Liv looked at Brandon with big eyes, before her gaze went to Andrew and Gerard behind him. They had gotten closer to her and were patiently waiting for her answer. But she didn’t know how to answer.
She was indeed a wolf with both Ulfhednar and Lycanthrope blood, a Ulfhednar Moonblood, but she was also a Ulfhednar Royal and an Alpha of an Ulfhednar pack. She had no idea if she could actually do this and accept them. So, she stood there gaping at them as everyone waited for her to answer.
“Liv.” Ben’s voice suddenly sounded next to her, making her head snap towards him. “It’s up to you if you accept them or refuse them, but don’t let the knowledge of who and what you are alter your decision. Listen to what your instinctual feelings are telling you and you won’t make the wrong decision, even if some believe that you do.” Meaning that once the wolves here found out what she had done, they will either accept it or riot and shut her out.
“He’s right.” Malik’s voice entered the room as well as he did, fully clothed again. “Your mom was a Lycanthrope and she raised me alongside of you. Your dad never held her blood against her and neither did any of us. If there is one thing we learned from your father, it’s that blood doesn’t define who you are, the choices you make determine that. We are at war, but that doesn’t mean that all of us want to kill every Lycanthrope or the other way around. Some just want the fighting to stop and coexist.” The looks of the wolves during the speech of Rafe resurfaced and she knew he was right. Some were done with the way things were going.
“Including you?” She asked.
He gave her a small smile. “If any of us hated the Lycanthropes as much as Rafe, Pyry and Stef do, we wouldn’t have chosen you as our Alpha.” His voice sounded double in her head and in her ears as he said it through the link as well for her pack to hear. Now that he has the beta title, he could link the pack as well as she could.
“Your father never went to battle the Lycanthropes when we lived back in Greenland. Instead, he chose to live in peace with his own Lycanthrope mate, resulting in a half Ulfhednar, half Lycanthrope daughter. You have lived your life thinking you were nothing more than a Lycanthrope, if we would have been against them, we would have hated you and shut you out.” Malik said as he walked towards her and laid his hands on her shoulders. “We trust you with our entire being, Liv. If you choose to accept them in our pack, we will welcome them with open arms and live with them peacefully.” The acceptance came from her pack in full force. They all agreed with Malik’s words.
“But what about Rafe?” Malik straightened a little, removing his hands from her shoulders as he did. “What about him? He has nothing to say about who you accept or don’t accept into your own pack.”
“Besides, he is just the Regent.” Ben interjected. “You are our Princess. If he had a problem with it, you could just tell him where to shove it and move on with your life.”
“Or he will simply compel all of you to kill me.” She said grimly as she met his gaze, which immediately shot to Caden, who hadn’t moved from his spot. “She had a right to know that he actually could do that.” He simply said.
Ben sighed as he looked back at her. “Yes, he could also do that, but you’re a Moonblood, you can kill us with just a thought so you’re not defenseless.” She gave him a pointed look. “An untrained Moonblood.”
“Who can heal mortal wounds filled with aconite on instinct.” Malik immediately interjected, which made her look at him. “Still, accepting them could get us a shit ton of trouble on our heads before we’re even ready for it.” Malik got a challenging smile on his face which told her he was in for anything they would throw at him. “Mal, seriously-”
“We’re going to need all the help we can get, Alpha.” Fare’s voice suddenly filled her mind through the link. How did he even know that they were still talking about this?
She could feel another presence and followed it straight back to Malik who was smirking at her. At that moment she knew she had made a mistake to name him beta. Releasing a defeated sigh, she dropped her head and ran her hands over her face. They were right though. They were going to need all the help they could get. Especially now that she knew about Rafe being out for her head.
Liv took a deep breath as she looked back up and turned to the three Lycanthropes. “Are you sure about this? This will also make you a mark for Lycaon.”
“Well, if you’re going to look at it that way, it will also give us the protection of another Royal Wolf.” Gerard said with a smile.
Andrew laid a hand on his mate’s shoulder as he started talking. “We had a peaceful pack, before King came and killed our Alpha. We were suddenly nothing more than rogues and were treated like nothing else by him. As soon as the word started to spread about what he was doing, we became hated and feared by every other pack in the world. We were right there when King brought you and your mom to the pack. You were so small and still so full of warmth and life, even though you’ve gone through hell. We couldn’t let King kill that spark inside of you and if we hadn’t asked to take care of you, your childhood would have ended that first night as King’s plans for you were to let his Alphas do with you what they pleased.” A freezing cold shiver ran down her spine and she knew she had become as pale as snow. King actually wanted to have her raped when she was six!?
“By the gods.” Doc mumbled with shock behind her.
Malik immediately got closer and laid a hand on her shoulder as he noticed the change in her. His instinct had flared to protect her.
“He only agreed after we went through the punishments, he had intended for you.”
“Stop.” Liv immediately took a step back, a hand on her chest. She couldn’t take to know that they went through yet another horrific thing for her. They didn’t even know her and yet they went through torture and literal rape to keep her safe.
Her life had been hell, but after hearing what King had put the two of them through...
Andrew walked towards her and stopped in front of her. Liv looked up at him, meeting his soft gaze. “We didn’t know who King really was until Rev found us. We had escaped the fight, like more wolves, and had become dispersers as we had no pack to go back to. When Rev gave us the option to come here and help you, we took it. They told us everything about who King was and more importantly who you truly were and that you became the Alpha of your birth pack. From that moment on we knew we wanted to join your pack. Not because you are some badass Ulfhednar Moonblood Alpha, but because we knew that there was no one who was more deserving of our loyalty, life and soul then you.”
“Why me?”
Andrew smiled at her question. “Because the moment you came into our care, you became our family. We saw you grow up and if we could we would have been there for the last eleven years as well. You’ve become so strong. You’ve been through so much and yet; you haven’t lost yourself. I can still see the sweet girl you were in your eyes.”
“Even though you’re a badass bitch now.” Brandon added, which made her snort, Andrew glare at him and Gerard slapping him against his head. “What!? She is!” Brandon exclaimed as he gestured towards her as he rubbed his head.
Andrew sighed as he shook his head and looked back at her. “We’re so proud of you, Livana, and if you’ll have us, we’ll gladly call you, our Alpha.” She met his gaze again and searched his eyes for anything that would tell her that this truly was a bad idea, but there was nothing. Her feelings were actually screaming at her to accept them.
Liv took a deep breath before she slowly started to nod. Joy immediately filled Andrew’s eyes before he laid his hand on his heart and dropped to one knee.
“From this moment till my last, I will give my body, life and soul to protect this pack and fulfil the command of you, my Alpha, Kerra Livana Greenland.” The feeling of the pack bond expanding filled her, making her gasp once again. Malik also inhaled next to her as he felt it as well. Gerard and Brandon also fell to one knee with their hand over their heart and recited the oath, joining her pack.
Andrew looked up at her with a bright smile which she answered with that of her own, before he got up from the ground and barred his neck towards her. Malik smiled as he took a step towards Andrew and clasped his shoulder. “Welcome, brother.”
“My beta.” Andrew said with a smile before he barred his neck once more as a sign of respect. The smile slowly fell from her face as she looked at the interactions between Malik and the three of them. What she did was right, but if Rafe found out, they’re going to have a lot of trouble.
§
Liv enjoyed the quietness around her as she walked through the decaying village. The forest was thick here, the leaves a darker shade of green and the flowers were few. The entire atmosphere made the place feel a little haunted. Trees had sprouted inside of the basically non-existed houses and the scent of multiple animals told her that they made the place their home or hunting ground. Even though the smell of the animals said that there was still life here, the look of the entire scene told her that there hadn’t been anyone living here in a long time. A heavy feeling hung over the space. Something bad has happened here and it had left a mark.
Liv walked onto the steps of a porch that was moments away from collapsing. Her feet screaming at the cold that invaded them. It was a familiar feeling; one she hadn’t experienced in a while. Not since she had run barefooted through the snow in Greenland and Alaska as a child.
Ignoring the pain the memory brought with it, she walked on and entered the house. The roof was gone and the forest had also started to take over the space with branches of trees invading what was supposed to be the living room and bushes sprouting through the holes in the remaining floorboards.
She laid a hand against the wood of the door frame as she looked around the space, before soft footsteps filled her ears and a weak scent filled her nose.
“What is this place?” She asked, without looking at him as he kept walking towards her.
After Andrew, Gerard and Brandon joined her pack she had excused herself and walked out of the house, which she was pretty sure, it had been a packhouse by the size of it. The feeling only grew as she walked through the dead village, but if this used to be a pack territory, where has the pack gone?
Caden stopped next to her as he looked into the small space as well. “My home.” Her gaze shifted to him as he kept his eyes for a little longer on the space in front of him before he turned and looked at her as well. “At least it used to be.” He said before he walked down the porch steps again.
“What do you mean?” She asked as she followed him and walked beside him as they slowly ventured further into the forest.
“When King came and everything happened, we were forced to relocate in Alaska. Thanks to the laws that have been in place since the reign of the sisters, the territory that once was ours was taken from us after two years and claimed by the ruling monarch to do with it as they please.” Liv gulped as she looked around at the houses again. “Rafe didn’t care about a piece of territory, he already had a claim to all of them, so he left it alone and never turned his eye towards it. Resulting in what you’re seeing now.”
Liv remembered the story Caden had told her. About how big his pack and his territory had been.
“We weren’t some weak pack, we were the pack of our country.”
Looking around she could tell that his territory had been huge. She has been walking for a while now and she was still surrounded by houses and couldn’t see them starting to dwindle to announce that they were almost at the end.
“Why didn’t he care? You said you were the pack of your country, shouldn’t that have made him care?”
Caden glanced at her as he huffed. “We were only an important pack because of our strength and numbers, our territory was huge because it had to be to house us all. As a Royal, Rafe has a claim on all the territories in Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries, so it hadn’t mattered if we stayed or left, he would have been able to claim it anyway.” Making it nothing of relevance to him. “The only difference would have been that the territory hadn’t died, but was still buzzing with life.” Caden added before he looked ahead of him again as they walked.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” He glanced her way again as she also looked at him. “Being back here and seeing what has become of the place you grew up in?”
His jaw locked before his eyes focused on something else, before he spoke. “If you ever set foot in Greenland once more, you’ll know the answer to that question yourself.”
She gulped as she dropped her eyes to the ground and clasped her hands together as she started playing with her nails. She didn’t need to set foot back in Greenland to know that it hurts like hell to be back at the place where her most painful memories originated from.
“Why did you bring me here?”
Caden stopped walking as he turned towards her, making her stop walking as well. “Because, everything we need to discuss, cannot be safely talked about back at Rafe’s.” Liv swallowed again as she dropped her hands.
“Rafe wants you dead more than anything, but he knows he needs you before he could make his wish come true.”
“Because I am the one who is supposed to end this war.” In one way or another. Caden gave her a small nod. “What does he need from me?”
“Your power.” Of course, what else did she have to offer to anyone?
The ire that filled her throat made her swallow again as she averted her gaze.
“What does he want to use my power for?” She asked with a bitterness in her voice.
“That I cannot tell you.” She met his gaze once more. “What do you mean?”
“Rafe has kept the true reason behind this war a secret. None of us know why were even fighting and it’s starting to cause distrust from more and more wolves and Alphas to Rafe. He is dispatching them to fight battles, they can’t win and tells them nothing about why they are still fighting. When things got too tense, he announced to the Alphas, under his command, that you, our princess, were still alive and had been captured by the Lycanthropes, and told us that we needed to get you back. It wasn’t until five years ago that Ben and I learned about your survival as well.”
Her eyes had grown wide as she held his gaze. Rafe knew she had been alive all this time, but he never announced it to anyone until things got too risky for him? Why?
“It wasn’t until then that we started to plan to get you back. The tenseness towards Rafe becoming secondary in an instant. I never believed him to suddenly announce your survival only for the reason to gain more trust. I was proven right when Rev heard a conversation, he shouldn’t have. One where Rafe announced only to keep you alive to make sure your power was at his command and once he was done using you, he would kill you.”
Liv swallowed again as she pulled her eyes away.
“When did he hear about this? You were in Kings pack-”
“The first day after we got you here.” He interrupted her. Liv remained quiet as she allowed her mind to soak in the information and start planning her own uncle’s death. She clenched her fists at her side as she looked back at Caden.
“I’m not going to be used again. He wants my power? Fine he will get it, as soon as I use it to choke him to death.” She seethed.
A dangerous crooked smirk slowly appeared on Caden’s face.
“Lycaon wants me dead.” She started to sum as she turned and walked a bit away from him. “Rafe, that deadbeat of an uncle, wants me dead.” Liv turned and faced him. “And no one is honest about why.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Caden asked as he still held that smirk on his face and walked towards her, only to stop a bit too close in front of her.
“I’m going to train, and you are going to help me.”
“And then?” Something burned in his eyes and she could feel herself reacting to it.
“Then I am going to rip Rafe’s heart out and anyone who stands in my way will get the same fate.” She snarled. “I’m done with being held in the dark. I was given life for a reason and I will make damn sure that anyone who thinks of me as an easy target that can be used for their own gain will suffer for it.”
“Måneblod.” Caden growled as he took another step closer and pushed her against a tree with her back. The swirl in her stomach made it clench in anticipation as she looked in his emerald eyes. “Tingene du gjør mot meg.” He mumbled as he slowly ran his finger over her collarbone, never letting her eyes go.
“What did you say?” She breathed as the touch of his finger was felt in her entire body.
He growled lowly in his throat making her gasp a bit as her body reacted to it, before he took a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes as he did. The urge was satisfied within her, but everything he did made it feel like she was losing herself to it all over again.
Caden opened his eyes again, revealing his silver ones, not the emerald ones of his wolf. The smirk returned to his face as he took a step back and chose to not answer her question. “Let’s get started.”
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