Chapter 40: The Angry Villagers

Olivia’s POV

​It was past 9:00 PM when Gloria walked into my bedroom carrying a small tray. On top of it sat a steaming cup of dark liquid. She smiled softly and set it down on my nightstand.

​I stared at the mug, then raised an eyebrow at her. "What is this? I didn’t order any coffee."

​"It isn’t coffee, Princess," Gloria explained gently. "It’s warm black herbal tea. Alpha Lucian asked the cook to prepare it for your stomach ache."

​My brows furrowed in complete disbelief. Alpha Lucian? The ruthless Alpha King had actually remembered my fake menstrual cramps and ordered a custom brew for my stomach? What on earth was wrong with him lately? First the teleportation, and now playing nursemaid with tea? I wasn’t about to start believing Lucian had suddenly become soft overnight. Men like him didn’t change that quickly. But I had to admit, keeping up a lie was becoming infinitely harder when the man I was lying to suddenly started acting almost human.

​Gloria turned around to leave, but before she could reach the door, I spoke up. "Gloria, wait."

​She paused and looked back at me. "Yes, Princess?"

​I sat up on the bed, pulling my knees toward my chest. "Can I ask you something? What was Alpha Lucian like... before the war?"

​Gloria hesitated for a moment, her eyes shifting toward the open hallway before she stepped closer to my bed. "He was nice," she said softly. "Honestly, he is still a good leader, but... he is so angry now. Mostly at himself. The war changed everything."

​"What changed?"

​"Alpha Lucian lost a lot during the war," Gloria continued quietly. "Warriors he grew up with. Friends. Families were destroyed. And then there was his sister."

​His sister. I nodded slowly, taking the chance to ask the second question that had been burning inside my brain all week. "What happened to her? How did she end up in a coma?"

​I still hadn’t seen Alpha Lucian’s sister with my own eyes, but I had learned from the other servants that she was kept in a private wing of the mansion, surrounded by a team of high-ranking pack healers who monitored her around the clock. Gloria’s smile vanished completely at my question. She glanced at the door once more, her posture growing stiff with visible discomfort.

​"Gloria?" I pressed gently.

​"I don’t have all the details, Princess," she whispered. "I was just a lower maid back then. But just so you know... it was your father who put her in that coma."

​My blood ran cold. "What?" I stared at her. "How?"

​"I don’t know the specifics," Gloria said quickly, backing away as though she had already said far too much. "I really shouldn’t be gossiping about this. I’ll take my leave now, Princess."

​"Wait." I sat straighter. "You’re saying everyone here believes my father is responsible for what happened to her?"

​Gloria hesitated before nodding. "Yes, Princess."

​She lowered her head and hurried out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. I remained on the bed, staring blankly at the far wall as her words played over and over in my head.

​Kenneth put Lucian’s sister in a coma?

​My mind spun in confusion. What had Kenneth actually done during that war? Every time I thought I was getting closer to understanding the bitter hatred this pack held for Annabel’s family, another dark piece of the puzzle dropped into place. Suddenly, the maid’s words from yesterday returned to me. I don’t understand why Alpha Lucian is being so nice to her. Not after what her father did. Even Lucian’s own words came back to me. He had once asked whether my father had kept me blind to what he’d done.

​Except Kenneth wasn’t actually my father. Which meant everyone expected me to know the history of a family I didn’t even belong to.

​I glanced over at the mug of black herbal tea resting on my nightstand. Somehow, knowing more about what Lucian had lost made the tea sitting there even more confusing. If Kenneth had really done something terrible to his sister, why was Lucian being kind to the woman he believed was Kenneth’s daughter? I stared at the tea for another few seconds before looking away. I didn’t touch a single drop of it.

​The next morning was Saturday. Instead of heading to Doctor Vance’s clinic like I usually did, I decided I needed to get out of the mansion entirely. I needed fresh air, open space, and a break from the suffocating walls of the packhouse. Most importantly, I needed to get away from Lucian before my guilt made me trip over my own tongue.

​I walked down the grand estate driveway until I reached the massive iron gates bordering the inner territory. A heavy-set guard stepped out of the security post, blocking my path with a stern frown.

​"Where are you going, Princess?" he asked.

​"I’m going for a walk around the pack territory," I replied smoothly.

​The guard tightened his grip on his spear-like staff. "Does Alpha Lucian know about this?"

​I rolled my eyes, pulling my chin up to channel every bit of royal authority I could fake. "For your information, I am your Alpha’s wife, not his prisoner. Open the gate."

​The guard stared at me for a tense second before he finally sighed and signaled to the post. The heavy iron gates creaked open, and I walked through without looking back. The moment I stepped outside the mansion perimeter, I took a deep breath of fresh air. It felt amazing.

​I began walking along the paved road winding through the territory. Thick green trees lined both sides of the path, shading beautiful brick houses and neat lawns. A few pack members were out walking, and as I passed them, heads immediately turned. Some people glared at me with cold recognition, knowing exactly whose daughter I was supposed to be, while others simply stared in silence.

​I kept walking, trying to ignore their heavy gazes, until the residential path opened up into a busy outdoor food market. Stall owners were shouting prices, buyers were inspecting fresh produce, and the scent of baked bread filled the air. I smiled faintly as I stepped into the market just to look around. It felt so normal. So simple.

​Then a loud voice shattered the peaceful atmosphere.

​"Look!"

​I stopped. A woman at a fruit stand was pointing straight at me.

​"She’s Princess Annabel! The Blood Moon Alpha’s daughter!"

​In an instant, the market noise died down. Traders and shoppers froze, turning their heads to stare at me as whispers immediately spread through the market.

​"Kenneth’s daughter?"

​"What is she doing here?"

​"After everything her father did?"

​My stomach tightened as more people began moving toward me. The air suddenly felt much heavier than it had a few seconds ago. I swallowed hard and held my hands up in a peaceful gesture.

​"I... I mean no harm. I’m just..."

​Something hard and wet slammed directly against my chest.

​I gasped and looked down. Bright red tomato juice and crushed seeds covered the front of my shirt. For a second, I simply stared at it.

​Did someone seriously just throw a tomato at me?

​Before I could recover from the shock, an entire bucket of filthy, icy water was thrown over my head from the side. I shrieked as the dirty water ran into my eyes.

​"Get out of here!" a man screamed.

​"Enemy!"

​"Go back to your father’s pack!"

​Suddenly, rotten vegetables, eggs, and small stones came flying toward me from different directions. I raised my arms to cover my face as an apple struck my shoulder.

​"Stop!" I yelled. "Please, stop!"

​They didn’t stop. If anything, the crowd grew larger, abandoning their market stalls to move toward me with furious faces. I hadn’t done anything to these people. I wasn’t even Annabel. Not that I could exactly stop in the middle of an angry mob and explain that little detail.

​Another object struck my arm hard enough to make me cry out, and fear completely took over. I turned and ran.

​People shouted behind me as they followed. My heart pounded as I ran down the road, wiping dirty water from my eyes while more things landed around my feet. This wasn’t happening. I forced my legs to move faster.

​The road ahead split, but I barely had time to think. I crossed quickly and spotted a path leading into the woods. Without thinking, I ran toward it.

​Branches scratched against my arms as I pushed deeper between the trees. I could still hear angry voices behind me, so I kept going until, slowly, the voices began to fade. I ran a little farther before finally realizing something.

​Nobody was following me anymore.

​I slowed down and looked over my shoulder. The mob had stopped right at the edge of the tree line. Every single one of them. Nobody followed me inside.

​For one stupid second, I thought they had finally come to their senses. Then I noticed their faces.

​They weren’t looking at me with anger anymore.

​They were looking at the forest with fear.

​One of the men even grabbed a woman by the arm when she stepped too close to the trees and pulled her backward. My relief slowly disappeared as I watched them.

​Why were they afraid to come in here?

​I continued moving deeper into the woods until I could no longer see them. Only then did I stop and lean against a thick tree trunk, struggling to catch my breath. My heart hammered against my ribs, and my entire body was drenched in dirty water and rotting food.

​They truly hated her. They hated Annabel.

​I had been protected from the true depth of their rage because I had spent most of my time inside the safety of the packhouse, but out here, it was different. To these people, Annabel wasn’t Lucian’s wife. She was the daughter of the man they blamed for everything they had lost.

​And unfortunately for me, I was wearing her face.

​I wiped my wet forehead with the back of my hand and let out a long, shaky breath. "Okay," I whispered to myself. "Time to go back."

​I turned around, but immediately stopped.

​The silence suddenly became noticeable. There were no birds, no insects, not even the distant noise of the market. Nothing.

​My stomach tightened as I looked toward the direction I had come from.

​The path was gone.

​I frowned. "What?"

​I took a few steps forward and looked around in confusion. The dense trees, thick moss, and twisting roots all looked different. That didn’t make sense. I had just come through here.

​I turned in a full circle, searching for anything familiar, but there was no sign of the road or the market. There was nothing but endless trees stretching in every direction. It was almost as if the forest had reshuffled itself behind my back while I was catching my breath.

​"What the..." I whispered.

​A deep, guttural sound came from behind me.

​Grrrrrrrrr.

​My entire body froze.

​That wasn’t a normal wolf.

​Slowly, I turned around and found two massive creatures standing several feet away between the trees.

​My eyes widened.

​Their fur was dark and matted, their bodies larger than any normal wolf I had ever seen. Their limbs looked too long, their shapes strangely distorted, and thick black liquid dripped from their exposed fangs. But it was their eyes that made my blood run cold.

​They were glowing red.

​They weren’t wild wolves, and they weren’t werewolf shifters either. They were something else. Something I couldn’t even name.

​I took one trembling step backward. "What the hell are you?"

​One of the creatures lowered itself toward the ground, and I didn’t need anyone to explain what that meant. It was getting ready to attack.

​I took another step back, but the second creature slowly moved to my left, cutting off the only direction I could run.

​My heart stopped.

​And suddenly, I understood why none of the villagers had followed me into the forest.