It had been two months since The Alpha Trial and Roxanne’s disappearance. Roland had eventually recovered but he remembered nothing of what had taken place that day. In fact, his last memory was of breaking his morning fast with Roxanne and his Gamma, Gregory, before heading out for morning drills. When Gertrude had informed him what had happened he ran to Nikolai and begged for forgiveness, saying he would understand if he wished to remove him as his Beta title. Nikolai had forced his old friend to his feet and embraced him, knowing that what had happened was not Roland’s fault at all. If anything, he needed his good friend more than ever to help him control the madness he could feel creeping up on him each day Roxanne was still missing.
The fire that had been set during the Alpha Trial
