We are nearing the end of Beneath Her Darkness, but the story will continue with Lucius and Patrea (Book 2), and eventually Blade and Althea (Book 3). So hang in there, lovelies. Book 2 and 3 will still be attached to this book (unless I announce some changes). 🤍 Thank you for all the GEMS and comments, lovelies!
ADAN STONE. The morning started well for us, as it had since we came back from the underworld. I was already getting used to the serenity of having my Luna and heir around me, and a pack that adored them just as I did. Everything was good until the news of the Silver Crest benign attack and takeover reached me. Their Alpha and Beta were dead. The Gamma and most of the Warriors were held captive until they surrendered to their new Alpha, which I doubted they would do. In most attacks, the casualties were always the warriors who swore loyalty to their pack, unless the conquering Alpha was a deserving one. But in this case, Ethan was a piece of shit who didn’t deserve the loyalty of Fabian’s men. To say I was devastated was an understatement. I was in a rage. A week ago, I sent ten warriors to assist Alpha Fabian in training more of his men. It was nothing unusual. I always get requests for training, and if I liked your pack or trusted the Alpha, I would comply. But never in my wild
BLADE. Five hours after I arrived at the Mystic Pack territory, I was already gearing up for a counterattack to save my pack. I wanted to focus on it and avenge my brother, but I couldn’t. Althea kept seeping inside my head, which she had been doing since I met her. Before heading to the warrior’s building, I saw piles of photos on one of the tables inside Stone’s office. Out of curiosity, I went and checked on it, only to see photos from Aiden’s blessing ceremony a month ago. They were many, but my eyes only focused on the ones that had Althea in them. She colored her hair a bit brighter than the regular dark plum that she had, but she was still beautiful as always. Her face was full of life. She was smiling, and there were no traces of misery in her eyes. Unlike me. Before today, I had spent the last five months trying to find myself. I was lost more than ever. I ran away from my pack because losing Sol was too much for my heart to handle. She was not even my Luna yet when her
ADAN STONE. I watched as, group by group, Lucy transported our warriors to their assigned borders. And after the last group was gone, I gave her a nod and transported my body immediately with both Collin and Blade, who were holding onto my shoulders, which no longer bothered me at all. In an instant, we were sucked into limbo, and our feet dropped onto the dusty ground of the plaza. We heard gasps and growls from a few of Ethan’s men around us, but what caught my attention was the blubbering sounds that escaped the throat of the male tied up in a post with his body badly beaten. "Alpha…" Dalton’s voice broke as his whole body shook from his sobs when he realized it was Blade that appeared in front of him. He was completely naked, covered in blood, and had cuts and bruises from the beating. His eyes and lips were swollen, but he was tilting his head up to look at his Alpha in the eye. Blade was trying to keep himself from shaking, but I could feel anger surging up from his aura.
LUCY. "Luna!" Viktor growled, taking all the attention of warriors from both packs. I landed on the place I was aiming to be transported, and if I thought I would immediately spring into action to assist my warriors, I was wrong. The moment I appeared, my warriors moved swiftly and formed a barricade around me, almost the same as the one they did when they thought Beast was about to attack me, and I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. Adan was right, his warriors would shield me at all costs. I pushed any emotions away as my eyes swept and counted my men. I transported thirteen warriors on this border, and I could only see ten plus two dead bodies on the ground. One was still missing. My eyes found him. Chris was on the ground, and the only reason he was not dead yet was because the man hovering over him was also looking at me. ‘Carry on. I’ll be fine.’ I sent them a group mindlink before I disappeared in the middle of the wall they formed. I appeared in midair near Chris and pl
LUCY. "Are we going to be under Alpha Stone now?" "I believe you have a rightful Alpha who will take over your pack," I answered as I walked toward them. "Alpha Fabian is dead, and so is his Beta. We don’t know where Gamma Dalton is or if he’s still alive." "Gamma Dalton is alive." "Thank Goddess!" The crowd gasps, mostly out of relief. "Will he be our Alpha since Alpha Stone doesn’t like or want us?" Someone behind her asked. "First, don’t say Alpha Stone doesn’t want you. He will not come here and help you if he doesn’t care about you. Alpha Blade…" I was not able to finish my words when an older female cut me off. "Alpha Blade doesn’t care about us…" "He’s here… It means he cares about you." Silence. "He’s too late. Alpha Fabian is dead." "If he didn’t abandon us, our pack wouldn’t die out. Others won’t leave, and we could still be a strong pack." "He can’t just come back and be our Alpha when we don’t want him anymore." Oh, this is bad. Adan was right — his pack had
ADAN STONE.After we had arrived at the Silver Crest’s packhouse, Blade requested to have an hour or two to himself. I let him go. He probably wanted to wash off the blood and dirt from his body.He refused to speak with anyone, and as much as I understood him, I was expecting him to act like an Alpha, but he was letting his emotions rule him again."Let him grieve." Lucy’s voice snapped me from my thoughts. Her soft hand rubbed against my naked chest, pacifying my emotions, while our gazes followed Blade as he stepped inside his packhouse. "He just lost his brother, and I’m sure he could feel it, or worse, he heard from the pack link that he was not wanted here.""Maybe you’re right. But he can’t sulk after this. He has no Beta, and his Gamma is not here. He needs to step up and be an Alpha for his people.""He’s acting this way because he knows you’re here." "Once we got everyone settled, we needed to go home and let him manage his pack." "Maybe we can leave some warriors with him
LUCY. We stayed for another hour, giving instructions and reminders to the warriors who would stay here, together with Beta Collin. The omegas working in the packhouse had returned and volunteered to prepare food for Blade and the other warriors, which was already a good sign. Most of the pack was already sleeping, but I was sure there would be a big crowd waiting for Blade tomorrow. And as much as Adan wanted to help a brother out, he didn’t want to interfere with Blade or make his presence known, giving the pack the idea to choose him just to spite Blade. After his one-on-one talk with Blade, we prepared ourselves to return to our territory. Blade offered to have us use one of the cars around the packhouse, but Adan declined as we would rather do it by transporting us in a split second as we both missed our son by now. We only took seven warriors with us. Two of them were injured, while the other four would help carry the dead warriors’ bodies, which reminded me that I had to mee
LUCY. Tomorrow was supposed to be a happy day, but my heart felt heavy the moment I woke up today. I will be twenty-one, and I have no idea how I will celebrate it. I told Adan I didn’t want a big party, but I’m starting to regret it. I had never celebrated my birthdays since my parents died, and the two years I spent in the orphanage didn’t make up for it as I gave them a false date of birth. So I never get any cakes and birthday wishes anymore on my real birthday. I miss Mom and how she would always try to give me the best birthday, even with just a simple cake and food. And how Diego would always make an effort to return home to us on that day. He never failed. He kept showing up until he could no longer do it. I wished I opted for a big celebration so the empty space in my heart that only my parents could fill would be temporarily filled with the people I loved. But it’s too late to change my mind. At least Adan invited me for a late dinner tonight. I wiped the tears from m