SEVENTY

SEVENTY
SPECIAL CHAPTER TWO: AMITY

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Special chapters serve to shed light on the perspectives of minor characters, providing insight into their roles in the unfolding narrative.

My life became the mess it was when two insignificant people decided to heed the bond of the goddess.

A Phi and a renounced sentinel fell in love and had a child.

My mother watched the pups of great wolves, a job for the lowest of lows, while my father, once a respected sentinel, flew too close to the sun. His demotion threw him to the rank of omega.

By birth, I would either become a Phi like my mother or an omega. Fate and the goddess were unkind to me, however. The sins of my father found me, and I came into the world as the lowest of runts.

An omega.

The bullying was relentless. In a world where your rank determined who you were and the weight your words carried, why wouldn't I be tortured?

Everyone wanted that power. To command another and have them obey without question.

But I worked my way up from the bottom. Even among Omegas, there was a hierarchy. Forced into servitude, a slave of the high-ranking wolves was a master among slaves. I made sure I got into the Dumont house. It was there I caught the grace of Adele Dumont, and I was put in charge of Eva Dumont.

Even then, I was a nobody. Eva Dumont had a flurry of servants at her beck and call. I was a zebra among pristine white horses. Nothing special or peculiar about me to be remembered.

Until the druids revealed that Eva was no Dumont, and the true daughter was brought into the Lily of the Valley.

I was envious of the girl. Her father was also an Omega, a sentinel who fell just like my father. But she had been born blessed. Alpha blood ran through her veins, and she was the granddaughter of a powerful healer.

She was sought after. I turned my attention to the woman, hoping to gain her favor. But Camille Dumont was nothing like I expected.

She was a strange woman. I expected her to immediately start working overtime to get rid of the false daughter the Alpha still proceeded to keep and seal her place in the pack permanently. But she was hesitant. She didn't want to be cruel.

I watched from the sidelines as she crawled to gain the favor of her new family instead of commanding it. I watched as Eva started her war. I was there when the woman I knew wasn't even remotely interested in Hector Menard, son of the Pack's Beta, gave him the green light because Hector was Camille's mate.

I watched her kill pheasants and put the pack in jeopardy just to punish Camille.

It was clear who was going to win the war.

When I got dirt on Camille Dumont, that she was pregnant and it could never be from Hector Menard, I picked my side. Eva Dumont was going to be the victor in the long run. I told her what I knew and latched on to her.

It had been a wise choice then. Because Eva Dumont won. The Alpha perished in an explosion that Eva and Adele orchestrated.

Eva then proceeded to remove herself from the narrative by deceiving Hector to take her place right after she exposed Adele.

She was seen as a hero by the Lycan king—the greatest of honors. Eva Dumont was next in line for the pack's title as Luna and was respected by even the Lycans.

But Eva wasn't entirely done. She had her eyes on another prize. She was going to make an Alpha out of the Lycan prince.

If I had heard that out of the mouth of anyone else, I would have laughed in their face. But this was Eva. If she set her mind to it, it was possible.

But things had been different recently. Eva was... different.

It all started with the return of Camille. We had been the reason for her exposure. Camille had been alive all those years but remained hidden, and with our two hands, we forced her out of hiding.

I understood why Eva was tense. Camille's return meant that there would be someone else vying for her throne. There was also the revelation that Camille's twins belonged to Dimitri.

It felt like an attack from the heavens, and things only got downhill from there. Camille's exposure was a catalyst, a significant catalyst that even affected Lady Milana.

The Lycan king had a mate, and it was none other than Camille.

The wheels were beginning to shift in my head. Eva was a nobody at the end of the day. It didn't matter how hungry she was for power. Those born into it were born into it.

Camille was a different woman now, too. She wasn't as weak-willed as I remembered. I put that card with the other cards. A powerful healer that reminded the numinous world of Abigail De'Crescent, the true Luna of the Lily of the Valley pack. Mate to the Lycan king, possible Queen of the Lycans, and mother to his children.

How was Eva supposed to beat that?

But I had stayed by Eva's side. It had been years of winning. I doubted she would lose her winning streak so soon.

Perhaps I had overestimated her.

I stared down at the limp body on the carpet. Lady Milana was dead. The streaks of blood that stained her mouth told me it must have been poison.

Silvermist that Eva had forced me to get for her from the black market years ago.

Eva had never seen Milana as a threat. But she was a keen and calculating woman. She prepared for the future when she could, and one of those preparations was to take Milana out of the picture if necessary. But that plan had been made when Milana was the only woman standing in the way of Eva and Dimitri becoming a thing.

So, the dead woman on the floor was no success. It was an injured animal gnawing off its injury to be rid of it.

"Luna Eva, what... What did you do?" I stammered, rushing to shut the door.

"Relax," Eva chuckled. "She is of no use anymore."

I knew it wasn't my place. But I grabbed Eva by the shoulder. A response that must have shocked and perhaps even disgusted her to the core. "Exactly. So, what was the point of killing her? How are you going to get away with this?"

"Me?" Eva proceeded to cherry-pick one word out of my rambling. "Don't you mean us?"

I didn't have time for this. I didn't have time to placate that useless ego of hers. "Why did you kill Lady Milana knowing who she still is to Dimitri? What about her father? He is a scientist, for goddess sake! Silvermist will be present in her blood. We are done for!"

Eva shushed me. "Quiet it. I took action."

I turned to the body again. This time, my stomach churned with disbelief. Action? I shot a bewildered look back at Eva, trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding before me. "This is what you call taking action?"

Eva met my gaze with an air of confidence that almost sent shivers down my spine. There was something off about her.

"I don't take action without thinking it through, Amity." She told me. "Milana's demise was inevitable. Dimitri has made his choice. He chose Camille and threw her to the sidelines. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. This was the perfect moment to strike."

My mind raced with questions. I had a difficult time understanding how this was an opportunity rather than a death sentence. It wasn't like Eva to put herself in the forefront. Especially when she took a life. My brows furrowed upward as I continued to ask my question. "But how does this benefit us? What about the consequences?"

Eva's lips curled into a cold smile. Again, I noticed it. Something was off. There was something insidious behind her eyes. I believed I knew it well. I had lived with it.

"We will use guilt to damage whatever will flourish from Dimitri and Camille's relationship. And as for the consequences, we won't be caught. You trust me, don't you?"

I never did. But Eva was danger that I could walk beside. I knew I wouldn't get hurt. Now... Now, I wasn't so sure.

I managed a smile, for her sake. She looked like she was losing it. "Of course. I was just worried."

"Don't be. We'll sell the story that Milana was not poisoned but committed suicide instead."

We? Who did this bitch think she was roping into her hell?

Eva, however seemed confident if I ignored the insanity seeping from behind her eyes.

"But how do you plan to pull that off?" I asked.

Eva leaned over the body, retrieving Milana's phone with a swift motion. I watched in confusion as Eva's fingers danced across the screen, probably typing.

"What are you doing?" I questioned.

Eva glanced up briefly before returning her attention to the device. "I'm texting Milana's father."

"Why?"

Eva's smile widened into a sinister grin. "To ensure that he receives a farewell message from his daughter. A message that will implicate Dimitri and Camille in her demise and absolve us of any suspicion."

Eva looked up to meet my gaze once she was done sending the message. She wiped the phone on her dress as if to get rid of fingerprints before she placed the phone back on Milana's stiff body.

"Now we plant the body in Milana's room and get some sleep."