Marcus doesn't know why, but he feels uneasy and creepy whenever he looks at the unknown woman. "Have someone send this woman to a hospital and return as soon as possible. Do not let her meet my brother, or he will be enraged."
Lucas suddenly reacted, "No! Please don't take her away from me. She needs my protection!"
With a sinister smirk on Marcus's face, he punched Lucas heavily. "You are sick, Lucas! Drag that woman out of our base. Find her identity and throw her at the edge of City M! Let her fend for herself! I don't care what happens to her, just drag her out!"
Nathan, Ethan's twin and the next Gamma of the pack, decided to make Lucas unconscious. "Since he could no longer determine right from wrong, I will tell the elders that we need someone from the Beta's family to replace him from his post. I will also tell Adriana that his mate found another woman, just to keep her vaccinated for the worst to come."
"Nathan, tell Aunt Julie that Adriana should reject Lucas. We don't know what will happen in the future. What if he meets that woman again, and what if he hurts my cousin in the process? Losing a mate now and getting betrayed in the future is the same kind of pain. Let's protect Adriana more!"
"Second master! The eldest master has returned!"
"Brother!" Marcus rushed to see his brother. "Call for the pack's doctor! Hurry!"
"Marcus..." Drake whispered before he fell unconscious.
Marcus caught his brother. "Lucas, that damned bastard, I will never forget this account! Once we return to the packhouse, I will let third brother dismember him!"
Drake is the next Alpha of the Bloodstone Pack in East Asia. Bloodstone Pack is the largest werewolf pack in Asia and the second most massive globally. The pack has existed even before Medieval times—a werewolf pack with members proud of their elemental abilities.
Drake, as the eldest son of the current patriarch, holds a crucial position in the pack. His safety was always a top priority, even in the face of his brothers. The sons of the Bloodstone clan are known to have tight brotherhood: Drake, Marcus, Elicer, Zachary, Fiero, and Russel.
Drake, as the 108th leader appointed by the clan, sacrificed a lot to ensure his brothers could do what they liked in life without werewolf restrictions and that they'd grown protective of each other. Marcus, as the closest person to him, admired him with all his heart. Seeing his brother wounded and suffering in front of him made him anxious and angry.
"Ethan, go and check what happened to my brother. I'm sure monitoring on the streets could capture a clue for us."
- City A, 8:00 AM -
Acceber stood at the gate of her home. She rang the doorbell, praying the neighbors wouldn't notice her sudden arrival. Elven, the butler of Yin's family for three generations, opened the door to check.
"Lady! You have returned!" He was teary-eyed, but the smile on his face was so bright as he ran to open the gate. There was a vast distance between the gate and her house, with the garden in the middle. "Lady, I am so glad you have returned!"
'This face is really useful. Butler Elven did not even notice that my body is different.' Acceber followed the butler into their house.
With the news of her return, Alexandra, Acceber's mother, rushed downstairs, followed by her father. Her mother's warm embrace immediately greeted her. "My child, you are back! How are you? What happened?"
She also received a hug from her father. "Dear, we should let the child rest first. She must be tired. City M is far from City A." Her father reasoned as he tried to calm his wife. "Dear, you need to relax. Crying will harm your health, and it hurts me to see you in pain."
"I'm sorry for worrying you, mom, dad. Your daughter is unfilial. I let you worry when I went missing." Acceber wanted to talk more, but her father urged the family to eat breakfast first. 'Did no one notice my hair and eyes colors?'
When her mother calmed down, she was the first to ask. "What happened? Why were you missing? Did someone kidnap you? How did you escape?"
"I was lucky after the fall, mom. I received an injury which made me fall into a coma. The person who saved me is a kind grandmother who lived in the woods alone. Since her house was far from the city's developed community, it was also hard for me to contact you."
"Oh, my poor child! Where is the injury? Let's go to the hospital!" Her mother's anxious face made her feel deeply ashamed. How could she let her mother worry like this? But she didn't have another story to tell to make it believable why she was lost.
"Mom, I am fine. I also went to the hospital for a body checkup. You can take a look at my lab results and confirm my body's excellent condition. Grandma nurtured me well while I was unconscious. Don't worry."
Tears welled in Alexandra's eyes, and she couldn't stop thinking about how hard it must be for her daughter to live in extreme environments. "Let us thank the kind grandmother who helped you."
Acceber's face stopped smiling, and she switched to a dazed expression as she tried to act in front of her parents. "Mom, we can't."
"Why? Did something happen?" Her father, Maximilian, asked concernedly as he rubbed his wife's back in circles.
"Grandma. She passed away a week ago." Acceber bowed her head to prevent the couple from seeing her funny expression.
She was terrible at acting, especially in front of her parents, but she couldn't tell them the truth simultaneously. She ignored the shock in her parents' voices as they comforted her and told her to schedule a visit to the cemetery to pray for the old grandmother.
She could not even believe that she would visit the cemetery so soon. The day ended with her feeling exhausted.
'Thankfully, the spring water can bring me back to life in an instant. I can't waste the evening sleeping. I should liquidate the money I have now and the properties my parents and relatives gave during special occasions.'
Acceber dragged her body to work on her assets as if developing an obsession with money and collecting supplies. 'Tomorrow, I should let my parents drink spring water with me. As for my brother, I haven't seen him since I arrived. Who cares about him anyway?'