Chapter 74

• ALPHA ZACHARY The silence the room descended into at my command as the very one I expected and even relished because my insides burned so much and my head blew hot from all the noise, confusions and arguments going around the room. My anger has been consuming me since I returned and I haven't been able to quench it. Somehow, I knew it would take me setting my hands on someone and killing them in an instant for me to get the anger off me. Who it would be is the only matter of concern. My eyes swept across the room that had everyone waiting with baited breath for Alan to bring over the witch like I had commanded. Ilvira. Gennora. Who would it be? I took in the rest of the room. Ilvira's parents seemed like that had everything under control but I could smell their resolve slowly wavering. Their disappointment in their child and shame at their own selves was something that hid from their face with the bold looks of royalty. My eyes took in someone else. Haera. Her leg seemed to have healed up pretty good considering how she walked down here on her own. I fought hard to tear my eyes away from her. Alan seemed to match my resolve because he arrived in that same moment with a shorter figure trailing after him in a dark robe that swept the floor as she walked. Alan stopped in front of me, at the foot of the high podium my throne was and bowed. The witch mirrored his movements before slowly removing the cape that covered her head. Alan had scavenged the whole woodlands looking for her. He had briefed me upon our return about the witch he found who was willing to provide answers to questions. I had ordered him to bring her to the pack after I locked Ilvira and Tybalt in the cage. "Alpha." The witch called, bowing again. I nodded my approval. Her whole essence screamed darkness and power beyond the one wolves can comprehend. "Thank you for taking your time to be here today on such short notice." "It's in my pleasure to be here to serve the most powerful Alpha in the woodlands." She bowed again. Impatient grunts arose in the room and I looked around to the waiting Alphas as well as the only Luna in the room. I sank deeper and comfortably in my seat before I moved to begin but someone else was faster. "Alpha Zachary, what is this about? Our impatience wears thin the longer you drag this out." I couldn't help but smile. I knew it aggravated Alpha Jarvold the more. "Patience my dear Alphas,there's no need to rush. After all, we're just getting started." "What exactly is she here to do?" Luna Elena asked. "The witch isn't here to play cards with us, is she?" I retorted. Luna narrowed her eyes at me before trimming her lips into a thin line. My irritability has been on the high ever since I returned and I don't see it going down anytime soon. The witch asked to get her tools for the ritual and I gave my approval. My guards brought in numerous things moments later that she carefully arranged in front of her ; candles, shrubs, straw dolls...to mention but a few. "To clear your confusion about the witch's presence here, let's start with a little flashback shall we? Weeks ago, i overheard Ilvira and her maid talking about something that bothered me greatly before my attack ever even happened." "Earlier, I had punished the assistant chef, Haera for adding shrimps into Ilvira's food and causing a serious allergy attack at breakfast that day. I was there to see how my mate was doing, only for me to hear that it was all planned and the shrimps were added by that old maid, her personal maid standing over there." I made sure I didn't make eye contact with Haera when I said this. The guilt of it was still eating me up. "And that was even the least of the things I heard. Apparently, Ilvira pleaded with me to bring the maid back at home to this pack because she needed her to make her scents get stronger. I was confused at first as to why a mere maid's presence was required for her scent to be strong. It was then that I realized that before then, I had been noticing the slowly fading scent of Ilvira and the smell of an entirely different one which I mistook or should I say she misguided me into thinking it was as a result of her being pregnant. The scent changed back to the one I was used to upon the arrival of the head maid." The room was eerily quiet once again. "And so, to confirm my suspicions, I sent my Beta out to search for any witch who knew anything about scents and how they can be changed. Or am I the only one who finds what I just said odd?" No one said anything. Not a grunt, not even a murmur. I nodded. "Good, I thought so too." I turned to the witch and she bowed upon my attention. "You already know why you're here, can you get on with it?" "Yes Alpha." "Is there really a possible way for scents to change all of a sudden? "Like you said Alpha, pregnancy is the only known and natural way for a scent to change in wolves. However, there is a known spell for such a deed as well." It was at this time that I heard the murmurs I'd been expecting. The doubts in their faces and the ones they voiced out in low whispers gave me some sort of satisfaction. "So you're saying the only way a scent can change without pregnancy is through a spell?" I asked the obvious again. "Yes, Alpha." "Is there any way you can prove this to us?" "Yes. Normally, whoever asks the witch to cast this certain spell has to give something in return. Something peculiar to them that only they possess because it's one of a kind to each and every werewolf." She took a brief pause, letting her word sink in and take root in everyone's mind before she continued; "Their wolf." Another pause. Murmurs. Silence. The witch continued; "In return for this spell to be casted on whoever it is needed for, the person who goes to the witch will have to lose their wolf." "So you're saying if someone here really casted such a spell, they probably don't have their wolf anymore?" "Yes" I turned to my little audience and stood to my feet. As I did, slowly walking down the podium and to the leveled ground of the throne room where they were all standing. I stopped when I got to where Ilvira was huddled on the floor. She cowered under my gaze when she looked up at me. "So there is a big possibility that my Luna doesn't have her wolf anymore?" I bit out the word Luna like it left a bitter taste in my mouth because it truly did. She sprang up the moment the witch answered my question, eyes wide and unfocused in their sockets. "I have my wolf! You have to believe me! I know nothing about any spells casted. I can shift and show you all that I have my wolf!" She sounded like she was slowly slipping into insanity. She turned to her mother and grabbed her hand tightly. "Mother, you have to believe me. You can sense me right? I have my wolf. I did no such thing as casting spells for scents. I would never!" Luna Elena said nothing for a split second and just looked squarely into her daughter's eyes. She couldn't even hide the shame and disappointment anymore. "You haven't shifted in years, Ilvira. At least not in our presence. We have only seen your wolf once and it was when you were just 10, how do I know if you still have it if you have hidden it from me for years?" The Luna said, her tone hard. I thought about all the reasons Ilvira must have hidden her wolf for so long and just one came to mind but we weren't there yet. One at a time. I told myself. "Luna Elena can't prove it but of course, the witch can. That's what she's here for." I turned back to the witch and gave her my approval to start. We all waited and watched as she began chanting incoherent words and walking around the room. She stopped at every corner, at every turn and in front of every figure. Till she got to the old maid and paused. Her chants erupted loudly and her voice shook with each word. And then she went silent all of a sudden. Plunging the room into silence as well. "It's her." Everyone turned to look at a wide eyed Gennora. "It is her who has no wolf." Gennora fell to the ground immediately as if she had been waiting for this to happen and had prepared herself for the worst. "Gennora!" Luna Elena yelled out of shock. "It's true? You employed the help of a witch to cast a spell? Why would you do that? For what reasons? Did Ilvira push you into doing that?" Alpha jarvold's questions were endless. "Forgive me!" Gennora kept mumbling. The room has already been thrown into commotion and I relished in it. The witch turned to me and the look in her eyes was one that told me she had more to say. I silenced the room and turned everyone's attention back to the witch. "There's something I however failed to point out about this spell because I wanted the first suspicions to be cleared. This replacement scent spell can only be done by a blood relative if done on behalf of someone . In other words, it can only be done by someone who is related to the real owner of the spell by blood." I didn't have to say anything for everyone to see where things were going and to start drawing their own conclusions. "Are you insinuating Ilvira isn't my daughter?" Alpha jarvold bellowed. "If indeed the maid did it on her behalf and lost her wolf then yes, the princess is not your daughter." Luna Elena slumped back into her chair. Alpha Jarvold was quick to go to her side and hold her. It was obvious that the shock had weakened her. Alpha jarvold turned to the witch, his eyes blazing. "Prove it! Prove that the daughter I have raised for years isn't mine!" "What other proof is needed? That daughter of yours hasn't even her own parents her wolf because she couldn't. It isn't a wolf befitting a princess of Alpha blood!" I retorted. "Prove it!" He yelled back. "All I need is your blood and hers to prove it to you." I commanded Alan to get a knife and slit Ilvira's wrist. She screamed and struggled with him but he was able to drive out blood into a small wooden bowl provided by the witch. Alpha Jarvold didn't bat his eyes as he slit his own wrist and let the blood drop into the same wooden bowl. "If she is truly your daughter, then the blood will turn black. But if she isn't. It will dry up and burn the bowl itself because different bloods shouldn't be mixed in a single container." With that said, the witch dropped the bowl to the floor where everyone could see it.. We waited...for seconds. For the results of the test. The tension in the room was suffocating even if air blew from every corner. It started before we knew it. The sizzling as if something hot was about to turn over and spill to the floor. Everyone moved back and watched as the blood sizzled till it burned down the wooden bowl into ashes. "Oh My God!" Luna Elena exclaimed. "Alan, grab the maid!" I commanded and he rushed to hold Gennora and slit her wrists to draw her own blood. More blood was collected from Ilvira and both were mixed in another bowl and just like that, the mixture of crimson turned black. There it was. The proof of it all but we were nowhere near done. "Haera!" I called. She was startled at first because she had been frozen from the shock of everything. She rushed forward the moment I called her name. "While we were lost in the forest after the attack, Haera sustained a very serious injury that made me go out in search of herbs to treat it for fear that she would die because she protected me. When I came back, the wound, a very deep and large one that marred her stomach, was gone." Everyone, including the already weak Luna who looked like she poof faint turned their heads in Haera's direction. "Yes...that same thing you all are thinking was the same thing I thought when I saw it. No omega is capable of such fast healing...unless...unless they're not really omegas." Haera looked at me with confusion etched deeply on her face. I turned to the alpha and the Luna of the moonstone pack who looked so distraught they could barely talk. "Who is the mother of the girl?" "Gennora...according to her, she found her in the woods and brought her into the pack and has raised her as her daughter ever since." I nodded. Of course, what other lie could she have told? I commanded Alan to get another drop of blood from the Alpha into another bowl and then proceeded to talk to Haera myself. "I know you're confused but please...just trust me." I whispered to her and slowly slit her wrist. She winced in pain while I let the blood drop into the same container and then tore a part of my cloth to put pressure on the cut. The bowl of blood settled on the floor again and we all watched it turn black in a matter of seconds. Silence. Pin drop one. Worse than the very one that has been eminent in the room every few minutes. "Alpha Jarvold...there you have it. The truth." Haera was frozen on the spot and it seemed like she had it worse than any other person in the room. I was right. She was of Alpha blood. Haera is the rightful princess of the Moonstone pack. "How....how...what-" Alpha jarvold could barely utter a word. "You should ask the maid if you have any other questions, Alpha Jarvold. She has commited two grave sins and how she managed the second one is what I have no idea about." My anger had already reached the barest minimum at the revelation of it all. The fact that I have been deceived the whole time by a mere maid and her freaking lowlife daughter drove me insane. "Father. You can't listen to them. I have no idea what he's talking about. How can Haera be your daughter? It's insane! I only favored Gennora as a maid! She is not my mother. It's all her! She did it all! She told me that Haera was mated to Alpha Zachary and someone like she didn't deserve to be a Luna. She told me she would handle it! The scent, the spells, everything! Including the death of that fat chef." Haera snapped right then, from her trance as she rushed toward the princess. The fact that it was now confirmed that we were destined mates wasn't what bothered her. It was something else. "What did you just say about Balfour?" "You heard me! She killed him. It's all her. Mother , father, you have to believe me. I am your real daughter! I am your real daughter!" Ilvira yelled out desperately. The maid,Gennora was huddled to the corner , tears falling down her face in torrents. She was the evil one. The one behind it all along. The one responsible for fooling me for so long. Ilvira's desperate screams thaw at me in the wrong way and almost made my ear bleed. I wanted to silence her. I wanted to let out my anger and unleash it because it was reaching the point of insanity for me. I drew out a sword from the dozens that lined the wall nearby "Father...mother...you have to hear me out. There's so way that maid is your daughter, there is now way she-" The slitting of flesh and the splashing sound of blood all over the room shut out every sound in the room. Silence. A much more appreciated one. Because finally, I had found the one I need to kill to let my demons out.