Twenty four hours. Twenty four hours had passed and there was no sign of any gathering of the pack members, not even an announcement was made for a potential gathering. “Let’s be patient Ida and give her another day to tell the truth.” Forty eight hours had now passed and yet Liana was not calling for a gathering of the pack members to tell the truth about the prophecies and the danger the pack was in. Seventy two hours later, Liana looked comfortable, too comfortable, like she had not received a blackmail letter three days ago. Liana was ignoring me, probably calling my bluff. She wasn’t going to make things easy for me, was she? “There’s a meeting with the alpha, the beta and the elders. Ally, you come with me. Alexa, stay here till we come back.” “Yes, Luna.” Is she trying to keep me out? “Let’s get going Ally.” When they leave the room, I smile to myself. “Trying to leave me out, Liana? I don’t think so.” I slip the map of the underground tunnels out from my pocket and look for t
It takes all my strength to stop myself from laughing at the panic on Liana’s face. Derek and Asher both look confused by her outburst but Liana pays them no mind and snatches the letter from Derek’s hands. “There must have been a mistake, this is actually for me. I’ve been expecting it.” “The guard said it was for Derek. Isn’t it addressed to him?” Asher says. “This actually says ‘the oracle of the moon goddess’, and that’s me Asher.” She replies. Is it? After a tense silence, she excuses herself and leaves the hall. My work here is done, so I shut the hidden door and make my way back to where I came from. My new destination, is the hidden door to the office of the Luna. This tunnel is in even worse condition than the others I’ve been in so far. There are thick cobwebs lined with heavy layers of dust that pulls the cobwebs far from the ceiling. It is a struggle heading into a sea of thick, dusty cobwebs but I do it anyway. When I get to the secret door, I find that I don’t need to o
“Alexa? Are you okay? You look kind of pale. Do you want to sit down?” Hope grabs my hand and I am grateful for the contact. My throat feels like its closing and my breaths come in short pants. I suddenly feel lightheaded. “Alexa!” Hope’s voice sounds like she’s screaming my name from underwater. “Hope, I can’t breathe!” I’m not sure if I get those words out but I know for a fact that I look at her with desperation and panic in my eyes. From the fog around me, I can feel Ida’s panic rising as she growls and growls, trying to reach me, but everything sounds like it is coming from far away and I am alone where I am, not even my wolf is with me. I close my eyes and count to ten in my head but when I open them, I find myself in a dark forest. All I can see are trees all around me. I catch a glimpse of red eyes in the dark but when I look again, they are gone. “Ida? Ida, can you hear me?” I call to my wolf but all I hear is silence. “Ida, please.” I am crying now, the tears flow freely fr
“Who’s Ida?” Asher asks, effectively stopping me from running away from these confusing feelings. “Ida?” I say, turning to face him slowly with a fake ‘I’m confused’ expression on my face. “You mentioned the name quite a lot while you were asleep.” Asher says carefully, watching me with those sharp eyes of his, I needed be careful. “Oh Ida, she’s an old friend of mine.” I don’t remember ever telling Asher the name of my wolf when I was Genevieve, so I hope I’m right and lie. “Any particular reason why you kept on calling for her in your sleep?” he asks, not bothering to hide his curious stare. My mind flashes to the weird dream I had, those creepy red eyes in the darkness and the feel of those hands holding me down, swarming up all over my body. I shiver when I remember the laugh of the mysterious person, ‘it’ had called me Genevieve. “I have been away from home for a while, I guess I just miss her. She’s my closest friend.” Asher is about to say something more but I don’t think I h
The next day, Liana looks like a new person and not the ill-behaved cat she was yesterday. Her face has a rosy glow to it and she has the look of a woman well satisfied (or at least I think she is satisfied. I don’t know how a satisfied woman looks like.) “Luna, you look well rested today.” Ally says with heart signs in her eyes. “Oh, I certainly feel much better today, thank you Ally.” Liana looks at me, like she’s expecting me to comment on the glow around her. “Luna.” I say with a half-hearted nod. Her smile falters a little bit but comes back, even brighter and wider than before. “You seem to be in a foul mood, Alexa. I hope your day gets better.” Oh, I know it will, I say to myself. Liana opens her door and falters when she sees the white envelope on her office floor, like it had been slipped in from the small slit under the door. Her smile dims a little bit, and it disappears completely when she sees that the ‘addressed to’ part of the envelope has ‘Oracle of the moon goddess?
I’m not sure why I run away from the tunnel but my instincts tell me it was the right thing to do in that moment, so I ran. In the back of my mind, I realize that I just missed the best chance I had to see who Liana’s lover was but I remember the feeling I got back in the tunnel. The mystery man had suddenly turned and looked directly at me, it felt like he could see me peeking at them from the peephole. That was unlikely but, in that moment, I was so sure he had seen me behind the secret wall. Once I make it outside the residence of the alpha/luna, I take the time to catch my breath and collect my thoughts. I had just gotten more ammunition to use against Liana. Not only had she lost her position and powers as the oracle of the moon goddess, she was also cheating on Derek -her supposed mate. Cheating on your mate was one of the most painful things that could ever happen to the other mate, I still remember how I felt when Derek left me for Liana . Sometimes, it left the cheated mate
Liana’s hands ball the letter into her fists, she grabs the coffee mug on her desk and hurls it across the room then lets out a scream of pure rage. The door opens and Ally with some guard-wolves rush into the room. “What’s wrong, Luna?” Ally asks. Everything, I say to myself. Liana throwing her mug across the room, has put me in the war zone of her rage. Glass shards pierce my arm and hot coffee splashes on my leg. I left Ally to calm the angry Luna down and went to treat my injuries. At least I knew I hadn’t misunderstood what I had seen, Liana was cheating on Derek. How long had it been going on? From the way they talked, it looked like they had known each other for a while, probably before she got mated to Derek and married him. Many parts of their conversation also didn’t make any sense to me. What had her lover meant by, they will be together soon? Weren’t they already together? The whole thing was confusing to me but I could think about that later. By the time noon had roll
“What do you mean his aura is gone?” I ask Ida. I’m not sure where the panic is coming from but it feels strange to see such a powerful alpha wolf like this and Ida’s observation certainly doesn’t help. “It’s just like I felt with Liana, there’s something different about Derek as well.” I shake Derek with all of my might but he doesn’t wake up, he doesn’t even stir. “I need help.” I rush out of the hallway and spot some elders in the distance. I’m about to call for help when a thought hits me. Derek wouldn’t want them to see him this way, weak and powerless, it was going to make them disrespect him. Who could Derek trust to help him when he was like this? Asher. The answer is clear and simple. Even though I could sense some tensions between them lately, Asher would always fulfill his duty to help his alpha and longtime friend, putting all issues between them aside. I rush to the balcony, hoping that no one will come into the dim-lighted hallway and see the unconscious alpha yet and p
“What the hell?” Asher mutters then stands, about to head to the door when I grab his arm. He blinks at me, surprised to see me in the room then blinks again as if he remembers how he got here. “Where are you going?” I ask. “What do you mean? I’m going to stop them and get an explanation from her.” “Really? You think that’ll work?” I ask with a raised brow. “Why?” “She’s the Luna, a very important person to the alpha, she’s even above you in rank. Do you really think she’ll admit it, even if you saw it?” “You saw it too!” “Who? The omega-maid that was just punished for seducing the alpha? Who’s going to believe me? Calling me as a witness makes your story even more unbelievable to them.”Asher stares at me while he weighs his options in his mind. “They are gone anyway.” I say after a quick glance at the window. “Do you know who the man with her is?” Asher asks. By now, I was already familiar with the build and stature of Ramsey from all the peeking I’ve been doing so I knew it was Ram
It all comes back to me now that I cannot believe I didn’t put the pieces together before. The voice I heard sounds just like Ramsey’s but that also means that his voice was the one in my dreams, the voice in the darkness. Was that why I always felt danger when he was close to me? I step back, wipe my eyes and look into the peephole again but what I see doesn’t change, in fact, they have stopped kissing and Ramsey is trailing his lips along the column of Liana’s neck. I had seen and confirmed with my own eyes now that Liana’s lover was Ramsey.“Wait.” I hear Liana say. “What is it, sweetness?” That term of endearment again, the same one I heard in my nightmare. “What do you think about Alexa?” “Alexa?” “Yes. Don’t think I miss the way you look at her.” Liana grumbles. “And how do I look at her?” Ramsey asks, sounding amused. “Do you like her?” He chuckles at her question. “Honestly, I don’t know what I feel yet. She is interesting.” “So you do like her.” “Sweetness, if I liked her, wh
It turns out that Derek does not expose the ‘incident’ that led to the searching of homes in the pack. I’m so sure it weighs heavy on his mind that he doesn’t find the other dagger or that he didn’t notice it missing in the first place. I smile at the dilemma he must be in but I hadn’t forgotten about Liana. Liana who had ignored my blackmail demands and was thinking that all was well in her world. It was time to shake that world.My suspension ended in two days and I looked forward to it, I looked forward to being in the same area as Liana and Derek. The two days passed by with a blur and I resumed at my new post. My first day working in the kitchen passed by without incident (if I ignore the looks and petty behaviours of the omega-maids I worked with) so when the kitchen was cleared out, I headed for the Luna’s side of the residence. I slipped into the old coat room and entered the tunnel that led to Liana’s office room. I had never opened the hidden door and always watched or liste
Ramsey winks at me and a chill passes up my spine. Why were warning bells ringing loudly in my head because of him? When I was Genevieve, Ramsey also made me feel uncomfortable but we had only met very few times so he wasn’t on my radar then. I didn’t know much about him then and I knew little about him now, so why was he making me feel this way?I can’t take it anymore so I break the eye contact first and turn my attention back to the huge mural painting of Derek and try to ignore the pit in my stomach. “Are you okay?” Hope asks. “I’m fine.” “You kind of zoned out a bit there.” “I guess I’m bored. I thought something more fun had happened.” I lie conveniently. But then my gaze falls on Liana, smiling and clapping along with the crowd and it occurs to me that something fun should have happened. Was it coincidence that Dorothea had escaped Liana’s clutches and then Ramsey had shown up or was I just being paranoid? I push the thought away and focus once more on the mural displayed proud
“They all hated me Sue, I meant nothing to all of them. How could I think I could make them sorry for what they did when they think they did nothing wrong? I’ve been planning this all wrong. My revenge shouldn’t be to make them sorry, it should be to make them regret.” Sue listens quietly as I shed angry tears and vent to her. But then I remember the little girl in one of those rooms, another victim of one of their choices. “But this isn’t about me, can you look after her for some time?” I wipe my tears away and turn to Sue. “Of course.” She says kindly. “Thank you. I have to go back now.” “You’re going back there?” “I have to, my work isn’t over yet. I still have a lot to do.” Sue nods and follows me to the door. “You can always come back here if you choose to.” “I’m grateful for you but you know I can’t. I have to finish what I started.” I take one last glance at the room Valor took Dorothea to. “Take care of her for me, please.” “I will.” I smile at Sue then let myself out of the
“We’ll be safe.” Dorothea’s whisper cuts through my chants for help to the goddess. “Dorothea? Are you okay?” With the tarp still covering the bed of the truck where we are, it is too dark too see anything but I can feel the figure of the little girl being held tightly in my arms, and I’ll be damned if I let her go. I never should have left her there in the first place. “You’ll be fine, I promise.” I say, clutching her tighter to me as I feel the truck slowing down. We must have reached the border of the pack, which means we are about to be inspected by the guard-wolves. “Coming back from the kitchen?” I hear one ask the driver of the truck. I hold my breath, expecting the wolf to search the truck again. If that happens, I’ll have no choice than to fight as Ida because there was no way I was leaving Dorothea in the pack, especially when Liana was looking for her. “We’ll be fine.” Dorothea whispers again. I’m about to say something when there are two quick bangs on the side of the tru
That night, my dreams are filled with a sick looking Dorothea calling for help in a dusty, abandoned cell-room. In another dream, she’s on the floor dying and her last words are ‘you forgot about me.’ I gasp and jolt from my bed, my heart racing like I just ran for my life. I always thought about Dorothea and how she was doing but I had not had any opportunity to go back down to the cells and see her (I wasn’t even sure she was still in those cells).With all thoughts of sleep cleared from my mind, I grab the map to the hidden tunnels and rooms and study them. I look for any other place she could have been taken to and mark them on the map. I had to find a way to take her away from there whether she wanted to or not. A letter had come that morning from the elders about my punishment for my behaviour. I was suspended from the residence of the alpha/luna for a week and I was also removed from my post as Liana’s maid. I was now going to be working in the kitchens, washing dishes.I rolle
“No one cares about me, that’s why none of you feel sorry! None of you feel bad about what you did!” I scream at Asher. “Calm down, Alexa.” “Don’t tell me that!” Deep down in my mind, I know that I sound crazy to him, and I hear warning bells in my head ringing, telling me to be careful with what I am saying. But I ignore it, already too mad about what Derek said and how Liana and the rest are treating me.“What do you want me to say then?” Asher asks me carefully. “There’s nothing you can say! All of you are crazy and you’ll get what’s coming to you!” “I don’t understand what you are saying, Alexa.” Asher sighs in frustration. “Then get out!” “Alexa.” “That’s not my-“I cut myself off just in time. In my anger, I had almost told Asher that wasn’t my name.“Alexa, please go home and rest.” Asher tries again. He’s speaking to me as if I am a stubborn child and his tone just makes me mad all over again. I place my palms flat on his chest and shove him hard. He does not expect this, so he
“They summoned you without an investigation? Isn’t that against the rules?” Hope screams out. “Shh, someone could hear you.” I say. “But this!” she holds out the summons letter and shakes it. “The Luna saw what she saw, I guess the elders took her word for it.” “Oh please, everyone knows the Luna has a problem with you.” “True, but she wasn’t the only witness.” Hope collapses on the sofa and sighs, finally out of complaints. “How are you so chill about this?” She asks me and I shrug.That morning, I had shown Hope and Jessa the letter then explained what had really happened and they were trying to come up with ways I could defend myself but I knew that with Liana involved, nothing I said would let me off the hook. The hearing was to take place by two in the afternoon and it was already thirty minutes past one. I was dressed in a simple dark blue gown with sandals and I had my hair down. Jessa had picked my outfit because according to her, the simpler and smaller I looked, the more the