A/N: I am updating this week too! Wow! I never thought I could do it.

The SUV stopped before the house I pointed. The sluggish evening zephyr rolled around the abandoned road and the front yard. Some birds sang a song for the twilight and retreated.

Niran pulled over and tapped the steering wheel. For some reason, he had been agitated the entire journey. He just brushed it off as painful memories were creeping in, but the smile on his face said otherwise. He was in a good mood, which was quite discerning for the fact that we were entering Summer Coven.

"This is where you live?" Niran asked, cutting the engine.

I lived in the main house. I brought Niran to Rune's place. One, Rune was the Epsilon and he deserved to know what was happening in the coven and the other was the fact that he was my friend. He needed to know what Lawan had done. Or doing. 

From the mail that I had been digging, I finally found that Lawan did not know to whom she was talking. That was a little comfort. But she did find out that the Minoya chain led straight up to Somsak and Dave which was not surprising. Those bastards were capable of doing anything. Including not just distributing the drug, but also manufacturing it. 

I hacked into their database on that island. It was quite cloaked. I narrowed my eyes when whatever I had access to vanished. I had met a powerful opponent and from the style on the other side, I knew who I was dealing with. Song Zhijin. He came out himself. Just what had Dave promised him to do this?

The fucker was a strong werewolf. He was in this field years before I was born. A fucking legend. But he had the most weird temper. Never fell in line with the norms. The codes I was currently using? He developed them. Obviously, he would have the upper hand. But I was not going to take the defeat just because he had developed this code. I had developed my own set and it had been a while since I fought with someone worthy.

We had gone round and round, with him trying to hack my computer. It took the entire night, but I finally managed to get scrapes of information before he deleted everything on that database when he realised that I had entered it. 

Somsak had tried Minoya on many females and he reported success with five of the hundred females he had experimented on. Seventy were humans. And the five successes had been with humans. One female had run away after the completion of the experiment, burning that lab down. I noted her name for later. The other four females had died and the babies they had been forced to deliver were 'overseen' by Somsak. 

He had raped twenty-six females himself and had made them think that he was their mate, even when two had already been Marked by their mate and had children waiting at their homes. Out of the hundred females who had been given Minoya to test its potency, seventy-five had died of overdose. But Somsak had found a fine range where Minoya could change those females' DNA that could be compatible with any species' sperm while at the same time, she would not die of an overdose. 

After reading that, I personally took it up to kill Somsak by myself. I had killed a lot of people under Dave's command, but I wanted this kill for myself. 

Before leaving, Song Zhijin warned me to stay away, but I could not help but throw a message to him saying that he could go screw himself. 

I shook my head. "Nope. This is where Rune, Summer Coven's Epsilon lives."

He gave me a long look. "I thought we were going to sneak in."

I shrugged. "This is Rune we are talking about. He would know that we came in an hour."

Niran exhaled sharply. "You brought me to the lion's den."

I opened the door. "Don't be dramatic. Rune is not someone who kills and then asks questions."

"He is the Epsilon!" Niran hissed. "You think he is going to allow a strange male to enter his house?"

I rolled my eyes and went to the main door. I knew who was inside. Apart from Rune, Lawan and Erica were lounging. Perfect. Everyone I needed to talk to was here. 

The cameras caught my face and scanned my iris. Since I was on the trusted list, I could bring anyone I wanted. 

Lawan was sprawled on the couch while Erica was sitting on the bar stool, talking with someone in a low voice. Rune on the other hand was frowning at the mango cake before him.

The Theta took a minute to recognise that I was alive and well. And that I had brought in a guest.

Lawan shot up from the couch and rushed to me, trapping me in a bear hug. "Draco! Oh! Thank Kamaria! You're alive! Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Erica looked at me as if she was seeing a ghost. She cut the call and inched carefully towards me. "You... you are Draco?"

"Don't be dramatic," I wheezed from Lawan's grasp.

Lawan held tightly onto me. "You're alive, Draco! You're alive."

I patted her. "I am fine, Lawan. I truly am."

When she let me go, I turned to introduce the vampire I had brought with me. But Niran was not looking at me or any of the females. His gaze was locked on Rune who was standing behind the kitchen counter.

For a second I thought they were enemies or something. Like they had fought in the past and they still had to determine the outcome. But Niran's gaze told me another story. It was filled with awe as if he found the treasure he had been searching for all his life.

Rune blinked at the new vampire in his house. And all I knew was that I was no longer welcome between the two. I had to get out before this scent of desire suffocated me.

Lawan whistled lowly. "Who is this?"

I suppressed a smirk. "Niran Chankul. He works for Torre."

Erica gasped. "So... Torre's not dead? What happened?"

But neither male was interested in our conversation as they just stood where they were and stared into each other's eyes as if they could not believe the other was right in front of them.

Lawan glanced between the two and she frowned. "Are you both going to stare into each other's eyes for the rest of the day?"

"I would love to," Niran said with a wide grin. "Look at those eyes, female. The perfect shade of milk chocolate, the one that will definitely make you crave it again. The one that will give you cavities. It has that slight gradation from darker to lighter. I almost mistook the ring just out of his pupil to be the colour of honey. Did you see that black ring? The kind of circle you will put around something important. Those flecks! By Kamaria! It tells me how many secrets he has if I could count them. I really do want to know each of them personally. And-"

"Enough!" Rune shouted, flustered. That was the first time I ever saw that faint pink colour over his cheeks.

Erica's jaws dropped. "Are you both mates?"

While Rune was still in shock, Niran's grin became wider. "A big yes."

"Wow," Lawan let me go and stared at them. "Rune is mated! I never thought I would live to see that day."

Rune finally looked at his Theta. "What do you mean by that?"

Lawan coughed. "Well, at this point, I thought you were mated to your work. So... you finding a mate, gives me hope. That there is a chance of romance for everyone out there."

Rune rolled his eyes, but his body was basically vibrating. He gripped the edges of the kitchen counter and breathed hardly. Niran on the other hand, rushed to where the Epsilon was and hugged him, burying his face in Rune's neck. He was a couple of inches shorter than Rune and he did not have a care who was looking at them. Rune froze for a minute before his dark skin showed traces of faint pink that spread from his neck to the tips of his ears.

I looked at the mango cake before him. "Who is that for?"

Lawan smirked at them. "That was for Kyan. He is coming today."

I frowned, ignoring the whispers between the couple. "Kyan is coming today? Why so?"

Kyan was Rune's cousin from his mother's side. He was not a title holder in the Autumn Coven, but he was fairly powerful enough to influence the decisions made in the coven.

"To celebrate the Candle Festival," Lawan said. "You forgot?"

Summer coven had once been the religious capital and hence Candle Festival was hosted every year to honour Kamaria. Not just vampires, but all other races from all over the continent would arrive to celebrate it. After the sunset, everyone would take a candle and walk from their home to the nearest Kamaria temple, making sure that the flame never died on their way. No lights would be lit on the street and the sky would be devoid of his visitors. We did not need lights to see where we were going, but it was a symbolic way to light the darkest times of our lives. 

Nowadays, after Dave had destroyed a significant number of temples, he ordered everyone to walk to his house or the house of the nearby authority. And what would have once ended with people finding their mates, he ended the night with fucking anyone he wished. Yeah, later on, no one visited Summer Coven for Candle Festival anymore. 

"Kyan is coming for the Candle Festival?" I asked, my insides revolting. Kyan was a weird breed. He had connections in various places, some were questionable. Yet, he was in Rune's good graces. 

"Who is that?" Niran asked, rubbing his cheeks on Rune's back. 

"My cousin," Rune said, melting into Niran's embrace.

Okay, so Rune would not answer me anymore?

Lawan gave me a long look. "He said he was bringing his friend, daughter of Summer Pack's Alpha to Summer Coven as she has some business with Omicron Dave."

Business with Dave? That never involved legal or moral things. And now, Summer Pack was involved too? Just who was not involved anymore? 

"Who?"

"Rita Ajello," Lawan said. "Youngest daughter of Summer Pack's Alpha. She really has some shady business going on with Dave."

I folded my arms across my chest. "And why do you care?"

I did not know what Lawan saw in me, but she stopped thinking deeply and just observed me. Like she was seeing a new specimen. She frowned at first and then shook her head. Then, my mentor licked her lips and shook her head with a smile. "You found my emails."

It was not a question, but rather an observation.

"What emails?" Erica asked.

I walked towards my Theta. "You are not surprised."

"I am," she smiled. "That it took you long enough to find what I was doing."

I gritted my teeth. "I just did not care to look into people near me. My bad."

"So, why now?"

"Do you know to whom you sent those emails to?"

She shrugged. "I don't. But I just know that the person on the other side is a respectable figure and someone who will uphold justice to what Dave is doing."

I did not know what to feel. While her actions did not betray me, I just felt like I no longer knew her. Could I trust her? Why had she not told me this? Or did she not trust me? Did she think that I might betray her? 

"Respectable figure that she is," I chuckled. 

Erica wedged herself between us. "Wait a damn minute. What in Moon's Realm is going on here?"

She looked at me and then back at Summer Coven's Theta. Both of us ignored her. 

"You know that person?" Lawan whispered, her face regaining a bit of clarity. 

"I do," I smiled. "She told me all about you."

Lawan stiffened and then looked at the newly mated pair. Rune who was staring at us and Niran who was doing his utmost to get his mate's attention by nuzzling his neck. I was sure that if the three of us were not here, Niran would have made sure that they were completely undressed.

She glanced at Niran and then back at me. "The one I have been sending my emails to is... is Fia Regade?" She literally whispered that female's name in reverence.

I nodded my head.

Silence fell over the house and the magic of the mating dimmed. Niran scowled, "Can't you take your revelations elsewhere? I need my time with my mate."

Rune's eyes were dilated and he was breathing hard, but he shook his head as if it might clear his mind of the brunt of the new mating. "Who are you?"

"Asking whose name you will be screaming tonight?"

Had I been the Draco before Harriet, I would have said something even more atrocious to my mate no matter who was near us. But Harriet changed me. Made me curtail myself. She hated it when we kissed in public. She barely even held my hand when we were out. Even at the dinner hosted to celebrate our mating, she just gave me a quick kiss as if it was the most taboo thing.

And after my mate died, I was lost. Forced to be Dave's assassin. Lana's toy. 

I did like Rune back then, but I held myself back. I did not know if the Epsilon knew of my crush on him or not, we never addressed it. And to be fair, I was disgusted with my body myself. I guessed I still was, for I never craved another intimacy. I was repulsed by other's touch. Even Rune's. 

Which was weird for when Taurus touched me, my soul sang. It felt right. More comfortable than when my fingers danced on a keyboard. 

Rune shook his head and pulled himself out of his mate's embrace. "Who are you?"

Niran cocked his head. "I am Niran Chankul. Draco introduced me. You did not hear?"

Rune had the grace to blush. "I did not listen."

The other vampire grinned. "Of course... I understand-"

"-but that does not mean I won't now," Rune said, turning to me. "How the fuck are you alive?"

I blinked at my friend. "No, 'Hi? How are you?'"

Rune gave me a long look. 

I got the message. "Well, I am alive."

"He saved Torre." Niran cut in, inching towards his mate. "What else did you expect us to do? Slash his throat and kill him?"

"What do you mean?" Rune asked.

"Draco took bullets for Torre," Niran said. "That's why this delay. Else, we would have come here earlier. Jarred would not let us go."

"Jarred?" Erica asked. "As is Reish Jarred, under Zayin Zach?"

Niran blinked. "The Jarred I know is a warlock who is a doctor. Who is about seven hundred years old."

And also a male witch and the doctor who was titled as 'The Tailor'. Apparently, he was an amazing plastic surgeon, but he confided to me that the way my body healed was very fast and fantastic.

"Oh!" Erica mumbled. "My apologies."

"Don't bother," Niran said.

Rune, who was caught by his mate, narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you mean Draco took bullets for Torre?"

Niran blinked. "Someone tried to shoot Torre and then Draco pushed him away and took the bullets?"

Now they were going to assume that I would even die for someone I barely met. But was that not what happened? Why did I risk my life for someone I barely knew?

"He's healed?" Erica asked. When I gave her a look of disbelief, she shrugged. "I mean... he is an unshifted werewolf. How could he heal so fast?"

Niran rested his head on Rune's shoulder and wound his hands around Rune's waist. "He did not even scar."

Rune tried to get out of his mate's embrace, but that was Niran. He stayed where he wanted to. "What happened?"

I considered lying, but knowing Rune, he would pull the truth out of his mate, even if it meant seducing him. And at that point, Niran would not even resist him. 

I sighed and narrated what happened during the three days. Of course, I did not tell them that the Second Warrior had the habit of shifting into a cute hare and loved cuddling, but I told them everything else. Believing about the stars and Levedra was up to them.

Rune frowned at his Theta. "Who was giving you information?"

Lawan's eyes flirted between us as if she hated snitching on the one who gave her information, but we needed to know if we had another person helping us. 

"Mali," Lawan whispered a name I least expected. 

Mali had been my ex-mate's best friend and there had been days where she had come to my house for tea and parties. She was such a close friend of Harriet that I bet she even knew about our sex life. Then, Harriet died and Mali attended her funeral. That was all. Funnily, our link had been Harriet, a vampire who came to Summer Coven on a vacation, not the fact that I was her brother's best friend. 

I simply gathered that we did not belong to each other's world. 

And not to mention, the respect I had for Mali in the beginning began to dwindle a long time ago. I gave respect for the title she held. She definitely was not the weak female she portrayed herself to be. She was the Omicron of Summer Coven and no matter how controlling her mate was, she had power of her own. 

She could have interfered in something. I knew that she was not strong enough to stop Dave from manufacturing and selling drugs, but she could have exercised her powers to at least stop him from demolishing the temples. To at least preserve our cultural integrity. She could have done something.

Dave did not have her family under his thumb like he did mine. Apinya Bidaya, Mali's mother was the previous Epsilon and currently one of the Coven's Elders. Her brother is Rune Bidaya, the Epsilon of Summer Coven and half-Royal. She could have been bolder.

"Mali?" Rune whispered. "Her?"

Lawan nodded slowly. "She hated that she could not oppose Dave, so she had me do some things for her. Like giving the information to someone in the authorities. We tried notifying the Halls, but all we got was silence."

The Halls held power and respect when the Royal family had been alive. But now, no one knew what happened there. But Boonsri, Dave's mother was a part of it and she did everything to protect her precious son.

The sun out finally left its seat for the day and a half-moon shone over the land with apathy. The stars that peaked next to the moon gave light to the sky. Had we been in the deeper parts of the coven, the lights from the labs, malls and other buildings would have diminished these natural lights.

"I don't know," Lawan said. "To whom I was sending the messages to. Mali told me to trust her and send the messages to the email ID she gave me. After I started to send messages to that ID, I started to see changes. I saw Dave's consignment being captured. His new lab was raided. I trusted that the one behind that ID was a powerful authoritative figure. I never imagined that I was sending the information to Fia Regade, to the Second Warrior!"

Lawan's eyes lit up and her lips could not control her smile. 

"How did Mali get the information, though?" I asked. As much as Mali was hiding her strength, I highly doubted that Dave would let her walk in and let her take the information she wanted. 

"She never told us whom," Lawan said. "Just told us to trust her."

"'Us?'" I asked. "Who else?"

Lawan gave me a tight smile. "Wirat, of course. Who did you think?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, Lawan. You tell me."

She sighed. "But Mali to some extent can even fool Dave."

Could even fool Dave? What in the Moon's Realm was I hearing? And she was staying silent all this while? As much as the sector leaders were Dave's people now, earlier they were not so. Many wanted Dave to be stripped off his title. Mali could have fucking taken his title by killing him and she would have won the hearts of the majority. 

Erica balanced her face on the heel of her hand and her elbows on her things. "I thought Omicron Mali's powers were weak illusions."

Lawan gave us a thin, tired, smug smile. "She is born to Apinya Bidaya. You think her powers were that's all?"

"What are they?" I asked.

Lawan sighed. "Her illusions are strong enough to change the reality and sometimes, if she concentrates hard, even the past."

How could I ever bring myself to trust her? All my life was a lie. What? Next, would she say that my mate had been an illusion too? 

If she could mess with one's mind, what was she not capable of? She could have made Dave let my mother go. Made Dave release Aiko. She... She could have at least made Lana not touch me anymore. She, as the female Omicron knew what was going on. 

Mali and I were not friends, but I thought that we were on the same side. We were on the same side, but it seemed like if I died, she would just give me a sideways glance. If I survived, it was on me. If I died it was on me. 

Chillness crept into my body. Was Mali cruel or just self-preserving? What hold did Dave have on her to behave like this? 

Rune just froze, his gaze stuck on the very green curtains I told him not to get. 

Erica gasped softly. "Why did Mali never make a move?"

Lawan rotated her shoulders. "Cause she was scared. She did not make the best decisions, but she tried her best. She wanted to strike him down with one blow. If she did something now, she knew she could never win against him."

Rune shook off his mate who was trying to calm him down. "She could have asked for my help. Would I have turned her down?"

Lawan bit her lower lip. "I don't know. I don't know why she never involved anyone else. She could have at least told Apinya."

I slumped on the sofa. It was for the best that Mali and I had the least interaction as possible. 

Erica rubbed her temples and sat next to me. "Can you elaborate on what is going on, Theta?"

Lawan gave her a sideways look. "Should you not explain your motive first?"

The werewolf crossed her arms across her chest. "I told you in the beginning. I am here for information and in exchange, we get Draco's mother and Aiko out."

Lawan smirked coldly. "Why do you need information about Minoya?"

Erica cocked her head. "What do you think Minoya is capable of?"

"I have seen reports of what it does. I know what it is capable of."

Erica laughed humourlessly. "But have you seen the victims? Have you spoken with them?" Her eyes were filled with unshed tears, and her nostrils flared. 

Niran stopped fooling with his mate and looked at her curiously. 

"I might be part of the pack under Alpha Eric Yarrow," she whispered. "But once I have served Alpha Aspen Ruiz and I will serve her until the end. She started an organisation that focuses on saving the lives of everyone who has been hurt by this drug and more. It gives them healthcare, a job, and sometimes even a family. It gives them another fucking chance at life. I know what Minoya does. I have seen it. Not read it."

Venom laced her voice. By the end, she was seething, with the corner of her eyes turning a bit red. No one told her another word. 

Lawan frowned. "So... You want to destroy the source? Even if it kills you?"

Erica gave her a mad grin. "I would. I totally would. You know, Alpha Aspen was mated to an arsehole and he used her powers to kidnap females to try experimenting on them. He raped so, so many females. When Aspen got to know, she killed him and gave her brother the title she held. That was when we got to know how many people we actually were on this."

I raised an eyebrow. "It's all over the continent? Not just to Summer Coven?"

The werewolf looked at us, judged us silently as if we would betray her. But how many people had she trusted and they had betrayed her? 

"Minoya was not developed by Summer Coven," Erica whispered. "A female in East Coven developed this drug as a mistake. She developed it for her sister who wanted a child with her mate but was unable to get pregnant. When that researcher realised her mistake, she destroyed the formula, but it ended in the hands of Alpha Jackson, a werewolf who rose to power mysteriously. He had a daughter, but he had some sort of complex. He wanted more children, but his mate was unable to conceive. He turned to others."

Rune made a choking sound. "What do you mean by 'others'?"

Erica gave him a sad smile. "Exaclty what you think. Other females. Whether they were willing or not."

"But," Niran sputtered. "He has a mate! He can't get anyone else pregnant!"

Erica nodded. "That was what should have happened. But he found that... in spite of having a mate, he could imprint on others and that was actually enough for him to get that female pregnant if she had consumed this drug."

"East Coven?" Lawan frowned. "But I heard it was traced to Autumn Pack and South Tribe."

"Autumn Pack discovered this plant again," Erica said. "South Tribe harvested it a couple of hundred years ago. But it was East Coven who found this property of this plant."

"What plant?" I asked. 

"Aira Riya," Erica answered. "A thousand years ago, this plant was all over the continent, bearing bright red flowers. It was used to honour Luna and it was a symbol of love, gifted between mates. The flowers never wilted even after it was cut off from its plant. One mate would gift the other and if their partner accepted it, it was considered as a form of engagement before mating. But the plant would die after bearing thirteen flowers. And since the flower was in high demand, it was not even left for pollination. It was plucked to extinction."

On my mission, I stumbled into one old temple of Luna in the Ninth Sector. The picture was old, but the paint was still in tact. She was adorned in a white dress, surrounded by a sea of fiery red and milk-white flowers. I had stared at it longer than I would have liked, but i would never forget that picture.

Lawan murmured. "It is now replaced by red roses."

Erica nodded. "Yes."

"Where did Autumn Pack find this flower?" I asked. "If it was no longer on this continent."

"In a cave on an island called Taherah, fifty nautical miles from North Coast."

Lawan blinked. "Why did he never tell us?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Gaelan," she whispered. "He was the one who told us information. Him and Nox."

Niran's eyes grew wide. "Nox as in the one with silver eyes?"

Erica's face twisted and asked at the same time. "Riley's brother?"

Rune and I shared a look. Were we the only ones who did not know a Nox?

Lawan chuckled. "Yep. The one with silver eyes. I don't know if he is Riley's brother though."

Niran sneered. "Nox is. He is a damned star. But why was he poking his nose where he should not be?"

A/N: What do you think will happen now?

And in the next chapter... someone familiar will appear. Guess who! (This is the part where Aries and Taurus overlap for a brief period.)

What do you think of Lawan, Rune and Niran?

Do you like Lawan?

Leave your thoughts below!

~Quill