Page 15 of Ruthless Reign

"There can't be that many packs around given the land sizes," Wyatt mutters. "Who can we rule out?"

Daxton grabs a piece of paper from his stack. "We know that at present the White Pack, Eclipse Pack, Selene Pack, Crescent Pack, Yellow Moon Pack, and Silver Star Pack have gone. Excluding my neighboring packs that just leaves the Lunar Pack, Kingston's pack, Moonlight Pack, Seventh Circle Pack, and the New Moon Pack."

"Five packs is a lot for us to investigate quickly," Maverick mutters, deep in thought. "Even if we split up, we still don't have the numbers. It will take days to travel to all of them."

"Wait," Wyatt says, holding up his hand. "What was the last one you said?"

Daxton glances back down at the paper. "New Moon Pack."

It falls silent for a moment while Wyatt flicks through one of Nyx's books. Stopping on a page, his eyes scan over the words, before his eyebrows shoot up. "Well, that's interesting."

"What?" Maverick and I shoot out at the same time.

A smile appears on Wyatt's face at our dual question, before he hands the book over to Daxton. He reads the open page, frowning.

"Stevens marked some information about the Great War," he starts, glancing up at us. "During it, Goddess Ophelia's home was invaded, and she was taken by the New Moon Pack." Pausing, he hands the book to me.

I snatch it from him, hastily reading the paragraph. "Kidnapped by the New Moon Pack," I repeat. "It is unknown of her intended fate, but it is thought that along the way she found her fated mate. It is believed she convinced the New Moon Pack to surrender their position in the Great War."

Maverick leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Alright. If we're running with the theory that history is repeating itself, then it's entirely possible that other packs believe that to be the case too."

"Have you managed to contact them?" Wyatt asks Daxton.

He shakes his head. "No," he answers. "None of us have any ties to them, so we've been unable to reach out without traveling there."

"I think that's your best shot," Wyatt points out.

"Except if it's wrong, then we will have wasted resources and time for nothing," Maverick growls.

We all share a look, before Daxton turns to me. "Lex, I think this should be your call. What do you want to do?"

To be honest, it makes me feel sick. We're running out of time. If we're wrong about this, particularly since there's only a twenty percent chance that they are the culprits, then Nyx is as good as dead. But if we split up to cover more ground, we run the risk of being outnumbered even more so.

The paragraph about Goddess Ophelia's history is eerily similar to Nyx's. And if history is repeating itself, then it means she is the answer to everything. But we could be wrong, and if we are, Nyx will be the one that pays the price.

"I don't understand why she can't contact us and why we can't feel her location," I say, shaking my head. "If we make the wrong decision…" I trail off, letting them fill in the blanks.

Maverick lets out a sigh. "What other options do we have? If we split up, we're risking all of our packs."

"I agree," I growl. "We need a strong, united front."

"So, it's settled then," Daxton mutters.

I nod. "It's settled. Get the packs ready. We're going to the New Moon territory."

Chapter Seven

Nyx

Why does this keep happening to me?

It's like I'm some defective wolf—accidentally gaining a new mate every time I run into an alpha. Someone needs to lock me up before this shit gets further out of control.

I don't know what sick joke the universe is playing on me. But what's even worse is Cade barely seems surprised at all.

It makes me want to punch him again.

The only positive right now is I'm so furious, so devastated that I have no desire to repeat the word back to him. I wish that thought alone would pacify me, but being able to resist the cloudy haze that usually comes with finding your mate, just goes to show I'm a flawed product.

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