes in her clothes. She scurried away, leaving a hollow feeling in my chest. I could tell something was wrong.

The place had changed. There was a darkness to it like a looming cloud hovering over the castle. Silence had ravaged the most parts of it, and fear. I followed my Dad into the chamber room.

Lucian and I.

That was until my father brought him to a halt by the door.

"I need to speak to my daughter, alone." He requested. Lucian's eyes met mine conspicuously and I just nodded. "I'll be fine." I reassured him. This was my Dad. Although everything that had happened one year ago, I also hadn't seen him since then.

I walked by his side into the room until he looked at me. His eyes wide and his hands reaching for mine.

"What are you doing here, Mia?" He questioned. "I came here to show you Lucian. I know we can't get married without your blessings and I needed to see you, Dad." I replied him.

"Why?" His voice was shaky.

"I don't like how I left. I don't like how I was pushed to leave. You are my family, Dad. You are all I have since Mum. I had to come back and see you." A tear escaped my eye as he cupped his chin.

"You don't understand. You shouldn't have come back" He muttered.

"You should have run away and never looked back, Mia. You shouldn't have come back—" I squeezed his hands. "What's going on, Dad?" I asked. "Why are you acting like this? Why has everything changed? What happened to Blood Moon?" I questioned.

He lifted his dark eyes to me.

"This isn't Blood Moon anymore. It hasn't been since you left. It hasn't been since Ezra found out his wife had fled. He has taken us captive since then, Mia." My heart shattered in my chest.

"What?"

"He can't do that. Ezra can't do that" I muttered and the doors flung open at the sound of my voice. Lucian walked right to me.

"What's going on?" He sensed the tension in the atmosphere and I looked up at him. "Ezra's taken over my Pack. He has for the past year" My Father cleared his throat but I nodded.

"It's okay. You can trust Lucian. He's with me." I whispered.

"You don't understand. Neither of you should be here. You both need to leave because if he finds out that you not only came back but you're with him. There's no telling what he would do, Mia" My Dad was consumed with so much fear I could only imagine how much he'd suffered for the past year under Ezra.

That would also explain Kyra's bruises and the overall condition of the Pack.

My eyes watered.

"We can't leave you here. We can't leave like this" I turned to Lucian who clenched his jaw but my Dad roped me in. "There are a lot of things you don't understand. Up to why I had to do what I had to do a year ago. Why I was forced to give you away." He said.

"I owed Ezra a debt, a debt I'm now paying for. This has nothing to do with you. You need to leave now." He faced Denver, looking him dead in the eyes. "You have to promise me something, young man."

"That you're going to protect my daughter."

At that moment, the sound of a loud thud could be heard from above amidst the marching of ear-splitting footsteps. And my father cried under his breath.

"He knows." He muttered but he wasn't letting go of Lucian.

"You need to promise me. Promise me you'll look after and—“ He paused. “And you’ll tell her the truth. Tell her so she can never come back here." He gritted through his teeth before pulling off the necklace around his neck and he placed it in my clenched hands.

I arched my brows as my heart jackhammered in my chest. The sounds of the footsteps drew nearer and it was then Lucian replied.

"I promise."

Then he let go of his hands. I turned to my Father.

"What are you going to do? You can't stay here." I said. "Go, Mia. I'll be fine here. You have to go." At that moment, Lucian whisked me by my arm before I could even say anything. We fled through the doors, the winds drying the tears against my cheeks as we ran.

"What was he talking about?" I yelled to Lucian, over the screams of terror and bloodshed that came towards us. "What truth was my father talking about?" I questioned but he brought me to a halt by the stairs. Lucian gripped my hands.

"You need to take this way to the back, it'll lead you outside to the car. I'll call and have it waiting by the time you get there. Just go, go back home and I'll meet you there." He ordered. I swallowed a hard lump down my throat.

"What's going to happen to you?"

"Where are you going?" I held onto his face and there was a glimmer of something sinister in Lucian's eyes. All of a sudden, his hands turned cold as he ripped mine away from him.

"Go, Mia!"

"Lucian" I whimpered.

"I need to find my father and I need to find Ezra" He clenched his jaw before turning around. But my whisper brought him to a halt. "I love you." I said. "I love you, Lucien." He threw a look over his shoulders.

"You need to go, Mia." His words sliced through my heart as I pushed myself down the stairs. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I ran. Breathlessly, I ran from corridor to corridor while the noise from the chaos up above drew nearer and nearer.

Blades slicing, terrified screams, wounded growls. War.

We were being attacked. My people. By Ezra. And I knew deep down that I was what he wanted. And even after so long, he would stop at nothing until he had me.

"Mia" Then suddenly, a frail voice called out to me. I came to a halt, immediately turning around to Kyra. She leaned against the wall, cusping the bleeding wound across her stomach. She looked at me.

"Kyra" I yelled, running to help her up. "What happened to you?"

"Who did this?"

"He did." She whispered, her cheeks drained of color. Her whole face even. "I'll help you out of here" I promised, leading her to the back but she gripped my hands. "No." Kyra said.

"We can't pass there. He'll be waiting on the other side. Ezra's not dumb." She added. "There's already a car waiting for us. I'll take you back with me. He won't ever touch you again" I seethed through my teeth. "I know another way out of here." Kyra continued.

"One that is safer. I'm too wounded to fight as my wolf and you—well, you don't have yours either. Come on." She pulled my arms to the side as we ran the opposite way of the corridor. More and more into the darkness. More and more away from the noises.

So I guess we were safe.

"Where would this lead us to?" I threw a look over my shoulders, burdened by the unfamiliarity of this path and a gut feeling that told me to immediately turn around. In that moment. But it was too late.

Kyra pushed the door in front of us open and we came to a halt.

"Here." She grunted.

The cold air speared against my face as a sliver of light appeared in front of me. I looked to Kyra once that scent purged my nose. And her eyes watered for a moment before she blinked the tears away. I looked ahead in the direction of loud, echoing footsteps.

My heart started to pound heavily in my chest and bile rose into my throat.

As he approached me, his features began to sharpen—edgy cheekbones, dark green piercing eyes that glimmered in the dark. And a smirk that curled at the corner of his lips.

My heart stomped. Stomach knotted.

And a chill went up my spine.

With a voice as smooth as silk but laced with steel, he spoke, his words cutting through the deafening silence like a knife.

"Did you think you could escape me—Mia?" I lifted my face to him.

"Alpha Ezra."