Chapter 173: The Perfect Frame

The night air shattered with the wet, sickening sound of flesh surrendering to raw force. Fifteen rogue beasts descended upon the three of them like a mindless wall of snapping jaws and blue, vacant eyes.

It could not even be considered as a battle, but more like a frantic slaughter.

The rogues clamped down and pulled in opposing directions, shredding muscles and tearing limbs clean from their sockets with a fibrous snap of splintering bone.

Hot crimson spray fanned across the ground as jaws locked onto throats and claws raked down exposed underbellies, peeling back skin to leave entrails steaming in the freezing air.

Within moments, the room became a grisly butcher shop filled with the stench of open bellies, the crunch of gnashing teeth, and the absolute horror of hollow monsters dismantling life piece by bloody piece!

And Della... enjoyed the sight from a considerable distance. There was just something so satisfying about listening to their screams and whimpers of horror.

Like a symphony she couldn’t get enough of.

It also made her want to listen to it till the very end. She wanted to listen till the very moment the pain was so much that they couldn’t scream anymore. She wanted to listen and watch as the life in them got turned into two.

Or ten. She was good with anyone.

But unfortunately, she had a little more...plans left for them. She’d have to keep them alive.

How disappointing.

.

.

.

The Luna Assembly was going exactly as it always did. Evangeline sat at the head of the long table, surrounded by representatives from the different villages of IronRidge.

Village heads.

Healers.

Women who oversaw the distribution of food and medicine, and even a few elderly representatives who had been part of these meetings for years.

Everyone was there to discuss the condition of the people. And for once, there was good news.

The emergency food supplies had already been distributed after famine had struck the villages again.

The villagers had received their grain, dried meat and other necessities. As the Luna of IronRidge, she had personally overseen everything that had happened. It was one of her many jobs.

Everything had been properly signed and sealed.

Or at least, that was what she believed.

"The western village has enough grain to last another two weeks," One of the representatives reported.

"Good, " Evangeline nodded, "Make sure they don’t begin rationing too early. We don’t know how long the war preparations will last."

The woman nodded and wrote it down. Then, Evangeline looked over at the empty seat again. No Eastern representative had attended the meeting today which was odd, because they always come.

She was going to have to check up on those villages and find out why immediately after this meeting.

Another representative stood, "The southern villages have also received their supplies. There were no complaints."

A small smile appeared on Evangeline’s lips, "Excellent."

She leaned back in her chair, seemingly pleased with herself. This was what she was good at.

Keeping IronRidge running.

Taking care of the people.

Being the Luna everyone could depend on.

And deep down, she hoped that one day, her husband would finally understand that she’d done so much more for this pack than his dead first wife and actually start treating her like someone who mattered.

The large doors suddenly opened, and the suddenness made everyone turn to see who it was.

Alpha Augustus walked inside, and a guard followed closely behind him. The Alpha’s expression was darker than usual, and Evangeline’s smile disappeared.

He looked furious.

And since he was here, whatever made him angry had something to do with her.

Everyone instantly stood up and bowed, including her. His heartbeat sped up, but she maintained her composure in front of her people.

"Alpha," She greeted.

He didn’t answer her immediately, and then his scrutinising gaze moved around the room. No one dared to speak, no one dared to straighten back up.

Then his gaze landed on Evangeline, and his voice deadpanned, "What the hell have you done?"

"What?" Evangeline stared at him.

Augustus walked toward the table, and the guard followed him, carrying several scrolls and documents. "I just received a report from the eastern villages."

"What report?" Evangeline frowned.

"The relief supplies."

Her heart skipped, "What about them?"

Augustus stopped in front of her, "The numbers are wrong."

Evangeline blinked, "No, they’re not."

"The villages were supposed to receive one hundred crates of grain." He continued, while the guard dropped the document onto the table, "They received seventy."

A murmur went through the room, and Evangeline slowly lowered her head and stared down at the paper, "That’s impossible."

"There should have been fifty crates of dried meat." Augustus explained even more, and another open document landed on the table. "They received thirty."

She slowly looked up at him, looking confused, "I personally approved those distributions. I would never approve such small numbers,"

Augustus gave a nod, and the guard stepped forward this time and said, "Luna, the distribution records were signed and sealed by you,"

Evangeline looked at him. "Yes. Because I approved them."

He placed another record on the table.b"This one says the same thing."

Evangeline reached for it. She held it in her hand and her eyes moved over the page till she saw something that made her heart suddenly stop.

The numbers were... different.

She looked at the first document again, nervously this time, and then she picked up the second one.

Then back again.

"No." Her fingers gripped the paper a little tighter, and then she looked at her husband and shook her head, "This isn’t what I signed."

"Your signature is right there!" Augustus snapped.

"I know what my signature looks like." She seethed angrily. Confusingly. How could this have happened?

Could she be hallucinating? All of them can’t be hallucinating, plus, this explained why the eastern representatives didn’t show up for the meeting.

"And your seal?"

She looked at the bottom and saw that the Luna’s seal was perfectly stamped into the wax.

Perfectly intact.

"I didn’t write this." She said, the blood slowly draining from her pale.

She looked back up at Augustus, and the look on his face was enough to convince her that the man did not believe her one bit. Not when all the raw evidence was pointing at her.

By now, more murmurs were passing between the representatives, and everyone was glancing at her with the same suspicious look. If they remembered correctly, Evangeline had always put the Eastern villages last and during the last meeting, she almost quarrelled with one of the elders.

She noticed the look on their faces and then looked back at the document.

Something was terribly wrong.

The handwriting was hers.

The signature was hers.

The seal was hers.

Even the format was exactly how she normally prepared her distribution records.

But she had never written those numbers.

She had never approved seventy crates.

She had approved one hundred.

Augustus looked toward the guard again, "Tell them what you told me."

The guard bowed.

"We checked the storage records. The supplies that were supposed to leave the storage house were one hundred crates of grain and fifty crates of dried meat." He paused. "But only seventy crates of grain and thirty crates of dried meat reached the eastern villages."

"And the remaining supplies?" Evangeline asked, her voice still calm. She couldn’t afford to lose her calm here.

"We don’t know." He replied.

"How can you not know?!" She demanded, raising her voice.

"Luna, we checked the storage house." He explained even further.

"And?"

"The missing supplies aren’t there."

"Then check the wagons!"

"We did."

"The guards?"

"Questioned."

"Then someone stole them!"

The room went silent again, and Evangeline looked around with conviction in her eyes, "They must have been stolen after they left the storage house. That is the only explanation for this!"

"That’s not possible." The guard shook his head, his voice also calm.

"Why?"

"Because the records show that the amount released was already the smaller amount."

Evangeline froze. "What?"

The guard placed the original ledger beside the altered one and added, "The storage house records were changed too."

Her eyes slowly moved down.

There it was.

Seventy.

Thirty.

And beneath it...her signature.

Everything looked legitimate. It was as though she had personally approved the shortage.

One of the older representatives finally spoke, his voice carefully low and soft so as to not to trigger her even further, "Luna..."

Evangeline’s head snapped up at him immediately. The woman looked angry and troubled.

"The eastern villages are already struggling. Some of them have children who haven’t been eating properly."

She knew, she fucking knew!! "I know," She replied calmly. Well, as calmly as she could.

"Then why would you reduce their supplies?"

"I didn’t reduce it," She stated strongly, and then looked at Augustus. "I didn’t do this."

"First it’s my heir who screws up and now you?!" His eyes and voice were bitter with rage and disappointment.

"Augustus..."

His gaze moved toward the representatives, ignoring whatever it was she had to say. He’d heard enough! "Until we find out where those supplies went, no one is to move anything from the storage houses without approval. And from now on, every record bearing the Luna’s seal will be checked twice."

Evangeline stared at him. Her face was burning.

In front of everyone.

Her own people.

The village leaders who trusted her were now looking at her differently.

Evangeline slowly looked back down at the document, and her own handwriting stared back at her.

She had absolutely no idea how someone had done this. But whoever had done it had made one thing very clear.

They wanted IronRidge to believe the Luna had betrayed them, and they had done it perfectly.