Sorry for the delay folks, work has been crazy, will try to get back to weekly updates as soon as I can.

Chapter 4

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This training of her's was nothing like before.

If she thought Sebastian had been merciless before he was downright cruel. The training sessions were grueling and lasted twelve hours a day. She would be so exhausted by end of they that she simply collapsed on her bed and passed out.

He also kept her away from everyone that included even Alex and Adrian, he told her she was not stable enough to be around people and she needed better control on her wolf.

But something miraculous had happened, her raging and frothing wolf had calmed down considerably, even in-fact co-operating with her training. She also got a hang of controlling her emotions a little better and reigning in her wolf.

She had just gotten back from another session of training with Sebastian and had taken a warm relaxing bath when someone knocked on her door. She went to open it and paused at the door looking at the person on the other side.

"A-Alex" She whispered, not expecting him at her door.

"Evy" Alex responded calmly, no emotion showing.

"Alex...I.." Evy said chocking up, she had not seen him since the funeral, to be honest she avoided both Alex and Adrian like plague for she was afraid of what she would see in their eyes, the blame she would find there for killing their mother. Sebastian's instructs for her to be isolated had been a blessing and they had kept their distance until now.

"Alex" She said tears leaking out of her eyes and in one stride he engulfed her in a hug and she promptly broke down in his arms, crying her eyes out.

***

They were sitting in her room, Alex had ordered some food.

"How are you holding up?" Alex gently asked.

"I don't know Alex, my wolf has gone crazy, half the time I cannot differentiate her thoughts and mine and she had grown so powerful that I can't control her...I...the training is helping a little."

"How are you doing Evy?" Alex asked again.

She stared at him for a moment and gave a laugh filled with irony "you know what, let me take a raincheck on that question for I truly don't know."

She truly didn't, she had shut everything off and Sebastian ensured that she could not think even if she wanted to. Her end of day included her passing out on the bed. She had no time to process anything.

"You are not super human Evy" Ales gently added and burst out "I am so angry that I want to kill someone!"

Evy looked at Alex in confusion.

"I don't blame you for what happened" Alex clarified his position "I don't know what Roma and Sebastian were thinking!" He growled "You are as much as a victim as anyone else Evy, I don't hold what happened against you!" He clarified again.

A weight lifted off her chest, she had always feared how Alex and Adrian would view her, would they blame her for what happened? They clearly didn't and it made a world of difference for her.

"Thank you Alex" She whispered heartfelt.

"I don't know what she was thinking" Alex muttered "They have painted a bull's eye on your back, every enemy of Roma would now think you will be an easy target to take out. I don't know what they were thinking." He repeated.

She knew. She know what they had been thinking, it was a desperate move to keep the Roma rule together so that there was no power vacuum to facilitate an rebellion in the ranks.

"Was there an alternative?" She sighed.

"I don't know" Alex sighed frustrated.

"But it did work didn't it" she asked.

Alex looked at her confused "I killing that alpha in the great hall, it bought us some time didn't it?" She still couldn't believe what she did, what her wolf did, the way she lashed out and slashed his throat.

"Evy...that was not you...what happened to you...Shit! That would fuck anyone up, no matter how strong....Max was being trained for all his life to take over that power and it was transferred to you without ant preparation. Shit Evelyn! I am amazed at how well you are still functioning."

At the mention of Max's name she crumbled.

"Oh, Evy!" Alex gathered her in to his arms "He will be fine Evy, I am sure he will be."

She took comfort in his familiar scent but ignored the words...for no amount of words could get her comfort.

They stayed like that for a while. Drawing comfort from each other

"What are we going to do?" Alex pondered.

She stayed silent for she had no idea.

***

"I don't know what to do Max, Sebastian wants me to be someone I am not, I don't know what to do Max" She whispered softly tears leaking from her eyes "I didn't wat this Max...oh god! I killed your mother, I don't know how you are going to take it...If...if you hate me it's going to kill me Max, please don't hate me!" She pleaded crying burying her head in his motionless hand.

As usual, the only response she got was the soft beeping of the hospital equipment.

***

"Why are we here?" Adrian asked

Evy, Alex and Adrian were summoned to the meeting room where Sebastian was present.

"We have put this meeting off for a while" Sebastian said in all business tone "but we don't have a lot of time"

"To do what?" Alex asked.

Sebastian gave a laugh filled with Irony "Do what?" He asked "The woman we all considered mother is dead and Max is in coma, what you think we want to do, have a picnic?"

Alex sighed "We are not in position to take action" They were still reeling in shock and the alpha's were coming in terms with change in leadership.

"So we do nothing?" Sebastian asked.

"What do you want to do?" Adrian asked.

"Strike back at people who did this!" Sebastian hissed.

"Do we even know who did this?" Alex asked.

"Of course, who has been hiding Charles all this while? On whose territory was she attacked?" Sebastian said pointing at Evelyn.

"What did we find out in the investigation?" Adrian asked. They had launched an investigation after the attack.

"Most of them got away, disappeared, but after careful tracking we found out most of them were from USA, came in to Roma in different guises...this was a well-coordinated attack, planned for months if not years. We discovered a stash of weapons, Russian make that they had used to launch an attack."

"So now Russia is also our enemy" Alex whispered in desolation.

"No, I said that the weapons were Russian made, not that crazy Ivan had a hand in it" Crazy Ivan was what the alpha of the Russian pack was refeed to as.

"We cannot afford an outright confrontation right now, we need to settle down, let our alphas get used to Evy's Rule and then we can focus on what to do next" Alex reasoned.

"I agree" Adrian added "we are in no position to launch an attack, let's build stability first, ensure we have all the alphas we need on our side and right now we need to show restraint. I would recommend Evy meet all our alphas to re-forge alliances, there feathers are ruffled now and we need to smoothen them over."

Alex nodded readily and added "Evy was thrust in to this position and she need to learn to navigate this path, war is the last thing we want on our hands."

Sebastian looked at Evelyn "What do you think?"

She shrugged carelessly "Whatever you feel is right" she whispered without care.

Alex and Adrian shared a look. Eve was nowhere ready to lead the Roma wolves, she needed to be exposed gradually and too much of it would capitulate her in to pa.

"Ok" Sebastian said. "Let's meet every day here to chalk out an action plan, we need to start showing that we have a functioning monarchy."

Alex and Adrian agreed and got up and walked out of the Room. Evelyn made no effort to move.

"Go get some rest, we need to start training early tomorrow morning" He gently told her getting up from his seat.

She ignore him staring in to the air, her face away from his.

He sighed and started walking towards the door.

"Sebastian" she called him softly.

"Yes?" he turned around, she was still staring away in to the air, not looking at him.

"The American wolves, how guilty are they?"

"I don't know about the council but the Lockbourne family is definitely guilty of crimes against us" He told her.

"Right now, how do the Lockbourne family view us?" She asked softly still looking away from him.

"We are wounded and have an amateur on the throne...at this point I don't think they view us as a threat" He explained what he thought.

"Exactly, don't you think this is the perfect time for action?" she asked and finally looking at him, her eyes...her wolf was in control.

Sebastian paused "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Right now they perceive us to be weak and the last thing they would expect from us is an all-out assault..." She paused letting her statement hanging in air.

"So an attack now would be...to our advantage" Sebastian added and she nodded. She was right, this would be the last thing they would expect.

"How do you think we should do this? I mean what should be our response?" He asked.

She shrugged and asked "How sure are you of the guild of the Lockbourne family?"

"One hundred percent" He added without hesitation.

"Good, then let's make an example out of them" She added.

"Things like that will have a lot of collateral damage." He warned. He wanted her to know the consequences of her statements. The Lockbourne controlled one of the largest packs in America.

"So be it" she said flippantly "Let them know what happens when they alphas make the wrong choices."

"What do you want to do?" He asked her curious.

"I want everyone with the name Lockbourne erased from this planet. I want the rest of the world to know what happens when they mess with us."

"When?" he asked her calmly.

"As soon as we can, I don't see a point in delaying" She added.

"We will receive a lot of flak for this from the rest of the world" he cautioned.

"Better to be seen as a threat then useless"

"Let me call Alex and Adrian in..." Sebastian started.

"No!" She voiced.

"They...They will oppose, they are not ready to rock the boat right now...Everyone views me as a babe in the woods, we can use that image to our advantage."

"I want us to project that we are focusing on stabilizing our internal issues, so that nobody smells what we really want to do."

"So you want me to keep the twins out of the loop?" He confirmed with her.

"For now." She added "We will tell them when the time comes. I don't want us conflicted internally. The four of us will meet on how to take things forward but I want the two of us to meet on this...special project."

Sebastian contemplated and added "Let me look at options, if we do this we have to hit them fast and hit them hard and cut of their head in a single shot so that they don't bounce back."

She just nodded "work on the details, let's discuss this tomorrow..."

He nodded "Sure" he said and turned to walk out.

"Sebastian" She called him out in a firm voice.

He turned "Yes?"

"Let's give them hell!"

He gave her a small smile "pinky promise!" he said.

Suddenly her wolf retreated and in her place stood an horrified Evelyn, she had not been kept in the dark and she knew what her wolf had just discussed.

Sebastian read the expression on her face "She is right you know" he told her softly.

Evelyn just stood there like a statue for a minute before responding softly "I know."

"Right now as we speak I am sure there is a plan being hatched to eliminate you and I am sure the Lockbourne family is selling front row tickets for this event, we need to hit them back before they strike" Sebastian explained.

"I understand" She said and looked at him, her eyes held a determination he did not see before.

"I hope you agree with your wolf to keep it between us for now."

"Yes" She nodded.

"Then we understand each other..." he paused and slightly bowed to her and added "Roma" and with that he turned back and left, with purpose in his strides.

Evelyn flinched at the word Roma but her wolf pointed out to her that only Sebastian had addressed her with her rightful title.

The others would soon follow suite.

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