Number 26

The ‘Lorelei and Roman’ duo still kept themselves busy with listening to the entire conversation taking place outside. Since they were having a loud and heated squabble instead of a cordial conversation, making sense out of their statements didn’t pose to be an inconvenience. They listened keenly without making any sounds until suddenly, the compound went silent again, nothing was heard.

“What do you think is going on out there?” she whispered. Roman raised his shoulders a little and shook his head signifying an ‘I have no idea.’

Finally she summoned the courage to at least raise the curtains slightly to take a peek outside, through the window in order to grasp a hold of the situation. “They’re gone,” she whispered wide eyed on peeking through and finding the scene empty; Damien and alpha C were nowhere to be seen.

Apparently, they all went into Alpha C’s workplace after settling amicably. Alpha B on his own came to a realization that he needed to take the bull by the horn and drop the irrelevant topic, giving them both the time and conserved energy to deliberate on more pressing needs.

“It’s time to take action against The Crimson Fangs pack,” Damien stated. Yes! The ‘more pressing needs’ involved their collective rival – pack A.

“A surprise incursion?” alpha C asked.

“Exactly! There would be no better time than now to compensate for our differences in physical strength and manpower.”

“How do you mean?”

“Their next alpha is still uncertain, incurring regional unrest. The alpha king on his part is too preoccupied with what lies between his Luna’s legs under her skirt to see this coming and get himself prepared,” he explained, making his fellow alpha nod repeatedly in conformation to what he just said. “So what do you think? Isn’t it the best time for a sneak attack?” he asked again.

“It sure is, alpha B!” he concurred firmly.

Meanwhile, Damien could feel the unrest of his ‘other half’ inside of him – his wolf. Apparently, the eagerness and impatience to see Damien’s heir incurred the feeling of restlessness in his wolf, which invariably did not leave him unaffected.

“Combining our troupes for the sneak attack is really not the issue here. The question right now is how we can be able to pull it off without them getting a wind of it, seeing how they have roots everywhere,” alpha C spoke rationally.

“That’s for a fact! Keeping it a secret from some of your pack members will go a long way in curbing that problem,” Damien suggested.

“A secret?” Alpha C still looked puzzled.

“Yes, a secret. I have confidants I could trust to be on my side alone and not a spy. If you can be able to discreetly arrange with such ones amongst your pack, we’ll be able to avert any possible danger that could hamper the secrecy of our mission,” he detailed.

“You’re right. I do have a few people I can trust are completely on my side without having to worry about being spied on. So how do we go about it all in utmost discretion?”

“We meet at the ridged valley, the demarcation between my territory and yours. Going over in our wolf forms will give us better chances of success.”

“When do we meet?”

“Before dawn tomorrow,” he stated, meeting the wide-eyed gaze Alpha C gave. It was pretty obvious he was caught off guard by the sudden nature of his ploy.

“Tomorrow?!”

“The earlier the …,” he paused abruptly when he sensed Lorelei’s aura. ‘that’s right! Our Luna is here,’ his wolf rejoiced. “Ex Luna,” he got carried away and voiced it to everyone’s hearing.

“Pardon?”

“Never mind.” ‘Relax wolf-Damie,” he said in his head. He called his wolf by a different name to ease their conversations.

Roman eventually got fed up with just sitting in the house while his two archenemies were in cahoots. He was no longer in the mood to go with Lei’s plan of waiting inside the house for what happened next, seeing the serenity had returned to the compound and remained for a while now. With Laura pacing up and down the sitting room, he stood up and walked to her. With his hands placed her shoulders, he urged her to leave her comfort zone and face her fears. But Lorelei wasn’t in the mood to just stand and listen, so she kept prancing around, ignoring Roman.

“Are you just going to keep prancing around?” he signed.

“Then what would you have me do?” she bent her wrist inwards, gesturing towards herself, “Face Damien?!” she exclaimed, pausing in her tracks as he stood in her way. He nodded, then she scoffed. “You must be joking.”

“You can’t run away from your past forever. Avoiding him is nowhere around the question,” he signed again.

“So you suggest I go out there?” she asked, gesturing towards the door.

“Of course!” He nodded affirmatively, closing both eyes.

“I can’t!” she refuted strongly and sat down forcibly causing the sofa to bounce as she folded both arms and looked away from Roman.

“I’m going out there to say hi,” Roman gestured again standing within the perimeter of her eyeshot.

“What?!” Roman then walked past her towards the exit – the door – to show her he wasn’t in for jokes.

Seeing that her mate was already resolved to carry on with his original intentions, poor Lei was coaxed into yielding automatically. There was no way she’d let her mute and innocent mate meet with her fierce and domineering ex-alpha totally defenseless. She heaved a sigh and said: “Fine! I yield.” Grudgingly, she stood up from where she sat and walked to Roman who was already by the door, assuming a stance showing he was ready to tilt the door knob at any moment, paving his way outside.

“I’ll come with you,” staring into his beautiful eyes, she said. Roman’s response was a pure, wide and beautiful grin.

Masked under the guise of ‘Lorelei facing her fears’ were his true intentions. He was well aware of the fact that the two Alpha’s of the opposing teams meeting together denoted anything but ‘well’ for his father’s pack. So letting their convo go on uninterrupted was totally out of the question. He wasn’t going to give up the golden opportunity to find out their schemes, letting Lorelei sulk all day; he had to make a move and still maintain his low profile.

They walked out of the house and headed to the Alpha’s place of work.

On getting to the entrance, Lorelei again felt her heart sink, butterflies in her stomach, for she hesitated a bit before walking in. That was unarguably when Damien sensed her presence.

Just when ‘wolf-Damie’ was beaming with excitement to finally meet Lei, they both walked in, making themselves visible to all who were present.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here,” Damien announced on seeing the duo who walked in. “I don’t see my child anywhere,” he stood up, looking behind her in the door’s direction, for his little one.

“What child?”

“Hush! I need my child back from you, Lorelei,” his stated his intentions.

“A child whose mother you forsook? And left to wander in the cold streets?” Damien scolded. “That would be over my dead body,” she refuted firmly.