Erik’s POV
I was surprised and happy that Clara asked me to come with her. I don’t know where she plans on going, but I am delighted that she talked to me and we spent time together, even if it’s a little. After our encounter, I went straight to the office and met the couple.
“Your majesty,” they greeted, and I nodded at them. Alpha Kyle left his seat for me to have a sit. “What’s new?” I asked.
“Her highness asked me to send someone back to Alpha Louis’s territory to look for a big tree,” Alpha Kyle reported, and I looked at him with confused looks.
“I see. Also, send a message back to the main pack, asking Luna Tia to come here,” I ordered, and Alpha Kyle nodded at me.
“Any other news?” I asked, hoping they had managed to find clues about the enemy’s whereabouts.
“There are suspicious movements near the Wild Peak pack, your majesty. Numerous rogues have been sighted there,” Alpha Kyle said.
“Investigate the packs around that territory,” I replied, and Alpha Kyle looked at me nervously.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It was the Wild Peak pack that is being suspicious right now, your majesty,” he said.
Suspicious? That is impossible. I nodded at Alpha Kyle in response and brushed it off. We continued to talk about our plans for the war until dawn. Clara didn’t contact me then, so I thought she might be asleep and we would go out tomorrow. I ate dinner with Alpha Kyle and Luna Rica before returning to my room.
I saw Clara eating breakfast in the kitchen with Vincent. I sat beside Clara and saw her become stiff. I smiled at Vincent awkwardly and ate the food that one of the omegas served me. We ate quietly until Clara decided to talk. “I heard you asked Tia to come here,” she said, and I nodded at her.
“That’s good,” she said, and I sighed in relief. I thought she would get mad again. “They also said that there is something suspicious going on at Wild Peak pack’s territory,” I said, and she nodded.
Vincent ate nervously, and he must have thought that we would fight again, and Clara would start shouting, but luckily, we managed to finish our food without a fight. I saw Clara peeking at my side, checking if I had finished my food. “Let’s go,” she said when she saw my plate clean. I nodded, and Vincent quickly stood.
“Where are you going?” He asked.
“Somewhere,” Clara replied, uninterested.
“I’ll come with you,” Vincent said, and I glared at him, hoping for him to take a hint. I want to spend some time with my mate alone. However, he didn’t care about my glare and looked at Clara.
“Do what you want,” Clara said, turned her back to us, and started walking. Vincent and I followed from behind. I pushed Vincent away from me when he started walking beside me.
“What’s your problem?” Vincent asked me through the mind link.
“You need to come with us? This is my chance to spend some time with her,” I said annoyedly.
“Oh,” He replied, and I rolled my eyes at him. I blocked him in our mind link and focused my attention on Clara.
Clara’s eyes look dead and angry. Her aura also changed, and it was obvious to us that she was on the verge of corruption. One wrong move and she can transform into a rogue. I looked at her sadly, “I will do my best for you not to cross that line,” I thought to myself.
When we got outside the pack house, Vincent walked straight to our car, but Clara shook his head. “Let’s not use that. I don’t know the way, so it is better to run,” she said, and we both nodded. I got an idea of where we might be going. She may be planning on tracking the way back to the prison where she was being held.
Clara shifted, and Vincent and I followed. We ran and followed Clara from behind, professionally avoiding the obstacles. Clara got faster at running, and we barely kept up with her speed. She stopped and looked for clothes behind the trees. Seeing her looking for clothes, we must have arrived. I also look for clothes for me to wear. After changing, I walked towards Clara, who was looking at a big tree with a huge hole in the middle. It was some entrance.
“This is where Alpha Louis hid me. He left me here and sacrificed himself for them not to find me,” Clara said, and I looked inside the tree. I bit my lip due to frustration and balled my hand. I was angry at myself again for letting her experience this kind of shit.
“Alpha Louis used some black sort of magic,” She added, and I looked at her with wide eyes.
“What do you mean?” Vincent asked, surprised at what Clara said.
“There are werewolves who can use black magic. Klaus mentioned to me at the prison that he was the second werewolf who managed to use magic. It seems they didn’t know that Alpha Louis could also use it,” she said softly. She touched the tree affectionally and looked very sad.
The death of Alpha Louis was a great shock for her and a great loss to us. Now I understand why my mom trusted him until the end. It’s a shame I didn’t get to apologize to him. “He also gave me a potion to remove my scent,” She continued.
“Don’t tell me,” Vincent said, and when I looked at him, I saw him tremble with anger.
“Yes, it was the same potion that mother gave to me. Alpha Louis said that I was like them, I was confused at first, but now I think I know why. All the events that happened are connected. I assumed that our parents, together with Erik’s parents, have a long history,” she said, and I got surprised.
“If that’s the case, they must have known that we would be mates from the start. We maybe even met when we were young,” I said, and Clara nodded.
“The prophecy,” Vincent whispered.
“That’s impossible. How would they have known from the start when they didn’t even see our wolf form” I asked, confused.
“The prophecy was passed down as a fairytale, but in my former pack, the prophecy goes like this. The last descendant of the royal pack will be the Queen, who has a white wolf, while her mate, the King, is the heir of the strongest pack who has the black wolf.” Clara said softly and looked at me.
“Your pack was the strongest ever since your father’s time, and I was the last werewolf born in the royal pack, also known as the Hollow Angel pack. No one can bear a child in my former pack other than my parents, but since my mother got weak after giving birth, I became the last,” she said, and I gasped. It was obvious from the start that we were going to be mates.
“Then the wild peak pack is true” I shook my head. No, it was impossible. The report must be wrong, or Alpha Kyle made a mistake.
I felt some stares, and I saw Clara looking at me knowingly. It was like she knew what I was thinking. When I looked back at her straight in her eyes, she frowned at me. She looked so disappointed. I avoided her stare. We need more evidence, and I don’t want to make the same mistake twice. Branding someone innocent as a traitor.
“Let’s go,” She said, and we followed her from behind. This time we didn’t shift. We just ran in our human form.
Clara’s POV
I know Erik began to think about who the traitor was, but it was obvious that he rejected the thought, and I felt betrayed and disappointed. We ran through the forest using our human form, Alpha Louis, and my scent was gone, but I managed to find the way using the splattered blood of Alpha Louis.
“They must be in such a hurry that they didn’t even erase the tracks properly,” Vincent said, and I agreed.
“The basement must be abandoned now,” I said, and we suddenly heard some noise from the back.
I saw a man growling at us. “Rogue!” Angeline shouted in my mind. Knowing it was a rogue, I couldn’t contain my anger and launched at the man.
“Clara!” Erik shouted worryingly, but I ignored them. I used all of my powers and revealed my claws. Using my claws, I pierced the rogue’s heart and crushed it with my hand. I didn’t give time to the rogue to prepare and defend my attack. I heard Vincent gasp and looked back at them.
“What have you done!” Erik shouted at me angrily.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I replied calmly.
“If we captured him, we may find some information! You, of all people, know that one wrong move you’ll turn into,” Erik exclaimed.
“Turn into what?” I asked they didn’t say anything. “Turned into what, Erik,” I asked again, threateningly.
Erik bit his lip. “Never mind,” he said, and I ignored him. I turned my back on them and focused on the dead body in front of me. I squatted down to be closer to the corpse and smelled his scent. After becoming familiar with his scent, I raised my head and sniffed into the air.
I smiled, happy that everything was all easy now because of this corpse. “Let’s go,” I said and ran through the forest, following the scent of that rogue. We ran until I found the basement entrance, and the time we managed to escape at that time replayed in my head.
“This is it,” I said and was about to enter when Erik stopped me.
“Let’s go back and form a plan. We may be at a disadvantage,” he said, and I removed my hand aggressively.
“Erik’s right, Clara. Let’s go back,” Vincent said.
“Don’t tell me the King of werewolves and the Alpha of the strongest pack is scared,” I snickered. I looked at them with disbelief and turned my back on them. “If you’re that scared, go back,” I said and entered the basement.
I heard some footsteps and saw Erik following me from behind. I couldn’t see Vincent, so maybe he returned to the pack house and gathered some reinforcements. I remembered the way back to the prison, and Erik gulped. “That cell is where I have lived until we escaped, Erik,” I said. He held my hand and tightened his grip, but I ignored it. “That’s the cell where Alpha Louis has been chained and lived for years,” I said, and he walked towards it to take a closer look.
“You see the blood?” I said when I saw Erik’s surprised look. “He was continuously tortured for years, and he didn’t die right away because they healed him repeatedly,” I said.
Erik has a furious look and tightens his grip. “Who goes there?” someone asked, and two rogues came into view. I remember those faces very well, and they were the ones who guarded this place.
“Oh, I didn’t know someone was still here. I thought they abandoned this place?” I asked.
“Y-you!” One of the rogues said he must have recognized me.
I ignored him and turned to Erik. “And these two were one of the rogues who made my stay very uncomfortable, Erik. They fed me some dog food since I was pregnant until before I managed to escape,” I said to Erik.
Erik, who couldn’t contain his anger any longer, launched at the rogues furiously after I talked. Erik mercilessly killed the rogues, the other rogues who heard the commotion rushed into the prison, and the angry Erik killed them. When no rogues came, I stopped Erik, who was still killing the already dead rogues. When I saw that he had come to his senses, I backed away from him and started walking out of prison. He followed me quietly, and when we got outside, we were greeted by Vincent together with Luna Rica. I wasn’t surprised I saw the Luna here since she was a warrior.
“You look good,” I complimented her and saw her blush.
We continued roaming around the basement, the rogues we found were all killed, and we saw a room that looked like a throne room. “Someone is playing royalty here, I see,” I said. We couldn’t find anything important in the basement and left.
“Destroy and Burn this place until nothing is left,” I ordered Luna Rica, and she nodded.
As I watched how they destroyed and burned the place, I just stood there and watched. Erik hugged me from behind, and even though I was irritated at him, I wouldn’t deny that his warmth comforted me.