Lantern, burning / Flickered in my mind / Only you

Alpha Leonidas agreed that he would send a few of his pack members to go looking for Eros in the Center, Ryker would also send a few of the Ethereal members to help. Young Seb would come with us once we managed to locate Eros/Ares, but he would be accompanied by his sister, a pack warrior named Yelena. Although Young Seb seemed unhappy with his sister's babysitting, Alpha Leonidas' words were definitive. It was either Yelena or Beta Adler and, of course, Young Seb would prefer his sister rather than the grumpy Beta.

As we drove back to the North, I tried to read Ryker's mind and when I came up with nothing, I decided to ask him directly, "What are your plan for Alana?"

There was a long moment of silence inside the car before Ryker finally glanced at me and replied, "I don't know." He inhaled a deep breath and let it out. "Dmitry already locked her up again. Her dad kept asking to see me. When we were in Erebus' territory, he made several attempts to mind link with me, but I blocked him. Ryker's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Her dad, Harold, is a good man. Fuck! How am I going to tell him that her daughter is a killer? The one who killed my brother, the previously well-respected alpha?" He raked one hand through his hair — one of a few things that he often did when he was at his wit's end.

"He will understand that his daughter must go through trials," I answered carefully, "or whatever the law is in your pack."

"I know he will," defended Ryker with an exasperated sigh. "But I also know he would kill her once he found out. Alana's dad is a stern but proud man. Don't you get why Miles prefers to stay in the Center? His father has no tolerance for rule-bending or inappropriate behaviors. At least not under his roof. He's well respected for that, amongst other council members."

"She's his daughter. I'm sure he won't want to harm her."

"You don't know the man, Xy." Ryker shook his head. Despite his unwavering focus on the road, I could sense that he was grappling with something internally. "He'd rather he kill her with his own hands than have to leave with a disgrace of not raising his kids right. He wouldn't want her to taint his legacy."

I kept quiet about that since he was right about one thing. I didn't know Alana's father. Soon I drifted to sleep as the car moved and Ryker drove us all the way home. I couldn't feel it when the car had come to a parking mode. I could even hardly hear the door on my right being swung open. That was how tiring this whole day was, how tired I truly was. I hadn't felt that I'd been using too much of my power until my body gave out like that. Yet when his arms made a contact with my skin, one around my shoulders with his hand gripping my left arm and the other was on the back of my knees, a warm tingly feeling spread all over my body. I tried to open my eyes, trying to let him know that I was okay with walking on my own two feet, but both of my eyes refused to be awakened from their peaceful slumber so, in the end, I let Ryker carry me all the way into the house.

A few minutes later, I felt my arse touching the surface of a mattress, than he slowly lowered the rest of my body. He let go of my legs first, then his right hand was holding the back of my head while his left arm was still supporting my shoulders. With more than enough care than needed, he placed my head against the soft pillow before he withdrew his arm. I felt him planting a soft kiss on top of my head before I heard his quiet steps moving farther away. Then that was all consciousness I could afford at that moment before a few seconds later, sleep came at last, heavy and deep, and I was once again being pulled back to a dreamless, soothing rest.

Oddly enough, I woke up early the next morning. I felt more refreshed and my back felt less tight than it'd been last night. I decided to take a quick shower since last night I hadn't cleaned myself up and had been sleeping in my t-shirt and jeans. A few minutes later, with a towel wrapped around my head to prevent droplets from dripping off my hair, I walked downstairs and headed to the kitchen.

The kitchen was deadly quiet and there was no one there. No Ryker, no Dmitry, no Trish. I couldn't even find Tati either. I would've gone on a scavenger hunt upstairs and in the backyard looking for them, but my stomach protested, so I only did that after I finished a bowl of cereals. Still, I couldn't find them upstairs. Their rooms were all empty. I went to Ryker's office and there was no one there, too. After trying to call each one of them and being directed straight to voicemail, I began scouring the house, to places that I'd never been to. Including the door adjacent to Ryker's office on the first floor. I opened the door, which led to a staircase. As I descended the stairs, I began to hear voices.

It was Ryker's. "You killed my brother?" The agony and pain in his voice were so intense that I felt my own heart being squeezed. "You killed your own mate?! How could you do that?"

"I did it for us, Pitt," cried Alana. "Don't you understand? I love you."

"You will still receive a thousand lashes for killing a pack member and since who you killed was the Alpha and future heir, you will receive two thousand more," informed Dmitry with that characteristically flat, emotionless tone of his. Then he casually added, "No matter how much you claimed to love Alpha Ryker."

Upon arriving at the landing, my surroundings came into view. This was the basement. The dungeon that Miles had mentioned before. Alana was still trying to convince Ryker that what she had done, she had done it out of love, and I moved towards the source of her voice. They were close. I could tell by the loudness of her voice. At last, I made a right turn, and I immediately stopped on my track. There, inside what looked like a modern jail cell, were Alana, Ryker, and Dmitry. Alana was on the floor against the wall. One of her hands was outstretched with her wrist bound with chains and so were her ankles. Judging by the redness, blistering wound on her wrist and ankles, I could tell that those chains were made out of silver. Since there was no way Dmitry nor Ryker would have put it on her, she must have put it on her, which explained why her right hand was unbound, free.

"Don't you dare call me using that nickname!" growled Ryker. "You must refer me like everyone else in this pack, Alana."

"Um, guys, what is going on?" I moved towards the opened jail door and walked inside.

"We are interrogating her," explained Dmitry.

Ryker moved towards me. His hand gently tucked my hair behind one ear. "Hey, you don't have to be here. This thing, it can—" he paused, seeming hesitant for a moment.

"It can, what?"

"It can be bloody. It won't be a pretty sight," said Ryker at last.

I nodded. "I can handle it." Alana was the one who had caused Eros to forget about everything. If she was going to be punished, I wanted to be present.

Ryker didn't ask whether I was sure or not. He gave me a simple nod and returned his attention to Alana.

"Ry, please, without him, we could be together and you would be the Alpha. I did it for you. For us," pleaded Alana, her hand wiping the tears away from her pretty face.

"Do you think I want to be the Alpha?" His voice was rising with every word. "I would rather have my brother here, alive, then become the Alpha."

"You don't mean that." Alana had the audacity to gasp and act all surprised. "I know deep down you want it. I know you, Pi—Alpha Ryker."

"If you think like that, then you don't know me at all, Alana." Ryker shook his head sheepishly. "I was happy being the second son, the one who can live freely, not bound to one place and not having the heavy responsibility of taking care of a community. Not only had you taken my brother away, but you also ripped all of that away from me."

"No, no, no. I love you. I do."

I exhaled a deep breath. I had made a promise not to interrupt while someone was defending themselves, but I grew weary of her reason. "You know what? I am tired of hearing all these talks about love and how you did what you did because you love him. Oh, give me a break," I scoffed. I fearlessly made my way closer to Alana. "If you love him, if you truly love him, then you wouldn't have killed his brother, knowing how much Ryker loved his brother."

"Shut the fuck up. You are the weakest creature around here. If I wasn't restrained, I would have ripped your heart out and eaten it raw in front of you!"

I laughed straight out. "Are you for real?" I shook my head in disbelief. "You should do your research before making a nonsensical threat. Brain damage starts to occur within 30 seconds to 2 minutes after the heart stops and since you said you are going to rip it out, the blood loss would play a role here, too. I wouldn't have the time to watch you eat." I tossed my hair to one side. I was feeling like a badass right now. I had enough of this woman, doing her worst to ruin my life and blabbering about love and sacrifice, and trying to portray herself as a martyr. She was nothing but a murderer. A heartless killer. "About your comment on me being the weakest creature here, I beg to differ." I twirled and flicked my wrist. A ball of red smoke went from my hand into Alana's head through her temple.

Her eyes widened in shock. "What did you do to me?"

"Hmm, let's test it out, shall we?" I moved closer to her and smiled. "What is the real reason you killed Walker Cromwell?"

"Because he was not that easy to control," said Alana, then her eyes widened again as she could not believe that she'd said that. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say I may have slipped some Veritaserum into your drink." I grinned, feeling satisfied.

Dmitry muttered, "Veritaserum?"

Ryker rolled his eyes. "She meant a very powerful truth serum. She is channeling Harry Potter, no doubt."

"So what were you saying again, Alana? About Walker not being easy to control?" I continued my line of questioning.

"If push comes to shove, he would put the pack on his top priority list. No matter what I do, I would come second. But Ryker," Alana dropped her gaze as the truth came rolling out of her mouth, "Ryker loved me since we were kids. He always had that silly crush. I was sure that I could easily control him."

Ryker's face paled, and I caught a glimpse of it from the corner of my eye. I could hardly believe that Alana would be this cruel, that she would use his love for her in order to control him. "So not only that you want to be Luna, but you wish to be the Luna who could control the Alpha, huh?"

"I have made an alliance with Adelina's coven. We could take down the Night Walker and possess the West, then we could move our way to the South. The Erebus is a much stronger pack, but I am sure once Adelina could perfect her mind spells, we can use the Night Walkers to launch an attack on the Erebus. Soon the Ethereal will possess all land. Maybe even the Center. Those humans won't see what coming to them."

"You are mad!" Ryker cursed out loud. He moved forward and started shaking Alana's body as if he was trying to drill some sense into her.

Out of curiosity, I asked, "What did Maya think about this?"

"Oh, she hated it! She still does! That ungrateful bitch! She has been disobeying me, refusing to let me shift to my wolf form. If only she'd let me, I would've eaten you when you were so carelessly working in that coffee shop!" A cunning smile appeared on Alana's lips as she moved her gaze to Dmitry. "Of course, once I made a plan to distract him. Beta Vashkov always keeps an eye on you. I can smell him even though he tried to keep his distance so you wouldn't know."

Just as I was about to give Ryker a look of pure annoyance, I noticed he was already giving Dmitry a stern look. It seemed that Dmitry had done this without Ryker's approval.

"She is my future Luna," said Dmitry. "She must be protected at all costs."

Ryker sighed. "That I would agree."

Locking my eyes with Alana's, I said, "I need to speak with Maya."

"As if I would let you!" she yelled, then made an attempt to spit at me, but my red smoke was faster and bounced that spit back to her face.

I flashed her a brief smile. "Who said I was asking?" I used my power again, forcefully pushed Alana's subconsciousness to the back, and drew Maya forward. I watched her beautiful blue eyes slowly turned black. "Hello, Maya."

"Luna," greeted Maya back. All the evil ugliness that Alana had on her face because of her nature was gone and replaced by something gentle and pure. "I am so sorry for what we have caused. I was not strong enough to prevent all of those horrible things from happening."

"It was not your fault. And I thanked you. I believe I am still alive because you refused to let Alana shift and kill me." I moved my hand to her temple. Unlike Alana, she was not scared. There was acceptance in her look as if she was telling me that if I wanted to kill her, she would not hold a grudge against me. Maya would receive whatever punishment was necessary. She believed that she had failed and perhaps in some ways, she had, but I thought that in other ways, she had succeeded. And the things in which she'd succeeded were the reason I was still alive.

At last, I touched her temple, letting my power surge through me and into her mind. A while later, I pulled away. "This body is now yours, Maya." I took her hand and gave her a gentle squeeze. "Both the wolf and human forms are in your control. Can you feel it?"

Maya's eyes widened. "Yes. I can no longer feel her presence or hear her vile, convoluted thoughts." Tears were brimming in her eyes, then spilled down her cheeks. "It feels peaceful."

Ryker and Dmitry still thought that Maya needed to be locked up downstairs until they decided the course of punishment for her. The three of us left after Dmitry locked the door of the jail cell. Once we arrived back on the first floor, Ryker's phone was spammed with notifications.

I laughed. "Probably there was no signal down there. Some of those are from me."

Checking his phone, he shook his head. The smile on his face slowly disappeared and at the same time, a small frown started to appear between his eyebrows. I knew right away that something was wrong.

"What is it?" My anxiety grew as I waited for his response.

"They found him." He looked up and his eyes met mine. "They found Eros."