The Sickened Luna's Last Chance novel Chapter 457

Ella’s POV

“Alpha, it is with the utmost pleasure that I accept you into my home.” An elderly male pushed his way through the crowd, bowing his head just like all the others. He gestured to the ornate armchair he had been sitting in by the fire, which was now empty. “Please, take a seat. Can I get you anything?”

Lilith, unaccustomed to anything but the life of a hardly–noticed Omega after two decades of it, looked at me uncertainly. I offered her a small smile and a nod, encouraging her to take the chair.

“Oh, um… Thank you,” she said, limping forward and perching on the edge of the seat. “And your name is…”

“Daniel,” the old man replied with a grin, revealing several missing teeth. “I suppose I’m the de facto leader of this group. Well, I was, but now that you’re here, I can finally step down.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Lilith narrowed her eyes, studying the man’s face. Then, they went as wide as saucers. “Wait, are you Daniel LaRue?”

The old man nodded. “I was wondering if you’d recognize me. I got old and lost half my teeth.”

“I could never forget you, Danny.” My mother grinned and looked at me. “Ella, this is my old school classmate. We were good friends back in the day.”

Daniel smiled and shook my hand. “I’d say you’re the spitting image of your mother, but…” He gave me a meaningful look. “I guess not anymore, right?”

I drew my brows close. “You mean…”

“We believe you,” Daniel clarified. “We all do.”

Alexander and I exchanged confused looks. The Gamma who had let us in suddenly stepped forward, still holding all of our jackets bundled in his arms. “We heard about your rebirth. Yours and your mother’s. At first, it was a little hard to believe, but after what you did to get rid of Margaret-”

“Don’t speak that vile woman’s name here.” Daniel made a spitting motion at the floor like the very mention of Margaret’s name might summon a demon. “She’s dead, finally. We don’t need to let her memory linger by saying her name.”

“I’m sorry, Elder.” The Gamma turned to me again. “What I meant to say was this: we believe your story. We believe in your rebirth. And we believe that it was not a curse that brought you and your mother back to us, but rather a gift from the Moon Goddess herself.”

My brows lifted in surprise, although a sensation of relief suddenly washed over me. We didn’t have to explain ourselves, didn’t have to convince these people of the truth. That was one good thing, at least.

Daniel turned to my mother once more. “We believe that the Moon Goddess sent you back here to restore Stormhollow to its former glory. You already destroyed the witch, but the false Alpha is still here, running our beloved pack into the ground.”

Lilith stiffened, her hands tightening around the handle of her cane. “Tell me what he has done,” she said quietly. “I know the gist of it, of course. But I want to hear it from all of you.”

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Chapter 457

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Daniel nodded. One of the younger wolves in the room jumped up, and Daniel took their seat. Meanwhile, the Gamma bustled away, hanging our coats and preparing tea.

“Where do I even begin?” Daniel shook his head wistfully. I accepted the tea from the Gamma, although Alexander politely declined a cup. “It began when he married the witch; started small. Long vacations, lavish parties, renting out entire restaurants in town all for themselves.”

He paused, wetting his lips, then went on, “At first, we all thought it was merely the honeymoon phase. Perhaps he loved her, or at the very least, he was mourning you and burying his emotions in a beautiful woman who made him feel something again.”

“But it got worse,” Lilith whispered.

“Indeed. The vacations became longer, sometimes forcing Richard to miss important events and meetings. Funds for public programs were slowly trimmed back, then cut entirely. One year, he completely ripped the rug out from under our poorest pack members by doing away with the food assurance programs. Meanwhile, the witch was seen wearing bigger and bigger gemstones each time she went out.”

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