At one point, I felt out of breath while running through the woods. I never imagined the situation would be this serious in just a couple of hours. First werewolves, then a freaking demon and now a bunch of vicious faes. What was I doing here anyway? I had nothing to do with all of this. The commotion was between the werewolves and the faes, and I was pulled into it by some invisible thread. Perhaps the thread of fate.

Veer held my hand tightly as we were speeding forward. I was sure it wasn't humanly possible of how fast we were moving. Then also, none of us were human. Although I never got a chance to face this kind of situation before, I was aware of my origin now.

The swarm followed us closed behind, and soon they caught up with us. We were terribly outnumbered. Two faes appeared in front of us making us halt abruptly. Veer caught my hand and pushed me behind him. Panting fast, I peeped from behind his back while clutching his bare arm tightly. Panic crept under my skin. The situation was horrifying and I was extremely scared. My eyes widened in astonishment when their tiny frames started simmering and a moment later, began expanding. The tiny lights took humanoid forms in a matter of seconds. I was awestruck by the sight I witnessed in front of us.

The faes were covered in a greenish-white glowing mist. In place of their hair, they wore certain kind of head-dresses which seemed to be made from jeweled leaves and creepers. Their eyes were covered with golden colored shades and those prominent plump lips were glossy light- pink. They wore armored silvery uniform. And then, I discovered the most amazing body part of the faes. Their huge, luminous, sparkling, and translucent wings of a variety of colors. They left me in awe. But my stupor was short-lived. Both of the faes stretched their hands outward and two sharp swords appeared out of thin air.

I gaped at them astounded, realizing their powerful magic. Meanwhile, I was painfully aware of the rest of them surrounding us. Slowly, they all began to change their forms. From my peripheral vision I noticed they all wore similar outfits and were glowing. More or less twenty faes closed in on us. I gulped realizing the severity of the situation.

A low growl reverberated from the back of Veer's throat as his form changed back to his wolf-man hybrid in a blink of an eye. I slipped behind him as he took an attacking stance.

One of the two faes stepped forward and said, "You're in our territory. You'll die."

Veer growled and bared his teeth at them, preparing himself to attack. Suddenly I heard a faint snarl inside me.

'Mani? Is it you?' I asked, hopeful of my wolf's presence.

'Let me out!' She snarled outrageously. 'Danger! Mate... in danger! Let me out!'

I didn't quite understand her exact words, but it was intelligible enough to know that she was anxious about the situation and could sense the underlying danger.

My ears perked up as one of the faes said, "Wolf, we'll let you go unharmed only if you give her to us."

In response Veer let out a loud growl. Definitely, he wasn't going to back off.

I did not understand why did they want me to go with them. Then I realized, I was half-fae and perhaps, they knew it too. Now the question was what did they want from me. My wolf became more restless.

When Veer didn't even budge, the two faes charged forward and I heard the loudest growl I ever encountered in my whole life. Veer pulled me in by my waist then leapt five feet up in the air. That sudden move startled the faes. They raised their magic swords and leapt up as well. The wolf crashed into one of the faes and bared his teeth to scare him off. But the faes were faster. They leaped forward and with their swords they slashed onto Veer's back. I watched horrified as blood gushed out of his wound. He bellowed once, then charged forward and attacked the fae standing in front. I was still held under one of his giant arms. My wolf howled inside and suddenly my head started throbbing. My eyes burned as my vision tinted yellow. What was happening?

Veer had bitten two of the faes before jumping overhead and perfectly landing on the opposite side—several feet away from the faes. The faes turned around swiftly and charged forward while Veer threw me over his shoulder and started running. I looked up and saw the faes chasing him with vicious ferocity. Some of them running and others were up in the air. We would never be able to win against them.

The wolf underneath me snarled and kicked a few trees on the way. The trunks shook violently and fell over separating us from the swarm of the faes. I looked up and saw the faes had stopped chasing and now were glaring at us cruelly.

"They stopped!" I declared breathlessly.

Veer responded by putting me down on the ground. "That was the end of their territory. The moment they'd cross the border, werewolves would wage a war against them."

Oh!

Veer added, "Werewolves are territorial. They protect their land with all they have. One threat... and they'll turn rabid and destroy everything on their way. The faes know it all too well. So, they behaved."

I nodded understandingly. But then, a thought crossed my mind. "Why did they want me?"

He didn't respond to that, but urged me to follow him. The forest was dead silent at this point. Not even crickets were chirping. It felt distinguishably eerie. As if, even the wilderness knew something lethal was up.

When we finally return to the watchtower, Ved was already waiting in front of the stairs. Veer gestured with a small head tilt towards his brother who returned a wary stare. "What's wrong?"

"Faes attacked."

"What?" Ved asked in a surprised tone.

"And wanted to take her with them."

A look of concern crossed Ved's face as his eyes swayed between me and his twin. After a momentary silence, he said grimly, "Well, two Weres from our security team have been killed. We need to make a move right now."

"What? When?" Now it was Veer's turn to get surprised.

"I got informed a few minutes back. I was waiting for you to return." He looked between us before settling his eyes on his twin.

"Why didn't you contact me earlier?" Veer demanded haughtily as he made a move towards the backside of the tower. Ved quietly gestured me to follow him before answering his brother. "I thought you needed some alone time."

As a response, Veer made a noise between a cough and scoff. Clearly, he faked it. I rolled my eyes and followed the twins.

We walked around the tower when I noticed the jeep parked there. I was still in the same awful oversized clothes, even my bra was still hanging inside the washroom. Veer climbed on to the driver's seat, Ved copied and climbed on as well. I followed them and hopped onto the backside before the jeep roared to life.

A few minutes passed in relentless silence. In the end, I couldn't hold my ever-growing curiosity and excitement anymore.

I blurted all of a sudden, "I know the situation is critical. But I have questions, and if I don't get their answers, my head might explode. So, please tell me."

There was a momentary pause as I waited apprehensively for any of them to response. A few minutes later, Ved agreed. "Okay."

I released a breath of relief before asking directly, "Why did they want me?"

Veer's body tensed up as Ved started, "To answer that question, you need to understand the severity of fae-wolf dispute."

I nodded sagely. "Yeah. Veer told me. They killed a few wolves, wrongly accusing them as killers of four fae guards."

Ved shook his head. "That was just the cover. The real reason was two rogues."

"Rogues?" Now, what the hell were rogues?

Ved nodded. "Rogues are any strayed member, belonging to any supernatural species, who walks the earth on their own."

My eyebrows rose on their own. I eagerly waited to learn more.

Ved continued, "Exactly twenty-two years ago, the fae queen declared war against the werewolves and the reason was two rogues—one is a werewolf, our ex-beta's daughter, and another is the fae prince, the fae queen's elder son."

My breath hitched in my throat. "Er—" But my real shock was yet to arrive and when it did, I sat there lightening-struck as my whole world turned upside down.

"They're your parents Urvi."

~~~

The jeep ran fast through the zig-zag mountain roads, often taking turns. The chilly wind swept over causing goosebumps to erupt throughout my skin. After the unexpected blow came from Ved, I felt completely numb and blank. No thoughts ran through my mind as they were all tangled up inside. Since I made no response, Veer pulled over the jeep at one point just for him to climb off the driver's seat. He came round and jumped onto the back of the jeep to sit beside me.

I made no reaction to acknowledge his presence beside me. Ved replaced his brother's place and got into the driver's seat. The engine came alive once again. I was aware of Veer's eyes on me the whole time but all my pent-up emotions made it impossible for me to form any coherent words to hold a conversation at that moment.

"Are you okay?" He asked shortly.

I snapped impulsively, "Do I look okay? Or should I feel okay after knowing my parents are still alive while I believed I was an orphan throughout my whole existence?"

He reached and grabbed one of my hands. I was about to snatch it away, but his hold was stronger. He didn't let go and after a short while I felt my fueling anger subsiding.

I shifted my eyes to him directly and asked, "What happened?"

He took a deep breath before opening his mouth. "Your father, Xanfire, was the crown prince at the moment when he first met our previous beta's daughter, your mother. Your mother, Rusha, has always been lively. She owns the ability to make friends quickly and, although her wolf was petite and omega, her potent blood held a unique ability. One drop and it can inflict excruciating pain in the body."

My eyebrows creased. I blinked at him, stupefied.

He explained. "Each werewolf possesses a unique power. It reveals itself at the time of their first shift, and therefore decides the ranking of the wolves."

"What's yours?"

"I have commands over tranquilizing energy. I can stabilize internal energy conflicts to some extent."

I bit the insides of my cheeks remembering the intimacy I'd had with him few hours back. It was, in fact, him healing my internal energy wars. My face flushed as I turned my head towards his twin, who was driving the jeep quietly. "And his?"

"Ved possesses enhanced awareness. For example, he can sense one's origin by their scent."

I blinked. Was it the reason he took me in without questioning me anything? That meant... he knew it! He knew who I was since the first time we met! I breathed as realization sank in.

Then another thought crossed my mind. If every werewolf possessed certain kinds of magical abilities, I must also have some. What was it then? I guess I wouldn't know until I shift to my wolf.

Veer continued. "Xanfire and Rusha's mating wasn't acceptable."

I looked at him, quizzically. "Why?"

"Interspecies mating is prohibited. They say, it can lead to the demise of a whole species. The offspring of the interspecies mating may either be generous enough to sacrifice themselves or be vicious enough to end it all."

I bit my lower lip as Veer went on. "The fae-queen, Mythia Sarragnhe, despised werewolves from a very long time for werewolves are the only one keeping them away from invading human world. And since the day she learned her son fell in love with one of the werewolves, she raged out and banished Xanfire from her kingdom. Xanfire then eloped with Rusha. No one heard from them afterwards."

I sucked in a deep breath. It must be my parents. They kept sending me financial support until I turned twenty, and then it stopped suddenly. My chest tightened with an unknown fear. Panicked, I turned towards Veer and blurted, "Till I turned twenty, I always received financial help from some unknown source. But it stopped suddenly. Do you think..." my voice broke as I let it out, "something might've happened to them?"

Veer squeezed my hand softly. "We'll find it out soon."

After that, no one talked until we reached the pack house.

The moment we reached, Ved jumped off the Jeep and hurried inside the house. Veer got off as well and I followed him close behind. We went inside and rushed to the corridor where the dead bodies were found. I located Abhay, Neera and one of the board of directors whose name I remembered was Trilok. Veer hunched down as he examined the bodies. I went closer to him and watched those corpses closely. Both of them had a black wound right in the middle of their chest. It looked like thick clotted blood, that couldn't come out of their bodies.

Ved asked, "Who found them?"

Abhay answered, "Me."

Veer stood up and muttered, "The wound's looking like clotted blood, but..."

Ved completed his sentence, "But is actually poison."

"Exactly." Veer approved.

"Uncle Trilok, what else you've got?" Ved asked, then ordered Abhay soon after, "Take the bodies to Ashifa. She should be able to find some other details we might be missing here."

Neera was silent until now. She spoke for the first time, "Let us go to the meeting room first."

Trilok nodded his consent. We all followed Neera thereafter to the meeting room and settled down around the table.

Trilok started, "It happened three hours ago. Alpha and three others of our board of directors are out to attain the thirty-first session of Fae-Were understanding. They haven't yet returned. Only I, along with Neera and four guards were home, as it's the office hours for most of the Rudra S&I's employees." He paused momentarily before adding, "Somehow, the culprit broke into the security and attacked the guards. Abhay and Deepam were at South and West side of the house." He looked at Abhay as the latter nodded, agreeing to his statement. Trilok continued, "While after two hours they were to change positions, Abhay found them in the middle of the eastern side corridor together. Apparently, the killer bought the victim's corpse from the north to east after killing him."

Everyone frowned.

Veer asked, "But who might it be?"

Neera suggested, "Could it be Noraak?"

"No." Ved denied. "We've injured him today afternoon, around two o'clock. He is useless till dawn tomorrow."

"Could they be the faes?" I hesitantly asked in a whisper.

"No. Faes don't use Poison to kill. Their swords are enough for one to die then and there."

"Then who it was? And the most important question is why would he kill the two guards?" Veer asked. "Apparently, there's no other damage has been done."

Trilok nodded as a sign of confirmation. But none made any attempt to respond. At that moment, I felt a sudden pain in my belly. I tried to tolerate it as much possible. The clock on the wall showed 4:15 a.m. in the morning. Soon the first ray of the Sun would come out.

Trilok was about to say something when another Werewolf, whom I haven't seen earlier burst into the room, panting heavily.

"Deepam!" Neera exclaimed, "What happened?"

"Ashifa has found something. She's calling all of you in the laboratory, including the new girl." Instantly, six pairs of questioning eyes turned on me. Squirming at their gazes, I sank lower in my sit.