Third Person POV

Samantha had sent message a Ross to Millicent of her intended visit and Millicent had been expecting her. She came and a maid was sent to call her, but there was no response. The maid, opened the door and looked in but could not see anyone and went downstairs.

'She isn't in her room and I don't know where she has gone to', she told Samantha. 'But she must be close by because I saw her go upstairs with Cathania'.

'With Cathania?' Samantha asked unbelievingly.

The maid nodded. But before she could say more, Christopher came barging in, clutching his chest and panting.

'Where's Millicent?' She's in trouble. I can feel it here', he said in a hurried voice, indicating his chest, which he had been clutching.

Samantha had also sensed that something was not right especially when she heard that Millicent had gone upstairs with Cathania.

'Where's Millicent?' Sylvester who hurried in said, out of breath. 'I need to see Millicent, now!'

No one answered as they all rushed upstairs. Alpha Sylvester was shocked as he stared after them but the urgency of his quest caused him to rush after them. They got to Millicent's room, and pushed the door open.

It was difficult at first to see that there was anyone there. But a thorough search of the room showed Millicent hidden behind her bed, unconscious and barely breathing.

'Millicent, Millicent', Samantha called as she rushed to her side. 'If this is a joke, stop it now!' she added, not wanting to believe that there was anything wrong with her dear friend.

'Call for the doctor immediately', Christopher ordered, looking around fiercely before settling on the maid. Samantha followed the maid down to ensure that the doctor was intimated on how urgent the case was.

Christopher carried Millicent to the bed, his heart beating very fast. He didn't know what to do as they waited for the doctor to arrive, so he did what he felt he could do which was to pray to the moon goddess.

'Oh, moon goddess, I do not really care for you and your ways, but look upon this poor mate of mine and revive her. Do not let her die, she believes so much in your goodness. If not for me, do it for her'.

'Millicent', Christopher said, 'you have to wake up. You cannot leave me this way. You have so many dreams you are yet to fulfill and which we must fulfilled. Fight, my darling fight!'

Sylvester was also agitated. He did not know what could have caused Millicent to collapse. He went to the bed and held her hands.

'Millicent', he said, you are a fighter. I do not know what precipitated your unconscious state but whatever it is cannot be stronger than you. wake from this to those who love you'.

They were still speaking to her, but Christopher was getting really scared because he saw that her breathing was getting weaker and weaker. 'Where is the damn doctor?' he wailed.

'Right here', said a voice. They all turned round to find the doctor at the door. He quickly put on his stethoscope and moved towards the bed, sat at the edge and checked Millicent's heartbeat, shook his head. 'Very low!' he observed.

He bend and perceived her breath. 'What did she last ingest?' he asked.

Everyone looked from one person to the other. No one knew, then they looked at the table to see if they could get a clue but the table was sparkling clean.

'What is wrong with her, Dr.', Sylvester asked.

'I'm not sure but there's a chance that she has been poisoned!' Dr. Kristen said.

'Poisoned!' was chorused by everyone in the room.

'What do you mean 'poisoned', doctor?', Christopher asked. 'Give her an antipoison immediately then'.

'It the s no ordinary poison', Dr. Kristen said, shaking his head sadly. 'She was fed wolfsbane'.

'Wolfsbane!' they chorused again. Wolfsbane' was something that was detrimental to all werewolves. It weakened them and most times kills them if treatment does not commerce immediately.

'What do we do to flush it off her system and revive her?' Christopher asked the doctor.

'It is already too late', the doctor said, sadly.

'I will have none of that. Do all you can to revive her or you shall answer to me!' Alpha Christopher threatened.

'I'll ask that you all vacate the room, so that I can concentrate and do what I can'.

'You will have to do more than that!' Alpha Christopher said.

'It's okay. The doctor knows that already. Millicent must be revived!' Alpha Sylvester said as he waved them all out of the room.

They stayed quiet for a while, each deep in his own thoughts but soon continued their discussion in a bid to ease their fears about the recovery of Millicent and find a sense in what had just happened.

'But who could possibly have poisoned Millicent?' Sylvester asked furious that someone had enough guts to poison his Luna - to - be.

' It must be Cathania', Samantha volunteered. 'Who else would have the guts?'

Everyone looked at her like she was out of her senses.

'How can you even say that? Why would Cathania do any such thing?' Sylvester asked, furious.

'Think about it, Alpha Sylvester', Samantha said respectfully. That she was a friend of the Luna - to - be did not give her the right to speak disrespectfully to either of the Alphas. 'She has a motive, afterall, Millicent was going to overthrow her as Luna of the pack. If Millicent dies, she gets her position back'.

Christopher nodded, seeing the sense in what she had said. Sylvester had to agree that Samantha had a point.

'Moreover', Samantha continued, 'Secilia saw Cathania walk up the stairs with Millicent. She said they came, from the fields, probably from running'.

'Where's Secilia?' Sylvester thundered.

'Yes, my Alpha', Secilia, the maid answered.

'Is what Samantha said right?' Alpha Sylvester asked, 'Did you see Cathania walk up here with Millicent?'

'I did sir, but I do not know if she did anything to ma'am Millicent or not!' Secilia said.

'That is what you get from having two women when you can just continue with the one you have.!' Christopher said to him.

'You caused this! Of you had not tried to rush her into mating with you, she would have long been in her room and might not have met Cathania if she is indeed responsible for this!'

Christopher felt there was no need arguing with Sylvester and moreover, what he did with Millicent was their private business and not open for discussion with others.

They were still talking when the doctor came out of the room.

They all stood up hurriedly to ask if there was any improvement.

'Have you been able to find a way to get her out of her unconscious state?' Christopher asked.

'No, Alpha Christopher', Dr. Kristen said. 'I'll have to take her into the hospital and keep a close eye on her. I have done all that I can do here. Only a miracle can revive her', he said then hastily added, 'but let's take her to the hospital and utilize every facility we have at our disposal'

Millicent was unconscious for weeks. Barely responding to treatment, during which time, no one heard from Cathania. Anytime, the Alphas Sylvester and Christopher could tear themselves away from matters of the pack, they came and stayed with her, and it was often.

Whenever they visited, they had a word or two to say to Millicent in her unconscious state.

'Millicent, surely, you do not want to forego the dreams you've had since your youth?' Christopher would ask. 'I have not told you my dreams but it is just because we have not really had the time to speak much', he laughed in self mockery, remembering that the times they had been together, they had done more of feeling, being consumed by the awesome chemistry they shared - their strong mate bond.

'My dream has always been to make the woman I love, my Luna', Christopher continued. 'For a long time, I could not love anyone. Not that I've not had my own share of female companions, but they hadn't really meant much to me till I met you. You turned my world around. You made me realise there was more to life than sex. You gave me love, made me experience true love. You gave me a reason to live', he said, then in a broken voice, continued, 'But you know what, you will take that reason away, if you don't wake up, because there won't be any reason to keep living. So of you want me dead, then go ahead and sleep on. But if you love me like you have professed,then wake up, let's make a future together where we shall help each other fulfill our dreams'. He bent his head down sobbing. 'You have to fight the poison ravaging your body for your dreams, for me, for us. What will I do without you?'

When Sylvester visited, he had his own to say as well.

'Millicent, I captured you with the intention to make you pay for your father's sins and have maltreated you in ways that I shudder to think about now', he confessed. 'I brought you back to this pack after I sent you on exile, with the misguided intention to help me secure my position as one of the Alphas of this pack, but unknown to me, I had started softening towards you. All those times I thought I was pretending to love you', Alpha Sylvester laughed in self- derision, ' I was actually expressing my real feelings, ironically and fool that I am, I didn't even realise it till I saw you with Christopher. So you see, you have to awake and be my Luna. I'll have it no other way. And if Cathania is really responsible for what happened to you, then I'll make her pay dearly for it!'

Samantha who stayed with her more.

'Look at you, Millicent, my dear friend. Look how far you've come', she said to the unconscious figure lying on the bed before her. 'From a maltreated maid, to a female mated to two Alphas. Envious!' She said with an admiring smile on her face. Then her voice broke and she wiped tears from her eyes. 'But it will all be for naught of you die now. You have alot to live for. You can have either of the strongest men in the kingdom or you could choose the one you'd rather be with. You can have pups with him and rule the pack like the mighty Luna I've always known you'd be someday'.

Samantha was still speaking with her head bent on the bed, when she felt a finger touch her. She jerked upright and found Millicent's eyes fluttering and her hands moving.

'Samantha, is that you?' Millicent asked.

'Who else could it possibly be, you dumb head?' she asked, laughing through her tears.

'Why were you crying?' she asked.

'Crying?', Samantha asked feigning incredulity. 'I wasn't crying, I was laughing'.

'Okay, if you say so', Millicent said tiredly. 'I'm so tired. Where am I?' she asked.

'That reminds me', Samantha said as she rang for the doctor. In her excitement at seeing Millicent awake, she had forgotten the standing instruction to alert the doctor in the event of any change no matter how slight.

The doctor came rushing in. When he saw Millicent's eyes open, he was shocked. He quickly got a syringe, drew a drug from a tiny bottle and administered to the patient, after checking her vitals and confirming she was okay.

Christopher came in at that point and seeing Millicent awake, rushed to the bed and held her hands. 'Millicent love, you're awake. Thank goodness!'

'Christopher, what am I doing here?' she asked.

'It's a long story. Just get well soon and we shall tell you everything', Alpha Christopher assured her. She nodded.

'It is really amazing that she survived the Wolfsbane poisoning. It is only Alpha's that can survive it because of their strong blood!' Dr. Kristen said, shaking his head in wonder as he looked at Millicent.

Sylvester had just come in and heard the last part of the doctor's statement.

'She has Alpha's blood flowing in her veins', Sylvester said.

'Yes, she is an Alpha's daughter!' Christopher confirmed, smiling at Millicent who was busy looking apologetically at Samantha, gauging her reaction. She hadn't wanted her to find out this way.

'Little wonder then, that she survived it', Dr. Kristen said. ' I must confess I hadn't thought she would live. Werewolves rarely do when they consume wolfsbane. Lucky her, she has Alpha blood'. Then gathering some medicines, he put them in a pack. 'She will need extra care in the next couple of weeks', he continued. 'She should not do anything that is too exerting, and must take her medications at the times indicated on them', he said as he kept the pack of medicines on the table beside Millicent's bed.'But for now, she needs some rest. The drug I gave her will make her feel drowsy'.

'I'll explain', Millicent whispered sleepily to Samantha, who nodded.

Both Alphas Christopher and Sylvester refused to leave the hospital. They wanted to keep watch over Millicent till she awoke again. They could not bear to take chances. Not now that the goddess had given her back to them, they were going to make great use of the chance.

Cathania had returned to her pack, scared that she would be found out. Her father had asked her how Alpha Sylvester was and the plans they were making about their marriage and she had given him vague answers and asked to be alone. Her father who had spoiled her silly, left the room so she could have her privacy.

When she did not hear anything connecting her to the condition of Millicent, and her informant in the Moon Ville Pack gave her news that gratified her her heart, she felt easier.

'It is not possible that Millicent will survive, the doctor said so himself', the informant told her. ' He's sure she is on her death bed. He is just treating her to save his own skin from the wrath of both Alphas and make them happy'.

After the news she just heard, she rested assured that Millicent would take the knowledge of her murderer to her grave. But when she did not hear from Alpha Sylvester, she decided to come visit.

'Alpha, you are a marvel. You have not been in contact with the woman you are supposedly engaged with!' she said without preamble when she saw Alpha Sylvester.

Alpha Sylvester just kept looking at her and she became scared. Why was Sylvester so quiet?

'Did I invite you?' Alpha Sylvester asked.

'Do I need any invitation before I can visit you?' Cathania asked, getting furious. 'I have spent my years loving you, waiting for the day I'll be your Luna, and you ask me why I have visited you without being invited?'

'Cathania, why did you do it?' he asked, as though she had not spoken, looking piercingly into her eyes. His eyes were so fierce that Cathania was scared. She had never seen him that way before. Okay, she had seen him look that way but she had never been at the receiving end of his fierce looks and anger.

'Do what?' she asked, thinking that it was not possible that Alpha Sylvester was suspecting her of Millicent's poisoning. And just in case he was, she planned to bluff her way out of it. 'You mean visit without invitation? Do I really need an invitation to visit my fiance?

'Don't play dumb with me, Cathania. We already know you poisoned Millicent with wolfsbane', Alpha Sylvester said in a very deceptively quiet voice.

So he knew then, Cathania thought in panic but felt their long standing relationship would save her. 'If others suspect me, Sylvester, of such a thing, would you not stand by me, knowing that I couldn't do that?' she asked looking pained. 'Where is Millicent anyway?'

'Cathania, we are alone here and I want to hear it from your mouth so that I can help you the best way I can', Sylvester said, still looking at Cathania in a disquieting manner. 'but if you insist on lying about it, you know there are ways of finding out the truth and making you confess to your crime, and by that time, I will not be able to help you!'

Cathania was furious with Millicent. The way Alpha Sylvester was acting showed her that Millicent was still very much alive and she felt her frustration boiling down on her. She was still alive after everything. How had she survived the wolfsbane? Cathania thought in frustrated anger. She was the reason Sylvester was talking and looking at me like a despised stranger. I will never forgive that maid! Little wonder she had not heard of Millicent's death. She had hoped Millicent would die and leave Sylvester to her. Sylvester was hers first, before that maid came, for goodness sake!

'Sylvester, I did it! Cathania said furiously. 'Do you blame me? I have loved you all my life and you choose to side with a maid whose father murdered your parents, over me? What have I ever done to wrong you? Even now, I was doing it for you. I was doing your work. Something you should have done long ago', she was becoming hysterical. 'I do not know why you did not kill her when you murdered her parents! When she was supposed to be serving you, you kept ignoring her rebellious attitude and even when you exiled her, you could not bear to be away from her but went and got her back, hiding behind what the council of elders said.

'Cathania, you were saying, you did it for me. What - exactly, did you do for me?'

'I tried to kill Millicent with wolfsbane, for you, for us, so we could finally be together like we were meant to be', Cathania said. 'But the girl must be a cat with nine lives or a witch and she has refused to die'.

'When did you turn so vengeful and bitter?' Alpha Sylvester asked, shaking his head sadly.

'Since you started ignoring me for your new pet!' she said, laughing hysterically. 'And look who's talking about being vengeful. Were you not vengeful when you murmured her parents and destroyed her pack? Were you not vengeful when you maltreated her when she was a maid here? Are you being hypocritical on me now?'

'I regret all I did against her', Alpha Sylvester said. 'but it's no concern of yours'. Then in a harder tone of voice, his Alpha voice, used in sentencing and giving punishments, he said, 'For the crime of trying to kill the future Luna of the Moon Ville Pack, you shall be kept in custody and I shall decide what punishment will be best to give you. Or better still, Millicent will decide how she would want you to be punished!'

Alpha Sylvester clapped and some warriors came to take her away.

'Take her away and put her in custody, no one is allowed to visit her until she is made to serve the punishment I shall name!'

'You can't be serious, Sylvester!' Cathania shouted, struggling against the hands dragging her away, the scene reminding Alpha Sylvester of how one innocent girl whose parents had just been murdered and her pack destroyed, had struggled to get away from her captors.

'I am the daughter of an Alpha too! You can't treat me like a nobody!'

Millicent was also the daughter of an Alpha when I treated her the way I did and you had no complains about it! Alpha Sylvester thought, sadly.

As she was being dragged away, Cathania happened to look into the adjourning room and saw that there were alot of people gathered there,including the thorn - in - neck- Millicent. And from the disgusted looks on their faces as they looked at her, she knew they had all overheard her confession.

She looked back at Alpha Sylvester with shock, he had set this up. She could not believe that he could do this to her.

'You are starting a war, Sylvester', Cathania said. 'My father will not take kindly to the fact that you are detaining me here!' she said.

'He might change his mind when he hears what your crimes are', Alpha Christopher retorted.'How could you do that to another? You have no Luna qualities in you at all'.

'It is going to be your word against mine! You cannot prove anything!' she said.

'You have just confessed to your crimes. Your confession was recorded and has been sent to your father. He already knows you are paying for the crimes you committed', Samantha said. She could not believe that anyone could be as dubious and heartless as Cathania.

'Even if your father wants war after seeing what you have been up to, then we shall be happy to oblige him and I promise you, the state he will find his pack would be a joke!' Sylvester said, threateningly, before the door shut behind her.