I woke up in Alaric's arms, something that I never thought would happen. Something that should have happened the night we first met, but because of a stupid curse and a raging man rogue Alpha, everything was put on hold. Secrets were kept for better and definitely for worse, but we had made to here. This one moment where everything seemed to be worth it. All the pain and suffering to end up here with Alaric sleeping. He was completely at peace. No more of the wild Alpha in the living room who clawed up the couch to try to keep me from walking away from him. 

However, I knew I wanted to cherish this moment as much as I could, but there were issues that needed to be addressed. For one Vincent, he was still out there willing and waiting for the next moment to strike our pack. He had gotten the upper hand on us every time we came in contact. At the burial ground, using me as bait to gain access to the Obsidian Night pack while it's Alpha was gone rescuing it's Luna... A pathetic Luna who use to be scared of death and war, who was raised to never through a punch, that's not who he saved though. Alaric saved a cold calculating Luna, who when it came down to a crisis would kill anything that stood in her way to achieve her goal. 

It wasn't a choice, it was pure instinct, ingrained into every muscle of my being. Kill to get what you want, break apart what's in front of you to get what you need. Just like the bodies in the basement for a decent meal. 

I shook my head, it made me cringe to think of myself like that, but I knew I had changed since then too. Just from being with Alaric and gaining my wolf back, I had become someone else. As if I could easily see myself as two separate people. One a killer and the other a mate. Instead of being a fracture like Vincent wanted me to be and then built up into how he wanted me now, I was just torn. 

Who was I supposed to be? A Luna who couldn't lead? A mate who lied and betrayed her mate? A best friend who turned her back? A tortured and broken victim who suffered through many things in the basement of a psychopath? 

"You're thinking about it all wrong," Alaric mumbled next to me, which nearly gave me a heart attack, but most definitely caused a spike in my blood pressure.

"W-what?" I looked up at him to try and understand. Did he just read my mind? Alaric smiled and kissed the top of my head.

"You left your wall down, so I could hear your clouded thoughts." 

"What!" My face began to heat up in embarrassment. 

HE HEARD EVERYTHING!!

"I didn't hear everything, you were confused so your thought came off muffled and unclear. Like a few words here and there, but the main message came across." I groaned as I buried my face deeper into Alaric's bare chest. I wanted to die, right now. I was so hot with embarrassment.

"You're thinking about it all wrong though Clove." 

"What am I doing wrong." I groaned, still too focused on my humiliation to really care.

"Don't think about it as to who you are supposed to be, think about it as who you are. You might be everything you fear and you might be everything you want to be, but you are definitely everything I love."

Ah! When he says things like that I don't know what to say!

"Listen, Clove, I know you have a lot on your mind, but we're in this together now, okay?" I smiled as a feeling of relief washed over me.

"H-how are you?" I wanted to know how he was doing, yesterday was crazy for me, but for Alaric, he had literally lost control of his wolf for a moment. I heard him release a heavy sigh as he buried his face into my neck, placing a few small kisses on my new mark.

"Honestly, still tense, I have more control than I have had in a while over my wolf, but..." he paused as his grip around my waist tightened.

"I don't think I'll ever be okay with you leaving my sight." I looked up at his green eyes once again to try and understand what he was saying.

"And I mean that going weeks without marking you and wondering if you were okay or not, that in itself was my own personal hell, and I never want to go through that again. With my mark on you now, it will be easier for me to find you and tell if you've been hurt." My heart clenched, I felt so guilty, for everything that I put him through, put the pack through.

"Don't feel guilty, it wasn't just you, I had my secrets too."

"Alaric? Do- do you think if I would have told you about the curse, in the beginning, would think have been better?" There was a long pause that made me feel even more guilty, it was a question that I had debated since the very beginning and had tried to justify throughout this whole ordeal. Was there a right or wrong answer to it though?

"Maybe, I honestly couldn't say, I think if you would have told me it might have been worse for both of us. We might have never found out it was a curse in the first place as fast as you had and I might have just marked you anyways..." His grip on me tightened and I could hear a slow growl burning inside his chest at the thought of what would have happened if he had marked me when we first met.

"I guess I see what you're saying. I can't say if it was for the best either, anything really, but I'd like to look at it now, at least most of it, as being in the past."

"As much as I can I'll do the same," Alaric whispered in my ear.

"But leave my side and I chain you to me if I have to." This time I sighed, I had expected nothing less, but at least a small part of me wasn't complaining.

"How has everyone else been, since I... was gone." Still didn't know how to phrase being kidnapped and held a slave for a psychopath casually.

"Hmmm, as you know, Sander and Ashlyn are expecting," I smiled at that thought again, how fantastic for her! I'm sure Sander was ecstatic also.

"Ha, well Sander is terrified and has no idea what to do."

"Get out of my head! That's cheating!"

"It's not cheating if you leave the door wide open." In that instant, I put the wall back up.

"What else is new?"

"Well... the pack is officially confused as to what's been going on. They don't really know anything about you, but they have all been worried about you. That includes Lily." My mouth dropped open as I pushed Alaric away to look at him face to face again.

"Oh, my goddess! Lily! How is she!" It had been so long since I had seen her little face, she had melted my heart at dinner asking if I could be her mom. I still didn't know what happened to Brett's mate, but I felt that it was his story to tell and not mine to ask about. At least not right now.

"She's doing fine, nothing happened to her during the attack and she's been worrying about you a lot. Or at least that's what Brett has told me." I smiled again, it was amazing to see Brett again yesterday. It had been so long it felt like, but it was even more amazing to see him in his Beta mode. Switching from a goofball of a best friend of Alaric's to a serious stoic type in me seconds when the situation suddenly became serious.

"We need to see him, see everyone, I need to apologize to them all for making them worry, for lying."

"We both do." I took a deep breath and sat up in bed, holding the sheets to my bare chest, to which Alaric seemed a bit disappointed.

"We have a lot to do to prepare for everything that's coming don't we?" I asked as I looked down at him. He sat up a pulled me over onto his lap and place kissed all over my face.

"Yes, we do, especially before the full moon." I grimaced, I was not looking forward to the painful shift Iris had bragged about.

"You'll be fine, Sander is going to train you before that happens."

"That's a relief, but there's one thing we need to do before that starts." Alaric raised an eyebrow at me in question.

"And what's that my little mate?"

"We need to introduce me to the Obsidian Night pack."

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AHH! OMG guys thank you so much for all your love and support and for holding on until I got some free time to write this chapter! With schools closing down because of Covid and changes being made to classes it's been really crazy!

However! I will continue to write! And we are coming close to the ending of The Obsidian Night Pack! So hold on just a little more and I swear you won't be disappointed!

Thank you again for reading my book and welcome to the newcomers who have binged read my entire book, yes I see you and love you! Please remember to like, comment, and add my book to your reading list, and if you're feeling extra friendly go ahead and follow my account to receive updates on when I will publish the next chapter!

Love all of you guys and hope you like the new chapter!