Chapter Sixty-seven

The door to the sitting room swung open to reveal Rosie. She had changed into something more casual as Claire had predicted, she was dressed in a simple cotton shirt and sweatpants.
She stepped in with a big bowl of popcorn in her hands, and a bright expression. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting?”
“Not at all,” Claire reassured her, patting the spot beside her. “Come on, take a seat so we can decide on what we’re watching.
Rosie did as she said, settling down while cradling the big plastic bowl. “I got us popcorn.” She mumbled although there was really no need to say it as Claire could clearly see it.
There was a fridge in the sitting room so Rosie didn’t need to bother about drinks.
“Thank you… So what do you think we should begin with?”
Rosie immediately settled in, her hazel eyes twinkling. “There’s this medical series that was newly released…”

-+-

After scoping out the hallway the room he boarded was on, the bodyguard with Lukas checked out the room before holding open the door for the American Alpha King to step in.
The room was dingy and dim, it had peeling wallpapers and the flooring was frayed and discolored in patches. At least, the sheets used to lay the single bed in the room were fairly clean, not that it mattered because no one would be using the bed.
Lukas was tempted to stand and wait like the bodyguard that had positioned himself outside, in front of the door but there was a long time of waiting to be done. He had gotten to the rendezvous point over an hour before the agreed-upon time.
There were things he needed to attend to during that space of time, however, so he pulled out one of the two chairs in the room and sat down on it. There was a rickety wooden table in between the two chairs and Lukas used it to rest his arms, taking it easy.
He had easily a hundred emails and messages to attend to but he ignored them without a second thought, texting Alec to check up on Claire and give him a proper report on how she was doing.
He got no rebuttal for that much to his surprise, Alec agreeing to do it without protesting much. He wouldn’t say he wasn’t pleased about this outcome.
A knock interrupted Lukas, making him glance up. Before he could say a word, however, the door swung open to reveal two werewolves who stepped into the room, making him go on high alert.
Lukas started to rise on his feet, a hand already on the handle of his weapon. *‘What had happened to the bodyguard that had been keeping watch? Had he been injured? Or worse.'*
“Don’t bother attacking, Your Highness…” The one in the lead said in a calm voice.
They were both dressed in black outfits and had face masks, sunglasses, and baseball hats on, all in a bid to hide their identity.
Lukas relaxed visibly when he realized that it was none other than members of the Rogues who had come to have a conversation with him. He slowly lowered himself down on the chair again, releasing his hold on his weapon.
Only one sat on the chair across the table from him, the other werewolf standing behind his partner. He had a firm hold on his weapon tucked into a holster attached to his belt.
“You clearly know who I am, it’s only fair if I ask for your names, isn’t it?” Lukas asked casually, leaning back in the uncomfortable wooden chair.
“Our names are unnecessary, Your Highness.” The seated werewolf responded, “This meeting is simply to find out if you have considered our *offer*.”
Lukas hesitated, he certainly hadn’t. They wanted him to either rebel against the Human Government or rescind power, neither was a possible choice but he wasn’t going to outrightly tell them that.
“I’ve put a lot of thought into it and I feel that the offer should be the final resort.” He said calmly, studying the gestures of the werewolf sitting across from him. His face was completely hidden so there was nothing to give away about how he was taking Lukas’ words.
He forged ahead nonetheless, the Rogues didn’t want to hurt anyone, he could play into that and delay them from taking action even if it was for just a few more weeks.
He knew that Alec was right and he wouldn’t be able to smooth-talk his way out of the endless Rogue problem but as long as it worked, he would keep using it.
“However, attacking the hotel isn’t going to further your purpose, it wouldn’t make me hand the ruling of the country over to you and humans will not care.”
He could sense the werewolf scowling behind his mask, “Then we destroy more, stop making it out like we’re harmless simply because we chose to respect you all this while.” The masked werewolf said in a measured voice. “I’ve come here with a simple task, to find out if you have an answer to the offer or not.” He added, cutting through Lukas’ bluff.
Lukas actually didn’t have a solution or a way to fix things, once again he thought of how easy it would be to get rid of the Rogue problem if he was willing to use a little force. But he couldn’t bring himself to harm his people, they had righteous intentions but were going about it the wrong way.
He straightened his shoulders, he would just have to keep dragging it out until he exhausted the other party. “I-” He started to say, planning to divert the conversation.
Lukas didn’t get far because a shot rang out behind him, he had sat right in across a window that opened outside. The shot barely missed his head, and he immediately dropped down, the next shot coming almost immediately.
The noise alerted his bodyguard who was still standing outside, the black garbed werewolf kicked down the door with his gun out.
The third gunshot hit his bodyguard on his right shoulder just as Lukas called to him. “Duck!”
The impact made the bodyguard go down nonetheless, the injured werewolf clutching his bleeding arm. He hurried over to Alpha Lukas’ side while squatting, noting that the two werewolves that had come in earlier were stationary with their hands up in a posture of surrender, it was the only reason why he hadn’t shot them immediately he burst in.
His goal was to check if the Alpha King was unharmed, only breathing properly when he saw that he was indeed unhurt.
“What should-” The bodyguard started to ask again, only to get silenced by a bullet flying dangerously close to him.
Without waiting for approval, he tackled the Alpha King, rolling with him out of the way. They needed to get out of the line of sight of the sniper.