(Harper’s POV)

I had my eyes closed and concentrated on building my strength back up from the silver while Louise drove. I had a feeling about where Louise was heading, and when the car stopped, I opened my eyes to confirm I was right. The sign for Howlers was off, and the carpark was empty, which was actually unusual for 11 am. The car door opened, and Alex poked his head in.

“Hello, beautiful,” he said cheerfully. “Need a hand?”

I could have refused his outstretched hand, but to be honest, I was still feeling a little weak, and despite being a stubborn b***h sometimes, I also knew that I had to accept help sometimes too. I smiled at him and held out my hand, and he grabbed it and gently pulled me out of the car and to my feet. I wobbled a bit and sent a glare to Aaron before Alex picked me up and carried me into the bar.

It was dark inside and empty. Or almost empty. I looked around as Alex put me down in one of the booths and headed over to the bar. Sitting in the booth next to me were the two goons that I had seen at the bar a few days ago. I knew they were Elias’ men but didn’t know their names. Sitting next to one of the goons was an older man. He was almost completely bald with grey hair cut short. He was short but stocky and a familiar sight in the town. Harry was the owner of Howlers and also the oldest werewolf I knew. Werewolves had a reasonably long lifespan, and it wasn’t unusual for us to reach well over a hundred in years, but rumours had it that Harry was at least double that. He saw me looking and flashed me a big toothy grin that I couldn’t help but return despite everything going to s**t.

Louise had slid into the seat beside me and was mind linking with someone, although I had no clue who. Whoever it was, she didn’t seem happy. Aaron stood awkwardly looking around the bar while Alex busied himself behind the bar, making drinks. He walked over, passing Aaron a bottle of beer as he passed him and planted a glass of, from the smell, rum, and coke in front of me and white wine in front of Louise. He slid into the other side of the booth and took a drink from his own bottle of beer.

“Bit early for this, isn’t it?” I asked with raised eyebrows. And he laughed, although I could tell there was a hint of tension in it.

“Ha!” he said. “Not if I heard right, it isn’t. We could drink this place dry, and it still wouldn’t be enough.”

“You bloody won’t,” Harry piped up. “Not unless you are gonna pay for it. And don’t think I’m not watching what you are already pouring, Bennet. That’ll come outta your wage.”

Alex rolled his eyes and grinned. “Calm it, old man. I’m not screwing you out of your profits,” he said and winked at me.

“Old man, eh?” Harry retorted, “Don’t old man me, I could still put you on your a*s.” I smiled at the banter.

Then I remembered what was happening and shook my head.

“What do you know, Alex?” I asked, and he grimaced.

“Only what I heard in the last half hour or so,” he said. “Council are in town and pulling people out of their houses, declaring them traitors for siding with Owens.”

“Dammit!” Louise exclaimed and slammed her hand on the table, almost knocking her glass of wine over. “I can’t get hold of Tommy,” she said and took a big gulp from the wine.

“It’ll be the cuffs,” I said and glanced at Aaron. “Silver-coated and spellbound, right?” and he nodded. I then looked at Louise.

“They block your wolf completely, no shifting, no linking, nothing. You are practically human.” I glanced at Aaron again.

“You better come sit down. You got some talking to do,” I said, and he sighed before reluctantly walking over. He slid in next to Alex, who grinned at him and then at me.

“Well, you clearly know each other. Poor man looks terrified,” he said and clapped Aaron on the back. Aaron glanced at him and then at me and smiled weakly.

“Did you know?” I asked him. “Did you know that Nathaniel was setting me up or setting Elias up?” and he shook his head.

“Harps, I wasn’t even supposed to be here,” he said. “Nathaniel picked the task force, and I was pissed off that I was left off. So I went storming into his office, where he was arguing with Drake. It was Drake who insisted that I come along.”

“Drake!” I exclaimed, and he nodded.

“Yeah, he said to keep him informed.” He laughed and rubbed his chin. “I pretty much told him to f**k off. But he clearly knew something we didn’t.”

“Maybe get in contact then,” I suggested, and he nodded.

“So you didn’t know that Nathaniel was Circle?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“Hell no.” He laughed. “Hell no, that’s bloody apt, isn’t it?” He laughed again. We all looked at him in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, and Aaron sobered up from his giggling fit.

“I heard rumours, obviously, but I thought it was bullshit,” he said, and I glanced at Alex, who just shook his head and shrugged.

“Aaron,” I snapped, “Sense, make some, please.” He grimaced.

“I have never seen one up close, and honestly didn’t think it was possible, and to think I had been working with one for so long.”

“AARON!” I exclaimed loudly, and he looked at me, shocked. “For goddess’ sake, will you tell me what you are talking about?”

“Nathaniel’s eyes,” he said as if it explained everything, and then I remembered that they had gone black like Elias’ had.

“Wait, do you know what that is?” I asked, and Aaron grimaced again and took a long drink before nodding.

“Yeah, I just don’t quite believe it,” he said. “Even in all my years of researching the paranormal, there were still things that I thought were myths.” he looked at me and then back down at the table.

“Aaron darling,” Louise said. “You seem sweet, and I have heard good things about you, and you are definitely easy on the eye, but if you don’t start making sense soon, I’m gonna beat down on you.” She then smiled sweetly at him. I wasn’t sure if Aaron was more scared of her or whatever he was talking about at this point. Alex was trying to contain his laughter, and I just smiled. Aaron looked up at me, and the look in his eye told me this was more serious than I thought.

“Demon,” he said, and Alex stopped laughing and stared at Aaron and then turned and looked at Harry, who was also staring at Aaron.

“What?” I exclaimed, “Like from hell, demon?” He nodded.

“Wait, this Nathaniel character?” Alex asked. “What’s his last name?” and I glanced at Louise and back at Alex.

“What the hell does that matter?” I snapped, and he blew out a breath and glanced back at Harry.

“Right now, very much. I’d like to know on a scale of one to ten how f****d we really are,”

“Bethrinton,” Aaron said, and Alex paled. He looked back at Harry again, who just stood up and walked behind the bar and pulled out an expensive-looking bottle of whisky. He opened it and took a long drink. He then looked over at us all.

“Drinks are on me, kids,” he said and then walked in through the room behind the bar. I looked back at Alex, who looked like he was going to vomit.

“So I guess this is a ten?” I asked, and Alex shook his head, “More like ten million,” he said.

“Tommy said he was exiled,” Louise said, and Alex laughed.

“Oh yeah, he was exiled, alright? The man is crazy,” he said.

“He’s Colton’s Uncle, right?” I asked, and Alex nodded.

“Yeah, you know how Caroline Stokes isn’t quite fully with us?” he asked, and both Louise and I nodded. “Well, that’s hereditary. Caroline is harmless. She fights it, but Nathaniel, her brother. He was ruthless. He embraced the crazy. Neither of you was born when he was exiled. It was just before Chambers challenged Kirby for the Alpha title. I was only young, so I don’t remember too much myself.” Alex said, “I just remember mum being really upset and trying to get dad to leave town.”

“Well, I remember everything.” Harry walked out behind the bar holding a dusty box. “It was c*****e. That son of a b***h went all-out crazy. He went up against poor Samuel, telling him to stand down. Told him that The Order had lost, and he needed to hand over the town.”

“The Order!” I exclaimed. “I’ve heard of that. Elias and Tommy mentioned something about it. Elias said that he was helping The Order.”

“Can we go back to the demon thing?” Louise asked, “Are you saying that this bastard is possessed or something?” She looked at Aaron, and he shook his head.

“Not exactly. Demon possession exists obviously, but when it does, the demon is too much for the human vessel that it burns through the body in a matter of days. This is different. There are some demons born into a vessel, where one or both parents have that demon bloodline.” He rubbed his face. “Like I said, it was just a myth, but basically, a demon and human can’t possess one vessel at once for a significant time. The demon either sends the human part crazy or burns humanity right out of existence. They are meant to be soldiers in the wars between good and evil or something.”

I stared at him while he was talking about all this, trying to wrap my head around it.

“Like the apocalypse?” Louise asked, and Aaron shrugged. She sighed. “Yup, I’m gonna need another drink.”

“There are four seals, one in each corner of the world. When each of the seals has been broken, then the gates of hell will open, and fire will reign on Earth.” exclusive content.

We all looked over at Harry, who was reading from an old-looking book.

“What’s that?” Aaron asked, standing up, and Harry passed him the book. Aaron looked at the front, and his eyes bulged out, and then he shook his head.

“Well, at least it’s a saving grace that part of the myth is real, too.” He walked over and put the book down on the table. It was made of leather and had a gold inlay on the front. I recognised the symbol straight away as the pendant that Elias had me wear the night of the ball. The one that belonged to his sister. The title of the book stood out to me, and just seeing it felt like it unlocked something in me. I wasn’t aware whether I felt excited or scared.

“The Divine Order of the Angels,” Alex read, and I looked up at Aaron.

“The Order?” I asked, and he nodded. Angels, demons. My head was swimming with a million questions, so many that I couldn’t form any answers. And worse of all, I could feel my headache coming back on. Harry walked over and rubbed his hand on the crescent moon on the front.

“The Divine Order is four bloodlines sent to appease the demons,” he said. “One for each of the seals. It is each bloodline’s undertaking to protect their seal and set forth the divine warrior to counter the demon army.”

Aaron opened the book and flicked through. “Ah yes,” he said and then began reading from the book, “the four seals are governed by each of the major supernatural races. This is so that one race does not hold power over another. Balance is important in this and every area.”

“Four races?” I asked, “Shifter, Magic Worker, Fae, and Immortal?” Aaron nodded his head.

“That’s right,” Harry said. “See the crescent on the front?” He turned back to the cover, and I nodded. “That is the mark of the shifter bloodline of The Divine Order. It is worn by allies of The Order or the shifter ones.” He pulled the arm of his shirt up and showed a faded tattooed version of the Crescent.

“And that is why Nathaniel Bethrinton cannot get control of this pack or this town,” Harry said. I looked at Aaron again, and he shook his head.

“Why’s that old man? Other than the obvious crazy demon, of course,” Alex asked, and Harry grumbled about being called an old man before turning the pages in the book again. He revealed a hand-drawn map which I recognised as a much less developed version of the town, and right where the pack house was, was the crescent symbol in gold again.

“Because Midnight Moon is the location of the shifters seal,” he said, and then he looked at me.

“And you Kirby girl, your family is the bloodline of the Order!”