MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA-Chapter 251: The Assassins

"No," someone muttered in disbelief. "That’s not true. We didn’t—"

"No!" Karl roared, eyes burning. "No, we didn’t. Yet, they claimed we demanded those supplies and they had no choice but to steal, because our pack threatened them!"

Horror swept through the crowd. If that was true, then, the reason for the Dark Snow Pack members coming to their pack was to...to...make them pay?

A stunned hush fell.

Eyes widened as they looked around, at the unmoving Dark Snow Pack members, standing like predators.

"Luckily, my sister sent us there." Karl continued, "we were able to debunk the lies in their court and our pack was found innocent." Karl breathed. "Imagine if we’d traded with the Crimson Caravan, imagine what would have happened to our pack."

He turned slowly, facing each section of the courtyard. "And you want to strip her off her title?" His voice dropped, a snarl beneath the pain. "For what? For saving us from damnation?"

Whispers echoed through the crowd. Confusion, shame, fear. The bloodlust was thinning, the people were slowly waking.

"As for your dead ones," Karl continued, "We were ambushed and pushed into the Wastelands."

Reana’s ears perked up. Her gaze shifted towards Yaz. The guy gave a faint nod.

"The Wastelands, none of you know what it is. It’s a nightmare!" Karl trembled, fists clenched at his sides.

He looked to the warriors they survived together—men and women weathered by frost, scars, fear, and losses stitched into their flesh.

"We didn’t just lose comrades. We lost ourselves in there. We buried our dead in the snow, prayed they wouldn’t rise again with hollow eyes. None of us could have survived. But we did, because of them," he gestured to the Dark Snow members. "And...Commander Yaz."

None of them knew how they managed to hold on until the Dark Snow members arrived. All they remembered was Karl and Yaz falling into the abyss. And when they woke up, they found themselves protected by invisible barriers. Monsters circled them, scrapping air, banging against nothing, howling in frustration like beasts denied a feast. Even Yaz claimed to have no idea what happened.

"You all are disgusting!" One of the warriors spat. "Luna wanted y’all to be safe and push through the winter without starving to death, yet you treat her like this?"

"Y– you just returned. You have no idea what she’s done." Someone murmured under their breath.

"Yes, she—she brought trouble to our door step..."

Reana turned and walked away. She had mindlinked Yaz, wanting him to tell her how they ended up in the Wastelands.

Seeing her leaving, Kira followed, but not before shooting death glares at the ungrateful pack members.

Yaz and the Dark Snow Pack members followed afterwards, while Karl continued to defend Reana fiercely.

...

In the grand hall with just the three of them, Reana sat on her Luna seat, Kira stood beside the throne and Yaz stood below.

"We were ambushed," Yaz repeated, standing below the dais, but his calm stare was on Reana, who sat on her Luna seat, in the grand hall.

"Ambushed by who?" Reana asked.

Yaz shook his head, "Not sure."

Reana narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"They had no pack scent on them. They aren’t rogues either." He paused, watching how her brows knitted tightly in a frown. "They were dressed as assassins."

Reana leaned forward slightly on her seat, her fingers tightening around the carved edge of the armrest. "Assassins?"

Ryder told her that Yaz was gifted, and with his strength and those of her high-ranking warriors, it would be difficult for them to lose to mere assassins.

Yaz nodded slowly. "Not just any kind. They were trained. Synchronized. Silent. They came without warning and moved like shadows. Some were gifted."

"Gifted assassins," Reana drawled, her voice low, like a blade sliding from its sheath. Her gaze flicked to Kira briefly before returning to Yaz. "And none was caught? You didn’t interrogate any? No clue why they ambushed you?"

Yaz’s jaw tightened. "We killed a few. The rest vanished, but not before setting the array to push us into the wastelands." He went silent for a moment. "They have a drawing of a hybrid wolf, on their necks. And a crescent moon beneath it," Yaz said, his voice quieter now, as if the symbols themselves carried weight.

Reana’s frown deepened.

"That’s... not a symbol we recognize." Kira chimed in.

But Reana slightly shook her head, she’d seen that symbol somewhere before...

Her eyes lit up with realization.

The neck of the assassins who slipped into the pack three months ago... Those ones Ryder killed in front of her quarters. She’d seen the symbol in passing, on one of them, but didn’t think much of it at the time.

Now, it burned in her memory.

Her voice came out low. "I’ve seen it before. On one of the assassins who sneaked into my quarters three months ago. I thought it was nothing to consider..."

Yaz’s expression didn’t shift. If anything, it grew more somber.

"It’s their identity," he said quietly. "It was a mark. A branding. That’s the crest of the Umbralyth Circle..."

Reana’s gaze snapped to him. "You know who they are?"

Kira tensed beside her, impatiently waiting for an explanation.

Yaz nodded slowly. "The Lycans."

"What does that mean?" Reana asked.

"They’re said to be the most powerful form of werewolves. They’re not entirely like us. They believed the moon bound us. But they hate us and look down on us. They considered us too weak to share bonds with them. The idea of living along werewolves irked them. So, they plotted to have us killed, resulting in the great betrayal that banished us into the Southern Regions of Eldrida."

Kira blinked. They didn’t know of this story. And if it was right, this should be another side to the story, relating to why their forefathers were banished from Eldrida Kingdom to the Southern regions.

"What you’re saying is, those lycans came from Eldrida?" Reana’s mind went into overdrive. Didn’t they say there was no way back to Eldrida? How then did the assassins come in?

This thought made Reana’s memory snap into focus. Orion had said they sent the products made from crystal through the black market, to Eldrida. In other words...someone from Eldrida found a way through.

Reana bolted to her feet, her mind racing, her heart pounding like distant war drums. "That means there is a way in. And out." Her voice trembled, not with fear, but with hope.