Chapter 5 THE FUNERAL FOR THE LIVING

Three days later, the Moon Shadow Pack was in a state of grim celebration. Alpha Terren sat at the head of the long wooden table in his great hall, a goblet of wine in his hand. Across from him, Samantha was dressed in a vibrant red gown-hardly the attire of a mourning sister. "It should be any time now," Samantha said, picking at a plate of roasted meat. "The messenger from the Silver Pack should be arriving with the news of Audrey's... unfortunate passing. I can't wait to see the look on Lucas's face when he realizes he killed his own bride." Luna Selene chuckled, sipping her tea.

"The Silver Pack will be in mourning. They'll be weak. With Lucas still blind and distraught over the death of his 'princess,' we can move in and negotiate a better trade deal. Everything is falling into place." Terren grunted, though there was a flicker of something-guilt, perhaps, or merely the remnants of a memory-in his eyes. "She was a stain on my reputation. A human daughter in an Alpha's house. At least in death, she served a purpose." Just then, the heavy oak doors of the hall were thrown open. A cold wind swept through the room, extinguishing half the candles. A messenger didn't walk in. Instead, a herald in the silver-and-blue livery of the Silver Pack stepped forward, his face pale. "Alpha Terren," the herald announced, his voice trembling. "Alpha Lucas of the Silver Pack has arrived to return... what belongs to you." Samantha jumped up, her eyes gleaming with malice. "He's here! He must have the body with him. Father, let's go out and play the part of the grieving family." They marched out to the courtyard, where a crowd of Moon Shadow pack members had gathered. In the center of the yard stood a magnificent carriage, gilded in silver. Surrounding it were twenty of the Silver Pack's most elite warriors, their armor gleaming in the afternoon sun. In the center of the line stood a man. He was tall, dressed in charcoal grey silk, his black hair swept back from a face of devastating beauty. But it was his eyes that stopped Terren's heart. They weren't clouded. They were bright, piercing silver, tracking every movement in the courtyard with predatory precision. "Lucas?" Samantha gasped, her voice reaching a high, frantic pitch. "You... you can see?" Lucas didn't answer her. He didn't even look at her. He stepped toward the carriage and opened the door, offering his hand to the person inside. A woman stepped out. The silence that followed was so absolute that the sound of a bird's wings overhead seemed like a thunderclap. It was Audrey. But it wasn't the Audrey they knew. She was draped in a gown of shimmering white silk that looked like liquid moonlight. Her skin glowed with a healthy, ethereal radiance, and her hair flowed behind her like a silken cape. But it was the aura she projected that made the Moon Shadow wolves fall to their knees. It was the weight of a True Luna-a power so ancient and vast that even Alpha Terren felt his inner wolf whimpering in submission. "Hello, Father," Audrey said, her voice carrying across the courtyard like a bell. "I heard you were expecting a corpse. I'm sorry to disappoint you."