River woke up the next morning with a delicious ache in her body. Hunter was asleep right beside her, his arms and legs. coiled around her. His wavy curls had fallen lazily over his forehead and River brushed them back lovingly When she moved her shoulder, a sharp pain throbbed in her neck. “Ah!” she stifled her cry but it was enough for her to wake him up. “River!” Hunter opened his eyes with a ***as he protectively tightened his arm around her waist. His gaze swept to her neck where she carried his mark. They were two angry red scars where the skin was lifted around them. He leaned in and licked his mark
with his tongue. Before she could say anything, he said, “My saliva is going to help it heal fast.”
She smiled and placed a kiss on his forehead. “Thanks,” she murmured.
“For what?” he said as he captured her lips and kissed her. “I am proud of you and I can’t help feeling lucky that you bear my mark.”
River snuggled in his chest and he placed his chin over her head. They hugged each other tightly, none wanting to leave. Obviously, his ***was pressing against her belly. She wrapped her petal fingers around it and began stroking it. After another round of wild **, they got up and finally went to take a bath and that too because Elijah was constantly knocking on their door.
While taking a bath, Hunter said, “How are you going to hide that mark, River? I am too worried for you.”
River took a deep breath in. “We have to take each day as it comes. I can’t reveal that you are my mate at the moment, but, there is one thing that I want to declare”
“What?” Hunter asked, his body going stiff. “Don’t take irrational decisions, River.”
She laughed at him and splashed water. “Trust me, I won’t.”
When River came down to the lobby, she saw that there was a group of werewolves standing and waiting for her. She was aware that they were waiting for her to take over. She was wearing a
***turtleneck sweater with black pants. The sweater hid her mark well and before she came down, Hunter rubbed an oil over her mark which would aid in healing as well hide his scent on her. It was Elijah who gave the oil to Hunter saying that he carried it all the time with him just to meet this emergency
Amongst all this she forgot to ask them as to where Hector was. His name quickly tossed out of her head when they surrounded her and bowed to her
“Alpha!” they said in unison.
River looked around and noticed that there were ten of them standing and all of them belonged to Alpha Maxim’s close circle. She scoffed in her head. How soon they changed sides. She trusted very few in her pack, but the one she trusted the most were Lena and her parents. “Where is Lena?” she asked one of them. She didn’t spot Maxim’s beta either. But that was good, she would have never included him in her close circle.
They were all flustered and looked at each other. “We don’t know.” said Geoffrey, one of the senior men.
River took her phone out and she dialed Lena’s old number. Unfortunately it wasn’t answered. “I want you to find her as soon as possible”
“Yes Alpha”” said Geoffrey “We would like you to conduct an emergency meeting and appoint pack members for important positions The pack is awaiting it eagerly. We are afraid that in the absence of beta and gamma and other important positions, the pack will be vulnerable.”
River turned to walk to the meeting chamber. “The Crescent Moon pack will never be vulnerable because we have Lycans with us.”
There was tension amongst the werewolves behind her but no one dared to speak a word. They reached the meeting room and she was surprised to notice that the werewolves that served over there were more than eager to open the door for her, rush to help her sit, give her water and also hurried to get her breakfast. She smirked.
As they all sat down, she picked up her coffee and sipped it. She began, “At first, I want to call all the Alphas of other packs for a meeting and propose to them to have a peace treaty with Lycans and have free trade with them. I am fed up with this crazy war that is going on amongst the Lycans and the werewolves.”
“War?” All of them started to look at each other. “What war?”
River ***her head back. “You don’t know about it?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. She thought that the core team members of Maxim’s pack would know about it. But when she saw blank expressions on their faces, she realized that Maxim had never shared this information with them. It meant that he was secretly carrying out the war with the Lycans After a moment of contemplation in which she had to put forth the information very carefully, she said, “Do you know who Ella was?”
“Yes, we know that she was Maxim’s sister. Geoffrey said. “She has been missing for a long time now and no one knows where she is.”
River poked her tongue in her cheek and turned her face to gaze out of the window. Then she lowered her head and shook it lightly “What do you know about the demons who live around the Veil?”
There was a nervous look on their faces when she asked this question. “We don’t interact with them. They are too dangerous because they will eat anything that walks on the earth,” said Geoffrey, stifling a shudder. “We don’t know much about them and we don’t go near the Veil only because of them.”
So these people were completely clueless about what was happening. She didn’t know where to start but she had to break the illusion that Maxim had created. She started, “I am sorry to break the news, but your former Alpha and his sister were spearheading the war against the Lycans. Ella was the appointed leader and she was in cahoots with the demons. Along with the demons, she had attacked the Dark Moon pack in the Veil a number of times. But now she is dead”
“How much do you know about Ella?” asked Geoffrey, giving her a wary look.
Suddenly, River realized that these people were Maxim’s trusted friends. She had to quickly form her own group of trusted people otherwise she would only be breaking her head in explaining everything to them. She didn’t have that kind of time. It was important that the first few months she proved herself. She replied, “Because Ella was locked in the tower in Alpha Hunter’s castle after her attack. I discovered her over there.”
There was a collective gasp in the group. “How do you know she is dead? It means that she became free from there! And that she was in cahoots with the demons?”
The mystery around Ella’s escape was beginning to get clear suddenly when she connected dots. “Before I answer that, she said sternly. “I want to meet Victoria. Get her over here in an hour!”
As everyone watched her with tension, she got up. “This meeting is over. Find Lena and get her over here as soon as possible.” She pushed her chair back and walked out of the meeting room without giving them more information. They were left looking at each other but no one dared to speak a word against her.
An hour later, Victoria was standing in front of River. She was thrown into the dungeons and instead of the wedding dress she wore an orange shirt and pants. Her hair was disheveled and her makeup was all washed out. There were dark circles beneath her eyes. She looked with hatred towards River. They were all standing out in the garden of the hotel along with a large crowd that included Lycans as well. After River was appointed as the Alpha of the Crescent Moon pack, Hunter had called more of his warriors. Hunter also stood by her side.
“I ***you!” Victoria hissed.
River narrowed her eyes and growled, “Kneel.”
Victoria winced and she resisted her Alpha order. But it resulted in a splitting headache.
“I said, kneel!” River growled.
Victoria gritted her teeth and kneeled. Her body trembled as River came nearer to her. “Did you and Hector help Ella to escape from the Veil?” she asked directly.
Victoria’s eyes widened. “N-no!”
“Speak the truth!” Hunter roared. Somehow, he too connected the dots.
Suddenly, Victoria started crying uncontrollably. “I-I was ordered to!” she said in between her cries. “Alpha Maxim had asked me to help Ella escape the Veil!”
Hunter was so furious that he strode towards her to rip her neck off her torso. Victoria cried out of fear, seeing him approaching her. “No! Please no!”
River stopped him by grabbing his hand.
“She was my prisoner!” he growled. “We had kept her in the tower after she had attacked the Lycans along with demons! How dare you help her escape?”
“What could I do?” Victoria cried. “It was an order. And then I was asked to stay quiet about it.”
A murmur broke in the crowd. It was clear now that Ella and her brother, Maxim, were both involved in
illegal attacks on the Lycans.
“Do you know what Ella did after that?” Hunter snarled. “She gathered more demons and increased the attack on my warriors! And for what? Just to rule on the Dark Moon pack? Or was there something else too?”
“I don’t know!” Victoria whimpered. “Hector knows more. I don’t!”
Every pack member was shocked. This was too much information for them to process. Alpha Maxim was betraying not only them but other werewolves.
Hunter snapped his head to the pack members. “Alpha Lowell wanted peace with the Lycans, but Maxim didn’t like the idea. He connived a plan to kill him along with a few more Alphas. When Alpha Lowell was enjoying a night with his family. he attacked him and killed him. He massacred every member of the family, but River was saved by a stroke of luck
Their heads hung in shame. They thought that Alpha Lowell betrayed them. They couldn’t help feeling sad for River.
Geoffrey said, “The Moon Goddess has bestowed justice. I say that we bring Hector here and get all the information out of him!”
“Yes! Yes!” The pack members agreed with him.
“Where is Hector?” Geoffrey asked. “Get him here, now!”
One of the warriors came running. “Hector has escaped!” he informed them, panting hard.
