It’s going to change everything.
The knowledge sits like a boulder in my stomach, weighing me down.
Being Alpha King requires keeping lots of secrets for the good of the pack.
But this is different.
…This is family.
This is the first step in righting a wrong from almost thirty years ago.
+5
The Arbun family, to which I belong, is the alpha family of Pack Bloody Moon, a family line where every member is red- haired wolf.
There’s a legend that many years ago, our ancestors met goddess under the red moon. The goddess bestowed upon the Arbuns‘ hair the color of the red moon, as well as unparalleled talents… But that’s not the focus of today.
Including myself, there are currently six sons and one daughter in the Arbun family–except for Lilia, all my brothers are exceptionally talented.
Me, Landon, Richard, Aiden, Ryan, Colin…
We are all red hair.
Something feels off when I walk into the room and see my brothers Aidan, Ryan, and Colin in the corner, huddled together deep in discussion.
“What’s this?” I ask, approaching the group.
Aidan has a small photograph of Cara in his hand. Colin has handcuffs in his.
Handcuffs?!
Ways Aidan
up to no good.
I pull Aidan backwards, spinning him to face me. “What are you up to now?” Somehow it’s up to
“Just trying to help my sister out,” Aidan replies, his eyes shifting to his twin, Ryan.
Aidan stands up straighter trying, unsuccessfully, to match my taller height.
“We’re not gonna hurt her or anything, honest.” Ryan says, trying to smooth things over, holding his palms up. “We’re just gonna keep her out of the way, is all.”
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Chapter 22
I growl at all three. “Looks like I called this meeting not a moment too soon.”
My brother Landon strides into the room in a flurry, “What’s thi all about, Eamon? I was having a nice chat with DarkWood’s muscum director, and I’d like to return as soon as possible. She said she was interested in seeing some of my paintings-”
“You’ll have time to network as soon as I’m finished, Landon.” I roll my eyes at him.
“Trust me, you’ll want to hear this.” Richard tells them as he closes the door behind himself.
The four brothers all shoot Richard a curious look before facing back to me, their oldest brother. Their Alpha King.
***
“Richard and I performed genetic testing-“I begin.
Aidan lets out an exasperated sigh, “Don’t tell me–testing on Lila, right?! Not this again, Eamon. Nanny already showed us those results; she’s our sister, get over it.”
“Those results were incomplete.” Richard replies simply.
“Incomplete?!” All four brothers say in unison.
“What’s that means?” Landon asks.
“Lilia is our father’s daughter…” Richard answers.
“See, I told you! Quit wasting our time.” Aidan crosses his arms over his chest.
“But she’s not our mother’s.” I finish for Richard.
“WHAT…?!”
Suddenly, all the brothers fell into silence.
Everyone stares at me with wide eyes, except Richard who is scanning the others‘ faces, observing their reactions.
The room is dead silent for a few moments before they all begin speaking at once.
“That’s impossible!”
“No way!”
“How?!”
The words are coming at me so quickly, I can’t be sure who’s saying what. But I know this is certainly not the news they were expecting.
“Father and Nanny had an affair spanning most of our childhood. Lilia is the product of that affair.” I say keeping my tone business–like.
The news is sure to be shocking enough, I don’t want to fan the flames with excess emotion.
They’re all staring off, mulling over the idea in their minds. I can almost see the wheels turning in each of their heads.
***
Landon speaks first. “But… Lilia… went missing?” He’s trying to process the information.
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Chapter 22
“Our sister went missing,” 4–correct him. “Lilia merely showed up at a convenient time.”
I approach
Aidan and grab the photograph of Cara that remains in his hands. A small smile hits my lips as I look at Cara’s face and see my mother’s eyes and flame red hair.
I hold up the photo for them all to see and repeat, “Our sister went missing.” I point to the photo of Cara.
Colin drops the handcuffs onto the floor with a loud clang as if they’d burned his skin.
Ryan leans in, looking closer at Cara’s features. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
The recognition is plain on his own face as he sees the similarities between Cara and the others gathered around him.
Richard looks very upset, “We’ll all be damned for the part we’ve played in this.”
Landon snorts, “Speak for yourself. You all know I never liked Lilia-”
“None of that is important right now.” I sharpen my tone. I need to keep this on track.
We’re deep in another pack’s territory, and I’ve just unveiled a gigantic revelation that could compromise the alliance we’re
about to form.
“Lilia will be DarkWood’s problem soon enough. We are NOT,” I make hard eye contact with Aidan, “going to make a scene to disrupt this wedding.”
Aidan lowers his eyes to the floor.
“We get through this ceremony. We keep this just between us. We find Cara, and we take her home.” I look at each of my brothers, ensuring they understand the plan.
“We’ll figure everything else out later. Let’s just get this done.” I look back down at the photo of Cara in my hands.
“…For mom.”I say.
Another silence fell.
“Of course we will,” Colin says seriously.
He’s the youngest of us, but usually besides me, the most mature Mom’s death hit him particularly hard.
I grab my phone and dial Cara’s number; thankful my Beta had managed to get it for me. The line rings and rings and rings with no answer.
My brothers are watching as I make two more attempts to call with no success. She’s not picking up.
What happened to her…?
I look around, thinking through a plan. I can’t leave. As Alpha King, it’d draw too much attention if I left now. And I wouldn’t even know where to look in DarkWood territory…
But we’ve got to do something before…
Before Cara gets hurt.
It’s a possibility I’d rather not entertain.
I can’t explain it, but I’ve got a bad feeling about all of the above. Lilia never goes down without a fight. I’d bet money that Lilia has enlisted help in her quest to get Cara out of Alaric’s life
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Chapter 22
My eyes snap to Richard
“Go to the hospital. Just in case. If anyone asks, say you got an emergency call,” I tell him.
Ryan raises his eyebrows in surprise. “You don’t think she’d be here, do you?”
“We all know Lilia. Do you really think you three were the only people she schemed with?” I ask the group.
The look of understanding on their faces is all the response I need before continuing. “We all know what she’s capable of… What she can be like when her mind is made up.”
Heads nod all around. Each of us has more than a few tales of Lila’s temper when things don’t go her way.
+5
The wedding is about to start. I just hope we find Cara before Lil, or Lilia’s associate, does. Cara’s life might depend on it…
Chapter 23
Alaric’s POV
The moment’s almost here. I’m about to marry Lilia.
I’ve always been the calm one, but at this moment…I’m trying to ignore my nervous.
Nothing rattles me.
But for some reason, the idea of getting married without Cara present really has me thrown.
She said she would be here. It was a direct order. She promised.
And yet, as guest after guest arrives at the hotel and finds their seats, there’s no sign of the red headed Beta who’s been at my side since I became Alpha King three years ago.
She’s not here.
I should’ve known from that awkward phone call we had earlier this morning. She sounded… different. Something sounded off with her, something I couldn’t quite place…
“Congratulations, Alpha King!”
“What a lovely day for a wedding!”
I smile politely at the pack members gathered in attendance, their kind words barely registering with me. I shake hands without looking at who those hands belong to..
The guests, dressed to the nines with their glittering jewels, streamed past the grand entrance’s red carpet, yet Cara was conspicuously absent from the crowd.
“Cara…” Grey lowly says.
I didn’t have time to look for Cara earlier, I was too busy fulfilling Lilia’s requests.
Lilia is beside herself with anticipation for the wedding ceremony. She wanted a special hot tea from a certain café in town; she wanted donuts from another café all the way on the other side of town. She wanted scented candles from somewhere else entirely.
Lilia wants this… Lilia wants that…
It’s an endless loop of demands.
It’s fucking exhausting.
I guess the waiter messed up and pissed her off by giving her the candle after the tea, and she threw a fit.
“WHAT?! This isn’t what I asked for!! Don’t you want me to have my perfect special day?!” Lilia had screamed at me just a few short hours ago.
When I assure her that it was a harmless mistake, she screeched, “Don’t you want me to be happy?! Why can’t you just do what I ask?! It just not even that hard!”
With each successive mishap, Lilia became more and more angry, and her words got more and more offensive.
I must have looked terrifying at that moment.
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Chapter 23
86%
+5
Lilia shuddered, but she clutched her wedding gown and continued to scream at me “Are you STUPID, Alaric?! All I ask is that for ONCE. today be about me! What is wrong with you?!”
Very few people have talked to me like that and lived to tell the tale.
Now I finally know She’s not the kind and gentle she–wolf I thought she was, or at least she’s not
cting like it.
She’s selfish and bitter, cold and uncaring.
But scanning the crowd of elders and nobles, low–borns and visitors from neighboring packs, I see there guests gathered here.
hundreds of
All waiting for me to seal the deal and marry Lilia.
Waiting for me to join Pack DarkWood and Pack BloodyMoon into a formal alliance. Waiting for me to finally end my infamous bachelorhood and appoint a Luna.
Waiting for me to produce heirs to the throne.
I have to marry Lilia today. I can’t back out now. It’s too late.
The thought repeats in my head over and over as my eyes keep scanning the crowd for Cara: It’s too late.
“Alpha King, sir?” I hear someone ask me.
“hmm?” I ask, distractedly. My eyes are still looking for Cara.
