"Seize her!" Rogar snapped, deciding that he had heard enough, but it was Alpha Trent himself who stopped him.
"No. Let her be." He turned to face the woman he had once declared his love to, the woman he had once given his heart to. "You are banished from my lands, Casey, you and the bastard you carry. If I ever find you in my pack again, I myself would sink my claws into your belly. I would kill you, Casey."
Casey stared at the love of her life as he uttered these words. No fresh tears came; perhaps she had cried all the tears she had. Her pain was too much for tears, and so she did the only thing she knew to do: she turned and fled.
As Alpha Trent watched the retreating figure of the woman he loved, he wondered if he was making a wrong decision. He knew there was a conspiracy against him, and in order to uncover it, he needed to shake things up a bit, but what if Casey ended up innocent? What if she fell into harm, and he wasn't there to save her?
"Rogar," he called softly, and the beta immediately walked up to meet his Alpha, claws already bared as though he was ready to attack the former Luna should he be asked to.
"Keep an eye on her for me, please," Alpha Trent said instead, and Rogar was taken aback by the earnestness in the Alpha's eyes. He was also surprised that the Alpha would confide in him instead of Jason, but he nodded. Something was obviously up, and he could understand if the Alpha was wary about trusting people he had trusted in the past.
Alpha Trent turned to his new Luna with a benign smile. "Come, Luna, I have plans for you." If only she knew what plans he had for her; she would not be grinning like a Cheshire cat. She must be so foolish to think he would trust her after she so publicly outed her own sister, but she fit perfectly into his plans, so he was going to play along.
He placed a light kiss on her soft lips—lips that were so identical to Casey's—as she walked up to him, and slipping a hand around her slender waist, he led her towards his Alpha mansion.
Alpha Trent had plans, and he did not trust anyone. He played his cards close to his chest.
**Five years later…**
Alpha Vlad of Stonemane scoffed angrily as he paced his pack house. "I can smell him," he muttered angrily to no one in particular.
"Smell who, Alpha?" Luca, his beta asked.
"That bastard. Who else?" The Alpha snapped. He stopped to glance around his private office; just two of his betas sat close by. On the couch was one of his women, spread-eagled, unable to move a limb after he had been done treating her entire body to his powerful sexual prowess. She was still naked, and that fact irked Alpha Vlad. He did not share his women. Although any man would be a fool to try to sleep with any woman he had once claimed, and his betas made sure to avert their eyes from her naked form, Vlad still wasn't satisfied.
"Get up and put on some clothes, then get out," he snapped in the direction of the woman. She purred, and turned pleading sea-green eyes on him. She probably wanted to be cuddled and stuff, but if she expected that from him, she was In for a major disappointment. Vlad had broken up with the last woman that had ever asked such of him.
"Now, Kim." This time, the command in his voice forced the lady to scramble to her feet, wobbling on shaky feet over to where her clothes lay, scattered on the floor, but Vlad's attention was already off her as he stood staring out of the window.
"Trent is either here, or someone belonging to him is."
His betas merely stared at him. His instinct was far sharper than theirs, and most times, he could even smell people from the outskirts of his pack. He was Alpha Vlad for a reason.
"I'd send out a search party to go through the entire pack," Luca said, finally galvanizing into action.
Vlad merely shook his head. "No. I need something more stealthy than that." His eyes were not on his over-eager beta, but rather on the silent one that sat calmly on the couch Kim had once laid. Leywin did not appear as over-eager as Luca, but he was someone Vlad could count on.
An unspoken conversation passed through both men, and Vlad started to say something, but then he was interrupted by his messenger who burst into his private office. Marcus was the only other person allowed access into the Alpha's private office.
"Alpha Vlad, we have a new refugee," Marcus said, bowing low before his Alpha.
Vlad stared for a while at the Omega he had elevated to his personal messenger, and for a brief moment, he felt he had misjudged the man's character, overestimating his abilities. "We get refugees all the time. Why did you feel the need to notify me about this one?"
"It's a woman—"
"I'm sure the gender of our refugees has never mattered in the past, Marcus."
"Yes, Alpha, but this is a woman that still has the scent of Redmoon pack on her. It's very faint, so I think it's been years since she made contact with Redmoon, but it's distinct. I thought you'd like to know."
Vlad remained completely silent. To an untrained eye, he was calm, but Leywin, his trusted beta, could see the muscles working in his jaw, and the messenger could see it too.
There was a general tension in the room because everyone knew the Alpha of Redmoon pack was Vlad's mortal enemy.
"It's him," Alpha Vlad said to no one in particular. "That's probably one of that bastard's women. I want her thrown out of my pack, right after I'm done interrogating her." Vlad turned immediately, following in the wake of his messenger, planning to unleash his anger on the unfortunate woman who dared to step into his pack with the scent of Alpha Trent still on her, but when the door to refugee room 208 opened to his pounding fists, what he saw next left him speechless for several seconds.
A while ago, Casey, who had come to the Redmoon pack destitute, with her precious four-year-old bundle of blessing, Lily, had been told she would not be allowed to stay, that Redmoon did not cater to the needs of the enemy.
Stonemane was the enemy. It did not matter that the same pack had kicked her out; she was still being associated with them wherever she went.
Casey had used the opportunity of being under a roof with water for the first time in a long while to take a shower. She'd also birthed Lily; thankfully, there were some old, but not worn-out clothes in the wardrobe, and she had dressed herself and her daughter.
Casey had lied to the little girl that she had already eaten, cajoling her to eat the last of the stale bread they had kept for over a week now.
And so, it was like that Alpha Vlad found them, with fear and hunger in their eyes. Little Lily stared up at him with the innocent vulnerability of a child, and Casey, still bent a bit as she dried her hair turned to look at the handsome and powerful looking man in anticipation. There was sorrow in her eyes, and a defeated look, as though she knew he was coming to add to the pile of her sorrows.
It was Lily that broke the silence. Solemnly, she got up on her feet and walked towards the man at the door. He looked very different from the kind of men he had seen in the past. He was very good-looking, powerful, and he looked – like the men she and her mother had once bowed before and called 'Alpha', he also looked angry – or he had looked angry when he first stepped in.
Lily had come to realize that people were usually angry when they were hungry, so she did the only thing that came to her mind, she broke her stiff, stale bread and offered him some.
Vlad stood speechless, in shock, as he stared down at the offering from the destitute little girl, and then she did something that reached deep into his heart and twisted, she smiled.
Alpha Vlad watched as the little girl transformed from her solemn look, to one of accommodating compassion as she held out her offering. From the look of things, he could already guess that was their last bread, which explained why the mother had been to welling away at her already drying hair. The bread was stale, and unfit for such a little girl, but it was all they had. Now, out of her little, the child was offering him some.
"It's okay Sir. You can have it," Lily said in a childish voice. "I promise, I have already eaten before now." A flicker in the little girl's large blue eyes, so identical to her mother's told him she was lying.
"Lily you shouldn't –" The mother began, but stopped herself mid sentence.
"Shouldn't lie?" The toddler asked, boldly, but not unkindly. "It's okay Mummy," she continued, going to give her mother a hug. "I know you were lying earlier when you said you've already had something to eat. That's why I couldn't just eat that alone. I want us all to share, because as long as we can still give love, it doesn't matter how cold the night gets, or if we sleep under the rain again, I would be warm inside here –" she slapped her tiny fist against her heart, and tears sprang into her mother's eyes.
While the mother stared down in sorrowful love at her daughter, Vlad took time to study her.
She was unlike any woman he had ever known, and he could already tell that by spending just five minutes with her. She was beautiful yes, but he was already used to beauty, he had bedded only the most beautiful women from his pack and beyond.
No. The fragile creature with her daughter was beyond beautiful. There was that essence set deep within her that could not fade with time. She was lovely, enchanting, and the formidable Alpha Vlad found that for the first time, he saw a woman as something more than a mere pleasure object. There were strangely, tender feelings she drew from within his core, and he did not want to examine them.
He cleared his throat and that got both pairs of large blue eyes staring up at him.
"I'm sorry, I was told we cannot stay here, but if you'd give us a day to plan what next we need to do, I'd appreciate," the mother said in a soft, melodious voice. Vlad could see where her daughter got the boldness from. Despite her defeated demeanour, there was a certain innocent bravery in her manner that showed she would take whatever he said with fortitude.
Vlad took in the small figure, the heart-shaped face, and rose bud lips. The strength of character in the eyes, a strength that had been born from sorrow, and he found he couldn't bring himself to add to her sorrow.
"You can stay here for as long as you want," he answered. "My men would make sure you and your daughter are comfortable." He turned abruptly to leave, before her sea-blue eyes stirred more feelings within him.
Of course, that had not been what he had planned when he matched angrily to her room, but for once, Vlad felt something that was quite similar to compassion. He couldn't let this keep happening though, so he made up his mind never to set eyes on the lovely woman with the sorrow in her eyes, and her enchanting little daughter again.
Vlad had reached the end of the hall before he realized he had stopped smelling Trent on the woman as soon as he stepped into the room.
That could only mean one thing.