After speaking, the man left the room. He and his colleague went away leaving the three in the house.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Lucius asked Michelle. “Was there need to involve them? You and I both know we don’t care about each other. All you wanted was the crown and you’ve got it. There is no need for us to have an intimate relationship or anything of the sort. What do you really want?”
Michelle smiled. “I want to see you miserable like I am. You can’t be happy parading your lover around and expect me to look the other side. Look here, we can either work on our relationship and try to find happiness with each other or we can both be miserable. I can let you be happy when I’m not. Given that this woman is your biggest source of happiness, I have to get rid of her. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how contented you have been since she returned.”
“Michelle, you have always been horrible to me, even before we were married. How do expect me to like you? I made a big mistake by marrying you.”
Michelle chuckled. “You did, and it was a win for me.”
Emma’s wound had healed so she stood up. “What about the man you cheated on Lucius with? If him seeing someone else, which he isn’t, is wrong, what about that? is it okay for you to sleep with other people.”
“What are you talking about, Emma?”
“I was only with that man because Lucius was not giving me the attention I needed as a newly married woman,” Michelle said, giving Emma a dirty look. “It’s his fault.” Michelle smiled. “Besides, I have been very careful to hide that so I don’t embarrass myself and the whole pack but you can’t help but show everyone that you care about her. The good thing no one else knows what I have done. No one will believe you two if you accuse me of anything. They will think you’re just pointing fingers at me to hide your own misdeeds.”
Emma smiled. “Him saving me from an evil woman like you is something that any sane person would have done. All he did was stop you from killing me. That doesn’t prove anything either. It’s your word against ours so I guess we stand at an equal footing. We can all deny this mess.”
Michelle laughed. “Oh you poor girl. So delusional. People will believe me over you.”
“I think you’ve forgotten what kind of person you are. Everyone thinks you’re a horrible person. They’d be stupid to believe your version of the story.”
Michelle continued to laugh. “I have other ways of making those old men rule in my favour. You better go and pack your things, Emma Greenfield because tomorrow won’t be a good day for you.”
Emma glanced at Lucius and left the room before he could say anything. When she got outside, she caught a whiff of an unknown scent and looked around but didn’t see anyone. Shrugging, she left the cottage. As she walked towards the main building, she savoured the sights around here. She felt sad, knowing that there was a possibility that she would never see them again after the next day.
She told Casey everything and wanted to pack her things and leave before she was banished but Casey stopped her.
“You can’t just give up like this,” Casey said. “We’ve come too far for you to just walk away from what might be the greatest love of your life. We are not going to let her win. If I have to use my powers to do it, I will.”
Emma shook her head. “No, I don’t want to do that. If I have to defeat Michelle, I want to do it fairly although I’m very sure she is going to play dirty. Pretty sure she’ll go and seduce one of the elders or something.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to wait for tomorrow and hope fate will favour you since you want to be the princess of peace,” Casey told her friend. “Anyway, let’s go and join the others outside. Maybe we’ll even get some dirt on Michelle.”
“You go. I want to just stay here.”
Emma was feeling down. A few hours back she had been feeling happy and contented but now she was back to being miserable. She was starting to realise that staying in the pack was not good for her mental health. Maybe leaving would be for the best. Lucius was already married and unless he annulled the marriage, being with him would continue to give her pain.
The next day, she was asked to go to the meeting room which was at the top floor of the pack house. The whole top floor was sealed off with magic so that no one could hear what was being talked about there. Most of the floor housed the alpha’s apartment but there were two rooms that could be used by the pack. The meeting room and a weapons storage room. Some of the weapons were stored downstairs but the storage room at the top only housed the most lethal and rare supernatural weapons. Only a few could access it.
A guard led Emma to the meeting room. Lucius and Michelle were there with some members of the elders’ council. Some came in after she was in. Michelle was playing with a pen and looking smug. Her calmness scared Emma. If Michelle was smiling like that, it probably meant she had some cards up her sleeve.
When everyone who needed to be there was seated, the elder who had spoken to them the day before stood up.
“Good morning everyone,” he began. “As you all know, we have gathered here to discuss the issues between our alpha and luna. One of the main issues seems to be the young woman here.”
Emma felt like a criminal when she was introduced like that. She studied the man’s face, hoping to figure out what was going in his mind but it gave nothing away. He had a blank expression.