The Alpha's Luna Of Vengeance

Episode2

LILIAN's POV

My suspicions about Alpha Zian were confirmed the moment we arrived at his Pack. He was indeed the same Alpha Zian as at the time I died. The Dark Knight himself, Alpha Zian Knight of Darkharrow Pack.

Great. Just what I needed. The goddess should have just handed me over to the devil himself.

His reputation as the Dark Knight was known to every werewolf, both living and dead; talks of his deeds were used to scare naughty pups into behaving properly.

I didn't have time to dwell on my thoughts as I was led to the Pack's clinic by Alaric and two other guards. Zian left me in Alaric’s care the moment we arrived, and as much as I hate to admit it, it stung.

"Astonishing," the Pack's physician kept murmuring under his breath as he examined me. "Astonishing."

"Is everything alright?" Alaric asked in a tone that sounded like worry, or maybe I'm just overthinking things.

"She is fine... healthy as a horse," the doctor said, his brow wrinkling as he frowned. "You say you found her at the site of the fire that had burned for two whole days?"

"Yes," answered a guard.

"And yet," the doctor said, shooting me a surprised and suspicious glance. "I can see no signs that she inhaled smoke. No injuries. No burns. Nothing."

I swallowed nervously. Maybe I should have faked some pain. Zian was already suspicious of me.

What if they all came to the conclusion that I was a spy? Then what?

"There must be some logical explanation for that," Alaric said slowly. The others looked unconvinced. "Pity that she can't remember any-"

He broke off as the door opened. Then Alpha Zian came in, and his spicy and woody scent hit me so hard I had to dig my nails into my palms to prevent myself from acting on the urge to be in his arms.

"Alpha Zian," the Pack's physician greeted, rising to his feet and bowing.

"Well?" Alpha Zian asked impatiently, not even sparing me as much as a glance since he stepped in.

The Pack's physician narrated his findings in a single breath.

"Good,” Alpha Zian said, not because he actually cared. Nah. He had other plans.

He turned to Alaric.

“She's your responsibility until she leaves tomorrow morning,” he said, like I wasn't in the same room with them. “Find a spare room to fix her in,” he added, and Alaric nodded sharply.

Alpha Zian made his way out alongside the other guards, and after about a minute Alaric turned to me with a smile I can swear was genuine.

"Come, I'll show you to your room," Alaric said, offering me his hand.

I accepted his hand, hardly paying attention to where we were going. My thoughts were all over the place. The more I tried to make sense of things, the more confused I got.

Or had everything been a dream? Did I imagine getting betrayed and killed and….

No. Nope. That's insane. I felt it. Every searing seconds as the flames crawled up my body. The memory was too gruesome to be something my mind made up.

“Are you okay?” Alaric's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Huh–?”

He parted his lips to say something but decided against it at the last minute and just shook his head, and continued leading the way.

"We're here," Alaric said, pushing open the door to an average-sized room. It had a medium-sized bed, a table beneath the window and a wardrobe. “There are some spare clothes in the wardrobe. Freshen up, I'll bring you something to eat. You look like you could use a hot meal.”

My stomach growled in response, and I've never felt more embarrassed in my entire life.

Alaric chuckled.

“Thank you,” I mumbled politely.

Alaric smiled in response, and walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts once more.

I walked into the room and straight to the wardrobe to pick out something to change into after I shower, but my eyes snagged on something, making me stop dead in my tracks.

Movement.

I dragged my foot slowly backwards to get a better view, and a strange blonde woman with emerald green eyes was staring back at me from the floor-length mirror.

What. The. Hell?

My heart has skipped several beats at this point.

I raised my hands slowly as I stared at the strange woman in the mirror, and she raised her hands too.

And that's when I noticed from the corner of my eyes that my hands were different–soft, unmarked, not the hardness my hands had become accustomed to due to the rigorous training I put myself through daily.

And the scar. I looked sharply at my palm and couldn't find the scar I got on my thumb while playing as a kid.

This is beyond weird.

I looked back in the mirror, really looked, and that's when I noticed the curves. I didn't have curves, never had any, even though it's something I'd wanted as a teenager, but I learned to love my slim athletic build with time.

And my breasts, they seemed… I pressed them a little…fuller, perkier.

Okay. If I thought waking up in the middle of nowhere was at the top of my list of strange things that happened today. This definitely tops it.

“Sidra?” I called out to my wolf who was still nursing a broken heart, and the way she gasped told me I wasn't seeing things.

“Lalita,” she breathed out, and like some mind-boggling puzzle, every single piece began to fall into place–not entirely though, but major parts.

This must be Lalita. The name that fell off my lips when I was asked who I was.

Somehow, someway, after I had died, my wandering soul must have entered this body. But how? I had heard of such things happening but thought they were myths.

For a long time, I stood looking at the stranger in front of me. Who was Lalita? Where was her own soul now?

My mind was still trying to make sense of things when a knock came on the door, startling me in the process.

The door opened without me responding, and Alaric stepped in holding a tray of food.

“Sorry I thought you were…” he began to say, but paused midway. “Is everything okay?” Alaric asked. “You look like you've seen a ghost.”

If only it were that simple.

“I’m fine,” I managed to say, even though my tone suggested that I was far from fine. Alaric didn't push, instead he placed the tray of food on the table.

My mouth became watery at the sight of the food, so I did what anyone truly alive would do. I walked over to the table, sat down, and picked up a spoon, and took a spoonful of a soup I didn't recognize. I was halfway to my mouth when I paused as a thought crossed through my mind. What if this was poisoned?

“Don't worry, we aren't trying to kill you,” Alaric said, like he could read my mind. But that didn't put me at ease. This could be a plot from Alpha Zian to get rid of me for good. His actions made it as clear as day that he didn't want a mate–or better still, he didn't want ME as a mate.

Alaric picked up the extra spoon, and took a spoonful of the soup. His actions put me at ease a bit, and from the moment I took the first spoonful to the last, it was an absolute blur. Alaric stood there watching me eat, but I didn't mind, I needed the food.

I thanked Alaric for the meal and headed to the bathroom, while he made his way out.

The water had gone cold by the time I dragged myself out of the tub, my thoughts were all over the place as I dried off with a towel, and changed into silk pajamas.

I slipped into the bed, which was surprisingly softer than I had anticipated and the last thing I remembered was the ceiling spinning slowly above me, and then–

Nothing.

*********

I woke up with a gasp, like my lungs were on fire. Not the wild, screaming flames that had swallowed me on the stake—this was tighter, wetter, a suffocating heat that felt so thick and airless, like drowning in smoke with no escape.

I dragged in another breath, desperate for relief. It only made the burning worse. The air scraped down my throat like broken glass, lodging in my chest until I choked on it, each inhale sharper than the last. Panic clawed up my spine as my body fought for oxygen that refused to come, and for one terrifying moment, I thought I had woken only to die all over again.

Sidra! I tried reaching out to the one person who could help me.

But I couldn't. She was close and impossibly far by distance that made no sense, like trying to grab a smoke. I could feel her panic mirroring mine, but we just couldn't reach each other.

So, this was it. This was yet another bitter end to my existence. Did the goddess bring me back just to let me die so cruelly and miserably?

I closed my eyes in defeat and succumbed to my fate. There was no point in fighting a battle that I was sure to lose–I can't win against the goddess, not in a fight like this.

Then the temperature dropped — not faded slowly, but dropped. So sharply my skin prickled, and my fingers trembled.

“Giving up so easily?” An eerily calm voice spoke from the shadows. “I had expected a fight.”

Something curled deeply in the pit of my stomach.

Fear.

Like death itself had spoken.

Then the shadows shifted, and a man materialized from the far end of the wall like he had been standing there the entire time and watching me fight for my life.

Of course, he had.

I parted my lips to ask who he was, and what he wanted, but instead of words, I gurgled out blood.

The man's lips curved into a smile, and when he stepped closer, my breath caught.

He was beautiful. Ethereal. That was the world. Where Alpha Zian had sharp edges, he's was soft.

But I was no fool. There was nothing beautiful about this man. Not with eyes that stared at me like they'd dug a grave with my name on it already.

He took another step closer, the sinister smile on his lips widening.

The closer he came, the colder the room became, and the quieter my heartbeat sounded in my ears.

“Sidra, help,” I tried one last time through the mindlink, as the man stood beside my bed, watching me with amusement in his eyes.

“Any last words, Lalita?” he asked quietly.