The locked door lies before me, a key in one hand as I find it hard to move from where I have planted myself. My entire body is tense, my muscles aching for any movement as I am frozen in space, unaware of what to expect behind the door. They told me it was clean, that the blood was washed out of the carpet and the walls repainted, the broken coffee table taken out, and her body handled gently as it was brought to the coroner. I had my men search the home thoroughly, inspecting it for any sign it was Asger who did this because the bold message he had sent me to my own front door. 

"Do you want me to open it?" Brie asks, standing beside me as we both look to the yellow-painted wooden door. I had visited here only a handful of times since I became alpha, finding my grandmother to be a shining light in the darkness surrounding me. Yet that light has been put out by Asger, as he left behind her dismembered body and a message for me written on the mirror of my mother's old vanity. Asger no longer felt the need to hide his identity from me as the man who tried to kill me, rather, he took my grandmother's blood and wrote a message for me to warn me off. 

Shaking my head, I reach my arm forward and unlock the hollow house, the empty hallway stretching out before us as I look around the entrance. "They cleaned it up well," I comment, gazing around the small entryway as Brie follows me inside. "To resell it no doubt." 

"Your parents are moving from their home as we speak," Brie informs, her phone buzzing every few seconds to update her on my adoptive parent's move. Ever since my grandmother was murdered, I had a place in my own home setup for my parents in the eastern wing. If Asger was able to sneak into this pack, or at least someone working for him, then there is still someone or a group of people within this pack allowing for a breach in our security. 

I had ordered for Brie to increase security along every boarder and within the neighborhoods, exhausting the number of our men left here to defend the pack and not go out to war. Brie's own husband is one of those men out at war, more specifically within Evercrest Ridge to help keep order within the fallen pack. Edward's daughter survived the attack, and if she is willing to work with me, when I win this war I have assured her she will run Evercrest Ridge under the title her father held. I would not expect her to refuse such a proposition since she is so much like her father. 

"Where is the vanity?" 

"Down the hall and to the right. Second door down. Your grandmother kept many things from her daughter." 

"I heard my mother was the favorite before she ran off with my dad," I comment, trying to make small talk as we both head towards the room. "Any word on that message which contained that dust?" 

Brie pauses for a second before answering. "No one I have talked to has informed me they can speak Elder, much less read it."

"So it is Elder? Elder Elf?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as I thought Brie had no idea as to what the script was, much less the language it was in. 

"Oh, I am only making an educated guess. The script reminds me of the Elder which elves used before the fall of their empire eons ago. Witches and sorceresses know the language too, their spells are often written in it." 

I leave it there, no pushing Brie further as I give her an odd look. Something is not right with how she tries to dismiss how she knows it as an educated guess. Yet I leave the conversation to die there, knowing to focus on what we are going to see now before the evening when the obituary will be made. My aunt, the last biological relative I know of, will be flying in this afternoon. From what I have heard from others, my aunt and mother did not get along in the end. 

Pushing open the door to the room, the room is small but efficient, the vanity placed before the bed as my mother's graduation picture from high school is on the vanity. I notice the dried blood on the vanity mirror, the slanted letters written in crimson, and as I near it, a rage is fueled within me. To think Asger used my human grandmother just for a message when she had no mix-up in any of this. She was innocent, but I remember that Oliver once told me not even the innocent are spared in times of war. 

Every empire crumbles from within under the rule of a weak ruler. A day will come when your puppet masters will find no use for your strings , and I will be there to watch you rot away. You will rue the day you forgot about us.

Us? What is he trying to say? 

Looking over to Brie, I try and read her face as she stares at the warning with a peculiar look on her face. "Who else is working with Asger?" 

"Keva?" I ponder, thinking about how she tried to get me to marry River before I decided to fight my own war. "Could she be playing a hand? She was the first actual alpha of River, just setting up the pack for him before he was of age." 

"What empire is he referring to?" Brie asks on top of my own question. "Asger references no empire in specific. The Roman Empire crumbled apart from within, but as did many others. As did the Elven Empire which is where Eternal Shadows was built on its ruins. Are they wanting to rebuild what was lost before the werewolves gained majority power?" 

I click my tongue, thinking to what Brie has brought up. "If they are trying to rebuild what they have lost, then River is setting them up for success while they eat him alive. They are taking advantage of his mindset of his rightful destiny." I look away from the vanity and head for the door. "We need to meet with the other alphas of our council, to talk with them about all of this. The war could not really be about placing someone back on the throne, but about taking elves throne back." 

Rushing out of the room, Brie calls out to me, calling for me to stop. As I make it to the front door, Brie catches up with me as the hollow house begins to fill me with a fear and sickness. I do not dare look into the living room as I know what transpired within that room. "Are you sure you can trust all of those alphas?" 

"They pledged their loyalty to-"

"Loyalty is as common for them to hand out as it is to banish a pack member, Leala. You cannot just so blindly trust them all. I know you trust Penelope and Yusuf the most, but even though they were the first to be by your side, it does not mean they were not the first to think of how to murder you after pulling your strings." 

"I am not a puppet."

"Yet Oliver played you like one," Brie comments, watching my facial expressions harden at her remark. "I know that is not easy to hear, but you are a young and impressionable alpha, Leala, while many of them have decades under their belt or have been trained for this sort of title most of their lives. Please, hear me out, Leala, that you need to have a selective inner circle which takes more to get into than just pledging loyalty." 

"You are not an Alpha, Brie," I remark, my voice stern. "You were just made a Gamma and you now think you can talk to me in such a way-"

"If I were not able to talk to you in such a way and hold a title of authority in this pack, then I would be doing you a disservice. You need me and Cedric to be open and honest with you. Unlike the rest of those alphas who pledged themselves to your cause, we do not have hidden intentions to swipe a crown from your head for our own." 

"Who even are you, Brie? Can I even trust you? You came into my life so suddenly and now think you some god-sent guardian angel. You have lied to me already." 

"I have not lied to you, Leala," Brie tries to convince as I take a step closer to the tall blond. 

Holding my head high, I tilt my head to the side and offer the gamma a questionable look. "Then why did you lie about not being able to read Elder?" 

"Leala-"

"Alpha Leala," I correct, interrupting Brie sharply as I can feel my wolf surfacing. "You say you are here to help guide me, yet you lie to me. Why? What are your hidden intentions?" 

"I am here to protect you and guide you to see the truth." 

I laugh, shaking my head at her words. "Help me see the truth? What the fuck does that mean? Do you think I am being fed some lie?" 

"I think you are being easily manipulated by those who pledge their loyalty because you are desperate to know what direction to go in."

An anger rises from within me as I feel my jaw beginning to tighten. At the sound of my phone buzzing, I check the text to see that my aunt has arrived at my house. "I have other matters to attend to. Later tonight, you will translate that letter for me." 

Leaving the house, I hop into my car and drive off, leaving Brie to find her own way back to wherever she is headed next. She claimed I was easily impressionable, that I was easy to manipulate, but yet she has lied to me as well. Asger left me a message which makes me wonder what to do now. Do I inform River of the revolution brewing within his own pack, or do I keep my mouth closed as he is the enemy? 

River has not looked out for me in any way since we parted ways, so why should I feel the need to warn him of what I have read or expect? Why do I feel like I should warn him trouble is brewing from within Eternal Shadows? There is a storm approaching on the horizon, the winds beginning to pick up. 

<><><>

There is a strange tension between us, the table separating our once perfect family as my father sits across with a stern look on his face. Both of my adoptive parents sit across from me, eyes focused on me as the woman who raised me squeezes her husband's hand. The glances they offer me are stern. 

"You do not like how I handled Evercrest," I begin, tailing off as I lean back in my seat as I watch my father's jaw tense. "You were the one who taught me to never pity the enemy, that they are the only thing standing between greatness and you." 

"I never intended for you to kill men I helped train," Terrance snaps, shaking his head. "I know what you felt like you had to do, Leala, but I am disappointed that so many died." 

"War takes souls on each side of the battlefield." 

"You did not have to kill your own classmates," Quinn reasons, astonished with me as I feel like the distance only grows between us all. "Your own mother never would-"

"You never knew my mother," I snap, "you only took care of me until she was ready to march off to her death. We both knew that the only person who really knew my mother was my own father." 

"Lily Maxwell never would have killed her old classmates to gain a throne." 

"Stop comparing me to my mother and what hypothetical actions she would have taken. I have heard the stories of my father before she came around." 

Terrance takes Quinn's hand in his, the two of them remaining silence for a short couple of seconds. 

"We are thankful for this security, Leala, we truly are, but we are also the people who raised you. All of this...this destruction, lack of mercy, and such a fixed idea of a crown on your head...this is just not you." 

<><><>

I watch as the car drives around the circular path and parks right before the front door. A woman with greying brunette hair steps out from the sedan, perhaps in her late forties, and carrying with her a small bunch of white roses. As she begins to walk towards the front door, the way she looks around the exterior of my house, her skin turns pale. I have never met my aunt, much less heart a great deal about her besides having moved out of state and married some banker up north. 

Pulling the front door open, I step out of the grand entrance to greet my aunt with a warm smile. The moment those eyes land on me, she looks as if she as seen a ghost. 

"Leala?" 

I nod, approaching my aunt as I watch her tense up. "Aunt Taylor, I was wondering if we would ever meet."

"I-I thought you to be dead until a few months ago," she whispers, pulling me in for a strange hug and hands me the roses. "My mom said you looked like Lily...so much like Lily." 

I can sense that I bring back the memories of my mother to her, the sister she had who died too young. "I am sorry we had to meet like this." 

"They told me it was a burglar who had the wrong timing..." Aunt Taylor trails off as I know what the police informed my aunt. They told her it was a home robbery where they did not expect my grandmother to be home. As the two of us near the front door, Aunt Taylor grabs my arm. "I know it was not a bugler, Leala. I know of the life my sister was drowned in. What really happened?" 

Looking ahead of us, I try and separate myself from the conversation almost, afraid to answer my aunt who I have just met. "Someone was sending a message - someone who wants me dead." 

"Sick bastard." 

The two of us walk into the house, Aunt Taylor's face pursed as she holds back tears from leaning the true fate of her mother. "I am glad Henry is not here to see any of this."

"Who?" 

"My mom never told you?" I shake my head. "Your mother and I had an older brother. He was off galivanting across Spain when Lily married Nixon." The way Aunt Taylor refers to my father, she spits his name as if it is poison on her tongue. "Sort of like the estranged family member. He moved his life overseas as well as a new family. He came back last time to America to Lily's funeral. My mother never liked talking about him after he cut off contact with our family when we did not approve of his wife or side hustle of drugs." 

Aunt Taylor walks into the grand entrance of the house, gazing around with wide eyes as she takes in the view. "My sister really did marry some rich bastard. If only he did not cost her both her dignity and life."

"You are the last person I know who knew my mother personally," I begin, grabbing my aunt's attention, "could you maybe sit down with me during your short stay here? I want to hear about what my mother was like." 

"Before or after she met Nixon?" Aunt Taylor instantly regrets the question she asks, apologizing for it as she watches the hurt cross my face. "Sorry, I can often forget he was your father. If anything, your mother was smart - well - book smart and then her personality dissolved into this pack. What is it, Crimson Thorn? Red something?"

"Crimson Lock," I correct, guiding my aunt into the living room as I grab a vase for the flowers. "If you do not mind, why are you not a fan of my father" 

Aunt Taylor laughs hysterically as she takes a seat, shaking her head as she cannot believe what I have just asked. "Your mother was barely eighteen when a twenty-six year-old man approached her and had her move in. It makes me sick to think of when I look at my young daughter, to think someone would prey on such a young human. Nixon was a piece of mad work, someone who knew the buttons to press, and how to get Lily to not just live with him, but marry him." 

"They loved one another." 

"In the end, Leala. In the end they loved one another. I saw how distraught my sister had become. She had dreams of becoming a physicist or pianist, yet her dreams died the moment Nixon dug his talons into her." 

"I have heard different stories." 

"Please, Leala, I knew my sister and what she was capable of. She was a straight A student, second in her class, and was chasing after prestigious scholarships and schools before your father waltzed into her life. How would you feel if someone nearly seven years older than you manipulated and emotionally abused you?" 

"I wish I had known my mother, I really do," I admit, placing it all on the table as I look across to Aunt Taylor. "I wish I had known my father too. I heard of the dark and twisted fairytale which they were even until the end, but they learned how strong their love was for one another before their deaths. I believe they would have been-"

Aunt Taylor continues to shake her head, causing my words to trail off as she lets out a sigh of frustration. "Sweetie, it is so easy to fantasize of what could have been. It was best you were raised by others. Lily was never mother material, the thought scared me since I learned she was pregnant. I see much of her in you...but I see a great deal of Nixon as well." 

Her insult throws me off as Cedric enters the room. His eyes widen as he spots my aunt. "So sorry, Leala, I did not know you had company." 

"How old is this one? Seven or eight years older than you?"

"That's enough, Aunt Taylor," I snap, noticing how hostile she has become. 

"Does he pull the strings or do you? I see so much of your father in you I would not be surprised if you were using him just for some sick sense of please." 

I watch Cedric's face grow red with embarrassment as he stares at me, wondering what to do as my aunt has put us in an odd position. "He is my Beta - my second in command. He is not my lover nor do you have any right to assume or ask such a thing. You may be my aunt, but I have barely known you for ten minutes yet you think you can preach to me the demons of my father." 

The light laugher coming from my aunt seems to settle down as I know she is still grieving the loss of her mother. I know losing someone puts an amount of stress on you, yet I wonder what Aunt Taylor would be like if her mother had not just died. Would she still say such hurtful things? 

'What is it Cedric?" I ask as the room grows silent. 

"Brie was waiting outside your office. She said she needed to speak with you." 

Looking to my aunt, I excuse myself and ask Cedric to show my aunt back to her car and to where the funeral home is in the town. Heading down the hall, I spot the tall blond standing outside the closed door of my office, holding in her shaky hands the letter with Elder script. 

As I approach Brie, she faces me and her face is pale. "Are you ready to tell me what this all is about?" 

Nodding, Brie follows me into my office as I have her take a seat across from my desk. As I sit down in my chair and pull out the stardust in the bottle, Brie licks her lips and looks up to me. "I can explain the letter, Alpha Leala...I can translate it." 

"Why did you lie?" 

"I am loyal to Crimson Lock. I am loyal to protecting you. My duty to serve Crimson Lock comes first. I was also asked to serve and protect you, to act as a shield and another set of ears and eyes for you. I was asked to offer protection from traitors in the pack, to protect you from anyone who has intentions of harm." 

I wait for Brie to get to the point. 

"The letter containing stardust was sent to me to hand to you. Stardust is a healing element which elves have used for eons, it was the very ingredient which helped River's own mother regain the memories of her past life. This message details in Elder what stardust can be used for as well as a personal message to you from River." 

Instantly I am on my feet, wolf wanting to surface as my eyes darken. "You were hired by River," I growl, walking around the desk as Brie remains in her chair and holds her head high. 

"He asked for me to keep an eye out for you. To offer protection."

"To be his little spy," I correct.

"No, I swear it. River has noticed how the people you surround yourself with have their own intentions which could cause harm to you. River himself has noticed the same thing within his pack. He is investigating Asger, he started doing so ever since you warned him about Asger. The two of you have been helping each other out since this war began, whether you like it or not." 

"You betrayed me." 

"I lied to you, Alpha Leala, yes I did. I know I lied and did not tell you my full intentions, but River asked me to look after you with no strings attached. Even if he asked for information, I would never give it to him, for I am loyal to Crimson Lock."

Grabbing the bottle of stardust and holding it tight in one hand, I look down to Brie as I watch her eyes begin to water. "What does the letter say?" 

"It acts-"

"Why am I asking you," I grumble, frustrated with myself. "I need someone who has not been working for the enemy to read this damn thing." 

Snatching the letter from Brie's fingers, I lock it and the stardust up into my desk and look to my terrified Gamma. "Until I know the true contents of that letter, you will be stationed within the pack house under supervision. You will not be allowed contact with anyone inside or out of this pack without going through me first." 

Brie shakes her head, a look of desperation upon her face as she begs me to not isolate her. "You don't understand, Leala, that you need me. Things are happening, historical events just waiting to occur, and you need my guidance. River will grow concerned with no word from me, he will grow concerned something has happened to you." 

Taking in a deep breath, I pick up my office phone and call for a group of warriors to escort Brie to a room in the pack house. "Then when you are set free of isolation, whether found guilty or not of treason to this pack, you can send him a note informing him I know he tried to spy on me from within." 

"There are others within this pack, there are real spies and traitors who-"

"I do not need your help to find them," I snap, silencing my Gamma as the warriors soon arrive at my office to escort Brie to her isolation. 

"I took an oath to protect you, Leala, and I will not break that oath," Brie cries out as my men escort her out of the office. 

"It seems you have already broken that oath...if you ever even believed in it."