The Tribute

A pair of blood-red eyes snapped open followed by a sharp intake of breath. It was as if she came from a deep slumber with no room to breathe, in a way she did. She practically climbed up from hell after dying at the hands of the people she trusted.

A wave of scalding hate pierced right through Diana’s ice-cold heart, melting it with only one purpose: revenge. She trusted them and loved them with all her heart and soul but what did she get in return? Her baby was taken away from her and her life trampled over and over again!

“Hey, Diana. Are you alright? Why are you clutching your chest?”

Anastasia’s over-the-top sweet voice pulled Diana from her miserable trance.

“!!!” A gasp escaped Anastasia’s pale lips when the latter met Diana’s gaze—it was burning with hatred and malice. But in a blink of an eye, the seemingly daunting look of the submissive Diana vanished as if it was never there in the first place as if it was only Anastasia’s figment of imagination. Anastasia failed to notice the whitening knuckles of Diana, hidden beneath her ragged jumper dress.

Shaking her head, Diana drew a deep breath and smiled like always at Anastasia. For someone with a photographic memory, Diana uttered the exact same words she said in her first lifetime. “I’m okay, Ana. You know how I hate to be here. If only you did not practically drag me here, I won’t be watching this.”

Diana’s tone of voice did not change. It was still kind and gentle, making Anastasia think that the malice she had seen for a split second was indeed a figment of her imagination. Shaking her head inwardly, her practiced smile resurfaced as she reached out for Diana’s hand. “Let us get out of here. You are scared of the Blood Alpha, right? I don’t want you to have nightmares because of him.”

The Anastasia from Diana’s first lifetime overlapped with the young woman in front of her. The sunlight that graced the meadow of the neutral lands did not conceal the darkening gaze of Diana. Amid the buzzing werewolves—who were like them waiting for the arrival of the Blood Alpha—Diana stared at the smiling Anastasia as if they were the only two people left in the vast grassland.

‘You want me to leave here immediately because you want to make it seem as if I am disrespecting the Blood Alpha. And this is the opportunity you want to create for yourself. In my past life, you plead for me. You even took the lashing for me. I was a fool to fall for this trick! You only want to secure your place beside me while ensuring your image in front of the pack and destroying my family’s honor for the Blood Alpha.’ Diana thought. Bitterness crept to her throat after realizing how much of a fool she had been.

Diana knew now how patient and determined Anastasia was for her grand plans. If it was her past self against this Anastasia, she was sure she would not be able to even hold a candle against the vile woman. But this time, Diana lost everything from her past life—she lost her child. Now she was a mother scorned from all the horrors of betrayals, an empty shell of what she used to be.

Revenge. This word was the only motivation for her to continue this second life even after fully knowing that her little angel would never come back in this lifetime.

“What are you talking about, Ana? I am the daughter of the beta! How can I shy away from this one? Meeting the Blood Alpha is like facing my fear.” Diana linked her arms with a stupefied Anastasia.

“B-But you said be-before you hated the Blood Alpha.” Anastasia’s ‘worried’ words were louder than her normal tone, making their pack mates look back at them warily.

Diana glanced at her pocket watch.

“Hush it! If the Blood Alpha hears you, the fate of the entire Crescent Pack will be in danger!” One elderly admonished Diana, eyes filled with a reprimanding gaze.

Diana did not mind her pack mates’ reproachful looks at her. Instead, she pulled Anastasia closer like a clingy submissive wolf that she always was, but this time, her voice was equally as loud as Anastasia’s. “What is there to hate at the Blood Alpha? He is a valiant war hero who protected us from rogues over the years! He earned his title as the Blood Alpha because he bathed in his enemy’s blood, a cost to pay to maintain our peace. If anything, I admire the Blood Alpha next to my father and you know that, Ana.” Diana smelled the unique scent of death and blood from her south—just like she remembered. She continued, eyes pinned on the paling Anastasia. “If anything, I admire him. Ana, you know that. Why have you forgotten of all things?”

“B-Blood Alpha! Alpha is with the Blood Alpha!” One pack mate announced, pushing all the attention to the incoming flock of wolves from the southern part of the meadow, appearing from the foggy forest like a phantom with their stealthy footsteps and colossal bearings.

Upon the arrival of their alpha and beta along with their awaited guests, the pack members of the Crescent Pack bowed their heads one by one.

‘He arrived! The key component of my past demise and my salvation in this lifetime for my revenge—Dylan Cain of the Blood Claws Pack! This time I will make sure you will fall into my palms. This time I will use you to my heart’s content, think of it as a blood debt between us. After all, you owe me one,’ Diana thought as she looked up along with everyone.

Standing a few good meters from the front rows, Diana went still when her emotionless eyes met a pair of tumultuous ones. In the sea of the crowd between two packs, two sets of eyes clashed.

Blood rushed through Diana’s veins as her heart pounded upon the mere split-second eye contact. On instinct, she took a step back.

“….because of this, we decided to hold the annual Tribute Ceremony in the Crescent Pack!” Alpha Nathan, Axel’s father and the Alpha of Crescent Pack finished his announcement. His words were answered with joyous applause and howls.

Beta Mason, Diana’s father, applauded as well despite not listening to his alpha as his gaze was wandering among the crowd—eyes filled with worry for his overly submissive daughter. He worried that she was being bullied by the resident gammas or omegas once again.

The atmosphere was set right when a deep growl shattered the lively atmosphere. Suddenly, the air reverberated and the silence ensued—all eyes on the source of such threatening sound, Alpha Dylan Cain.

“Continue.”

A deep sexy voice sent shivers down Diana’s spine as soon as she heard the voice of the renowned ruthless alpha. Despite being drawn to the voice, she pinned her gaze on her father and gave him a reassuring smile—the same untainted smile she would always give him.

But the moment she turned around and sauntered her way to the pack cabins, the innocent smile vanished, replaced with an emotionless mask of a woman who had climbed back from hell.

Hand on her stomach where her womb lies, she thought. ‘Wait for me, my child. I will burn everything to the ground when need be and sell my soul to the devil himself if it means avenging you and protecting your grandparents.’

Diana did not stop even after hearing Anastasia’s calls to her. Her stride remained balanced and calm. Walking away from Anastasia was the first thing she did that contradicted her action from the first timeline.

Claws embedded her palms as soon as she clenched her fists. Not minding the blood trickling down her hands, she entered a cozy cabin in the western part of the Crescent Pack’s Cabin Area—the place where wolves with families were given to settle after moving out from the pack house.

A sense of familiarity wafted Diana as her feet brought her to the kitchen where the smell of apple pie was coming from. As she crossed the distance, the familiar smell of home and bitterness penetrated her core, making her bite the insides of her cheeks.

Clearing her throat, she pulled the attention of a humming middle-aged woman in the kitchen who was wearing an autumn-themed apron. “M-Mum.”

Diana’s heart constricted. For her mother, who immediately turned to her upon her voice, Diana calling her ‘mum’ was a day-to-day basis. But for Diana, who had watched her mother and father being dragged to the prison cells for a crime not of their own, it was a lifetime away since she was able to call her mother ‘mum’.

“Dear, what’s wrong? Did someone bully you again?” Lorraine dropped everything she was doing before she pulled Diana into her warm embrace, caressing the latter’s head.

Diana stifled her sobs, tightened her grip around her mother’s waist, and shook her head. A single tear still escaped no matter how hard she tried to blink her tears away.

“Then what is wrong? Did the Blood Alpha scare you away?” Lorraine sighed. “I told your father countless times already not to bring you along! Don’t worry, my dear, I will talk to him again. That blasted dog wants you to help the pack house in serving the Blood Alpha and his men!”

‘This is it.’ Diana remembered well. In her past life, she cried her eyeballs out just to let Anastasia take her place in this golden opportunity. She would not make the same mistake again.

“No, Mum. I am not afraid of the Blood Alpha—”

‘I am more afraid of the people we once trusted who are now waiting to strike us. I know that there is a traitor among the ranks of the Crescent Pack which led to you and Father’s demise for the alleged treachery. It is high time to form an alliance; the greater power, the better. And there is no greater power among the alphas but the Blood Alpha,’

“—in fact, I want to help the Luna in catering to the guests.”

Lorraine pushed her daughter to look at her face, wanting to confirm if she was indeed hearing it right. “You will help the Luna? I thought you want Anastasia to take your place?”

Diana smiled gently at her mother, eyes filled with longing as she stared at the woman whom she once failed to protect. She took her mother’s hands and held it reassuringly. “Mum…. Uhm, I want to tell you something actually. I hope you can help me persuade Dad.”

“What is it, my dear?”

“I want to join the Tribute Ceremony.”