1 Emergency room

The blood was still gushing out from the body of the girl lying on the stretcher, and the doctors were trying their best to stop it.

It had been four hours since she had been wheeled into the operation theatre. The boy quickly wiped his tears and looked away from the glass window, through which he had been peeping inside till now.

Sudden footsteps announced the arrival of people to him, he knew that as soon as the news was out, everyone would be rushing there at the earliest- after all, she was supposed to be the future leader of the pack.

He was not willing to, but the voices made him raise his head; and no sooner did he see the person standing in front of him, than the wolf sleeping in his body awakened!

"Don't you dare to put your feet even one step further... STOP RIGHT THERE!"

He growled in his alpha voice, challenging for a fight, making all the lunas shudder for a moment and all the Alphas stop at the exact position they were.

"You are stopping us? By what authority? I am Frederick Rovery, her father; and she is her mother! So who are you to stop her parents from seeing their daughter?"

The older Alpha asked, with a smirk on his face and raising his eyebrows.

"I must appreciate your shameless personality, still claiming her as your daughter? THE CONDITION SHE IS IN IS TOTALLY BECAUSE OF YOU...you all are the reason for this state of hers, and I will not let any of you to step forward. It is an open challenge." He growled again, this time more furiously.

"And do you think you are innocent?"  The person challenged him with words instead of a physical fight. With a smug smile, he continued, "If we are guilty, then you-" 

"Yes, I know...I know that I am guilty. You all have sacrificed her in your greed of power and politics. At least you all have done what she expected from you,but me...I am the real culprit- the real culprit, the reason that she had been fighting for her life, instead of fighting me!"

Tears rolled down his eyes and his voice started to become shaky, making him take a pause. He didn't want to show this vulnerability in front of everyone, but the natural body mechanism made him choke on his own words and he had to stop for a moment to regain his composure.

"You all were the enemies she was always ready to fight, but I am the backstabber- from whose attack she has not been able to recover. But now, I will protect her, anyone who wants to reach her would have to go through me- I am standing between her and her enemies, even if that enemy is death itself."

"Oh c'mon, we all know what happened to her was already written in her destiny! Have you forgotten the prophecy of  the Moon Goddess, if the girl-"

"I am telling you all to stop everything, and Dad, please quiet down before I disown you and announce the end of our relationship!" He was growling, speaking out whatever was in his heart: hurting inside, shouting outside.

"Are you even listening to what you are saying, David? How can you say this? He is your dad, and you are fighting with him for the sake of our enemy."

"Enemy!?" David laughed sarcastically. Turning his glare to his mother, he continued, "Oh! How can I forget that I am a Matthew, and she is a Rovery, a born enemy to me! She is the enemy... the enemy, with whom I was supposed to fight to conquer the world, isn't it mom? But let me tell you, mother - the girl lying right here has my entire world wrapped around her fingers! Her smile is the sole reason for my life, and her weakening breaths are the only reason for my existence."

He paused and looked at everyone once again before saying anything, then spoke up. "So, I swear I won't let anybody come close to her, or hurt her anymore!"

"No one can hurt her more than you, and when you are already here, I know there is no chance of her surviving!" A voice echoed in his ears.

"What are you doing here, I am going to kill you!" David lurched forward, the wolf within him had almost awakened by now, his claws were poking through the surface, almost visible now. The alpha inside was fighting for its birthright of domination.

He was about to attack him, when two persons held both of his arms from behind. One of them spoke urgently, "David, come back to your senses! He is not our priority right now, think about Nora, don't do anything which will purposefully hurt her!"

'Purposefully hurt her! The voice started haunting him inside his mind...what he had done had already hurt her, purposefully or otherwise.'

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"What is the difference between love and infatuation- it's a great question, isn't it?"

This question was the topic of the literature class on the day David had seen Nora for the first time.

It was the first time he had encountered the girl, wearing a white fluffy shirt and a black mini- skirt, the girl seemed a little timid at first.

He remembered everything about the start of that summer semester. It was April 6, 2014 and the clock was showing 9:53, making her late by a total of thirteen minutes.

In any case, he would definitely have said something naughty to tease the new girl, but after seeing her, his world had just taken a pause from spinning for a solid minute. He did know the reason for it, but that was definitely not love-

Love? Even the traces of infatuation had vanished the moment she had announced her full name.

'Nora Rovery! The daughter of the Riverine couple? Potential Alpha of the Moon pack? So she was the enemy- an enemy whom he was meeting for the first time. He could feel his heart racing, but was it because of the rivalry they shared, that predated their own births; or was it because he was actually infatuated by her?'

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"Excuse me Alpha ! We are trying our best, but her body is not responding to anything. The dagger had almost touched her rib-cage from the back! She has already lost plenty of blood, and if the situation persists, I am afraid to say that we would not be able to save her."

The doctor announced the current status by becoming the bearer of the bad news, leaving everyone in shock as he stepped away.

The news was shocking to everyone standing there, but there was one person from whom it had robbed his entire world.

David fell down from the strong grip of his friends- it would be better to call them their mutual friends, as the two of them were the respective best friends of Nora and David.

They kneeled down to console him, when he growled again.

"RUN! EVERYONE- WHOEVER WAS INVOLVED IN THIS, RUN...till I am giving you time. Because I, David Matthew- the Alpha of the Eclipse pack, is announcing this with an oath to the Moon Goddess, that if anything happens to her, I will be burning down the entire world. If my world wouldn't survive, then nobody else's is allowed to!"

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