Chapter 5 Blood and Wine

ANAPHEL's POV

We had left the Alpha and Sienna together whilst I left with Cristus and the others. It was completely silent when my mate decided to break the silence with a question.

"Anaphel baby..."

"Yes..."

"Why do you look so happy? Not that I don't want you to be. It's just been a while since I have seen you smile so much. With everything going on you have been extremely stressed and busy but now you look like you just came out of a sauna."

I couldn't help laughing at my loves comparison. He knows I have never been to a sauna yet he's using that simile again.

"Mmm... I just feel like everything's better than it was before. I mean, a regret was leaving Sienna alone there in that pack but now she's here, everything just feels right. I know for a fact Sienna is going to be an amazing Luna. I'm sure of it. I can't wait till I can talk with her again. I just missed her, you know?"

Cristus took me in his arms and swung me side to side while humming like he understood. Everything was perfect until we heard a large bang coming from the direction we came from. Both Cristus, me and the others (Sapheus, Henrietta, Ulysses and Daemon) looked at each other and then ran towards the noise.

On the way back there we ran into Sienna. She had so much hatred in her eyes that it scared me. Yet, I could just about see another emotion in her eyes as she ran passed. There was a small amount of heartbreak and guilt in her eyes.

She ran passed me and the group without thinking of even stopping. It seemed like she hadn't even seen us. Just as I was about to go after her I saw Eldrich come out of the room looking like the world had ended. All the boys ran up to Alpha asking what had happened but only 2 sentences continued to spill out of his mouth.

'She rejected me. She doesn't want me.'

I could tell the rest of the boys were shocked as I was. Sienna rejected him? Sienna did? That's not possible. Sienna would never do that.

My emotion had probably taken over again as I grabbed Eldrich's collar in fury. "What the heck do you mean she rejected you? Sienna would never do that! What the heck did you do?"

The boys and ELdrich were surprised at my outburst as I could see Cristus becoming concerned from the corner of my eyes. Those who talked to an Alpha with disrespect, without any permission from the Luna or alpha, would get executed on the spot. But I didn't care. Not for the execution. Or Cristus's attempt at trying to take my hand to calm me down.

"Explain what happened Eldrich!!! What did she say?"

I was furious. So much so I couldn't care about my whimpering wolf who was telling me I had a death wish. Or the fact I called him by his name without the alpha. It was forbidden to do unless you had permission from the alpha or his mate. Eldrich had snapped out of his trance as he took my hand of his collar and then gave me a death glare before saying:

"If you weren't Cristus's mate I wouldn't have hesitated to kill you right now. You are not to speak to me like that!"

His eyes had changed into their usual blankness that I wished would disappear. Though all I probably was to him was his best friends mate, to me he was a friend. Family. And now my best friends mate. I hated the way his eyes showed no emotion yet with Sienna his eyes were full of life and he was animated. Now again, he was cold. I wasn't going to let this happen. Both Sienna and Eldrich deserved a happy ending and I was going to make sure that was going to happen. With my new found confidence I again stood up against the Alpha knowing full well I was probably going to die for my disobedience.

Cristus had his arms wrapped around me most likely keeping me from Eldrich but also from my fury. I could tell Cristus was holding a growl as he had to be respectful toward his brother yet his wolf instincts were telling him to protect me instead. Cristus wasn't the only one on edge though. So were Henrietta and Sapheus, yet they couldn't do much. It wasn't their fight. It was mine. Ignoring the tension I asked again but with more anger as he was getting on my nerves...

"I asked what happened not why you aren't killing me! I need to know what happened in order to help you and her."

ELdrich began laughing at my statement as he repeated "Help me and her? How are you going to do that? You don't know-"

Interrupting the Alpha again, I seriously have a death wish, I stated in a cocky voice just to annoy him, " I know more than you do regarding Sienna. She might be your mate but she was and is my best friend first."

I walked off straight after I said that. One because I was scared as hell at what I just did. No one and I mean no one has any right to say that someone knows one's mate more then their own mate. It was an unspoken rule that only mate now each other better then anyone else. Just mentioning knowing ones mate more then their soulmates hurts not only the pride of the wolf but is also seen as treason towards the moon goddess which insinuates death. So imagine saying that to an Alpha...

Yes its not a pleasant thing. The second plan was to find Sienna. There's no way Eldrich was going to tell me what had happened, so the only way to find out was through Sienna. I had to know. I'm a nosy person in general but I will be more if it regards my family.

I could hear Cristus and the others yelling after me but I ignored them as my main priority was Sienna. Cristus's probably going to kill me before Eldrich gets his hand on me. I mean I disobeyed him twice now infront of the others so his prides gotta hurt. He may not seem like it but he is possessive in a cute way and you get punished if you challenge him in any way. Consequence of having a Delta General mate.

Running through the hallway my feet instinctively took me to the forest behind the house as I remembered that Sienna found comfort in nature. I was right as I saw her sat near a small stream not so far from home.

Noticing my presence she turned around with wide eyes which were red and puffy. She had been crying? That's the second time I had ever seen her cry and just like last time I was shocked.

Slowly walking up to her, I sat next to her and just stayed quiet as both of us looked out into the sunset accompanied by her settling sniffles. It was beginning to become night after such an eventful day. I was tired of the silence after a while so I placed my hand on her shoulder to only regret it as she winced and moved away. It was her injured shoulder.

"I'm sorry. Forgot about the injury. But Sienna please talk to me. Alpha said you rejected him. That's not true, right? You always wanted a mate."

Unfortunately I was met with silence again. I couldn't help looking at her closely this time. In the hospital wing I was to happy to realize anything but now looking at her I couldn't help but question who was in front of me. She had completely changed. The joyous, lovable girl was no where to be found instead there was an empty shell. What had happened to her?

"Sienna... What happened to you?"

I tried again to only get rewarded with silence. As I was about to get up to leave and grab something when I heard a small whimper escape from Sienna. She had said something I hadn't heard.

"Sienna...Sienna!? Omg are you okay!? Talk to me!"

"I'm sorry *sniffle* I'm so sorry.."

She is apologizing?

"What happened sweetheart? Why you apologizing?"

Again I was left without an answer. Well at least I thought I was. Though she wasn't answering my questions, she replied with a question of her own.

"Why are in this pack Anaphel? The one pack that you had to be in has to be the one that is home to that murderer! Why?" Sienna screamed near the end which made me shuffle back. I was confused. Frightened. What is she on about? My questions were answered almost as though she had read my mind..

"That Alpha of yours is the one who killed our pack! He ordered the slaughter of the whole pack! He killed them all! Pups included! No one was spared! Why are you in the pack that killed your family!!!"

"W-what? Sienna, Eldrich wouldn't do something like that. He isn't like-"

"His names Eldrich Young right?" I nodded my head " And this this is the packs mark." She drew on the ground with a twig which resembled the mark tattoo that all wolves were expected have have if they had a pack. It was how they were distinguished between rouges and pack wolves. Again I nodded. It was our pack mark and only the Alpha can give it to someone when they join the pack. It would only come off if the alpha claws made a cross sign over it.

"The wolves that attacked the pack all had this mark imprinted on their fur. When the slaughtering was nearly over and there was only roughly 13 of us left, the one who killed the rest of us had a glowing mark. One that showed he was of high rank of this pack. The right hand man of the Alpha I would guess. Not to mention, HE mentioned Eldrich's name and something about him returning before he noticed they were gone too long. "

My heart dropped, "No..No..That's not possible..He wouldn't do that.."

They were directed towards SIenna yet, they were the words that I tried to believe in and convince myself more than Sienna. I needed those words. I knew I would lose all hope in believing Eldrich as innocent if I lost hope in those words. Its seemed so fake yet everything was real. But everything was pointing to Eldrich and this pack. Eldrich killed my old pack. Why? I may have not loved them but they were still family. So why?

I could feel tears run down my cheeks almost like a waterfall. I didn't want to believe it yet the rush but detailed drawing on the ground proved that Sienna had come across this packs members. It was impossible to know other wolf pack marks because it was a forbidden thing to talk about in my previous pack. No one knew. We never studied it so she had to have seen that mark on the slaughterer.

I was shivering at the new information I had. I looked up at Sienna and she seemed much worse. I could see that her soul wasn't here. She was most likely reliving through what happened. It broke me. She looked so tired and shattered. I wanted to share her pain with her. I had to. She was always there for me; it's the least I could do. After calming my breaths I asked the question that could either break or make my future. A question that would probably haunt me forever.

"Sienna... Can you tell me what happened after I left? Everything and don't miss a piece of information."

It has been roughly 2 weeks since Anaphel had left the pack to go to her mate's pack. It has also been around 4 weeks since I was temporarily thrown out of the pack for what i hadn't done. I'm not going to lie, I hold a grudge against both my brother and dad for what they did since they technically lied about Mum's death and blamed it on me. Yet I didn't hate them. I don't now why but deep down I knew something was wrong. The way they acted when they sent me away, it looked like they were holding back tears. Even that idiot brother of mine looked like he was hurt when he throw me out. But maybe I was imagining it?

Life here wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though it felt like I was a rogue as I needed to hunt for my food and compete with others for it, which I didnt have to do before. It was done for me by those who were assigned to do the hunting, whilst I did my job of being the 'brain' of the pack. Despite my young age I had been seen as one of the top fighters and intelligence in the pack. My daily life was full of boring meetings and work but I also had more free time due to my Father's and Mother's help. Though I complained about it and wished to be alone most of the time, I now wish that I had people with me. It's scary being alone. I do get sneaky visitors from the pack at times but now that Anaphel has left they too have stopped coming, probably the better choice because if they were caught then they might be punished for it.

Too caught up in my thoughts i hadn't realized the smoke raising a few miles in front of where I currently reside. I didnt realize it till the disgusting smell of something burning wafted through my 'home' and into my nostrils. This was followed by what sounded like screams. I had ran out instinctively to see only a few miles away from here a ferocious fire burning everything in its way. Then it hit. It was in the direction of my pack. No it was my pack that was a blazed in flames.

Running as fast as my legs could take me I arrived to the entrance of my pack land. I had only taken a step through the border and I could already see the destruction before my eyes. The dead chard bodies of my pack. The terrified look on everyone's face. The screams of horror that penetrated the previous silent evening that was only a few minutes ago.

My feet sprang into action and I began to run into buildings that I could hear people shouting from all sides, whilst dodging the fights that were surrounding me. I wanted to help but the priority in a wolf fight is to ensure the survival of the pack members, plus wolves had there own stations and jobs in situations like this and mine is to make a path for the children to escape.

"Sienna!! Help please! I'm scared!" A familiar voice shouted when I had entered the building. It was Henry. Henry was one of the pups who I would read to in my spare time. He stood out because he was always loud and confident which others would confuse for arrogance. For a 5 year old he was talented but was reckless.

He reminded me of me and it just lead to us being quite close. So when I saw him and some other pups stuck under a beam that had fallen, my motherly instinct had taken over and I ran in through the flames to save them. After a few heavy lifting I had counted 6 pups in total in this room. Apparently there was a total of 7 so I was missing one. My main priority was to get these 6 out first and that's what i did. I had taken the 3 who couldn't walk on to my back and had the other 3 follow next to me out of the building.

Thankfully the last pup that was supposed to be in that building was already at the bottom with her mother. I had entrusted the children to the mother and told her to take them out of the pack to my cave. The kids knew where it was after all they did visit a lot.

"What about you Sienna?" The mother had asked.

"Yeah we can't leave you here. Come with us" Henry pleaded.

I smiled at the little boys actions as he was always headstrong and refused to plead to anyone.

"I'll follow after I get the rest of the pups and people, okay? I need you to promise me that you will stay with Hannah (mother) and the rest of the pups in the cave until I say its safe. Can you do that for me?" I questioned as I kneeled down to look into Henry's eye.

I could see the conflict in his eyes as I knew how much he hated sitting back whilst others were doing something. Despite him being 5 years old, he had the mindset and empathetic heart of someone much older.

"Can you do that for me please? Your the only one I can trust." I repeated again as I saw he was conflicted to leave everyone else.

"Promise me you will come back to us safe and sound?" Henry asked in a quiet mumble that I would have not heard if not for my wolf.

"Of course." I smiled.

I was met by Henry's small smile as he nodded his head to show he was ready to go. I showed them the path that lead them to the cave. When they were out of my sights I ran into the other buildings to help the others.

I had repeated this 3 times and had counted 11 pups, 7 mother and 3 elderly. As I was about to go into the next house I saw a wolf from the corner of my eyes that I recognized as my brother. He was currently fighting 2 of the trespassers and was completely distracted to see that there was another wolf about to pounce on him.

I had caught sight of the wolf and rapidly attacked the wolf in my wolf form. I normally didn't fight in my wolf form but it was crucial that I had taken down this wolf. I had slammed the wolf across the ground and straight into a tree. He fell unconscious or was dead, I didn't know and didn't really care either, and this had alerted my brother and the wolves he was fighting. Due to the distraction my brother had gotten the upper hand and was able to take them both down without much struggle.

He ran up to me with a stern face and I could tell he was angry. So just before he could yell at me through the mind link I replied in a quite cocky manner:

"Yeah, yeah I know I'm not suppose to be here. But just for the record I saved your life that was about to be ripped into shreds. So where's the thank you?" I smirked knowing I had gotten on a nerve of my arrogant brother. Before he could answer we were interrupted by more wolves. I had gotten into a fighting stance and was ready to pounce when I heard a voice in my head.

"What are you doing here Sienna?! Get back to the forest now!!" It was my dad.

"No I'm helping. You can give me a punishment later." I cut the mind link before he had the opportunity to yell at me and force me back into the forest.

The fight had began and thankfully my father had made no attempt to try and drag me back. Though to be honest he was quite preoccupied with the wolves like everyone else.

I had taken down roughly 5 wolves and was in combat with two other wolves when a deep and rough voice screeched through the battlefield. I turned around to come face to face with both my brother and father on the floor with large scars across their human bodies with blood gushing out. Yes human bodies. They had de-transformed. This only happens when your wolf is near to death and your body can't hold the transformation much longer.

I had attempted to run up to them to only be stopped by that same voice again. This time the sight made my stomach drop and churn in anger, fear and horror.

There stood a man roughly 6'8' with a built body littered with veins that popped out which seemed like a paper cut could slice through to his veins and end his blood flow. He had a short beard that looked that it hadn't been washed in years with fresh blood splatted and stained onto it. His eyes were black as the night sky which contained no source of light or life in them just pure hatred. They were the symbol of death. Lower down his skeleton and rigid face was a scar that ran from the bottom of the cheek bone to under his neck. Its was blood shot red. The sinister smile that was plastered on his face made him look like the Joker as his face showed he was crazy.

Crazy for blood.

Death.

Pain.

But his appearance wasn't what shocked me. No. It was what he held in his skeleton hand. Dangling from his hand by the hair was a little girl. Her face was adorned with her own blood and her small chest was not moving like it would every other day. Her tear stained face was frozen in fear as her body hung lifelessly in that mans hands. Through my shock i had shifted back into my human form.

"A-Alissa. No.. what did you do?" My voice shock as it all came rushing in. The girl i just saw a few minutes ago is now hanging lifeless from an unknown psycho. Cynical laughter reverberated as the man threw the poor girl onto the floor.

"What did i do? I didn't do anything sweetie. This was her fate."

"Fate? What the hell are you on about you.. you...You monster!!!!!" I bellowed at the still hysterical man.

"Monster? Me? Far from it sweetie. I'm your soulmate."

What the heck is he on about? My soulmate?