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.

Millicent's POV

I found myself in a dark void, falling into a bottomless pit.

Suddenly, I heard someone weeping, telling me to fight the darkness surrounding me. He sounded so much like Alpha Christopher. He was telling me of dreams I was yet to fulfill. His voice was so sad, I tried to pull myself out of the mist surrounding me but I just couldn't. I struggled, wanting to get out of the dark mist, and console him, tell him I was okay but I couldn't.

Then all of a sudden, I was standing in a holo of light. The brightness was blinding. There were trees of various colours and beautiful flowers of various kind everywhere, I could hear voices speaking, I looked around but there seemed to be nobody about.

Christopher kept telling me of his love for me and how he could not live without me. He sounded so sad and lonely that I felt bad for him. 'Millicent, Millicent, come back to me!' he sobbed.

Alot of voices spoke to me. I even fancied I heard Alpha Sylvester confessing his feelings to me.

Then came the voice I had not heard in a long while, telling me how I have come a long way and that all that had happened to me would be a waste of time if I should give up now or die. Die! I exclaimed in my head. Die? I asked. How could I die? I couldn't die. I had a lot of things still undone. The place looked beautiful and peaceful with its beautiful trees and flowers but I had to go and meet these people, whose voices were calling out to me.

'Moon goddess, help me go back to the people who would feel bad if I do not return to them. And help me fulfill my destiny'. With a supreme effort, I forced myself to rise above the fog and opened my eyes, the peaceful scenery with its beautiful trees and flowers was gone, replaced with white walls and equipments of different kinds used in - hospitals, then my eyes fell on a bent head, I looked closely though everything still looked a bit blurry. I saw it was Samantha.

'Samantha, is that you? Where am I?' I asked.

Samantha hugged me, laughing and crying at the same time. She said a lot of things that I couldn't comprehend since my brain was still so woozy and I felt terribly weak.

The doctor came and injected some drugs into me. Then Christopher was there and Sylvester as well. They were all talking to the doctor about how I survived wolfsbane! Wolfsbane'? So that was it? I was poisoned!

Their discussion got to the part where they talked about me being the daughter of an Alpha and I saw the way Samantha was staring at me with puzzlement. I had not wanted her to find this way. I caught her eyes, trying to communicate with her but her eyes seemed to be clouded with hurt.

'I shall explain later', I whispered to her. I was feeling sleepy and slept again.

When I woke this time, it was just Alphas Christopher and Sylvester that I saw beside me.

At first I thought it had all been a dream that Samantha had been there with me. Then I became scared that she may have left in anger that I had not valued our friendship well enough to tell her about my past.

'Where is Samantha?' I asked, looking first at Christopher and then at Sylvester.

'You wake and see us here and the first person you ask about Cathania s your friend. Very flattering!' Christopher said in jest.

I smiled appreciatively but became serious almost at once. 'I appreciate both of you, for caring for me all this while but I need to know if I was dreaming or if Samantha was really here', I said.

'She's been here like the rest of us, even more so, but she had to go home for a bit', Sylvester said, smiling at me. 'She said something about laundry and other female things, I think'.

'Samantha won't leave your side, she was sure that the person who tried to poison you might come to finish off the work', Alpha Christopher said, taking my hands into his. 'Do you remember anything? Do you know how you came to be poisoned?' he asked gently.

'After the scene at the secret house, I was on my way to my room to have a nap when Cathania fell in step with me, walking with me towards the mansion', I started thinking back to what happened afterwards.

I went ahead to tell them about her suggestion about pregnancy and the wine she collected from Sylvester's room which we drank after toasting to truce between us.

'After I downed the contents in my cup, I felt funny and dizzy and everything became blurry. I remember thinking that the wine was stronger than I had thought and that I would have eaten something before drinking it', I said, then concluded with, 'That's the last thing I recall before opening my eyes and finding myself lying here feeling so weak and listless'. Looking around at their faces, wondering why they were being so quiet, I saw that Samantha was back. She must have slipped into the room when I was absorbed in my story. It didn't matter to me when she got here, I was happy that she was back. 'You are back', I smiled happily at her. She nodded, smiling back at me.

When nobody said anything, I said, 'Is there anything I should know about?' Then recalling their talk about wolfsbane, 'I recall hearing you say something about wolfsbane. I was poisoned, wasn't I? Cathania is the culprit, I'm sure. To think I trusted her when she toasted to a truce between us. I was so stupid!'

'Not stupid, my love', Christopher said squeezing my hands reassuringly. 'Never stupid, just naive', he smiled.

'Cathania will pay for this! She will not go Scot free for trying to murder my mate!' Sylvester said.

It was strange hearing him speak with so vehemence against Cathania and very gently to me. I could almost believe he was sincere but I had learnt the hard way not to trust him. Had he not cozied up to me before, making me believe he was a changed person who was trying to make amends for past crimes, only to find out it was all a hoax to help him secure his throne.

'Now that you're awake', Sylvester continued, we shall alert the doctor so that he can check your vitals and give us leave to take you home where you will be given better attention and care'.

I smiled my thanks at Alpha Sylvester, afterall, he had made sure I got the right treatment, no matter what his intentions might be. I looked at Alpha Christopher, he nodded, whether in agreement with my thoughts or with Alpha Sylvester's words, I couldn't be sure, but I was glad I was going home. I hated hospitals with its smell of antiseptics and medicines. Samantha drew close to the bed and gave me a hug, being careful not to hold me too tightly. As if I were an egg, I thought wryly.

'Welcome back!' she said, pulling away slightly so that she could look into my eyes. 'I'm glad to have you back'., she said as she helped me dress and pack for our trip back home.

I smiled. It was going to be alright.