Jake thought Alpha Wayne would be back already so he went into his quarters to fetch him for an urgent news. But since he wasn’t back yet, he was heading back out. However, he stopped when he heard the elevator coming up.
The elevator door opened and his eyes almost widened at how his friend and Alpha was holding unto Olive affectionately. They both looked roughened up with their tousled hair.
“Alpha,” Jake acknowledged him and bowed. They stopped walking.
“Beta, what is it?” Alpha Knight asked with a stern face. He wasn’t expecting anyone in his quarters at the moment.
“I…Well, we wanted to discuss something with you. The Inner Circle,” Jake answered, his gaze moving from Olive to Wayne.
“I thought I made it clear that I wanted this week to be free, Jake?”
“I know, but…it’s about Lord Lina,” Jake stated and Wayne froze. He stared at his Beta for a few seconds then relaxed a little.
“Any good news?”
“It’s good and bad news, Alpha.”
Wayne heaved a sigh and looked at Olive who was looking confused.
“I’m sorry, Olive, but it’s urgent business. Go change and wait for me. It’ll be over soon,” he apologized to her and released her.
“All right then. I’ll be indoors,” she said and took few steps away from him. She looked at Jake, forced a smile and nodded to him. He bowed his head in respect to her and she walked away across the hall.
Immediately, the two men walked briskly to the elevator. They both were silent as they rode to the third floor, just below the one they left. If Olive had not been there, they would have taken the secret passage.
As soon as they got out the elevator, they walked tactfully and entered a door which was always kept locked. Only the Inner Circle had the card to unlock it.
Behind the door was a large cellar of wine.
But that was not what the Alpha and his Beta were coming for. They walked past all the cells of exotic wine bottles and got to the empty back. Alpha Knight stood straight in front of a set of drawers and peered into it, the third drawer precisely.
A minute later, it beeped without showing a single sign that there was an eye scan technology system installed there.
A whole wine shelf slid away from it’s position like a gate with roller tires. It revealed a hallway, a dark and dry one. They both walked in and the entrance closed immediately. Few seconds later, Wayne was pushing the bare wall with one arm. It swung in as it was actually not a block wall but an entrance. Both he and Jake entered while the door moved back in place.
There was a circular table in the middle of the room they had just entered. It wasn’t a special room. It was a little dark with just one light bulb in the middle of the ceiling, directly above the table.
Five men were already sitting around the circular table and patiently waiting for their Alpha. Immediately they sensed his presence, they each stood up and bowed until he sat down on his chair. They all sat down and Jake sat by his right.
“The bad news first,” Wayne ordered with gritted teeth. This case was forming ‘hard to crack’. One of the men who looked older than Wayne cleared his throat. Actually, everyone at the table except Jake was older than Wayne. But were his most loyal allies in the whole of the country. Not everyone of them belonged to his pack, but they were loyal. He had saved some of their lives, or the lives of whom they loved. Therefore, they pledged their forever loyalty.
“She’s escaped,” Cyrus, the Alpha of Golden Dust Pack broke the news. They shared the northern border with Balendin and his daughter was only alive up to that moment because Alpha Knight had rescued her from the worst of rogues after he cried to him for help. He was the most loyal of them all because his daughter was all he had.
Alpha Knight’s jaw clenched as he laid back on his chair. So, she had escaped. That sly old witch!
“The good news?” he asked.
“She seems to have taken refuge with The Shaman of Kungu Temple. Since we know her location, we can get her back. However, it would be very hard. The Shaman is known for manipulating the brain. Our men might not make it out alive if he makes them fight against each other,” Alpha Cyrus conveyed.
“Hmm,” Wayne hummed in deep thoughts. His fingers were twinning in his hair as he stared at the space on the table before him.
“He can manipulate the brain, not the mind. It is the mind that can be hypnotized,” he said.
“But the body listens to the command of the brain. He could even make them move against themselves. Kill themselves,” Foncee interjected. He was a middle aged man, with a stubble beard and piercing blue eyes. He was a doctor, the personal doctor to the governor of California. Humans didn’t know he was older than them all.
“What do we do?” another member of the circle asked.
“We find out why he is helping her in the first place. Maybe we could give him something in exchange of her,” Jake suggested.
“I think she had known him right from time. Before she even put herself into this mess. He wouldn’t receive her so quickly if there were no prior arrangements or agreements. He is a very tricky man and hard to convince you see,” Alpha Cyrus cited.
“Lord…Lina,” Wayne drawled as he kept looking at that spot on the table, his hands playing with his hair slowly and his back resting on his chair.
“That sly woman. No wonder I felt different,” he said while talking to no one in particular.
He got on his feet.
“I will go to The Kungu Temple. Make the preparations, Beta. We leave tomorrow,” he announced and everyone gasped.
“But Alpha, this is a dangerous journey. It might take you forever to even convince The Shaman,” one of the men argued.
“Who said I am going to convince The Shaman? We meet again tomorrow morning so everyone should go and think things through,” Wayne said firmly that no one argued anymore. They all got up too and bowed to him as he walked out with Jake.
As they reached the wine cellar, Jake breathed in and looked at Wayne.
“You know this is an indefinite journey, right Alpha?”
“Yes, Jake. But I’m determined to go. I can’t let Lord Lina roam free again. Not after what she’s done and who she is,” Wayne replied with gritted teeth. He was seething with anger. That Lord Lina, she was a woman but gave herself the stance of a man.
She called herself a lord and did terrible things to the Alpha’s and even beyond the werewolf world. Wayne had managed to capture her after a bloody fight years ago into his Alpha Cell-a terrible prison that was known only to the Alpha and his most loyal men.
However, they began to realize that somehow, she was breaking the holds against her. Only the baddest criminals were put there because they would never escape, but Lina did. How? Was he getting weaker? Was it because of her escape his body was overreacting earlier?
Then suddenly, it struck his mind. Olive! He stopped walking immediately.
“My mate,” he pronounced heavily.
“You realize what I’m trying to say already. She just found you, now she’s on the verge of losing you to an indefinite journey,” Jake cited and Wayne felt his heart constrict.