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.

When we got home, I realised that Samantha had actually gone home, not just to do the laundry and have a change of clothes but to clean up my room, so that it would smell fresh and look welcoming when I got home. There were flowers everywhere, most of them, Sundrops, lilies and roses.

'Samantha, thanks so much for this', I smiled at her.

'Alpha Sylvester made this possible. We got these flowers from his garden', Samantha whispered to me.

'Really?' I whispered, shocked. Was this not the same garden he didn't want anyone entering? My close shove with death must have made him feel very guilty especially since it was his love that brought it on and he just wanted to relieve his conscience.

'Yes', Samantha was saying. 'Alpha Christopher asked that we go to the florist and get the best flowers to decorate your room and the entire palace for the special occasion of your homecoming but Alpha Sylvester forestalled and asked us to take them from his garden and make sure we make the whole place look more beautiful than it had ever been'.

'I must say, I'm surprised because Sylvester normally doesn't allow people into his garden!' I said, shaking my head incredulously at what I had heard.

'Are you telling me?' Samantha asked. 'I know about the reserved area. Are you forgetting I was formally living here in this pack?' she asked. 'And what a garden it is. I've never seen such a garden before. All the wonderful flowers are there!' she gushed. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was talking about the man and not the garden.

'Please take good care of her, Samantha', Christopher said, touching me slightly on the shoulder and when I looked at him, he smiled at me and I smiled back at him.

Sylvester had gone into his room as soon as we got into the mansion, asking Samantha to help me dress for the party. I was to come down when I had rested enough. The party was going to go ahead, the Alphas were celebrating my recovery from a death threatening ordeal.The maids left as soon as Alpha Christopher took his leave.

'You are so lucky to have such a male as your mate', she said, no longer whispering. 'In fact, see how the two most handsome and powerful men in this pack and indeed all around the packs, are falling over each other to win your heart. Your fortune has indeed changed!'

'You don't know the half of it!' I said, remembering the first and only time I had been in the garden. I hadn't seen it's glory as Samantha was describing it, because I was not concentrating on it then but had been shocked at what I had overheard and was anxious to get away before being made a scape goat.

'That is because you have decided not to confide in me!' Samantha said, looking at me oddly.

'Samantha', I said, sitting on the bed and being propped up, with my head on the pillow. 'I am sorry. I never meant to keep anything from you. But you see, the situation at that time required me to say as less as I could possibly say about my past'.

'You allowed all to threat you like a maid when you were actually a princess. I don't think I could endure that. But I had thought we were really close', she said, and I could hear the hurt in her voice. 'I confided everything in you. You could not reciprocate?'

'I have said that I am sorry. I didn't want the word to go round but I also didn't want you to find out this way', I said 'but since you have found out, I shall tell you the rest!'

'Maybe we should leave it till after the party?' Samantha asked, looking at the clock on the wall.

'I'd rather tell it now than later. The party can hold or go on without me. You are more important'.

Samantha smiled and we hugged. I then went ahead to tell her about the Crescent Pack, where I was born and from where Alpha Sylvester got me. I told her how my pack was destroyed and my parents murdered. 'The rest you know. You were a witness to how he has maltreated me. That night of his engagement to Cathania, he nearly raped me and made me watch as he mated with her, them kicked me away, literally, after rejecting me as his mate!'

Samantha was shocked after hearing all this. 'You had to endure all this alone, when you could have unburdened yourself by sharing your pains with me', she said.

'Thank you, my dear Samantha but apart from not wanting the word to go out,about my pack, I wanted to spare you all this. You were sharing too much of my burdens and I knew you had yours too'.

'But Alpha Sylvester is changed now. I can see the way he treats you. And from the way he looks at you, he is really smitten with you'.

'I doubt it, Samantha', I said.

'Why?' she asked. 'You came back to the pack, you must have felt something for him as well. That night you left without telling anyone, he kept calling out for you and sent out his men to search for you but no one knew where you had gone'.

'I came back for my vengeance. He has to pay for what he did to me', I said.

'Could you not forgive him? He is really a changed person'.

'Changed you say?', I laughed, bitterly. 'Your Alpha Sylvester came for me because he had been told that he needed me by his side if he wanted to retain his position and to avert the misfortune befalling the pack!'

'That can't be true', Samantha said frowning in disbelief. 'The way he looks at you, shows her s feelings for you are deep and sincere'.

'He is a great actor. I overheard him talking to the Cathania he told me he had severed all ties with and sent away, in his precious garden and he was asking her to be patient because he was sure he had made me fall in love with him and that after what I'd help them with, then, he would separate from me and make her his one and only Luna', I told her smiling bitterly. 'To think I had started forcing myself to trust him before hearing that!'

'Oh, so sad and heartless of them!' she said. 'But you love him, don't you?'

'I don't!' I said.

'You don't?' she asked. 'What female did not have a crush on Alpha Sylvester?'

'I never did, maybe because I saw my parents and how they died, anytime I looked at him', I said, matter - of - factly. 'I might have liked him a little when I came back but it all died when I discovered his reason for wanting me back'.

'What about Alpha Christopher?' she asked and I blushed.

'What about him?' I asked, avoiding her eyes.

'I already have my answer', she said. She was being really perceptive. 'You do love him, don't you?'

'Samantha, it's a long story. I love him but they are both mated to me and I cannot have them both, do not want to, but...'

'But what?'

'I still have to avenge the death of my parents. His good behaviour right now cannot make up for the lost he cost me'.

'How will you still have the intention to carried out your vengeance on him when you are in love with his twin?' she asked.

'That's the complication I am facing. I tried to fight the attraction but I could not', I said. 'I've been told of mate bonds and all that but I did not feel that with Sylvester'.

'How could you when you already hated him? Samantha asked. 'Your hated and quest for vengeance, of course suppressed the feelings you would have had for him', I said, 'And I must say, he did not help matters with the may he treated you when you served as a maid here. But you will have to reconsider if you really love Alpha Christopher. But do you know what happened to your pack afterwards?'

'I don't. But I assume that since all was wiped out by the ruthless Alpha Sylvester, it is no longer existent'.

'You never can tell. Why don't you try and find out, now that you have the resources as the future Luna?' she asked.

I nodded thoughtfully , wondering why I had never thought of it. 'You have a point there', I said. 'It is worth a try'.