"We need to retreat, Alpha Gery." Zezi said again.
"We don't."
"They are Vampires, Gery." The Luna, Sky, stated the obvious. Even as she tried hard to hide it, fear was clear as day in her voice.
"Doesn't mean they can't be defeated." He smiled weakly at Sky and she looked away, worried.
It was midnight and they had all been forced to come down to the meeting room because of the terrible reports reaching them from the Borderlines. Everyone felt tensed as they all stood at the round table, discussing about the next course of action. They were desperate for a safe way out.
Alpha Gery wanted to say something else but he caught the empty seat next to Zezi and he snarled. "Where is your mate?"
Zezi bowed her head in respect. "He will be here soon, Alpha."
Gery clenched his fists and Sky patted his back a little before giving him a smile. He relaxed immediately and Zezi looked away.
They were real mates, blessed by the Moon Goddess. Looking at them reminded her of what she was...or wasn't.
"We cannot back down. We keep on moving."
"But Alpha..."
"Have you considered the pass yet? You are the best we have Zeta, I need you at that Borderline."
"My daughter..."
"She will be fine, I will have my Luna here look after her." He gestured to his wife who smiled blindly at Zezi in return. She was a little woman compared to the Alpha but she was a good and powerful Luna nevertheless, just as she was a wonderful mother.
"You can be rested assured, Zezi. I will take good care of Mira. She will have a great time with my pups."
Zezi's eyes shone with refusal and it didn't take long for the Alpha to figure out what was going on.
"It is your mate, isn't it?"
Zezi could sense the trap. Alpha Gery and George were never on great terms. She knew she had to pick her next words carefully. "I'm sorry Alpha but I can't leave my daughter."
He clenched and unclenched his fists in anger that he was trying really hard to control. "I hope you know what you are doing. You are the Zeta of this pack and your pack needs you!"
Zezi could sense the underlying challenge in his statement. He was already questioning her dedication to the pack. If it had been anything else, her wolf would have just easily submitted but this was her daughter. "And my daughter needs me! We all know that she is sick."
There was silence.
Zezi had stood up to the Alpha. But then again, everyone knew never to come between parents and their children, their wolves were always at the most protective.
The room was tensed. The Luna held her husband hoping with all her heart that things wouldn't escalate.
"Is your mate lost or something?" Alpha Gery changed the subject while he stared daggers into the empty seat and the tension in the room seem to have flown right out of the window.
Before Zezi could say anything about him being on his way or apologize for his lateness, the door to the room they were in flung opened. There was her mate, looking tired and really pissed. His eyes roamed across the room and when he saw the Alpha, anger lit in them.
"When were you ever going to tell us?!"
Everyone found his tone shocking. Indeed, he and the Alpha were never on great terms but they had always maintained the relationship needed for the position they held in the pack. George's tone, right now, was definitely not maintaining that relationship.
"You don't speak to me like that, Beta."
George slammed the door shut and rushed into the room at wolf speed but when he spoke his voice was filled with respect and laced with an underlying sarcasm.
"When were you going to tell us that the Vampire King left you a message, Alpha."
Everyone's eyes were on the Alpha now. He was visibly seething in fury. His eyes filled with anger as he stared George down.
"Gery?" Sky spoke up, demanding explanation from her mate but when he didn't speak, George spoke again.
"The only reason we found the body was because they wanted us to. They tattooed on it a reminder for the Alpha to sign a sort of deal and stop all these bloodshed."
"Is that true, Gery?"
"More like slavery." He finally scoffed from being put on a spot. "The deal is a deal with the devil."
"How about we be on the devil's good side for a while?"
Zezi's eyes flew wide open and she held George in a firm grip. Trying to stop him from doing anything stupid.
"I am tired of you disrespecting me!"
"This is not disrespect, this is the truth! How can you call yourself our Alpha, watching us die at the alter of sacrifice because of your ego. This fight has been going on for months and the body says the deal had been down for three months. Three good months you watched us die, slaughtered like sheeps. How much longer were you going to watch us die? A few more months? Till there is no one left?!"
The Luna turned swiftly to George and snarled. Her wolf didn't like the tone with which George had spoken to her mate.
"George!" Zezi snapped. The room became tensed again for a while before Alpha Gery spoke.
"I am your Alpha, you don't question my decisions!"
George snarled. "You are not my Alpha, we both know that."
When George came to this pack some months ago, he was a rogue and Gery's father had taken him in. The thing was that, George came from a long line of Alphas, his wolf was of high ranks and after getting trained for a while, Gery's father had made George the beta. Even after Gery's father died in a war, George's wolf still saw him as the Alpha seeing that Gery lacked the kind of strength that his wolf would consider superior.
The Alpha's eyes changed to blood red, his wolf was at the surface. He took some steps closer to George who stood his ground firmly. "Then it is best you leave."
"I won't be the one leaving." George smirked.
His mind was foggy with anger and he allowed his beastly side to do the thinking for him. All his mind was calculating was how he could easily bring the Alpha down. Indeed, the Alpha was twice his side but he felt certain that he had a good shot here because one thing was sure, he had never been defeated before.
They both stood there, staring daggers at each other, waiting for the first person to make a move.
All George could see was red, he couldn't think straight, anger was rushing through his veins. Someone like Gery was undeserving to be Alpha. If he took him down now, then he would sign the deal and all these bloodshed would stop. His mind didn't take into account the risk involved, his mind wasn't taking anything into account.
He felt someone's hands on his arm and pushed whosoever it was aside, slamming the person across the room while his eyes was still set on the Alpha.
"Enough!" The Luna's voice rang out, radiating with power. Alpha Gery was the first to step aside, letting his mate's voice get to him. Sensing that his opponent had backed down, George's wolf pulled back into his mind and he could see clearly once again.
Then he remembered that he had slammed someone across the room a while ago. Fear rushed into his veins.
He looked across the room quickly to see Zezi slammed against the floor, pain and displeasure etched into her face.
Fear ran even faster down his veins and he rushed towards her but before he could reached her, she stood up and side stepped him. This wasn't the first time something like this was happening. It was always boiling down to the fact that they weren't real mates.The Luna and Alpha Gery spoke in hushed tone at the far end of the room, while Zezi made sure to stay far away from George as much as the small room could allow. George leaned against the wall, tugging at his hair and sighing while he thought about the consequences of what he had done. He mostly definitely didn't want to turn rogue once again.When the Alpha and Luna were done arguing, they came back to the table."I will sign the deal."There was silence. "You will take a message to where we found the body to alert them that we are ready to submit." Zezi nodded. She would have to go to the border of the Capital of Teeland, the Capital being where they were."I will go with her." George started walking towards the table."Th
"I beg you to reconsider." She heard her Alpha say, frustrated. It looked like there was no head way in the argument. "I have already done that and I say 480." The uneasiness set in again in Zezi's veins. It was like there was something about his voice that made her feel strange, something that drove her to a certain edge that she couldn't explain."I will give you more territories." The Alpha said in defeat and the Luna looked at him sharply. Everyone did but he didn't look back at them. "All territories." The King started point blank and silence settled across the hall.The first deal had left only five small packs under the Gery's command. Unless he was willing to sacrifice the lives of 480 werewolves, then he would have to surrender totally to the King. He was caught in a tough place and he knew it.George looked up at the Alpha and he knew he was considering it. He swallowed a lump in his throat, he might have been wrong about Gery after all. Maybe he did deserved to be the Al
When she got to the First Borderline, the warriors had found it a little strange. Why would the Alpha send the Zeta here if they were meant to sign a deal to put an end to the bloodshed? Yet they had seen the stamped pass and they couldn't question any further. Besides, she was the Zeta, the war general, fourth in the rank of power. Too much questioning was a challenge to her authority. While Zezi settled in the tent that they had built up for her, different thoughts kept running across her mind.Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe he didn't know they were mates. Something about the way he looked at her made her feel like he hadn't known, like he had mistaken it to be some passing feeling.Yet a part of her told her that was just wishful thinking and she very well knew it. Or maybe he did know and he decided he didn't want her, an enemy just as she had decided that she didn't want him. Something told her that was impossible but she prayed with all her heart for it to be that. She drea
Zezi hid behind another tree, her senses alert. She was listening attentively for any movement. It had been two days or maybe even more she couldn't really tell. She was running out of supplies and she had left behind her weapons at the tent when she fled. Her eyes ached from lack of sleep and she was sure she must stink. It had been a while since she had a bath and she hadn't come across any river yet, neither had it rained. She couldn't waste the water she had with her on her body, she was reserving that for her thirst. She ran to the next tree and laid her back flatly against it. She bit her lips to stop herself from crying. She felt so cold and alone. She missed her daughter and her husband, yet she knew she couldn't go back. If she did, she wouldn't be able to stay. He would take her away, she would be forced to leave with the enemy. She was certain that with the Alpha, knowing everything now, would have drawn up another bargain that involved her. But could she blame him? It
"How is Mira?""She is fine. Aunt Alice is doing a great job.""I--I had no choice. I had to leave."It was quiet, like he wouldn't say anything in return. It got to a point that she was starting to doubt if he had even heard her."You should have told me.""I just...""I know we are not true mates but we love each other, don't we?"Zezi furrowed her eyebrows at that question, "Where is this coming from? This thing about not being true mates? We chose each other, George. Of course, we love each other."He stood up then, pacing in front of her before he stopped abruptly."Is it true? I have to hear it from you. I don't care how it must seem to everyone else, if you just say it isn't, then I will discard all the thoughts I have been coming up with. We will go back there right now and tell them that the Vampire King is nuts."His eyes looked like they carried weights of sadness. The way his shoulders slumped showed how hard it was for him to keep up with all of these. He pushed his hair
"He stopped Alice when she was about to leave the pack and seized your daughter."George didn't respond, he didn't know what to say."There is more.""More?!""Like I said, it isn't the pack against you anymore. He has sent the rest of his kind back to his Empire. He is giving us a day to give Zezi to him. If we don't, he will kill Mira and every single one of us."George heart raced at that thought. Fear wasn't always something he entertained but even his wolf that was full of ego and pride about his abilities knew when there was a challenge that they couldn't take down. His wolf was shouting at him for being stupid. Zezi wasn't even his mate. Why must he risk his life like this for her? He was shouting back in his mind that she was his, just like he was hers and being true mates didn't matter.When it came to Zezi, there were many things that he and his wolf never agreed on. Like what she truly meant to him.Alpha Gery's voice snapped him out of his internal battle."I know you co
The voice cut through the office.Dark, sharp, cold and absolutely daring. Just like that day in the hall. George gnashed his teeth, staying still while anger drummed in his head.She was his! His!No, she is not. His wolf snapped at him. He heard Zezi call him quickly, like she was afraid of what would happen if he didn't step away."George..."The King was there, still looking at them calmly but the tightness in his jaws showed just how hard he was trying to still have the reigns of control."Take your hands off her."George stood up abruptly. A sudden fear had crawled over him. He felt cold. He immediately grabbed Mira and carried her in his arms. Before Zezi could stand, she felt a cold hand tight around her wrist while she staggered to her feet. It happened so fast.She was just kneeling on the floor right there a moment ago and now, here she was by his side. He was fast, faster than they were. So fast that her sight had blurred for a moment. It was only then she noticed the
He started walking away then and she had no choice but to follow, his hand was still firm around her wrist. He turned back abruptly making her almost walk into him."You know, you should always clean up after your meal, Laura. You still act like such a child."Zezi turned quickly. She saw it then, blood just around Laura's lips. How had she missed it?She tried hard to maintain her breathing. Every moment here reminded her about how much of a monster they were.Laura's tongue slithered out to lick it away and she smiled blatantly at him. Like whatever made her terrified of him moments ago had disappeared into thin air."Well, I do that because you always look out for me. Don't you, brother?"B-brother?! They were siblings! Zezi sighed in defeat. How was she going to easily escape if there were no jealous lover(s).to aid and abet her plans?They soon resumed what was starting to seem like a journey to her room. They finally came to a door at the end of the hallway. In haste to get awa