I rolled across the bed, groaning and completed gutted. It had been an hour since we were all back at my house. My parents were missing and so were Ann and Cora's so they dropped by mine.

"What are you doing, Lily? Stop moaning and crying." Ann plopped on the bed beside me, her hand wrapped around a glass of water.

I groaned louder. "I guess I miss Evan finally."

"What? Disgusting." She gagged at me.

"I mean—before he did everything. He was so good and he always cared about what I felt—" I had great expectations because of him, he showed me what I should've expected from a mate.

"And then cheated on you and tried to rape you and then kill you. Have you forgotten that?"

Oh God.

I snapped up straight and chugged down the glass of water, expecting it was some drink to numb my head.

"I need Mom and Dad. Where are they even?" I pulled my phone from the table and tried calling them again but the it went straight to voicemail. The same thing had been happening with Ann and Cora's parents.

No one was picking up our calls.

Cora walked in the room with the phone attached to her ears, she hushed all of us down and continued speaking to whoever was on the call.

"Yes, Mom. I'll be there." She said. "Yes, yes, I'll get them as well. Is it something serious?"

What was she talking about?

When Cora cut the call, an expression of distress settled over her face and her eyes darted straight at me, filled with guilt as if I had done something so wrong.

"It wasn't our parents that wanted us here. It was Alpha Richard and he wants to speak with you immediately." Cora explained before she threw me my jacket.

My heart stopped. "Does he know?"

"I don't know but I guess we all are about to find out what went wrong today." She replied, pushing her hair behind ear as she put on her jacket.

I prayed with all my heart that Alpha Richard didn't know that Lorenzo was my mate. How could he anyway? No one did—not yet. I would be dead if he knew that I had mated with another pack's Alpha.

We put on our jackets and went straight to his mansion where we found a lot of our pack members inside. The air was stiff, filled with tension and the whispers screamed for something wrong. Everything worsened when walked further inside, hearing the screams of our Alpha, he was yelling at someone from inside his office.

We stood out of his office, ears on the door, too afraid to walk inside and feel his wrath.

"Something's definitely wrong!" Cora said.

My heart jumped at my throat as the door flung open and Alpha Richard seized my elbow the second he saw me. He pulled me inside the room and I found my parents there, along with a few other people of my pack.

His hand stayed tight on my elbow and he asked, "Tell me the truth, Lilliana. Who killed Evan?"

I glared at him, too frightened to open my mouth. Alpha Richard was a calm man, seeing the anger exploding out of him worried me. His eyes were a bright shade of red, almost like fire and for a second I believed he was going to burst in flames.

"Tell me. Was it Lorenzo?" His voice raised, sending shivers down my spine as he fiercely looked into my eyes, waiting for an answer.

"I doubt she knows who he is." Seth said from the corner of the room. He wasn't wrong. The name never crossed my mind until a few weeks back, and if it wasn't for Mrs. Pitts, I wouldn't have ever known who my mate was.

Alpha Richard nodded and then squeezed my arm. "Was it the beast who killed Evan? I need the truth and I need it right now."

"I—" I wanted to tell the truth but feared what would come for me then. "No—I don't know, I didn't see him." I said, stumbling on my words.

His face darkened and he let me go. I ran over to my parents as quick as I could and they braced me immediately. The yelling inside the room continued, Alpha Richard was mad—but why?

"What happened?" I asked Mom, my heart aching.

"The news broke to all us today morning. Lorenzo has claimed his throne as the Alpha of the Scarlet Pride after fifteen long years. Everyone here assumed he was dead so you can guess the amount of frustration everyone would feel learning that he was back on the throne." She whispered to me in my ears, slowly, making sure she didn't mention that he was my mate.

"But what's the big deal?" I shrugged. It didn't seem like a big deal to me at all.

"Exactly, I don't see the problem either." Mom agreed with me. "Anyway, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I gave her a quick hug before turning our attention back to Alpha Richard.

The veins on his neck throbbed as he slammed his fist on the table. The air felt suffocating but I still stayed inside the room as it was a pack meeting and until I didn't learn the reason behind my Alpha's anger, I wasn't going to leave. It gave me a bit relief that he didn't know that Lorenzo was my mate or I'd be dead by now.

God, Alphas.

Alpha Richard asked us all to clear out from his office and we did, scattering across the house while he stayed inside, taming his anger.

I stuffed my face with food and so did my friends as we were all starving to death.

"Did you know?" Cora asked me with her mouth filled with waffles.

"That my mate is an Alpha now?" I kept my voice low, making sure no one heard us. "No, not until today morning." I said before sipping my orange juice. The best thing about pack meetings was the food—free and eat all you want.

"Shits going to go down for you." Cora said.

"All right, no need to terrify me, I'm already shaking." I placed the glass down and cleaned my hands before walking away from my friends.

I needed to come clean to Alpha Richard before someone else told him. I knocked on his door, waiting for his reply before walking inside.

"I'm sorry for disturb—"

"No, it's fine. I should be sorry for what I did earlier. Please, take a seat." He was a lot calmer than before but the desk in front of him had a thousand papers scattered across, and he was reading all of them.

I sat down and rubbed my cold hands across my arms while taking a glance at the papers.

"I got to know the news from my Mom and I know I shouldn't be asking this, but why is it a big deal if the true Alpha took over his position in the Scarlet Pride. We have been in unity with them for so many years. It shouldn't be a concern to us, right?" Without spilling the truth, I began questioning about other things.

The Scarlet Pride was an enclosed pack, they didn't bother with anyone, just like us.

Alpha Richard pushed a few papers aside and took in a deep breath. "The thing is that, before the battle of Krath, we had been in war with them—solely because of their Alpha—Lorenzo, he was known to pick up fights with everyone, kill others without a reason, destroy packs in a blink."

Woah.

"But that was fifteen years ago..." I trailed off. A whole lot of things could change.

"That's not the only reason, Lilliana. During the battle, a treaty between our pack and the Scarlet Pride was formed. It stated that the second Lorenzo or his offspring takes control of his pack, the ones under him shall return or die. We believed he had died and had no offspring until today morning. And after Evan's death, I can assume what's going to happen next." When Alpha Richard stopped, I froze.

My parents, Ann's parents and so many other people relocated from the Scarlet Pride to this pack after the battle went down.

Shit.

We were all Lorenzo's subjects.

Alpha Richard released a growl and smacked the desk in front of him. "He should've just stayed dead or hidden wherever he was. I just don't know the fucking reason behind his return after goddamn fifteen years of being in peace!"

I was the reason.