“Sophia.”
My eyes parted open at the sound of my name. The voice was soft, falling on me like the wind I almost thought I’d misheard it but when my eyes opened, I came across a pair of wide brown eyes staring at me. I jolted up, my movement so sudden it caused me dizziness.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,” she said, stepping back.
Everything about her was familiar, from her facial structure, to her voice, down to the way she carried herself. Confusion furrowed my brows as I took in the room I was in. It was unnaturally large and its walls were painted forest green with moldings of dark brown that adorned its four corners; tall curtains hung by the window shielding the outside view.
This wasn't a room in Callan’s manor.
This wasn't a woman in Callan’s pack.
And immediately, the memories hit me, slamming into me so hard my breath caught.
The mating ceremony.
The attack.
Isla’s betrayal.
Sephora’s death.
And finally, Amelia’s words.
She had looked up at me, a triumphant smile on her face even though her aunt’s mangled body lay next to her, her half-sister who remained in the corner crying, her father’s death still hanging, and the evidence of the foiled plans clear–or so I thought. Amelia had watched me, her eyes holding vile mischief.
“Silviu,” she whispered. “He is the devil himself, the one you should fear, and as long as he is still out there, darling, this isn't over.”
And she'd been dragged off to the dungeons alongside Grace, the effect of her words ricocheting through the pack. That was when Callan had lost it, lost all sense of reasoning.
“Are her things packed?” he asked Luther, who simply nodded.
Callan turned to me and I saw him slowly exhale before saying quietly. “You are to leave for the Night Blood Pack, you'll be safe there until we have everything settled.”
“What?”
“We have no idea what your uncle is planning, Alexander is headed here, and what more enemies are we to expect? It is dangerous for you to remain here, Sophia. I have come to a temporary settlement with the Alpha of the Night Blood Pack and he will protect you for now until everything is…”
“You are sending me away.” My words came out almost a whisper, laced with incredulity that he would even think of doing this. “Was that why you went to the Night Blood Pack? You’d always thought of sending me away?”
“I am scared, Sophia. Lives have been lost and the war isn’t over, if I lose you…” He placed his hand on my waist gently, as though he was scared to touch me. “If I lose you too, I can’t… it is something I can’t bear to think so please.”
I flared up. “My sister just died, Callan. Can’t you see that? How can you ask me to leave here? To leave in the middle of such a state of commotion?”
I knew I was barely any help in a fight, but I could hold my own—and if I couldn't do much, I knew my wolf would take over. It was a slap to my face that he thought me so weak he had to send me away; a slap to my face, and a punch to my pride.
“You must leave, Sophia,” Natalie said in a flat voice. “This is for the best, I presume. Staying here would be a danger to you. Sephora didn’t sacrifice herself for Alpha Callan just for you and your mate not to end up together eventually.”
“And you? What will happen to you?” I asked.
She stared down at Sephora’s body still lying in the pile of dead bodies that surrounded us. Natalie was covered in blood, blood that obviously wasn’t hers. She knelt and wiped her hands on Sephora’s face and I could see how hard she was fighting not to break down. It twisted my heart, and a lone tear fell down my face.
“Far into the night you shall sleep,” she recited the words quietly in a broken voice; as much as she had tried, Natalie was unable to hide the raw pain in her voice.
“Your body covered in the rays of the Goddess’s love, a life well-lived, a life short-lived, go to rest now, go to an eternal sleep and wait for me, Alpha.”
With a final squeeze of Sephora's bloody hands in hers, Natalie got up and tucked her blade into her clothes, keeping it hidden.
“I shall go after Silviu Alden even if it takes me to the ends of the earth. Do as your Alpha says, Sophia. I do not want to lose any more sisters.”
And with that, she ran out of the manor, jumping out through the broken window and disappearing into the night.
“I won't go,” I said stubbornly. I couldn't leave, not now. I couldn't leave him.
“I'm sorry.” Callan pulled me into his arms, holding me right. After a few seconds, I felt the prick of a pin in my arm and even when I struggled against him, his hold didn't wane, not until I felt the liquid of whatever had been injected into me make its way into my bloodstream, its effect instantaneous.
Blackness covered my vision next.
“I am sorry,” he'd whispered but I refused to forgive him.
“Are you alright? Do you need anything?” the strange woman asked, yanking me from the memories of what had happened.
“Night Blood Pack?”
She nodded in confirmation. “You've been unconscious since last night.”
My hands went through my hair. He really had done this—drugged me and sent me away.
“I’m afraid you couldn't continue to remain unconscious any longer. I had to wake you up.”
I lifted my head to look at her, questions in my eyes. She looked familiar the more I analyzed her and I hated that I couldn't place her.
“Do I know you?”
She smiled sadly. “The years have caused me to vanish from your memories, haven't they? That was exactly what he wanted.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ophelia Alden, you haven't forgotten that name too, have you?”
I hadn't–I couldn't.
“You are dead,” I whispered. “You are meant to be dead. Uncle Silviu said you'd died and…”
She was my uncle Silviu’s mate but had died shortly before I’d been sent away to the Dark Wood Pack. Although it’d been long, I remember how the whole pack had been plunged into such a deep sense of grief, its gloominess remaining with us for a while.
“There is so much you do not know, so much you all do not know about Silviu. Unfortunately, my mate is a vile and disgusting piece of shit. I've been kept here all this time and presumed dead because of what I had seen.”
My temple was throbbing, it was hard enough for me to continue to sit upright. “What did you see?”
She stared me straight in the eye. “Your uncle’s men attacking you and the boy from the Dark Wood Pack. I watched him kill and discard the boy’s body.”
Everett.
Silviu had killed Everett and I had been punished for it.
“No, no, no,” I whispered, shaking my head. I’d known I had nothing to do with it but for it to turn out to be my uncle was something that surpassed me. I’d never thought him dead, I had simply assumed Everett got kidnapped or lost; not once did it ever occur to me that someone had killed him. That my uncle had killed him.
“I am sorry I couldn't do so much about anything. He used our daughter as leverage against me and sent me here pretending I died. When he comes visiting with her, I have to remember that I must keep my mouth shut if I want her to remain alive but now... I am scared, Sophia. I can't continue like this, not when I am aware of how many more lives will be lost if I do.”
“What do you know, Ophelia? Please.”
If Silviu was planning something dangerous against Callan, then I wouldn't sit back here and hide away even if that was what he needed me to do. It would be best if I died fighting than to live in hiding. I no longer wanted to be that coward.
“He has always wanted to be Alpha, rule the Mystic Hollow Pack when your father dies. But Sephora…”
“Sephora never wanted to be Alpha!”
And now she was dead.
“Your father was going to force her to be Alpha regardless. She is the only one among the rest of you who is best suited for it and somehow Silviu had her and Natalie sent to the Black Tide Pack for a while. He knows Natalie would be a hindrance to his plan.”
Ophelia braced herself before saying, “Silviu is on his way to attack the Mystic Hollow Pack now. He plans to capture your father and throw him into the dungeon before forcing the pack members to crown him Alpha. It's all he has ever wanted.”