Chapter 37 Confinement

**Valerie**
I regretted for my hesitation.
There had been enough time for me to explain my concern to Xavier that my parents could possibly be related to the horrible incident Amelia had experienced many years ago.
But I spoiled it by being timid and reluctant.
It’s my fault.
When I plucked up the courage, the right opportunity had already slipped away, as a sudden knock broken up the peaceful tranquility abruptly
“Alpha Xavier! Something emergent I have to report!” A hasty yelp of the guards came from the other side of the door.
Hearing about this, Xavier frowned, his facing turning into a stern look.
He tapped my hand softly and kissed my cheek, “I’ll be back in minutes. Stay here and wait me, Valerie. Whatever problems you are afraid of, we’ll always be together to face them.”
Xavier eyed at me seriously before leaving the room.
I had waited in complete frustration for more than 2 hours, but he didn’t come back.
When I opened the door, trying to look for him myself, I found there were two guards getting in my way.
“Ms. Davis, I’m sorry you can’t leave here.” One of them spoke with a respectful manner, but his voice very tough and firm.
“Why? Am I being confined?” I was irritated by the utterance.
The guard shook his head in a regretful look while repeating again, “Please, Ms. Davis. Stay in the room. It’s the Alpha’s order we must comply with.”
Alpha?
“You mean…Xavier?” I asked skeptically, “Where is he?”
The guard looked a bit awkward, as if debating on whether he should tell us the truth or not.
“Mister,” I said plainly, “I fully understand and respect your loyalties. But I need to know the reason. I couldn’t just accept the confinement with no reason.”
The guards inhaled deeply before a nod. “Ms. Davis, you’re right. We’re commanded by Alpha Xavier to ensure your safety. He said it would be dangerous if you come out of this door.”
“What did that mean?”
“I’m afraid we don’t know, but…” The guards seemed to be hesitated. He took a deep breath before speaking with a lowered voice, “we don’t know if we should tell you this, Ms. Davis. But we suppose you must be worried about Alpha Xavier…”
His voice grew nervous which made my nerves tensed up.
“There’s something seriously eerie happened in Red Moon Pack. That’s why Alpha Xavier had to go back immediately.” He explained.
I swallowed hard, “What kind of thing?”
He shook his head again and became silent.
“Okay, I see. Thank you for letting me know.” I huffed with a sharp exhale before stepping back into the room and shutting the door.
Leaning against the door, I breathed heavily as I contemplated the guard’s word for any hidden clues.
*Something eerie at this point of time, definitely didn’t sound like an accident*.
The growing bemusement in my head gave me a horrible feeling that it might be related to the suspicious incident they talked about on the celebration dinner.
Horrible findings after free humans’ attack to The Eclipse.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was true, and I didn’t put much attention to it when I had heard this on that dinner. Partly because I was too frustrated standing by such a number of werewolves and my mind was swirling with my complicated feelings and thoughts towards Xavier.
And the major reason for my disbelief was that I didn’t actually trust anyone on that celebration.
See. The source of information wasn’t verified or authenticated, while their intention to bring this up in public was obvious.
Like human politicians who used to be good at manipulating the truth for evil purposes, those creatures could also have taken a good command of those maneuvers.
But an unexpected visit changed my mind.
***
When I was lying on the bed, being preoccupied with every possible guesses I could make up for Xavier’s absence, a gentle knock occurred at the door.
“Yes?” I responded quickly while getting myself up.
“Ms. Davis, would you like to have lunch now?” The guard I talked before asked outside the door.
I was so absorbed that I didn’t even realize it was already the noon. Upon this reminder, I suddenly felt the emptiness in my stomach, after a long time of overusing my brain.
“Oh sure, come in.” I replied.
“You can go into the room now.” The guard released a permission to another person before the white knob was rotated.
As the door pushed open, I saw a familiar girl came in with her head bowing down.
It was Samantha!
“Sam—“ I blurted out in an excitement, being too surprised to see her here.
“Shhhh” Samantha lifted her index finger across her lips and signaled the door, before putting the tray on desk and walking to me.
“We need to lower down our voices.” She stood in close proximity and whispered to me.
“What happened?” My eyes flared in perplex, “It seems to be very weird today.”
“It is.” Samantha huffed with a sigh and looked worried. She continued in a hasty but serious expression, “Listen, Valerie. I can’t stay here for too long. Mrs. Manson didn’t send me here and I changed the role with another servant. So if the guards or Mrs. Manson find out, I will be dead.
“But I had to tell you there’re something wrong to the castle. Alpha Xavier left this morning so you must stay cautious!”
I gulped, icy feeling growing in my heart.
“What? You make me scared.” I stared at her nervously.
“Shortly speaking, you couldn’t trust the guards anymore. Someone had blended in. Someone wasn’t loyal to Alpha Xavier.”
“How do you know? Was that possible?”
“It was Caser Murphy. He left behind a group of guards here for so-called ‘better security assurance’. But those were under his own command.”
My head started aching as I couldn’t quite understand what she said.
“Do you mean that Caser Murphy want to topple down his own son? If that’s it, why did he pass the throne in the first place?”
*That sounded ridiculous.*
“It’s hard to explain.” Samantha exhaled heavily, “We didn’t have enough time to for this now. Just remember, don’t trust the guards. I will be here for your meals and if it the food wasn’t given by me, don’t eat.”
Samantha checked the door before forcing a smile on her face and giving a squeeze on my hand. She looked a bit wary, with no trace of humorousness in her attitude as she used to have.
“Val, you know what? I used to be a bit jealous of you,” she took a deep breath and said softly, “Because everyone seemed to put excessive attentions to you. Mr. Murphy, Mr. Lang and Mr. Drakos. Sometimes, Benjamin would say something good about you in front of me, you know. That stupid human boy. And even Ms. Manson, we know she hates you but it also means you’re… special.”
Her voice sounded bitter with regret, “I’m sorry for being petty. When I found out you are nice, actually, too nice, innocent and tough to be suffering in this place, I realize how shameful for me to think badly about you. You worth everyone’s love.”
She embraced me with her slim arms and faint body, but the hug was powerful and warm. “I know you’re special to Alpha. Please help him, Val, if you could. It’s going to be a tough time for him and The Red Moon Pack. As human, you probably hate all werewolves but I promised you, Alpha Xavier was different from those monsters.”
I was stunned when I felt the wetness on my shoulder.
She cried.