Chapter 113

Danny’s POV
“What did he find out?” I ask Matthew, heading into Oliver’s office two days later.
“Not much from Michael. And the others have been tight lipped. Michael’s orders. From what Barnsy was saying, Michael never trusted him in the first place” Matthew tells me and I let out a sigh of disappointment.
“It was worth a try” Oliver states, taking a seat behind his desk.
“It’s not all lost. Alexis let slip, they will only be there until the trial is set” Matthew continues as Oliver and I look at one another.
“Where have you got Barnaby now?” I ask Matthew. “Him, Rebecca and the kids are locked in their room. I suggested they go on a vacation somewhere; but they insisted they would be safer here” he replies.
“Simon, Brenda and Leon should be back any moment now with the recognisance team” Oliver states, looking at his watch.
**“We can’t hold off much longer to set a trial date”** Jesse says to me. **“Yeah, but reading between the lines; there will be a counter attack to get everyone in the dungeon when a trial date is set”** I reply back to him.
“We need to make a trial date. I understand, this is wh…” “We have news” Simon states, coming through the doorway, interrupting me. “And?” I ask, a bit annoyed I didn’t get to finish.
“Yes, they are at the Diamond Moon territory. No, they are not coming back to get Michael out of prison as arranged” Simon answers gleefully.
“How do you know they arranged to be broken out of prison?” Oliver questions, slightly shocked at Simon’s revelation.
“Derek” Simon states, looking over at me. “The wolf who raped one of the stripers?” I gasp my question at him.
“That’s the one” Simon replies. “He came out of the territory holding a white flag with three others. They explained no-one wanted to do what Callum and Michael were asking of them. Once they became members of a pack again, they began to see clearly for the first time since they were cast out. Most of them were remorseful for what they did. He explained the plan was for them to flee and if anyone was caught, they would wait to hear when the trial date was and come and get them when they were being moved to the council room for punishment.”
“Is there anyone who is still willing to do that?” Matthew asks, looking over as Brenda enters the office.
“There are a few. The majority of them want to live a peaceful existence. The few who have not deviated, have left the territory to head back here according to Sally” “Sally?” Matthew gasps, his reaction to Brenda’s statement.
“Yes, Penelope’s little sister; Sally” Brenda cackles taking a seat. **“The plot thickens”** Jesse says, laughing. “I didn’t know Penelope had a sister” I tell them.
“That’s because when she took over the pride; her mother and sister left. We haven’t heard from either of them since. They didn’t like the way she was leading the pride and Penelope gave them the choice to leave or be banished for going against their leader” Matthew explains as Jesse growls his dislike for Penelope.
“Like Barnaby; she was blackmailed into helping them. They used the same lie they told Grayson. You kidnapped Dianna and Crystal. Sally saw through it. They then threatened her and her young family” Brenda includes.
“When they wanted some to flee, Sally and Derek both put their hand up to be one of the ones to do so. Sally got the feeling; Michael was hoping we would kill her in the attempt and agreed for her to join the others” Simon continues.
“Did Derek think this way too?” Oliver asks the pair.
“No. Michael thought he handpicked those volunteering, were the most loyal to come and get him. Unbeknownst to him; most of them weren’t. They think either his Alpha abilities are fading or he just wasn’t listening to them because out of the 600 that fled, only 64 were willing to go back and help them escape” Brenda tells us.
“64 is better than 600” Oliver states and I nod my head.
“We should start the trials in 3 days. There are a lot of people to get through. Michael, Penelope, Josiah and Alexis should be the first to stand trial. Dorothy will follow and we will proceed with everyone else” Oliver informs us as there were nods around room.
“As there are so many to go through, I suggest we break sessions down. Werewolves, werecats, werebears, Vampires and witches” I add. Dad suggested this to myself before I came to Oliver’s office.
“I was going to suggest doing the trials in a similar manner. It’s the most logical way to stop everyone from coming and going as each person is tried” Matthew responds, getting out of his chair. “I will get a list to Jeffery, who is in my dungeon to help with your scheduling” he adds, heading out the doorway.
“Jeremy, Brett and Rick are devising a plan as we speak for the 64 followers who will be trying to sabotage our proceedings” Simon states, also getting out of his chair. “We should go and help them with that” he includes, turning to Brenda.
“Keep us informed what you come up with” Oliver tells them, as they leave the office. “Is there something bothering you, Danny?” he includes as Brenda shut the door behind her.
“I was going to ask the same thing to you” I reply, raising my eyebrow at him.
“You could sense my apprehension?” he asks me as I nod my head. *“It all seems too easy”* he mind links me, probably because he wants to keep anyone from listening if we get interrupted.
*“Sometimes it works out to be easier than it seemed at first”* I tell him. *“Xzavier was one such threat.”*
*“Xzavier? He was the werewolf who used the warlock, Ulysses to create the underworld army?”* He questions. *“That’s him. It proved to be easier than it seemed at first to kill them. Because the army was already dead, they were easy to kill again”* I explained to him.
*“Father told me about it and I had a conversation with Claudia about it when she first got here. She said the same thing”* he says with a smile.* “I hope it proves to be as easy as it seems.”*
*“Nothing is as easy as it seems. Think of all the jigsaw pieces we had to put together only to find more pieces missing. It took us a long time to discover what they were up to. Hades had helped those in the past; but to confuse Apollo and Selene they way he did. We would have been miles ahead of where we are now if he didn’t do that”* I answer him, giving a smile back as Oliver closes down the link.
“Feeling better?” I ask him.
“A tad” he chuckles at me. “There is one thing I’ve been meaning to ask Henry. He said he hadn’t seen Michael since he was 14, until the day he retrieved Claudia from the Diamond Moon Pack. We later found out, Jade was in a relationship and he was going to see him when the two of them met. Why would he tell us that?”
“I asked him the same question” I reply to him. “He did go to see Michael and met Mum. They kept in touch and they would speak over the phone; but when they were to meet up; Michael was nowhere to be seen. Dianna, Dad and Mum would do things together without him. Why do you ask?”
“Curiosity got the better of me” he chuckles as I get up out of my chair. “I’ll get Jeffrey to do up a schedule for the trials. Tell Henry and Claudia we should all meet here in the morning.”
“Will do” I answer Oliver, before heading out the door.