章 8: The Search for Anne
Damien paced the length of his room, his thoughts consumed by the girl from the previous night. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake her from his mind. The memory of her scent, the brief glimpse of her blonde hair and green eyes—it all gnawed at him, demanding his attention. He needed answers.
Without hesitation, he made his way to find his beta, Chris. He found him in the training grounds, overseeing a group of young wolves sparring. Chris was a tall and broad-shouldered wolf with dark hair and sharp features.
"Alpha," Chris greeted, nodding respectfully. "Why are you here? You must rest.
"I am fine." Damien cut him off. His voice was low but urgent. "You were there, right? Tell me everything you saw."
Chris frowned, his brow furrowing as he recalled the events. "Of course. After the party, I saw you heading to your room with a girl."
"I'm sorry, Alpha. I didn't know she had drugged you. If I had, I would have stopped her. I just thought... you wanted some privacy."
Damien fell silent, deep in thought.
After a moment, Damien looked up, his resolve hardening. "Chris, I need you to come with me."
Chris blinked in surprise. "Where are we going, Alpha?"
Damien's eyes were fierce, filled with determination. "Cresent Moon Pack. To find Anne."
"Anne?" Chris repeated, confused. "Who's Anne?"
Damien's gaze sharpened as he spoke the words that had been forming in his mind since he woke up. "My mate, I suppose."
Chris stared at him, taken aback. "Your mate? But I thought, "
"My wolf says she is my mate, but I am not sure. Either way, I need to find her and figure it out for myself," Damien said firmly. Chris nodded in understanding.
***********************************************
Alpha Jackson stood in the grand hall of his pack's estate, his mind swirling with confusion and apprehension. The news that Damien, the son of Alpha Richard and the future Alpha King, was visiting had caught him off guard. Damien's sudden appearance was unexpected.
The door to the hall opened, and Damien entered. Alpha Jackson forced a smile, trying to mask his unease with a façade of politeness.
"Alpha Damien," Jackson greeted, bowing his head slightly. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Damien wasted no time with pleasantries. "I'm here to see Anne," he said, his voice firm, leaving no room for evasion.
Jackson's heart skipped a beat. He had feared this might be the reason for Damien's visit. Anne. The girl who had caused so much trouble and now, even in her absence, continued to stir chaos. He had hoped that the matter had been settled and that Damien would have moved on, but clearly, that was not the case.
"Anne?" Jackson repeated, feigning confusion. "What do you want with her, Alpha Damien?"
"I want to speak with her," Damien replied, his gaze sharp and unyielding. "Now."
Jackson's mind raced as he searched for a way out of the situation. He needed to be careful—one wrong move could provoke Damien's wrath, and that was something he could not afford. But he could not let Damien see Anne. He had to dissuade him somehow.
"Alpha Damien," Jackson began cautiously, "I'm afraid Anne is no longer here. She left the pack."
Damien's eyes narrowed, suspicion flickering across his face. "Where did she go?"
"With her mate," Jackson said quickly, trying to maintain his composure. "She left with him."
Damien's surprise was evident, but it quickly gave way to a cold determination. "Who is her mate? When did this happen?"
Jackson hesitated, the lie already forming on his lips. He had to be convincing. "Her mate is another wolf from our pack. They wanted to start a new life together, away from here."
Damien took a step closer, his presence looming over Jackson like a storm cloud. "You're lying," he accused, his voice low and dangerous. "Tell me the truth, Jackson. Where is Anne?"
Jackson's heart pounded in his chest, and he knew he had to make his story believable or risk Damien's wrath. "I'm not lying, Alpha Damien," he insisted, though his voice wavered slightly.
"Anne was an ambitious girl. She wanted more than what she had here. She saw an opportunity with you, and she tried to take it."
Damien's eyes darkened with anger. "What do you mean?"
Jackson swallowed hard, knowing he was walking on thin ice. "She drugged you, Damien," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "She wanted to seduce you, to become your Luna. But when she was caught, she confessed everything. She admitted that she was trying to climb higher to secure a position of power. But her true mate was from our pack, and she chose to leave with him once her plan failed."
Damien stared at Jackson, disbelief and shock etched across his face. He had come here searching for answers, but the story Jackson was spinning was one he could barely believe. The girl he had been so drawn to, the girl who had captivated his every thought—could she really have been so deceitful?
"She drugged me?" Damien repeated, the words sounding foreign and wrong as they left his mouth.
"Yes," Jackson said, nodding emphatically. "It was all part of her plan. She wanted to use you to better her status, but when it didn't work, she left."
His mind raced, trying to reconcile the image of the girl, the girl who had felt so much like his mate, with the ambitious, deceitful person Jackson was describing.
"Why didn't anyone tell me this sooner?" Damien asked, his voice laced with bitterness.
Jackson quickly seized the opportunity to further solidify his lie. "I didn't want to upset you, Alpha Damien. You were already dealing with so much, and we thought it best to handle it quietly. I didn't want to add to your burdens."
Damien clenched his fists, his emotions a turbulent mix of anger, and betrayal. He didn't know what to believe anymore. The girl he had been so certain was his mate—was it all a lie? Had she really tried to manipulate him, to use him for her own gain?
"Where did she go?" Damien demanded, his voice cold and sharp.
Jackson shook his head, spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I don't know, Alpha Damien. She left with her mate, and they didn't say where they were going. They wanted to start fresh, somewhere far from here."
Damien's eyes bore into Jackson's, searching for any hint of deceit. But Jackson kept his expression carefully neutral, hoping against hope that Damien would buy into his story.
After a long, tense silence, Damien finally stepped back. "If I find out you're lying, Jackson," he warned, his voice a low growl, "there will be consequences. Do you understand?"
"Of course, Alpha Damien," Jackson said quickly, bowing his head. "I would never lie to you."
Damien gave a curt nod. Without another word, he turned and left the grand hall, Chris following closely behind.
As they walked away from the pack, Damien's mind was in turmoil. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong and that Jackson's story didn't quite add up. But if what Jackson had said was true, then the girl he had been so drawn to was nothing more than a schemer, an ambitious half-breed who had tried to manipulate him for her own gain.
And yet, the memory of her scent, her eyes, the way she had felt so much like his mate—those memories refused to fade. They lingered in his mind, stubborn and persistent, like a puzzle he couldn't solve.
"Alpha," Chris said quietly, breaking the silence, "do you believe him?"
Damien didn't answer right away. He was too lost in his thoughts, too consumed by the conflict raging within him. Finally, he shook his head, though his voice was uncertain as he replied. "I don't know, Chris. I don't know what to believe anymore."
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