Skinned

3 Months Later

I sat crossed legged on the bed of grass, under the shade of the looming oaken tree as my gaze traveled along the clearness of the sky.

A distant smile was plastered on my face, feeling the wind brush lightly through my hair and the warmth of the morning sun seep into my skin, and I welcomed the sense of tranquility to cease the lingering ache if loss lodged deep within my chest.

Killian and Heath had managed to leave it there, and I have yet to cease the sting that seemed to follow every memory of them.

The only promise I had left for a peaceful future was the sound of my pup’s beating heart growing stronger each day.

It was as close as I could get from Killian, a piece of him that I have long promised myself to never lose as well.

I was going to raise far better than my father ever could with me, even if I had to do it all on my own.

“What do you think about Lawson?”

“Wait, no—that’s horrible. Leon?”

“... Vaughn?” I released an exasperated sigh and leaned against the oaken tree as my eyes drifted down to Heath’s grave that simply answered me with comforting silence.

“I wonder what Killian would name him,” I muttered to myself, suddenly finding myself lost in thought.

After a while, I heard the sound of foot steps approaching me from behind. The person came a full stop, but since he wasn’t planning on speaking up, I decided to up the tone of my voice so my words were loud enough to be heard.

“I didn’t think it was this hard to think of a name. Reed’s preference in names isn’t very flattering. I think with you, Heath?” I paused, “I would have trusted your word a lot more.”

“Ouch,” I heard Reed huff from behind me, and I laughed more loudly.

“Reed, you wanted me to name him Kyle.”

“And I don’t see why you hate it so much.”

“Exactly, Reed. You don’t see,” I rolled my eyes.

Reed stopped just beside me, his hands finding their way into his pockets as he let his eyes regard his brother’s grave.

“Is it time?” I asked him.

“Everyone’s gathered in the main grounds,” Reed said, “Are you ready?”

I sent him a small smile, “Let’s not have the pack dwell on this any longer.”

“Hold out your arms,” Reed immediately piped up as soon as he realized that I was about to stand up.

“Thank you,” I released a breath as Reed pulled me up on my feet and swatted away the grass sticking to my bottom.

After taking as much time for me and the pack to recover from everything that happened, it was finally time that I renounce my ruling title from the pack.

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” Reed said as we make our way back into the pack.

“I need to,” I scoffed, “I can’t lead a pack alone, Reed. What’s worse is that I’m so pregnant that I’m utterly vulnerable. I can’t even stand up without your help.”

“I just want to make sure that Eli isn’t forcing you into this,” he said, “I’ve been around that guy long enough to know how greedy he can be.”

We arrived at the main grounds, the pack members gathered all together as an awaiting crowd.

I stood in front of them, right in the same place where I was stripped of my pride and dignity, but this time I was free from the confinements of the silver shackles and the punishment of the silver whip.

My eyes searched the throng of people, my eyebrows knitting together into a puzzled frown. “Where’s Eli?”

Reed gave me a sidelong glance, “He went out to direct a few groups for patrol this morning. He’ll be here.”

I raised an eyebrow, “That’s the seventh time this month. Is there something going on?”

He shrugged, eyes searching the crowd as well, “Rogues and their usual antics.”

“Has Eli caught them?”

Reed looked as if he didn’t want to answer my action himself, but he pushed on, “He’s been tracking them down. Somehow, all of their path leads back to the same location up at the far North.”

I frowned, “But that’s up the mountains.”

“It’s a smart ploy. The constant snowstorms make it hard for Eli to find him.”

My eyebrows knitted together.

“Him?” I muttered, confused.

Before Reed could speak up, Eli along with a few of his comrades joined the crowd, and I didn’t miss how Reed seemed genuinely glad for the interruption. To my dismay, I was forced to regain myself by drawing my shoulders back and fixing my posture.

I didn’t know why, but there was an underlying feeling of apprehension creeping into me.

There was something about the mention of the snow that sounded eerily familiar to my senses.

The cold wind sticking to skin,

The taste of blood on tongue,

There was a specific memory that followed such image, and it bothered me to be unable to tell why.

My gaze dragged across the crowd of werewolves as I quickly gathered my thoughts. I drew in a calming breath.

“I’ve gathered all of your here today so I can express what has been long over due. I owe this to the pack, myself, and to all of you that I renounce my leading title of the pack,” I said, “I’ve never been an effective leader. I can never apologize enough for the grief and tragedy that was brought upon this pack. The only reason why our territory hadn’t completely collapsed was because Alpha Eli had taken it upon himself to help us.”

Somehow, the words I was spitting felt like a jab to my pride. And I could almost feel my wolf snarling at the nauseating amount of ass kissing.

Pathetic.

Murmurs flooded the entire pack, but I proceeded with the announcement, “Eli made sure to cover all aspect of our health, sustenance, and security. For that I can’t think of anyone more worthy of leading this pack.”

Eli walks forward, his features unreadable as he pulled out his personal sheath and handed it over to me.

“I relinquish my claim on this land, and I submit all aspect of my control to the Eastern Alpha,” I stated before meeting Eli’s gaze and making a swift cut across my open palm.

The hardest part to the process was assuming submission by sinking down to my knees. The gesture alone was enough to set my wolf off, Eli could notice that. I took in a shaky breath, drew a straight line of blood before planting my hands back onto my thighs and hanging my head low.

“Then I expel you from your control,” Eli said, his eyes taking on a darker hue, “With the pack and the Moon as my witness, I stake my claim on this land.”

The moment my blood was drawn and I had yielded to Eli, the burden of my authority was lifted off of my shoulders. It felt like the responsibility was literally snipped away from my nature, and it allowed me to breathe more freely than I could ever remember.

And Eli, with his newly acquired control, had just extended his empire.

“We celebrate with a hunt!” Eli announced, his lips pulling up into a gratified grin as he looked back at his pack.

I fixed myself back up on my feet, and he turned to me with an encouraging smile.

“Well, shall we?” He asked, nodding his head to the direction of his subordinates, “I’ve been given the word that your pup is very much capable of withstanding the force of your shift.”

I looked down at my hand and watched my wound close up right in front of my eyes. It was something that I knew I had to get used to, but I still couldn’t help but feel disturbed by it.

I pressed my lips tightly together and looked up to meet Eli’s waiting gaze before handing him back his sheath.

“I’d rather take this time to rest on my own,” I said with a smile, “Congratulations, Eli.”

I ventured back to my home as soon as Eli and the rest of the pack left for the hunt.

As I drew close to my den, I noticed Adira waiting at the front porch with her arms crossed above her chest.

“Luna Adira,” I greeted, stopping at a fair distance as I looked at her, confused. “Eli left for a hunt. Do you need anything?”

Adira looked cautious, her eyes scanning our empty surroundings. She closed the distance between us and lowered her voice.

“I need to show you something,” she said, “and we definitely need to talk.”

“What is it? What’s going on?” I asked.

“I know you’ve got questions, Valerie. And if you want answers, you’ll follow me,” Adira said, and I drew back with a frown, looking at her like it wasn’t clear to me what she just said.

Wordlessly, I went along with Adira, and it took a while for me to realize that we were heading straight to her and Eli’s den.

She walked me inside her home, and I found myself a seat at the table while she disappeared into the bedroom.

I heard several papers being shuffled, drawers being hastily opened as Adira gathered something from another room

She came back with a hand full of maps and other papers, and she slid them all in front of me.

I let my hands skim over the marking on the map, all of which were settled on the northern part and over the mountain.

“What does this mean?”

“I’ve heard what Eli has been discussing with Reed and a few of his patrol group,” Adira said, and pointed at all the pointers covering the mountain in the map.

“These marks—,” she paused, “—are supposed to indicate Killian’s tracks.”

My hands shook as I gave Adira an incredulous look. Taken aback by the grim look on her face, I immediately grabbed the map and let my eyes scan all the notes left on it.

Several names were crossed out in difference parts of the map. All of them were wolves assigned to track down Killian, and seeing that a few of the names were crossed out by a red ink, it wasn’t hard for me to figure out that those were the trackers who didn’t come back to the pack alive.

By the time I was done scanning through the lists of at least twenty trackers sent out into the North, my eyes were already stinging with tears.

“I don’t understand. W-why was this kept from me?”

“I heard Eli mention that Killian escaped the vampires with his help. Something didn’t go right when Eli acted on the rescue, so Killian had to take the matters to his own hands by shifting.”

My features paled as the new information crashed down on me hard.

A small part of me was thankful that he didn’t get to be taken, but I was more horrified by the fact that he decided to submit to his wolf by letting it take full control.

Killian was out there somewhere, lost and on his own, unable to shift back. And for months, he had subjected himself to become the prisoner to his own wild.

“Eli’s been tracking him down ever since,” Adira said.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” I asked.

“Eli’s not trying to bring Killian back, he’s tracking him down to kill him,” Adira said and let her gaze fall to the scattered papers on the table, “It took a while for me to piece his plans together. Despite my title as Luna, I’m always excluded from discussing the plans. If I’d known earlier, I would’ve told you right away that you were at the receiving end of the lies.”

Had I been that easy to manipulate? Had I been too trusting?

Somehow, Eli’s actions seemed to make a lot more sense.

Knowing Killian was going to be taken, he could have seen it as a chance to claim the pack. And to Eli, Killian’s escape was a hitch to his claim.

He had to kill him to secure his control over the pack.

The rush of wrath had my body brimming with menace, and it didn’t help that my wolf was feeding into that fire.

I pushed myself up from my seat, and it took me a brief moment to realize that I had left a rough scratch on the table with my claws.

“Valerie,” Adira warned, “It’s best that you keep your anger at bay.”

“After I’ve been denied of Killian’s truth?” I said, deathly calm, “I don’t think I can.”

As if right on time, I picked up on the sound of Eli drawing closer to the cabin.

I bolted out of the dining room and headed to the front door, but Adira was quick to latch a hand on my arm.

“I wouldn’t agitate Eli. He’s not one to be challenged,” she said, and the fear in her eyes almost took me off guard.

“Let go,” I snarled and tugged my arm away from her hold before pushing past the front door and making my exit.

My upper lip was curled up into a snarl as each of my stride carried the weight of my wrath. And my gaze was pinned solely on Eli himself.

As if Reed, along with three other men that surrounded Eli sensed my impending violence, they gathered around their alpha like barricades.

One wolf decided to come closer and tried to halt my approach, but I quickly reacted by making a swift sidestep and pulling at his arm to twist it at a harrowing angle.

The wolf, who was no more than a young adult fell helplessly on the ground and hollered in pain.

“Move and I’ll break your fucking arm,” I spat, glancing down at the mutt. He winced beneath my glare, his shoulders pushing forward in shame as my threat weighed down on him.

“Eli,” Reed said, calling for him to do something, his worried eyes trained on his subordinate under my hold.

Eli glanced at Adira standing frozen at the front of their cabin. As if he already pieced together what happened in his absence, the expression on his face was quickly shadowed by a deep scorn.

I fought back the tears, “You knew where he was.”

My gaze drifted off to Reed whose jaw was locked tight and eyebrows pulled together into a troubled frown. He couldn’t even fucking look at me; he knew exactly what Eli was doing outside the territory and he chose to keep it from me.

Eli released a calming breath, “What did she tell you?”

“Enough to know that you’re a lying piece of shit,” I snarled.

“Then Adira didn’t tell you everything,” he gritted out, “Let go of the boy and I’ll let you know everything.”

I loosened my grip on the guy and let him crawl back to Eli and his men. He released a pathetic grunt as he was pulled back up on his feet, and he hastily brushed off the dirt stuck to his knees before hiding behind his friends.

I looked around me and noticed several pack members circled around us, their eyes and ears wide and eager to witness another truth to unfold.

A deep, menacing growl was heard from Eli, sending all of the wolves to disperse into their own, separate ways. He dismissed his men, but Reed kept himself stubborn by remaining at his side.

“Let’s head inside,” Eli told me, brushing past me without a glance as he strode into his den.

He stopped in front of Adira, his jaw shut tight and eyes glaring down at her figure.

“We’ll talk after this,” he said, his tone threateningly cold and monotonous that Adira’s posture turned brittle, “For the mean time, keep your distance and stay out of this.”

Adira snarled, drawing herself back from Eli as her fingers curled tightly into her palm.

No matter how much she wanted to deny his orders, her will naturally bended to accord his words. Defeated, she sent him one last look before stepping back to shift into her wild and quickly disappearing into the trees.

Eli reached the dining room and was greeted by the sight of all his maps laid out on the table.

“What do you know?” he asked.

“That Killian is out there, lost somewhere in the mountains. And for the past few months that he’s been gone, you’ve been sending out your trackers to hunt him down,” I said.

“What else?”

“Tell me it’s not true,” I choked out, my tone almost pleading, “That you’re out to kill him.”

Eli silence was enough to confirm that everything Adira said was true. He spread out a map and pointed at an encircled location.

“He killed a subordinate here three months ago,” he said, and glided his finger to the next marker.

“Another two from two months ago,” he said.

He moved to the next marker, “One from last month.”

“And another one from two weeks ago.”

Eli looked up at me, his eyes never failing to give away his hostility, “Why shouldn’t I kill him when he’s slaughtered seven innocent men?”

“We both know that’s Killian trying to protect himself. He had no choice,” I snarled.

“Protect?” He gritted out, “The plan was to help him from those vampires, and take him back to his pack. He didn’t mention that he could shift into a fucking abomination.”

“He can’t control the wolf,” I bit back, “Just let me get to him, and I’ll do everything I can to bring him back.”

“I hate to say this, but Killian’s beyond saving when something like that takes control,” Eli met my gaze, “I saw what it could do. You can’t push that wolf down when it was never taught to stop in the first place.”

“I’m sorry, Valerie, but keeping him alive won’t compensate the grief I allowed my pack to suffer. I lost lives trying to save him,” Eli said, “And that was never part of our deal.”