Chapter 60 Betraying Him?
"Don't be foolish! Didn't you hear Dad telling us to run? Hide in the forest," Eric urged, tightly gripping Alicia's hand.
"No! I need to find out what's happening to him," Alicia insisted, attempting to break free from Eric's grasp. However, their movements were interrupted as a brown wolf leaped from the roof, landing before them.
"Run, Allie!" Eric exclaimed, positioning himself protectively in front of Alicia. Though his legs quivered with instinctual fear, he summoned his courage, recognizing that he was now her only shield against the towering brown wolf. Despite his vulnerability, he had to muster the strength to safeguard his elder sister.
To Alicia's surprise, the brown wolf expelled a plastic bag from its mouth and swiftly transformed back into Lyon, a familiar face she recognized.
Lyon hastily opened the bag and retrieved its contents, speaking rapidly, "Listen, Alicia, you have to get away from here. Alpha Damian is losing control. Here are your car keys and a newly developed deodorant spray." Lyon aimed the mist at Alicia and instructed, "It will mask your scent, preventing your mate from tracking you. Spray yourself every 24 hours. And..."
"Wait! Lyon, what's happening? Why did Damian accuse me of betraying him?" Alicia inquired, sensing that Lyon harbored no ill intentions towards her.
"There's no time for explanations now. You must escape and head to Europe immediately to seek protection from Alpha Martin," Lyon urged.
"Alpha Martin? Why?" Alicia's mind spun, struggling to comprehend the sudden turn of events.
"Allie, don't hesitate. Run!" Eric urged, reminding his frozen sister to take action.
Lyon, pressed for time, couldn't offer further elaboration. Nervousness gripped him as he overheard Alpha Damian's command to capture Alicia.
"Best of luck. I'm shifting now," Lyon declared, preparing to shift into his wolf form.
A thunderous wolf howl resonated from nearby, carrying the commanding power of a top Alpha's voice, causing legs to involuntarily tremble.
Tears welled up in Alicia's eyes. Within a mere ten minutes, everything had spiraled into chaos, and she struggled to comprehend the swift turn of events.
Listening to the snarls of the various wolves and the cries of frightened children, Alicia wiped away her tears and gazed toward the chaotic fray. No! She couldn't flee! She refused to allow her father and the pack members to suffer at the hands of Damian and his rogues because of her.
With clenched fists, she dropped her car keys and shrugged off her jacket. Letting out a mournful howl to the full moon above, white fur began to sprout on her pale cheeks, and her delicate fingers transformed into sturdy wolf claws.
"Hey! Are you out of your mind?" Eric's eyes widened in disbelief as he observed Alicia's intention to shift.
Even Lyon's wolf froze its mouth agape, momentarily forgetting to intervene.
Before Eric could utter another word, the white wolf dashed forward, propelled by the moonlight.
"Wait!" Eric frantically scratched at his disheveled curly hair, resembling a bird's nest.
Bathed in the moon's glow, the white wolf jumped from the fence and saw Mary's wolf, who had been overpowered by Damian's relentless assault, lying on the ground.
Damian's wolf stood unscathed, gripping Jason's wolf by the neck as if he were holding a defenseless pup.
The members of the Scarlett Pack, apart from Alicia and Eric, lay defeated, bearing the wounds inflicted by the wolves of the Moon Halo Pack. Some were bleeding profusely from deep claw marks etched across their bodies.
Alicia let out a resounding howl, her accusation of Damian's brutality concealed within her golden pupils. How could he harm her father and pack members? Her father's wolf was immobilized, struggling for breath.
Upon seeing Alicia, Damian emitted a low growl, tossing Jason's wolf aside and lunging towards her with predatory intent.
Alicia swiftly turned, sprinting towards the forest. Her aim was to lead Damian deeper into the woods, where they could have a private conversation shielded from the interference of others.
However, her white fur provided poor camouflage, making her an easy target even on the moonlit night. Furthermore, Damian's wolf dwarfed her in size, covering more ground in a single leap than she could in three strides.
Alicia's wolf entered the forest, but it wasn't long before Damian's wolf caught up. Almost simultaneously, she was forcefully pinned to the ground beneath the weight of the enormous black wolf's paw.
Helplessly, the white wolf's limbs remained trapped, leaving her sprawled on the ground like a lamb awaiting slaughter. She attempted to rise and flee, only for the imposing figure of the black wolf to press over her, once again immobilizing her.
The hot breath of the black wolf caressed her ears, leaving Alicia's wolf bewildered, unsure of Damian's intentions.
Soon, however, he provided her with an answer. His sharp fangs pierced her left shoulder.
The pain was sudden and searing, causing Alicia's wolf to arch her body instinctively. It felt as if a lightning bolt had struck her, the pain sending shivers coursing from the back of her neck down her spine, reaching every limb and the tip of her tail.
He had marked her!
"Why? Why have you marked me?" Alicia cried out within her mind, her wolf's howl echoing with pain and anger.
"Why? You should know perfectly well what you've been hiding from me," Damian's enraged voice reverberated in Alicia's mind, indicating that the marking process had concluded, allowing her to access Damian's thoughts.
"Hiding? He sensed it?" Alicia's wolf widened her golden eyes in astonishment as if Damian had discovered her intention to conceal his identity as the father of her child. In the darkness, those golden eyes resembled two fallen stars, glimmering against the night sky.
He had marked her to delve into her true thoughts, and now that he had heard them, Damian experienced something beyond anger—a deep ache in his stomach, no, his heart, even within his soul.
This pain surpassed anything he had ever felt before, surpassing the agony of losing his parents or his ability to shape-shift. It was as if someone had taken a knife and carved out the warmth, joy, and affection that Alicia had brought into his life, leaving behind an indescribable pain. A pain that wouldn't bleed.
He had been naive. How easily he had believed that the wife he had obtained at the expense, the mate bestowed upon him by the moon god, would never betray him.
"You admit it. You betrayed me! I had believed you to be a noble she-wolf, akin to the moonlight bestowed by the moon god. Now it seems I am more foolish than a clown," Damian's thoughts echoed once again through the newly established telepathic link.
The black wolf exhaled a seething breath onto the white wolf's nape, its pungent scent of lavender now tainted with the odor of decaying fruit.
Perhaps due to the intensified mate bond brought about by the marking, Alicia keenly felt Damian's anger and pain coursing through her own being.
It became apparent that Damina believed she had betrayed him. But how could he do those to her pack and her simply because she desired to protect him and his pack from a possible assault by the Wilton Family?
"I apologize for concealing my true thoughts from you. However, that does not justify you harming my family and pack members, or marking me in such a crude manner. Can you release me for a moment? We can discuss this rationally," Alicia endeavored to steady her racing heart and initiate a calm conversation with Damian, free from the peculiar position of being pinned beneath him, where his sex remained concealed between his legs, resting against her tailbone.
"Harm? Crude?" Damian perceived her mental voice and gasped in fury. He maneuvered her body, forcing her to face him.
His pure blue eyes brimmed with fierceness and disdain, the black wolf towering over the white wolf, while she tried to hide her fear of him behind her golden gaze. He emitted a low growl, his thoughts penetrating Alicia's mind.
"You should be grateful I didn't command my pack members to decimate your insignificant pack. I could have been even more brutal with you if you hadn't carried my pups within your body."
"Oh no! I was mistaken. Who's to say if the pups in your womb are truly mine? They could have been sired by a stranger, or..." The black wolf narrowed his piercing blue eyes and hissed, spitting out a name that Alicia never expected—"Alpha Martin."
As the name "Alpha Martin" escaped his mind, the black wolf bared his sharp fangs before the white wolf beneath him.
The fangs glistened with bright crimson blood, coming from Alicia herself, but stinging her eyes and heart.