22.

-HIM-

Her taste lingered on my tongue as I drove to the office. Although I was more and more tempted to go back and just have my way with her. Today, I was almost on the edge. She had done the most unspeakable thing - she touched my horns.

That way, unknowingly she had acknowledged my beast. My urges were now stronger than ever and the only way they would be satisfied was by getting her- which I wasn’t supposed to do. I was slowly starting to understand that this wasn’t as easy as I had thought it to be.

After all, she was my Czira and it was natural for me to feel the pull towards her, to gravitate to her. This was getting harder for me day by day. I couldn’t start to wonder how much I’d have to fight with myself and my beast throughout my stay here.

It didn’t take me long to reach the office today. Everyone from my unit was already there, doing their work.

“What’s up today, Roderigo?” I asked the minotaur who was in charge of collecting all the updates.

“Tim’s here to meet you today,” He reminded me while nodding towards the seating area just outside our working space.

“I’ll talk to him then,” I said but Roderigo stopped me midway and added, “Tim was brought someone else with him,”

“Who?” I arched my eyebrow.

“Commander Deviller,” As soon as that name crawled out of Rodrigo’s lips, I fought hard not to let a deep frown climb on my face. I was okay with meeting Tim today but I didn’t think I was prepared to face that Lycan today.

“Where’s he?” I asked Roderigo while eyeing the seating area where Tim was supposedly waiting for me.

“He’s currently picking Valter’s brains,” Roderigo informed me and I took a sigh of relief but it didn’t last long when he added, “Although he said he wants to have a word with you,”

“Why?” This time, I couldn’t hold back my frown. Roderigo shrugged before telling me, “You should see Tim first. He has been waiting for you for quite long,”

I nodded and walked towards the seating area where Tim was waiting. As soon as I entered the room, my eyes spotted a man dressed in an old fashioned suit. He had hooded eyes and slick back hair that was combed back to expose his slightly big forehead.

He stood up upon seeing me and bowed lightly, “Strategos Vittori,”

“Archseer Tim,” I greeted him back.

“I have been waiting,” Tim spoke very smoothly. Sophistication was laced in each of his words with a hint of an unknown accent. It sometimes made me wonder from which era he belonged to. Even though he looked somewhat younger than me, I knew that he had seen more years than all of the rings in my horns put together.

“Yes, Roderigo informed me about that,” I stated and he nodded lightly.

“I came to see you yesterday but you weren’t here,” He told me.

“Yes, I am aware of that as well. So, what brought you here?” I asked him while taking a seat beside him. He gave me a prolonged stare before speaking, “So how’s everything going on your side, Strategos Vittori? So far, the lycans are doing all that they could to get to the new covens,”

“Yeah, we are trying to gather as much information on our side. We have come to know about this Magister who seems to be behind all this,” I told him. His face lit up with interest as he asked me, “Is there any possibility that you’re talking about Magister Quincey? One of the first children of the dark?”

I stared at Tim, surprised at his knowledge but then I had to remind myself that Tim was a seer, an Archseer, to be precise. He probably knew a lot more than we could learn in one lifetime.

“Yes, we doubt that this Magister is the one you speak about,” I confirmed.

“Commander George’s mate was targeted last week, I suppose this news has been delivered to you already,”

“Yes, I am very much aware of that,” I nodded.

“Commander Deviller was there at the time of the attack. They took his blood,” Tim’s words sent a shiver down my spine. I knew what use they would put it to.

“Apart from hunting their covens, we can try to find out how they’re locating their mates. If we somehow manage to reach to their mates before the vampires then it would be far better plus, it would be a win-win situation,” I offered and Tim nodded in understanding.

“The notion of which you speak of has already been purposed in the lycan council. Their healers and alchemists are working on this together,”

“And?” I asked, “Have they been able to come up with something?” My question was answered by the disappointment decorating on Tim’s face.

“But they don’t seem to give up very soon. We must also be adamant in our ways to locate the covers and get to the Magister of whom you speak of,”

“For sure,” I nodded, sensing that our conversation has reached its end.

“I’ll meet you later then,” I said while I rose from my seat. Tim did the same but instead of bidding me goodbye he spoke, “Strategos Vittori,”

“Yes, Archseer,” I turned to him. A small smile climbed on his lips before he asked me, “I also intended to ask if everything is progressing in the right path in your personal life?” I didn’t miss that knowing look that decorated his face and how his hooded eyes blazed with confidence.

“Yes, why?” As soon as those words rolled off my tongue, I was reminded of my situation with Anna.

“That’s good news but I’d like to advise you to act with caution and put your reasoning to great use in the times of uncertainty because you’ll find yourself there soon,”

“Can you be more specific?” I found myself turning to him fully and asking him grimly. At this, the tips of his lips tugged up and he answered, “Strategos Vittori, I am a seer. My function is to see things, not tell them. My hands are bound by the influence of fate. All I am allowed to do is sit back and watch. I am only allowed to warn you of the danger. It’s your responsibility to be aware and find the direction it’s going to greet you from,”

With that, he left. Even though he hadn’t spoken about it, I knew it had to do something with my situation with Anna. It was my gut feeling.

I went back into the working area where Roderigo was already waiting for me.

“Commander Deviller wants to see you,” He told me before directing me to the next floor. I ground my teeth as soon as I spotted the familiar lycan through the glass door even before walking into the office area he was waiting in.

His electric blue eyes instantly found my grey ones as soon as I entered the place. He was sitting on a chair, lazily sipping from a coffee cup.

“So, we met again,” He spoke first after keeping the cup away. I walked inside and sat a couple of seats away from him.

“Unfortunately,” I nodded. The corner of his lips tugged up at this before he said, “Your friend already wasted a lot of my time. I’ll make this quick,” He said.

“I am sure it was the other way round but go ahead,” I shrugged.

“I assume you’re aware of our raid on this coven in the north coast, around a couple of months ago,” He started and I nodded, “Yes, I have read the reports about that,”

“Well, yes… I am here to talk about that,” Grimness climbed on his face as he said that. This took me by surprise but I was more surprised when he added, “The reports we sent you about that, well, those weren’t the full reports,”

His blue eyes burned into me while the air around us buzzed with tension. I clenched my fists as soon as the realization dawned upon me. He noticed it because he looked smugger as he added, “We found a hell lot of things there and those were related to your kind, of course. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have reached out to you. We aren’t that sort of fools,”

“What are you keeping from us?” I gritted at him while my eyes burned with rage. At this, he lightly chuckled, “You have no right to act like that when you have been brushing many things under the rug from the beginning,”

I instantly knew what he was talking about and he wasn’t entirely wrong but I wasn’t going to just agree with him upfront. I schooled my features and asked him instead, “What else did you find that coven?”

Javier gave me a hard stare. The smirk previously playing on his lips was gone. Maintaining the eye contact, he rose from his seat, “Watch out for your cziras. They might be disappearing soon,”

His words rattled my soul while I watched him walk away.

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