Alpha Ronan's POV
I couldn't believe it.
She had actually done it.
Thalia hadg finally managed to escape me.
And to make matters worse, she had escaped into the arms of the man that I hated with every fiber of my being.
She could have gone anywhere, and been with anyone else.
Instead, she ended up with Alpha Kade Prime. A man that was hellbent in making sure that he took everything away from me.
For years, he had shared the vision of taking over as many packs as possible, and being the supreme Alpha that reigned over all of them.
I always thought that was a mad man's dream, until it started coming true.
One by one, he took one pack over another.
And the crazy thing is, he never dissolved the hierarchy that had always existed.
No. He would conquer a pack and give the Alpha of the pack a choice.
It was either the entire pack pledges their allegiance to the Obsidian Howl Pack and bow at its every command, or he'd slaughter the existing Alpha and reinstate them with one that was willing to become his puppet.
He always knew my take on his mission, and that's why it had taken him so long to take over my pack.
Some wolf packs that didn't agree to this vision as well backed me up, and I always knew that I had the support of other packs of Kade was thinking of trying to overthrow me.
He was a smart man.
A full blown attack would overwhelm me. It was clear that he had the numbers, but the never wanted to slaughter his men at the expense of a win.
That was not his tactic when it came to war.
Kade always played the long game.
And that's why despite the fact that my pack was never fully paying allegiance to him, he had somehow made such that there was a stand off between my pack and his.
However, his long game was slowly taking shape.
He didn't hesitate to brag to me how he had made sure that Thalia made it through the qualifiers for the Luna trials.
And as if that was not enough, she miraculously emerged as the winner.
Despite the fact that he vowed that he had nothing to do with her winning the trials, I knew that I couldn't trust a word that came out of his mouth.
As I walked back to the party, I was sure that the seed I had planted in Thalia's mind was soon going to sprout.
Being the one behind her not having her wolf made me feel like I was a puppet master, slowly orchestrating the downfall of Kade's plan.
I saw how she froze when I reminded her about it. Not about how she didn't have a wolf, but how I was the one that made sure that she didn't have a wolf.
One might call it a far-fetched idea, but it had already started to take shape.
The whispers had already started to fill the air as the people questioned the credibility of Thalia becoming the Luna of the biggest pack on the land.
And it wasn't just the whispers. I had seen the bruise on her wrist.
The same bruise that one of my men had reported Thalia had gotten from being in an altercation with one of the elders of the pack.
I had to confirm and it was true.
"She was in a heated argument about her wolf." The voice of one of my men rang in my ears as I was walking.
It was music to my ears.
Kade thought he had won and Thalia thought she had escaped, little did they know that they were far from being untethered from me.
I was going to make sure that I become the ghost that they can't get rid off no matter how much they try.
It didn't matter what they would do, not a single spell could break the seal that I had placed on Thalia's wolf.
If she really wanted to set her wolf free, she had to come back to none other than me.
And I was ready to wait for however long it was going to take, for her to crawl back to me.
By the time I made it back to the crowd that was enjoying the after-party, I felt like I could just hang out for a bit before I go back home.
However, I still felt like I could do a little more damage before I left and that mischievous bone inside my body was tickling me so much.
"One stop won't hurt." I said to myself as I looked at the direction where the elders were.
I could only see two of them, and Kade was nowhere to be seen.
One of them was the female elder that I had been told had been in the altercation with Thalia.
She was the one that I wanted to talk to.
Walking with my head held high, I headed straight to where she was standing.
"Alpha Ronan." She acknowledged me the moment I was close enough to her.
I was quite surprised that she knew me that fast.
"You already know who I am." I commented, unsure of what version of me she knew.
"Of course, why wouldn't we know the Alpha and former partner to the newly crowned Luna of the Obsidian Howl Pack?" The male elder asked me.
I was a good point.
"I see you've done your research." I said to them as I got a bit closer, just to make sure that whatever I was going to tell them, would remain between us.
"We have. I am Serenya, and this is elder Kaelen." She introduced herself and her friend.
"You can just call me Kaelen. No need for the formalities." Kaelen said to me with a smile, as he stretched out his hand for a shake.
'This is going to be easy.' I said to myself as I realized how well it was all going.
As I shook their hands, I allowed them to be the ones to broach the subject of Thalia.
I couldn't let myself seem like I was more interested in talking about her more than they did.
Given the hostility from Serenya towards Thalia, that was reported by my men, I knew that she couldn't wait to get some inside information about her.
It was easy to figure out that Serenya didn't want Thalia, a wolfless Luna, as their second in command next to Alpha Kade Prime.
And I was just going to make sure that I was the catalyst that was going to speed up that process.
"Sorry to bring this topic up so quick, but do you mind if I asked something about Thalia?" She inquired.
Kaelen gave Serenya a side eye, as if he didn't expect her to bring the topic up so fast.
However, she shrugged it off and I knew of the two, who I was supposed to pay more attention to.
"Of course I don't mind." I said with a smile on my face, seeing the blocks stacking themselves up, ready to be knocked down with one blow.
"I know that the two of you were close, but I didn't think I heard that you made her your Luna." She said.
"Why is that?"
That question was a revelation of how other people viewed the dynamics of my relationship with Thalia, and it gave me so much relief knowing that they didn't have a clue of how she meant nothing to me.
They probably thought that she was my mate, but it must've confused them as to why I didn't make her my Luna and make it official in front of my pack.
I couldn't just tell them that. I had to become Leonardo da Vinci, and make sure that I paint the best masterpiece that was going to change how they viewed Thalia.
And I wasn't intending on making her look any better.
For that to happen, I couldn't make it so obvious. I had to play a game of push and pull with them.
And the game started with me throwing the bait, and that was me saying,
"Oh. I don't think I can disclose the reasons for me not doing that. People might get the wrong idea.
"I don't care about any idea that the people might get. I want you to disclose the reason.
Thalia is about to be crowned Luna of the pack soon, and I need to know if there's any reason as to why she shouldn't."
And that was Serenya biting on the bait and being hooked.
From there, anything that was going to come out of my mouth, wasn't going to be assumed that I was sabotaging her, but helping the Obsidian Howl Pack avert a possible disaster.
I guess when Kaelen heard that there was something to be said about Thalia, he got interested as well, and took a step closer so that it would be between the three of us.
"Are you sure you want to know the truth?" I asked them, messing with them even more and loving the sight of them anxious to hear why I couldn't crown Thalia as my Luna.
"Of course we're ready. Give it to us, and don't leave anything out." Serenya answered me, eagerly waiting.
I paused for a couple of seconds, letting the anticipation build up for a couple of seconds, almost enough to have the two of them exploding.
And when I finally opened my mouth, I said,
"Thalia might be...cursed."