Filed to story: Goddess's Design His Fated Mate (Willow & Reuben)
“Willow, are you alright?”
Mia asked, her tone filled with concern as everyone looked on, confused about the events of the past few moments.
Willow shook her head and managed a smile, “I am fine.”
“I noticed that you’ve been checking your phone repeatedly. Are you waiting for someone’s call?”
Mia inquired curiously.
Willow nodded, “Actually, I tried calling Alpha Benjamin, but the call won’t connect. The same thing happened with Sky and Beta Ken. Before Wyatt and Lori were born, I had spent Thanksgiving at the Wade Moon Pack with the Alpha’s family. Since then, the Alpha always calls me on Thanksgiving and often visits us in Britain. But this year ”
She trailed off, her gaze returning to her phone. “Why is everyone’s phone off?”
she murmured, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.
I heard everything with my wolf hearing but did not turn to look at her.
“What’s the matter?”
I asked Oran.
“Last night another mysterious attack took place,”
he informed.
I frowned and inquired, “Which pack?”
“Actually, you should be asking me how many packs,”
his voice was grave, indicating that I should be ready for the worst.
“What do you mean?”
He was silent for a moment before he replied, “This time three werewolf packs have been wiped out at once!”
“What?!”
My eyes widened. It took me a couple of seconds to digest the unbelievable news. “How can three packs be wiped out at once and in only one night?!”
He shook his head, “I don’t know, but it seems that mysterious attack never stopped. Instead there was a pause before it reached its shocking doom. What I know is all three of the packs that were attacked share a border with the Wade Moon Pack.”
I raised my eyebrows, “So you’re saying that all three packs were burned and destroyed, yet no fire touched Wade Moon?”
Oran nodded in reply. I couldn’t help but frown. Shine Moon also shared one of Wade Moon’s borders, and now all three of the other packs had been destroyed, leaving Wade Moon vulnerable without its protective armor.
“Reuben, will you tell Willow?”
Oran asked worriedly.
I glanced at Willow giggling with other women. She immediately caught my eye. If I told her about the attack, she would obviously freak out for Wade Moon and run to check on them. It was already late at night, and she could be in danger too. “No, I will tell her later.”
Just as I spoke, I saw her pick up a call and her expression did a 180 degree change. In the next moment, she cut the call, looked at me, then turned to exit the party.
“Fuck! She has discovered the attacks!”
I growled, chasing after her. I was sure that she was going to Wade Moon. I didn’t know why, but my heart was telling me that I should not let Willow go there. I needed to hide and protect her from something that I didn’t even know what it was.
“Willow ”
I called out as I chased after her, eventually ending up in the clearing and grabbing her hand. I saw her staring wide-eyed at something. Following her gaze, I found a half-shifted Ella and Walter. Walter held large silver daggers in both hands and Ella’s long claws were out, both of their eyes bloodthirsty and dangerous. They were ready to rip each other apart.
What the hell was going on?!
Sometime ago
A young warrior hurriedly strode into the clearing where the Thanksgiving party was in full swing, nearly colliding with an expensive black Mercedes due to his own carelessness.
Thankfully, the brakes were pressed just in time preventing an accident. Scared to death, he looked at the person getting out of the car.
“I am incredibly sorry, Miss Ella!”
he apologized in a panic as soon as Ella came into view.
“It’s okay, just be more careful next time,”
she smiled sweetly as always, causing the young man to instantly blush.
“I will!”
he exclaimed. Their future Luna was kind-hearted and perfect in every way! “Miss Ella, why are you so late to the party? Everyone has already toasted and thanked Alpha. You’ve missed a lot,”
he stated.
Ella raised her gaze to find that the Thanksgiving party had already started. She had gone to the Opal Moon Pack to have a Thanksgiving lunch with her uncle and pack members there. They held her for longer than expected, making her late for the Emerald Bright Pack’s party. “It’s okay, I will toast with Reuben now,”
she smiled then asked, “Why were you running? Is something the matter?”
she questioned, noticing an envelope in his hand that he had been holding very carefully.
“Oh yes, just now I received these reports that I need to deliver to Beta Oran as soon as possible as he had instructed.”
“Reports?”
Ella raised an eyebrow, curiosity flashing in her eyes as to why Oran was so desperately waiting for them. “Give it to me. I am going to see him so I will pass the reports along for you,”
she said with a charming smile as she reached for the envelope.
After a moment of hesitation the man walked away unaware that instead of delivering the report to Oran Ella opened the envelope and read the unexpected and shocking contents.
“Willow is taking heat preventive medication?”
Her eyes grew larger. Despite the progress of the last era and generation, the rules and regulations regarding she-wolves in the Emerald Bright Pack remained conservative.
She-wolves were not allowed access to birth control or an abortion behind their mate’s back. Even having heat-prevention pills was seen as an unforgivable crime against one’s soulmate. Women who engaged in such acts were either kicked out of the pack or outright rejected by their soulmate. If this evidence was submitted to the council, the she-wolf in question could be banished to life as a rogue or even killed.
Ella’s eyes gleamed with a feverish light at the proof in her hand. It was the solution to all of her problems. It was evidence of Willow’s insincerity and betrayal to Reuben! She just had to submit this evidence to Reuben then the council would remove Willow from Reuben’s life. However, before she could fully comprehend it, a gust of wind whisked the letter from her hand.
Frowning, she looked up to see Walter reading the report. An amused look came over his face as he immediately understood Willow’s use of heat-preventative pills with a single glance.
“What do you think you’re doing? Give that back!”