Shadows of Destiny

50 Brighton’s festival

~Tamia~ 1

Avery and I insisted on sharing the same

room. Alpha Jake offered to have his pack

doctor examine me, but I refused. I

planned on managing the condition until I got back to the north.

“That went well; too well, I must say,”

Avery linked me, trying to be cautious,

and I smiled at her.

“He believed Leo when he told him but

still felt insulted until I showed up,” I linked her back, explaining my deduction.

“Alpha Jake Brighton is an old-fashioned man. He expected word to have gone to

Sylvester’s ears of the atrocity in Brighton, and he expected Sylvester to apologise personally even

though he had no hand in it. It is an ego thing for the old

man, nothing more.” I linked Avery, and she laughed. 1

“What do you think about Councilwoman Pamela? The woman reeks of treachery,”

Avery said aloud, and I laughed. It would

be unwise for us to remain silent all

through the room.

Being former Lunas of top packs, we understood the politics. Alpha Brighton

wanted to keep an eye on us and our

activities in his territory, so he offered we

stay in his house; I was sure people were listening to our conversation.

We had dinner with Alpha Jake, Mikail, his nephew, Iris, his daughter and Donald, his son. His son and

nephew

were about my age, and I figured Donald would succeed his father soon. His

daughter, Iris, kept staring at us during dinner, and I was a bit uncomfortable,

but I let it be.

We ate in silence and returned to our

room.

“Donald did not seem to like us. I do not know what his deal is. Jake’s nephew, Mikail, was worse. He

kept staring at us.

Honestly, I can’t wait to be out of this

place,” Avery said, lying next to me, and I

smiled. The feeling was mutual.

“I am missing Marcel,” She said and

sighed.

“He didn’t want me to come, but I

insisted. Right now, I just want to head

back to the north and never leave his side.

It has just been a few hours, and I am

missing him so badly,” She said, and I smiled because I felt the same way.

I wondered what Sylvester was doing. As much as I wanted to place a call, it was

best I didn’t.

I was about to fall asleep when my phone.

rang. I did not need to guess who it was. I

answered in a heartbeat.

“Miss me already, Green eyes?” he said,

and I giggled on the phone.

“More than you can imagine. Would have returned in the morning, but Alpha Jake

invited us to a festival tomorrow evening,

so we will return after the festival,” I

said, and he grumbled on the phone.

We talked about his day, and I handed the phone to Avery to speak with Marcel. Apparently, she did

not come with her

phone.

We said good night and fell asleep.

We had breakfast in the morning with our

host and his children, and it was a very

uncomfortable one.

“When are you two leaving?” Donald

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asked with a very disrespectful tone, and

his father cautioned him.

“You might choose to be silent, but I won’t. They are marrying the men that attacked their people and

took them away from their husbands. If it isn’t shameless and a desperate act of social climbing, then I

do not know what is. Yet we

welcome them to our home, allow them to eat at our table and pretend everything is okay. Mikail

doesn’t have a mother because of the Dark Alpha; my mother was taken from me because of the Dark

Alpha. Yet we are here. I say these eastern. whores should be ashamed of themselves, “He said, and I

put down my cutlery and wiped my mouth.

His father was going to speak when I stopped him.

“It is easy to point fingers, call people names and judge them when you do not have the full picture. It is

easy to speak

about loyalty and moral values when you have not experienced certain things, and

judging people looking from the outside is easy. You call us whores and wicked.

You call my mate vile and evil, but he was

our saviour. Where was your moral

compass when my ex-husband broke his promises and forced me to live with his

fated, and I lost my rights and standing as luna? Where was your moral compass

when Avery’s husband abused her and

her wolf day and night, forced her to live

with his mistress and placed the bitch above her? No one was willing to help, knowing what she was

going through.

These monsters revived our faith in love

and gave us the strength and courage to

try again. Sylvester wiped away my tears and gave me hope when I thought all was

lost. My husband did not give me up; I gave myself up to get away from him. As

for your mother and aunt, I sympathise

with you, but Sylvester is nothing like

Maurice. If you are too blind to see it, you

need to look into the mirror and question

your morals,” I said, picking up my fork

to continue the meal; I could not let it

waste. No one said anything. 1

Alpha Brighton gave us a tour of the

village. I saw many things that needed improvement, and I made mental notes.

to relay to Sylvester when I got home.

“Alpha Leo has offered my people part- time work to help with the income. He is truly a nice man.” Jake

said, and I smiled

at him. I had always known Leo to have a

big heart. I was glad the things that

happened didn’t take it from im.

“How is he?” I asked, eager to know how he was doing but reluctant to show my

eagerness.

“He looks like he has seen better days;

Alpha Corrigan said he is still hurting

over you. I guess he needs closure,” He said, and I was hurt to learn that my

letter did not give him the closure he

needed.

“After what you told my son during breakfast, I figured he did it to himself. I think he is finding it hard to

forgive himself. I doubt there is anything you can do to help him. Besides, you seem pretty happy. I

believe you love Volkov, or you would have used this opportunity to run away. He is a lucky man,” Jake

said, and I

thanked him.

“I hope Donald and Mikail will heal from

what happened to them. Honestly, that is the reason I haven’t handed the pack over to Donald yet; he

is about twenty-six and

ready to take over, but I am afraid he

would make a bad decision that would get

him and our people into trouble.” He

confessed, and I smiled at him.

“He will heal, Alpha. We all do,” I said,

and he nodded.

“I am sorry about the initial reception.

Please tell his eminence that I truly feel honoured that he sent you,” he said, and I smiled. He sighed

and looked at Avery

and me.

“You women have been through a lot and are still holding firm. You need all the strength you can

manage in that place. The north is a political jungle of people

wrestling for power.

Your places as lunas are never secure, so you have to be careful. Too many people

want to be affiliated with the north. With

all that has happened, the council is only partially loyal to the Lord. He needs to be

careful. Maurice knew this, and that was

why he was ruthless. Hence why I do not have a grudge against the old Lord. He

needed to be a certain way so there would be peace in our world.

I know Sylvester is trying to be kind, but someone has to be stern, keep an eye

open, and ears to the ground. He might be

suffering a spillover of something from his father’s time. I am not sure, but some

of us old Alphas know of the power struggle between the six ruling houses of the north,” He said, and I

absorbed every word and then used that opportunity to

ask him to elaborate.

“Do you mind telling me about the power struggle?” I asked, and he sighed.

“Let’s start with Stephanie Volkov,” He said, and my stomach churned.

“She is a nice woman, wasn’t treated well by her family and her mate, but she can be vindictive.” He

said, and he noticed my

countenance. 1

“Is there an issue?” he asked, and I shook

my head

“Nothing, but I would like to know more about her, and you seem to be in the best position to tell me

since you experienced when she was in power,” I said, and he

laughed.

“There is nothing special about her. She

wasn’t so bright. That was why Maurice

preferred his fated to her,” he said, and I

was in shock.

No one ever mentioned that Maurice had

a fated or that Stephanie had to share

him with his fated.

“A fated?” I asked the man, and he

nodded.

“It was a well-kept secret. Stephanie is a

member of the Belyaev family, so no one

would dethrone her. His fated’s name

was Lady Alissa Pavlishchev. She was

from a small merchant family in Gad. 2

Stephanie would not share her title even though the Lord was and still is allowed to have more than

one Lady. So she always ensured the woman was presented

as one of his whores.

Maurice and Stephanie fought about it often, but when the Belyaevs threatened to divide the north,

Maurice had to let comply. Hence, why Maurice became power-hungry and a monster.

I believe the man wanted to be so strong.

that no one would be able to threaten him

as the Belyaevs did.

Maurice was able to take over completely

and subdue them by wiping out the

Belyaevs and their supporters, which were the Babanins and the part of the Lawrence family, leaving

Stephanie powerless and defenceless.

Unfortunately, Alissa had passed away before he completed his mission, so he decided to keep

Stephanie as his Lady and the only Lady of the north,” He said, and

I was stunned. 2

“Stephanie made sure no one ever spoke

of Alissa or remembered her. I doubt Lord

Sylvester and Dominic even know her,”

he said, and I could not believe how

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rotten the north was.

I kept all those names in mind and

planned to start my investigation from

there.

The tour was educative, and I was pleased Jake took the time to show us around and give us some

history lessons that we wouldn’t have been privy to had we

remained in our cocoon at the estate.

I also realised that I needed to be extra

careful where Stephanie was concerned. She was the type to always get what she

wanted.

Alphas started arriving, and Jake had to

excuse us to attend to his guest.

I noticed Iris was excited about it.

Hopefully, she would find her mate and

not live her life afraid of fate.

Avery and I were sleeping when a bang on

the door woke us.

Someone was sent to inform us that the

festival was at full blast, and we were

needed at the high table to grace the event. We must have overslept.

Avery and I dressed and decided to grace the occasion as special guests from the north. I suspected

we would be

representing the Lord and beta. The

festival was a full blast, and there was a

lot of merriment.

We stayed away from alcohol because we

had to remain sharp. Alpha Jake sent Iris to bring us to the high table.

We moved through the crowd, and I admired the lights display and

merriment.

Seeing how these people turned their

misfortune into joy and bounced back

was amazing.

They were strong, and I admired them for it. Women, children, and men played and danced. There

were bright colours everywhere, confetti and music. It was

beautiful.

We headed to the high table, and then I

caught his scent.

“Tamia…” Kaira said, nervous, excited

and scared. What had just happened to us. 1

The scent called to me. It was alluring,

strong and demanding, woodsy and musk, masculine in every way. It

surrounded me and dominated me.

I was in a trance. My heart was beating

really fast. I tried to think of Sylvester, but the thought of him never came. Who was this stranger that

fate had tied me to?

I left Avery’s side and stopped following

Iris. I followed the scent. The owner was

elusive. He knew of me and was leading

me somewhere with his scent.

I knew what I was doing was stupid and dangerous, but I could not control myself. I kept telling myself

to stop, but my wolf was giddy, and she wanted to know; she

wanted to see him.

I walked briskly into a garden, and there he stood with a rose in his hand and fear

in his eyes.

Tears formed immediately in my eyes. My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking, and my

emotions were all over the place.

I now understood why. Why he did everything he did, and why everyone kept asking if there was

anything between us?

Images of him at the party where we met flooded my mind. His attention, his boldness, his

possessiveness. I looked at him and began to cry.

“Why didn’t you say anything that night?

“I asked him. A tear rolled down his

cheek, and he bowed. His hand was shaking too.