"DO YOU THINK he is going to hurt my child?" Ophelia asked hesitantly.

"Alpha would never hurt his own child... and you too, Luna. He might be mad but he wouldn't hurt you," Samuel declared in a voice that sounded void of doubt.

But Ophelia wouldn't count on that, not after the side of Darius she saw a while ago.

She wasn't sure if it was a temporary or permanent change but she might as well just wipe the memories of the past few days off her mind, because only then would she be able to survive.

Taking a deep breath, Ophelia gave a nod to Samuel who let out a relieved breath and immediately led her out of the room.

Once outside, she didn't bother looking around the place where she was kept for almost a day.

Ophelia kept her eyes on the vehicles in front of the property, purposely ignoring the numerous bodies laying around. She had already been through a lot and didn't want to add nightmares to her list of worries

"You sure took your sweet time," Darius said once she reached where the cars were packed.

"I was-" she tried to say but was rudely cut off.

"Let's go," Darius announced and stepped into his car with Noriel.

Her eyes followed him until the car sped away then Samuel opened the door of another car for her. Without a word, Ophelia got into the car.

"Why are you here instead of with your Alpha?" she asked then chuckled and said, "Silly question. Of course, the Alpha King sent you to watch over me."

Samuel started the car after the other guard had gotten in. "You might not believe me now, Luna, but the Alpha cares about you. In due time, you will understand why he acted the way he did."

Ophelia shook her head as the car started driving down the road. "There is no justification for what he had done. Let's hope the damage done isn't permanent."

For the rest of the journey to the airport, Ophelia tried to imagine the kind of life that awaited her in Montana.

She hoped that the Darius she saw a while ago would be replaced by the one she knew and loved. But the hate in his eyes was unmistakable.

Ophelia had no idea what he had against her but she knew it was related to her mother. Once again, Pauline Monroe had managed to ruin her life.

Still, regardless of how she felt for him, Ophelia would rather burn everything in her path than let any harm come to her child.

~•~°×°~•~

When they arrived at the airport, and walked out of the car, Ophelia looked around but saw no sight of Darius.

"Alpha already boarded the plane. Come with me, Luna," Samuel said, probably noticing her looking around.

Nodding, Ophelia followed him to a beautiful plane with the word 'LUCIAN' written in bold black letters. Then and there, she wondered once again just how rich Darius was.

She didn't see Darius until the plane was up in the air and the pilot had announced that seat belts could be removed. He sat two seats away from hers and Samuel sat across her.

Suddenly, Ophelia's stomach growled loudly, reminding her that the last meal she had was a quarter-eaten breakfast. She quickly stole a glance at Darius but to her disappointment, he hadn't even looked at her.

Ophelia wondered if he was just pretending or if he had really stopped caring about her.

"I'll get you something to eat, Luna," Samuel said and walked away, heading to the back.

Ophelia sighed and looked through the window. It was dark outside but she couldn't tell what time it was. She would have to ask Samuel for her phone when he returned.

The smell of freshly baked goodies took her eyes away from the window to Samuel who just arrived with a plate full of mouth watering chocolate-chip cookies.

"Thank you, Samuel!" Ophelia said with a wide smile on her face. It was her first smile in hours and it was caused by a plate of cookies.

Samuel's eyes went wide that Ophelia was that happy because of cookies.

"You are most welcome, Luna," he responded and sat back down.

The sound of someone clearing their throat wiped the smile off her face. It was Darius who had made that sound. No other words were exchanged between them as Ophelia quietly ate the cookies.

Shortly afterward, Noriel came out. He had a newly bandaged head. As he passed by her seat, Ophelia looked up at him but he spared her no glance. Silence had never spoken so loudly.

It was obvious that the past few hours he spent with her in the hands of the kidnappers meant nothing to him as did their newly found friendship.

Ophelia frowned. Something wasn't right and that something had to do with Pauline Monroe.

THE FAMILIAR SMELL of the wolves of the Royal Wolf Pack greeted his nose at the airport in Billings. He could hear the cheers of the wolves gathered outside the airport.

Someone had probably tipped them off about his arrival in Montana. Darius told Samuel to sneak Ophelia away to the castle and keep her away from sight.

The streets were illuminated by the street lights as his vehicle exited the airport.

The Alpha King had an Earl Delta roll down the window so he could wave to the people. He did that for two reasons; one was so he could eliminate every rumour of his death and the second was to pacify his people.

Hunter would normally make his presence known so the entire Pack would feel that he was back but ever since Darius found out Ophelia was pregnant, Hunter had pretty much vanished.

The Alpha King would sort his wolf out later because, at that moment, he had bigger problems. The biggest was convincing the Queen Mother not to kill Ophelia on sight.

Darius already had the plan to deal with the people but his mother was his biggest issue.

How could he even begin to tell her that the daughter of the woman who brutally killed her husband was the same person destined by the Moon Goddess to lead the wolves?

Knowing how much his mother suffered after his father died, Darius could only cross his fingers and hope that everything would work out as he planned, even when nothing seemed to be going right for him.

The Alpha King should have known that the Goddess couldn't be so kind to him. Of course, there had to be some loopholes in her acts of kindness.

Not once could he have imagined that she would pair him with the daughter of his father's murderer, who could be spying on them for her mother.

{•}

Thank you for reading.