The Dark Side Of Fate by Karima Sa'ad Usman

18 The Northern Gate

~Sylvester~

There was no disputing the fact that there was chemistry between Tamia and me.

As I got to know her more, I realised she was genuinely innocent.

It was hard taking my heart out of the equation.

Although nothing had transpired between us, she was claiming my heart, and there was nothing I could do about it.

That was precisely why I refused to touch her.

I did not know how it would end, and neither of us needed to get hurt the second time.

So I walked away every time she created an opportunity for me.

After she boldly invited me into her room, I realised I couldn't put it off any longer.

It was unfortunate how it all began, and the reason why I brought the three of them here was cruel.

It was safe to say that I was looking out for my people, but it was no longer about keeping my enemies close; it was now a matter of the heart. After reading Leonardo's letter, I realised attacking his pack was wrong. He wasn't a part of it.

Going horse riding was a great move to get to know Tamia better, but I had to step back when she took the giant leap. Now I was willing to jump.

Holding her in my arms in the garden felt new.

I haven't been relaxed in a long time.

When Kaira went on a rampage, I realised her feelings were genuine and had nothing to do with survival.

As crude as it was and as crazy as it seemed, Kaira had said everything Tamia could not say.

When I carried her to my room, I knew this was it.

It all happened fast, and I realised fate had blessed me with her.

We left the garden when it was dark, to have dinner.

Tamia tried to get us to go to the room first, but I refused.

I knew what she wanted and would not have the will to say no.

I knew I was postponing the inevitable since we both slept in the same room together.

We entered the dining together, and I noticed that Marcel and Avery weren't all over each other as usual.

I hoped for all our sakes they weren't fighting because I wanted my Beta at his best all the time.

Marcel had jumped before Theodore and me. Even though he denied it, I knew his heart was invested in it.

No one asked us to get involved with these women, or fall in love with them. It just happened naturally.

Theodore had his eyes on Linda from the moment they arrived, and he had the most difficulty. She kept asking him to assign her a duty as he should and that she wasn't interested in getting emotionally involved with anyone. Of the three, she was the most used and abused, and I could understand why she was guarded.

Theodore was the patient type, taking it a step at a time, and I could see he was making progress.

"What is the matter, Ave?" I heard Tamia say. She could have as well linked her friends, but I figured she sensed something was wrong, and she wanted to address it.

"Never mind," Avery said, and Marcel looked worried.

I had to link him to find out what the issue was.

"What happened?" I asked, and he sighed.

"She found out about my secret harem," he confessed to me, and I was stunned.

"I thought you let them go?" I linked him, remembering we had chosen to disband our harems three years ago.

"I do not visit all of them, but I continued seeing Maurine. I wanted to end it, but the woman won't let me." He said, and I was disappointed in him.

Maurine wasn't a good person, and she had caused more troubles than I could remember when they were in the estate.

"What the fuck!" I said to my Beta aloud, and he bowed his head.

"So why is Avery mad? It has to be more than that." I said, knowing Avery was too tough to be mad about a lover that refused to go away.

"I have ended it, and then she got into Avery's head about this being a norm. She told her we usually split the lunas among ourselves and sleep with them to get information about their husbands and former packs so we can attack them," He said, and I was pissed off and worried.

Avery was Tamia's friend. If she tells Tamia this, Kaira will be mad. Tamia might pretend, but I know her wolf won't.

"How the fuck did she get into the estate?" I asked him, and he bowed his head.

"She didn't. I took Avery to town, and we met in a store," He said, and I did not know what to tell him.

He wasn't supposed to take any of the newcomers off the property. Why will he take Avery to town? I did not want to create an issue, so I let it rest.

"You need to fix it," I told him, and he nodded.

We ate dinner in silence, and the atmosphere was a bit glum, but my heart wasn't.

My hands were on Tamia's thigh, and I couldn't wait to go to bed.

" Alpha, there is an attack on the north gate, southern soldiers," one of my warriors told me through the mind link, and I stood up abruptly.

"What is the matter?" Tamia asked me, looking worried.

"I need you to stay indoors. There is an attack on the north gate, and we must defend ourselves," I told her, and her eyes darkened.

" You do not have a lot of warriors on the estate," She said, and I wondered how she knew.

"I pay attention, Sylvester. I was a luna remember?" She said, and I sighed.

"We can take them," I said, and she grabbed me and kissed me.

"We still have a lot to do. Come back in one piece," She ordered me, and I smiled.

Marcel, Theodore and I headed out.

There was a commotion in the passage; the residents were being taken to safety.

I had about fifty men in the estate. I am sure we could take them. I did not need to know who sent the attackers. I was sure it was Bane's handwork.

We headed there, and the men were plenty. Knight took over, and we shifted.

The attackers had torn down the northern gate, and they were many. How did they get warriors here so fast? There was no way they were all from the south.

I sensed eastern soldiers were among them.

Knowing the south and east had an alliance, there was no doubt that the eastern soldiers were among the herd.

They came at me like mad wolves, and I unleashed my anger on them.

I was angry that they disrupted a peaceful night.

I had saved up my energy to keep my promise to Kaira, now I had to use it on them.

Knight was angry. Why wouldn't they just leave us alone?

I hit the wolf that leapt at me and knocked it away with so much force that it flew sideways.

We were winning, and most of the attackers died. We had injured a lot of them, and I could only see a few standing; then, they released a weird green gas. It was sudden. Some of us managed to step away from it, but Knight had inhaled it, making Knight weak.

"Poison, fall back," I linked my wolves.

The green gas cleared, but we were too weak to continue.

The remaining wolves, about sixteen, came at us, and Knight whimpered, stepping back.

My vision was blurred, and I couldn't see much.

I realised the gas was their last resort.

We had injured and killed most of them, and we were still many compared to them. But our numbers did not matter because we were weakened by the weird green gas.

I felt my body healing from the gas, but it wasn't healing fast enough for me to fight back.

The wolves coming at me were most likely kappas, and they were the worst, because they were the deadly warriors in a pack. They were trained to die with their enemies.

Knight growled, making a weak attempt to show dominance, but the wolves approaching could not be fooled.

They knew we were weak, and they were taking advantage of it.

Some of my warriors had collapsed from poisoning. I could feel them, so I knew they would be okay.

A black kappa wolf lunged at me, and a grey delta wolf came from nowhere and knocked it out of the way.

The grey wolf growled at the attackers, and I saw two more delta wolves, one brown and the other white, jumping into the fight. When I realised who the grey wolf was, I panicked.

The fight continued, and I joined in, but the new additions were holding their own perfectly well; even in their weakened state, they were good. The white and brown wolves fought like mad wolves. They had a lot of pent-up anger, and they were unleashing it on the attackers.

The grey wolf was skilful and fast.

They did not have the strength the attackers had, but they had tactics, and it paid out.

I watched Kaira skilfully tear down her opponents, and I realised why Leo couldn't let go. She was a true Luna. A true equal for an Alpha.

The intervention made the poison possible to dissipate in our systems. We joined back in full and finished off the remaining wolves.

It was a narrow victory. Who would have guessed they would fight dirty? We took some of the injured enemy wolves for interrogation.

I shifted back to my human form.

Kaira came to nuzzle me before she shifted back to the very tired Tamia.

"Why didn't you stay back?" I asked her, and carried her bridal style into the house. We were both naked, but it did not matter.

"We couldn't leave all the fun for you guys. We were watching the fight from the balcony facing the northern gate. It takes a while to recover from the green gas, you know." She said, and I realised she had leapt from the balcony. That was why she had the force needed to knock the attacking wolf out of the way.

"Do not do that again. You scared me." I said, and she giggled.

"You should see me in full capacity," She teased, and my heart broke a bit for her.

Her marriage to Leo left her with a weak wolf and a broken heart.

I hope to do better. I hope to give more than I take from her.

I took her straight to the room and wore my shorts.

"Where are you going?" She asked me, wearing my bathrobe.

"I need to ensure they didn't take anything and everyone is alright. I promise to come back immediately," I said and kissed her. She released me, and I rushed to the west wing, where we interrogated prisoners.

I reached there and found Marcel and Theodore already attending to the prisoners.

"Who sent them?" I asked, and Marcel looked at me.

"Bane," He said, and I knew there was more to it.

"He sent them to bring Tamia to him." He finished, and I was stunned at why Bane would risk a war for her sake.

As much as I wanted to say Leo helped him, I doubted Leo was a part of this, but we needed to send a warning message to the east never to pull this stunt again.

Somehow, I will find a way to question Leonardo. I needed to know why Bane would want to risk a war for Tamia's sake.