Chapter 4 Mother's betrayal
DESMOND POV
I stood before the portrait of my mother in the ancestral hall, my hands clasped behind my back, my jaw tight with the familiar ache of old anger.
She looked exactly as I remembered her. Beautiful, regal, with eyes that held secrets I would never know.
I had been standing here for nearly an hour, trying to understand why my mother had been so determined to clear her name. She had spent the last three years of her life searching for answers, traveling to the ruins of the hybrid clans, finding survivors (if there had been any), and documenting everything she found. And then she had died, leaving her quest to Devon.
But why? Why did it matter so much to her?
I knew what the other packs said. They whispered that the Luna of Darkwood had ordered the massacre because of what happened to Father. That she had been so consumed by rage that she had condemned an entire clan to death.
I had always believed it. Because I knew very well that the Hybrid were responsible for what happened to my dad, there was no need to hear another side of the story.
The entire clan deserved to die for their crimes.
My mother's quest to find the truth had always felt like a betrayal. She should have been celebrating the hybrids' destruction, not mourning their loss. She should have been glad that justice had been served.
But she wasn't and I had never understood why.
I closed my eyes, and the memories came flooding back.
FLASHBACK
Five Years Ago
It was a few days after my brother and I coming of age ceremony, I heard that Devon had decided to go looking for the Hybrid clan survivors like he had promised our mother.
I stormed into his room, my rage barely contained. He was packing his bags, his face set with that stubborn determination that I had always hated.
"Are you insane?" I shouted. "You're going to look for the very people who destroyed our father's life?”
Devon had turned to face me, his expression calm in a way that made me want to hit him. "I'm going to look for the truth. There's a difference."
"There's no difference! You know what they did to him. They deserved death not justice."
"We were only ten years old then," Devon said, his voice infuriatingly gentle. "What you think you know and what actually happened might be two very different things. The entire clan was killed a month after what happened to father, don't you find that suspicious?"
"I don't care what you find, I will never forgive them."
Devon had sighed, rubbing his temples the way he always did when he was frustrated with me. "I'm not asking you to forgive them. I'm asking you to trust me. To let me find the truth."
"I already know the truth and I will stand by it." I had stepped closer, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "And if you find any of those hybrids, I will kill them with my own hands. I swear it."
Devon had stared at me for a long moment before he grabbed his bag and walked out.
He was gone for a week and he came back with nothing at all. I felt bad for his wasted effort but I was happy too that those monsters were completely gone from this world.
But of course, he didn't stop. He turned it into an annual trip but I was more than confident that he will keep coming back empty handed.
I was brought back to reality by a sharp, excruciating pain lanced through my chest. I gasped as my hand flew to my sternum.
What the hell was that?
Another pain followed on my arm. I looked down, half expecting to see a wound, but there was nothing there. Just the phantom sensation of something tearing through my flesh.
“Fuck.’ I groaned in pain.
‘It's Devon, he's in danger,” My wolf, Nixon, groaned in my head.
Before I could recover, another pain came on my back.
I groaned in pain as I fell to my knees, my heart pounding.
"Devon!" I screamed his name, reaching out through the mindlink. ‘Devon! Where are you? What's happening?’
There was nothing. No response.
I tried again, pouring all my strength into the connection. ‘Devon, answer me! Please!’
Still nothing.
"Alpha Desmond!"
I looked up to see one of my servants,
William, a grizzled veteran who had served our family for years. His eyes were wide with alarm.
"Are you alright, Alpha? I heard you scream…"
"It's Devon," I said, forcing myself to my feet. "He's in trouble. I felt him being attacked. Get the head warrior. Tell him to gather our strongest fighters. We're leaving immediately."
William didn't hesitate. He nodded and ran out of the ancestral hall.
I stumbled out of the ancestral hall, my mind racing. How did this happen? Devon's guards were the best in the pack. He should have been safe.
I remembered that I had warned him that I was uncomfortable about his trip this week but he wouldn't listen to me. If only he had given up on his stupid quest to find the hybrids, we wouldn't be in this situation.
‘You better be alive, Devon.’
I left the pack with twenty strong warriors that night set out at dawn. I led them myself, following the faint thread of the bond that still connected me to my brother.
It grew weaker with every mile, like a candle flickering in the wind.
"Devon is alive," I muttered to myself, over and over. "He's so stubborn that he wouldn't die easily."
The trail led us deep into the Shadow Woods, the trees were thick here, the canopy so dense that it blocked out most of the sunlight. The air was damp and cold, the smell of blood was heavy in my nostrils.
At that point, the faint bond vanished. I couldn't feel my brother anymore. It was as if something powerful was blocking it.
The warriors spread to see if there was any clue that my brother had been there.
"Alpha, you should see this," one of the warriors hollered.
We all rushed toward him and I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me.
The bodies were everywhere. Five of them, torn and broken, their blood soaking into the forest floor. I recognized their faces, they were Devon's most loyal guard.
"No," I breathed, my voice cracking. "No, this can't be right."
I fell to my knees beside Marcus's body, my hands shaking. He had been my friend too. We had grown up together, trained together, fought together, and now he was dead.
"Alpha, Alpha Devon isn't here, " another warrior announced.
I took a deep breath and stood up. “Spread out and search for him. My brother is alive.”
It wouldn't be Devon if he died so easily.
The warriors obeyed, fanning out across the clearing. I stood in the center, my eyes closed, trying to feel the bond.
But it was blocked. Someone was stopping me from reaching him.
