To awaken the beast inside a werewolf is to bring it out somehow. The more stronger the beast is, the harder it will be to awaken.

Blade slowly pulls his body off the ground and makes sure his feet are planted firmly on the ground. He then follows behind Zalia, who leads him further into the forest. The two suddenly stop at a tall circular building.

"That is the core. Our means of a barrier. How it works is the Alpha places his or her dominant hand on the core and works alongside Ines, the core's guardian, to put up a forcefield around the entire pack's territory. This keeps any non Blood wolf out." Zalia explains.

"I only understood the first two sentences." Nathan smiles sheepishly.

"Basically, Nate, it's a protection barrier." Blade answers with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense now." Nathan mumbles.

"Elder Timothy can explain what you need to do, Blade." Zalia tells him. "Elder, if you would."

Elder Timothy's icy blue eyes are faded to look like a light clouded blue. His death is arriving soon and he knows that.

"The first step you need to do is place your dominant hand on the core, then if you faint, you'll wake up inside in the core itself." the elder says. "If that happens, then I'll say the next and final step."

Blade nods, understanding what he needs to do. He steps an inch forward then places his left hand on the core. He can feel the core's power race through his veins and it confuses him a bit.

He's suddenly blinded by a white light before his vision returns to normal. His golden eyes slowly dart left and right, then land on a woman standing in front of him. She has a tiny smile itched onto her face and strolls closer to him.

"You must be Bloodcrest's true alpha if you're in here." she says.

True Alpha? Blade gives her a confused expression. "What do you mean by true Alpha?" he asks.

"Simple. In order for you to be the true Alpha of Bloodcrest, you have to be a descendant of Joshua Greywood." she replies.

"I'm not his descendant though. I'm just the oldest child of Aaron and Aphmau Lycan." Blade states.

"Are you really their child?" the woman asks him.

Blade scoffs. "Of course I am! If I wasn't then why would it say their names on my birth certificate!" he argues.

"What I mean by that is did they actually conceive you or were they a surrogate for your real parents?" the woman questions.

"Does it even matter?" Blade snaps angrily.

The woman sighs. "Not entirely but it does hinder this. You are the true alpha of Bloodcrest and a descendant of Joshua. That is how you are able to be here." she explains.

"I already told you I'm not a descendant!" Blade growls. "So stop saying that I am!"

"You have to be ready to accept the role and position of power you'll have here." she ignores his response and just continues. "If you accept, you'll wake up in the outside world. However, if you decline, well, then I get to kill you."

So life or death are my options. Wow. "I accept." Blade states. "But you better shut up about the whole descendant thing."

"Then it is with my great honor to announce the new alpha." she says and bows to him.

"Who are you even. You never told me who you are." Blade mumbles.

"Oh, my bad. I am Ines, the guardian of the core." Ines introduces herself.

She then snaps her fingers and Blade groans from his spot on the ground.

She could've teleported me to a better spot! Not on the actual ground!

"How did it work?" the blonde haired woman suddenly asks.

"He's a direct descendant of Joshua." the elder whispers.

Blade sits up and glares at the elder. "I already heard enough of that from Ines, I certainly don't want to hear it from you." he says with a bitter tone of voice.

(With Alina)

Alina tries to pay attention to the scribbled notes on the board but her mind is elsewhere. She really wants to end her friendship with Destiny; for the latter crushing on her best friend's brother. Not to mention, Blade and Nathan are somewhere and she can only worry for the both of them.

With the teacher's back turned to the class, Alina quickly pulls out her phone.

Big bro🐾

Where are you and Nathan? Nobody's seen either of you all day.
Please answer, I'm worried!

Big bro?

Blade? Are you there?

Alina puts her phone away as the teacher turns back around, asking the class a sudden question from the equation on the board.

(After class - 88 boring minutes later)

Alina's phone goes off with its annoyingly catchy notification sound she has. She fishes out her phone and unlocks it. Her chocolate eyes can only stare at the sudden messages.

(Unknown number)

Don't bother locating Blade.
Ask your parents about how they had him.

Who is this? How do you know Blade?

My name is of no importance, just know I'm a friend.

A friend wouldn't keep secrets.
Much less, ones including my brother and parents!

Fine. I am on the council of a werewolf pack.

Okay? I don't believe you.

Unknown number has left the conversation.

"Alina, you okay? You look like you saw a ghost." Max tells her as he and Harper walk up to her.

"What's wrong?" Harper asks.

"I need to talk to my parents about something." Alina replies. "Like now."

She then runs out of the classroom, she had thrown her things into her backpack beforehand. She feels bad for leaving her two friends like that but she needs answers to the questions she has.

Alina barges through the front door of her family's house once she runs home. Her parents look at her with shock and confusion.

"Alina? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" Aphmau asks her.

The raven haired girl merely responds by digging her phone out, unlocking the device and hands it to her mother.

"Who sent this?" Aphmau whispers in a quivering voice.

"Doesn't matter. What secrets have you been keeping from Blade and I?" Alina demands.

"What's going on here?" Aaron questions as he walks into the room.

Aphmau shows him Alina's phone before he gives the same response she did.

"Answer my question, Mom!" Alina snaps.

Aphmau sighs. "You were the only child we created." she reveals.

"Then...how..." Alina stops talking as Aphmau puts a finger over her mouth.

"Aaron and I did something we didn't want anyone else to know. We came across this couple, both werewolves; one was an Ultima like Aaron. They talked to us for several months. We became close to them until one day, they asked us to be their surrogate. We agreed, because we wanted the chance to be parents so, biologically; Blade isn't ours." Aphmau admits.

"But his biological parents told us that once he was born, we could take care of him. In doing so, we never told anyone this. Your mom and I don't know how our friends would take it. Much less, Blade." Aaron states.

"So all this time, you aren't his biological parents." Alina says. "That's wrong! He's been living a lie this whole time!"

"That's why he's a bit more aggressive than Aph and I." Aaron says. "And why his wolf form is little bigger than us."

Alina blinks. "What? You've seen his wolf form?" she asks.

"We have." Aphmau replies.

Her daughter sighs heavily. "Are you going to tell Blade this? I mean, he deserves to know." she says.

Aphmau shares a look with Aaron. Neither of them want to tell their son for fear of him murdering the two in their sleep. After all, he had the ability to do so.