Chapter 167
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Sean’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Wait here! I’ll show you!” He darted toward the house before I could stop him.
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I stood there frozen, my heart pounding. Another resemblance? First Dakota, now some ancestor I’d never heard of? What the hell was going on?
Sean returned moments later, clutching his phone with both hands like it contained precious treasure. “I took this when Dad wasn’t looking,” he said conspiratorially, holding up the device. “You have to see for yourself.”
I leaned closer to look at the screen, and my breath caught in my throat. The image showed an old painting – a woman in flowing red robes with dark hair and… my face. Not similar. Not reminiscent. My actual face, down to the shape of my eyes and the curve of my lips. But there was something else in those painted features an arrogance, a cold superiority that made me uncomfortable. Her eyes held a mysterious light that seemed almost supernatural.
–
“Who is she?” I managed to ask, my voice hoarse.
“She’s a Blair family ancestor,” Sean said proudly. “My grandfather told me the story. This lady saved all six packs in Moonvale Town over
a hundred years ago. She agreed to marry a powerful Alpha king to ensure our town’s safety.”
I felt like the ground was shifting beneath my feet. A Blair ancestor who looked exactly like me? Who had married Alpha king? The
implications were staggering.
“She was our savior,” Sean continued. “Without her sacrifice, none of us would be here today.”
Before I could ask more questions, I heard Elder Thompson’s voice approaching. Sean quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket,
looking guilty.
“Is everything alright here?” Elder Thompson asked, his tone respectful as always. “Miss Elle, is there anything you need? Please don’t
hesitate to ask.”
I seized the opportunity. “Actually, Elder Thompson mentioned earlier that I could visit the sacred grounds. Was that… was that serious?”
Elder Thompson looked surprised but nodded. “Of course. I’ll arrange it immediately.” He paused. “Though I should mention, the sacred grounds are off–limits to others, so your companions…”
“I understand,” I said quickly. “I’ll go alone, I’m just… curious.”
Elder Thompson seemed relieved. “I’ll notify them right away and clear the area.”
As he walked away to make arrangements, my mind raced. The sacred grounds might hold answers about this mysterious ancestor. About why I kept encountering these impossible resemblances. About what my connection to the Blair family really meant.
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Chapter 167
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About thirty minutes later, Elder Thompson returned. “Everything is ready.”
I followed him through the town center to where six sacred grounds stood side by side, each marked with distinctive symbols.
‘I’ll wait outside with your security team,” Alex said quietly.
I nodded and stepped through the ornate gates, which closed softly behind me with a definitive click.
The moment I entered, I was struck by an overwhelming sense of familiarity mixed with something unsettling. The sacred ground was
divided into two courtyards, with stone buildings that felt ancient and mysterious. Thick, gnarled trees cast shadows across a moon-
shaped pool connected by a newly built stone bridge. The air itself seemed to hum with werewolf energy.
But it was more than that. Every breath I took, every step I made, felt like I was walking through a memory that wasn’t quite mine. My
blood seemed to respond to this place, as if something in my very DNA recognized these stones, these scents, this sacred space.
The inner courtyard’s main hall was lined with memorial plaques, but it was the walls that drew my attention.
The east wall displayed the pack’s family tree in intricate detail. The right wall held several paintings, clearly ancient and carefully
preserved behind protective glass.
And there she was.
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The woman from Sean’s phone, but seeing her life–sized made my knees weak. She was beautiful in a way that seemed almost otherworldly, with an imperious gaze that seemed to look right through me. But it was her eyes that made me stumble backward – heterochromatic eyes, just like mine, that seemed to follow my movement with an intelligence that belonged to the living, not the
painted.
I found myself drawn closer, unable to look away from those familiar yet alien features. The longer I stared, the more those painted eyes seemed to move, to shift, to focus on me with an intensity that made my skin crawl.
A hand suddenly covered my vision, and I gasped as Brad’s solid warmth pressed against my back.
“Brad? How did you-
“A sacred ground can hardly keep out an Alpha werewolf,” he said with quiet confidence, his hand still gently covering my eyes. “Elle,
you’re underestimating me,”
I tried to pull his hand away, but he held firm.
“The artist who painted this was a true master,” Brad said, his voice low and serious.
When he finally removed his hand, I looked at the painting again. The unsettling sense of movement was gone – it was just paint on
canvas now.
“This painting,” Brad continued, “is why the packs of Moonvale Town hold the Blair family in such high regard. He paused, studying my face with new intensity. “Elle, I’m suddenly very curious about your heritage. You might have more mysterious bloodlines flowing through you than any of us realized.”
I turned back to tell him what Sean had shared about the painted woman’s story. “According to what I heard, she’s a Blair family ancestor
who married an Alpha king over a hundred years ago to save the six packs of Moonvale Town.”
Brad studied the painting with new interest. “She’s definitely a beauty, but ‘married‘, you say?”
–
–
I found myself comparing the woman in the painting – bold, arrogant, radiating otherworldly power to Dakota Blair, who had been
elegant and graceful with an almost ethereal beauty. And then there was me, plain and ordinary by any measure. The contrast was
depressing.
Brad’s expression shifted slightly, “The Blair family’s connection to this town is… strange. But I still haven’t found the key to understanding it. Why would a human family sacrifice their daughter to protect werewolf packs? Unless she’s the Alpha king’s human
mate too?”
“All six pack sacred grounds have the same painting hanging in them. That’s… highly unusual.” His eyes grew distant. “This woman played some kind of significant role in werewolf history. I think it’s time to ask the Blair family some direct questions. Maybe that will explain
everything that’s been happening to you.”
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