When Luke came back to the Pack House, everyone was asleep, except Michelle, who was waiting for him outside. She was seated on a chair, drinking her wine with a book in hand.

"Heard you chased the Creek Pack away. Is it true?" she asked, her eyes never leaving her book.

"They can't be trusted," he replied, putting on the clothes his mother had neatly placed on the pavement.

"That is true, but you didn't have to chase them away like dogs. Leticia was here too. Why did you tell her you were looking for your mate when you were busy chasing after Rolus?"

Luke kept quiet, sitting down on the floor. He didn't feel the need to explain himself to his mother. Leticia was too curious, asking too many questions. She was too invasive, so Luke had to tell her that he was looking for his mate when she asked if he had found his mate.

"How are you? How are you holding up?" Michelle asked, taking down the tough exterior she had put on, becoming vulnerable.

Luke could see how his health had affected his mother. He sighed, dropping his hands on his lap. "I'm doing alright, mother. I'm just worried about Peter. I haven't even gone to see him and I feel so bad for his attack. I wish there was something I could do, but there's nothing. I feel so powerless right now," he confessed, groaning at the thought of how Peter was attacked.

"He'll be fine, I promise. How are you feeling? Any pain?"

"Mother, I'm okay. I'm healthy, the healthiest I can be, okay? Stop worrying yourself and focus on yourself. I can't have you losing weight than you already have."

The silence ensured, comfortable. Luke was grateful for the Pack for organizing the appeasing ceremony. He knew it was the one that helped him. Even though his mother was overbearing sometimes, he did appreciate that she cared.

________

The next morning, Luke awoke first thing to check up on his Beta. He found Peter conscious, who smiled when he saw him.

"It's so good to have you back, Alpha," he greeted, sitting up on the bed. Luke could see that it was with great difficulty, his face twisted in pain.

"Thank you. I heard from mother that you were able to win The Chase and you wished well for me. How is your leg?" Luke asked, taking off the covers from his leg.

"Dr Smith bandaged it and said it will heal, but I don't think it will heal anytime soon."

Luke took off the bandage, gasping when he saw the wound. It was still fresh, but what shocked him was the green substance that was coming out of his wound. The veins around the affected area looked black.

"Who did this to you?" He was boiling, wishing to rip someone apart, that someone being the one who caused the attack.

"I was at Eclipse Cliff, already having offered the sacrifice when out of nowhere, a wolf slashed my leg. It stung so bad that I became paralyzed for a moment, not being able to do anything. The wolf was not from around here,"

"Wasn't it the Shadow Pack wolf?"

Peter shook his head. Luke bandaged him back, then sat down on the chair beside his bed.

"Are you sure?" he asked for clarity.

"Yes, I'm sure. He didn't smell like any of the Packs around. Maybe he was from one of the distant Packs."

There was a knock made on the door, then Dr Smith entered, bowing a little at the Alpha.

"What's wrong with his wound? Why isn't it healing faster?" Luke asked, standing up to make space for the doctor.

"He seems like he came into contact with poison, one that stops wounds from healing themselves. I did my research and it turns out that there's a new poison out on the market for weakening werewolves. It's called Killex. Whoever had attacked Beta Peter had smeared it on his paws. With your permission Alpha, I would like to request an antidote from a contact I was suggested," Dr Smith finished, checking if Peter was still doing alright and that there were no complications that they might have missed last night.

He was worse last night. His eyes were red, having the worst fever and his leg burning like crazy. He had lost consciousness for a while, but regained it to only scream out in pain. He had to be sedated.

"Please, do whatever you have to do. When will you get the antidote?" Luke asked, blinking rapidly to get an eyelash out of his eye.

"It could take a week and it's costly. I'll have to talk with my contact and negotiate the price," he replied, noting some things down on his clipboard.

"I'll give you everything you need to get that antidote, don't worry. Just make sure it gets on time. And may you please call Dr Pierce to my office."

"Will do," he bowed, then exited the room.

Luke patted Peter on the shoulder, then wished him to get well soon. He exited the room, where he passed Diana, who smiled at him.

"Congratulations, Diana. May you have a very healthy pregnancy," he had told her, to which she kissed his cheek and thanked him. It looked like she was going to her mate, so Luke didn't want to delay her any further.

Luke headed to his office, where he found Dr Pierce waiting for him. She bowed and sat down when Luke gestured for her to do so.

"Good morning, Dr Pierce. How are you?" he greeted, taking out paperwork from the drawers underneath his table.

"I'm doing great. How about you?"

"Feeling better. I wanted to ask, what was wrong with me? Heard from my parents that I might have caught something from the Creek Pack. Is that true?"

Dr Pierce frowned, putting her hands on the table. "That's what we thought at first, but we had a look at Alpha Rolus last night and your condition is similar. I had a talk with Healer Robert and we have concluded that you need to find your mates, fast. With Alpha Rolus condition, it might happen that he rejected his mate or maybe his mate died, that's what Dr Michael from Creek Pack told us about Alpha Rolus' condition. He's much worse than you and we all know that you would never reject your mate or anything of the sort. You need to start looking, ASAP."

Luke sighed, not even sure what to tell the doctor. They all knew that he couldn't even tell who his mate was even if they passed him by. For all he knew, his mate might be in the Pack, or passed him a thousand times. If he started looking, where would he look? Where would he start?

"I will, I promise. You may be excused now,"

Dr Pierce stood up, then bowed, going to the door.

"One more thing," Luke interrupted her exit.

"Yes?" she seemed confused.

"Please, don't tell anyone. Especially my parents. This has to stay between us, I can't have my parents worrying for nothing," It was not nothing, but Luke wanted to belive that it was nothing. He really didn't need to be pressurized to find his mate. He believed that everything had its time and eventually, his mate would come to him.

"Understood," she replied, skeptical, but nonetheless complying. She went out the door, closing it afterwards.

Luke paged through the papers on the table, putting the Black Moon stamps on orders he approved of.

When he was done going through the papers, he opened his laptop to check up on the Pack's businesses to see if they were still doing well. They owned three popular nightclubs, had hotel chains all over Ripple District and and fast food franchise around town.

They had Pack members as managers in their businesses and everyone who worked there was part of the Pack. No outsider was allowed to work there. Peter was the one who checked whether or not everything was running smoothly, if the finances were balancing and all that, but because he was unwell, his work was supposed to be taken by Macey, but Luke decided to keep himself busy.

He checked if the Pack members had received their allowances. The money was enough to get them by for the month, provided that they don't buy food or pay rents because the Pack provided everything. The allowances was for them to buy toiletries, some clothes or spoil themselves. Even the Pack members who lived in town were provided for. There were some who thought Pack House life wasn't for them and decided to buy their own houses in town, but they still were a part of the Pack.

They wanted to be modern and live modernized lives, opting to leave the Pack House and raise their children around humans. Luke was fine with it, his parents were fine with it and even his grandparents were fine with it. But they still gave them allowances and added extra for other necessities. They were allowed to work, but most of them worked at the Pack's businesses and some were managers.

Everything was alright, nothing out of the ordinary.

Tamera brought him breakfast, with a smile.

"Is it okay if I keep you company?" she asked, already sitting down.

Luke just rolled his eyes, closing his laptop and accepting the tray from Tamera.

He ate, with Tamera looking at him. They remained in silence, with the occasional cough here and there from Tamera.

Her coughs made Luke glance at her from time to time. It came to a point where Luke realized they were deliberate.

"What? What is it?" Luke asked, raising a brow.

"Nothing," she smiled, looking down.

"Why so shy all of a sudden?" he asked, confused. Tamera was not shy.

"Haha, nothing."

"Now I'm curious. Spill it,"

Tamera pouted, rolling her eyes in a childish manner. "Okay, okay. So, Zayn called me last night."

"And?"

"Well, he told me to tell you that if he sees you, you're dead," she spilled, making Luke glare at her. "Hey, don't kill the messenger," she laughed, raising her arms in surrender.

"And why couldn't he tell me himself?" He was pissed. Blood or not, this was disrespect.

"Because your phone was off. Oh, and he also told me that what you did was not cool."

"And what did I do?" he snapped, trying to control his anger.

"Really? You don't know what you did?"

"You have to understand that Zayn is not loyal to us. He's loyal to the Creek Pack. He's their Delta for fuck's sake! I want you to stop communicating with him. He's the enemy!" He was now standing, pointing a finger at Tamera, then banged his fists on the table.

Tamera was shaken, already on her feet with eyes wide open. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong is that I don't want any of you communicating with people from Creek Pack. They're the enemy! We don't associate with the enemies. Zayn may be blood, but he's not loyal to this Pack. He's the enemy! He's the fucking enemy and I won't have my Pack associate with the fucking enemy! You get me?" he yelled, angry, angry at his Pack for associating with the enemy. Everyone from Creek Pack was the enemy.

"My apologies, Alpha Luke."

"Just get out. I need to be alone," he said, coming down from his high. He was heaving, heart beating like crazy. "I need to be alone, please leave."

"Are you okay?" Tamera was worried now. Luke was breathing heavily, clutching the edge of the table tightly.

"Just get out," he breathed out, feeling like the oxygen in the room was out of reach. He tried to calm down, but all he thought about was the enemy. Creek Pack was the enemy. They were not loyal. They were murderers. They killed his sister. They were the enemy and they fucking killed his sister!

Luke realised too late that he was crying, and Tamera was hugging him too tight, afraid to let go because he might just break into pieces.

He cried out loud, holding onto Tamera because they killed his sister and there's no one who knows except him. Rolus killed his sister and got away with it.

"Shhhh... it will be alright, Luke. Let it all out," Tamera rubbed soothing circles on his back, letting him cry out his pain.

"They're the enemy and they can't be trusted, Tamera. They can't be trusted. They're protecting him," he cried out, trying to hold himself together, but failing.

"Who? Who are they protecting?"

"They are protecting Rolus Ashlane! They're protecting him, Tamera. He's the enemy," Luke breathed out, calming down. Tamera's blouse was wet with Luke's tears.

"It's okay, Luke. It will all be okay," she reassured, patting his back in reassurance.

Luke got out of Tamera's hold, looking away from her, not wanted her to see his tear-filled eyes. "You should go. I'll be fine."

Tamera sighed, asking, "Should I call Lady Michelle?"

Luke shook his head, blinking rapidly to rid the tears. "I'll be fine. Just leave, I need to be alone."

Tamera turned around, heading for the door. She was upset and confused. She wondered what happened between Alpha Rolus and Luke. She needed to inform his parents because she could see that Luke was hurting. Whatever happened was eating him inside out.

He needed to talk to someone about whatever that happened.