At the Edge of Madness

"You!"

Zen said in disbelief when Tritan suddenly appeared out of nowhere while carrying Elyna in his arms. They suddenly appeared from the shadows. At the wrong time, a time when their pack was in chaos.

"Luna!"

Several voices were heard, and they came from Val's pack members who had just arrived after smelling the scent of a vampire that suddenly appeared in their pack's headquarters. Each of them immediately got into a fighting position. Although Tritan is strong, he should lose if they attacked simultaneously.

"Let go of our Luna!"

"Please wait a moment!"

Just when they were about to attack, Elyna, who was originally in Tritan's arms, hurriedly got down and put her body in front of her step-brother. Elyna took a deep breath. She was ready to be hated, but she wouldn't let someone hurt Tritan.

"Please don't attack him. He-"

"Luna, your smell..."

Elyna shut her mouth when Siren suddenly spoke after realizing that there was something different about her when they met again. The others' expressions turned complicated. With the werewolf race's sharp sense of smell, they couldn't possibly miss the scent of a vampire that was attached to Elyna's body.

At first, they thought it was because Tritan was attached to Elyna. But the smell was different. Compared to Tritan's smell, which smelled like thick blood, the smell they smelled from Elyna was sweeter and more like pheromones.

They stared at Elyna in disbelief. Elyna was in the process of accepting the vampire side that had been dormant in her body. Her eyes turning red was proof that Elyna had abandoned her werewolf side to become a vampire.

If Elyna became a vampire, her connection with Val would automatically be severed. Val would die from losing his mate, and that thought made everyone look complicatedly at Elyna.

"I know you have a lot of questions. But can you let me see Val? It's a full moon. He... he must be in pain without me by his side."

After Elyna was near Val, she could feel that her alpha was in pain. Elyna might not be like other werewolves who were connected. But ever since she came back, Elyna seemed to hear Val calling her name.

Val's tone sounded desperate. It made Elyna want to cry and immediately return to his side.

"You've abandoned your werewolf side. What can you do for our alpha?"

Eir said, her brows furrowed clearly. Val had been in pain since Elyna disappeared. He was constantly in a state of consciousness and insanity, and it made everyone in the pack mourn their alpha.

No werewolf could survive as long as Val when they lost their mate. Val had fought too much. Eir would not let Elyna see her brother if all she wanted to do was hurt Val even more.

"I... didn't leave him. I came back for him. I would never leave him for anything, Eir."

"Liar! Then where have you been all this time?!"

When Eir started to get emotional, Hakan immediately held the girl's shoulders so that she wouldn't overdo it. The only one who had the right to decide Elyna's fate was Val. They couldn't do anything, even though they didn't know why Elyna, who had disappeared all this time, suddenly returned with their eternal enemy.

"I..."

"I was the one who brought her home by force. I was the one who forced her to turn into a complete vampire. I was also... the one who forcibly marked Elyna with a blood exchange."

"You fucker!"

Tritan spoke to defend his sister. And as soon as he finished speaking, the werewolves immediately charged forward to attack Tritan. Elyna was worried that Tritan would get hurt. But before anyone could touch him, their bodies suddenly stopped in the air as if someone was holding their bodies.

Tritan's red eyes flashed. He used his power to hold the werewolves back at once.

"I did everything to make her choose me. But in the end, she still chooses your alpha. I gave in. I brought her back because she loved that man more than myself."

Everyone fell silent when they heard Tritan's confession. Tritan may have looked calm because Elyna was watching him with a guilty look. But those who were sensitive could tell that Tritan was sad, and he was sincere in what he said.

Tritan didn't intend to harm anyone who attacked him, even if he could have killed them all easily. It was also impossible for Elyna to come back if Tritan didn't take her. The vampire's territory is difficult to find. Without Tritan's help, they wouldn't be able to see Elyna again forever.

"Please... please let me meet Val just this once. Val is calling me. He is calling me desperately."

What Elyna heard was different from what others heard because only mates can read each other's hearts. Zen sighed. While they were making noise, her brother, who was on the verge of madness, was struggling in the special room they made to prevent Val from losing control and destroying everything.

"Follow me, Elyna."

Zen finally made a decision. Elyna nodded. He immediately approached Zen but stopped halfway to look at Tritan again.

"Go. I'll stay here for you."

After getting a reassuring smile from Tritan, Elyna nodded. Her eyes looked at the other pack members pitifully. "Please don't do anything to him," she begged before actually leaving.

***

Zen took Elyna to another room where the more they entered, the more tense the atmosphere around them became. Zen stopped in front of a tightly closed iron door. Elyna couldn't hold back her tears anymore when she saw the heavy door. Val -his alpha- was calling her from behind the door.

"Elyna, to be honest, I want you not to come inside at this time."

Elyna looked at Zen, confused. She was just one step away from meeting her mate. Val is there, in pain from Elyna's disappearance.

"He can barely maintain his sanity anymore, Elyna. Our pack became the strongest because of Val. He is the strongest werewolf I have ever met. But because he is the strongest, we had to do this when he lost his sanity."

Zen looked down at the door key in his hand. Val had personally entrusted it to him. Because Val could kill anyone when he lost control, he had asked his own pack members to lock him in a special room when he lost his mind.

"He could kill you in there. And if he did, everything you're doing right now would be for nothing."

"He wouldn't," Elyna replied confidently. Val was a gentle werewolf. Even if Elyna had thought that Val hated her, he had never done anything but love her.

"I trust him. He's my mate, Zen."

Zen knew it wasn't just his feelings. Since returning, Elyna looked more mature than before. Elyna had complete trust in Val, something that even he, as his brother, couldn't do in that situation.

"Please let me meet him."

Zen stared at Elyna for a while before he finally gave a small nod. Zen opened the thick door with a key in his hand. The door opened slowly, revealing a room that had been completely destroyed.

Val's piercing pheromone scent came out when the door opened. Zen almost fell from loss of strength when he smelled the pheromone. Only Elyna was unaffected by the pheromone chaos, and that proved that Elyna and Val's connection was still there.

"Please make our alpha return to normal, Luna. Then... please stay safe in there."

When Elyna entered Val's room, Zen could only give his sincere prayers. The heavy door closed again after Elyna entered. While staring at the door, which was closed tightly again, Zen continued to pray that the goddess of the moon would give Elyna the strength to restore Val's sanity.