Both men looked at me a little confused initially, before Archer seemed to think he knew what I meant by this and shook his head with a look of annoyance. “This is not an invitation for you to go back to your fathers pack, yes you may be marked now, and my trust for you has risen, but I do not trust that at the first chance after seeing your old home, you will run.” He said in a stern voice as though that idea went into my mind, where I only stood up with my arms crossed. “Okay first off Mr Alpha, do not speak to me in that tone and second, I wasn’t talking about going back to my family and asking them, they probably wouldn’t even show me anyway and make it seem as though such things didn’t exist. I was actually talking about going to visit one of my father’s good friends, Alpha Aidan of the Beacon Hill pack. It’s a small pack in a rather secluded area around twenty miles from here.” I explain placing the papers which were in my hand back in the box, Emmett nodding his head whilst
Emmett leads me out of the pack house and towards the wooded area, I knew shifting would be the quickest way but with how unique my wolf was and the constant reminder from my father that I was to hide her at all costs, I knew I couldn’t partake. Once we reached the edge of the east side of the pack, one of the border guards throw Emmett a bag which I will assume is holding his clothes so once we arrive at our destination, he doesn’t have to walk around naked. “Alright, I’m gonna shift and you’ll ride on my back, okay?” He asks looking through the bag to make sure it holds everything he needs before zipping it up, sending him a tiny smile and a nod of my head letting him know I understood, I look down at the ground. “I wouldn’t take what Archer said to heart, he’s just a little cautious due to the way in which you entered the pack and now are leaving without him, I know if I had a mate, I would act the same way.” Emmett explained attempting to stick up for his friend, but I knew th
Walking through the pack house and towards Aidan’s office, I couldn’t help but begin to compare his pack house to Archer’s. It was tiny compared to the one I had become used to, the walls and furniture were beyond outdated and dusty, I had never thought about this place in such a way before, but I couldn’t help it. “Please take a seat.” Aidan smiles as we enter his office, the same pictures and décor on the walls I remembered as a child, a smile on my lips as I’m transported right back to sitting here with Hadwin after playing in the sun all day. I have repeatedly said what it was like to live at my father’s pack once my mother died, there was no place for us to have fun and laugh, but only sadness, anger and resentment clung to the walls like an inescapable odour that even if you wanted to have fun, you couldn’t. That is why Hadwin, and I would count down the days until Aidan would pick us up for a few days to stay with him, his pack vastly different to my fathers to such a degre
Within a few moments, one of Aidan’s pack members had walked into the office with a laptop in hand, Emmett seeming to tense a little watching this man’s each and every move as though he’d pick up the laptop and start attacking us with it! “Back when your mother first discovered that she was pregnant with Hadwin, she wanted to document everything, it had always been her dream to be a mother and she didn’t want to forget anything.” Aidan says whilst his pack member got everything set up on the laptop for whatever it was, we were about to watch. “But due to the back breaking pregnancy, your mother could not get out of bed most of the time so perhaps one or two photos were taken. So, when she found out she was pregnant with you, she made it her duty to document each and every moment, whether it be hard or easy. This meant each milestone that she would hit in her pregnancy, each appointment all of it was captured.” He smiled as the pack member bows in respect to his Alpha before exiting
I sat with my back against the wall watching as the wind shook some leaves from the branches and sent them away with its large gusts, the smell of the light rain which had fell from the sky entered my senses, each matter allowing me to calm down that much more. Archer, who had been feeling the way I was through our mate bond attempted to mind-link me when the guilt and pain spread through my body to ask me what was happening. I of course wanted to speak to him, but after the memory of what he had said to me and the fact that even though I have allowed my walls down and trusted him, he still cannot trust me enough to let me out of his pack without constant updates, I couldn’t bring myself to talk to him. So, with a sigh, I block out his attempts and look down at my feet. “Mate is worried about us! I thought you’d grown up since the mating but clearly, you’re still caught up with your feelings!” My wolf shouts in my mind once I’d blocked Archer out, but not having the energy to argu
Before I knew it, I was on the back of Emmett’s wolf, holding tightly onto his fur as we headed for home. The sky much darker than it was when we left, the twilight sky showing us how long we had been at Alpha Aidan’s pack. The freezing wind whipped through my hair the faster that we travelled, thankfully, Emmett had offered me his jacket before we left, the warm fabric draped over my small stature preserving much more of my heat. The feeling of the shift in energy is what told me we had now entered back into Archer’s pack, a feeling I didn’t know I would miss as much as I have, I truly hated leaving but knew it was the best thing. If only Archer would understand that. Emmett didn’t go to stop until we were right outside of the pack house but oddly, around the back of the building and not in the front like I’d become used to. With a smile, I throw my legs over his wolf and jump down to the ground, leaving Emmett to rush behind a tree to conceal his body as he shifted. Leaving me t
After his outburst of information which didn’t seem to make sense in the moment, we stood in place against the door inches from each other. His breathing fast as he looked in my eyes, but in the same breath, seemed to be looking straight past me. His hands still held mine in place up against the wall, it was a though he was here with me but his brain in a completely different location. “What do you mean?” I ask after a moment of silence, the longer that we stood in the same position with none of the questions I’d hoped for getting answered, the more I worried for what may be ahead. As soon as I spoke, Archer seems to snap out of whatever trance he was in and pulls me away from the door and closer to the bathroom, a sense of urgency in his step. “That is no longer important, you must begin to get ready for what I have planned for us this evening, I would suggest you wear a more formal yet casual gown for dinner.” He responds dismissing my question entirely, his body still pushing
I couldn’t quite believe the story that was being told to me, I knew I didn’t know much about Archer’s family, but I assumed it was only due to me yet to be announced as Luna or some other simple reason, I didn’t think it was due to his father killing them all! “Why?” Is all I could seem to say as I looked over at Archer, whose face was still plain as he relived the horrendous day he found his entire family dead. “That is something we have yet to understand if we ever will, my father used to leave detailed notes on everything he did as you already know. But this incident, there is not one piece of writing, no map showing when and where it was to take place nothing. In hindsight, I believe he intended it to be that way, if I couldn’t find any evidence which pointed to him, everyone would continue to believe that it was me.” Archer sighs looking back down at the ground, but that was still the subject that wasn’t making any sense to me. “But I still don’t understand, why did your f
The sounds of nature around us were all we could hear, each of us knelling down and waiting in our last moments of peace before the blood hungry battle begun. If I’d allowed myself to go into my head, I would begin to panic from the fear of losing so many, but as like I had learnt, when walking into battle, nothing else had space in your mind apart from the battle in front of you. I crouched down behind a broken tree staring at the clearing before us, Archer beside me with his bright sword in his hand and our men scattering the land waiting for my signal. Each agonising moment which ticked by, the more I repeated to myself that I was born to do this, it was set in the stars from my first breath that in this battle, I would reign victorious. It was time to fully round up the book I was written into, the final chapters were before us. “If you’re here mum and dad, I could use some help.” I whispered looking up at the changing sky above us, this is what mother had meant in her card, s
It’s been a few days since I spoke with Alexander down in the cell, he and Archer spent hours talking in his office about everything, I excused myself to speak with the King and the guys to give them privacy. The King had explained all we learnt from Alexander regarding Alpha Aidan, so imagine how tense the air felt in that office when I entered. Emmett was of course angry, we had been led down the river by Aidan, someone posing as a friend who wanted to offer his assistance, was really the man who was posing us the danger! Whilst I could see Hadwin felt the same as I did, we had grown up with this man thinking he was one of the purest around. He took us in when our father was too much to bear, we even addressed him as Uncle Aidan on so many occasions. But now to know he was the opposite of all we thought he could be and if we boiled it down, was one of the main factors which led to our mother's death, it was a hard pill to swallow. After having a chat surrounding Aidan, we began
The silence of the area took hold of each person that stood to witness it, not one of us knowing what was about to happen next with the notorious angry Alpha which stood right beside me with his arm around my waist. This was something I know Archer had always wanted to happen, to have his father finally, take the blame for what had happened and make everyone see that he’d been telling the truth from the start. But due to everything, it was something he thought would never happen. But now to have his father fully clear his name, I don’t know if he understood what to do next. After a long pause of tense silence, Archer takes a step forward standing in his Alpha stance looking over as our pack members who looked back at little worried and some even sympathetic, now they knew what I’d been trying to tell them since I arrived here was true, they felt bad. “Pack members, I also want to thank you at how swift you all listened to your Luna’s order and gathered here without a second tho
After explaining to the two men with me what my plan was, both seemed more than doubtful that it was going to work but when I looked into Alexander’s eyes as the guards returned and I’d given them my new instruction, I could see the hope but also such gratitude as he looked back at me. “Why are you helping me, it would be much easier for you to walk out of here and pretend we never spoke?” He asked as the guards stood him up and wrapped the suitable chains around his arms and legs. “As I said, this is not only going to help you but will also help Archer and with all he’s done for me, it’s only right I repay the favour.” I say with a smile placing my hands behind my back before a chuckle escape my lips. “And my father used to always say, taking the easy way out may seem simple but it only brings you more trouble down the line.” I joked thinking back to all the times my father had me take the difficult path on jobs he’d send me, at the time I thought he was doing it to pick on me bu
Alexander looked down at the table with a look of sorrow as the King, knowing I wasn’t planning on going anywhere until I heard what Alexander had to say, took his seat beside me and got comfortable to hear what else we needed to know. “I know many will refuse to believe me when I say, I truly did not have any other choice but to kill my family. That is such an outlandish claim, but it is the truth.” Alexander said looking up at me with tears in his eyes, where the vulnerability of this former heartless Alpha broke my heart in a such profound way. “As like you did when we spoke about the flesh eaters and how you helped my mother, start from the beginning.” I say hoping to guide him through telling us the truth, I know this is something he’d been forced to keep to himself for so many years, so actually saying the words is probably so incredibly hard for him. “It all started with your mother's death, as like most of all the awful things that have transpired. I know you may find me
As his words marinated in my mind, the more hurt and confused I became, how could Aidan do such a thing? When Hadwin and I were growing up after our mother died, he was our only source of happiness and peace, he was the brightest beacon of light when our lives were anything but happy. He truly was like a father figure to us, which why even thinking that he could have told those creatures to do that to my own father, it hurt deeply. “H-how do you know that for sure?” I ask after a moment silence to better my thoughts, I know he had already explained why he thought it was Aidan, but he had to be certain. “It can’t be anybody but Aidan, each time one of those flesh eaters attacked, it suspiciously benefited Aidan in some way. The first attack for instance, Aidan’s pack and another called The Full Moon Pack were having a dispute of some sort, Aidan was claiming the Alpha at the time had stolen some of his land, but the Alpha was insistent that no such incident had occurred.” Alexander
When that sentence left Alexander’s lips, I sat silently for a moment not really having an understanding of what he meant. I had always been under the impression that these flesh eaters were like any other wild animal, just a whole lot eviler. Once I turned my head to look at the King who still sat beside me, I spotted the confusion on his face too. “You are under the impression that there is a person who controls the flesh eaters?” The King asked seeming to have the same questions as me, where Alexander only nods his head. “I have been dealing with these creatures for many years and have had the most trained investigators looking into this and never once did we suspect these creatures were being controlled.” The King said explaining what he believed to be true, where Alexander shakes his head with a sigh. “That is the assumption that Beatrice and I made when we first looked into this, I mean who in their right mind would want to control such evil creatures and do such heinous act
Once Alexander had agreed to speak to me, he sat back in his seat silently, by the look on his face, I could see he was attempting to organise his thoughts before he spoke to us, so I watched patiently. “I’m not quite sure how much you know about this situation, so to help us all get a better understanding and for myself to remember correctly, I will start from the beginning.” Alexander said with a sigh sitting forward in his chair after taking a moment to himself. “You were only a small baby when your mother approached me, I had visited your pack to offer my congratulations to your family for your birth as how many Alphas do when an ally gains another family member.” Alexander began to explain looking down at the table to remember, but what he said shocked me for a moment. “The Dark Warrior Pack and The Blood Moon Pack used to be allies?” I ask in a shocked manner, I had no idea before the death of my mother, my father and Alexander got along, I always assumed The Dark Warrior
Once Alexander was chained up, we’re led off into one of the back rooms of the 7th floor, a place I assumed was for the guards when they needed a break whilst working down here. It was in much better condition than the cells outside, even a heater sat on the side which had been turned off due to Alexander being brought in, there wasn’t a single puddle in sight on the floor whereas back in the main section, puddles of old water are all you can see. Alexander was placed down on one of the tables, his chains wrapped around the table leg so he could sit with them on the table in front of him but not enough to moved. The King had to step out to speak with one of the guards which left Alexander and I alone with the guard which had been following us around in case anything was to happen. As I took my seat at the other side of the table, I watch Alexander looking down at the floor under him, his entire body shaking uncontrollably from the shivers of how cold he was. I know he’d done such