8.The Agonized Protector.

I was paralyzed with shock, then lust and finally pain. The silence was heavy in the big and ancient library. Here stood Dominic Stone, the Alpha Tertius. The warrior, the silent and fierce protector. The werewolf who had one time ago caressed my face and stroked my hair as he made crazy stupid love to me.

The memories crashed through me and I felt light headed as I shivered from the unwanted images of his naked invading my mind. My knees trembled slightly and I sighed. Then came the aftermath.

The rejection, the betrayal, the shunning as he turned had turned his back on me when I had needed him the most. The ache in my heart throbbed painfully and almost choked the life out of me as the memories assailed my mind. It was like I was going through everything all over again.

I closed my eyes for a while to get my bearing and let the hate take over. The hatred for him and his Alphas, the hatred for his pack and the hatred for everything he stood for and represented.

I was internally shocked by how easy it was.

“Alpha Dominic,” Marcus said with a slight bow.

“Chancellor Webb,” Dominic’s voice rang out again and it jolted me. It was cold, calm and collected. He nodded to Marcus then he faced his uncle.

He did not look at me but turned to his uncle, the High Chancellor. “Plotting in the dark again, dear uncle,” he said to Mason.

“Just trying to restore the balance we once had Alpha Dominic,” Mason replied in a dignified tone.

Dominic nodded slowly but I could tell he knew his uncle was full of shit.

“I am curious though,” the third Alpha replied. “Why should I or the other Alpha’s not know about this?” he asked.

“The situation is such a trivial matter, Alpha Dominic, I did not see the point of bothering you with it.” Mason replied.

I could feel the tension between the two of them. Although they were family, I sensed bad blood.

“Our werewolves turned on each other, then turned burned down houses and destroyed thousands of properties with a rising death toll from thirty-six to seventy-two in a less than a week, and yet this a trivial matter,” Dominic stated in the same cold and calm tone.

To my amusement, High Chancellor Mason was verbally stumped. He had no logical response.

“Excuse us, Chancellors,” Dominic ordered and waved the two old werewolves away.

Marcus bowed slightly and turned swiftly to leave. Mason loitered defiantly as he watched his nephew but Dominic was no longer paying attention to his uncle.

The Alpha Tertius had and his full attention on me now and his uncle was no longer a subject of interest. Mason scoffed softly and turned away in anger. His footsteps were loud and they expressed how offended he was by his casual dismissal.

Questions, desires, and longing filled his eyes has he beheld me with them. No words passed between for what seemed like ages.

This Alpha had broken me once; I was not going to hive him the satisfaction of doing it again. For years, I had watched him, waited on his every word, worshipped the ground he had tread upon and what did it get me, rejection and pain.

I had nothing to say to him, so I waited.

“Sage,” he breathed my name and in his voice was a slight disbelief. I had no idea why. I chided myself immediately. I did not care why!

“Alpha Dominic,” I replied curtly and coldly while I glared at him.

He stiffened slightly from my brusque response. Maybe he was expecting warmth from me but this heart was cold and broken.

“I apologise for the way my councilman handled things,” Dominic said.

“Your authority was undermined, Alpha Dominic,” I stated coldly. “Things must really be that bad in your territory.”

Dominic scoffed. “You left this Pack illegally,” he reminded me. “The approval of an Alpha is required to successfully depart a territory.”

“It never ceases to amaze how you people just quote from your rule books at your convenience,” I replied with in disdain-filled tone. “You never tried to stop me either.”

He went quiet.

“Look, Alpha Dominic, I am not here to talk about the past and I do not intend to. I came here to solve a problem.” I stated. “Let us not waste each other’s time and focus on the real problem, shall we?”

He may be the Alpha and have more rank than me, but this was my mission and he was just tagging along.

“Very well,” Dominic replied with slight nod. “What are the things you need to conduct your investigations?”

“I need someone that has the first-hand recollection of everything that happened, the exact time and date of the Bond rupture and how where exactly it started.” I replied.

“Anything else?” Dominic asked.

“A work station where I can compile, compare and contrast my information,” I said.

“Consider it done,” he said with a slight nod. “An office will be available for you at the royal hall.”

“No, I want my old quarters,” I replied with a slight shake of my head.

“It is quite far from the royal halls.” Dominic stated.

“I know the geographical area of Silver Crest, Alpha Dominic,” I replied. “I want my old quarters because it is far from the royals, nobles, court men, ladies and members of the high councils.”

“You must really hate us that much,” Dominic said with a small smile.

He was right but wrong at the same time.

“Hate is not the reason for wanting a long distance,” I replied. “Interference, is the main reason, I am a very low-rankingwerewolf and a lot of your friends in high places will start hounding me for answers, wanting to know my progress at all times, it is both annoying and distracting.”

Hasty footsteps neared us where we both stood. Two men dressed in military fatigue came and saluted Dominic. 

“There has been another incident, Alpha,” one of them said.

“It’s bad, Aplha, really bad.” The second said with a haunted expression.