Chapter 76
Astor’s Pov
Claim
It’s crazy how easy it is to blame somebody else for your mistakes and my conversation with Faith proved that.
There is truly a thin line between Love and Hate. what I have been feeling for her is not hate but anger.
Anger for abandoning me, anger for leaving me and it’s driving me to a point where I can’t even see past my own mistakes.
I saw how much she was suffering here. she was withering in front of my eyes and there was nothing I could do because I wanted her to be here with me.
I disregarded her mental state and I put my own feelings about hers.
“Alpha, you need to come here. Now. It’s… it’s bad.”
My head snapped up, the personal worries evaporating in an instant, replaced by a cold alertness. My Beta’s distress on the mindlink demanded my full attention. Something was seriously wrong.
“On my way,” I thought back, my voice rough even in my own head. I was out of my chair before the thought even finished. My wolf stirred, a primal instinct kicking into high gear, sensing danger.
I have honestly been neglecting the Pack over the last couple of days but this seems very
urgent.
George called me to the perimeter on the wilder edge of our territory. The walk there was usually filled with the familiar sounds of our pack, the distant laughter of pups, the low rumble of conversation, the whir of activity.
Today, though, as I approached the area the air grew heavy. A strange, metallic scent began to prickle my nostrils, growing stronger with every step. It was the smell of death, but not the clean scent of a hunt gone wrong. This was wrong. Foul.
As I rounded the trees, the sight that greeted me stopped me dead in my tracks. A wave of nausea hit me, and a curse ripped from my throat, raw and guttural.
There, spread out unnaturally along the edge of our forest, was a pile of bodies. Not one or two, but a horrifying collection of them. They were still, ghastly figures, pale and lifeless. The smell was overwhelming now, thick and sickening. It was clear these didn’t die here. They
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hadn’t fought. They had been dumped. Discarded. gathered like garbage and left here.
Claim
My wolf snarled, a deep, dangerous sound in my chest. Anger, hot and blinding, surged through me. Who dared to do this? Who would bring such horror to the doorstep of my pack?
George, my Head Warrior, stood by the gruesome display, his usual stoic face a mask of grim disbelief. this is a man who has seen cruelty face–to–face so if this managed to shock him like this then it is bigger than we can imagine.
Liam, my Beta, was beside him, his shoulders hunched, his gaze fixed on the bodies. They looked up as I approached, their eyes meeting mine with a shared dread.
“What is this?” I demanded, my voice dangerously low. “What happened here?”
George gestured numbly with a gloved hand. “The Patrol team found them when they were patrolling the northern perimeter.”
“When were they placed?” I asked, my gaze sweeping over to the bodies even though I didn’t want to look there anymore. “How long have they been here?”
Both George and Liam shook their heads, a shared uncertainty passing between them. “We don’t know, Alpha,” Liam said, his voice strained. “There was no sign of a struggle. No tracks. It’s like they just… appeared.”
“Do we know who they are?” I pressed, my heart starting to pound a heavy rhythm against my
ribs.
George met my gaze, his expression troubled. “No, Alpha. That’s the strangest part. No one has been reported missing from our pack. Not a single soul.”
A chilling realization washed over me. If they weren’t ours, then this was an act of aggression directed at us, but not targeting only our own. It was a declaration of war, carried out with a
twisted, symbolic cruelty.
“Make inquiries,” I ordered, my voice firm, cutting through the rising panic. “Reach out to the other packs. All of them. See if anyone is missing anyone. Anyone at all.”
George and Liam nodded but as they prepared to leave, Liam hesitated.
“Alpha,” he said, holding out a hand. “While we were checking the perimeter near, we found
this.”
He handed me a crumpled piece of parchment. My fingers trembled slightly as I unfolded it.
“You took something very special from me but I will take everything from me.”
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Claim
My blood ran cold. Something special? What did I take. I’ve never done anything to anybody unless they deserved it or unless they were a threat to my pack.
I don’t think I can even count the number of enemies I have by hand but this doesn’t seem like somebody who only has an amenity with me but other pack as well.
I don’t like being challenged and on any other day I would be seething and planning my revenge but in this particular case this is not about me alone because this person is definitely going to be coming after my family and my daughter means a lot to me.
And the little boy that I’ve only known for less than a day is somebody I would die for.
I didn’t even need to be told by anybody that he is mine because even before I met him. I felt it. I felt it in my heart and when I finally saw him it was like getting a piece of my heart and
soul.
I guess sometimes you need to be pushed into a corner in order to make the right decision and when Faith asked me what I wanted to do. I genuinely didn’t have an answer for her because one is a child that I raised and gave all the love that I have and the other is my blood, my little junior who doesn’t even know that he has a father who would do anything for him.
In order to fully invest in protecting my family and pack, I have to make a decision and unfortunately I will lose either way because I can never make everybody happy.
