Chapter 5

DAWN:

Thomas's room was a mess but I know my way around it. The fact that he hasn't shown up to confront me, a supposed intruder, means they have him. I can't begin to imagine what they will do to him.

"Where is this place? Where are we?" I hear the paranoid voice of Russell from behind me.

"This is my world," I say as I ransack through Thomas's stuff for something to wear. I then add, "Your world."

"You keep speaking bullshit."

"And you keep pretending to be what you're not!" I snap, turning around to face the man that can't seem to keep quiet. "Stop acting like you don't know what this is. You were only twelve when you were forced out of your real home so it means you were wise enough to know what happened then. This shouldn't be a thing of surprise to you."

He seems dumbfounded now as he doesn't say anything to rebuff my words. This gives me a chance to continue my search for something to wear.

Eventually, I find a plain shirt and a short. I put the short on first. And while I get into the shirt, I say to Russell, "Once I've gotten this on, we'll need to leave here. I'm sure the pack is on high alert now so we have to look for every available means to stay hidden from sight."

"What are you going to gain from all of this? What's in it for you?" Russell asks me, his eyes stern as he stares straight into my eyes.

"A better pack," I say without even thinking twice. "A better pack is all I want. And if it's to go all out for that, then that's what I'll do."

"Did you even think to consider if I want to get involved in this? I watched my parents die in front of me and you suddenly bring me back to the same place it happened. For what? To relive what happened?"

"Oh wow. You finally admitted that I didn't get the wrong guy."

He frowns. "Answer me!"

"Just so you know, young Alpha, this isn't the right place to discuss this. I'll answer every of your questions when we're in a safe place. The longer we stay here, the better chance for those bastards coming from the human world to catch up with us."

Even as I spoke to him, I was already weighing my options on what to do to get us out of here. I can't seem to think of anything right at this moment because I don't know much about the situation of the pack.

One thing for sure is that Gamma Connor is going to catch up with me one way or another. Who knows what he's doing to take his time.

"Do you have any useful tool on you?" I ask Russell in a bid to find a way to help us out of here.

"You didn't let me take anything from my apartment," he says.

"Oh. My bad," I mouth, recalling the showdown that occured in his place in the human world. To be honest it was only a little chance that I grabbed that got us out of there safely.

I feel a strong gust of wind all of a sudden around. I knew what was coming already. Gamma Connor was here with the warriors and this means we're screwed, me and Russell.

"The bastards are here," I inform Russell who suddenly looks uneasy at the information I just gave to him.

"What are we going to do?"

I'm surprised to hear him ask that. Seems he's ready to save his skin after all the pretence he has been displaying before now.

To answer his question, I tell him, "We wait."

*****

ALPHA LUCIAN:

"You told me they all died, Arnold. Every last of them. Isn't that what you said? So what is this crap about one of Denver's sons surviving?" I throw that question at my Beta, barking at him as I speak.

"I thought they did. I'm surprised as you are, believe me. I checked for myself before locking the door on them. They were all in before we set the place on fire. If someone had escaped or had been left out, I would have known," he explains.

"But you didn't!" I snap. "You keep revealing your incompetence more and more. I should have you taken from your position already!"

The twist of events from yesterday was taking a mental toll on me. How that omega disrupted my meeting with her stupid claim was making my head boil. I should have killed her the instant she opened her mouth to speak.

I was furious. The rage consuming me right now could burn down a building. I need to take this anger out on something or someone. Barking at Arnold wasn't in any way helping.

"Bring the boy in," I instruct him and he leaves me chamber while I remain with the rage in me.

How could any of Denver's pup survive? I thought I succeeded in eliminating every one of them. This news reaching me has disorganized my thought flow already. Where the hell is Connor already?

The doors to my chamber open and I see Arnold walk in. Behind him are two warriors dragging in a boy.

I still remember the boy. He was the one sitting beside the omega that stood up against me. And from the reports, he fought off some of the warriors while his friend successfully created a portal with a ring and then jumped through it.

The warriors push him down on his knees to the floor. His face was battered and bruised from being tortured. It was an order I gave out to the guards on him for abetting in treason.

"Leave us," I announce and the warriors walk out of my chamber. Looking up at Arnold, I say, "You too."

The look in Arnold's eyes was enough to be read. The fear that flashed in it was one that said he knew what was going to happen once he was out of here. I wasn't planning to do something different from his fear.

Once I was left alone with the boy, I walk up to him. He could barely look at me as one of his eyes was swollen.

The sight was everything I needed now. But I wasn't satisfied.

"Twelve years ago, Alpha Denver Hondra and every member of his family were killed in a house fire. Now, most of the pack members believed it was my doing because I forced my way to the seat of Alpha after that. But I only took what was mine. It was what I wanted and I went for it."

I pause to relive the memory of the time I first became the Alpha of the Red Moon pack. It was a dream I fulfilled for myself and I would do it again and again.

Facing the boy again, I say, "Your friend decided to pull a stunt yesterday at the pack meeting. She accused me of killing the former Alpha and laid claim of his son still living. The first thing I need you to answer is how she found out about this. How does she know Denver's son is still living?"

A crooked smile makes it way to the boy's bloody lips. He manages to look up but he wasn't able to keep his head in that position for too long.

"Alpha Lucian... there's nothing I can tell you. Nothing you can force out of my mouth. You had better do what needs to be done and do it quick," he says, coughing out loud after that.

"You're trying to be a loyal friend to a girl that put you in trouble. Maybe it's not loyalty. Maybe you two have been planning this together all this while. Because how would she have been able to access the Archives to get the rings if she didn't have help from someone?"

"You don't know Dawn enough. She never needs help from anyone. Not even me."

That information has me narrowing my eyes. A weird feeling creeps in me and a thought that I didn't see myself putting in mind comes to me.

"If you refuse to give me an answer to my question, then I'll implore you to answer me this question. Maybe I'll spare your life after that," I tell him. "Who is Omega Dawn's father?"

For a while the boy doesn't say anything as he groans in pain. And when he finally does, the words that leave his mouth doesn't surprise me one bit.

"Go to hell, Alpha Lucian!"

My claws elongate. Without thinking twice, I swipe at the boy's neck. The feeling of liquid dripping down my claws after that didn't even need me to look at him to know how much my claws went into his neck.

I hear the sound of the boy's body drop to the floor so I summon the warriors that brought him in along with Arnold.

"Take the body out of here. And get a maid to clean the mess up," I instruct them and they set to dragging the lifeless body out of my chamber. "As for you, Arnold, I need you to look into that Omega. Find out all about her and get back to me before morning."