CHAPTER 2: THE CURSED LETTER

Kayla’s POV

Our run in the woods lasted longer than expected, thanks to our not so little distraction. We had to sneak back to our room to avoid the pack members scenting us and knowing what their Alphas were up to. Not that we were doing anything forbidden, but it would be really awkward to see people sniffing and gazing at us with knowing looks. If it could be avoided, it would be better for us all, right?

And I didn’t know why I thought it was a good idea to have a shower together to get rid of the scent when it only led to another round of losing ourselves to passion. Sigh. I can be an idiot sometimes. Or maybe it was what I actually wanted in my mind. Who could blame me when I have such a hot mate?

I smiled and shook my head as I walked to my closet, clad in just a towel. As I tried to pick an outfit, I felt my mate’s warm breath fanning the back of my neck before his hands circled my waist and he pulled me towards his body. As his lips trailed down my shoulders, sending tingles running over my frame, I turned and smacked his hand off my body. 

He pouted before eyeing my towel as if contemplating pulling it off my body. I shook my head at him before smirking with amusement.

“Again? Really? You are incorrigible!”

The damn man smirked right back at me before puffing his chest out with pride, as if I had complimented him instead of rebuking. His very firm chest that had water droplets still clinging onto it. Hmm…

“Eyes up, my darling mate,” he teased me and I felt my cheeks warm unbidden. Ugh! He caught me ogling him. Again!!

“As if your eyes are up,” I rebutted, quite childishly, I must admit. But well, I was right. He was also ogling my body as if he hadn’t just seen me naked just a while ago. I never got it when he explained to me that seeing me in lingerie or a towel excites him more than seeing me naked. Something about the prospect of unwrapping a present or the beauty of revealing a mystery, blah blah. Men!

I ignored my sulking mate before turning back to my closet and picking a red lacy nightgown with matching lingerie. With my back towards him, I dropped the towel and a wave of sadistic satisfaction flooded my mind as I heard my mate’s sharp intake of breath. But before he could snap out of his haze, I quickly donned the bra and thongs before pulling the nightgown over my head.

I turned to him with a victorious smirk, only for it to falter seeing his equally triumphant grin. Uh huh. 

“What?”

“Well, you would be losing it soon anyway, so the sexier the dress, the more exciting it would be to get it off.”

Right…

I sighed before shaking my head in defeat and walked towards the window. I looked at the moon, feeling grateful to the Moon Goddess. Seven years ago, I had stopped believing in the Goddess when I lost my family on the same night I turned to what I perceived as a monster. In fact, I had hated whatever powers that messed up my life before it even started. But now, with Zane in my life and having the chance to turn to my wolf again without losing myself to bloodlust, I have come to realise that everything happens for a reason. 

While I still hadn’t gotten over my loss or forgive my Uncle Stephen for orchestrating the attack on my pack, I realised that I had become who I was today because of what I went through. I would have been a pampered normal girl without a care in the world other than finding her mate if I still had my family. I would never have become the Alpha who was respected by all, despite their less than a flowery attitude towards females. And I would have never been the strong-willed Kayla that I was today. These realizations helped me embrace my destiny and now I believed in the Moon Goddess again. I was not someone whom she hated and tortured like I once thought. I was still her child, and she still loved me. She had given me Zane, the man who stands beside me despite knowing who and what I was. What else could I ask for?

I sighed as I remembered the reactions of our people after our mating. I would like to believe that we had both changed and for the good. Our people would agree, even though they would never tell that to our faces. My pack members, who didn’t even dare to breathe the wrong way in front of me before I accepted Zane, now interacted with me more freely. Under Zane’s guidance, I have learned to smile more often, and I didn’t snap as much at anyone and this, in turn, made them deem me as more approachable. But that didn’t mean that I turned to a fluffy bunny. I was still the strict Alpha they respected, but now; it was more of a loving kind of respect if you get what I mean. 

And Zane. He was no longer the playboy Alpha who had women wrapped around his fingers. He grew serious in the affairs of the pack and his pack welcomed the sight of their Alpha without bimbos clinging to him with great vigor. They gave me such a warm welcome that it was impossible not to feel a part of their pack, even if I wasn’t. At least, not technically. 

Coming to our pack matters, I was still the Alpha of the Crescent Moon pack, while Zane was the Alpha of the Blue moon pack. It didn’t seem practical but with help of our pack mates and Betas, somehow we made it work. We decided on a schedule and stayed in one pack for two weeks before moving to the other for the next two weeks. It may sound tedious, but it wasn’t. It was kind of like having two loving families and it was nice…

“What is going on in that head of yours? You have your thinking face on and nothing good ever comes up with that in my experience,” Zane spoke in a wary tone from behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

I smiled and turned towards him with a smile.

“Nothing sinister this time, I promise. I was just thinking about us, our lives…”

“And? What do you think?”

“I think I got the short end of the straw. I could have found better men than a silly Alpha who can’t tell between serious thinking and fond reminiscing,” I said in a mournful tone, bursting the bubble of my mate, who was most definitely fishing for compliments.

“Y-You… Me…” He stuttered out indignantly, his eyes wide with disbelief and outrage. He looked so confused that I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. 

“You should know better than that, Mr. Alpha. I wouldn’t have accepted you and loved you if I didn’t think you were the best. You know I never settle for anything but the best,” I teased him and he straightened up.

“Damn right. I am the best!”

I rolled my eyes at him before moving towards him, and he held his arm out. I walked into his welcoming arms, feeling like we were two pieces of a puzzle. Bliss…

“I love you, Mr. Alpha.”

“And I love you, my sassy mate.”

I placed my head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly. Life was good…

As if on cue, my eyes fell on the table where the note from my anonymous ‘well-wisher’ had appeared on the night of our mating. And the damn note, which had so many wrinkles from reading and crumbling many times, still laid on the table when I knew for a fact that I had placed it inside the drawer this morning. I wasn’t surprised since this wasn’t the first time it happened and it wasn’t the most shocking thing that happened with the stupid letter, either. I had even tried tearing the note to pieces and burning it to ashes, but the bloody thing always returned to the table like nothing happened. Like it had a life of its own and it was indestructible. Talk about creepy stalkers…

Feeling me stiffen in his arms, Zane pulled back from the hug and followed my gaze. Seeing me looking at the cursed letter, he sighed.

“Kayla, it is just a letter. A letter that someone sent just to scare you. It isn’t even a threat. Just because they said they know your secret, it doesn’t mean they do. They didn’t tell what the secret was. Only you and I know your secret, and no one else will ever know it. It is either someone bluffing and trying to get you to out yourself or it is just a prank. See, they never sent a letter after that. Just ignore it,” he said like he always did in the last three months whenever the topic came up.

I nodded at him in agreement, even when I didn’t really agree with him. I didn’t think even he believed what he said. The letter appearing on the table always, even after all my attempts to destroy it, attested to the fact that it wasn’t a normal letter. But he conveniently chose to ignore that. After all, humans tend to believe what they want to, even when the proof is right in front of their eyes. We werewolves weren’t immune to that habit of believing ‘It had not happened unless we acknowledge it’.

I sighed and took the damn letter away before tucking it inside the drawer, trying not to look at the creepy words in it. But it was useless. The words have become so familiar to me that they flashed in my mind even if I didn’t look at the letter.

‘Dear Alpha Kayla,

Your secret is safe with me. For now…

A well-wisher’

Even if Zane insisted that it was nothing but a random prank or someone bluffing without knowing anything, my instincts told me it wasn’t. I just knew it in my heart that someone knew who I really was. That I was the Feral Assassin. And they promised to keep my secret for now. The hidden threat that they won’t be silent forever rang as clearly as if they had shouted that at me. And I had to silence them forever before they could spill my secret out. But what exactly were they waiting for? They could have alerted the council any time in the past three months and even if there was no proof, such a huge accusation would have warranted an investigation. My secret would have been out by now and I would have been killed by the council just because I was a Feral wolf, even if I posed no threat to the society like my predecessors…

I thought back to the time when I first received the letter. I was ready to face my so-called well wishes at first and thought they would make their move any moment then. My determination gave way to doubt and then panic when nothing happened in a week. I wondered what they were planning and as I was on the verge of hysteria, Zane started his prank theory and though I knew better, I listened to him because I felt better with the thought. 

As a month passed, I started to relax and the thought of the so-called well-wisher almost left my mind. That was when I decided to just burn the damn letter, only to find it back on the table, as good as new. From then, I tried everything to destroy the letter and when nothing happened; I knew that I wasn’t safe from the mysterious person who sent the letter, but I had a feeling that the threat wasn’t immediate.

Two months passed just like that but from a week ago, I started feeling restless again. I had a feeling that something was going to happen. My instincts were telling me that the one who claims to know my secret would be making their move soon, and it wouldn’t be as simple as a letter this time. Was I ready for that? Of course not, but I had no option but to deal with it because, unlike the past, I wasn’t just living to take care of my pack and take revenge on my family’s killer. This time I was living for myself too; I wanted to live peacefully with my mate and I wouldn’t allow anyone to snatch that from me, whatever it takes.

I will be ready when you come, my hidden enemy. And I will make you regret ever trying to mess with me. 

My hands sparked as the determination fueled my power and with the confidence boost, I once again felt calm. I turned back and started walking away, only to freeze and look back on the table to see the damn letter on the table. The same letter that I had tucked into the drawer just a moment ago. 

I shook my head before making a move to head back when the letter glowed. Well, it had never done that before. What was up with it now?

‘SOON’

The words glowed in the letter and before I could even blink; it vanished as if it was never there. I would have thought I had imagined it if not for the goosebumps in my arms from my power responding to the power that filled the room. It was real indeed. They had just sent me a message again after three months of silence. I guess it was time to face my enemy. Bring it on, my dear well-wisher...