Once Elias had gathered a group to join us, we met in the center of the pack, where he went over the n with them. They were to guard the packhouse in case there were any stray wolves still hiding nearby. Elias and I, however, would be inside the packhouse, and we’d need them to cover our backs.


    After that, we all got into the vehicles and headed toward the territory where I used to live.


    Elias and I were seated in the third car of the convoy, and during the entire ride, I remained mostly silent.


    I wasn’t sure whether my father had taken the time to clear out the packhouse properly or if he had rushed his departure. I had no clue if his office had been emptied or if the things I needed had been taken with


    him.


    There was a chance he had forgotten about them entirely, or maybe those things had never even existed in the first ce. I really had no way of knowing. But I understood that I had to go and see it for myself. I hated the feeling of not knowing where he had gone, so I was hoping to find something that could give me a clue about his current whereabouts.


    He was hiding out somewhere secret, just like we were. But I’d never heard of any hidden ce before, and I definitely hadn’t seen anything in that pack besides the packhouse itself.


    If my dad owned any additional properties, he’d kept them a secret from me, never letting anything slip in


    my presence.


    “How much did you know Holt?” Elias asked me.


    “I never actually spoke to him. I saw him out training a few times when I was watching through the packhouse window. That’s how I recognized who he was. I didn’t meet anyone else from the pack. Only


    my dad and his new wife.” I replied.


    “She’s quite a bit younger than your father.”


    “And I think she’s pregnant. That might exin why they ran–he probably doesn’t want you chasing after


    him.” <b>I </b>said.


    “That would add up. But why do you think she’s pregnant? I doubt he would’ve shared that kind of news


    with you.”


    “He didn’t. <b>I </b>just overheard some things. And honestly, I don’t care if she’s having a baby. Maybe he’ll finally get the son he always wanted to inherit the pack.”


    “That would still make the baby your sibling,” he said.


    “That has nothing to do with me. I’m not part of that pack anymore, and I want nothing to do with any


    future children my father might have. As long as he and Sofia are raising them, they’ll never even know I


    exist.” I told him.


    “Yeah, that makes sense,” he said.


    TA


    More Rewards >


    “I’m sure he’ll treat them way better than he ever treated me. He needed me to be weak, obedient, and


    easy to control because he wanted to exploit my power. That won’t be the case with any new kids he has.”


    I said.


    “Do you really believe we’ll find something at the house?” he asked.


    “I can’t say for sure. But if I don’t look, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.” I answered.


    “Alright. Fair enough,” he said.


    It took us several hours to reach my former pack, and during that whole time, the only wolves we came


    across were our own scouts stationed throughout the area.


    We drove all the way up to the front of the packhouse, which waspletely dark. The entire ce was


    deserted. I had never seen it that empty before. Still, I couldn’t say I was shocked.


    Elias and I stepped out of the vehicle, and he immediately instructed his warriors to stay <i>on </i>high alert. He


    didn’t want to risk a surprise if my father had left anyone behind to keep tabs on the house.


    So our fighters stayed posted outside, while Elias and I made our way up the steps.


    The front door was locked, so Elias gave it a solid kick, forcing it open, and we both stepped inside to look around and make sure the ce was truly empty.


    I headed straight toward the office. That door wasn’t locked, so I walked right in. The room looked fairly


    neat, aside from a few scattered papers on the floor and the missingputer.


    I reached over and flipped on the light switch, then walked toward the desk and lowered myself into the


    chair that used to be my father’s.


    I started pulling open the drawers and going through the documents he had left behind, but I didn’t find


    anything of use.


    I nced around the office, then walked over to the filing cab while Elias continued to check the rest


    of the house.


    The filing cab was still filled with files containing details about all the members of the pack, and I


    started flipping through them until I finally located my mother’s file.


    I pulled the file out and sat down at the desk, switched themp on, and opened it.


    There was a photograph of my mother stapled to the file–one I had never seen before–and I found myself


    staring at it for a long time.


    She looked quite young in the picture. But the file had everything rted to her: her birth certificate, personal details–everything.


    She originally belonged to another pack but had moved here after finding her mate at eighteen. She came to this pack to be the Luna.


    I was born not long after, and then the file noted that my father started bing suspicious that my


    S CHAPTER 44


    mother was cheating on him.


    More Rewards <b>> </b>


    He doubted I was really his and believed she was secretly meeting with the man he suspected to be my actual father. The file even named someone–Finn Corwin.


    That alone proved she hadn’t died giving birth to me. I picked the folder up in both hands, and just then, a sudden chill ran through me. I could see both of my parents standing in the same room.


    They looked much younger, and I was lying in a bass at the far side of the room, just a couple months


    old.


    “Quit lying to me, Rowan. I know you’re cheating with that scumbag. Just admit it!” my father shouted at


    her.


    “You’ve lost your mind. You hear yourself right now?” my mother shouted back.


    “I’m not crazy. You just won’t admit that brat over there isn’t even mine!” Dad roared.


    “She’s yours, of course she is! I’m your mate. I carry your mark. If I were having an affair, don’t you think you’d be able to tell?” Mom screamed.


    “Maybe you used your magic to cover it all up,” Dad snarled. And my mother gave him a strange, confused look. “Oh yeah. I know everything about you, your majesty. Thest surviving bloodline of the royal


    werewolves. I know the truth,” he said.


    “And why are you only saying this now?” she asked him.


    “Because I waited for you toe clean. But you were never going to, were you?” he used.


    “No, I wasn’t. Because that life doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m not royalty. I don’t even im that side of the family. We don’t live in the castle anymore–it just sits there, abandoned. No one’s lived in it for decades. We became targets, so we left that life behind. We live like regr wolves now. We don’t tell anyone who we used to be because we don’t see ourselves that way anymore,” my mother shouted.


    “Well, you’ve still got those powers. I’ve seen you use them. And she’s your daughter. There’s no question. She’ll have all the same powers as you,” Dad snapped.


    “Stay away from Lyra. She has nothing to do with any of this,” my mom growled.


    “Then you’ll do what I say. Or she’ll be the one who suffers for it,” my father growled back.


    “Don’t you darey a hand on her!” my mother screamed, lunging toward me, trying to take me from the


    bass–but my father caught her mid–step and pped her across the face, then threw her hard into the


    wall.


    When she tried to summon her power to fight back, he punched her again and mmed her head into the wall, knocking her out cold.


    He then called for his Beta, ordering him to take her away and make it look like a rogue attack. Both her and the baby.


    244


    < CHAPTER 44


    More Rewards <b>> </b>


    I snapped back to reality, sitting in the dimly lit room by myself, staring down at the file in my hands–and


    everything I saw, everything I remembered, it was all true. My father really had her killed.


    He wanted to steal her powers, but she had been protecting me–and that’s what got her murdered.


    I was still lost in thought, holding the file, when someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and yanked


    me out of the chair.


    Instinct took over–I threw my head back and mmed it into his face, then spun and smacked him with


    the back of my hand. As I turned fully, I kicked him in the stomach with such force that he flew backward


    and crashed through the closed window behind me.


    “Lyra!” Elias shouted, bursting into the room.


    He approached carefully, walked over to the broken window, and looked down. The many on the ground,pletely still, blood covering him from the shattered ss and broken window frame.


    “Where in the world did you learn to do that?” Elias asked, stunned.


    “I have no idea,” I replied.


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