Dante’s POV
Erica was looking at the men in shock. Her mouth was covered with her hands and her eyes were
wide open.
I stood up in alarm and saw the blood trail on the floor.
“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded angrily.
My guards fell before me, bowing low to the ground, not minding the bloody pool beneath their
feet.
“Alpha Dante, we were doing a patrol of the border and we found that the east border was left
unguarded. We began to look for the guard on duty but instead, we found this.”
They opened the sack and a bloody head rolled out. Its eye sockets were empty as if his eyes had
been plucked out. His tongue hung at the side with reckless abandon and a terrible stench filled
the air of my meeting hall.
Erica was horrified and she jumped back in fear, trying her best to get as far away as possible
from the severed head.
“Why would you bring this to me?” I roared angrily
I couldn’t tell what was enraging me: My bloody floor, Erica’s fear, or the fact that one of my
guards had been brutally murdered.
“Forgive us, Alpha Dante. We would have filed a report but we found this in the head and we
thought that you would rather see it in person than hear it from us.”
My eyes narrowed down on them.
“What did you find?”
One of the guards reached into the severed neck and blood gushed everywhere, further staining
my floors and his clothes.
When he retracted his hand, in his grasp, there was a bloody plastic bag.
The guard opened it and pulled out a folded piece of paper. The blood on his hands stained the
white sheet, but nonetheless, he passed it to me.
I looked at the paper skeptically and it began to dawn on me why they decided to bring the entire
head and not just the letter inside. It was possible that they could be charged for treason. They
wanted to show me that they had no hand in this.
I tore the letter open and my eyes glanced through the lines at blazing speed, reading aloud for
everyone to hear.
“Dear Alpha Dante,
I trust that this letter has found you well. I really do hope that you appreciate the unique
envelope that it came in. It is rather life-like, don’t you think? I know that you have the gem and I
know that Alpha Rowland’s daughter is there to help you. I thought it would be wise for me to
make it clear that both of you cannot stop me. I will have the gem and I will bring destruction to
both your packs. I suggest that it is in your best interest that you hand it over to me. If you do
that, I will not lay a finger on your pack and you can forget about this like it never happened.
However, defy me and you will pay the consequences. I am watching you, Dante. Tread with
caution.”
The bottom left corner of the paper was signed with the insignia of Hazan’s Park, ‘The Blood
Moon.’
I placed the letter down on the table and looked at the men with a blank stare in my eyes.
“When did you find this?”
The men bowed lower to the ground and were trembling in fear.
“We found it today, Alpha Dante. But judging by the look of the corpse, we could estimate that
the guard had been dead for two days.”
I balled my fingers into a fist and slammed the desk in anger.
“Mobilize the troops. I want all available personnel fiercely guarding the East border. I fear that
whoever wrote this letter has already infiltrated the pack. I expect everyone to be vigilant for any
suspicious activity.”
“Yes, Alpha! We would do that right away.”
They rolled the head back into the sack and marched briskly to the door.
“And one more thing,” I said, calling out to them.
“Yes, Alpha. Anything you say.”
“No one, absolutely no one, must hear of this. You are to keep your mouth shut and not tell
anyone about what just happened. Send the cleaner in here on your way out as well.”
They nodded silently and left.
I was left alone in the meeting hall with Erica. Her face was pale and she sat silently on the other
side of the table, away from the bloody mess on the floor.
“Erica, we need to figure out a way around this as soon as possible. I can pull the troops together
and you can contact your father to see if he can…”
“Enough, Dante.”
Her words were cold and dismissive and I was silent almost immediately.
I expected her to say something but the silence hung in the air like a looming dark cloud.
“Erica, don’t you understand the gravity of what’s just happened…”
“And are you just going to dismiss what just happened between us a few minutes ago? You lied to
me, Dante. You lied to get me to come to your office. You tricked me. You played on my
vulnerability, just like you’ve always done over the years. Nothing about you has changed. You are
still the same scheming, lying bastard. Look at you! Lying to your entire pack about the danger
that is knocking at their doorstep. Lying to me about an “emergency”. Now that there is an actual
emergency, do you really think I want to stay and talk about it with you?!”
She immediately began to pack up her bag and I stood up in alarm.
“Where are you going?”
“Home, Dante! I’m going home! That’s where I should have been this entire time.”
She slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed towards the door, careful not to step on the
bloody parts on the floor.
“Erica!”
She ignored me and stormed out.
I sat on my chair in dismay. Everything was unraveling and I had no idea what to do.
I sniffed the air and I could still smell the decaying head that the guards had brought in. The
bloody spots on the floor reminded me of how gruesome the sight was.
Soon, there was a gentle knock on the door and it filled me with irritation.
“Who is it?”
“It’s the maid…”