43.Evelyn. As soon as light filtered through the window of the Alpha’s room, I got up from bed and stretched, knowing that it was yet another day to face the people of the pack. It has been two days since Alpha Gaius left the pack in my command and care. Two days of pure torture for me. Two days of receiving nothing but pure hatred oozing from the people of the pack. If I hadn’t been the recipient of the hatred from these people, I never would have believed that something like that was possible. It was after I was left all by myself to run the pack that I knew and realized that the people didn’t like me a single bit. All the while they pretended to respect me, it was because I was always around Alpha Gaius and they were just trying to respect the man. That, or because they were still lowkey scared of him because of how ruthless he was before he changed. “Good morning, Luna. Are you ready for the day?” Grave asked me with a cheerful smile. I sighed as she reminded me of all th
Gaius. Finally! I was granted the audience I sought for with Alpha Trey of Trey Wood Pack. After I left the pack about two days ago, I had wandered around the man’s pack, trying to see if I could assert the situation around and see if that would give me the insight I needed to know why the man had been very adamant about selling off his pack. But the pack was heavily guarded and knowing anything was out of the question. I didn’t need to be told before I realized that no matter what I was trying to do or stop, I had to get access to the man himself. I thought it was going to be hard to get the man to grant me an access, considering how his front hold was tight and how he kept people out of his space. However, the access was granted a few hours after I sent the request. That gave me the revelation I needed to know that there was indeed fire on the mountain and that the man was burning, even though he was only trying his best to act like he was not bothered by anything. “Alpha Gaius
Evelyn. I jumped up from the bed, my heart hurting in my chest. Something had gone wrong somewhere. I shook my head, trying to shake the feelings that something had happened to my man wherever he was in the quest of stopping Alpha Cyrus. I didn’t know how I thought so, but I knew something had woken me up from the sleep and had hammered the words into my mind. Unable to shake off the thought, I whipped up my phone from the bedside desk and quickly unlocked it. I pressed down on number one until it began to call my mate, Alpha Gaius. ‘Sorry. The subscriber you are trying to call is currently not available.’ The automated voice responded in place of a ring that I was expecting. I hung up the call and decided to try again. Again, I got the same response. No matter how many times I tried to reach him, I kept getting the reply that he was not available. It has been three days since he left the pack. And since he walked out of the pack, it had been impossible to reach him no matter ho
Evelyn. I was just about to bring out a bag filled with decorating stuff from the book of the car when I heard what the guard said. I paused first, then dropped the bags in my hands back into the boot before I rushed to where the guard and the Beta were standing. “What did you just say?” I asked the guard, still not believing my ears. I looked at Beta Zack and saw that he was just as shocked by the news as I was. “What happened?” He finally asked after he regained himself. “The guard was on the patrol ground on one of the tight areas of the outskirts of the pack. He was running a routine check the way we do once a day for the tight spots. When he didn’t return within the hour as normal, two of us went in search of him. We met him there, already dead.” The guard explained. Already dead?That sounded like he was ambushed. Almost as if whoever attacked him had been waiting for him. “Do you know who did it? Was there any clue that points to the culprit?” The Beta asked. I had to sa
Evelyn. Finally, the moment of truth was here. I stared at the hall that I and the maids had done our very best to transform into a ballroom. To be very honest, it was not as bad as I imagined that it would be. Instead, it looked very neat. After we were done with the decorating and I gave everyone time off to relax,Grace and I went to relax for a while as well. When it was close to the time the ball was supposed to begin, we got dressed in clothes that I got for us specially for the occasion. Now, we were at the hall, waiting to see if all our efforts would yield any meaningful result. The clock barred an alarm and I looked at it to see that it was now exactly right in the evening - exactly when the ball was supposed to start. I looked at the door expectantly, but I saw no one. My heart sank as I began to fear that the people might truly not come just because they didn’t want to be associated with me. “Maybe they are still preparing,” I muttered to myself, knowing that it was jus
Evelyn. An attack? All of the sudden? How had it even happened that they were able to infiltrate the pack without anyone spotting them?I fell on the bed and sighed. What was it that was going on exactly? Why was it looking like everything was falling against me? Why couldn’t I just have a day of rest with these people? How had it been that the only time it looked like I was actually going to be victorious was the time something as terrible as this was happening?I walked to the door and opened it, only to see over twenty soldiers guarding the door. The moment they saw me by the door, they barricaded the place, telling me without words that I was not allowed out of the place. “Where is Grace? What is happening? Are the pack members okay?” I asked all the questions in my mind. “Luna, please stay indoors. As soon as we have any of the information, we will let you know. For now, we don’t.” One of the guards replied. I noticed that he was the same guard who came earlier to announce the
Evelyn. Wow!Were these people actually ganging up on me at the moment? After everything that happened that we all were witnessing? The next best thing they could think of was to gang up on me?“How does planning a party determine if we would get attacked?” I asked them, already getting fed up with them and their antics. These were the people whom I had thrown the party for because I wanted to get into their grace badly. “Because if you had not spent time planning that party, you would have been able to sense on time that we were in danger, but no, it was all like that because all you cared about was your party!” That was the Elder. I sighed. Would anything I did ever be enough for these people? Or would it be that no matter what I did or how hard I tired, they would never be able to accept me for who I was?“Nothing to say?” The head of maids asked in a low contempt voice. “Well, that same ball party that you are here putting down saved so many lives. Lives of people who regarde
Gaius. My head banged furiously. I frowned as I wondered what my head had been hit with to make it hurt this much. As soon as the thought of the hit came, I opened my eyes to see my environment and who had dared to hit me. Instead of being in the office of Alpha Trey as I last remembered, I found myself on a seat, my hands and legs bound to it with something that felt cold on my body, which my brain managed to translate to metal. I hissed as I looked around to see if I would be able to get any clue, but everywhere was dark, making it dark to see beyond a few centimeters from where I sat, bounded. Where was I and how had I gotten to the place?I tried to remember exactly what went wrong when I was at Alpha Trey’s place. The only thing that came to mind was me asking him if he had a recorder that I could use to help him fight against Cyrus so that he would have his daughter back safely in his pack and be able to stop the other man from blackmailing him. Then, I saw the look of shock
oEvelynEverything felt strained—our pack, our leadership, even my relationship with Gaius. We were trying to hold everyone together, but cracks were forming, and fear was seeping through.By the time evening arrived, I felt as if I hadn’t taken a proper breath all day. Gaius had spent most of the afternoon in the training grounds, working with the enforcers to boost their morale. I stayed in our room, trying to plan ways to calm the pack’s growing unrest.As I sat by the window, staring out at the dimming sky, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. I sighed, reaching for it, expecting to see a message from Lisa or Zack. Instead, my stomach flipped when I saw the screen light up with an unknown number.I hesitated. My finger hovered over the notification before I finally opened the message.“Cyrus isn’t as untouchable as he wants you to believe. He has fears, weaknesses. If you want to know the one way to bring him down, contact me.”I read the words over and over, my chest tighteni
EvelynThe news of Cyrus’s latest attack had spread like wildfire, leaving fear and uncertainty in the minds of everyone.I stood near the large window in our study, staring out at the pack grounds. People were gathered in small groups, their hushed voices and wary glances betraying their fear. I could feel their doubts, their growing mistrust, and it stung more than I wanted to admit.Gaius sat at the desk behind me, his head resting in his hands. His normally strong, and commanding presence seemed dimmed, burden by the pack’s safety.“They’re scared,” I said quietly, not turning to face him. “I can feel it. Their fear is everywhere.”Gaius lifted his head, his green eyes meeting mine. “And they’re turning that fear into blame,” he said, his voice heavy. “They don’t think we can protect them anymore.”I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. “We’ve faced worse before, Gaius. They know what Cyrus is capable of, but we’ve always fought back.”“This time feels different,” he mu
CyrusThe photograph of my father lay on the desk before me. It's edge was worn and the image slightly faded, but his eyes still seemed to pierce through me as they always had.“You doubted me, didn’t you?” I muttered, leaning back in my chair.“You thought I’d never amount to anything more than a disappointment.”I picked up the photo, running my gloved fingers along the frayed edges. His expression was as cold and unforgiving even in death as it had been in life. My lips twisted into a sharp smile.“But look at me now,” I said softly, my tone almost mocking. “I’ve surpassed even your wildest dreams. A world where the strong rule unchallenged, where no council, no laws, no Alphas can stand in the way—that’s what you always wanted. And I’ve made it a reality.”The smile faded as my wolfs growl rumbled low in my chest, the sound filling the silence of the room. “All that’s left are the two thorns in my side. Gaius and Evelyn.”Their names rolled off my tongue like a curse. They h
EvelynGauis sat across from me in silence, his eyes distant, fixed on something far beyond the room we were in.“You’ve barely said a word since you got back,” I said softly, my voice low. “What’s wrong?”He turned to meet my gaze, his jaw tightening before he spoke. “At the amphitheater,” he began, his voice low, as though speaking too loudly might shatter the moment, “I saw someone.”I tilted my head, frowning. “who?”“A woman,” he said, shifting slightly. “She was backstage, standing near the edge of the crowd.” He paused, asif searching for the right words. “She looked like you, Evelyn.”The room seemed to spin, his words throwing me off balance. “Like me?” I whispered.Gaius nodded, his gaze intense. “Not just in appearance. The way she moved, the way she stood—it was so familiar. And her face... It wasn’t completely clear, but...” He hesitated, the lines on his face deepening. “I think it was your mother.”I felt air leave my lungs in a rush, and I gripped the edge of
GaiusThe forest grew quieter the farther we ran, the shadows swallowing the sounds of pursuit until it felt like we were alone with the whispers of the trees. The boy clung tightly to me, his small hands gripping my shirt as though letting go would mean the end of his fragile safety. Raven loped beside me in her wolf form, her breathing ragged but steady, her injured shoulder leaving a faint trail of blood on the forest floor.The hideout was less than a mile away, an old hunting cabin reinforced to serve as a temporary safe house for situations exactly like this. The closer we got, the more I allowed myself to hope we might make it without further incident.Raven reached the clearing first, shifting back into her human form with a sharp grunt of pain as she clutched her injured shoulder. She didn’t look at me as she opened the cabin door, but I could feel her frustration radiating like heat.Inside, Adam and Lisa were waiting, their tense postures relaxing only slightly when the
GaiusCyrus stood tall on the stage, his voice booming with twisted conviction as he flaunted his power. The sight of the boy, trembling and locked in that cage, burned in my mind, and I knew there was no time to hesitate.Raven, beside me, moved with practiced stealth as we crept along the perimeter of the massive gathering. Her hood had concealed most of her face, but the tension radiating from her was unmistakable. “Gaius,” she murmured under her breath, her sharp eyes scanning the crowd, “this is madness. Even if we get the boy, we’ll have every rogue in this forest on our heels.”“I know the risks,” I replied, my voice low. “But leaving him here isn’t an option.”Her jaw tightened, and for a moment, she said nothing. Then she exhaled sharply. “Fine. But if we’re doing this, we’ll need to create a distraction. Something big enough to scatter them.”“Leave that to me,” I said, my mind racing with possibilities.We moved quietly through the group of rogues, careful not to draw
GaiusEvery step Raven and I took was deliberate. We moved in silence as we approached the secluded location of the Shadow’s grand gathering.The intel we got was just enough to confirm Cyrus’s presence and the purpose of the meeting. The rogues were gathering to swear loyalty to their new “Supreme Alpha” and witness the unveiling of his latest weapon.Raven walked ahead of me, her features covered by the hood of her cloak. “This isn’t just a meeting,” Raven whispered as we neared the clearing. “It’s a show of power. Cyrus wants to remind them why they follow him.”I nodded, adjusting the mask covering my face. “Then we’ll make sure we see everything,” I said, my voice low.The clearing came into view suddenly. The rogues had gathered in a makeshift amphitheater carved into the earth, a steep circle of jagged rocks surrounding a central stage. We slipped into the crowd unnoticed, our disguises blending with the rogues around us. The sounds of murmured conversations and the occ
EvelynThe house was quiet.It was the kind of calm that should have been soothing but instead made me uneasy.I sat at the dining table, stirring my tea until the liquid had cooled to the point I felt it was undrinkable no more.My mind churned with the thoughts of Gaius’s mission preparations, Raven’s lead, and the decisions we had to make. Just knowing that Cyrus was still out there, regrouping, left a constant ache in my chest. My wolf stirred uneasily.A knock came at the front door, the sound startled me enough as the spoon from my hand jolted. Grace appeared moments later, holding a pale envelope. She had an unreadable expression written on her face.“This just arrived for you, My Lady,” she said, handing it to me.I frowned, taking the envelope cautiously. There was no name or address on it, just the words Luna Evelyn written in elegant, handwriting. The paper felt rough beneath my fingers. It smelt like herbs.“Who delivered this?” I asked.Grace shook her head. “A cou
GaiusI sat in my office, staring at the map laid out before me, my thoughts a storm of frustration and helplessness. The fractured bond between Evelyn and me lingered in my chest like a physical ache, but there was no time to dwell on it. Not when Cyrus remained a threat, regrouping in the shadows like the viper he was.A soft knock on the door broke my reverie.“Come in,” I called, my voice heavier than I intended.The door opened to reveal Raven, her expression unreadable as she stepped inside. She no longer carried the air of detached confidence that once defined her. Living among the pack, isolated and distrusted, had stripped away some of her bravado.“What is it?” I asked, my tone guarded.“I have a lead,” she said, her voice steady despite the tension in the room.I raised an eyebrow, leaning back in my chair. “A lead on Cyrus?”She nodded. “He’s moving to regroup with the Shadow’s leadership. There’s an old abandoned stronghold in the eastern mountains. It’s isolated, for