Smoke and Mirrors {Completed}

Chapter Sixteen: Warrior's Return

Sapphire Nightborne

I wandered through the hallways, it was eerie just how empty they were, no guards patrolling, nothing. The walls were decorated with wolfskins and judging by the sheer size of the wolfskin, they weren't your usual run-of-the-mill wolves.

I walked through the hallways trying to find an exit or a window I could escape from, there were many windows yes, but they were barred with silver... what a wonderful environment to grow up in, no wonder Damien became such a nutcase. I was walking through the largest hallway yet when something caught my eye and made me stop, it was a huge painting of Damien's family.

Damien was an exact carbon copy of his father, but the most unnerving thing to me was the eyes of Damien's parents. His father's were as cold as ice while his mother's were as dead as the leaves in winter and to me, it was like seeing into the future, my future if I were to accept Damien as my mate.

I remembered Roland Black very well, even as a child, his icy gaze left a deep impression on me.

"Lia, hurry up!"

I had just seen the large entourage cross our pack borders when I was in the forest training. There were at least twenty wolves running around the Black Lake which was a tell-tale sign that someone important was coming. I could not wait to see who it was.

I turned my head to shout at Lia to speed up before I ran into a tree and fell on my arse. I turned to see who had placed a tree on the path when my eyes met a pair of legs, they continued to wander up to see a mountain of a man staring down at me.

"Are you lost, little one?"

His tone made me want to curl up in a ball and hide. His face would have been considered handsome if it weren't for the large scar that cut across his entire face. His men formed a circle around me with Lia looking on terrified.

"I asked you a ..."

"Alpha Roland, I thought we gave you the proper directions to the stronghold."

My shoulders sagged with relief as my father came into view with his generals. Alpha Roland's men parted, and I ran to hide behind my father who placed an arm around me protectively.

"Your territory is so large, Xavier. You cannot possibly blame someone for losing their way."

"My men will guide you to the stronghold where Alpha Edan is waiting for you."

By this time Lia had run to our father as well and hid with me behind him. I watched as Alpha Roland and his men turned heel with my father's generals.

"Your daughters are beautiful, Xavier. You should not just let them run in the forest by themselves, you never know what might happen to them."

My father gave me one of the harshest tellings-off I had ever received from him. I was sent, along with Lia, to Ryder's room and we waited there like good girls before a loud commotion drew as out to the balcony where we saw Alpha Roland shouting at Alpha Edan and my father before shifting along with his men and running into our forest. My father barred me from going into the forest for three weeks as he sent his generals to scour the forest to make sure that Alpha Roland and his men had truly left.

Apparently, he had tried to get my pack to give up part of their land ten years ago, when Ryder's father was Alpha, and my father was Head Warrior Comannder, they refused to negotiate with him as they knew of the terrible things he had done to other packs, especially to his mate.

Valentina Black was her name, she was the only daughter of an Alpha but after Roland claimed her, he slaughtered her family to take over her pack as his own. He forced her to renounce her family name so that in the eyes of others, she was no longer a proper heir. No one ever saw her again.