"What? What do you mean 'his pack was wiped out'?" Jeremy and Celeste locked eyes, their jaws dropping in utter disbelief. They couldn't wrap their heads around what they had just heard.
Two decades ago, their wolf pack should have just settled comfortably in this quaint little town. So why the heck did Byron end up mingling with some other pack? And how the hell did such a brutal bloodbath even go down?
"Who was behind this carnage? And why the hell were you up there?" Celeste asked.
Byron's gaze turned distant, lost in thought. After a momentary silence, he finally muttered, "I can't say for sure, but the bastards responsible must be the hunters. I caught a whiff of wolfsbane then. Who else would use that as a weapon?"
Jeremy's eyebrows knitted together, his face etched with suspicion. "And what the hell were you doing there, Byron?"
A sheepish expression briefly crossed Byron's face before he averted his gaze again. "Well... I was, uh, handling some business…"
"Handling business?" Jeremy let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Quit beating around the bush. I can't trust a word that comes out of you anymore. After all these years, I thought I knew you, but now I can't tell what's true and what's a load of bullshit. Deception and lies seem to be your middle name, Byron."
Byron's eyes flared with a mix of anger and frustration, his hands slamming down on the table. But Jeremy wasn't about to be intimidated. He locked his gaze with Byron's, the tension in the room thickening. It was a standoff—neither willing to back down, both daring the other to make the first move.
Eventually, Byron let out another sigh. He slouched as if all the air had been let out of him. Celeste couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy toward the Alpha. But she was very aware that they had to push through today to unravel the truth.
"I don't want to do this either, but it's the only way. It's the only way for our wolf pack to thrive, guided by the oracle of the Moon Goddess," Byron muttered in a low voice. His words came out almost like he was mumbling to himself, but Jeremy and Celeste, with their sharp hearing, caught every word clearly.
Rather than shedding light on what the heck had gone down, his words only managed to confuse Jeremy and Celeste even more. How did the Moon Goddess get mixed up in all this again?
"What the hell are you on about? How's the Moon Goddess connected to any of this?" Jeremy demanded.
"Both of you already know. A wolf pack without a Luna was weak and could never be strong," Byron replied.
Celeste's brow furrowed upon hearing those words. She'd heard that line so many times, her ears were practically calloused from it. It was that very line that made her walk away from the wolf pack and leave Jeremy behind. Jeremy, too, seemed to remember that, as his hand on Celeste's shoulder tightened its grip.
"What on earth does the Moon Goddess have to do with all of this? And how does it relate to you showing up in Kent's territory?" Celeste was growing impatient.
Byron let out a sigh, his face filled with a tinge of melancholy. "My Luna passed more than two decades ago, and with her departure, our wolf pack lost its vigor. It's been a constant struggle to come to terms with our weak state. But you see, the Moon Goddess, in her wisdom, whispered to me about a way to strengthen our pack in the southeastern lands. She told me that there was going to be a newborn cub with extraordinary blood coursing through his veins. If we could bring him into our pack, we could unleash its potential and watch our wolves thrive once more. And wouldn't you know it, fate had just blessed us with the birth of two babies within the pack..."
Byron hesitated, his words hanging in the air. Celeste's eyes widened as she digested the information. Her gaze shifted towards Jeremy, and she automatically filled in what was left unsaid. "So, you brought that cub back to our wolf pack."
Jeremy jolted out of his seat as if hit by a bolt of lightning. He approached Byron, taking deliberate steps, his voice a low murmur. "And you orchestrated a cunning switch, placing that cub with an unsuspecting family."
Celeste's disbelief echoed in her voice as she confronted Byron, her eyes fixed upon him, searching for the truth. The tremor in her words betrayed her inner turmoil, "You swapped my real twin brother for Jeremy!"
"Yes…" Byron was silent for a short while before he continued in a low voice, " But I have no other choice. To make the wolf pack strong, I have to do this. It's also what the Moon Goddess foretold and–"
But before he could finish his sentence, a fist landed on his face the next second, knocking him to the ground.
Jeremy stood there, his chest rising and falling, and a look of utter disbelief on his face. Celeste lowered her gaze, staring at her fallen Alpha, unable to fathom that he could stoop so low. This guy was a total stranger in her eyes.
The room fell into dead silence as if the air itself had frozen solid. Nobody said a damn word for what felt like an eternity.
Slowly, Byron picked himself up off the ground, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes darted back and forth between Jeremy and Celeste, guilt etched all over his face.
Celeste remembered the words Byron had once said, about not deserving to be the Alpha of the pack. Hell, after resorting to such cheap tricks—snatching a baby from another pack, and even handing over the cub of his pack members to some other damn wolves, betraying his own kin—he sure as hell didn't deserve to be their Alpha.
Was it really worth all the trouble to make the pack strong, though? Living in this peaceful little town for over two decades had given the pack a whole new perspective. Maybe this plain and simple life wasn't so bad after all.
"But you know what? I don't regret a damn thing," Byron declared, determination flashing in his eyes. "Especially after what went down with their pack. Regret's the last thing on my mind. Our pack needs to be strong. And now it's our chance to be strong."
Jeremy bared his teeth in response, ready to pounce, but Byron held his ground, staring right back at him without a shred of remorse.