Chapter Nine
The night I left the pack, I didn’t look back. Hunter’s words, his promises, and even his apologies no longer held meaning. I wanted a fresh start, and I wanted it far from the territories he controlled as Alpha. The city was far enough that no one from the pack would see me again unless they came looking.
It wasn’t easy to detach myself. Even after filing for a mate–bond dissolution, the process dragged on as Hunter found every possible reason to delay it. He might have called himself my Alpha, but to me, he was nothing but a painful memory I needed to leave behind.
Some of my former packmates kept me informed. Apparently, Katherine hadn’t given up on him; she’d show up at the pack house daily, hoping to catch his attention, despite the scandal of her leaked video. Meanwhile, the pack’s respect for Hunter plummeted, and even some of the neighboring packs began to question his leadership. A few of the pack elders reached out to me, asking if I’d consider returning to help stabilize things, but I told them no. The weight of the pack wasn’t my responsibility anymore.
Noah, the beta of my new city’s pack, noticed my distraction one evening while we were out for coffee. “Need a hand with something?” he asked gently. “Not for him,” he added quickly, “but maybe just for the pack?”
I shook my head, grateful for the offer but unwilling to revisit those ties. “Thank you, Noah. But I’m done with them.”
Noah’s smile softened as he handed me two front–row tickets to a concert.
“Then how about a break?”
I took the tickets and laughed a little. Years ago, when I’d been newly mated to Hunter, I’d dreamed of sitting front–row at one of these concerts. When the concert day arrived, I stepped into the crowd with Noah, feeling a strange mix of excitement and nostalgia. But as the lights dimmed and the music rose, someone caught my eye. There, by the edge of the crowd, stood Hunter.
His face lit up when he saw me. “Ava, I knew you’d come!”
Noah took a step forward, positioning himself between Hunter and me. I touched his arm lightly. “It’s fine, Noah. He’s just someone I used to know.” With that, I took Noah’s hand and walked away without looking back.
The End Of An Era
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Months passed, and I finally received the dissolution decree I’d been waiting for. Free at last, I poured myself into my new life and let my past fade- until one night when an unknown number from the old territory flashed on my phone.
“Ava,” a stranger’s voice came through the line. “I’m Dr. Jason, from the city hospital. Alpha Hunter was in a serious car accident. He’s badly injured and asked us to call you… He wanted to speak before going into surgery.”
I took a deep breath, feeling an odd calm settle over me. “He’s got the wrong number,” I replied, my voice steady. “Tell him I don’t know him.”
A few weeks later, word spread through the pack grapevine. Hunter had survived but was left with lasting injuries that affected his mobility. Katherine, who had been in the car with him, wasn’t as lucky too–she’d suffered injuries that left her unable to walk. In a strange twist of fate, her family demanded that Hunter marry her, insisting he take responsibility.
It didn’t take long for me to hear how it ended. The night of their wedding, Hunter, who had always kept himself restrained, turned to drinking. He ignored Katherine completely, treating her with cold disdain. That anger finally broke
him.
One night, drunk and careless, he started a fire in the pack house while Katherine was asleep. Neither of them made it out in time.
That day marked the anniversary of the night I had lost everything.
Book3–Part One: Night Of Dread
While I was being flared and burnt by those rogue wolves, my husband was enjoying dinner with his mistress on my 25th birthday. A night that was supposed to be so special, ended in me becoming barbecue.
I tried calling for him through every means possible while I was being chased. Phone calls, text messages, god I even tried telepathy so he could sense how desperate my voice was. But the only response I got was through the mind link..
“Quit been dramatic, I am spending the night out”
I was disappointed but quickly comforted myself with the fact that his ego would have been a very valid reason why the rogues would end us faster in a more deadly way.
Some days past the dreadful night after my darling husband abandoned me, there he was, the most powerful Alpha in the West Stone pack, analysing the scene from the rogue attack that had all the pack soldiers talking.
He was showing, not just telling the pack soldiers how the victim struggled and fought for their life before they brutally ended her.
Unknown to my dear husband, he was dissecting the news of his own Luna to the Pack, the same wife he neglected and left alone to die.
***
So there I was, kept like remnants of some overcooked pork, just hanging in the back of the trash.
An old lady, walking her dog, then stumbled upon the scene, the furry pet chewed on parts of my body. The old lady assumed it was some discarded meat, until a large bone popped out that looked nothing like pork.
Very soon, more bodies were discovered all over the pack. It was like a nightmare come to life. The pack soldiers were everywhere trying to solve the mass murder case.
Alpha Sloane Mane, my dear husband, was called in. As the Alpha, he had to be in the murder site to observe the effect of the attack.
Even he was surprised by the level of brutality in which the victims were murdered. His face went pale as he stared hard. He struggled to keep his facial expression neutral, but I knew he was shocked. We were skinned and burned beyond recognition.
The pack beta who is also head of the pack soldiers, Collin Derrick, and the entire pack council, waited impatiently for the pack soldiers to break down the details of the murder.
“Seems like someone was interested in getting the blood of wolves. And from those marks on the wall, the poor victims were killed in their wolf form.”
Collin’s hands went to the nape of his neck..
“According to the soldiers, one of our victim’s a young woman in her late twenties who was a white wolf. Her fur was scattered all around. Rogues‘ attacks involving murders like this are often tagged as revenge, she must have pissed off some dangerous wolves.
Sloane placed his hand on his temple and his eyes brightened up.
“This doesn’t seem like a random hit. Looks like someone has a grudge, and they’re not going to stop anytime soon.” These rogue attacks are. becoming more like a way of settling scores between packs.
And he was right. My husband’s instincts were sharper than the tooth of a wolf.
I couldn’t wait to see his facial expression when he finally put all the pieces together.
They found a necklace at the crime scene. A prime evidence in identifying the victim. Sloane picked it up nonchalantly. Collins went silent, his eyes narrowed. Waiting for what the alpha would say.
“Alpha, this necklace looks familiar. It’s almost like yours?” One of the
soldiers said.
Slaone bought both necklaces on our wedding night, he gave me one and
the other never left his neck.
Sloane took the necklace and observed it for a little while. It was no more
glowing.
“It’s probably just the same style. The style was pretty common back then.” But that was a lie.
As if considering the possibility, his eyes lingered on the scene entrance for a long while. He immediately mind linked me but my silence just suggested. to him that I was trying to avoid him. A payback for how he treated me some nights back.
“Always acting all high and mighty after throwing stupid tantrums every day. Now she isn’t responding to me. Whatever. It’s not her.” He muttered with
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