Chapter 46

Chapter Forty-Six Ever since Aleric and I had been attacked by rogues at the Golden Blade pack,

we had been assisting with the investigation into what had actually happened.

The whole thing had seemed so weirdly targeted. Why did they decide to come out of hiding? Was

it a purposeful attack on Aleric and 1? And, most importantly, had someone leaked information since

they knew we would be there? Needless to say, the entire Winter Mist was furious about the whole

thing and had demanded answers that the Golden Blade didn't have. They were just as confused by

the entire ordeal as w e were. Because of that, they were forced to cooperate with us during our

investigation; much t o their displeasure, I was sure. It had been months since we'd had any leads

though. There also hadn't been any trace of a camp on their territory, making us believe they

probably had no intention of staying in the area for long when they attacked. This was news that

only made the whole thing even more worrisome.

The incident had severely shaken me as well. Not just because of Aleric, but because it made m e

realise just how quickly I could feel unprepared in battle. My advantage in a fight had always been

defence tactics, but the rogues gave me a shocking awakening to how sometimes survival meant

being able to complete a finishing blow... something my current strength seemed to be

lacking, as evident from the rogue who didn't stay down during our fight.

Because of this, I had started carrying one of their silver daggers on me to give myself the upper

hand if I was ever in that situation again. Specifically... the knife they'd pulled out of Aleric. The other

one had already been locked up in evidence before I could get my hands on it and they were pretty

hard to come by without prior approval. But more importantly, I found the whole thing weirdly

symbolic to look at whenever I strapped the sheath around my leg. It was something that could kill

our kind so easily... yet it had been a moment in my life I'd chosen a path to save a life instead.

However, the fact that rogues had two of these in their possession was crazy in itself. The silver that

was used to easily poison, restrain and kill our kind was no ordinary thing and was referred to as

silver “kissed by moonlight". Its properties included being able to stop the inflicted from being able

to use their abilities; whether that be silver handcuffs to stop shifting and strength, or a knife to stop

healing. The way the ore was handled before being crafted was a closely guarded secret and I'd

heard was also very difficult to execute; knowledge reserved strictly to Elders and a select few only.

And so, whilst handcuffs were a staple within most packs, a knife was far harder to come by since

many refused to forge them; this being due to their incredibly deadly potential. Of course, I took

advantage of the situation to acquire one for myself because of that. But it did raise several

questions about how the rogues managed to get their hands on them to begin with.

“You alright?” a voice yelled out. I felt that I could have died of a heart attack, almost falling over

from shock

I'd been stuck in my own thoughts so deeply that I hadn't even realised Aleric had arrived at work

before me

I couldn't deny that seeing him after I saw Thea last night felt kind of strange. Like I knew things

were wrong. I'd now changed the timeline so much to something new and unpredictable that I was

blind in many areas to what would happen next. Something I wasn't used to feeling after having a

literal ability to see the future sometimes. But it did tell me one thing; that Thea knew I was after

her. I could only imagine she showed herself last night to send me a message that she was aware I

had been looking for her. 1 wondered why she might have thought I was doing that. Did she maybe

have the plan to take over as Luna already when she discovered I was tracking her? Did she even

realise that I didn’t want the Luna position? That I'm not even a threat other than the fact I'm

technically Aleric's fated mate? Not that she could prove that either.

This posed an interesting line of questions to go through my head though. If she hadn't discovered

I was looking for her, would she have even come after me this time around? or could she have

become Luna, and I a Beta, without all the drama? Had there been a chance that Thea could have

changed for the better, just like Aleric seemed to have? ...Or, more troubling, a part of me wondered

if it was irrelevant who she was this time. That maybe it was actually revenge I was after... not self-

preservation. I looked at Aleric and he seemed... the same. He looked tired. Most likely from the big

event the night before. But he didn’t look like someone who had just met a girl he was romantically

interested in and he wasn't treating me any differently. The latter being something I had to remind

myself. Especially since that old instinct to stay away from him was building itself up inside my chest

again. Thea was a painful reminder of the past, something I'd been doing so well to overcome lately.

I took a deep breath and forced a smile on my face.

"Hey, yeah! I'm fine!” I said, probably a little too cheerily. I knew I needed to quickly change the

topic away from me. “You look like you had a long night.”

To be honest, I was surprised he even made it in today. I remembered my first shift; I was exhausted

to the point of not wanting to leave my bed.

..Or maybe that was because I'd been depressed, not wanting to see Aleric again after the disaster

that was my shifting ceremony. “Yeah. But it was good,” he said with a yawn. He was leaning over

some files on the table and looked about ready for a nap. “I'm sure it was. How are the new claws?"

He just raised an eyebrow at me. “I'm itching to try them out properly.” I laughed and walked past

him to put my bag down in the little office area we had. “We might have a lead by the way.” “Oh,

yeah?” I asked. senast ARANYA TETAP

ENUETTE DE VITE V PRESTO I went to Aleric's side to look at whatever he was examining and found

a few field reports from border patrol.

But next to me, I noticed him then sniff at the air.

"Ah, sorry. I came straight from the gym and didn't have time for a shower,” I apologised, laughing

as I quickly stepped away. “That's probably an assault on your new senses.” Only he looked

confused. “It's not that.”

I smiled and went to retrieve my bag again. “It's all good. I was going to take a shower when I got

here anyway but I didn't expect you to be in so early. Let me go do that real quick and I'll meet you

outside in ten?"

"Hey, Aria... did you see Cai today?" he asked, making me stop dead in my tracks at the doorway. I

was startled that he could tell. I was pretty sure I'd only lightly brushed past Cai to leave the gym

and otherwise hadn't touched him. “Briefly... why?" “..No reason, just surprised. Last I saw of you

two, you were slapping him in the face.” I felt my cheeks burn. “Oh. Right.” What could I say? We

didn’t exactly make up but it felt weird to be discussing what happened with Cai to Aleric. "He

stopped by the gym and tried to apologise again for being an ass. I took the free food and left it at

that.”

He looked like he wanted to ask something else but decided to remain silent, just nodding instead.

Very quickly, the room was then filled with a weird awkward air as neither of us knew how to

navigate this conversation topic further. We just stared at one another uncomfortably. “..Okay,” I

started, breaking the silence. “Wel... I'm going to go have a shower. I'll meet you outside?” “Yep,” he

replied instantly and quickly turned back to the papers on the table, grateful for the topic change.

“Yep.” I repeated the word to myself and left immediately. Ten minutes later, we were in Aleric’s car

on our way to the southside of the Winter Mist's territory. Apparently, there had been a rogue

sighting on our very own land and we were going to aid in the search to see if we could find

anything.

“Do we know anything else about the sighting?” I asked as we pulled up on the side of the road.

The journey had only taken about twenty minutes to arrive but we would need to go on foot from

here. The rogue was spotted by a patrolling wolf in the woods nearby. “Not really. They said it was

probably just one... but they couldn't tell for sure how many.” Side

I frowned as I grabbed my backpack from the car. “Seems sort of strange given how dishevelled the

ones we saw looked. You'd think they would stink and be easy to track.”

Aleric just shrugged. “They managed to get into the Golden Blade just fine. We'll go have a look

anyway. Most of the patrols have already combed through here but we're just going to give it a

quick once over.” Though “quick’ turned out to be an inaccurate statement in the end.

We ended up being in the woods for over two hours searching but hadn“t managed to find

anything. Not a single track or scent.

I was thankful that at least one of us was able to shift now though. Aleric remained in his human

form since mastering a wolf in a day was almost impossible, but the stronger senses were definitely

coming in handy for the job at hand. I was pretty sure I would have gone in a circle by now had he

not been keeping track of where we'd been.

“I'm not seeing anything, Aleric,” I finally sighed in defeat. He frowned. “I just don't see how that's

possible. We have to be missing something.” I went and sat down by a stream that was running by

us, splashing some of the cold water against my face. It felt nice after all the walking we'd been

doing. “I don't know... maybe they have a way of sneaking in or masking their scent?” But just as I

spoke the words aloud, something then caught my eye.

“Like what?” he asked. “Like...” I said slowly, moving to inspect the rock closer. “Symbols carved

along the water to tell them where to go?”

The stream here was a part of a much larger network of multiple rivers that connected our territory

to the neighbouring ones. It was incredibly vast and veined out in all sorts of directions.

Aleric moved to my side and crouched down to see what I was looking at. “You wouldn't be able to

trace their scent easily... and it would be like a maze trying to follow anyone without knowing the

way... that's fucking brilliant, Aria.” I smiled in excitement and turned to look up at Aleric... only to

find him much closer than I had expected, him already looking directly at me. He appeared to be

just as genuinely excited a s me... and, for a split second, I almost forgot how those green eyes used

to terrify me so much.

..But the eye contact proceeded to last a little “too* long. “...Follow the stones?” I asked, breaking

the weird air again.

“Yep,” he replied quickly and stood up. “..Yep,” I whispered to myself, following after him.

We walked downstream for some time, following the trail of symbols carved into the rocks. It was

pretty smart of them to have figured this out. They must have ended up being seen by patrol as

they went out to hunt for food. Because of that, it was impossible to know how long Mason

ETENKOWE 3597

they'd actually been hanging out around here. We ended up walking for another ten minutes or so

before we could finally see what looked to be a small cave nestled just out of the way. If we hadn't

been following the symbols, it was likely we would have completely missed it. “Can you tell if

anyone might be inside?” I asked as we peered cautiously into the entrance, Aleric sniffed at the air,

trying to focus. “It's still too hard with all the water.” I nodded in thought. This meant that we were

going to need to go in blind and alone. If we left now to get help, then we'd be taking the risk of

them discovering our scents and moving before we returned. This was our only chance at getting

real answers. I looked around, searching for anything odd, but nothing seemed out of place, at least.

I suppose that was all part of the point in throwing people off though. Aleric looked to me and we

both silently acknowledged it was time to enter. Inside was deceptively larger than it had appeared

outside... and it was damp. But surprisingly, i t wasn't the smell of mould or moisture that was the

most off-putting. There was definitely something far more pungent in the air that I didn't need a

stronger sense of smell for. I almost felt bad for Aleric as he was probably already overwhelmed

enough for one day without this.

We continued to walk for some time in the dimly lit system. Only bits of natural light and the dying

flames of a few torches further in were lighting the way. “Up ahead,” Aleric then suddenly warned

quietly. I could only just make out something bright ahead where the cave opened up to a larger

space.

“What is it?"

“Looks like... a camp,” he whispered, squinting his eyes. “Don't let your guard down.” I nodded and

we kept walking. When we got to the large area it definitely looked like multiple people had been

living there. Maybe even for months. It was a full-on settlement for lack of a better word, equipped

with basic beds and furniture. Articles of clothing and even a few books were scattered around too.

“No wonder I can't smell anything,” Aleric said after a few minutes, kicking over a bin full of putrid

meat. There looked to be several others scattered around too which I could only imagine held the

same contents. “Fucking disgusting.”

I wrinkled my nose as I continued to look around the room. It was obviously the source of the

overbearing smell we'd been experiencing the entire time we’d been in here. How desperate were

the rogues that they were having to rely on spoiled meat at times to survive? ...But why would they

even bother when they were in a forest with a river so close? Surely, they had other options to try

first if they were that hungry? And then I realised exactly why one might keep rancid spoiled meat

around.

..To hide a scent.

"Aleric!” I screamed. He looked up surprised at my abrupt outburst... but it was too late.

Because suddenly a wolf came flying out of nowhere and tackled Aleric to the ground. It was an

ambush.