It takes us most of the next day to reach the coven and I realise that Isaac was right; pregnancy, however early on I am, is having an effect on my strength. I'm exhausted and Nate has to frequently slow down just to allow me to catch up.

His large size doesn't help, his strides are much longer than my own, meaning I have to work twice as hard as normal to keep up. Isaac tries to go at a gentle pace to make it easier on me, but he often overtakes me accidentally and has to stop to let me rest. After hours of this, our destination is in sight.

We approach the coven gates but draw to a halt when someone drops from the ramparts, landing in front of us.

"State your names and business."

It's a female's voice, but it is hard to tell it was her speaking as there is a large black cloak covering her features.

"Alpha Isaac and Luna Isobel of the Dawnguard Pack. We - "

The witch lowers her hood and Isaac shuts up.

"Gillian?"

"It's been a while hasn't it Alpha?"

She conjoures some clothes for us, tossing them to us.

"I'm not having you two walking naked through my coven. Have some decency Alpha." She patiently waits for us to dress then beckons for us to follow her. "Come to my office. No doubt we have much to discuss, specifically why you are so far from your pack."

**********

We are both seated in front of Gillian's desk as she surveys us with her dark eyes, waiting for one of us to start the conversation, to explain our presence. There is a knock on the door.

"Come in."

A man in a hoodie enters, the hood obscuring his face but I'd recognise his scent anywhere.

Matthew.

As one, me and Jack snarl, our claws starting to come out and we pounce, punching his body with as much force as possible, Jack now having full control.

Punch after punch we throw at his face, each one landing, fury making us faster than his dodging skills. Fucking traitor.

"We trusted you," I say between each punch. "And you betrayed us!" He opens his mouth to speak and I punch him again.

"It." Punch. "Wasn't." Punch. "Me." Punch. I suddenly feel comprehension through the bond from Isaac and Nate as I continue to beat Matthew up. Throwing an uppercut under his chin, he howls as his head flies back, but our human form's strength is not quite enough to snap the bastard's neck.

"Iz, get off him," Isaac orders.

"He deserves this." I know Matthew is just healing after each punch but I keep pummelling him, no longer caring, only wanting to inflict as much damage as possible on the person who hurt us, who hurt our mate.

"Iz, stop," Isaac growls. I ignore him, continually punching Matthew.

He sighs and his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me off Matthew but I fight him, struggling and writhing in his grasp.

"Stop fighting Iz. It wasn't him. Just listen."

Only when I realise he's not going to let me go, do I finally stop trying murder the pair of them and relax in his arms. However he does not release me, clearly not trusting me to control myself.

"Matthew, take a seat." Gillian says, conjuring a chair for him which he drags himself into. She hands him a tissue to wipe the blood off his face from his injuries. "Alpha, kindly release your mate and sit down the pair of you. There is a large problem pertaining to all of you which needs to be solved."

Reluctantly, Isaac lets me go and I sit in a chair beside him, my eyes boring holes into Matthew's skull.

"My sources have indicated that something is disrupting the natural order of your pack. However, due to my methods of collecting information I cannot be sure what. Matthew, I believe we should start with the reason you are here to help me piece together the problem. You have already told me what happened to you but these two do not know, judging by Isobel's attack, so please do deign to explain." Gillian instructs and he turns to us.

"Whatever you think I've done, it wasn't me," He starts. "On the day I mindlinked you, there was a body. At least, I thought it was. I was out for a run to keep Keir quiet when I saw the Praetorian's garments on the ground. Naturally, I tried to work out what had happened and at that point I mindlinked you.

I

was jumped from behind and knocked unconscious. When I woke up I was tied to a tree, and I could hear the sound of a fight nearby. I can only assume it was you and Isobel fighting them. I heard them take both of you out really quickly. After they knocked you both unconscious, they came past, dragging your bodies. It was me dragging those bodies."

"Wait, I thought you were tied up?" I ask, confused.

"I was. As I watched, they changed form, morphing into a woman. She had dark eyes and hair. She paid no attention to me, having seemed to have forgotten that she left me there. I managed to shift into my wolf form and escape before she came back. However, she didn't kill me, meaning most likely she didn't kill the Praetorian, if he was ever killed in the first place. She couldn't have killed him as - "

My thoughts flick back to the writing on the cell wall. Shifter. Not werewolf. Shapeshifter. It wasn't Matthew who put me on trial; it was this woman who did.

"She was the Praetorian," I finish and he looks at me in surprise.

"You knew?" He says, confused by my reaction.

"Not until you told us what happened. When I was taken in for interrogation, my cell had the word shifter written on the wall. At the time I thought nothing of it but now it makes sense."

Isaac doesn't seem convinced, sceptical.

"How do we know you're not lying?" He asks Matthew

"I can tell when someone's lying. He definitely isn't. I believe I know who this woman is from his description; I just need to hear what happened to you two to confirm my suspicions." Gillian answers for him.

Me and Isaac both start to speak at the same time but stop and both indicate that the other should start. We argue for a couple of seconds before Isaac gives in and begins to retell events to Gillian, occasionally asking for my input in places where I have better knowledge of the situation.

Matthew's eyes widen when we reach the most recent events that transpired, events that occurred in his name. Guilt is evident on his features and he messes with his hair, twisting the long strands around his fingers anxiously, despite the fact we both now know that he wasn't responsible for what happened.

"I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Gillian asserts, lending him a comforting smile.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have beaten you up without giving you a chance to explain yourself," I apologize.

"Don't worry about it. I've experienced worse." Matthew accepts my apology gracefully, giving me a nod of understanding.

"I'm glad you didn't betray us Matthew. You're like a little brother to me." Isaac smiles, both of them standing and embracing eachother.

"Awe, thanks big brother." Even now, Matthew refuses to take Isaac seriously.

I guess some things will never change.

I guess not, I laugh.

Gillian appears deep in thought, sitting silently hands clasped in front of her. She notices me blatantly staring at her and give a me a tight smile before reverting back to her pensive state.

Isaac and Matthew retake their seats and we all sit, watching Gillian patiently. Eventually she stirs.

"I know who caused this."

"Who?" Matthew asks, as eager as the rest of us for the identity of the person who has caused all of these issues for all of us.

"Apate," Gillian says. We stare at her blankly, in utter confusion.

"Never heard of him." Isaac states what the group of us are thinking.

"Her," she corrects. "Apate is the goddess and personification of deceit, lies, fraud and anything similar to those. She's one of the daughters of Nyx, goddess of the night, and fathered by Erebus, god of darkness, granting her the ability to see in darkness as if it were broad daylight. She  has no remorse and thrives on confusing and manipulating us mortals, but her key motivation is her mother. Nyx was imprisoned in the sky by Lord Zeus, meaning she can no longer manifest in her physical form, and therefore Apate's only way of seeing her is to escape her prison and reach the Overworld i.e. here.

Apate does not appear in recent history, having been imprisoned for the past 3000 years due to aiding Lady Hera in a quest for vengeance against Lord Zeus' mortal mistress, Semele. This resulted in the poor woman's death and Lord Zeus was furious, imprisoning her in Tartarus for millennia. Her loneliness led to an obsession with seeing her mother. It's unhinged her, meaning she is incredibly dangerous and she will go to any lengths to achieve this goal. Thankfully, she was still imprisoned - until recently."

About twenty years ago she managed to slip past her guards, no doubt with the help of her father, and was able to flee to the Overworld. We had never been successful in tracking her down before but it appears that she has committed a grave misstep in attempting to take over your pack. She has revealed herself and left herself open to attack; this could be our only chance to catch and banish her."

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Hello again!

Right ....

Listen, I know I said that after the last chapter upload schedule would slow down drastically again. Well, I might be wrong (I hope I am). I've realised that I've actually written out a lot of the future chapters which means that this book might possibly even be finished by Christmas. (Don't bet on it though).

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
WORxxx