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Arthur’s POV

“Guilty as charged!” Alpha Shadow exclaimed.

“Guilty as charged!” Alpha Winter followed, throwing his verdict ruler on the floor.

“No, please,” She begged, her eyes now red from all the crying she had been doing for the past few days.

“Guilty as charged!” the elders of the counsel threw their verdict ruler on the floor.

“I would never hurt anyone in my right mind. Something is wrong with me, please believe me.” She looked around, searching for someone to be her witness. But nobody interceded for her, nor helped. She then looked at me, and I knew my mate was innocent of all they were accusing her of.

“Execute her!” The counsel ordered. Suddenly a bunch of pack wolves entered the court, going to Accalia.

“You dare touch her, I swear on my life,” I snarled, trying to unpin myself from the pile of men that had me on the ground, “I will end you without question.” I continue.

They take her to the guillotine that was splashed with guilty men’s blood that she didn’t deserve to die on. She tried shaking them away, but they were too strong for her.

“Leave her!” Ares, my wolf growl. I felt my body heating up with power, and my eyes suddenly turned a different shade within seconds.

“Leave her!” I repeated in a louder voice, breaking free from the hold that was on me. But it was too late. The sharp knife was already on her neck, and before I could even move an inch, it dropped.

“NOOOOOO!” I yelled, running towards her, only to be met by her head halfway.

***

Shit!

I wake up.

I am sweating and panting, trying to catch my breath. It's that dream again. The same dream of her dying in front of me. I've been having it ever since I lost her, my Accalia. It just keeps repeating, when I close my eyes to sleep and it's in my mind all day every day, and still, it hurts the same way as it did the day the counsel stole her from me.

Today though, in this moment, it feels so raw and unsettling. It feels so real it's like I am back in that courtroom, pinned down and powerless to save my wife from an execution she didn’t deserve.

“You, okay?” Lucinda asks. I look at the clock beside me, and it's 02:03 a.m.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I sit up properly, rubbing my temples, trying to catch my breath.

“It’s that dream again?” She asks, placing her hand on my shoulder. All I do is nod, as I continue to even my breathing back to its normal pace.

“I’m going for a morning running,” I inform her. I stand up, not waiting for her to respond, and I leave the room. The pack house is quiet, with just a few guys walking around, and some just sitting and doing nothing.

Midway, going down the corridor, Sabre, my Beta, mind links me.

“Alpha, we have a problem. I think you gonna want to see this.”

“I’m on my way,” I reply.

Within seconds, I am out of the pack house. The moment I am outside, I start running, slowly shifting into silver grey wolf. The wind that is hitting my body is soothing the raging storms in my head.

I increase my pace, opening my ears even more. I can hear birds pecking trees, I can see spider webs a few trees into the forest, and I can also smell the muddy sand from yesterday’s rain. For a second, I close my eyes and just let the wind make me forget.

A second later, I open my eyes, and I continue running, following Sabre’s scent, until I reach the border. There is about 6 of my best fighters, waiting for me. I shift back, and Sabre hands me a pair of pants.

“What have we got?” I request. All he does is point in the direction of our fencing border. When I look at our border, it's breached and the scent smelt like it belongs to someone of royalty from the Firedunes Pitts pack.

“How was it breached?” I attempt to keep my cool, slowly walking towards it to assess it.

“Continuous force of entry sir,” Sabre responds.

“Continuous?” I repeat. When I looked closely I realize this was done by a professional. The hit was probably two to three times before the fence broke. And when I say it was hit two to three times, I mean by a force of magic unknown to me.

The fence is still dripping with hot iron, and it has a blue iron drip, instead of a normal orange one. A witch, or better yet, a hybrid broke our fences, I note to myself.

“ Where were our men when this breach was made?” My voice starts to rise, clenching my fists.

“Knocked out sir.” One of the guys, Louis, informs me. He then moves aside, where three of our men are knocked out cold.

“What could do that?” I raise a question. "These three men are a few of our best fighters. How can they be knocked out so easily?"

“Not sure Alpha, it’s a type of poison I’ve never heard, nor smelt,” Paxton replies. He is the Alchemist’s son, so he knows a lot about poison and medicine.

“Take them the pack doctor and ensure that they are treated accordingly,” I instruct the guys. "Others should stay here and request for reinforcements. The breach wasn’t some sick joke. Someone was in here or still is, and I want to find out who it is, and I want that answer now!”

“Sir!” They all bow their heads, going to their assigned positions.

“Sabre, I need you to personally get my things ready,” I spoke to him via mind link, while running back home.

“I don’t know what happened back there, but that breach isn’t something to be taken lightly. I’m taking Echo out of the Kingdom, and he will study in one of the schools in the city.” I explain to him.

“I have been thinking about this for some time now, and I did apply for him in multiple schools a couple of weeks ago. I know one of them will find him good enough. I’ll leave with him first thing in the morning, and you do your best on your end to find out what happened back there. I got a feeling someone sold us out, and I want to know why. Someone breaching our boundaries means that they are ready for war, and I am curious who that might be.” I continue.

“Yes Alpha, let me get right to it then.” He leaves the mind link.

I then mind-linked Avery, Echo’s nanny.

“Nanna Ave, are you awake?” I finally see the pack house covered by trees as I run on the endless sea sand, trying to get home as soon as my four paws can take me.

“Yes Alpha, what do you need?” She inquires.

“Get Echo ready now, we need to leave. There is a breach, and I don’t know who the aim is. My son is my priority. Get him ready, and pack some of your clothes. We are leaving for the city, as soon as you are done.” I inform her.

“Yes, Alpha.” Her motherly voice answers back.

“And Nanna Ave, don’t let anyone see you pack. It might jeopardize the enemy’s plan. I’d like to see who has the nerve to enter our grounds and disrupt our peace.” I snarl.

“Yes, Alpha.”

“He or she won’t be able to live to tell the tale.” My eye colour changed from a****n green, into a gold shade going to red, anger radiating out of me.

“Let’s see how much wolf power you've got…”

***