The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

69. The Resistance

"But then, on the night of the Death Moon, twenty-two years ago, something was wrong. The Moon always has a strong pull on our lands during this night, but this time... it was unimaginable. All the animals were unsettled—with mothers killing their own babes, or even some of them running into campfires. No one was at ease, even we could feel this strange pull. Even the trees and the river seemed unhinged, everything around us was just completely out of control.

"The Moon was strong, that night. Very strong. Some took it as a sign. Some thought of it as an impending doom, the ending of time. Some saw a prophecy in it. Beckett was one of those people.

"And then your mother went into labor—two Moons early. I found her in one of the back alleys in the slums, all bloodied and screaming, in the middle of her contractions. She begged me for help. She had managed to escape the wolves Beckett had sent after her, but she had nowhere to go.

"And I knew I shouldn't have—but I couldn't live with myself by just letting her die. Letting you die before you could even experience the world. You were still an innocent baby, you hadn't even been born yet.

"So I took her into these very tunnels. It was tricky because we had to get rid of her blood first and her sweat. It helped that everything was so crazed that night—I don't think we could've masked her scent otherwise.

"She gave birth to you here, in these tunnels. She hid here for a few months—having everyone believe that she went rogue. Perhaps she should've done that, but your father refused. He wanted vengeance on Beckett for it, he didn't want to live like a rogue. I don't think he ever truly expected Beckett would turn on them so easily, and so ruthlessly.

"They switched sides, then. It took a while for them to gain our trust, and our respect and they had a lot of wrongs to answer for, but they did redeem themselves. And they loved you, Sari. So, so much. Once you were born, everything changed for them."

A shy tear started pooling in his eye socket, eagerly awaiting its escape.

"I don't believe this," I whispered, feeling something wet dampening my cheeks.

"I know it's a lot to take in," he said, his hand reaching for mine. "I wish I could've told you under different circumstances."

I pulled my hand away, not being able to stand his treacherous touch right now. I knew he hadn't exactly betrayed me, but it felt that way. And my parents, too.

Dexter's words came floating back to my mind, and it made the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

No, I cried to myself, feeling the unraveling burning through me, leaving nothing but a scorching hole inside me.

"Under what circumstances would you have told me, Benjamin?" I cried out. "I left! And I wasn't supposed to come back."

"I didn't think you were," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't want to ruin your memory of your parents. I thought you would go to another pack—I thought you would stay out of this mess."

"But I didn't." I should have known. He should have told me. I should have known, at the very least so Dexter couldn't have held it over my head in his final moments.

I shivered at the thought that in the end—in his mind, he possibly had won. Because he knew. He knew that I would find out one day, and he knew what it would do to me. And I wasn't able to give him the displeasure of proving him wrong.

"You should have," he said.

"I couldn't," I bit back. "No one would take me in because of him. No one dared, only Aven."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"No," I answered, my head shaking now, too.

He didn't push further, but I saw the distance hurt him, as his bottom lip started quivering subtly, barely noticeable.

But I did notice because I had supernatural sight. And he knew that I noticed because he knew what I was. He had known all along.

"You said you could help," I remembered, steering the conversation away from this betrayal. Though my mind didn't ease, and I could already hear Jerr murmur about the loudness of my thoughts.

"Sari," he sighed, clearly not yet finished with this topic of conversation.

But I was done with it. I didn't want to talk about it anymore, and there was a war coming. "Can you?" I cut him off.

"I—, we can," he confirmed.

"How?" It took everything in me to keep my voice steady and to keep my breathing under control.

"These tunnels cover the entire town. One even leads into the Central Building's dungeons."

"How—"

"It's been there for centuries, long before Beckett was around. The Resistance has been around for centuries, too. They built this town and secured it with these tunnels. Beckett doesn't know about it, because no Alpha before him did. That tunnel has never been used before, only kept for emergencies, since it would risk blowing the entire cover. But it can get your Alpha inside—"

"Why would he need to sneak inside?" I asked. The armies were too large to fight in the Central Building.

"Beckett has been paranoid, lately. His new Beta does all the bossing around on the outside. Beckett is locking himself up in there ever since he began preparing for your pack's arrival. There's something in that building that's keeping him inside."

"Okay," I contemplated. "Do you know which tunnel that is?"

"Yes," he confirmed.

"And if I bring Aven to you, will you show him?"

"Yes," he said. "This could save thousands of lives, Sari. Of course, I would help him. That's what the Resistance is for—protecting humans against wolves."

"Except me," I whispered.

"I wanted to," he answered, and I heard his voice break. "I wanted to so badly, but Beckett kept such a close eye on you because of that prophecy that he believed in. It was a risk we couldn't take."

"I understand," I said, softly. Though in the faintest corner of my heart, I knew I didn't. "Let's go, then."

"Sari, there's one more thing you should know about. That your Alpha should know about."

"What?" I asked, turning around and facing him again.

"We found another Alpha. Eli, a twenty-five-year-old boy, living on the other side of the land. A bastard from a rogue, and he shows signs of powers. We've been preparing him to take over one day—but we will need an Alpha to perform his Ascension. We hid him away from Beckett, because if he knew..."

"He'd either kill him or recruit him," I finished for him.

"Yes. But he's a good one. He has a good heart, and he's open to guidance—he would make a good Alpha."

"I'm not sure Aven will want to partake in that," I said. I doubted if this would be enough to change his mind about wiping the entire pack from existence.

"He will."