Chapter 2 Hidden Enemy, Revealed Friend

Eduarda leaves the room as quickly as possible, but to her surprise, her uncle is at the door.

“Hi honey, how are you?”

“Uncle, I miss you”, says Eduarda “when you arrived”

“It was dawn, I didn’t want to wake you up, Eduarda, are you okay, do you look even thinner?”

“It’s all in your head uncle, I’m the same way”, says Eduarda, changing the subject right away, “How long will it last this time”

“Sorry honey, I would like to spend more time with you, but I’m already going to the royal pack tomorrow, today is the first day, did you forget?, I came to pick up the chosen ones for the royal academy”

“Wow, I had really forgotten”, this meant that she would have to go to the square and face the jokes and insults of the other young people, because although it was not mandatory to put the name in the draw, everyone had to be present.

“So hurry up darling, looks like your cousin is going to name her this year”

“Okay, just give me a second and I’ll be right down”

Uncle pats her head and goes down to the living room.

Eduarda did not have many clothes, as Susan and Betany confiscated all the money that her uncle and even her brother sent.

She went back into the bedroom and changed into the best outfit she could find, a dress that would fit two of her.

And half na hour later she arrived at the square avoiding eye contact with most people.

Eduarda, disguised, watches the young people go to put their name in the draw.

Eduarda would like to be different, not listening to the promise she made to her mother and taking off the necklace, that way she would have her wolf and then who knows, maybe she would be there, putting her name in the lottery.

The ceremony begins and her uncle takes the stage along with the alpha of the pack, the alpha says the same words every year, about achieving strength and glory in the royal academy.

Then a child of about three years old is chosen to take the names.

She takes the first one and hands it to the Alpha who reads it aloud:

“Betany Fox”

Eduarda quickly looks to her cousin’s side and realizes that she has turned pale, and looks in panic at her mother, who is equally pale, Eduarda then realizes that she put the name, just to get attention, but she didn’t really expect to be chosen. Eduarda tries to repress her smile, because her life without Betany will be easier, because even if she doesn’t want to go, the rule is clear, once chosen she can’t give up.

The child takes another name, and the Alpha reads:

“Trevan Deravux”, he says proudly because he was her son and future alpha of the gang, Eduarda now feels like dancing, without her worst aggressors the school would be bearable.

The alpha reads one more name:

“Gabriel Hux”, this time Eduarda is sad, because Gaby is the only one who is kind to her, he always seems to be defending her, or helping to get her things when they bump into her, and deep down Eduarda had a crush on him, no let her dream that he would someday like her too, he was handsome, tall, strong with a delicate face wrapped in her golden curls, she would miss him.

But the next name Alpha reads makes Eduarda’s world crumble.

“It can’t be” she thinks

And silence takes over the whole square, her uncle takes the paper from Alpha’s hand without the slightest ceremony and reads it again:

“Eduarda Trevilhian”, he looks at his niece who seems to be in shock, “Garoto”, he says approaching the little boy who was removing the paper, “someone gave you this paper, in the name of the king I want to know who it was”.

The little boy gets scared and starts crying, the red Alpha in anger says to Pedro:

“You know the rules, once chosen, you can’t quit”

“By the Goddess Fred do you really think she put her name in there?”

“And are you suggesting that our process is fraudulent, or that I put your human niece’s name in there?”

“For your own good, you better not have it, or consider yourself a dead wolf.”

“I am the alpha of this pack”

“And I am a knight of the king, and he will be pleased to know that someone who has never been written has been chosen”, saying that he goes down from the stage towards Eduarda.

“Dudley,” a voice whispers in your ear

“ Pay attention, I’ll be there with you, so always try to stay close, okay?”

Eduarda turns and faces Gaby, he smiles at her, and that’s when it happens.

It’s like they’ve known each other their whole lives, she’d trust him with her life, and he’d give his life for her.

“ What was this?” , Eduarda wonders, “was it a soul connection?, But I’m not a Luna leader of a band to have beta, or is he my partner and I just didn’t have the complete connection because of the necklace?”, her head is spinning with so many unanswered questions, until her uncle catches her and asks:

“Did you put your name there?”

“No”

“Have someone put it on for you?”

“No”

“Let’s go home”, says Pedro practically dragging Eduarda away.

Uncle doesn’t say a word the whole way, and when they get home he looks out the windows, as if to make sure they haven’t been followed.

Susan is the first to speak:

“Pedro please, you can’t let them take Betany...”

“Shut up Susan, if she didn’t want to go she shouldn’t have put the name”

“The same applies to Eduarda” says Betany

Pedro acts quickly, grabs Betany by the neck and pins her against the wall:

“Did you put her name there?”

“No… not me”, Susan tries to free her daughter from Pedro’s grasp, but he doesn’t budge.

“If I found out that you had something to do with it...” he says and releases Betany, who sits down

“Susan takes Betany to sleep with her parents so she can say goodbye”

Susan helps her daughter up and out of the house as quickly as possible.

“Eduarda listens to me, people die in the royal academy, whoever put your name on it is definitely trying to hurt you, I’ve been trying to protect you, I married Susan to stop them from trying anything against you, but now that your brother won’t come back, they sure turned on you”

“Uncle what are you talking about?”

“By right you are the heir of the pack, since your brother will not take over, the next in line is you”

“But I don’t have a wolf”

“I know dear, but apparently they don’t want to risk you finding your partner because then he would be the alpha”

“What am I going to do uncle”

“You will have to go, we have no choice, I will speak to your brother, and he and I will do our best to protect you there, and Eduarda stay away from the Crown Prince”

“And why would I go near Prince Monster?”, asks Eduarda, not seeing any meaning in her uncle’s words.

“Don’t talk about him like that, he’s a good man darling, he’s just more out of control every day, but despite being powerful before he was a good boy”

“And what happened then?”

“He as the most powerful being, he has powers much sharper than us, and for the last year, he has been suffering from the mate bond”

“She didn’t want him?”

“No, actually he still hasn’t found her, but it seems that in the last year she has suffered a lot, and he feels some of that suffering for the bond, but he can’t do anything to help her, because he doesn’t know who she is or even where she is. , and this makes him increasingly out of control, to the point of hating his partner who, according to him, does nothing to help himself”

“Poor guy, but I still don’t see why I would go near him”

“He lives with his brother, and you guys go to the royal academy together, or did you forget that they are only a year older than you”