Chapter 15: The Truth Unveiled

Edwin stood frozen, his voice became barely audible as he stepped closer to the Seer. His eyes were filled with a mixture of desperation and confusion. They were locked on Tiara, still unable to fully grasp the weight of the moment.

"I... I need your help," he began with, his voice slightly cracking. 

"My pack, Tiara. It is on the brink of falling apart." Sadness could be detected in his tone.

'My Luna, Vanessa...she... she has had a couple of miscarriages and it is really causing more than enough chaos. I feel that something out of the ordinary is playing out. She acts like a psychopath sometimes, and other times, she is normal," he explained.

" I can feel it, deep within me that she is hiding something too. I had to think of a way to come here alone so that I would be able to talk to you freely, I did not even expect that you would be the seer,"

" I am here to seek your guidance. I do not know what is happening, but... I am losing control."

Tiara's lips curled slightly as she turned to face him, her eyes gleaming in the dim light. She folded her arms over her chest, her stance calm and composed, like a queen ready to pass judgment on an unworthy traitor.

"Vanessa?" she asked, her voice dripping with mockery. "You think you should be here because of her childlessness? So you can retain your position as alpha?" She laughed in a low, yet biting sound that echoed through the small, dimly lit room.

Edwin recoiled slightly, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What... what do you mean?"

"Oh, Edwin." Tiara's smile was sharp, cruel even. "You still do not see it, and neither do you understand what is playing out right before your eyes, do you?"

"The whole reason you are standing right here, begging for answers, is because you were too blind to see what has been right in front of you." she scoffed.

"I still do not understand what you are saying, Tiara," Edwin complained.

"Can you just speak to me using the layman's words? Your words are purely parables and I do not understand," he anxiously said.

She shook her head, stepping closer, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized him.

"You came here looking for answers, but you do not realize that the sole person you are desperately trying to protect is the very one who is going to destroy you,"

Edwin's breath got stuck in his nostrils. His mind raced. "What are you talking about?"

Tiara's mocking laughter rang out again. "Vanessa, your precious and darling Luna. She is the one who is going to betray you, and the pack you have poured so much efforts into. The same one you think that you have been protecting and nurturing,"

Her voice softened, growing colder, more chilling as she spoke the truth that made his heart drop into his stomach.

"Vanessa will backstab you, Edwin. She will destroy your pack, and you will fall. And when you do, she will rise and take your place. She will reign as Alpha."

Edwin's chest tightened, his face went pale as the words hit him like a physical blow. His fists clenched, but there was no anger, there was only confusion, and fear that he had ignored the truth for so long.

"But how would she take the pack away from me when she does not even have an heir?" He asked, still walking in denial.

"I am not dead either so how does she get to be the ruling alpha if I am still alive?"

Tiara, still watching him, stepped back, her expression unreadable.

"You are still as innocent, and naive, and pure at heart as you were," she shook her head in disappointment.

"Is being innocent and pure at heart a bad thing?" Edwin slowly asked.

"No, of course not!" She sharply responded.

"It becomes a bad thing when you become too ignorant of what happens around you, it becomes something bad when people start to take you for granted, and you see nothing wrong in it,"

"You have been so focused on saving her, so focused on keeping up with the image of the perfect mate, the perfect pack, the perfect Alpha. But sadly, you missed the truth. She has been playing you all along, together with her father. And now it is too late,"

Her voice became colder still, tinged with an edge of finality.

"What do you mean by it is too late, Tiara?" Asked, visibly shaking.

"You cannot possibly mean that I have no title, no pack, and no power anymore," he shook his head in disagreement.

"I am still the ruling alpha!" He affirmed, beating his chest with little or no confidence.

"Vanessa has no child to even call hers, and my pack loves and respect me so much that they would not believe whatever lie she cooks," 

"Is that what you think?" Tiara asked him, placing her hand under her chin, smiling.

"You are such a fool, Edwin. I am surprised that you of all people belittles Vanessa and her mischievous father, Garrett," she scolded him.

"Do you know how long they had been planning her endorsement as Luna? Do you know what they did for her to finally attain that position?"

"I thought that you would learn from the past, from your mistakes and that you would own up to them and make amends. And not allow any loopholes in your pack, but I was wrong. You are twice a fool,"

"Why are you being so harsh with your words? Why do you keep shattering my heart? Why are you scorning me when you should be the one comforting, and guiding me out of this?" He voiced out, his eyes, now clouded with tears that threatened to fall.

"Guide you out of this?" She questioned.

"You are the only one who can guide and walk yourself out of this. Maybe by starting with walking yourself out of delusions," 

"I came here to seek your help and guidance, Tiara," Edwin continued.

"I know that I might have been twice the fool, but you really need to help me. I cannot afford to lose my pack, a legacy that has been passed down from so many generations before me. I will be ridiculed to nothing if this misfortune befalls me,"

"You are yet to see anything. The worst is still to come. Your entire reign will crumble at her feet, and you, Edwin, will never even know how it happened," Tiara stretched.

"Is there really no way out of this? Is there really nothing you can do to save me and my pack from the claws of this evil family?" He asked, falling to his knees.

"Funny how your misfortune started long ago, long before now," Tiara mocked.

"Your misfortune started the very day you decided to get married to Vanessa and make her your Luna,"

"We both know that I never meant for all of that to happen. You know that I had no other choice but to dance to their tune, my pack was at stake," he disagreed.

"You should have been a man, Edwin!" Tiara yelled at him.

"Did you think that the Luna who fated us was stupid? Do you think that she lacked the wisdom to set things?" She asked, closing the gap in-between them.

"There are various kinds of battles and there are a thousand and one ways to win them. You chose yours and this is the consequence of it, you should dance to the tune you played," she hit his chest with her finger.

"I know that I could have done better but there is no reason to live in regret right now. It will do me no good and neither will it benefit you in any way," he softly said to her.

"If I could apologize to you until my last breath, I would continue to,"

"And you think you apologizing everyday until your last breath would make a difference? Do you think that it would go back in time and fix all of this?" She mocked him, hissing.

"It will not go back in time but it would definitely solve what is yet to come," Edwin replied.

"Solve what is to come?" She squinted her eyes in a laughable manner.

"Tell me about it then," she said, fixing her gaze on him.

"I am simply saying that you can still help me wade the evil that is threatening to befall me," he said.

"Threatening to befall you?" Tiara laughed, holding her stomach. Edwin was really surprised to see her laugh at his sad predicament.

"You meant to say one that had already befallen you, right?" She asked him, wiping the tears that escaped her eyes while she laughed with her handkerchief.

"Tiara!" He called.

"Please stop hurting me with your words," he pleaded.

"I heard that you have never refused to help anyone and I know that is a way out of all of this," 

"I guess you did your homework well before coming to see me," she smirked.

"As we all know, there is always a first time for everything. You can be the first person I refuse to help," she shrugged her shoulders.

Edwin staggered back, his heart racing, his mind unable to fully process the weight of her words. 

"Is there a problem?" She asked him, noticing his movements.

"What happened to you, Tiara? When and how did you become this callous?" He answered.

"That is a first," she smiled.

"But you see, life and your inability to make proper and prim decisions made me who I am today," she showed her perfectly arranged dentition.

"I did make mistakes in the past but you also have the opportunity to make things right, now," he said to her.

"Simple, I can just turn a blind eye, or pretend that you never visited," she replied.

"I am so tired from having to do all of these talk with you, Edwin," she yawned.

"I really think that you should go too. You should go somewhere quiet and peaceful, somewhere you can have a whole lot of time to think and reflect on the past and the present," 

Edwin opened his mouth, he was dumbstruck. He had trusted her, he had believed in her and her powers, and now, at this crucial moment, Tiara, the very woman he thought he had left behind, had shattered everything he thought he knew about his life, his pack, and the woman he had chosen to stand beside.

"Alright then," he murmured, rising to his feet.

"Be careful not to do anything stupid in your way back home, Edwin. You cannot stop this and neither can you fight it," she advised him.

"At least, not alone," she added.

"Not alone?" He pinpointed.

"Do you want to fight an army of men who are as strong as yours?" She asked him.

"Oops! I forgot to complete the prophecy," she hit herself on the forehead.

"She plans to out-throw you by declaring war. She would deceive and manipulate your people, making them to believe that you are not capable of being alpha and then get married to another alpha who would take over your pack, merging it with his," she explained.

"Is it not a great plan?" She battled her eyelashes.

"I wonder how long it must have taken them to come up with such a brilliant, yet evil idea," she muttered to herself.

"I...you cannot allow them do this to me, Tiara," he told her.

"You allowed them do this to you, Edwin. None of this was my idea, and neither is it my fault," she fired back at him.

"And what becomes of me after they succeed?" He said, almost in a whisper.

"As much as I have enjoyed speaking about your doom, I refuse to tell you what becomes of you when it all plays out," she sniffed.

Edwin stood frozen in place, shaking, as Tiara's prophecy se

ttled over him like a curse. She knew everything.

And he had never been more powerless.