My Ex-mate Brother is my Second Chance Mate

In the midst of a peaceful dream, young Isadora was startled awake by the jarring sound of a loud banging on the front door. Her eyelids flickered open, and she lay there in the dimly lit room for a while with a racing heart mixed with uncertainty and confusion. The rhythmic thuds continued, pulling her further from the realm of her dreams into the stark reality of the night. She pushed back her cozy blanket and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet meeting the cool concrete floor. A sense of anxiety mingled with her sleepiness as she tiptoed to her bedroom door. Luckily for her, the soft glow of moonlight cast a gentle light across her path, allowing her to navigate without stumbling. "Mummy, what's wrong?" She called her mother as she proceeded to her parents' room, but they were not there. She strolled down the corridor from their room to the living room, inching closer to the source of the commotion. Her ears caught snippets of muffled voices that belonged to her parents and an unknown person as her parents spoke in hushed tones mingling with those of a stranger, creating an atmosphere of both urgency and caution. She felt hesitant to interrupt the discussion, but her heart kept pounding in her chest as curiosity and concern for her parents safety filled her young mind. With a deep breath, she walked closer and saw her parents standing by the entrance, a mixture of expressions painted across their faces: concern, confusion, and a hint of wariness. Their attention was fixed on a figure just standing outside the door as they looked at the stranger, whose presence seemed to hang in the air like an unspoken question. She hurriedly dashed over, embracing her mother's leg, only to be astonished when her mother did not return the hug. "The alpha wants every child between the ages of 10 and 12 to meet at the pack meeting immediately before he loses his patience. The last child who comes will be punished," she heard the stranger said and she looked up at her mother, who looked like she was seeing a ghost as she stood frozen in place. "Now he punishes children. Oh, my dear moon goddess. Darling, what are we going to do if he decides to kill them? You know how crazy he is!" Her mom cried on her father's shoulder. "What's going on, mummy?" Isadora inquired, perplexed. "Stop it, honey; you are frightening Isadora. He probably just wants to scare the children and make a show of his power. Or brag about his next heir. He has two sons, remember?" Her husband said. He held her face and kept on whispering words of encouragement in her ears until he was sure her heartbeat was in its normal rhythm before stopping. "Mummy!" Isadora sobbed, grabbing her mother's skirt. "Don't worry, everything will be fine." Her mother reassured her as she picked her up to dress in something comfortable before hurrying to the pack ground in concern that their daughter would be punished. As they arrived at the pack gathering, they noticed how the alpha had the children line up from oldest to youngest. Isadora was the youngest of all the children present, as she was born in the last lunar month. "You all are gathered here because we have a threat among us," he said pointedly, looking at the children as he stood up. "A threat to not just me, your alpha, but to the clan as a whole," he announced, and whispers began to fill the air, with people wondering what had happened. "Among these children is a child cursed by the moon goddess to bring calamity and destruction to the clan". Everyone was mumbling, wondering who the mystery person was. "The moon goddess showed the high priest a vision of a child who was to bring calamity to the clan. That child will be recognized by the white and blue eyes on it." The alpha growled, and people started gossiping, looking at the children who had blue eyes but no one with white hair. Isadora's parents were grateful and became happy as they stood by the side, almost laughing because their daughter had inherited her father's black hair and brown eyes. Both parents looked at each other with a sigh of relief and smiled at each other, knowing their daughter would come back to them safely. "Now this evil child has hidden itself with glamour magic, and its evil identity can only be revealed by feeding it the potion created by the priest to remove such vile glamor," he said, turning to the priest and giving him a sign to begin. The priest brought out a vial that was placed on the initiation rock. "Let each child proceed and drink from this vial," he beckoned. "What if the potion is poisonous?" a parent questioned. "Yeah, "that's true. This could be an opportunity for you to kill our children," another parent dared say. "Yes, it could be poisoned," some women chipped in. "Silence," the alpha barked. "Do you defile me as your alpha?" He looked around at them, and they all kept silent. "Do you not trust my judgment to do what is best for my pack?" He furiously asked, "Or do you want to stage a coup against me?" He faced the parent. "No alpha," they all whimpered, bowing their heads to the ground. "Then you will do as I say and tell your wards to do so too. Or face charges of treason," he commanded them using his alpha voice, and everyone bowed their heads in fear. No one dared challenge the alpha, knowing the consequences. "Now move your ass forward and drink this," Alpha Parker yelled, shoving the first child that clung to the legs of his mother. The first child collected the drink with shaking hands and drank the potion. Everyone watched in anticipation, waiting for the child to turn into a giant monster or something, but nothing happened; there was no reaction, and the child ran back to his mother in tears. This continued to happen when the second, third, fourth, and fifth came forward to drink without turning into monsters. By the sixth, everyone began thinking the alpha was just being paranoid and slowly going crazy. The whispering began to increase when it got to the 20th child, and someone who dared question the alpha was immediately thrown into the prison. This made everyone keep quiet and wait patiently without voicing out their thoughts of how tired they were in fear of being thrown into the prison filled with bloody rats to spend the night. When it was Isadora's turn, she was nervous and turned to her parents for comfort, but they urged her to go on because they themselves were sure the king was just being paranoid. She took a sip of the potion, and nothing happened. Happiness filled her heart as she ran back to her parents, but before she could take another step closer to them, she fell to the hard ground and started having a seizure. There was commotion everywhere. People began shouting in fear, gathering around her, and the alpha smirked, happy to see the priest's prediction about the future wasn't wrong. If the priest had succeeded in making him look like a fool and a liar in front of his pack, he would have paid with his head. "Behold before your very own eyes the cursed wolf. Hidden before our very own eyes by the town's trusted healer," he pointed at Isadora's parents, who had rushed to their daughter's side, ignoring his craziness. "But we cannot blame them because her witchcraft bewitched them, and they acted not on their own free will but because they have both been possessed all this while." He continued talking and pointed to the child on the ground. "Look at her expose herself before everyone!" He said this just as Isadora's black hair turned white. Slowly regaining consciousness, Isadora opened her brown eyes, which had turned blue. "Mummy, what's wrong?" she whispered as her mother held her while she cried. "Oh, my baby, my sweet child, don't worry; everything will be fine. I will protect you".