Chapter 4

Soraya Miller’s POV

Ron and I immediately followed after her.

The manor’s courtyard had begun to fill up with people attracted by her gut-wrenching screams. Pack members, other attendants, and even founding family representatives who were about to leave after their meeting all gathered around.

“Please!” The mother begged, no one in particular. “Please save him!”

Why didn’t she go to the pack doctor? Why bring him in here?

Rielle stepped out from within the crowd, closely followed by her personal attendants. Her features contorted in despair as she took in the sorry state of the child.

My heart broke. He was only ten, and I was teasing him just a few days ago when he followed his mother to drop off supplies. We laughed when I told him I knew how to make paper planes better than he did.

What the hell happened?

“Alpha Dominic!” she wailed, laying her convulsing son on the grass. “Alpha Cassian! Somebody, please help me!”

Azura was reacting weirdly as I made to step forward.

And that was when the crowd parted for Cassian and the Alpha to pass through.

“What happened here?” Alpha Dominic voiced out my exact thoughts.

The mother fell to her knees in tears, her words fumbling. “I—he stopped talking. My attention was elsewhere for just a moment and the...”

She broke down again, her cries overwhelming her voice as she held onto her ashen son.

“Speak clearly,” Cassian’s voice thundered. “We need to discern what went wrong.”

“Silver,” she cried. “He injured himself with silver while playing in our yard!”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd instantly, and I was so sure their concerns were the same as mine.

“What the hell?” Ron gasped beside me. “That’s not right.”

This was so strange. Silver wasn’t supposed to affect a member of the Blackwater Pack. They were literally immune and had been for centuries.

Even stranger, Cassian and his father exchanged knowing glances as the Alpha pulled out a small knife from his pocket.

He crouched closer to the child and slit his palm, allowing the blood to drip into the child’s mouth. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as we all hoped the Alpha’s blood would correct this anomaly like it was meant to.

To all our shock, the boy’s condition worsened as he began convulsing even more violently and screaming like the core of his soul was being dragged through the seven gates of hell.

Alpha Dominic slowly backed away, the knife clattering to the ground.

The genuine fear on his face was something I never thought could be provoked on the features of an Alpha and one as great as Blackwater Pack’s.

“No! Please do something!” The look of despair on her face twisted something inside me.

Driven by pure instinct, I pushed my way through the crowd and rushed to where they were. I grabbed the boy away from his mother’s arms, trying to find the spot where he had been injured.

Everyone gasped as I tore at his shirt and found the festered wound.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this at all. Blackened at most, the way it appeared in other wolves who weren’t blessed with immunity from the Moon goddess.

My cheeks started to feel wet as I turned to look around, trying to think of anything that could save this poor child, when my eyes landed on him.

“Save him, Cassian!” I panicked. “Use your blood!”

His eyes steeled on me, but at this point, I didn’t care.

I wrapped the child in my arms, rocking him back and forth, hoping to at least quiet his torturous screams.

He started to foam at the mouth, his limbs twisting unnaturally.

“It’s okay,” I whispered to him, the lump in my throat getting too heavy to bear. “You’re okay.”

Be still.

The voice seemed to come from behind me, but when I turned back, only Rielle stood there watching me with an odd expression.

I looked down in my arms to realize the boy’s jerking had ceased and his screams reduced to whimpers. His mother crawled closer to us, her shaky hands reaching up to caress her son’s cheek.

It was obvious to everyone that this child was dying.

Gently, I handed him over to his mother and backed away. He took his last breath in her arms.

The mother’s inner wolf surfaced as she growled fiercely. No one dared to come close as a collective sadness rippled through us all.

Arms wrapped around me, and looking back, I saw it was Ron.

As the sun dipped beyond the horizon, the woman picked up her child and quietly walked away, down the road she’d come from.

My breathing faltered at the sorrowful sight of everyone dispersing, not knowing exactly what to do.

“Raya,” Ron called as he noticed me loosening from his grip.

“I’m fine,” I spoke fast, already walking away from him. “I’ll see you later.”

I felt woozy for some reason as I left the area, my legs carrying me to some place else, only stopping when I got to the abandoned lot.

The safe space Ron and I created.

I sank slowly into the makeshift tyre swing, trying to process what disaster my life had become in less than twenty-four hours.

None of it made any sense.

My skin prickled as I felt someone approaching me.

“You do realize running away makes people curious.”

That voice.

After all the annoying things it had said today, I could recognize it even in my dreams.

I turned sharply, and sure enough, it was the same dark-suited guy from earlier leisurely strolling through the long blades of grass and wild flowers as he came towards me. His fingertips brushed against each of them like he had all the time in the world to spare.

A tired sigh escaped my lips as I looked away from him. “Could you let me be? I don’t even know you.”

He was sporting a lazy smile as he came to stand in front of me. “That makes two of us.”

“Then leave me alone,” I said, standing up from the swing and hating how he’d disturbed my quiet time.

He stepped even closer, forcing me back down.

“Unfortunately, you’ve just become the most interesting person I’ve met today.”

What the—?

His hand reached up to my hair, and I instantly smacked it away, causing the small flower between his fingers to fall to the ground.

He didn’t look offended in the slightest, only deeply amused, if that was even possible.

“A feisty one,” he commented, crushing the flower beneath his feet. “I love that.”

I scoffed, motioning for him to move away so I could stand up. He obeyed, giving me just enough space to slip past him.

But I should have known better because he followed closely behind, humming an annoying tune, as I made my way back to the manor.

Exasperated, I confronted him. “What is it? Who are you? And why are you following me?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” His lips stretched into a smile as he blocked my path for the hundredth time. “I’m Lucien Noire.”

It felt like I’d been doused with a lethal amount of cold water as my eyes widened. Instinctively, I bowed to him.

Why was a member of the founding families stalking me? Even though he was not the one I recognized as the Alpha of Nocturne Pack.

“I know, I'm not the one you're used to seeing,” he clarified easily as if he could read my mind. “I'm his cousin.”

What?

This silver-haired, warm brown-eyed man standing before me looked nothing like a typical Noire with their usual dark hair and even darker eyes.

Lucien Noire seemed rather gleeful now as he leaned towards me.

“I smelled something strange on you, little wolf. Who exactly are you?”