Chapter 166

Dylan POV

"I still can't believe that you managed to set that call up, while he's trapped in the palace... you really do seem to surprise me at every turn." Gilliard sat behind his desk while overlooking some paperwork for god knows what, I simply sat on the sofa towards the side, helping myself to the bowl of chocolates that usually sits on the desk, however, currently it resides on my knee.

Lewis was sat next to me, chuckling at the way I was scoffing down each chocolate, making sure to eat the toffee ones as they were most definitely my favorite.

"I mean, by now you should be used to it. The first time you met her she made plans to close the border." Lewis shrugged before reaching over to grab a truffle from the bowl.

"I know that, but to open up a cellular connection within the palace! That is severely impressive. Even you couldn't do that after you left." Now it was that one statement that piqued my interests.

"It wasn't that I couldn't, it was more like I didn't want to cause any more trouble." His arms quickly folded over each other and a small childish pout formed on his face causing me to stifle a laugh. "Don't laugh... I swore to you I would come back for you, and I didn't, I'll never forgive myself for leaving you there."

"If you'd have actually come back after everything, then you'd be dead, and I probably would have been forcefully marked a lot sooner. Besides, We found each other in the end, so does it really matter now?" I shrugged, popping yet another sticky chocolate into my mouth.

"It will always matter to me." I had no idea Lewis was still so cut up about everything. Hell, he had more than made things up to me, not that he had to. I had made peace with the fact that nothing could have been done differently.

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me... I'm just grateful to be here." I then chuckled looking at the bowl of chocolates in my lap as I realized I had just spoken about actually liking my life within a wolf pack. "I never thought I would ever say that about a pack house. Then again, I never thought I'd end up dating a Lycan either."

"Are you two really not going to complete the marking stage then?" Gilliard asked looking at Lewis more than me. Clearly he was waiting to see some sort of reaction from him. I couldn't bring myself to look at him though, I knew what I was keeping from him. I was stopping him from having the unmatched happiness that comes from being marked and mated to your soulmate.

"We really aren't..." Lewis answered without any hesitation whatsoever, and it caused my heart to swell even more than before. No Lycan would ever pass up the opportunity to complete the mate bond, unless they truly understood their persons wishes. My sight shot to the beta so fast, and with my abrupt movement a small chuckle escaped my boyfriends lips. He met my gaze and nodded his head a single time in acknowledgement of my preferences. "I already told you, I'm all in... I don't need to mark you for me to be happy."

He grabbed my hand gently in his and brought it up to his lips, placing a small yet attentive kiss on my knuckles before resting both our hands down, on the thigh of his leg.

"Ahem..." the alpha coughed before holding his palms up in fake dismissal. "I told you, no fornication in my office. That includes thoughts of sex." I let out a genuine laugh and sweated my boyfriends hand in affection. Allowing him to see exactly how much his statement meant to me.

I couldn't help but smile at the Gilliards words, however I had to mentally disagree with them. In that particular moment, I didn't want to have sex with Lewis, I genuinely and simply wanted to hold him and I naturally wanted him to hold me.

I had become accustomed to being in the man's arms, it was the only place where I felt the world couldn't come down and crush me to death. The man's strong muscular arms were my own personal safe haven, no matter where I was or what I was doing, I would always be able to find solace in his embrace.

"I promise, we won't jump each other in your office... no promises about anywhere else on the pack though." I chuckled taking both men by surprise at my words. I was becoming much more bold in my teasing of Lewis. The tension was quickly turning sexual between the two of us, so Alpha Gilliards statement wasn't entirely false. If the subject wasn't changed immediately then we wouldn't last much longer in here. "Besides... Vee should be finishing up soon anyway, it's been half an hour, which quite honestly is much longer than I expected."

"Do you think Carlos will be ok? What do you think will happen to him?" It was the alpha that asked the question that caused our faces to drop, he looked somewhat down at the mention of my prison friend, I suppose he had known him for much longer than me. They were in contact even before the smuggling trade.

"I think it will take a miracle for him to survive. If the information is true, and he has in fact been forcefully marked, then he's going to be in more pain than any of us could fathom." I felt like everyone I got close to always ended up leaving, whether that was through a fated partnership or through death. I wasn't sure how much more loss I could take.

"Carlos is one tough bastard though. If anyone could survive it, I would put money on him." Lewis shook his head at his cousins words though, I didn't know Carlos's tough side, stubborn, most definitely, but I imagine by the time I had met him, he had probably been broken in some way.

"You haven't seen him in years, Gill, he was in a similar situation to Dylan. Very underweight, and seriously lacked muscle mass after being held in the dungeon for years. I don't think his body will hold up for very long at all." Actually I think muscle wise he had less than I did, Lewis was right, his body most likely wouldn't hold up for too long. He would most likely succumb before the moon even managed to reach its peak.

"I'm just glad that Vee has her mate to comfort her. When Carlos was first taken she took it really hard.” I could definitely sympathize with her over that one. She thought she had lost her father completely, anyone who has ever lost a parent would know how that feels.

“The full moon is in two days. She’s going to need all the support we can offer her.” Gilliard stated with a sigh. I hadn’t even realized that the full moon was so soon. Once this one has passed then Carlos will most likely be gone, and we will be one full moon closer to the upcoming battle.

With that thought in my mind a strong sinking feeling entered my stomach. I wasn’t all that sure I was strong enough to overcome seeing the king again. I wasn’t sure how my mind and my body would react to being so close to my abuser.

“Actually… thinking about it, alpha Shawn could be a problem. Wolves become stronger when the moon is at its peak. Maybe we should double the security for the time being.” The two guys were mulling what I had said over in their minds, and I wasn’t wrong. It would be wise to increase the amount of people watching the border. “How is the border holding up anyway?"

“It’s holding up well actually. I intend to go later today, to check on it, I might take Oliver with me, just to familiarize him.” I for once actually thought that was a good idea. Oliver had somewhat gain my trust, not fully naturally I still had my reservations, however, after he saved my life while we were away, it’s only right that I give him the benefit of the doubt.

“That’s a decent plan. I think I’m going to do some more training this afternoon. I’ve got all this new energy that I want to test, also I seem to be alright at combat, believe it or not, so I want to explore that more.” I shrugged before looking at my hands in awe at how energized i was after being blessed by the goddess Luna herself.

“Ok then. I’m going to go and get some stuff ready for the borders. I’ll see you later, ok?” Lewis stood up, with a clap of his hands before holding them out for me to take, which I did. He gently pulled me up on to my feet and I allowed my arms to wrap around the back of his neck.

“I’ll see you later.” I gave him a small kiss on his lips and watched as his shock left his face as quickly as it came. I barely ever initiated things, especially in front of people. It caused a small giggle to leave me, which in turn lead me to playfully push Lewis out of the room.

“Dylan?” My head shot to Gilliard who looked directly at me. Instead of continuing his sentence straight away he opened his desk draw and pulled out a pistol. “Instead of physical training, I think your biggest strength is how you control a weapon, you really should focus on improving your aim.”

Now, he did have a point. My best bet against the lycans was to fight as long distance as possible, however now that I was looking at the gun resting on his desk, asking me to take it, so I did.

I’m not sure exactly what was going through my mind, but as soon as my hands clamped around the weapon, I instantly knew all about it. I seemed to know it’s weight, I knew how to dismantle it, how to reassemble it. I knew everything.

“Holy shit!” My eyes widened as I realized what the moon goddess had actually blessed me with.

I looked towards three vases that rested on a small desk towards the far wall and aimed, immediately fired three consecutive bullets out of the gun and heard three loud consistent shatters of glass. Three perfect bullseyes.

“What the fuck was that?” Gilliard looked more shocked than I did at the revelation of my weapon control.

“It just all makes sense now… My combat, my weapon knowledge. You know, even Oliver has stated that my fighting skills improved drastically, he said so when we sparred… Not to mention this gun, I think I know how to…” I had to test it out, so I put the safety latch on and rushed over to the desk, where I unloaded the clip to remove the ammunition, then proceeded to effortlessly and efficiently dismantle the weapon, before reassembling the forearm and shooting yet another perfect bullseye shot, at the main clock on the wall.

“What on earth are you talking about… and can you please stop shooting my office up?” He snatched the safety latched pistol out of my hand and looked at me, with nothing but a confused frown on his features.

I understood his confusion. I mean, I admit that I was a decent shot before, but no where near this perfect. No where near this tactical.

“I think…” I couldn’t stop my body from slumping down in awe at this knew found ability. “Gilliard… I think the moon goddess gave me the knowledge of the old hunters!”

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