Drake’s POV
“And you are a freaky-looking doll.”
“Not funny,” she retorted.
I blinked an eye. “I never intended it to be funny in the first place,” I said, trying to control my smile so it wouldn’t seem like I was mocking her.
Her heart became restless. I could feel it. I knew she was struggling to act normal, as though she was happy but deep down, it was the opposite. Anytime she feels restless, I feel restless too. If she feels unhappy, I feel the same way too. Blame the mate bond, not me. The mate bond is like a curse I will have to leave with for the rest of my life.
Did I just say a curse?
Well, for me, that was the only acceptable word out there for it. if you leave it up to me, I would say the mate bond is a blessing. It was a burden I would gladly love to bear. If only it could help me to keep Thelma away from hurting then I see no harm in the curse.
The absence of her father had struck her in the innermost part of her heart but that doesn’t mean it will go unnoticed. When I said to her that something must be done about it, I meant every word in that statement. I wasn’t going to sit at the fence and do nothing about it. I just had to calm her down so she wouldn’t overreact or make things worse.
Someone tapped me. “Alpha,” Simon said. “You have been summoned to the elevated chair.”
I winced. My heart almost skipped. I had never been honoured to such an extent. And it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have my Luna by my side. The elevated chair is not a place that is meant for single Alphas no matter how strong your pack is. Before I stood up from my chair, I looked at Thelma. She smiled and nodded gently at me. I caressed her palm, stood up, and then made my way to the empty seat waiting for me on the stage. I sat very close to Rudolph who should be representing his Alpha. As a Beta, he shouldn’t be there in the first place.
“I wonder how many years you have dreamt of making it to this stage behind the billionaire’s back,” I said smiling cheekily. “It must have been very exhausting.”
“Excuse me,” he said. “Is it me you speak of young boy? And I don’t understand the need for the term a billionaire in your statement. It makes no sense.”
I pouted my lips, nodding. “Touche,” I said, touching my chest. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“And you probably would never see it coming,” he said. “Don’t assume you have the right to disrespect your elders because you have been promoted.”
“Oh sorry sir that I pinched your ego,” I said. “I never had the intention to do such a thing.” I bowed my head, hiding a smile. I had to quickly change the subject or at least deviate from moving into a topic that would let Rudolph know that I suspect him of foul play. “I am curious. Why is the billionaire not here?”
He didn’t answer my question immediately. The MC might have said something that made Rudolph and everyone in the hall laugh. I didn’t know what that was. I didn’t pay close attention anyway. “Come again son,” Rudolph said.
“I am curious to know why the Alpha isn’t here.”
Rudolph smirked. “I don’t see why anything that concerns our pack should bother you,” he said.
I pouted my lips, nodding. “Of course, it shouldn’t,” I said. “But hey, his daughter is my mate so it is quite understandable if I try to understand why her father isn’t here.”
“Listen, you son of a-” Rudolph was interrupted by the MC.
“Mr. Rudolph,” the MC said, smiling in between a white set of teeth. “You represent one of the highest governing members of this convention and we demand that you contribute to the speech on behalf of the great Octavian Alpha.”
Rudolph looked at the guy and smiled. He looked back at me and grimaced but quickly straightened up his face, pretending as though all was well. He grabbed the mic and turned to the crowd. His appearance was super unique. It made me nurse the feeling that I should have gone the extra mile to seek a professional’s help so that I will attain a general improvement in my dress sense. Rudolph introduced himself and gave reasons why the Alpha wasn’t readily available and why he had replaced him. His excuse to me wasn’t viable enough.
Rudolph began to make his speech but I only started to listen when he said, “But since I am the Alpha’s ayudante, I think I deserve the right to be here.” The whole place remained silent. Perhaps, nobody understood what he meant by ayudante. I was curious to know too. As though he knew I was curious, he went far to explain it. “Don’t be carried away by fear gents,” he said, laughing. For the few seconds he spent laughing, the scars on his face stretched out beautifully as though it was designed to be there. “I know you all need an explanation. Ayudante is a Spanish word for an assistant.” The hall busted out in laughter. Rudolph must a good stage manager, I thought. An assistant to Alpha Richards? Super interesting. The question is, who made him an assistant? If there had been more than one mic available, I would have asked him the question openly. But there was only one mic so it suggests that anyone who wants to speak must surely wait for the other to finish. It wasn’t as though even if I talk without the Mic I wouldn’t be heard. But to avoid being rude and to observe due process, I had to wait for my turn to speak. Awful.
Rudolph spoke at a length. From a note he drew from his pocket, he read out to the crowd how Alpha Richards loathed working with the vampires and how much he frowned at such unheard practices that had recently taken a huge spike in the werewolf community. Honestly, Rudolph made a nice speech and with each statement he started and finished, the crowd must surely have a reason to stretch their jaws. He spoke eloquently and it spiked only positive reactions among a series of nods and applause from almost everyone but me and to a greater extent, Thelma. I needn’t be told that she was angry at the moment and unsatisfied with whatever it was Rudolph thought he had going on.
I know snitches when I see one. They are as cautious and sneaky as a cobra. They move stealthily in what they do and this makes them super dangerous. This was exactly who I see in Rudolph. He definitely had a red skeleton in his cupboard. I will go to any length to unravel that thing he thinks he was hiding from us. He might succeed in deceiving the crowd with his charming speech but not me. I won’t easily be deceived. No.
“Alpha Drake,” the Mc said. “This is your first time being in this elevated chair. What would you say about it?”
I looked around unsatisfactorily. “It feels good.”
“Just good?” The MC asked. I could feel the unpleasant tone in his sound of voice. He sounded more like he was disappointed by my affirmation.
‘Mhh hmm.” I nodded.
Everywhere was calm, noiseless. All prying eyes were on me, glaring. Someone began to clap amid the grave silence in the auditorium. It cut the attention I had drawn to myself into two. “We shouldn’t expect more from someone who is inexperienced and knows close to nothing about all the nitty-gritty in the convention ground,” Rudolph said after he stopped clapping alone.
“I suppose you are correct, comrade,” the mc told Rudolph. “So Alpha, do you have anything to say about the vampire-werewolf relationship saga going on?”
“A lot.”
The MC tilted his head. “I’m impressed. We will like to hear what you have to say.” He handed over the mic to me. I took it and stood up.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said. “My name is Drake, Alpha of the Blood Moon pack. Good evening all.” I took a second to swallow my spit. “I feel delighted to be all in your midst today as a special of honour. There are beautiful faces I am seeing for the first time here. And to that beautiful lady over there, Thelma, who happened to be my Luna, I also want to welcome you to the convention since it is your first time as well.” I smiled at Thelma where she was, everyone looked at her. I knew she felt honoured even though I didn’t ask for her permission. “My team and I made some shocking discovery recently about this whole issue of our kinds working with vampires and I would say that to a big extent, it is true. There are some of our members who are even present here that are working underground for these dead and cursed creatures. Sadly, they have penetrated us all more than we think. In fact, it is even possible that some of them are very close as I speak. You all should know that there is nothing we will say here that will remain a secret.” Murmuring erupted from every corner, some arguing against what I said while some still trying to find out how I knew. I wouldn’t answer them of course. “There’s no need for the rowdy sessions ladies and gentlemen. Most of you all know me, I don’t speak of what I am not sure of. With what I am seeing today, we have not even come close to solving half of the problem. We are too far from solving the equation and might not get the problem balanced if we don’t find an airtight solution for it.”
The mc regarded me pensively as if he was seeing me for the first time. There were lots of questions hidden in his gaze. “So what do you suggest? What do you think is the solution?” he asked quietly as though he didn’t want other people to hear him. “You have only succeeded in telling us what the problems are.”
I removed the mic from my mouth and replied in the same quiet tone, “I wish I knew.” Even if I knew, I wasn’t going to tell him. There was absolutely no way I would know if he was working with the vampires or not. Besides, the auditorium was too public a place to dish out answers that important. I would need that information to defend my own pack so why would I give it out all for free? Yes, call me selfish. I didn’t know who to trust. I didn’t know who was listening. I didn’t know who was watching. But I only knew one thing; how to keep my mouth shut.
The mc guy succeeded in delving deeper into the vampire talk for a few more considerable minutes. But I didn’t say much after that and so did Rudolph. I noticed that he was being careful and so was I. The big talks came to an end, so it was party time.