ECLIPSE
The Masquerade ball for that decade was hosted in the West, hence, the venue was just a two hours journey from her pack which was located in the South-Western borders.
However what was supposed to be a somewhat short journey turned into a dreadfully long one.
Deeply unsettled, Eclipse could only look out from her window at the drylands that passed her in a blur. After the North, the West was one of the most prosperous places in their world.
They didn't have one United Pack leading them like the monopoly in the North, but they had enough powerful packs that easily occupied most of the numbers in the list of the top fifty packs in Vagra. But sitting number one on that very list were the NorthSteed Pack that ruled the North.
Eclipse shut her window, settling into her carriage while her palm hovered over her heart. A dark resolve took place within her.
Her mother died while giving birth to her. Her father passed away months later unable to take the grief of losing his fated mate. Even though her sister will never say it, that event had deeply traumatised her.
Rose not only had to become Alpha at fifteen, she also had to become her parent. And shaped by the trauma of their parents passing, Rose took a chosen mate without hesitation.
So why cling to something that would only bring so much pain? Fated mates, whether it was a gift by the moon goddess or not only brought pain—that much had been proven in the past.
Whether it was by her father who could not decide to live for her, or for herself who was now facing rejection by a man she knew nothing of.
There would be pain, so what? She would take the pain.
She could take it.
Their carriage came to a stop, and distractedly, she muttered. "Have we arrived already?"
A strange, almost foreboding silence greeted her.
"Ronan…?"
"Miss." He muttered back in the most shaky, dreadful voice she had ever heard from him. And that was saying something because although Ronan was considered her agemate, he was one of the most fearless warriors of their pack
She stilled for a moment as her real senses buried by her deep thoughts surfaced, scanning their surroundings.
And that was when she smelt it. Then she heard it.
The smell of silver burning wolf flesh. The sound of her pack howling in pain as they fell to their death.
She rushed down mindlessly, and from a mountainous distance, gazed down at the pack's dwelling place which was harmonious before she left but was now engulfed in rabid chaos.
But that was not the only thing that held her attention the most. For on a tall spike that had been raised high enough for anyone who cared to see was the severed head of her brother-in-law. Rose's husband, and the man who was the enforcer of their pack.
A scream tore through her throat just as Ronan covered her mouth with his palm in a rush. His eyes burned with hatred and a warning.
"They must not hear you." He warned.
"Who… what… Why…?" Came her muffled, but confused questions that Ronan had no answer for.
Frantically, she searched through the pack link hoping to grasp onto something…anything.
"Eclipse." A soft, yet stern voice reached her.
Tears misted her eyes. "Rose…." She choked out.
"Do not come here," Rose commanded her in a voice so weak, "please… leave."
But Eclipse was not listening because she had already bolted off. Shifting into her wolf, she dashed through a secret path that led to the back exit of the pack house.
A minute later, she was there and a few dead bodies were strewn all over, each of them showing that their heart was pierced by silver arrows. She could sense that their assailants, whoever they were, remained at the front of the pack house in manner that was almost taunting.
Shifting back, she rushed into the house, going straight for Rose's room where she sensed her while Ronan remained at her tail. When she opened the door, she gasped.
Rose was on her large bed, attempting to give birth in the chaos, but from the look on the wet nurse's face, it seemed they were not getting anywhere.
She rushed to her side. "Rose!" She wailed, wiping off the sweat that peppered her dear sister's face.
Rose smiled weakly. "Eclipse. You should not have come."
A choked sob wormed her way into her throat. "How could I not come? I hear our soldiers dying so how could I have stayed away? And brother-in-law…" She could not finish that statement as a fresh wave of tears rolled down her face.
But Rose didn't shed a tear. Instead, she looked to Ronan, "You must take her away."
She flinched, bolting up. "No! If you fight, I fight!"
Rose stood from the bed at an impossible speed, then before Eclipse made sense of it, her palm descended on her cheeks, and her head whipped to the side.
It was the first time Rose was touching her. Ever.
"If I fight you fight?" Rose gritted, "do you even know who we fight? Do you think this is a fight?!" she roared and everyone fell to their knees save for Eclipse who stared at her sister stunned.
Not because she couldn't feel her sister's Alpha powers, but because she was too shocked to actually do anything.
Blood trickled down from between Rose's legs. Yet even at that, she supported the weight of her belly while she took menacing steps towards her. "Look out from the window and see who fights us. No, who massacres us."
And that was exactly what Eclipse did. She looked out from the window, and then gasped and backed away at who she saw. For standing and leading about twenty insanely skilled archers was a silver white-haired man wearing a Lycan-face-eating mask.
"Ronan communicated to me that he is your fated mate." Rose muttered in a voice so weak she didn't make sense of it.
Eclipse turned to Ronan. "You knew?"
He nodded grimly. "Even before you left the ballroom, guards outside were already gossiping about the girl wearing a rabbit mask that was mated to the Alpha Prince of the North."
She shook her head in denial. "Even though… this could not possibly be him? I was standing with him at the ball just two hours ago. He could not have gotten here…."
"Miss, when you entered the carriage, I personally saw him leaving as well." Ronan interjected softly in a hate-filled voice, "he is a superior Lycan shifter, he would have gotten here in less than an hour."
Her hands fell to her sides, and her heart turned ice cold.
Suddenly, she hated this bond that made her mindless enough to want to defend the man who hurt her pack so much. Even when the truth stood before her very eyes.
She hated this bond that made her want him to be a good man even though it was clear he was anything but.
She should have just let him reject her. Then maybe this would not have happened.
"So our pack is falling apart… because of me?" She muttered, the words coming out choked and strangled. "Brother-in-law is dead because of me?"