MELVIN’S POVI hurried to finish my business in the bathroom and prepared myself for dinner.About an hour later, I joined Mother and Father for dinner. I was already seated at the table before they made their way into the dining hall."Rarely do you ever join us at this table and even more rare is you getting here on time," Mother said to me as she settled into her seat. "So tell me, what’s the occasion?"I waited for the maids to complete their tasks of filling out glasses with wine before I continued.I smiled at her, "Should there be a grand occasion before I decide to join my mother for dinner?""You are asking me that?" Mother shrugged at my question. "You tell me. You are the one who always makes it seem like that.""I have to beg my son before he decides to come down and have dinner with his mother. You tell me what goes on in that head of yours Melvin..." she said and I felt her pain from across the table.I loved my mother but Ariel had broken me. It was difficult to just si
ARIEL’S POVI did not spare a second after we got back to Silver Moon from the capital city. I called my squad and briefed them about the quest the council of the court of the Alpha King had set.I wanted us to set out to the Dark Moon as soon as possible to recover whatever it was that was buried with Luna Queen Idara that could lead us to the moon crest.David was very convinced that it was probably a map or some sort of compass that could direct us to where Queen Idara might have hidden the crest.“Now, you must know that I don’t think the moon crest is buried with Queen Idara in her tomb but I do believe she was buried with a clue, perhaps a map or compass, that could lead you to where the moon crest is,” David said to me as he escorted us to our wagons outside the guest house.I nodded at him as I continued matching. It didn't matter what was in the tomb as long as I got to it first.Whatever it was that was in the tomb with Queen Idara, we had to get to it first before anyone el
ARIEL’S POVBy the time we got to Dark Moon the next day, it was late in the afternoon. In a few short hours, the sun would begin to sip out of the sky and give way for the moon to take its place.Thanks to David, we already knew that Queen Idara’s tomb was on the outskirts of Dark Moon and we knew exactly where to find it with the map of Dark Moon that David gave to me.We stealthily approached the location. When we were close enough, I signaled to Ralph, Leon, and Selene to go around the area to make sure nothing or nobody was hiding in wait.A few minutes later, we heard Leon’s whistle signal which made us know that the coast was clear. I, Gio, and Igor advanced to the entrance of the tomb.The tomb came into view. It was a large stone structure sitting on at least half a plot. One could tell from the cracks on the stones and the gray color of the stones that the tomb had existed for almost a century.Ralph, Leon, and Selene hopped out from the back of the tomb and signaled for us
MELVIN’S POV Father wanted us to launch a full assault on the Dark Moon. I wasn’t objecting to it. I couldn’t care less and it wouldn’t be the first pack I invaded for Father.Even more satisfying, Dark Moon’s Alpha, Aleksander, seemed a little too pompous at the court and it would absolutely be my pleasure to humble him.Beyond humbling Aleksander, I and Father agreed that it would be better to just take control of the Dark Moon and secure whatever information was available to lead us to the moon crest.The plan was to take out Dark Moon and block off the other Alphas from finding the crucial information too. For me, Ariel was my main target. No map to the moon crest, No moon crest for her, No throne.Just as she made me lose every ounce of myself, I would make sure she lost what she was fighting for. We were going to see just how cunning she thought she could be after that.I heard a knock on my door.“General, we are ready to move out,” Kyle’s voice came immediately after the knoc
ARIEL’S POVMy squad and I headed straight into Dark Moon. We didn’t have enough people to launch a counter-assault on Joharres’ soldiers but we could still try to save some of them and possibly get to the map before Joharres’ minions did.When we got closer to the main gate, we hid nearby to assess what was happening. We saw that the building that was rocked with the explosion earlier was the two-storey guard quarters at the main gate.I turned to my squad, “Okay, so we can now confirm that Dark Moon is under attack. Here is what we need to do…”I waited for their collective head nod before I continued, “We go in there and save who we can. Try to stay out of sight. Get who you can out of there. Remember the opening we passed about two clicks back before we got to the tomb?”I paused again for their nod before I continued, “Good. Lead them there. Again, stay out of sight. Try to avoid any confrontation. If you are seen, try to evade the fight and get out of there. Understood?”They n
ARIEL’S POVAnother explosion went off in the distance, causing the little bubble that surrounded Jada and me to burst open. The sounds of the screams and destruction happening around us returned and we knew we couldn't keep hugging each other. We eventually let go of each other because we understood the situation we were currently in.I glanced over at the girl behind Jada, who had stopped sobbing after watching our drama, “You saved her from that piece of shit?”Jada nodded at me as she glanced back at the girl too, “Yeah. Some of the men in Joharres’ army are just as bad as Joharres himself.” She spat on the floor after she completed her statement. "He was going to rape the poor girl!"My burning gaze went to the knocked-out guard again and I wished I was the one who found him first. He would have been dead.Why would Joharres cause this much chaos? I understood if he wanted the moon crest or the map to it as we all did, but did he really have to destroy the entire pack to get wh
ARIEL’S POVI got to the Dark Moon palace in almost no time. I had a clear path going through the rooftops of the buildings and soon after, I landed on the verandah at the top of the palace.There was only one door so I knew that was my way into the palace walls. I walked gently, making almost no sound, towards the door.When I got to the door, I pressed the handle down but the door didn’t open. I pressed it down again and shook the door but it still didn’t bulge. I looked under the door handle to see if it had a keyhole but it didn’t.Shit. The door was locked from the inside.It was probably one of those doors that could be locked on only one side of it which actually made sense because this made it impossible for anyone on the verandah to lock themselves out.But this was bad news for me right now. This meant I would have to make a little noise to get into the palace walls.I inhaled and exhaled in preparation for the felony I was about to commit. I muttered a prayer to the goddes
ARIEL’S POV I could guess that if Joharres had completely taken the palace, then Aleksander was probably captured. There was no way Aleksander would have run away. He was too proud and stubborn to do that.I paused as I tried to analyze the situation, this time, I made sure to consider every possibility.If Joharres was in the east wing then that was where Aleksander would be and if I wanted a shot at getting that map, I needed to get him out of there.Saving him would be the only way to gain his trust enough to get the map from him. He couldn't participate anymore now because he didn't even have his kingdom, Joharres had made sure of that.I would have never predicted that this mission would become a rescue mission for the man that also stood against me sitting on the throne.I put my game face on as I headed toward the east wing.As soon as I left the wing where I came in from, it started to seem more like Joharres had successfully overtaken the Dark Moon palace.I saw more of his