by Rasi K
From what he had learnt, Caroline was the mate of the alpha’s son, but according to the guard they were two different persons. By the time he could think of how to find the actual truth he had reached his destination. He thanked the guard and went inside to witness the chaos.
Carol’s POV
“You, Caroline Dunbar, are banned from Red Moon Pack.”, he yelled.
“Noah, what do you think you are doing?”, uncle asked.
“I am doing what I am supposed to do to a traitor as such.”
“What are you talking about?”, it was dad who asked it this time.
Everyone was shocked by what he was telling, including me. Traitor? Me? When did I land myself as one?
“She is responsible for Kira’s disappearance.”, he said throwing a paper, which he had been clutching in his hand, down.
“In what grounds do you suspect my sister of treachery?”
I turned around to see Daniel standing there with a calm demeanor yet an angry face.
Daniel, similar to me had brownish blonde hair with piercing blue eyes.
“Daniel, you are back?”, dad rushed to him forgetting the situation before us. I don’t blame him for it. Even I did, until I repeated his first words.
He hugged dad and came forward next to me putting his arm around my shoulder. I readily accepted the warmth he offered.
“So?”, he prodded.
Even though he didn’t like to be questioned by him, he answered to prove his point.
“I received a letter this afternoon threatening Kira’s life. She is in the hands of rogues now. The letter states for us to be present in the place mentioned tonight.”
“In what context is my sister questionable in this situation?”
“I received the letter just after dad went to pick her”, he said pointing at me, “up. If that is not suspicious enough, the fact that she smells like a rogue proves my point.”
I shook my head not knowing how it happened.
“You seem to say the same as Alpha Zach, but I have no idea as to why I smell as such. I hadn’t had any contact with Liza until today morning, so even her knowing anything is not possible.”, I said.
Before Noah could start again Daniel cut him first.
“Firstly, do not go around punishing people assuming things, that’s not a good example of an alpha. Get to know their side of story before coming to a decision. Secondly, ever heard of coincidence? That’s what has happened in your case today. The letter might have been delivered late. There are many reasons to prove her innocence if you point that out as your proof. Thirdly, from what I have learnt, when a wolf is cut out of conscious, from the human side, for more than a day the person starts to smell like a rogue along with the links being cut off from the pack temporarily. It is restored back twenty hours after the wolf is conscious. If you don’t want to believe it, why don’t you ask your father about it?”, he asked.
He turned towards uncle who was thinking about it. Instead of answering, uncle looked at Daniel.
“How do you know all these?”
“I learnt from an elder during my training.”
Uncle nodded his head before turning his head towards him.
“Yes, whatever he told was true. If you had not rejected her, you would have felt that bond being cut off too.”
“But that doesn’t give me any reason to trust your sister here. It is my sister whose life is at stake unlike yours.”
Chapter 23
Plan Failure
Unknown person’s POV
This was not how it was supposed to happen. This was not at all in the plan. I was supposed to be saved from my supposedly kidnappers by the rogue. I had learnt that he was an ex-member of the pack, so we made the deal. She was not supposed to be kidnapped and most definitely the vampires were not part of the plan.
He broke his part of the deal. Instead of saving me from my imaginary kidnapper, he himself became my kidnapper. This was not how I wanted it to turn out. Originally, when we made the deal we decided that I would run away from the pack and he would come along with me, back to the pack, after one day, saying that he saved me from my kidnapper and had killed him in the process. I would request Noah’s father to accept him back into the pack. When he is interrogated about the kidnapper he would say that he told him that the person who ordered him addressed herself as the rightful Luna of Red Moon pack. And then, they will question her but she wouldn’t have answers. Finally she will be put in prison brushing past her father’s protests. Then I was supposed to have my happily ever after. But no, it wouldn’t happen any longer other than in my dreams because of those stupid leeches. They couldn’t choose a better timing. I thought it was the best if I went missing at that time. But I realized that it was a waste since she was actually kidnapped. I would be safe if no one blamed me for it.
Then along with the other problems this rogue had to turn his back on me. I have been here for what I believe was five days. He didn’t treat me harsh, seeing that he had no one, he could possibly not be able to take down my alpha power. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I took in a dose of wolfsbane after I disappeared here just to make it believable when I went back. By doing that I fell easily into his trap.
As if he heard, he made his presence.
“Dear, dear, dear. The letter has been sent to your lover. Do you know how he reacted? He had pushed around the furniture and had shouted. He seems to love you so much. Now shall we wait for some drama? I have asked them to come up here. When they come I shall make them vow me half the land and alpha title along with it, for you in exchange. And when they finally give it to me in writing I shall slice your neck giving you an instant death.”
Chapter 24
Mission rescue Kira
“But that doesn’t give me any reason to trust your sister here. It is my sister whose life is at stake unlike yours.”
We turned around to see a stranger standing at our footstep. He welcomed himself in before sitting down on one of the couches.
He had brown hair with golden streaks. He had gray eyes. He awfully resembled someone.
We looked at him perplexed.
“Excuse me, but who are you?”, it was Daniel who asked it.
Before Noah could introduce him, he bet him to it.
“I am Ethan Miller, brother of Kira Miller. And you must be the infamous Caroline Dunbar, ex-mate of my brother-in-law and the trouble that has been bothering my sister.”, he said holding out his hands at me.
I went to shake his hand before he snatched his away.
“Ah. Ever heard not to make friends with your enemies? You are potentially my enemy seeing that my sister is in trouble most probably by you.”, he said smirking, before shrugging his shoulder.
“If you don’t stop with your suspicions I will have to fight you, which might not end well.”, Daniel threatened him.
He didn’t reply to it other than shrugging.
“All of you stop right now. Focus on the matter at hand. How are we going to deal with this rogue?”, uncle yelled.
I wanted to meet Tah and mother but this was more important than that. I decided to meet them after rescuing Kira.
“It is clear that he expects you there other than your son. I don’t plan on letting you go alone so I will tag along. Let Ethan also accompany since he is her brother.”, dad finalized.
“And I will stay behind just in if something is to happen.”, Daniel added.
“Since there are a few here who suspect me, I shall accompany Daniel.”, I told for my part, looking pointedly at him and Ethan.
Daniel agreed immediately, seeing that he was keen in proving my innocence. Uncle and dad hesitated for a while, considering their over-protectiveness, before agreeing to it. As for Ethan and him, well, they didn’t have a say in it.
We discussed our plans on how to approach the rogue until it was time for us to leave.
I was thankful that I had eaten a little extra food in the afternoon seeing that the men didn’t
bother having any meal.
Soon we left uncle’s office and to the place.
The place was nearby our border. If that was where Kira was held hostage, then the pack has got lots of training to do.
Once we were sure that we were near the place Daniel and I halted, letting them move forward. We covered our scents so that we wouldn’t be caught red-handed.
We kept our guards up and looked around for anything suspicious.
Kira’s POV
He already sensed that they were here. By they, I don’t know whom he was referring to, but I believed one of them was Noah.
There was a knock on the door before it broke down.
In came Noah, his dad, her dad and Ethan.
What was he doing here?
Does this mean dad knew about my kidnap?
No, no, no.
Before I could think further a voice boomed across the room.
“Elias?”
Chapter 25
Story of Elias Hyde
Kira’s POV
“Elias?”, his father asked, rather confused.
I knew that he was an old member of the pack, but I didn’t think the alpha would actually remember him.
“Yep, it’s me Elias Hyde, the one and only. It is nice to meet you again, friend.”, the rogue said smiling at him. He visibly flinched at that.
Friend? What? Noah seemed to share my confusion, seeing his frowning face.
“Why would you kidnap her?”, her father asked him.
“Wouldn’t you want to know?”, he prodded them looking at me through the corner of his eyes.
He dragged me to his front before putting a knife at my throat as he had mentioned before. Goddess help me, I can’t die this young.
“What do you want?”, Ethan asked.
“Simple, you give me half the land and the alpha title and I shall give you the girl.”
“That is all? And you shall leave her out safe, right?”, the alpha asked him.
“Yeah, that is all.”
“If that is -”
“NO!”
“Noah?”
“No, you shall not be granted any such thing. It is the girl that you want, right? You shall have her.”, he said.
Everyone gaped at him shocked except for Elias.
My heart broke into million pieces. It hurt more than when my mate had died. From the first time he courted for me, I knew he liked me only for my alpha status, but I thought he changed with time. But it seems he didn’t, and that hurts. I can now understand how it must have hurt her when he rejected her. A small negligence as such hurts a lot, I can’t bear to imagine the pain she had to go through.
“Hear that dear, that is the kind of mate you have got.”, he said smiling sadly at me.
Before anyone could talk further she and another guy entered the room.
“We heard a shout so we came rushing.”, the guy explained.
“Who is she?”, Elias asked.
“She is my daughter.”
“Is she only your daughter? Isn’t she his mate?”, he asked pointing at Noah.
“I rejected her. She is no longer my mate.”, Noah replied.
“Rejected? Orion, he says he has rejected, is it true?”, he asked looking at him with shock which everyone could decipher was fake.
Alpha Orion, seeming to know where he was heading to, nodded meekly.
“What have you done about it? Where have your principles gone? Or does it not apply to your family?”, he shouted the last part.
Alpha and the beta flinched at that.
“Elias, I can explain -”, alpha started.
“Explain what? Explain how I was thrust out of the pack? Explain how I lost my rank? Explain how the love of my life left me for her mate?”, he shouted.
No one answered him. The room was filled with silence.
“I know rejecting my mate was wrong, but if it had not been for your foolish principles I wouldn’t have been made to leave the pack and my love wouldn’t have left me. I rejected her because I actually loved my girl, unlike your son here.”
He took the knife from my throat and pushed me forward before continuing.
“Now you shall have my blood in your hands and the guilt for the rest of your lives.”
Before anyone could react he thrust the knife to his neck and dropped dead.
Chapter 26
Half Vampire
Third person’s POV
None of them could get the image out of their minds. His words took a toll on the alpha-beta pair. They both believed that his blood was indeed on their hands and that they couldn’t do anything to save him. Guilt washed Orion making him beat himself for making such a decision then.
The next day proved to be gloomy for them. Tah and Melaine, who were not present the previous night, didn’t know what had happened to them. None of them felt the need to explain it to them yet. Not knowing how to console the others without knowing what actually happened, they kept to themselves.
While all this happened on one side, on the other side the young couple was fighting. For Orion, Richard and Ethan, who had seen it themselves, they had known it was coming. But, for others it felt weird, seeing that they had sweet and lovely till before the kidnap. Daniel didn’t feel bothered about it in the slightest. Actually he was happy with what was happening after learning what he did to his sister.
After some forcing he had made Carol tell him everything from the very start. After that he made a vow to himself to prevent Noah from getting anywhere near her in the future, friend or not. This might strain their relationship in the future but he couldn’t care less.
A few days after the incident, Carol fainted during breakfast time. She was immediately rushed to the hospital with others coming along. After the doctor checked on her, she called for the alpha and the beta to talk alone. Upon checking her, she had found that her blood contained foreign blood, which was likely to be of a vampire’s. She discussed with them, her observation. They were shocked at first, but they made her do a vow of silence before leaving to analyze the new information at hand. After some time Caroline stirred awake. Tahliya and Melaine had been hysteric upon seeing her, before they were forced out of the room seeing that they were likely to be a disturbance to her mental stability. It was only Daniel, Orion and Richard left with her. Noah did not come to visit her. Either he didn’t know or he couldn’t bother, which no one bothered to think about.
Orion looked at Richard before nodding at him.
He cleared his throat before speaking.
“Caroline, do you remember anything that happened when you were kidnapped?”
She nodded her head at him.
“Did you by any chance get hurt or something while you were there? Were you injected with vampire blood?”, he asked testing the water.
“No-”, she stopped.
Carol’s POV
The letter.
The vampire king had told something about me having his blood in me, the letter will answer me.
I took off the IVs attached to my body ignoring the protest of everyone. I stood up to the confusion of others and took off to my home where the letter was kept at.
I could feel my body protesting my movements but I didn’t bother to stop. I could hear a series of foot steps behind me but I knew they wouldn’t be able to out run me yet, as I had the advantage of a head start.
Once I reached my room I made sure to lock the door before settling on the bed to take deep breaths. Once I made sure that I was fine, I tuned out the banging on the door and started reading the letter.
Dear Caroline,
Now that you are reading it, I hope that you are in a safe place, preferably your pack. I hope that you are doing well. As you seem to have so many questions, I decided that I shall help you with some.
Firstly, I am not the vampire king’s son. I was just a clan member until he chose me saying that I was to be the vampire prince. That was when I was seventeen, which was decades back. Since then my life has been
controlled by him. I had no choice whatsoever until today. It was my choice to help you and I am happy about it.
Secondly, from what he had told, he had tried saving your mother giving her his blood, which, I am not sure, is the whole truth. Apparently, she was pregnant with you at that time and you had consumed some of the blood. That brings us to the main thing about you being a part vampire.
Thirdly, about us being mate, it is true. Remember the time when you had gone missing for a whole day. You had returned back home safely except for a cut on your palm. Since your wolf hadn’t been developed during that time it never healed fully. That was the day you were bonded to me by blood, making us mates. That was why I told you it was the vampire king who destined us together.
I am a half vampire.
Chapter 27
Under his control
The door broke down and in came three men who were less worried and more furious upon seeing me.
I didn’t pay much heed to them as I was still processing the new information. I was really a vampire. I continued reading the letter.
Since you were born a werewolf your vampire side has not come out, but as you have already reached the age of seventeen you can expect it anytime soon. When the time arrives, your eyes will turn red. Your eyes…
Before I could continue further the letter was snatched away from me. I looked up at Daniel, who had the letter in his hand, furiously.
Daniel seemed to be shocked on seeing my face. I thought that it was because I was fuming at him but his next words shook my conscience.
“Your- your eyes-- they are red…”, he stuttered, but I understood what he tried saying. Even dad and uncle seemed to understand what he was saying, upon witnessing it.
The time has come. Some voice told inside my mind. No, it wasn’t Liza, but it did sound familiar. It was the Vampire King’s.
I tried my best suppressing him before snatching the letter from a dazzled Daniel.