The Alpha's Secret Luna

Chapter 778: A Feast of Lies

Chapter 777: A Feast of Lies

13 Days To Go

"I certainly hope not," Cindy replied, her tone carefully neutral. Her fingers brushed against the brooch at her collar, a subtle gesture that Victoria recognized as a sign of acknowledgment.

"The plague..." Samuel spoke up, his tone filled with barely contained anger. "...are you insinuating that it was caused by the pack in the North?"

Cindy gasped loudly, her hand flying to her chest in a theatrical display of shock.

"No, that is not true."

She paused, turning to the others whose eyes had gone wide with realization. Her voice trembled slightly, as though she were genuinely disturbed by the thought. The performance was flawless, the timing impeccable.

"What?" she asked, her voice rising. "We are their family. We are their kind. Why would they make the plague attack us? Why would they create something like that?"

"It’s because they are a group known as the Black Circle," Victoria said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "They refuse to worship the goddess and instead worship some other man. According to my investigation, he was the first to practice black magic. And we all know what black magic does to the body. It corrupts. It destroys. It spreads like a disease, consuming everything it touches."

Gloria gritted her teeth painfully, a growl slipping through. Her hands clenched into fists on the table, her silver jewelry catching the light as she trembled with barely suppressed rage. Her eyes blazed with fury, her nostrils flaring as she struggled to contain herself.

"They not only abandoned their own kind but also the goddess?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"They would rather use their own kind to appease their god?" Samuel asked, his voice rising with disbelief. "That is against what it means to be a werewolf. Now it makes sense why they refused all our requests for help. They were never going to help us. They wanted us to suffer. They wanted us to die."

"I’m very sorry," Victoria said sadly, lowering her gaze as though overcome with grief. "If perhaps I had given the order for them to be destroyed years ago, then maybe we would not be facing this situation right now. Everything would have been avoided. We would have been safe. Our people would have been safe."

"You should have fucking listened to me," Gloria growled, slamming her fist on the table. The impact sent dishes rattling, and a nearby servant flinched.

"Don’t you dare shout at her," Philip said, his voice sharp with indignation. "It’s not her fault she looked upon traitors with compassion. Traitors they may have been, but they are still our kind."

"Look where that compassion led us, boy," Joshua said, his voice cold and flat. "Our homes are being destroyed because of a pack we let live. Our people are dying because of a pack we showed mercy to."

"Then why didn’t you push harder for it?" Philip shot back, his eyes blazing. "Or better still, why didn’t you take your warriors and kill them? If you were so certain they were a threat, why did you wait?"

"Watch your mouth, boy," Joshua warned, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "All of this is the result of a mistake the Luna made. I am not the one responsible for correcting it. I am not the one who showed them mercy."

"The northern pack has turned its back on its own kind," Samuel said, his voice carrying the weight of finality. "We must get rid of them, as the goddess has told us. There is no other choice. There is no other path."

"Oh, no one is saying we shouldn’t get rid of them," Gloria said, her voice dripping with disdain. "It’s just that if the Luna had listened, then things surely would not have escalated to this extent. We would not be in this position. We would not be scrambling."

"Again with the same argument," Philip gritted out, his jaw tight with frustration.

"Know your place," one alpha warned Philip, his voice cold and commanding.

"I will only do that if the rest of you know your places too," Philip replied, lifting his chin defiantly.

Arguments flowed freely then, voices rising and falling in a discordant chorus of blame and accusation. Some blamed Victoria. Some blamed the northern pack. Some blamed each other. The air grew thick with tension, and the candles flickered as though even they were disturbed by the chaos.

Victoria leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of her wine, a satisfied smile playing at the corners of her lips.

Her plan had succeeded.

She was the one who had made it happen.

A maestro conducting a grand performance, everyone dancing to her instructions.

Or perhaps...

A goddess who knew exactly what was to come next.

Yes.

That was it.

Within two weeks—perhaps even sooner—everything would be finalized. She could almost taste victory in the air, sharp and sweet like the first bite of ripe fruit.

And these fools, arguing amongst themselves, had no idea that the people she had spoken of—the ones who worshipped the first practitioner of black magic—sat amongst them, arguing alongside them.

They were the very traitors they condemned.

And they laughed behind their masks.

Victoria was almost disgusted by them, though.

For people who claimed the northern pack was in the wrong, they did very little to ensure their own people got better. They feasted while their people starved. They drank while their people died. They argued over who was to blame while their lands crumbled.

But it all worked to her advantage.

After all, if the northern pack could be brought down and the transference completed, then she would have achieved her goal.

The power would be hers.

The goddess would be proven wrong.

And everyone who had ever doubted her would kneel.

Yes...

Victory, once tasted, was quite sweet.

Sweeter than wine made from the sweat and blood of those forced to work without pay.

Soon...

She would rule the world.