Stealing the Alpha’s Heritage

Chapter 18

POV Aria

"The pack hunt starts in an hour. Everyone will be gone until dawn."

Elena slips into my room, her medical bag heavy with more than just healing supplies. The vial of wolfsbane extract she presses into my hand contains triple the usual dose, the dark green liquid sloshing ominously.

"This much could kill me," I say, studying the amount.

"Not taking it definitely will." She glances at the window where twilight bleeds across the sky. "Evander's mark will burn like hellfire once you leave pack territory. Without this, you'll be unconscious before you reach the border."

"The Silverfang territory is hours from here. How am I supposed to make it in time?" My fingers tighten around the vial.

"You're not taking the train." Elena pulls out a hand-drawn map, spreading it on the bed. "There's an old service road that cuts through the mountains. Garrett will drive you. It's risky, but it'll get you to Silverfang's borders in ninety minutes."

"Garrett? Rowena's driver?"

"He'll meet you at the old pump station, just past our border." Elena taps a specific point on the map. "He sent word through channels Evander doesn't monitor."

"Why is Garrett helping me?" I study the map, memorizing each turn.

"He didn't give details, just said you'd understand when you saw him."

"And he knows about the tunnels?"

"He's been mapping them for weeks." Elena points to the eastern section of the map. "These maintenance tunnels run beneath Silverfang's border. They were sealed decades ago, but Garrett found a way through."

"The challenge isn't for five more days—"

"Aria." Elena grabs my shoulders, forcing me to meet her eyes. "Look outside."

I move to the window, and my heart skips a beat. The moon hanging in the darkening sky carries a faint red tinge around its edges.

"The Blood Moon is tonight." My voice comes out strangled. "How did I not know? How did I miss—"

"It's not the Blood Moon—it's the Lunar Eclipse." Elena's voice drops. "The partial eclipse tonight will cast red light for a few hours. Rowena's using it as a substitute."

"Can the ceremony even work with an eclipse?"

"Old texts mention both events can open the veil between worlds. The eclipse is weaker, more unstable but Rowena's desperate enough to risk it." Elena's disgust is palpable. "And Evander has been hiding both dates from you.

"I have to go now." I grab the small pack Elena brought, checking the supplies one more time. "If the ceremony's already started—"

"Wait until the hunting horn sounds." Elena moves to the door, pausing with her hand on the handle. "Once Evander realizes you're gone, he'll tear apart the territory looking for you. The mark will tell him which direction you went."

"Unless I'm already beyond his reach." I touch the mark, feeling it pulse with malevolent heat. "Thank you, Elena."

"Save your boys," she says simply. "That's all the thanks I need."

The hunting horn echoes across the territory forty minutes later, deep and mournful like a funeral dirge. I watch from my window as the pack streams out—Evander leading them, his wolf form massive and silver in the moonlight. Marcel runs at his right, other warriors flanking them in perfect formation.

I wait until the last wolf disappears into the tree line, then down the entire vial of wolfsbane extract in one burning swallow.

The effect is immediate and violent. My knees buckle as liquid fire races through my veins, but the mark's constant burn suddenly dulls to a manageable ache. I can think clearly for the first time in days.

The service corridors Elena described are exactly where she said they'd be. The edge of pack territory looms ahead, marked by ancient stones that glow faintly under the reddening moon.

The second I cross the boundary, Evander's mark erupts into agony.

I bite through my lip to keep from screaming, tasting copper as blood fills my mouth. Every step away from Moonveil feels like walking through broken glass, but Elena's herbs keep me conscious.

"Just a little further," I whisper to myself, to my boys. "Mama's coming."

The old pump station squats in a valley between territories. Garrett emerges from the shadows before I can call out.

"You look like death walking," he says without preamble.

"Tell me something I don't know." I lean against a rusted pipe, trying to catch my breath. "Where are the twins?"

"Already in the ceremonial chamber." He pulls out a more detailed map, pointing to a section deep within Silverfang territory. "Guards everywhere, but they're all focused outward. Nobody expects an attack from below."

"Why betray Rowena now?" I ask, studying his face.

"I'm here for the same reason you are." Garrett starts walking, and I follow despite every muscle screaming in protest. "To stop her."

"And I’m just supposed to trust you?"

He stops at a concealed grate and turns back. His eyes meet mine, and I see something I never expected there—genuine anguish.

"For twenty years, I did whatever she asked. Drove whoever needed driving. Kept my mouth shut about things that should have been reported. Never asked questions, never refused an order."

"Then why—"

"Because I've done a lot of terrible things for that woman, but I won't be party to child murder." The words come out raw, broken. "That's where I draw the line." He pulls the gate aside with surprising strength. "Once we go down here, there's no turning back."

"Then we better hurry." I drop through the opening without hesitation, my feet hitting muck that smells like decades of decay.

The tunnels are worse than I imagined—cramped, wet, completely dark except for our flashlights cutting weak paths through the black. Things scuttle away from our light, and more than once I feel something brush against my ankle that definitely isn't water.

"Tell me about the ceremony," I demand. "What exactly are they planning?"

"I don't know the specifics—Rowena keeps those close. All I know is she's been gathering ceremonial items for weeks."

"She told you nothing about how it works?" My stomach churns as we take another turn.

"Only that both boys need to be present, that the ceremony happens under the moon's apex." His jaw tightens. "And that one twin won't survive it."

"Over my dead body."

"That might be exactly what happens."

We move through the darkness in tense silence after that, the only sounds are our breathing and the squelch of our footsteps in the muck.

"How much further?" I ask after what feels like hours but is probably twenty minutes.

"We're under the pack house now." Garrett stops at a junction, consulting his map. "The ceremonial chamber is directly above us. There should be an access point—there."

He points to a newer-looking grate and carefully pushes it up just enough to peer through. Through the gap, I can see what must have been the ceremonial preparation chamber.

The room is circular, lit by hundreds of candles that make shadows dance on stone walls. Ancient symbols are painted in what looks horribly like blood on the floor, forming a complex pattern with two circles at its heart. Guards stand at every entrance, and ceremonial robes lie abandoned on the altar.

But the circles where my boys should be standing are empty.

"Where are they?" I whisper, panic rising in my throat. "Garrett, where are my babies?"

He's gone pale beside me, his scarred face reflecting the same horrible realization that's dawning on me.

"We're too late," he breathes.