Chapter 96: Chapter 34

HALEY

~Moon Flower. Can I see you?~

~I’ll meet you at the pack house. Glory and I are headed over.~

Glory and I leave the older adults to have dinner while the rest of us party it up at the pack house. Glory finds Spencer right away. He’s bandaged up and sitting in a recliner.

He pulls her into his lap on his good side and she just cuddles into him.

I look around but can’t find Virgil anywhere. ~Where are you?~

~Outside, in the hammock.~ Virgil looks so comfortable looking up at the stars with his hands behind his head. He has a bandage around his right forearm, but otherwise appears perfectly fine…and fine as hell.

“Hey, baby. Come lay down with me?”

I don’t need a second invitation. I maneuver beside him and rest my head on his left arm. He doesn’t say anything, just lets out a comfortable breath.

He moves his good arm to pull me beside him.

“What happened to your arm?”

“A claw got me while I was helping Spencer. No big deal. I’ll be healed by tomorrow.”

He gets quiet again and we just look up to the sky. Tonight there’s blood on the moon, which is understandable after the loss of so many of her children.

I know I would be weeping too.

“Haley?”

I hum a response.

“What happened here? What’s the deal with this guy, I’ve never really asked?”

“Well, he’s evil to start with. He’s so perverted that he rejected his Luna because she was too old for his tastes. She asked Realta to kill her, which she did, she was only eighteen, he was in his forties at the time…that was his second mate. His first he tormented and shared with the men in his pack, of course she was forced. She killed herself too.”

Virgil growls and his arm tightens around me.

“It gets worse.”

I warn and wait for him to calm down a little. When he nods I continue.

“A few years back, you must’ve been sixteen, the Oracle asked the alphas to share their information about the camp. When they did, Grey got excited. That’s when all of the attacks stepped up. At first he thought it was Damon because Owen was at the Ramirez pack then. He sent his guys to challenge Damon so he could get him out of the way. He even sent his own beta.”

“I remember. I never knew this guy was involved.”

I nod.

“He was trying to get hold of the pups at the camp because he has channels that sell them. He has dens for the human women too. The she-wolves would’ve become slaves in his pack. At least, that was his plan.”

Again, Virgil growls.

“Didn’t he know the camp was being protected by us and your pack?”

I shake my head.

“He thought we were just giving them supplies because that’s what was mentioned at the summit. Then he figured it out. That following convention, Uncle Ryan and Realta were toying with him. Of course he didn’t know who she was. But it pissed him off and he decided to go after the camp all in one go.”

“That’s why you dissolved it.”

“Yes, exactly. When he tried to get the camp, only to find it gone, he was pissed and took out his anger on a nearby bar. He killed the owner then took his wife and seven year old daughter. That night Realta and the Goddess stepped in. She contacted the human police, which rescued the wife and daughter, but also three other locations of human girls chained to mattresses. It was horrifying. He and a few of his pack were tied up in the human legal system, but in the end he got off.”

“This guy doesn’t deserve a pack. How can the Goddess let someone like him be the alpha?”

“He’s never been challenged. Except at the last summit he went after Uncle Ryan in a hall. Uncle Ryan turned his back to him.”

Virgil chuckles understanding the insult.

“Obviously that hurt his little feelings.”

He mimics baby talk, poking more fun at the pathetic alpha.

“I bet he didn’t expect us to be ready for him.”

I shake my head.

“Not at all. He thinks Realta and Freya are witches.”

“Fucking idiot. Roberts knew what she was. You know what he did to her, right?”

“I do. I woke up many times screaming in the night from watching that play out.”

Virgil strokes my shoulder with his bad arm.

“Baby, I’m sorry. You must see a lot of bad things.”

“I did, but Realta taught me how to control it. I still see the bad, but it’s necessary for occasions like today.”

“Now he’s still out there corrupting his pack. What is it like at his pack?”

“Um…”

I lick my lips then visualize the alpha. I connect Virgil to the vision. I find the alpha talking to his new beta then skim to him and his mate. Once I connect to her, we watch her life and how she’s forced whenever he wants her. She is groomed to expect it and doesn’t know any different.

I dig deeper into her life to find she has eight children ranging in age from two to seventeen. I follow her oldest son that’s fourteen. He’s shown by his father to treat his sisters and mother no better than pets. The boy is confused because he loves his mother, and his sisters are his friends.

I find him now sitting inside of a cell here at our pack, having been forced, like other pups to fight.

I pull out of the vision and wipe at my eyes. Virgil is covering his eyes with his hand.

“It’s amazing that you can feel their emotions like that.”

He lets go of a frustrated breath.

“And I thought our lives were rough growing up orphaned in the camp. Goddess. This guy has to be stopped.”

“I don’t want to think of him any more. He haunts my nightmares, but he’s not the only one. I see bad alphas all over North America. Granted, they’re rare, but I still see them.”

“This is exactly why we need the Alpha King back. Why doesn’t the Oracle just light a fire under this guy’s ass and tell him to step up?”

I shake my head.

“She doesn’t know who he is either. I’ve asked.”

“How can that be, she knows everything?”

I slightly giggle.

“She’s not a God. I know I certainly don’t know everything, but I think it’s either because he’s a descendant of hers so all she would see is white regarding him, or she dies before he comes about. She’s very old and she’s ready to leave this earth. She’s stuck until someone takes her place, which in this case is me.”

“The Oracle is going to die?”

I shake my head.

“No. Her current vessel is going to die. I will replace her and become the new Oracle.”

“How does that work?”

“I have no idea.”

Virgil and I remain silent for the rest of the night. We simply bask in the comfort that each other provides.

~Haley! Where are you? We have prisoners to sort through,~ Uncle Ryan growls through the link.

I stretch and open my eyes to the morning sun beginning to peek over the hills. Beside me, Virgil begins to stir.

~I’m sorry, Uncle Ryan. I fell asleep at the pack house.~

~I need you here in twenty minutes.~

~Yes, Uncle Ryan.~

“Everything all right?” Virgil asks.

“I’m late for sorting the prisoners.”

“Just grab a quick shower here. There’s always extra of everything.”

“You’re a genius.” I peck his lips then realize what I’ve just done. “I’m, I’m…”

He covers my lips with his finger. “Don’t say it. Get going, you don’t want to make your uncle mad.”

I nod and rush inside for a change of clothes and a quick shower.

Virgil is waiting for me as soon as I open the shower room door. “Jason, Able, and Kenna left. Alpha Redd and Luna Kya are leaving. I’m going to be following them. Luke and Cambry are staying the weekend. I don’t know when I’ll see you again. I’m already back in the Redd Pack.”

My lip quivers so I bite down on it and nod. “I still love you, Moon Flower. That’s never going to change.”

His large thumb wipes my wet cheek. He leans in and kisses my lips with so much restraint. He pulls away and kisses my mark. “I love you too, Virgil. I always have and always will.”

“Goodbye, Moon Flower.”

I grab his hand to stop him. “Take this.” I give him my moonstone necklace that Glory gave me. It’s just like the one she gave Martha. And just like Martha’s, Realta blessed it.

“I can’t take your…”

“Please. I want you to have it. Besides, I missed your birthday. Call it a gift if that makes it easier.”

He nods and ties the cord around his neck. “I have to go. I’m going to be late.”

I kiss his cheek then force myself to rush out the door.