Chapter 5. Luke's pov

"Poisoned?" Anna's mother dropped the cup in her hand causing me to smirk. "Yes." I answered, forcing an expressionless face as I walked to Anna's father, Stefan. Our once upon a time, formidable warrior and Gamma.

I snaked an arm around his shoulder and whispered, "What about you and your wife die for your daughter's chance to live?" The moment I said that, I sensed an attack from Stephanie, Stefan's wife.

I swiftly turned around, avoiding her kick before it landed.

Stephanie's upper body was weak compared to her husband but she had legs that could leave a person paralyzed for months. I did not want that.

"You backstab! This was your plan, wasn't it?" Stephanie yelled, "You took advantage of our delivering wine to the past Alpha and his son, and poisoned it! And now you're going to use that to drive our daughter away from her mate? How is she supposed to live, tell me!"

"Exactly. Anna is still so young. She's dead if you two die, but she's worse than dead without her mate."

From their silence, I could tell they were contemplating my ideas in their head. And that was all it took for me to win.

"As long as you two admit to poisoning the wine, you'll be banished for sure with your daughter. But I'll find a way to bring her back after you two die."

"You wretched fool!" Stephanie tried to attack me but Stefan stopped her with a single arm. "If you attack, Anna will be placed in a difficult spot even more!"

Stephanie looked at me bitterly and I could tell that she was trying to hold back her tears. After a few moments, she clutched her husband's hands and said, "I'm not afraid to die if it's with you. What I cannot accept is that Anna dies alone!"

The moment Stephanie said that, I knew my plan had been a success. I turned around to leave and heard Stefan whisper, "Me too."

I walked out the door and saw that it was already surrounded by the pack warriors. This was all the confirmation needed, there was no escape for the traitors.

From the distance, I saw Anna being pushed forward with a rope tied around her wrists.

The middle ranked wolf that was handling Anna bowed in front of me and said, "Beta, it's time."

I dismissed him and took a step to Anna but she was staring down at her tied wrists.

"You betrayer," I said, solely to see fear and disappointment in her eyes but when she looked up at me, she was completely unphased. She leaned to my ear and whispered, "Betrayer."

Somehow, this made me madder than I already was. Why wouldn't she cave in? She was already in a difficult spot with her parents, why wouldn't she surrender to defeat?

The Gammas were escorted out of their house and I pushed Anna towards them.

"You heard the Alpha orders through the mind link didn't you? He said, "Exile!" I declared. That seemed to have an effect on Anna now, because she was holding back tears, but it didn't seem to work because she ended up bailing in the arms of her parents.

I smirked, finally feeling the sense of satisfaction that I wanted.

 

Anna's pov

The moment my mate left my room after indirectly calling me a killer, I felt a shift in the pack through the mind link.

"Attention, everyone." I heard my mate say through the mind link and my eyes pooled with tears.

"If you haven't heard, I'll be the one to give this important news."

After a couple moments of silence, he said, "My father, the former Alpha of Blue Thunder, is dead."

The moment he said that, chills ran up my spine because I knew he was going to make a decision based on what he'd heard and punish me and my parents for it. Even when I knew this, I didn't try to stop him because he was my love and my Alpha, I couldn't control him, or I didn't want to.

"My father died due to poisoning and the people involved are the Gammas, and their daughter who also happens to be my mate."

My heart ached in pain and I heard some pac members curse at me and my parents while some protested that we wouldn't do such a thing. My tears fell. He had made his decision.

"Their punishment is… Exile! They will be chased out of the pack by a hundred of my warriors. Never to return to Blue Thunder ever again." With that, the mind-link connection is cut off.

I fell to the floor due to my lack of balance and prayed in my heart that this wasn't true and that I was just having a really bad nightmare.

However, the door opened and Piercy, one of the pack's squad members, walked in.

The moment he saw me, he bowed his head in apology. "Anna,"

I looked up at him teary eyed and noticed the look of pity that crossed his face when he saw me and I didn't like that.

I forced myself to stand to my feet before staring up at Piercy with my chin up, "You're here to take me, aren't you?" Upon seeing the rope in his hand, I stretched my hands forward and whispered, "Do it."

"I'm sorry," He whispered as he closed the distance between us and tied my hands.

I diverted my gaze from him to the door, my heart aching terribly but I contained it. It was Haiden's decision to punish me this way so I was going to take it even though I had no doubt this was nothing but a set up by the enemies to stop me from being with Haiden.

But still… I found myself being grateful. Because me and my parents were allowed to live. Even though we would no longer be members of a pack, we would be together, just like before. The only difference was that I wouldn't have a mate. But that didn't matter. Lie.

I lived before finding my mate, I would live after him. The only thing I worried about was that Haiden hadn't rejected me as his mate, this made me hold on to a little bit of hope that he might still want me.

I was escorted out of the pack house by Piercy and since we knew each other, he wasn't that aggressive towards me. As we headed out, I smelt Haiden's scent encompassing the path I walked. I knew he was watching, but he didn't dare to show up.

"Where are you going?" I asked as we left the pack house.

"Your parent's." Piercy answered. "The beta should be there by now." The moment I heard that, I had a gut feeling.

"Piercy, the Beta was the one who discovered the poisoning, right?"

"Sure, but why do you…" Piercy trailed off after seeing my horrified expression.

I suddenly felt lightheaded and fell back but luckily, he caught me and secured me in his arms.

"Anna, what's wrong?"

Flashes of little weird micro-expressions I'd seen Luke exhibit, raced through my brain and I couldn't help but suspect him.

Yes, I had no proof that he was the mastermind of this whole plot but nothing else made sense. My parents were old and retired, if they really wanted the Alpha position, they could've easily gotten it when they were in their prime. But at the same time, I didn't know if it could be Luke. He had been with Haiden for years and would want the best for him. He wouldn't separate Haiden from his mate, would he? Him doing that made no sense but I couldn't think of any other explanation.

"Anna," Piercy said, his voice laced with anxiousness. "I'm sorry but we have to go quickly."

I sighed and looked straight ahead. "Okay,"

The moment the beta was in sight, Piercy started to push me forward in a slightly hostile manner but I didn't let that bother me. He was just doing what he had to do.

The moment I got in front of Luke, I stopped and stared down at my tied wrists.

I felt him take a step towards me and the words he spoke next sent chills down my spine. "Betrayer."

I looked up to his hardened gaze and decided to test him. I leaned near his ear and whispered, "Betrayer."

The moment I said that, I felt heat from his anger emanate and spread across us.

From the distance, I saw my parents being escorted out of the house and I could guess from their expressions that they had found out what happened.

I was pushed by Luke to my parents but thankfully my mom caught me. I looked into her beautiful eyes that seemed to glisten as she caressed my cheek, "My beautiful honey," she whispered.

Then Luke said, "You heard the Alpha's order…" The moment he said that, I recalled the exact words Haiden said in the mind link before, and that crushed me.

"Don't stall now, get going." Luke ordered.

My mother looked at Luke and I heard her impending growl.

"Because of your past reputation as protectors of our Blue Thunder pack, I'll give you five minutes heads-up to run. After that, you'll be chased by a hundred warriors, and don't blame me if you die before getting out of the pack."

My mother looked at Luke with rage but for some reason, she didn't express it, which was very out of her character.

"One…" The beta said, lifting a finger up to begin counting.

"Shift, Stephanie." My dad ordered my mother before his bones started rearranging, until he was in his wolf form.

My mother turned to me with light brown hazel eyes. "Shift honey," she said with a smile as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, feeling slightly reassured by her smile and level headedness. "I love you, mom." I mouthed and she kissed my forehead sweetly. When we pulled away from each other, we both shifted into our wolves. And I became aware of how small I was, compared to my parents.

My mother urged me with her eyes and I sped forward in my wolf form with my mom running beside me while my father was running closely behind us.

I didn't know how long we ran but it didn't take long and I could hear the dashing speed of the wolves as they chased after us.

I stopped for a moment to look but my mother said, "Don't look! Just run!"

I did as she said, but I couldn't unsee the brief picture I saw of those warriors running at us with sharp claws and teeth. These were the same people my parents had fought to death with.

My eyes blurred with tears but I couldn't stop running. For my parents. I knew they could have easily outspeed me and gone ahead but because of me, their pace was slowed down.

This realization sank in and I felt myself breaking down as I heard those movements gaining in on us.

Mother seemed to notice my sadness because I felt her nuzzle my neck to reassure me. But then, I heard the growl of my father behind me as he fought the wolves that were closing in on us. But he couldn't control those on our sides.

A brown tall wolf kept for me but mother came to my safety and nudged the wolf away but in the process, her stomach got scratched and she started bleeding.

I almost stopped running but when I saw my mother's desperate gaze, I knew I had to keep going. For them. If I delayed any longer, it would be them that would pay for it. Even if I worried about them, they would be the ones to suffer if I slowed down. Because I was their daughter, they would pay the price.

So I ran faster, pushing myself beyond my limits as I heard my parents' ferocious growls as they fought against the wolves that tried to harm me. I skipped forward, dodging the wolves as best as I could.

Not too long later, I saw the boundary of Blue Thunder in sight.

My thoughts shifted from worry to focus. I could do this.

My paws skipped against the crusty earth but I gave it my all until I crossed the territory. As I did, I called out to my parents with my howl.

When they saw that I had gotten to safety, they seemed relieved and raced together to me. After they crossed the boundary, we ran away together and the warriors stopped chasing after the Beta ordered them to stop.