Fated To The Cursed Alpha

CHAPTER 9 : REYES

(AUTHOR'S POV)

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CRESCENT MOON PACK

In their sitting room, decorated with white marble floors and walls, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling cast a white light over the space. The chairs were adorned with gold, and Anthony Reyes sat on one of the upholstered chairs, resting his head sideways on his palm, filled with anger and lost in thought.

The door to the sitting room crept open, and a lady wearing a long red gown, which she held up to avoid dragging on the floor, walked in. She was dressed like a queen. She took a seat on the upholstery opposite Anthony.

"My son, what is wrong with you? The maid said that since you returned from the Moonlight Pack this morning, you haven't accepted anything to eat. So, what is troubling you?" she asked, her face filled with concern.

"I don't have an appetite, Mom. I just want to be left alone," he said, not even glancing at her.

"Come on, son, talk to me. You know me well; I'll do anything to make you happy. So, tell me what is bothering you. Is there a lady in the pack you wanted to be with who rejected you? Tell me, and I'll send the warriors to bring her to you,"

"Mom, it’s not about a lady. It's about the Dajbog's stone. I still don't have it. The witch lied to me, Mom. I killed all the werewolves of the Moonlight Pack, including their king and his daughter, but except for a few maidens. I searched the entire pack from beginning to end with the help of my warriors, but I didn't find the stone, Mom. I can’t find the damned stone," he said, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Son, life is a step-by-step process. Take it easy on yourself. You will find the stone; it's just a matter of time. You will surely be the next Alpha king. No one can stop you from being the Alpha king. I've made sure of that. Being the next Alpha king is your destiny, and if it's not, I'll use my powers to make sure it is. Do you understand?" His mother, the second and only surviving wife of the late Alpha king, tried to comfort him.

She loved her son very much and wasn’t happy seeing him so distressed. If she had the power to find the stone easily, she would have done it before he even thought about it. But she didn't have the power to find the stone.

Anthony's anger increased. He wanted the stone immediately—a stone he had been searching for years.

"Mom, you don’t seem to understand. If Colton finds the stone before me, our years of planning for me to be the Alpha king will be a total waste. And if that happens, with the power of the stone, Colton will discover the evil we did to him. You know what that means: we would say goodbye to life," he said, looking at his mother with his black eyes, inherited from her, anger still etched on his face.

His mother stood up and moved to his side. She sat beside him, draping her arm over his shoulder, patting him gently, and caressing his face in a motherly manner.

"Son," she said softly, "keep this in mind. I have cleared the path for you to be the next Alpha king. No one can stand in your way, not even Colton. I'm sure that bastard is still in the Rogue pack, busy feeding on the werewolves there or perhaps trying to find a cure for a curse he knows nothing about. You are already the Alpha king, son, so don't worry, okay? We will find the stone soon. Don’t you believe we can? Don’t you believe in us?" she asked, still caressing his face.

"I believe, Mom, but it’s taking too long. We need to find it as soon as possible."

"I know, son." She placed a kiss on his cheek. "Have you visited the witch since you came back from the Moonlight Pack?"

"No, I haven't."

"You need to visit her. Inform her you couldn’t find the stone. Order her to lead you to the exact location of the stone. Maybe you and your warriors saw it but didn’t recognize it because you don’t know what it looks like."

His mother was right. No one except those directly related to the stone knew what it looked like, not even the witch. But at least, with her powers, she could locate it even without knowing its appearance.

"Mom, I think you're right. I need to go see her now." He stood up and was about to leave the room when his mother's words stopped him.

"Before you go, son, let me order the cook to prepare you a meal. You haven't eaten anything since last night when you left for the Moonlight Pack, and since this morning when you returned."

"Mom, the stone is more important than food. I’ll eat when I come back," he said and left the sitting room.

Once outside, he called on some of his warriors, and they gathered. He informed them that they would be heading to the witch's cave on horseback.

Mounted on a black horse, with each of his warriors on their own horses, Anthony and his warriors proceeded to the witch's cave at full speed.

They passed through three thick forests. They also crossed shallow lakes, which they could cross even while on top of their horses, before they finally reached the dark fold.

The dark fold resembled a thick black cloud descending from the sky, seemingly dividing the boundary of the witches' home and their pack, although the witches' home remained within their pack.They stepped into the black fold, and darkness filled their eyes, dark enough that they could not see a single thing - it felt like they had gone blind. The dark fold surrounded the witch's cave, so it was always dark there, meaning there was no daylight. Their horses began neighing and jumping in fear, as they could not see anything either. Anthony and his warriors held their horses tight, so as not to fall off.

In the dark fold, many creepy sounds were heard by them, and the wind kept blowing them. Each of them weirdly felt the breeze call their names softly.

Each of them located their lamp with their senses and lit it on. With their kerosene lamp as a source of light, they continued towards the cave. Finally, they got there. They pushed a heavy stone, which was used as a door to the cave, to one side, opening the cave. They entered the dark cave, with their lamps on.

Creepy sounds that could scare anyone out were being heard, but they were not scared, as this was not the first time they had visited the cave.

They continued walking deep into the cave with their lamps in their left hands until they reached the location of the witch. They could see her with their lamps.

She sat on the floor of the cave, bending her head forward towards the floor but not touching it, speaking some incantation, at first ignoring their presence as if not knowing they were there. Her long grey hair sprinkled on the ground as she continued speaking her incantation.

Anthony and his warriors stood, waiting for her to be done with whatever she was doing.

She continued speaking the incantation and suddenly stopped, but remained still, not even shaking a bit.

After a few minutes, she raised her head, and suddenly, a forceful breeze blew, blowing off the lamps they were holding, causing the darkness to take over the cave again, and none of them being able to see anything apart from the white, glowing eyes of the witch.

"Anthony Reyes, Prince of the Crescent Moon Pack, what brought you again to my cave?" she asked, her voice sounding like many people were talking in unison.

"I'm here in peace to inform you that I was not able to find the stone. I searched for it in the Moonlight Pack and still wasn't able to find it. At this point, I'm having doubts about you," Anthony's deep voice echoed in the cave.

"You doubt me? Prince Anthony..."

"King Anthony," he corrected her, interrupting her.

"King Anthony, you don't have to doubt me. The last incantation I did revealed to me, through a vision, that the stone is in the Moonlight Pack, and my visions never lie," she said, and again, her voice sounded like multiple people talking and echoing in the cave.

"So why couldn't I find it? Why?" Anthony asked.

She became silent and didn't reply to him yet. She closed her eyes and began speaking some incantations, again, the incantation sounding like multiple voices, but no one was understanding what she was saying.

Suddenly, a late fire lit up in front of her, making Anthony and his warriors move back a little in fear. The fire illuminated the cave.

The fire burned very well, even when there was no firewood or anything to support it to burn; it was just burning on the hard floor of the cave.

The witch continued her incantation, speaking it very fast, like she was rapping, and very loud, making it echo.

After a few minutes, she stopped talking, and the fire was still burning. She looked up at Anthony and his warriors with a confused look on her wrinkled, old face.

"My prince, the stone is no longer in the Moonlight Pack; the stone is in the Rogue's Pack," she said, her voice still sounding like multiple people were talking.

"The Rogue's Pack? You mean the Black Moon Pack?" Anthony asked loudly, and she nodded. "How was that possible? How?" He shouted at her, his voice echoing. "Last time I came here before now, you said the stone was in the Moonlight Pack, and I went there and killed the whole pack members, so how was it possible for the stone to move to the Rogues Pack?"

"Did you really kill all?" the witch asked. It was then that Anthony recalled.

"The maidens I sent to the Rogue Pack - did one of them have the stone, and I didn't know?" He murmured to himself. "But how was that possible, when I killed Amelia? Which other lady could have taken the stone?"

That was not his primary issue. His main problem now was that his brother, Colton, could get to the stone before he did, since the stone was now in the same pack he lived in.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed. "Aradia, I need you to lead me to the stone yourself."

"No, I can't! My duty is..."

"I know your duty, Aradia. As the future king of the Crescent Moon Pack, I order you, Aradia, to lead me to the stone," he ordered.

"Okay, my prince," the witch Aradia said. Anthony gave her an angry look. "My king," she corrected herself.

"Good. scorpion."

"Yes, my king."

"Go back to the palace and inform my mother that I, Aradia, and the other warriors are heading to the Rogue's Pack this moment."

"Okay, my prince," he bowed, lit his own lamp again, and proceeded out of the cave.