50. Decisions

Catherine's sharp eyes scrutinized the burly men inside the room. Her mate and other wolves, along with Iosif and Jared, were standing near her, discussing about the issue regarding these lycans. From the corner she found one of them giving her a lecherous gaze. The werewolf's one glare was enough to assert her dominance and make the lycan move his head down submissively.

Before being mated to an Alpha, she had lived a life of a pack's warrior. Simply brushing off any disrespect to her had never been her habit.

Catherine felt a warm hand on her shoulder. "Calm down Cat, let's not bring out the claws," Nicholas said with an amused smile.

After spending more than twenty years with his mate, the old Alpha had learned that this fierce woman was more than capable to rip out any vile eyes alone. Unlike his younger self, Nicholas now didn't turn into a barbarian, ready to tore apart the perverts ogling his mate, but rather proudly enjoyed the ferocity of his wife--who could do the task herself.

"It is sickening to think that Marley had to face this when she was trapped here." Catherine scowled at the lycans standing in front of her.

"Don't worry." Jared joined in. He was just behind them, so involuntary her words reached his ears. "I made sure none of them touched a single hair on her body."

"Now you, who was one of her abductors, will assure me of her safety." The she-wolf replied indignantly.

Jared bit back a growl. He was tired of always being labeled as one of the bad guys.

"Cat, don't." Nicholas reprimanded. They had moved on from that terrible incident after the knowledge of Odis's death, the one who was responsible for it. Nicholas didn't want to stir the past further as it would only divert their minds from more important matter at their hand.

Catherine, still scowling, listened to her mate.

Nicholas turned to face the agitated crowd of lycans. They all looked back at him in resentment, yet none of them dared to be very vocal about it. It was clear who was at advantage of the situation with hundreds of wolves behind him, ready to attack at his one command.

"I've come to know that most of you want to go back to your lives before you all were turned. Also, that you're even willing to fight us to achieve that." He began, his deep voice demanding everyone's attention. "Not a wise decision according to my judgement, seeing that all of yours strength has reduced significantly after Odis's death... But then again, it won't be wise either to keep you here against your wishes. We already have other things to take care of.

"So, here's my proposition to all of you." Every pair of eyes looked at him pensively. "Those who want to go, can go. We won't be holding you rogues hostage anymore. The whole process is simply wasting our resources and time."

His words resulted in husky murmurs of agreement. The lycans seemed relieved from the conclusion. Freedom was all they wanted.

"But," Nicholas continued, once again silencing every voice, "those who choose to stay with us, fight with us against knights will be welcomed in our pack. They will be treated as one of us." He watched his audience's changing expressions. "I give you till morning to decide. Make your decision wisely." With that, he slowly stepped away from the platform and walked out of room, followed by Catherine.

A barely visible smile appeared on Jared's lips as he saw conflicted faces of his companions. He had to give it to the old Alpha. The man had done it deftly. He knew the one thing that an exiled rogue wanted more than their freedom. A Pack, a place to belong.

********

"Dimitri is going to attack again. And very Soon," Kyle declared.

"And?" Oliver asked, raising his eyebrows. "We already know that."

"But where he is going to attack is for us to decide."

Eden, Marley, and a few older warriors were also in the room. The knight had hinted he wanted to share something important with them.

Marley nervously rubbed her thumbs against her fingers, and tried her hardest to calm her drumming heart. She didn't want to be here, fearing that her high nerves might be a telltale of the secrets which she was hiding. But Kyle was right: she was their Female Alpha, whether she wanted to be or not. Eden had been shielding her from her responsibilities for too long, but someday Marley had to step up to her position.

Eden looked at Kyle gesturing him to continue.

"Killing Odis was a big win for my brother-in-law. He was the only guy who was holding against him, and now after his death Dimitri can easily go after the oblivious wolves." Kyle explained. "But we can steer him according to our preference. We can make him go after the pack to which we want him to. This can be used as a pretty good strategy."

"How can you be so sure?" One of the warriors questioned suspiciously.

"Dimitri's first target is going to be the weaker packs, most likely the ones in northern region, near him and his battalion. Fighting against Odis has greatly affected his army's strength, so he'll probably attack human villages too, to restore his stock. Not a good news for those people.

"But if you guys are as benevolent as you claim to be, you might want to avoid these deaths. And here's where we can do something." Kyle paused and threw a quick glance at Marley, which was left unnoticed by others. "We can make Dimitri come to us, attack us, instead of the other packs. This will not only give us the advantage of striking him at his vulnerable state, but also let us save many innocents lives. But then again how prepared are we to take him is also a question? Death is either way."

*"Death is either way."* Kyle had said similar words to Marley. It was her who had made Kyle to reveal his plan to others, which till now only she knew about. This decision wasn't just hers to make, but everyone's.

However, they didn't need to know everything...

"You didn't explain how are we going to make him come to us?" Eden spoke, giving Kyle 'don't-mess-with-us' look.

"We can challenge him." Kyle answered, and Marley's fist tightened knowing he had just lied.

"A man who has lived on this earth for more than a century is going to fall for this pathetic trick," Alpha retorted.

"Oh c'mon, it's not that pathetic." Kyle whined playfully. "We have to make him think that his dream of taking over the world and his life is in immediate danger because of us. I'm sure Iosif can pull some strings to mess with his big brother's mind. You have no idea what my Snow is capable of."

"How is Iosif going to do that?"

"Let's leave that for Iosif to explain. He has spend decades with his brother to know the ways his mind works."

Marley was aware of how Iosif was going to plot this whole event. She'd be his bait to trap the knight king. He was going to lure Dimitri using her, webbing the lies to make him believe that his dead mate was alive. *She was going to be Selene.*

But it was better if her mate didn't know that. She had asked Kyle to leave this specific detail out.

"We are not confirming anything until I meet Iosif." Eden announced, and looked at others in the room. "But if we can make this work, I need to know what you all want. Are we ready to fight Dimitri head on and face the risks, or let him kill others?"

"Our territory's location provide us with many privileges which makes our pack strong." Markus, their trusted and elder warrior, spoke up. "It'll be a shame if we don't use what our mother nature has bestowed upon us to help others. It should be our duty to protect our fellow wolves. Also, if we let Dimitri kill them and humans, he's going to pose a bigger threat to us than he does now. I agree with Kyle. Let us strike that knight at his weakest."

Others expressed their agreements aloud. Eden too felt this was the right way to go.

"He's not going to be that weak," Kyle meekly commented. "Just be prepared."

"We will be prepared to kill him." The Alpha replied.

Marley didn't feel prepared. Standing beside her mate, she just hoped for this to be over soon with least damage done to others' lives.

******