Chapter 7

Seeking peace
CHRISTOPHER'S POV
"Please wait, Michael." I called out to him but he beckoned me to come with him. I had no other choice but to come after him.
As I stood on the stage, I tried to gain my balance and bent over to ask Michael who was standing in front of me why they were here.
"You should speak to them yourself; they are here to see you." Michael replied and I became more nervous than I have ever been.
I don't know why they are here and I am in no frame of mind to attend to them but I must.
"Good day all." I began as my hands began to shake so I leaned on the podium and took a deep breath.
"Good day," the crowd responded and I could feel the heat of their anger from their voices which echoed and its sound shook the entire building.
"I wasn't expecting this visit, to what do I owe this please." I asked and there was a bit of chattering in the building.
Michael tried to calm them down and he succeeded in making the whole place as quiet as a graveyard.
I begged Michael to address them as I didn't know what they wanted but he refused. He thinks I had a pact with Louise and as such he has withdrawn his support.
"Don't do this to me Michael. I am in a fix." I said as the crowd started to chatter again.
"A fix you got yourself into and must get out of." He said as he smiled mischievously and folded both hands in his front.
I turned to my right and I saw Louise standing at the entrance. I was scared she would come and mess things up just as she did at the council meeting so I asked Michael to go stop her but he refused.
"You are nothing but a coward who has allowed a woman to toss him about like a chick." My wolf said to me and I really felt less of myself.
"You know what I would have done if you would have let me have my way." He said again and this time I became angry and screamed out.
My eyes turned red because I could feel the heat that came out of my eyes. I drew Michael's attention but he would not indulge me. Hence I decided to take a break from everything including administering the pack for a while. I tried to speak but no one gave me an atom of attention, I guessed they weren't interested so o decided not to push further.
The crowd became rowdier and I couldn't control them.
Suddenly, Louise spoke up although I didn't hear what she said but she caused another reaction amongst the crowd.
I was ashamed of myself and so I ran off and hid myself in my chamber.
I don't care what becomes of the crowd. Michael could leave them there and wait for me to go discharge them.
I stayed in my chamber for three days without coming out.
I missed all the meetings I had with the council of elders.
Michael regularly dropped messages for me through the little opening beneath my door. I never opened any of the letters because I was burning in anger and regret. But the truth remains that I cannot change the situation, nor can I back out.
I was determined to see it to the end even if it didn't end well.
After staying indoors for those three days without food or water, I was becoming weak and I just had to come out tonight.
I looked out through the window and saw the moon shining so bright. You could think it's almost dawn but it was evening and the night had not even grown old.
I heard a knock on my door and I rushed to open it but I stopped when I got to the door as I bent to pick up the letter littered at my doorstep.
I took them and returned to my desk where I had spent these three days.
The knock came again but I had to concentrate on the letters in my hand .
'You have to see that Louise is not an option." I heard Michael's voice come in through the door and it caused some kind of relief within my soul.
I started opening each letter one after the other and reading its content.
As I opened the third one, it read "Louise has gone on a trip to an undisclosed location."
This came as a shock and looking at the date, she went the very night I had locked up myself.
I abandoned the remaining letters and rushed to the door but as I moved, I thought that I should finish reading the letters anyway, so I sat down again.
Having satisfied my curiosity being fully abreast with the happenings since my unplanned leave, I opened the door and saw Michael sitting at the door.
He stood up as soon as he noticed the door was open as I had opened the door.
"Good evening, Alpha." He said as he stood up and bowed before me.
"You don't have to be this official Michael. Please come in." I told him and we walked side by side into the room.
We got into conversation and before we could say anything much, we got into a serious argument which made us start exchanging abusive words at each other.
This is something we never did even while we were kids.
All of a sudden, we stopped and stared at each other without saying anything further.
"I'm sorry." We said to each other at the same time. He moved towards me and held me in an embrace.
We stayed there for a while and when he let go of me, he gave me a smile.
"The pack has missed your presence." He said and I just could hold back my tears.
"Let's go see what we can do." I told him and we walked out of the room.
Michael had me settled in the dining room as he ordered the cook and other servants to get my food ready and before I could properly settle in, I had my food before me.
After eating to my satisfaction, I left the table and walked to my sister's chamber. She wasn't in when I got there as the door was locked.
On my way back to the sitting room, I saw her.
"Where are you coming from? I just left your chamber and you weren't there." I asked her as she walked up to me.
"I went to check on Louise, she has not fully recovered from the incident. You know she lost a child." She responded and I became more confused.
One of the letters sent to me said she went on a journey to an unknown location. If she had returned, Michael would have told me.
"When did she return?" I asked her, waiting to hear that she just came in or something.
"Return from where?" She asked, sounding surprised.
"I got a letter saying that she travelled." I told her and she started laughing abruptly.
"Don't take me for a fool Emily. Where did Louise go?" I asked her again at the top of my voice.
By this time, Michael had already come to meet us and he confirmed that she travelled and hasn't returned.
While Emily and Michael kept arguing about Louise's whereabouts, I walked out to see her.
I got to her room but she wasn't there. The door wasn't locked so I opened and walked in.
I came back to confront Emily but as soon as I raised my voice at her, Louise walked in and made everything more confusing and complicated.
"You should be mindful of what you say." Emily said to Michael as if she was issuing a warning to him.
Michael was dumbfounded. He tried all he could to convince me that she actually travelled and hadn't been in the castle throughout the period I locked up myself.
I didn't know who to believe anymore but I blamed myself for all that happened.
It would have been better if I faced my fears and conquered them at once than running away from my responsibilities.
"She left without saying a word to anyone. I saw her leave." He said with a shaky voice as he felt I was beginning to lose confidence in him.
"It's okay." Was all I could say as I returned back to my chamber and he followed me.
We stayed awake late into the night talking about all that had happened in the pack and how he has been able to handle most of the daring situations.
This made me wonder why I was even Alpha. Michael was damn intelligent and I counted myself lucky to have him as my beta.
We both slept in my chamber after having a good conversation. We woke up to Louise standing beside the bed.
"How did you get in here?" Michael asked her and she started clapping her hands together.
That annoying attitude of hers made me boil and I raised my voice at her.
"You could shout all you can but don't forget you will have to tell the council of elders what happened to your brother if I loose it." She said and walked away.
"I had always known that this woman is creepy but I never knew she could be this bold about it." Michael said and walked out of the room.
"You need to cut her wings. She's out of bounds" My wolf said as if he had read my mind.
I sat for a while and gave the whole matter a thought. Afterwards, I freshened up and went out.
As I walked along the road, I saw a woman sitting on the road. I was surprised because I never thought anyone could do that.
I walked to her to know what the problem was but I saw nothing by the time I got to the spot. I became so scared that I ran back to the castle hastily.
I told Michael about it when I got home and he told me it might be a warning from our enemy pack.
I did not believe in those kinds of things as I saw it as superstition. Thus, I disagreed and he suggested we had a meeting with the council of elders and I instructed him to call the meeting.
Later that evening, after waiting for the council of elders and none of them showed up, I walked to the garden and admired the beauty of the flowers.
It reminded me of the first day I met Miriam. She was with a handful of hibiscus and they were so beautiful. But I teased her that her face was more beautiful than those flowers.
I could still see the smile she gave me that day. I loved it so much.
From that day on, I made it a duty to send her roses and hibiscus every weekend just to see her beautiful smile.
"Good days are never easy to come by, yet we must keep living." I said to myself as I plucked the sun flower that I had held on to.
"The elders are here." Michael said distracting me from my thoughts.
"Tell them I will be with them shortly." I told him and he turned to leave.
I kept looking at the flower in between my fingers and I smiled all along. Then I started walking slowly to meet the elders so I can get them intimated on the event of the day.
"We need to talk now." Louise said as she stood on my way.
The last thing I will do today is let her get on my nerves, so I ignored her and walked to the conference room.