Chapter Eight

They moved like shadows, with Layla in front using her werewolf perceptive abilities to make sure no one was coming. They tiptoed through the edges of the large compound, till they arrived at a door. 

It was a less-used servants' entrance, and Rhiannon knew this place well because she recalled her and Eleanor usually playing around here when they were kids, and Astrid would scowl at them. 

There, she saw a wooden door which seemed to lead to forgotten pastries or the basement, but Rhiannon knew better. Beyond the door was a long corridor with many branches, one leading straight to Killian's storeroom. 

Layla vigilantly scanned their surroundings, "We are clear," She murmured. 

Quietly, Layla and Rhiannon slipped behind the door. It was suffocatingly dusty, and they stood in the quiet passageway. 

"Careful," Rhia stepped forward this time, "I'll lead us from now on. There are traps everywhere,"

Rhiannon's knowledge of the Alpha's paranoia was their greatest asset. She had been here before in the past, and knew everything like the back of her hand. 

"See that?" Rhia pointed to a barely visible tripwire. Layla's eyes adjusted to the gloom, and she saw the tripwire strategically placed where someone, even a werewolf, would hardly see it. 

Carefully, Rhiannon stepped over it, and Kayla followed with the same practised stealth. 

Together, they navigated around the room with calculated steps, Rhiannon leading the whole time. Their hearts were in their throats, and every second that passed made them grow more anxious, more scared. 

Finally, they found themselves in front of a large metal door with a wooden handle. It looked completely solid, and Rhiannon gazed at it. 

It might appear to be an ordinary door, but if it's touched by a werewolf, the tech implemented into the door would detect the wolf's signature and would send thousands of bolts of electricity through their bodies. 

Rhiannon knew it well since she had been the mastermind and the person who designed it in the first place. 

The good thing was...it didn't affect humans. 

Or...her. But then again, she wasn't totally human since the Wolfsbane poison had affected her. 

This right here was a gamble. 

"Are you sure about this?" Layla murmured, worried. 

Rhiannon looked back at the door. She had already prepared herself for this part of the heist, but now that she was actually standing here, the doubts were coming back. 

But then again, there was no going back now. Either she dies here by the hands of her work, or she dies in the future by the hands of her family. 

Sucking in a deep breath, she reached out and wrapped both hands around the doorknob at the same time. Her body shuddered almost immediately as shockwaves travelled through her arm and up her body. 

"Rhia!" Layla gasped. 

"I'm fine," Rhia replied, breathing harshly as the tremors kept hitting her, "It's not affecting me that much,"

"Should I...,"

"Yes, yes do it!" Rhia exclaimed. 

Another thing about the door. It was too heavy to be opened by a human, and only the full strength of a werewolf can open the door. 

Behind her, Layla stripped off her clothes and transformed into a werewolf in a few seconds. Her large, brown furry self stood in front of her best friend, and her glorious form pulled up to their full length, standing on only two feet. 

Their eyes met again, a short conversation passing between them. 

Then, Layla intertwined her fingers together and placed the palm carefully over Rhia's firm grip around the doorknob, making sure not a fraction of her skin came directly in contact with the door. 

Another unspoken conversation passed between them, and Layla groaned this time. Her face clearly showed how much she disliked this part of the plan. 

"Do it!" Rhia urged, "We are already running out of time,"

Layla's hand tightened around Rhia's, indirectly tightening around the door handle also, and with a sharp, long tug, she began to pull as hard as she could. Her leg claws dug into the ground hard and she forced more power into the pull, snarling as she pulled with all her might. 

Meanwhile, Rhia could feel the intense pain of her finger bones cracking underneath Layla's vice grip. Her eyes rolled and tears gathered as the pain became unbearable, but she held on. 

Finally, the large door began to creak under the insistent pressure and began to open. Rhia held on for dear life, a tear slipping down her eyes as the door opened big enough for her to slip through. 

Layla immediately let go and transformed back to her human form, "I broke a lot of your bones," She shrieked, staring at Rhia's pale hands which were quickly swelling and turning red. 

"I'm fine," Rhia swallowed, forcing a smile on her face, "Keep watch. I'll go on from here," She added before she quietly slipped through the door. 

As she stepped into the room behind the door, she found herself standing inside the storeroom. The air was thick with the scent of old books, and there was a shimmer of motion sensors high in a corner, indicating where the beam would sweep. 

Rhia moved in a low crouch, staying beneath its arc. She also successfully bypassed some pressure plates disguised as normal floorboards, already knowing about them since she was a child, unknowingly mapping out her father's defences. 

Rhiannon moved past the stacks of ancient scrolls and artefacts of the Pack and those they had gotten or stolen from other Packs.

Finally, she got to the end of the room where a small, hidden seam was. She traced it with her aching fingers, and painfully pressed the specific points. 

There was a grinding sound before the hidden panel slid back, revealing a small safe. 

Rhiannon ran her glove-covered fingers over the small metal, her eyes falling on the panel of numbers where she was required to put in the password. 

Her brows furrowed, mind racing as she thought through every significant date, every lore or anything else Killian held dear to him. She had been thinking about this since yesterday and still hadn't figured out what the password could be. 

And the scary thing about this was that the safe was the most dangerous object in the room. If she typed the wrong password just once, the metal door outside would automatically shut, and the house alarm would go off. 

Funny thing about this was that, she was also the person who designed the Goddamned safe like this. 

Alpha Killian has always been fiercely protective of the Grimoire and believed the password was something only he would know. 

Rhiannon kept searching her, thinking of anything that would give her even if it was just a clue. 

There was an annual ritual her father held on a particular date every year, commemorating the Pack's migration and establishment of their current territory. He usually brought out the Legendary staff of the first Alpha on that day too, and has always referred to the Grimoire as 'The sacred scrolls of our Foundation'

"Sacred Scrolls of our foundation," Rhiannon murmured to herself, still deep in thought. 

And then, it clicked. The date, first Alpha, they weren't just random numbers and letters. 

Sucking in a deep breath, she began punching in the sequences, her heart in her throat. 

She typed in the date, followed by the First Alpha's name. 

Her breath caught as she typed in the final digit, and silence ensued for a few seconds...those moments deciding her fate. 

Then came a whirring sound from within the safe, followed by a quiet click. A small green light appeared above the keypad, and Rhiannon let out a deep, relieved sigh. 

She pulled the safe door open, revealing the book. It looked aged and was covered with leather. 

She reached in, and took it out, staring briefly at its brown covers. This book contained everything that would bring the True North Pack to their knees, and now...it was hers. 

Quickly, she shut the safe closed again, and the green light turned red, indicating the lock had been put back in place before it disappeared. 

Then, Rhia once again avoided every trap and got back to the door where Layla had worn her clothes, anxiously waiting for her. 

"Oh my God, you got it!" She exclaimed in both fear and thrilling excitement. 

"Yes, yes we have to go now!" She whispered to her. 

Just then, Layla's sharp hearing caught the sound of footsteps walking above them. She signalled Rhia next to her to be silent and not move, following the footsteps. 

A door opened above them, and the owner of the footsteps walked into another room. 

"Dad?" Eleanor's voice filled her father's study, and they stood there, "Dad?" She repeated, then silence followed. 

"I can't believe they left without me. I wanna take down some rogues too," Eleanor mumbled, walking further into her father's study, "What does he do in here all day anyway?" She asked herself, and they heard her as she began walking around the study. 

Rhia turned to Layla, a bit panicked as she clutched the book harder against her chest, "What do we do?" She mouthed. 

"We can't move until she leaves," Layla answered, "Or she's gonna hear our movement. We cannot risk it!"

Layla was right. They had to remain in their positions till Eleanor was done, probably creeping around, and decide to leave the study. 

Thirty good minutes passed, and Eleanor was still wandering around her father's study. Rhiannon and Layla were now getting more impatient, as time was running out and Killian would have discovered their trick by now. 

He could be fast on his way home as they speak. 

They needed to do something. 

"She's not leaving!" Rhia mouthed for the third time as they stood still, "We just have to move, or Alpha Killian is gonna come straight here. He will sense us with or without us moving!" 

"Then we need to make a run for it," Layla replied. 

Eleanor began moving about again, and the girls went silent, hoping she would leave. They heard her moving in the direction of the door, and their wishes finally came true. 

The door opened and she walked out. They waited for another minute to make sure she was really gone before they began to move. 

There was no time to waste as they quickly navigated around the traps, careful enough not to set off any till they were back at the servant's entrance. 

They looked at each other, letting out a breath of relief. Then, Rhiannon shoved the book into the small bag Pack she was carrying, and the girls quietly left the house. 

"I'm glad everything went well," Rhia said as they both pulled off their black gloves and also shoved it into the bag. 

"Once we get home, I'm gonna need you to tell me why we had to steal the most important book of the Pack. I've been giving you time so you can let it out at your own pace, but after doing this, I'm way too scared and curious to not know the truth," Layla declared, a serious look on her face. 

"I promise I'll tell you everything once we are home," Rhiannon replied. 

At that moment, The Pack warriors that went along with the Alpha and Ethan came running back into town, with Killian striding quickly behind them with a gruelling expression on his face. 

Rhiannon grabbed Layla's hand, pulling her into a corner they could hide and watch. 

They both knew Killian had caught on to what they did. The whole rumor about rogues lurking around their territory was their doing. With Layla's wolf abilities and Rhia's smartness, they had both set the unnecessary claw marks, dead animals and scattered different scents around the place. 

But they also knew Killian was smart. Unlike the scouts, he would be able to tell it was all planned with one glance. And now, he was rushing back home because he must believe it was a diversion someone had set for him. 

And it won't take long before he discovers the Grimoire is gone. 

"Why are you hiding?" A familiar deep voice called from behind, and Rhia instantly felt a tug toward the person. 

She turned around to see Ethan standing a few feet away, and she blinked. He began walki

ng closer, and the tug grew even stronger till it became an insistent pull. 

A...mate pull. 

No, that shouldn't be possible. She had rejected him, hadn't she?