A few days passed by since Evan's death and the last appearance of the beast. Utter silence fell over the town, shops, cafes and malls were closed for a few days. Entrance's and exit's from Far Waters were blocked until this all was going to be sorted out.

I attended Evan's funeral even though I didn't want too. My last memory with him was horrible but apart from that, I had good memories and I never wished death upon him, even when he cheated on me.

Jennie, his mate, pounced at me, telling me I should've been the one—I should've been killed by the monster.

If she only knew.

It was dull as we had been attacked after so long. Alpha Richard didn't fancy other rogues and wolves attacking on his territory and it was a tradition for everything to shut down when the pack ran into these circumstances.

I had my mouth on a glass of whiskey, tasting it's bitterness while looking down from the railing and onto everyone that had attended the emergency pack meeting.

Cora tore through the buffet like a wild animal and ate everything she could. On the other hand, Ann was around, lingering with the elders and whispering them about how good she had been on the trainings from the last few months.

I sighed and my eyes averted to my parents that were speaking with Alpha Richard.

Not again.

I had asked them not to tell the Alpha and they didn't but Richard had been doubting that it wasn't just a rogue that ripped Evan limb to limb. A rogue didn't have that kind of strength.

I pushed my drink aside on the table and went over to them. "Good morning, Alpha." I said with a cheerful smile.

"Good morning, Lilliana. How have you been feeling?" He asked, his eyes rocking towards me.

"Better. Thank you,"

"Could I speak to you alone for a moment?"

I glanced at my parents and they didn't mind so I nodded my head and went into another room where there was nothing except for complete, utter silence.

Alpha Richard look around while pocketing his hands through his pants before he leaned in closer and said, "We can't let anyone know about this yet, but, we had received the reports back from the hospital that had done the tests on Evan's body and it turns out that it wasn't a werewolf that attacked him."

"What?" I blurted out and my eye twitched. "What?" I asked again, unable to understand his words at all.

What the fuck?

"I meant—the person, he wasn't in his wolf form when he attacked Evan, right?" Alpha Richard asked while placing a hand over my shoulder.

I looked up, he was a lot taller than me, almost the same height of the beast.

"No," I swallowed hard and continued. "What I saw, it was a man,"

"Exactly. A werewolf doesn't has enough strength to rip someone's neck off their bodies while they are in their human form." He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning a bit back. "I'm asking you again, what did you see Lilliana?"

"I saw a man's shadow." I could barely meet with his eyes while I was lying about who I had seen.

"It was a swift stroke at the neck, a man doesn't has that much strength and neither do you or me. Did you see something else? Another creature? Someone we aren't aware off?" Alpha Richard was confused just as I was.

I knew who it was, I knew who the beast was—he was a werewolf, like all of us. So, what was the issue? Was he something else?

"I—I'm sorry, I don't know." I shrugged.

"It's all right. You can go back outside."

"Thank you, Alpha." I reached for the door and went away from the room.

The mansion was packed, filled with warriors, elders and to my surprise, Mrs. Pitts was there as well—for the first time ever. She never ever came to pack meetings and hated roaming around the town.

"Ann," I grabbed her away from whoever she was talking too. "What is your grandmother doing here?"

"Alpha Richard invited her."

I scowled. This was going to be a problem. I nibbled on the top of my thumb while shaking and looking at Mrs. Pitts who was now speaking to Alpha Richard.

"What's wrong? She won't tell him if you're wondering that," Ann said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What if she does? Alpha will kill me."

"Lily, of course, not! She knows what will happen if she tells him. Don't worry, she won't."

I nodded and turned away to grab the entire bottle of whiskey off the counter before going outside to the garden. Evan's death was taking a toll in my life. I was unsure whether I could hide it for any longer. My mate was a threat to my own pack.

I sat down on the wooden bench, pushed the top off the bottle and poured the whiskey inside a glass filled with ice. I had been drinking non-stop over the past few days, it was mostly bourbon and scotch whiskey.

My right leg kept trembling the entire time I sat in the garden, trying to enjoy the ray of the sunshine that had appeared after days.

"Lily," Cora and Ann sat beside me. "What's wrong?" One of them asked.

I kept my thoughts to my self and told what needed to be told. "Nothing."

"You've been acting strange since Evan's funeral. Something is bothering you. Is it your mate?" Cora said in a whisper.

Stunned, I looked at her. She was the only one that ever mentioned my mate, everyone else, including my parents called him the beast.

"Yes. I can't stop thinking. I want to reject him but I can't. My wolf won't allow me to do so." I replied to her truthfully.

"You don't have too. I mean, he told you that he wouldn't hurt you, right?" But, he was going to ruin me.

"Yes,"

"Then, you have nothing to worry about? As long as he's not hurting you or your family, you don't have to reject him. Evan, that bastard, deserved to die. He tried to force himself on you. If your mate hadn't appeared, Evan would've probably raped you!" Cora blurted out in a quick breath.

"Cora!" Ann yelled at her and I flinched.

I raised my hand at Ann, "It's fine. She's not wrong. Evan was going to mark me and then continue with the mating. He was drunk."

"See! That bastard deserved it, he had a mate and he was trying to fuck with you. Of course, your mate was going to kill him—that's what happens in this world." She explained, her tone rich and thick with anger regarding Evan.

"I don't know."

"Girl," Cora placed her hand over my shoulder, "You don't have to reject him. No one will force you. And, I'm sure you can control him later on in life."

A beast couldn't be controlled.

But, I still nodded. No one was pressuring me to reject him. Not that I had seen him in the past few days anyway.

After a small chit-chat, we headed back into the mansion as Alpha Richard was going to say a few things important regarding Evan's case.

"Everyone must be aware of our recent fatality in our territory. Evan's death wasn't an accident, another wolf had entered into our land and killed him. The borders will be shut closed till further notice and groups of warriors will be patrolling the forest during the evenings. Feel free to go for a run, trainings will continue as scheduled and everything will return to the norm," Alpha Richard said to everyone standing. Once he was done, he went away and left the chattering crowd to continue with their discussions.

A lot of rumors grew, especially from Evan's family and people were getting suspicious about me as I was there as well.

If Evan was killed, why wasn't I? And, who killed him? What was he? Where did he come from? Where did he vanish too?

It was the sole talk of the town.