I felt like I remembered too much and not enough of what happened mere moments ago.
“Griffen called us about the poison,” Rendell rubbed his chin, “It made sense how he beat the last Alpha, but no one looked into it. I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure what happened.”
Griffen, Holden, and Cali came in moments later. Caspien’s parents backed up to let them in.
“You scared us,” Griffen said. His dark hair fell over his forehead as he shook his head, closing his eyes.
“And left us with a whole h.ell of a lot of work,” Holden crossed his arms.
“Nepotism, baby,” I murmured, and Cali bit her lip holding back a laugh as Holden scowled at me.
“Your parents are coming to get Emmett so we can talk,” Cali said, helping Emmett off the bed, “Do you want to go hang out with Loreli?” Cali asked him, and he nodded enthusiastically as she walked him out of the room.
“Bye dad, bye mom, bye uncle Holden, bye Uncle Griffen, bye Gracey, bye RoRo.” Emmett listed off everyone, and my heart swelled. He had family here. I didn’t have to do it all alone anymore, he was complete, our family was complete. “Gracey? RoRo?” I asked, my smile tugging at my cheeks.
Rendell shrugged but returned my smile, “He gave us nicknames as placeholders until he could figure out what to call us. For some reason, I think it will stick.”
“So, RoRo,” Holden started.
“Don’t.” Rendell shot Holden a stare that immediately shut him up, “Only my grandson is allowed to call me that.” Grace patted her mate’s arm and took a deep breath, the worry and sadness I saw mirroring my own were completely gone. I was so wrapped up in my own sorrow I didn’t stop to think about what she was going through. If that was Emmett – No, I wouldn’t think that. “So,” Caspien started, “Willa filled me in a bit, but I need to know what happened at the pack. What’s the state of Black Stone?”
“Those that witnessed the challenge understood that Alpha Jasper cheated; it was enough for them. I don’t know what Alpha Jasper told them before, but they saw exactly what kind of Alpha he was. Their loyalty was probably shaky at best anyways,” Rendell explained.
“I took the Beta and Gamma in for questioning. They knew about the poison, but we’re not sure yet who else could have helped them if anyone.” Griffen said, “Of course, they’re here, in the basement.”
Caspien nodded, “Good, and have the pack shown any signs of what they want to do? Elect another Alpha?”
“It seems they want to disband. Our warriors are there still, more than necessary-” Griffen went on.
“Good,” Casipen interjected, “I’ll want to go and speak with them.”
“As soon as the doctors clear you,” Grace said.
“Once I speak to them myself, we will need arrangements made for the pack members if they want to relocate. Find them space here and in our old pack village, or we will help them move between their own territory. I don’t want them to incur any expenses for this and make it as easy for them as possible.”
“I can help with the logistics of relocating them,” I said. Caspien’s gaze shot to mine, and he gave me a slight nod, but his eyes seemed to light up.
“Then, we alert all the Alphas in the territory of the changes and offer the nearest pieces of the land. I do still want to keep a bit to better patrol for rogues. Explain that to them, so they know we are trying to protect our borders and theirs.” Caspien turned to Griffen.
“The Elders know the outcome, as well,” Griffen said, “They have copies of the documents and a report on the challenge with witness reports to corroborate. There shouldn’t be any trouble there, but I just wanted to cover all bases.”
“Great.” Caspien paused, rubbing his hand over his beard, “Who alerted them?”
“We’re not sure,” Holden said, “But it was a Luna from our territory.” He frowned.
“I don’t think The Beta or Gamma knew either, she probably didn’t leave a name, but she tipped off the Beta, called the pack.”
“See if we can get a recording,” Caspien said, his eyes darkened.
“We already did, but we don’t recognize the voice. We hoped you or Willa could since you just spoke to them all this past weekend.”
I swallowed, trying to think of the faces and voices of the Alpha and Lunas that voted no, it would probably be one of them unless someone else were playing politics and going behind our back after siding with us.
“Do you want to hear it now?” Griffen asked, his face solemn.
The last thing we needed was a new enemy, another one to add to the list. Thankfully, the list was dwindling; they were being taken care of one by one. The thought flared my anger, but it was mixed with steady resolve. Anyone coming against mine would meet the same fate. “Play it,” I said, my voice shaky.
A breathy female voice sounded, and I closed my eyes to focus.
“The Prince is coming backed by the Alphas in his territories to challenge Alpha Jasper,”
My eyes snapped open. I didn’t need to hear anymore.
Caspien’s brows furrowed, and he looked at me from where I was still sitting on his bed. He was listening to what was left of the recording, but I tuned it out.
“It’s Camilla,” I said without a shadow of a doubt. Her voice was ingrained in my memory, even if I wished it weren’t.
Caspien growled and shot up before I could wrap my mind around another thought.
“Wait,” I almost screamed, not wanting him to hurt himself. That was still the most important thing – his safety.
He was shaking, and Griffen and Holden were looking in between the two of us.
“We knew it was another Luna; this knowledge doesn’t mean we do anything rash,” I said, even though Iris was thinking of different ways of bleeding her dry, and I agreed with every one of them. “Those people,” Caspien growled.
“Seriously, they don’t know when to stop.” Holden tutted.
“I think we can end this once and for all.” Griffen said, and all eyes turned to him, “I’m not saying war. I’m saying strategy.” His lips curled up into a dark smile that Cali would have been jealous of. “What do you have in mind?” Cali crossed her arms.
Griffen’s smile held, illuminating his dark eyes, “We’ve seen it done before, and we have the truth on our side,”
“Go on,” Caspien said, slightly calmer now.
(Caspien)
“No scratch, nothing,” The doctor checked me over again as if magically the cut would re-appear, “I have never seen anything like it,” He went back over the papers as if he might have missed something I already knew he didn’t.
I convinced everyone to leave to let the doctor finish up so that we could speed up with odious process, and I was more than ready to get out of here myself.
Willa looked at me as if she took her eyes off me, I would leave her. It broke my heart to think of what she must have gone through.
I felt fine, better than fine actually. I was trying not to be annoyed with the doctors, but I was impatient. I needed to be a good example for Emmett, even if he wasn’t here. I needed to practice.
Things came easy to me, I never had to be polite or thank anyone for doing their jobs, but I did see the merit of it now; people seemed to loosen and melt even when I was more polite.
Words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ still felt foreign, and I wondered when I stopped using them; it wasn’t how my mother raised me. Probably when I started slipping into the facade that others built for me, that my title and position demanded of me. “Am I good to go?” I asked for what seemed like the thousandth time, knowing that trying to force a smile would make me look pained.
“I would say yes,” He hesitated, “But come back in for a check-up. Tomorrow let’s say.””
Let’s f.ucking not.
“I’ll see if I can stop by.” I managed, knowing full well that I had a myriad of things to take care of, and this was at the very bottom of my list. “Good, well Alpha, you are good to go then.” The doctor smiled and finished unhooking me.
I got up and threw on the clothes Holden left for me and didn’t look backward. There was so much to do, and I wanted to get started on it.
My muscles ached from being solitary for that long. I couldn’t believe it was only a day, it felt like I was there for weeks, months even. I stretched my arms above my head and rolled my neck. I would have to get a few sparring sessions in soon, today preferably. Get the designers to come in this week. I want our home done as soon as possible, no more delays – I linked my favorite assistant – Please – I added
Yes, Alpha Dracos, happy to hear that you’ve recovered
I still had a lot of things I had to catch up on and a to-do list a mile long after that challenge. I didn’t want the pack members of Black Stone to have to wait. It would fester a sense of fear and unease, and that was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do there. I wanted to make sure that they felt safe and that if they chose to disband that they told the packs they migrated to that we didn’t do them any harm. That would be the best possible outcome so that nothing would blow back on us in the future. Willa? Where are you? I got the all clear
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.