What happened then?" Gideon asked.

His father heaved a long sigh, "well, the remaining alphas guided and led the rest of the wolves here, to the Eastwood. Here, they settled and since they were still three alphas left, they all couldn't lead under one alpha and so, they divided themselves to make their own packs. The mates of the two alphas were to join in any pack and when their sons were born, they were allocated lands to build their own packs as alphas. However, after the escape from the human's clutches, it was discovered that every pregnant wolf then survived. No one knew why they survived since they should have been the first to be killed since pregnancy reduces the strength of she-wolves. It wasn't until wolves put to bed and the pups showed difference from the normal pups they have known that they began to suspect something was wrong or in this case, different."

"What difference?" Gideon frowned.

"Not only are they not affected or deformed as everyone had feared with the amount of wolfsbane their mothers took but they were faster. They walked earlier than usual and not just that, they can play with the traps the human laid in the forest, traps that parents knew were coated in wolfsbane. All the pups that were born at that time had the same ability, their wolves were faster on their paws and they were immune to wolfsbane. It was during that time that what our forefathers had thought would be a curse ended up being a blessing. They had feared the wolfbane their mothers took would damage them but not only did it not damage them, it upgraded them, made them stronger than average wolves. Eventually, all our forefathers died and we the children, immune to wolfbane, grew the packs with our off spring. This is why Eastwood only have five packs, because they were only five alphas. Our fore fathers had trained us to be on the low, it was why the Alpha King never knew of our existence all these years."

"And now they do," Gideon said.

"And now they do," the man repeated, "because she forced us out of our shells. We have lived in the Eastwood for centuries, hidden from the rest of our kind and the alpha king and now she has thrown us out into their face. The sins of our forefathers may have been years ago, but what is to say that we still won't be punished when he finds us? As much as I would love to ask you to abandon this mission, we are not safe either way. If we don't find who she wants, she would kill us all and if we are found by the alpha king, he would make us rogues, strip us off our alpha powers because rogues are not meant to have alphas."

"What can we do now, father?"

"We can only carry out her mission while we stay clear off from the alpha king and his warriors. We have to protect our people Gideon and I would like to place my bet that she would save us from the alpha king if we are loyal to her."

Gideon groaned. "We are majestic creatures father, how can we owe our lives to one woman. Now, the fear of the alpha king is understandable but I don't know why we have to fear her. If we team up we can take her."

"Don't underestimate that woman son for only I know what she is capable off. I saw how she murdered those elders, Alpha Joel almost lost his life while trying to help me. Don't forget that she made me like this to make sure my loyalty lies with her. I am living on a thread son, she can easily kill me if we back out. Do I need to remind you how she killed your mother? You may be little but you saw it didn't you?"

Gideon closed his eyes, trying to fight away the painful memory. It was his third-year birthday and his mother had thrown a party for him only for dark smokes to appear from nowhere, ruining everything and then a woman emerged from the middle of the smokes. She commanded them like they were nothing but her servants and when his father refused to obey, she had come for him and to save him, his poor mother had jumped in, taking the attack. He shuddered at the pain he felt that almost consumed him and he opened his eyes, they were wet with tears and so he nodded at his father. "I will not rest until I find her and also, I think I already have a suspect."

"You do?" the man's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes father but I will need to get a closer look to be sure and to do that, I will need to do something."

"What is that?"

"I will to attend human high-school," he smirked.

***

"Finally, look who decided to come home," Asher heard immediately he appeared in the living room of his father's palace. The room was dark but he could clearly see the man sitting on his favorite sofa. He saw him wave his hand and the whole place became illuminated. "Didn't your little girlfriend tell you to see me as soon as you woke up?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Asher gulped and greeted, "hello dad."

"What happened?" Edward asked.

Asher knew his father well enough and instantly knew what he was asking of. "I fought a shadowy like creature."

Edward frowned, "elaborate."

"It was like a shadow in form of a man, and it was kind of smokey and indestructible."

"Then how did you kill it?"

"That's the thing dad," Asher rubbed his hand at the back of his neck, "I don't know."

Edward stared at his son, he knew he wasn't lying to him, there was no benefit from it.

"All I know was that I was fighting it and then I passed out? The next thing I know, I was asking Naomi if she was okay before I passed out again. But one thing I picked up from that time was that the danger was gone, the threat has been defeated but I really don't know how I did it. It's one of the reasons I wanted to see you. You are one of the oldest beings I know, maybe you will know what it is and how you think I killed it?"

Edward said nothing but Asher knew he was thinking and he also knew from his face that his father doesn't seem to have encounter such creature as well.

"It was a ghoul," he heard a feminine voice say and turned sharply at the stairs to see the beautiful woman standing by it. Her black hair was blacker than he remembered and her gray eyes, although filled with warmth, he could see the fear as well.

"Aunt Irene," Asher screamed, "you are back," he rushed her and picked up in a hug, twirling around.

"Have you no respect for my mate, boy?" a masculine voice asked and he laughed before putting Irene down.

"Uncle Rasmus," Asher turned to the man and shook his hand before he was pulled into a hug.

"If you are done with the touchy moment, can we address the issue here?" Edward said with disinterest at their reunion and to Irene, he said, "did you say ghoul?"

Asher stared at his father and coughed 'killjoy'. However, he knew he heard him but he didn't care.

Irene smiled but it didn't reach her eyes and she answered Edward, "yes, ghouls. I have been seeing them a lot in my vision these days. They are innocent souls of humans who died prematurely and their soul cannot have peace because they believed that their lives were ripped out of them. And in a way, they were but she didn't care, it is her doing after all. They are her army."

"What?" Asher asked in shock.

Irene nodded, "she caused their deaths, knowing fully well that them dying prematurely will directly make them ghouls. Catherine is not a weak opponent," she glanced at Edward, "she is not a witch, a wolf, a vampire, a demon or a human. All I know now is that she is a very strong being that can easily end us whenever she deems fit and it was a miracle that she didn't do it long ago. However, if I think of how badly she wanted the throne and then Asher, I can't help but feel like they both play an important role for her. It's obvious that the mysterious power in Asher is none like we have ever seen and I have been having this theory for a while now. What if the power inside Asher is a part of her? What if she wants the throne so bad because there is a little of her inside it too? Because think of it, why the throne, why Asher? She has been hiding in the Blue Moon pack for years as a healer, why didn't she ever show herself? Why do so when Asher was conceived?"