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Elise watched from a distance as Newman’s estate went up in flames, and as much as she’d like to kill Alvira there and then. what difference would she be from her monstrous ex-father if she took that small girl’s mother away? No one deserved that

trauma.

“Mom? You ok?” Ethan says in her hands as he tugs on her shirt; she responds by holding him tightly in her arm and nodding to assure him; she then takes them to the garage of the large house, stealing one of the cars that was easily accessible because of the chaos.

She steeled herself, nodding her head and assuring her son as she took Ethan to the back seat, covering him up with a clean cloth before she got into the front seat, turning on the ignition of the car, and watching the engine roar to life.

The only reason she knew how to drive was that Hayden had helped her learn how; she could still recall how she drove into a ditch the first time she tried and how much he laughed; every memory of him hurts. “I’m ok, baby… I will be; we are ok.” She called, sniffling and wiping the tears that fell from her eyes.

Before she’d left, she called Hayden’s human acquaintances, a resistance against the hunt guild who helped them; she told them their situation, and they were on their way as reinforcements to help Rygan. That was the best she could do; she didn’t want to see him.

It takes everything for her not to turn back and go to him; she bites her lips so hard that it almost draws blood as her eyes p**k with tears.

Yes, she was a coward running away; even when she heard his voice call to her through the bond, she blocked him out. Her punishment was not having him to herself; that way she’d suffer more. She could barely hold back the tears as she bit her lips and looked at her son through the rear mirror. “Let go.” She muttered to her son as she drove out of the wrecked compound.

They drive until she ends up at the old cabin that Hayden had taken her to, hoping to spend a few hours of rest for her son. But the moment she reached the cabin, she couldn’t help but notice different scents; it was crawling with wolves.

Probably from the Blackmoon pack, she saw someone familiar walk out of the cabin; she was sure as Taz was part of the cavalry and had come to help, no, she couldn’t let him see her, but that didn’t stop her from sending him a telepathic message on Rygan’s behalf; she didn’t let him find her as he drove away, finding another spot as dusk was coming soon and her eyes grew tired and heavy.

After finally finding a dark enough shade, she uses a rag to clean off the crusted blood on her body and wipe off Ethan too; her blood boils when she sees dark marks on his skin, abuse from Alvira. Every fiber in her body decides to turn back and kill her, but she fights against it. Her son is the priority right now.

She lays him down on the backseat and closes her eyes for a much-needed shut-eye, but her sleep is short-lived by nightmares that plague her sleep. She is brought back to the scene with Hayden dying, but this time she rips his heart out herself.

She wakes up with a gasp as she gasps in early for air, her body clammy with sweat as she feels cramped in the car. She runs out, taking a deep breath of air.

That was when her tears began to flow freely. She bent to the ground inwardly, screaming in agony for her loss and what her s**d decision had done to Hayden, and that made her terrified. The people she loved always suffer; she couldn’t lose Rygan too, so it was better to stay away; that was a punishment she’d take and live with for the rest of her life.

She watched as the sun rose slowly, her body lax and still trembling slightly, but she knew she needed to head quickly to the Calhan pack and tell them the news of their alpha’s passing.

10:55 Sat, Sep

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They drive for another long hour until they reach the borders of the human territory. Elise knew from then on she needed. to leave the car, so they did, abandoning the car as she took her son in her arms and continued the hike.

The roads were still familiar from when she, Rygan, and Hayden had passed by; only if she had seen the future, she’d have begged for Hayden to stay back. Her heart panged in her chest as regret slammed into her like a brick of thorns.

The journey takes half a day, but no matter how exhausted Elise might have felt, the only thing keeping her going was reaching the pack. She was ashamed that she couldn’t even have Hayden’s body to show for it since Newman had told her they burned it.

With her son’s head burrowed in her nape as his soft, shallow breath proved that he was asleep, a sense of relief filled her when she saw the lights of the familiar gates of the Calhan pack’s gates.

They were still rebuilding part of it from the attack; two male guards had spotted her in a hooded cloak as they approached her, eyes cold and careful.

“Who are you?” One of them hissed. “Elise lets the cloak on her head slip away from her face; a gasp escapes the wolf’s lips, and they both bow in surprise when they see her with Ethan in her arms.

“Luna, you are back! How are you alive?” They called surprised. We heard about your journey and your demise with Alpha Hayden.”

“What? How did you hear that?” She asked shocked because there was no way news of Hayden’s death should have reached him here already.

“We were told your body couldn’t be found with Ethan’s and only Hayden’s; a burial procession is going on right now,

-move” She cuts in quickly, and she hurried towards the Calhan manor with her heart pounding. What do they mean by burial procession with nobody for it? She wonders as she climbs up the steps of the palace with her son still in place.

She races toward the courtyard but stops frozen in her step in shock when she sees whose body is laid on a high altar, a body covered with flowers, as all of the pack were gathered crying at the loss of their alpha. It was Hayden’s body.

But what confused and stunned Elise was why Hayden’s body was here: “How is this possible?” She sputtered, almost stumbling back. How was his body here when they had told her they burned it?

But Hayden was there, his body intact and dressed in royal garments in his coffin, but how did they get his body when no one knew where they were? Her confusion was broken when she heard Holden’s voice.

“Here lies my beloved brother and alpha of the Calhan Pack; he gave his life trying to help his Luna, a Luna who led him to his death, a Luna who lied about who her son’s father truly was and blamed it on my brother when Ethan isn’t even his son! Now he is dead because of her!”

Elise watched the altar and watched how Holden stood with a cold gaze after berating her to the pack, but Elise could see something was amiss; she could read behind his facade and see Holden wasn’t at all sad but happy; that was her Kaide’s words beginning to ring.

Someone else had ordered the hit for Hayden; someone wanted him dead, and it was Holden. Holden is the culprit! Holden is the one who wishes for Hayden to be killed.

A sense of wrath took over Elise as she screamed through the quiet mourning courtyard, “Stop everything right this instant!” She cries out, and the whole crowd gasps in shock at seeing someone break into a burial. “You ba**rd! You are the one that killed your brother!” She shouts to Holden.

The whole crowd turned in shock to see the enraged Luna female was none other than Elise; she pulled her cloak down for all to see, and their eyes widened in shock when they marveled that the person underneath was their Luna.

10:55 Sat, Sep 7

Chapter **

A testament very different from Holden’s words. The beta stood all the pack.

That the Luna of the Calhan pack is alive.