181

181
Scarlett
“You don’t have to feel bad, sister,” Alisha whispered, her voice breaking with fierce loyalty as she squeezed my hand.
“She deserves everything that happens to her. That woman didn’t shed a single tear or show even a flicker of remorse until her own life hung in the balance.”
Alisha’s warm fingers intertwined with mine, her emerald eyes swimming with unshed tears as she gazed at me with raw devotion.
“I know she shares your blood, but blood doesn’t make family. You’re not evil, sister - you’re surviving. If you hadn’t acted, she would have destroyed you without hesitation. I’ve seen the darkness in her eyes.”
A sense of relief washed over me. A delicate smile formed on my lips as I held back tears.
“Thank you, Ali," I said, my voice catching with emotion. “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.”
I held onto her hand tightly, feeling like it was a lifeline. I then straightened my shoulders and led her towards my mother. “Mother, this is Alisha... my little sister.”
Mother’s face froze, a mix of emotions playing out on her features. Confusion clouded her eyes as she tried to process my words.
I could practically hear her thoughts screaming through her silence: I only bore one child. How could this girl be my daughter?
Yet something in her expression shifted, softened. She didn’t voice her questions. Instead, she simply nodded, her face transforming with an acceptance that stunned me.
“Alisha,” she called gently, stretching forward her hand and taking hers. “I’m Lucy, your mother.”
The silence that followed was deafening. My breath caught in my throat as I watched this impossible moment unfold. Everyone was shocked. I didn’t know she could accept a stranger as her daughter.
Alisha was an orphan by birth. Neither did she know who her birth mother was, nor her father. She had grown up in Dickson Pack and became his maid after being sold to him.
Her eyes were filled with tears that threatened to consume her.
“Call me mother,” my mother pressed. “Child.”
The way she spoke to her was soft and kind. Just like the way a kind mother was supposed to talk to her beloved child.
“M-mother," Alisha finally stammered, the word fracturing as a sob ripped from her throat. The tears she had been desperately holding back spilled down her cheeks. “Mother.”
“Good child,” Mother whispered fiercely, pulling Alisha into an embrace so tender. “My daughter.”
Her hands moved in soothing circles across Alisha’s back as the girl’s shoulders shook with years of pent-up grief. “Stop crying now. You’re home.”
I turned away, overwhelmed by the raw intimacy of the moment, feeling both intruder and the architect of this unexpected family reunion.
Later, we gathered in Finn’s private chamber—a room where secrets lived and died behind its heavy oak door. The air felt charged, expectant, as Finn’s gaze swept over each of us.
“Beta,” Finn began once the door sealed us from the outside world. “We will be attacking Blackstone Pack.”
“Wow,” David breathed, his innocent tone betrayed by the predatory gleam in his eyes. Excitement radiated from him in almost palpable waves, his fingers flexing unconsciously at his sides as if already anticipating battle.
Our small war council consisted of just six people: myself, Mother, Diana, Jack, Finn, and David. Alisha had been tactfully assigned to guide Luna Light through the pack grounds—an elegant way to keep them far from our plotting.
“I can’t wait, Alpha," David admitted, his words practically dripping with bloodlust. “I’ve been dreaming of this day.”
A harsh laugh escaped me before I could stop it. “Did you forget that was my mother’s pack, Beta?” I asked, my tone deceptively light despite the heaviness in my chest. “And here you are, salivating at the chance to tear it to pieces.”
David’s eyes snapped to mine, horror dawning as he realized his mistake. “I’m sorry,” he stammered, his earlier bravado evaporating. “I didn’t mean—”
I waved away his apology, forcing lightness I didn’t feel. “I was only joking, Beta. Don’t take it to heart.”
Relief flooded his face. “Thank you.”
We continued our plan on how to attack.
“I know every shadow, every hidden passage,” Mother announced, her finger tracing invisible paths across the map spread before us.
Finn had prepared meticulously, but Mother’s knowledge was our true advantage. “We’ll enter here.” She tapped a spot that appeared solid on the map.
“All we need to do is capture Alaric and his pretender Luna. I don’t want bloodshed among my people. They were—” her voice caught, surprising me with its vulnerability, “—they were precious to me.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Her people? The same people who had treated me like something scraped from the bottom of their boots?
The same people whose contempt had followed me like a shadow my entire childhood?
The same people who had turned away in disgust rather than breathe the same air as the abomination in their midst?