The Ritual.

"RYSON."

The mural in that building had been of a Mara Ryson, and the alpha's symbol read Ryson...

Kristensen was dumbstruck. Her eyes fixated on the alpha's symbol till they hurt. She was short of shaking her head in denial.

How could it be? She wondered. Although she knew Ryson wasn't an uncommon last name, finding it in Crandale - especially where she wond up was something out of the ordinary. How could there be such a coincidence?

Then, the owner of the alpha's symbol was somehow related to her? Her eyes narrowed deep in thought - her parents?

The woman she saw wasn't her mother - she was sure her mother couldn't have changed that much since the last time she saw and, most importantly - dead?

Kristensen tossed that thought out the window. It couldn't be them. Why would they show her such care? She denied it without a second thought.

Mara Ryson - was she the owner of the alpha's symbol, or did she only guard the symbol?

Who was she..?

And how did she end up drawn at a rundown place like The Camp?

While Kristensen was grippling with the unsettling discovery, Isaac had already begun the ritual.

The alpha's symbol, the plate it was, flooded in the air as it shone brightly in length to Isaac's eyes, and his eyes were shining brighter emerald than Winnie's.

His whole focus was on it - seemingly trying to make some connection with the thing. It hissed a while, then shook, sending pulses through the whole chamber.

The pulses in the chamber grew stronger, finding a strange rhythm with Kristensen's heartbeat. She watched with trepidation as the alpha's symbol continued to emanate its radiant glow, seemingly responding to Isaac's intentions.

Isaac's movements became deliberate. The hue exuded from the emerald glow in his eyes till it covered his whole body.

The alpha's symbol, now a vibrant focal point, emitted waves of light that cast intricate patterns on the chamber walls - the same kaleidoscope of wolves as Kristensen's had produced on her classification.

She instinctively knew what the lights were - blue and green - sparse red there, they were representions of wolves that had submitted to that alpha - willingly or not. Kristensen, her grey wolf body shivered.

She couldn't imagine how many of them had willingly given up their power to that alpha.

"Stop." Said Kristensen in a weak hazed voice. "Stop."

With a little ounce of her power embedded in her voice, she tried to call out, but the incense had taken effect. Her head and body were muddled.

Kristensen couldn't shake the feeling that this was than more than a mere ritual. Was she going to become a beam of light, too?

Isaac's emerald eyes held a glint of satisfaction as he concluded the ritual and her grew with every passing moment.

As Isaac made the final connection with the alpha's symbol, she felt the disorientation intensify. The floral scent permeated the chamber, clouding her thoughts and weakening her resolve. Kristensen struggled to maintain clarity amidst the intoxicating effects of the poison.

Kristensen remembered how much she'd let things be in Alba, thinking she had more time and would do them when she had the chance.

Finding love - traveling and quitting her job for a more stress less one. She regretted it, the way she'd lived before arriving at this unfathomable place - she regretted how she'd spent the last ten years since her parents left.

How old was she? Fifteen. The last time she saw Macy and Gerald Pint, she was only fifteen years old.

Was she really going to die after finding out she can transform into a wolf? Fur, fangs, and claws... Kristensen was indignant, but her body and head were so heavy that it was taking all her willpower to keep her eyes open.

Hatred. Rage. The emotions toiled in her mind and heart as she lazily watched Isaac immersed in the ritual. She couldn't help but wonder - if she had the chance - could she kill him?

Kristensen's eyes narrowed with a glint of killing intent. What she hated the most was being powerless.

While she was pondering, she felt sudden suction of the power she'd gotten after the transformation. The human-wolf figurine in her subconscious, losing its solid shine and becoming unsteady. Kristensen's eyes widened in alarm. She forgot her intoxication then...

Isaac, now seemingly attuned to the power of the alpha's symbol, turned his gaze towards Kristensen. "Yes, your turn. Do it - let it all out, and give me all that power."

The weight of his words poured cold water on her, and she gained a moment of clarity amidst all the haze and muddleheadedness.

Kristensen wanted to struggle out of the whirlpool, the feeling of her breath taken away from her forcefully, yet she couldn't find where or how to extract herself.

The human-wolf figurine was now blurry, and the intense pain as though countless knives were stabbing every inch of her body in and out came back. It caught Kristensen off guard she howled.

The only saving grace was that she was already lying down. Kristensen, in her wolf form, writhed.

"Don't fight it. Don't... I'm sorry but I have to do this. You're - you're my key to a better life." Said Isaac as he watched Kristensen with naked greed, anticipation, and excitement.

His glowing emerald eyes brightened all the more, and he showed his teeth.

Since Isaac could remember, everyone looked up to alphas and favored omegas while he - the beta, was caught between the two - to do all their dirty work.

He hated it. He hated them, and he hated himself.

All he'd wanted was to find his true mate and live out the rest of his life working for his alpha house - House of Caston Maddison - and yet, that dream turned out to be a luxury.

He met him - the masked figure - and had never known freedom.

Isaac let out a crazed laugh then. He watched Kristensen writhing and howling on the floor, clearly in extreme pain - couldn't contain his excitement.

To him, it was an indication that the ritual was working. He was going to inherit the power in the alpha's symbol.

"Yes. It was all worth it. Even if they come after me for this, I won't regret it. I'll never regret any of it." Said Isaac excitedly.

He will be an alpha..! No matter what it took.

As the alpha's symbol channeled energy from Kristensen, a distant howl echoed through the chamber. The howl carried a resonance of immense power - ancient, passed through generations, and the room trembled with an energy that surpassed Isaac's intentions.

Isaac, though, in his overly excited state, failed to notice the difference and turned into his wolf form.

In the chamber lay a majestic grey wolf, writhing and struggling, and a brown wolf - staring intently at the alpha's symbol, waiting for the inheritance.

Somehow, amidst all the struggle, Kristensen managed to form a connection with the alpha's symbol.

She found herself back in the room of that building they'd found Mara Ryson's mural. The room was pristine white, only a red veiled woman, the contrast in color.

"You're late." Said Mara as she turned towards Kristensen. "Late but in better condition than I'd thought, that's good too."

Kristensen turned around to look for the person Mara was talking to but found no one, only her - the wolf and Mara - in red were there.

Mara let out a chuckle before she flicked her hand towards Kristensen, her aura and hue seeming to engulf the whole space. "Turn."

With that growl, Kristensen found herself back in her human form - stark naked.

"Where am I?" She asked as a red cloth fell on her body. Kristensen was bewildered, one moment she'd been writhing in pain getting sucked dry by the alpha's symbol, and the next moment, she was in some beautiful painting - or the mural.

Mara's gaze on her was probing. She could tell the other party was not mildly interested in her but wholly interested in her. Kristensen was baffled. Aside from their shared last name, there shouldn't be much to make the other party watch her that intently.

"This, it should be my conscience or the alpha's symbol's. Either one is good." Responded Mara lazily.

"Why am I here?" Asked Kristensen, her vigilance at hundred percent. To her, that alpha's symbol had never given her a good feeling or it had been used against her every time she saw it.

It wasn't anything good.

Mara walked towards Kristensen unhurriedly, each step shaking her heart badly that Kristensen wanted to tell her to stop but found that she was unable to. Her alpha-ism was undoubtedly suppressed.

"It won't do you good to inherit the power here while I'm still alive. Even if I'm dead, it won't do you good. It's best to form your own rather than harness the alpha's symbol. Take my advice, or you'll die." Said Mara when she stopped in front of Kristensen.

Kristensen shook her head repeatedly, "I didn't, I really didn't. It's my bad luck that someone tried to use me as a bridge to the power."

"You're so big now. Maybe I didn't make a mistake back then. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold on for..." Mara sighed as she watched her. "I'll wait for you as long as I can."

Kristensen stood there, confused. Even as Mara hugged her and she went to the chamber, she was utterly confused.

Her eyes darted around the room to see Mara again or the room she was, but it was only Isaac in his wolf form, his eyes filled with greed that met her.

She attempted to stand on all fours and found the disorientation from before, and the heaviness on her limbs was gone, as though the effects of desert-rose were cleansed by something. It was the only tangible thing that confirmed to Kristensen that she really had met that woman - Mara Ryson.

The majestic grey wolf stepped out from the cluster of chains and snarled.

It was only then that Isaac noticed something was wrong - something had gone terribly wrong. He didn't wait for Kristensen to say anything, Isaac lunged at full speed.

The fight between the two wolves ensued in the chamber as the wolves tore, clawed, and bit each other.

Kristensen fell into a disadvantage at some point in the fight, her grey fur painted red in blood, and she staggered back.

Her crimson silver eyes watched Isaac vigilantly -

His eyes were filled with malice and craze, Isaac had lost his mind when the connection he'd made with the alpha's symbol broke.

He'd been so close - so close and failed. Isaac couldn't understand where he'd gone wrong with the ritual. Everything was there - the alpha, to be used as the bridge - the betas and omegas he'd sacrificed...

What went wrong?

His glowing emerald eyes were clouded with insanity.

Whilst the two wolves faced each each other, they didn't see as Kristensen's blood swamped to the now dimmed alpha's symbol.

Every drop of blood Kristensen shed, the alpha's symbol drank it all.

Isaac lunged forth again towards Kristensen with an immense intent to kill but a flux of energy - the mantle of alpha abruptly thwarted him against the wall with chains.

The sound of bones breaking as Isaac fell to the ground shook Kristensen out of her stupor. The alpha's symbol was no longer shining the color of the moon but the thick color of blood.

By then, the fatigue and wariness of the night caught up to Kristensen, and she fell unconscious.