The suite was filled with their celebratory chatter, but I could see the truth beneath the facade. This seemingly harmonious family
of three was actually a nest of vipers, each with their own hidden agenda.
The day they returned home, an unusual heavy rain poured down on the territory.
The temperature dropped significantly, which seemed to mask some of the lingering odor around the mansion. New servants had already been hired, though no one dared approach the fire house where my body still remained.
They arrived home late in the evening, weary from the journey but still riding the high of their baby news.
That night, when the house had fallen silent, Amber crept into my old room. Everything remained untouched since my imprisonment–a preserved shrine to the daughter my father had murdered.
She rummaged through my closet, selecting clothes that resembled mine, and dressed methodically. When she looked in my mirror, the resemblance was uncanny–we had similar builds and coloring, though her features were softer than mine had been.
Confidently disguised as me, she walked boldly to the garage and selected one of the cars. With a hat and mask obscuring her face, she drove away into the night.
Elise had a standing monthly appointment at an exclusive spa for wolf elders, where special treatments enhanced their fading vitality. The next day, as she left the spa feeling refreshed, three massive rogues wolves appeared seemingly from nowhere.
Her driver immediately tensed, sensing danger. “Ma’am, stay in the car,” he warned, reaching for his silver dagger.
But before he could react, the rogues attacked with practiced coordination. They disabled the driver with brutal efficiency, then dragged Elise from the car.
“Please,”
,” she begged, hands protectively covering her stomach. “I have money–take whatever you want!”
The largest rogue, a scarred male with yellow eyes, growled low. “We don’t want your money, elder wolf. We want the pup.” Horror dawned on Elise’s face as she realized their true intent. Among wolves, there was an ancient, forbidden practice–stealing unborn pups from their mothers for rituals or to prevent powerful bloodlines from continuing.
“Who sent you?” she screamed, fighting with the desperation of a mother. “Who paid you to do this?”
The rogues didn’t answer. They dragged her into a nearby abandoned building, their claws tearing at her clothes, reaching for her belly.
By sheer luck, a pack patrol heard her screams. Three enforcement wolves burst into the building, teeth bared and eyes glowing. The fight was swift and brutal.
The rogues were quickly overpowered and bound with silver chains–their criminal status leaving them no rights under pack law. When my father received the news, he rushed to the hospital. By the time he arrived, the doctors had delivered the grim diagnosis: while Elise had survived, the trauma had caused her to lose the baby. Worse, due to severe internal injuries, her womb had been removed to save her life.
+15 BONUS
“Who did this?” my father roared, his eyes blazing yellow with rage as he paced the hospital room. “Who would DARE?”
His voice shook the walls, and tears glinted at the corners of his eyes–something I’d never seen, even at my mother’s funeral.
Just then, a messenger arrived with a letter, handed to him with trembling fingers.
The envelope bore my handwriting–or rather, Amber’s perfect imitation of it. My father ripped it open, his hands shaking with
fury.
“You pathetic old fool,” it read. “Everything you own belongs to ME, your true blood. Did you think I’d let that whore and her
spawn take what’s mine? Dream on.”
This was clearly a confession–a claim of responsibility for the attack.
“Scarlett!” he howled my name, his voice cracking with emotion I couldn’t quite identify. Rage? Grief? Betrayal?
“Contact the pack enforcers immediately! Have them hunt down Scarlett Morgan. This is attempted murder! She’s forfeited her
right to live!”
As he gave the order, a single tear slid down his cheek.
What are you crying for, Father? I wondered, floating beside him unseen. Are you mourning the son you never met, or the daughter you think has become a monster?
His secretary rushed to make the arrangements. The pack enforcers–elite wolves who served as the Alpha’s law keepers-
arrived quickly to investigate.
They interrogated the captured rogues, who broke easily under the Alpha’s specialized techniques.
“A female paid us,” the leader confessed, blood trickling from his mouth. “Young, with auburn hair and green eyes. Said she
wanted the pup gone–paid us with this.”
He produced a distinctive emerald pendant–MY pendant, a gift from my mother that I’d kept locked in my jewelry box.
“She smelled like death and fire,” another rogue added, shivering. “Wasn’t natural.”
The description matched me perfectly, and the pendant removed any doubt in my father’s mind.
The evidence was damning. Now they just needed to find me.
My father paced the hospital corridor, grief and rage battling on his face. “Find her,” he ordered the lead enforcer. “Find my daughter before I do something I might
regret.”
B
