The Beast's Possession

**Samantha pov**

I slipped out of the library unnoticed and instantly headed towards the woods, knowing he was waiting for me there.

The warmth of the day had faded long ago, now I had to creep around in the cold, the air was biting at my cheeks and my fingers trembled as I tried to part a way through the bushes and tree branches. The further into the forest I went, the harder my heart was beating.

My breath started coming in quick, shaky exhales as the memories of those visions invaded my mind again and made me weak in my knees. Despite that, I couldn't stop. I had to find Thane. I knew he was somewhere around here, but where?

For years, I had kept my head down in the packhouse and followed the orders, I always did what I was told. But now, after what I had just seen in those cursed visions, I knew there was no turning back anymore.

Alpha Bane wasn't just possessed by some dark force or an entity as we assumed, this was the consequences of a curse delivered by the Goddess herself. Our Alpha was haunted by his own blood.

And the entity definitely wasn't a stranger. It was Gideon, the monster who had doomed his descendants to an endless cycle of suffering, all because of the crimes he committed and never took responsibility for.

I couldn't stop thinking about his face, couldn't stop wondering how someone who looked so angelic could be so rotten beneath that perfect skin.

No wonder people used to say that one could play around with the wolves but there was no escaping the woods - Gideon was a prime example to what his scheming did to those he was supposed to hold dear.

Suddenly, a rustle in the underbrush near me made me freeze in my tracks. I looked around, holding my breath, but couldn't see a thing in the darkness of the forest. "Who's there?" A deep voice called out to my left.

"It's me," I whispered back, still looking around. "It's Samantha."

Silence. Nothing but heavy silence, even the forest animals stopped breathing as it seemed. But then, slowly, a figure emerged from behind a large pine tree. Thane. I breathed out in relief as I noticed him approach me and then, stiffened.

His tall, broad frame was rigid as his eyes scanned the darkness behind me before they set on my face.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Thane whisper-hissed and stepped closer to me. Although quiet, his voice had an edge to it that I instantly caught on. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be sneaking around like this? If the wrong person sees you. Shit, if I had assumed you're a threat-"

"I know," I cut him off before he could keep lecturing me. "We agreed to meet later, but I had to find you. I found out the truth about Alpha Bane and the entity that is changing him."

Thane's expression hardened as he kept glaring at me, as if checking if I was lying to his face. "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath to steady myself before I dropped the truth on him. "It's not some accidental spirit or entity, Thane. It's Gideon. The firstborn true Alpha. He's the one who started it all."

Thane's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You do realize that Gideon is a myth, right?"

"No!" I insisted. "He's real. Always has been. As real as a person can be. I saw it all, Thane. With my own eyes, darn it! I saw how he was cursed and how the Moon Goddess made it clear he was damned to haunt his bloodline until a daughter is born. That's the only way to break the curse. The Goddess said it herself, Gideon's bloodline won't have mates unless someone is deserving of one and the curse will be broken only when his first female descendant is born."

Thane stared at me as if I grew another head and then, he let out a bitter laugh as he shook his head. "You're telling me that the only way to get rid of this thing is for Alpha Bane to have a daughter?"

"Yes! That's what the curse is. Until his line produces a girl, Gideon will never stop."

Thane exhaled, rubbing a hand down his face. "Samantha, Alpha Bane doesn't have a mate. He doesn't have a child. And even if he did, there's no guarantee it would be a girl."

I looked around only to pry my eyes off Thane's intense gaze and whispered, "I know. That's why we have a problem."noveldrama

We stood there in silence, both nearly losing ourselves to our thoughts until after a long pause, he spoke again. "There's nothing we can do. We can't save him."

My eyes snapped up to his. I couldn't believe he was giving up this easily so I stepped closer and grabbed his upper arms, trying to shake him back to his senses. "Thane, there has to be something we can do!"

"What?" Thane snapped, slapped my hands off him and turned his back to me. "You just said it yourself, unless Alpha Bane magically produces a daughter, we're screwed. We don't have time to wait for something that may never happen."

Deep down, I knew what he was saying was true, but hearing it out loud made it worse. "There has to be another way..."

Thane sighed, looking at something in the distance, "you know what the other way is," he whispered.

I shook my head, stepping back. "No."

"We don't have a choice," Thane barked, as if he had the right to make this decision alone.

"There has to be another way!" I insisted louder, not caring anymore if anyone were around and could hear us argue.

"Samantha," Thane snapped, growing my name as if it was venom. "We have to kill

him."

Just the implication already scared me, but now it sounded like Thane wasn't joking around anymore. I stumbled back, shaking my head. "You can't mean that." "It's him or the pack."

I couldn't breathe, couldn't think.

"If we don't stop this now, Bane, or whatever is left of him, will destroy everything. The pack won't survive much longer like this. And if what you're saying is true, that thing inside him will never stop. Not until it consumes everything and eventually, drags us all along with it."

As Thane turned around again, I looked away, staring at the trees, at anything but Thane's face. "But... He's still our Alpha."

Thane shook his head. "Not anymore."

I knew Thane wasn't entirely wrong - the pack was suffering, and so was our Alpha. And worst of all, without a fated mate for our Alpha, without him having a daughter to break the curse - what hope did we really have?

As I lost myself in the thoughts, Thane approached me and placed a hand on my shoulder as he whispered, "It's the only way, Samantha. We have to kill our Alpha."