The girl stared at Daniel with a sinister glint in her eyes and tiptoed out of the room. She went through the hospital wards which still had a lot of activities going on. Due to the amount of work and stress, no one noticed her steal a scalpel from the medical cart a nurse had kept carelessly in the passageway.

Slipping it into the pocket of her shorts, she retraced her steps and returned to the room.

The werewolf was still asleep which irritated yet pleased her. At the least, with his defenses down, she wouldn't have a hard time ending him.

"How nice," Holding the scalpel tight, she climbed onto the bed, careful not to wake him up. Positioning herself beside him, she lifted the sharp weapon and brought it down on his…

"Ahh!!" Lia woke up with a startle, her face, and neck covered with sweat. Her loud scream also woke Daniel with her.

"Hey, what is it?" Her mate was quick to grab her on the shoulder, keeping her from running off in fright.

"I had this dream where I stabbed you to death with a scalpel," she raved about the nightmare.

"Hey," Daniel bought her into his arms, "It's nothing, just a nightmare," He said, smoothing her head.

"As you can see, I'm hale and hearty. Calm down Lia, you just had a bad dream," He murmured, resting his chin on top of her head comfortingly.

Lia relaxed in his arms, calming her racing heart until the effects of the dream wore off.

She pulled away from him, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized her environment, "Why am I back here? I was supposed to be with -"

"Asher had something to do but he didn't want to leave you alone so-called me over," Daniel notified her albeit withholding some information - as directed by Asher.

"He had something to do?" Lia's frown deepened. She didn't like the sound of that especially with what's happened lately. Moreover, Asher has always been a secretive vampire, what's he hiding this time?

Lia had opened her mouth to press for more news when she felt the urge to answer nature's call.

"Where's the bathroom?" She stood from the bed hastily.

"It's just over -" He was still saying when she found the bathroom by herself.

Daniel shook his head, amused by her actions, and got to his feet when he felt something metallic.

Curiously, he bent and picked it up to discover it was… Daniel's eyes widened as he recalled, "I had this dream where I stabbed you to death with a scalpel"

How was this possible? How could there be such a scalpel lying on the ground by his side of the bed? Was it a coincidence that Lia got such a …

No, that was impossible, Daniel believed. This has to be a mistake! Perhaps, one of the healers mistakenly dropped it in his room - which wasn't impossible considering this was a hospital.

But why would a scalpel be dropped here in the first place, he hadn't undergone any surgery?

The bathroom door opening roused him from his thought, covering the skepticism on his face with a smile.

"You're done?" He asked her.

Lia nodded, climbing back into bed on the space he tapped, snuggling close to his chest with a contented smile.

"We'd talk about Asher once I'm awake," She reminded him, intending to catch more sleep, oblivious to the battle Daniel was facing in his mind.

"Should he tell her about the scalpel or not?" he pondered.

Daniel made up his mind to share the news with her when his mate suddenly faced the other direction, his front facing her back, fitting together like spoons in a drawer.

"Oh great, the torturous position" Daniel sighed, running his hand through his hair while batting to regulate his pulsing heartbeat.

He hated spooning with her knowing he couldn't touch her. To girls, the position was just cute, warm and a straight gateway to sleep unlike them. He had to deal with her mass of hair, his arms that would go numb from holding her, and the awkward boner he was having as he speaks.

Daniel didn't say a word, deciding to endure or so he thought until she moved against him minutes later while asleep.

"I'm done," Daniel gave up, carefully leaving the bed for her - Lia was sensitive and a little movement could wake her up but he needed to think.

He left the hospital entirely and went outside to see the shadows of his pack. The magnificent packhouse was being reconstructed since the afternoon and would need at least a month to be returned to its past glory.

Tents had been set up by different families to spend the night - thanks to his mate's fast thinking. The expecting mothers were tended to first before the rest of the supplies arrived and everyone else was settled.

The structures still standing after the attack, was the hospital - they had defended that place fiercely considering it had cellars where some of the fortunate mothers and children had been hidden - and the untouched east wing of the packhouse that the fire had not ravaged.

Daniel knew he had a lot of responsibility on his head currently with the influx of werewolves.

During his short rest, Ryan had overtaken Zach and slew him alongside the men with him. As per werewolf custom, everything that was once Tristan's belonged to him now - including his people.

According to the law, members of the Ranger had two options: to leave the pack and wander for another pack or merge with the new pack that conquered them.

To be frank, Daniel had expected half of the population to leave, after all, they knew there was no guarantee they would be treated fine. But to his surprise, eighty percent of the pack stayed behind and pledged loyalty to him.

Turns out that they heard Daniel was a magnanimous alpha and was way better than their previous Alpha. Tristan had not exactly cared for his people, he was only after his own gratification and once he was satisfied, tossed the rest of what remained to his people who fought over it.

The only people who benefitted from his regime were his numerous girlfriends, family members, friends, and bootlickers who stroked his ego with their flattering tongues. Practically, it was the survival of the fittest in that pack.

The twenty percent who had left the pack were the sycophants who knew their future was dim with their absurd privilege taken - they wouldn't be able to deceive this new alpha.

Tristan had a very large pack, hence a population of two hundred plus werewolves - excluding the ones that had died in the battle-came into his pack.

It had been a lot of trouble addressing the conquered werewolves. Though they had sworn to serve him, these people had come from different backgrounds with their personal experience of their previous pack. So after Daniel had his men put two or three of the stubborn men in their place, they understood at once that Daniels' meekness was not his weakness.

Daniel received a message from his beta, Ryan; they had caught the betrayer.

Apart from the fact that Raphael had posed as Asher, he still wouldn't have gotten easier access to his pack unless one of their own betrayed him.

The spiking of the drink? The way Tristan defeated their defense so easily? It wasn't just a coincidence, someone must have leaked some information!

Following the direction Ryan had given him in his head, Daniel arrived at one of the damaged buildings to see Ryan and Judith at a corner with a hardened expression while the alleged perpetrator had his face covered with a bag while kneeling on the charred floor.

A familiar scent hit him but Daniel refused to believe it until he removed the bag and was treated to the face of his nephew Jasper.

"Jasper?" He paled from the shock.

The "Jasper" in question sneered at him, shooting envious fires from his eyes that had once looked up to him.

Of all his relatives, Jasper had been one of his favorites because the boy's father was his uncle and had followed his father to the then battle, perishing alongside him.

"Jasper? How could you do such a thing?" Daniel asked, still having a hard time believing this was true.

"Why I did it?" he said mockingly, then spat out blood - The power couple, Judith and Ryan, had decorated his face to their satisfaction before his arrival.

"Both our fathers died in that war! My father contributed immensely to that battle and ensured victory and yet what happened? You get to be the alpha just because you're the alpha's son?!" He raged.

I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing that Jasper was way past redemption - he was blinded by jealousy - and no matter what I said, he wouldn't be convinced.

"Do what you have to do but give him an easy death?" Daniel said to Ryan and turned his back on Jasper who began to rant, using all curse words on him.

Daniel had no choice, werewolves were one big family and betrayal was the worse kind of atrocity committed. Moreover, if he let Jasper live, the boy would still return for revenge. And at that time, he might not be as lucky as yesterday.