Chapter 36 - A nail in the wheel

Narcia growled furiously at the man that stood in front of her, how dare he show himself on a day like this, it was absolutely disgusting to her.

"Narcia... I know you aren't happy to see me—"

"Unhappy to see you would be an understatement, Silviano." She gritted through her teeth, her eyes glowing as her wolf, Mia, decided his visit was unwanted.

"I get that we had our fair share of bad moments in the past, but I am not here to torment you. I came to help with the funeral and all... The Bloodstream pack and yours have had a peace treaty for years, we need to honor the passing alpha with our support and presence. If you will allow it." Silviano said with a slight bow, showing he already respected her as the new alpha of the pack.

She huffed at him, her frustration having yet to dissipate, she could however notice that he really was trying to be polite, she needed help ruling anyway, so perhaps she would use him.

"Fine, tell some of your wolves to go assist with preparations. I have somewhere to be—" She stated as she turned on her heels, her arm quickly getting caught by Silviano, his hold was gentle.

"I also came with a proposal... You don't have to be alone with this, I know how painful it is." Silviano quietly said as he gently cupped her cheek, softly passing his fingers along her chin, he smiled when she hummed.

"I am not preoccupied with that kind of thing at the moment, Silviano." She said as she felt the purring of the large alpha besides her, it was almost soothing her pain.

"I don't ask that you think of it now, but I would be by your side to rule if you let me. Two alphas mating would make strong children, and a strong bond." Silviano said, snapping her out of the trance for a moment, she did not want to give up on Liam just yet.

She pulled away, walking towards the healing lady's house with a quick pace, she could barelly believe the audacity of Silviano, could he not stop thinking about mating for once? It was one of the biggest reasons she had left him beside his constant gaslighting and abuse, she hated his constant hurge to mate or have sex.

She had given in to the latter regretfully, thinking it was her duty as a woman to please the man she was with, but that was in the past and she had always refused him knotting her or even try to

claim her, it would not change today.

She walked into the house, not even bothering to knock, the scene was quite gruesome, her mother lay quietly on the kitchen table, bandages covering her whole torso while Daughtela stood bloody besides her, blood covering every inch of the floor that led to them.

"How is the Luna?" Narcia asked softly, her tone void of tremors as she walked toward the two women, she wasn't as calm inside, but she wouldn't allow herself to slip and show it.

"Your mother is in quite the critical state, her liver and her small intestines were ripped out of her, though they still hung to her body so I was able to put them back in place, the damage was mostly outside but I did have to stop two haemorrhage." She said as she slowly sowed her mothers right leg side, clearly taking her time to make sure it was as well done as possible.

It pained her to know her mother had been put through so much, it made the room feel small and disgusting, it reaked of blood and sweat, she took a few more steps, looking at her unconscious mother with sadness.

"Will she be alright..?"

"Undoubtedly, she simply requires a few days of rest. She is strong, I want to believe this won'tbe her gruesome end." The woman said as she bit the wire, snapping it and making a small tight knot to stop it from getting out of the skin.

Daughtela sighed and turned to face Narcia, a soft expression laying on her face as she took her large full body apron off, putting it into what looked like a hazard basket before she faced the new alpha.

"It must be so hard for you, honey. I really hope you don't isolate yourself like your grandmother did." She said as Narcia frowned, turning herself away from her mother to face the woman, confusion profound on her features.

"My grandmother? Was she not the Luna as well?" She asked as Daughtela chuckled and shook her head, walking closer to Narcia, her arms stretched out to her and grasped her hands.

"No, your father's mother was the previous alpha for many years. She met your grandfather and realized they were mates, in order to have him abandon his old pack, she offered her title in exchange for his love. His pack agreed and they mated, she then became the Luna." The woman said, making Narcia nod in understanding, smiling as her head pivoted to look at her sleeping mother.

"She must've really loved grandfather to abandon her title for him."

"She sure did."

-

Liam sighed in relief as Matheo slowed down, arriving on the territory the Silverfang pack owned, he quickly jumped off Matheo's back, landing on the ground with a slight crackle of leaves as he started to walk towards the house.

Matheo turned back to normal, grabbing the backpack out of Liam's hand in a swift swing, it made him chuckle before he looked at the chaos that was occuring in the distance.

"It's weird, it's like theres more people than when we left..." Liam said as Matheo quickly took a look, standing besides Liam now dressed from the clothes they had previously stored in the bag.

"That's because there is... Those are not from our pack, I wonder what the hell is going on." Matheo said in a suspicious tone, not liking at all that some other pack's wolves were running around their town.

The boys quickly started to run, feet digging into the muddy ground, trying to understand what was going on, it wasn't making sense that another pack was here during mourning unless they had ulterior motives.

"Oh ho! Look who we have here... If its not little Lili." A voice echoed before Liam's arm was violent grabbed, causing him to nearly fall backwards from the sudden halt in his course.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Liam said as he ripped the hand off himself, looking furiously at the man that stood in front of him, his stomach dropped and anger filled his face as he recognized the guy.

"You don't belong here human, what the hell do you think you're doing running around such sacred ground?" Silviano growled as his eyes glowed, showing his tame, ugly brown eyes.

"I belong here more than you do! Who the hell gave you the right to decide whether I'm allowed to be here or not?" Liam spat out to him, his veins pusling his blood to a fast pace, sweat starting to show on his forehead from his anger.

The boy looked around as if he was amused by the situation, putting his hand on his face with a chuckle, it infuriated the boy even further.

"Well, I am to be the future mate of this pack's alpha, you're nothing compared to me as I have a wolf and a pack behind me." Silviano stated, Liam's blood slowly leaving his face as he realized why Silviano had come here.

He wasn't there for sympathy, he wasn't there for the man that had been lost to these people, he was here to claim possession of Narcia, and it made him boil on the inside.

The lack of respect he was displaying simply repulsed Liam and Matheo, not only that, but he seemed to be completely forgetting that Narcia already had a mate.

That mate was him.

"How dare you—"

His breath was cut, eyes scanning around in fear and confusion before noticing the wolf's hand that had gripped his throat, blocking his airway.

"Watch you're mouth Lili, you're worth nothing here, to anyone." Silviano growled, barelly lifting Liam up as he was slightly smaller than him, it made Liam smile.

"Neither... are... you to... Narcia—" He said before Silviano's claws digged into his neck, making him grunt in pain, suddenly realizing how powerless he actually was compared to these guys.

It frightened him, knowing all his training and muscles came close to nothing when it came to supernatural strength, was he even worth Narcia's time if he couldn't defend even himself?

"Enough! Put him down right now Silviano!" Matheo growled, his eyes glowing emerald green as he took a step closer to the alpha male.

"Or what beta? There is nothing you can comand me to do, you're a runt... Not even a regular wolf." Silviano stated, sadness and pain flashed on Matheo's face before he looked up with determination, not wanting to put himself any more down than Silviano had.

"I will fight you if you don't, this will cause you to attack me for your defense and then the whole pack will see you as an enemy." Matheo said with confidence, receiving an eyebrow raise from Silviano before he rolled his eyes and let go of Liam, the poor boy gasped for oxygen.

"I doubt they would, but killing you would only bore me." Silviano said as he started walking away, wiping the blood off his pants, it was a clear sign of disrespect that Liam didn't care to be bothered with.

"If he thinks Narcia would ever get back with his ass, he clearly doesn't know her." Matheo stated as Liam held his neck, feeling the warm blood leaking through his fingers.

"Actually, he might just be able to pull it off." Matheo then stated, his words trailing off into the wind, it had completely caught Liam off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"Narcia just lost her parents, or at least her father is dead and her mother is missing. She now needs to rule the pack on her own since, to her knowledge, you don't plan to help her. He already rules his pack, which means he has experience and something worth giving... More wolves." Matheo said as he watched Liam's face pale, he hadn't realized just how bad of a disadvantage he actually was in, his heart was hurting at the thought of Narcia being mated to someone else.

"We need to find Narcia. I need to tell her how I feel and that she isn't alone."

"How you feel? What do you mean?"

"I can't say I love her, but I definitely don't want her with anyone else aside from me... I need to forgive her first, I wanted time but I don't have it. So I am forgiving her now... I want to try and give this thing a chance." Liam said with uncertainty, trying was the best he could do, if he did not give it a chance now, he could lose it forever.

"Alright, but let's get you to the healer first, the claws went deep and its making you lose a lot of blood." Matheo agreed as he grabbed his friend's arm, quickly making his way towards Daughtela's house.

The wolf knocked softly, waiting as Liam coughed a bit, his neck was swollen and very uncomfortable, that wasn't counting the regular flow of blood that ran down his fingers, dripping onto the ground.

The lady quickly acknowledged the presence at her door, heels clicking rapidly behind the door before it slowly opened.

"Good evening Matheo... Oh dear, what happened to our little friend here?" She said a bit alarmed at the state Liam was in, his face was already losing colors.

"It's multiple small stab wounds caused by claws, he can't heal it at all because he is human." Matheo stated as the woman nodded, gently pulling Liam inside, adding blood to what already covered the floor.

They made their way to the kitchen where she lay the boy against the kitchen counter, a groan leaving him as Matheo gasped, rushing over to Narcia that was facing away from them while she stood by her mother's side.

"Oh my god! The Luna was found!?" Matheo said as he stopped by his friend, her eyes focused on the hand that held her mother's own, tears threatening to fall out of her eyelids.

"Yeah... I don't know if she will make it based on her injuries..." Narcia said almost absent-minded as she rubbed the hand she held, it was clear she wasn't entirely there.

"Sweetie, I need you to give me the sewing kit besides you, this boy is bleeding too much, I need to sceal his wounds immediately." Daughtela said as Narcia nodded, gently grabbing the box and turning around before her whole body froze, eyes locking with Liam's as he struggled to breathe.

The box fell from her hands, tears leaving her eyes at the sight, the needles and bobs fell with a shatter of the glass container, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Oh dear!" Daughtela exclaimed as she quickly grabbed what she needed from the floor, quickly disinfecting the needles as Narcia moved closer, her hand covering her mouth.

"Hey, sorry to barge..." Liam struggled to speak out, blood slipping out with every movement of his jaw, it was a frightening sight.

"Liam... Oh god... I didn't realize you were here... What happened!?" Narcia said in terror before snapping towards Matheo who lifted his arms up in defense as his new alpha growled her way towards him.

"Look, I ain't got nothing to be blamed with! Your other alpha here, mister lover brute over at your house nearly strangled him to display his superiority and crush the competition. If I hadn't stepped in, Liam would be dead now." Matheo said in anger as he crossed his arms, temporarily being cut off by Liam's hisses as the healer sowed his neck wounds.

Narcia's eye twitched at the news, she couldn't believe Silviano had dared lay his hands on Liam, how far was he willing to go just to have her as his mate? Though she clearly had her answer just how far he was willing to go.

Why did he keep doing this?

"I've heard enough, he will pay for this—"

"Wait... Don't. It's dangerous. I need to speak with you. Please wait." Liam managed out, gulping as his throat slowly dried with anxiety.

He had to tell her the truth, it was now or never.