5: Or An Impostor?

Finlay let guards lead him out of the dungeon like a thief, although he wasn't beaten. They took him as an Impostor but were scared of what he could do because they knew he was an Alpha.

Although no one had anything valid proof of not being Alpha Finlay, they just thought of him as an Impostor because no one thought of a man with the same face as the late Alpha, to show up.

Finlay was led into the council hall that boomed with hundreds of his pack members.

The crowd broke into a collective gasp. This from those who were just seeing him for the first time.

There was murmuring from the entourage, Finlay used his ears to pick out statements like;

"That's him, he's alive. Alpha Finlay is alive."

"Poor man is being bound in chains because they're afraid of what he might do, mostly his half-brother who governs the pack uselessly."

"Yes, they don't want him to claim what's rightfully his. But the moon goddess will be the dictator tonight."

"I don't care if he's an Impostor or not, he seems capable of ruling our pack better than that incompetent, undiplomatic, and tactless biggest pervert of a man, Cestus."

"Now, we don't want to go down the part where his eyes refused to turn red after he was crowned Alpha."

"Yes, it gave off that he wasn't close to being Alpha because Alpha Finlay was still alive."

There were grunts of an agreement to this.

Finlay could feel the corners of his mouth twitching into a smirk.

Silence fell into the noisy atmosphere when an anxious Cestus held up his hand.

"You should confess that you're an Impostor and I might consider not putting your head on a spike." Cestus's voice trembled, giving out how frightened he was.

"You little shit, step down already and let our Alpha reclaim his position. You were never an Alpha, to begin with," someone yelled from the crowd.

"Who said that!?" Cestus asked, rising from his throne as his eyes flashed in anger.

"Who had the guts to throw an insult?" He thundered.

Suddenly, a boot merged with cow dung was thrown at his face. And the crowd gasped in horror.

"Find that little piece of stale cunt and bring his head to me!" Cestus ordered his guards as he wrinkled his nose in absolute disgust. And the guards were perplexed because they had no idea of who was being disrespectful to their Alpha.

Finlay chuckled, enjoying the whole thing. And this caught the attention of an exasperated Cestus.

"Speak!" He roared, slamming his fist on the desk in front of him.

"You still haven't lost that touch of being tempestuous, brother. Now I see why no one respects you." Finlay gave him a sinister smile that made his eyes widen in their sockets.

"Who are you and what exactly is your mission here?" Adolphus, one of the pack elders spoke up because Cestus was still in shock.

"You disappoint me, Adolphus." Finlay tsked, raising his bounded in chain hands up.

"I thought those glasses did justice to your sight since your wolf was incapable of giving you a clear vision, but I was wrong. You're suffering from near-blindness. Now listen to my advice before you wake up one morning and find yourself completely blind. Visit a pack doctor, Gilbert to be precise. He specializes in eye treatment."

Several jaws touched the floor in amazement from Finlay's response. And elder Adolphus blinked in wonder. He told no one about his bad eyesight and claimed he wore the glasses for fancy. It was Alpha Finlay who knew about his bad sight and helped him with the glasses. Could it be that this man was truly Finlay Dupree?

Cestus tossed uncomfortably in his seat, on seeing the head elder in shock.

"So I heard you humiliated and banished my wife from the pack." Finlay directed this statement to Cestus, clenching his fists so hard that his veins stood out along his arms. "I'll make you pay,"

Before words could be spoken by anyone, the large doors burst open, and two wolves rushed in.

Everyone's attention drifted to these two unknown wolves.

And they shifted, revealing themselves as Ophelia and Hamilton.

A familiar scene basked in Finlay's nostrils and he could feel her even though he hadn't turned around to look at her.

"My lord?" A trembling Ophelia croaked out as she looked in his direction.

Slowly, he snapped his head at her and Ophelia released an audible gasp of shock, before losing her balance.

It all happened in a swift motion when Finlay broke off his chains, took a high leap towards Ophelia, and caught hold of her before her body could collide against the floor.

He gathered her in his arms and then stared down at her face which made his heart slam against his chest because of how breath-takingly beautiful it looked. The only change about her was the fact that she was more beautiful than the last time he saw her. Despite wearing rags.

Ophelia's mouth parted, but no words came out. She was feeling light-headed because she couldn't believe she was in the arms of her husband. Something didn't seem right.

Through her fluttering eyes, she raised her hand to touch his cheek. The man had lost weight. Finlay was beefy, could barely pass through one door because of his large body. But this man who had her in his arms, was somewhat lean. Although he was still big in all the right places. What made her heart paced faster than normal, was the fact that he had the same face as Finlay.

The large scar on his forehead.

He held the same blue eyes as Finlay, the exact wavy nose, downturned lips, and teeth. Yet Finlay never looked at her like this. With yearning and desperation, not caring if hundreds of people were watching them. He stared at her like it was just the two of them in the council hall.

"Ophelia." He called her name in Finlay's deep and rough voice. "Your prayers that evening worked, they brought me back to you."

"You're not Finlay." She took her hand from his face and tried to stand upright, "We buried him, covered him in.." her voice trailed off as she tried to move away from him, but her knees were still wobbly from shock. She was close to falling again when Finlay caught her and carried her in a bridal style.

"I am your husband, Ophelia. Do not be afraid, for I have come back home."

Ophelia shook her head after swallowing hard.

The silence hanging around in the atmosphere was worth questioning, because everyone, including Cestus, was watching the scene unfolding in front of them like it was an interesting act of a play.

"My husband is dead." Ophelia breathed out, shivering violently in his arms. She was fighting against the urge to faint, but it seemed she was losing.

And Finlay clenched his jaw as he pressed her head to his chest.

"You'll see." These were the last words Ophelia heard from him, before darkness enveloped her.