Chapter 5

He fell, placing his head on her breast. He was weak but not unconscious. 

“I thought you said it would knock him out completely.”

“I would knock an alpha wolf… not an alpha lycan.” The voice said. Connie frowned, as she hoped everything would be taken care of as she planned.

“Are you done? Did it work?” Elder Silas asked, coming out of the shadows. 

He stared at Maddox's groggy face. “Why is he still awake?” 

The voice scoffed and snatched the money from him.

“I will be on my way now.” They paused before turning around them. “Remember, she—pointing at Connie—must drink the blood of the luna before or on the last night of the full moon. With that, I own you nothing, and you… likewise.”

Before their eyes it vanished.

“Are you sure it was alright to trust a warlock?"

Elder Silas chewed at his gum but said nothing. 

“You have until the next tomorrow to drink Aylin’s blood, and when Bane wakes up, he will recognize you as his mate, Aylin.”

She smiled as she held onto Maddox, kissing him desperately and eagerly. She could hardly contain her joy and excitement at the fact that her long-awaited dream of being the wife of a strong and mighty lycan would soon be here. 

She could already taste it.

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Aylin was having a beautiful dream, running on a field of flowers on Bane’s back, clutching his fur as she giggled loudly with the wind slapping against her skin. It was bliss, and she was happy, over the moon even. 

But suddenly, she was jolted out of her bed. Her eyes turned as it was so sudden that it startled her.

“What?! What is going on?” She murmured, the air-conditioned room pricking at her skin. Right… she made love with Maddox last night, and he knotted in her; she felt it in her womb.

Suddenly she was practically pulled by the arm, naked, to where she didn’t know. The light of the hall blinded her sight for a second before finding a shield in her arm. Adjusting to the new light, she finally realized where she was.

Surrounded by most members of the pack, she knelt in the middle.

“Aylin Woods," Maddox's voice booms. And for the first time she had come to the pack, she felt fear crawl up her spine at the sound of her mate's voice. No... That couldn’t be Maddox's voice. 

It sounded nothing like his, and it scared her to even look at him.

But she stilled her heart and did just that. She didn’t know how to point it out, but there was something visibly strange with him. 

However, looking around, it didn’t seem like anyone else even noticed. It seemed to everyone he was their normal alpha.

Beside him was Connie, and behind Connie was Paige. At this point, it seemed very comical for her to think Paige was on her side yesterday. 

And now, naked and bare before everyone, she truly felt alone.

“My love.” She called out to him, but Connie placed her hands on her biceps. 

“Don’t listen to her; she probably wants to use the same trickery she used to deceive you as her mate.

She blinked at Connie’s word.

“Trickery? If I had any of those, I am sure I would have used them to summon myself a wolf or fangs or something.”

Connie’s eyes blazed at her comment, “How dare—”

“Silence!!!”

Maddox roared. His voice bounced off the walls, and as though pulled and controlled, everyone stretched their necks at his voice. 

The power of a lycan alpha.

“You have committed a grave crime of deceiving the park and delaying the progress of the Alpha’s bloodline.”

This didn’t sound like the Maddox she knew and loved. The murmurs and whispers going on behind her did nothing to curb her worry. Now, she wasn’t even worried for herself, but rather she was worried for her mate.

What had happened last night?

“My love, are you okay? Are you saying things like—”

Maddox glared at her as he outstretched his hands. A gasp fell from her lips as she choked out blood from her mouth. Her eyes widened in fear. 

She couldn’t believe he was using his power submission on her. Blood flowed from her eyes and mouth before Toby jumped in.

“Alpha, please have mercy.”

Her eyes sank to the ground, her vision reddish as her body trembled. 

Maddox continued. 

“You will be striped from your position as…” His word stuck in his throat before he tried again.

“...Your position as…” Again, it was as though the words failed to leave his lips before he tried again. “...As the luna of the pack. You will and never return.”

‘Leave?!’

‘Doesn’t that make her a rogue?’

‘Poor thing’

‘It serves her right, though…'

'She had so many years to right her wrong, but she still didn’t. At least the alpha is merciful and didn’t give her a gruesome death.’

Aylin shivered on the ground. She doubted if it was because of the air-conditioned room. She didn’t dare look at Maddox to plead her case.

But Toby did. He didn’t understand what was going on. Wasn’t it Maddox, who just the previous night wanted to run away from the pack with Aylin? What is this?

He looked back at her. 

Her head pressed to the ground in complete submission; her shoulder quaked. She was definitely crying.

“Alph, please reconsider. She means no harm and—”

“No harm? She devises the pack for years, and you mean no harm?!”

“She is wolfless, fangless, and clawless. She can hardly do anything; sending her to the wild is sending her to death. At least let her live the way she did before she became the Alpha’s mate.”

Murmurs flared up, some in agreement, most in disapproval. There was so much disapproval; Aylin wondered if she had done anything wrong to the pack other than just being exciting.

“You dare challenge my words… Beta?”

Toby immediately sunk his head down. “I would never. It’s just that…”

He looked behind him once more; he could hear her sobs, with her trying to mute them.

There was nothing he could do.

“I apologize. Your wish is my command.

Toby signaled for the gamma Javion, who looked worried and uncomfortable. They all knew the love their Alpha had for Aylin.

Was it really all trickery for her on the alpha? They pulled her up by her arm, her eyes downcast, her tears mixed with her blood, and flowed down her cheeks to her boobs. She felt completely and utterly defeated. 

“Take her away. I don’t want to see her.”

Toby and Javion exchanged a look before nodding at him.

“Wait, Alpha," Elder Silas hailed. The two alphas paused; Aylin still didn’t move her eyes from the ground.

“For the growth of the new heir, it would be best if the new Luna drinks the blood of the old Luna.”

Confusion stirred within the pack members, as though they knew of such a ritual. It being a long and very old ritual, it actually sounded weird to them.

“What?!” Toby demanded, his blue eyes blazing with annoyance. This old timer seems to want to make everything worse than it already is.

“She has been basking in the love of the alpha and the blessing of the luna; her blood must be filled with it.”

Several other elders nodded in agreement.

Toby stepped forward, letting go of Aylin's body to dangle limply on Javion’s own.

“Alpha, please. She had already been humiliated and berated enough. Just let her run in the woods and—”

Maddox stretched his claws out, and before Toby could fully shield himself, he was thrown back, his arms having claw marks on them. They weren’t too deep, and they healed rarely quickly.

It was clear it was just a warning.

“I apologize, Alpha." He murmured, bending his neck in submission.

Meanwhile, Aylin tried her best to reach him through their bond, but all she got was groaning and growling.

Before she knew it, she was strapped to a chair, human medical wires injected into her body, and her blood flowing into a bucket.

She didn’t know how long she had been strapped on the chair; all she remembered was staring at the window, looking at Maddox, trying to beg him to stop all this through their bond and verbally. 

But she wondered if words even fell from her lips.

Soon, she passed out on a rough, grainy surface. She was back to the woods she was found in.