Thelma’s POV:
Drake stood up and raised his right index finger at us, an ‘excuse me gesture.’ He opened the door, held it for about ten seconds, and then the Prefect walked in graciously into the room.
She had allowed her hair to grow taller at the back, almost crossing her neck this time but had maintained the short hair she had always kept at the front. The prefectural long dress she wore covered all through to her feet in all shades of red- including but not limited to her feet.
Fine stitches of roses embedded the upper part of the long beautiful gown in a definite fashion. The gown was tight at the hip but after that, it widespread until it touched the floor- giving a mental image that makes the dress look as though it was a semi-wedding gown.
Cecily looked at me, smiled, and inclined her head in a gentle bow. “Honoured Luna,” she said. “Surprised to see you not crying this time.” I knew she was teasing me.
I almost giggled. “Not funny,” I said, smiling.
She smiled back. I loved her smile. She seldom smiles anyway so I always liked it when I see her smiling. She turned to my father and bowed her head again. “The great Alpha of the Octavian moon pack, the pride of the northern hemisphere, the wolf of the great Phoenix,” she said. “It is a great honour to have you in our home.”
My father brushed a quick laugh. “All these for me? These accolades are quite too underserving for me honestly,” he said. “It’s been way too long old friend.”
“Indeed,” she said, raising her head. “How are your wounds?”
My father looked at himself, his scars. “They will heal,” he said, lifting his head. “I heal fast after all.” He giggled.
She nodded. “Uhm, I would like to move straight to the point. I pray you all to forgive me for being less entertaining.”
“Forgiven,” Drake muttered immediately as though he had been impatiently waiting for her to say the words. All eyes shifted at him but he stared at the ceiling instead of looking into our faces.
Cecily cleared her throat. “Weeks before you were brought here, we made some findings of some secret things happening in the pack and perhaps beyond and they weren’t good,” she said. She put one hand at her back and then folded the right one and hung it on her stomach. “Your daughter was attacked here weeks ago and was poisoned.”
My father flinched, looking at me nervously immediately after he heard what the Prefect said. He didn’t say a word. “She was poisoned with a vampire’s venom but luckily for her, she survived it and made it out unscathed. This was exactly where the mystery comes into play. Though the woman that poisoned her didn’t make it out alive but we have strong reasons to believe that she had people she was working with that may still be in this pack, hiding within the blanket or perhaps outside our pack. This called for us to be discreet and be very careful since we didn’t know who to trust yet.” She swallowed her spit and then continued, “the whole thing about the vampire stuff was shrouded in great secrecy and to me, I believed it had eaten deep into our packs and would soon grow to threaten our existence. When I saw your wound here yesterday night, I knew that something of a similar occurrence had happened to you and if it will please you, I would want you to tell us your experience with these goons. Why they attacked you, how they attacked, what prompted their action, and who their primary targets are. This information would be very vital for us if we really want to make hay before the sun shines.”
Father nodded. “You have spoken well, Cecily. If I had been a good observer like you, I don’t think things would have gotten to this level of self-destructing.” He turned to Drake. “Alpha Drake, you are so lucky to have this kind of devoted fellow in your pack.” He gasped, scrubbing both hands on his face. “Few weeks ago, I had my suspicions that there are quite a lot of werewolves working with vampires. Most of them were paid a huge sum of money and this had made them keep their heads buried in the mud. An unanimous letter was sent to me a few days ago seeking out for my due cooperation with the vampires. There was a promise of a handsome reward too. It was mouthwatering and it would have been very difficult to resist if I had been a hungry type. Unfortunately, I am not. I am a self-made billionaire so I had no interest in buying their idea,” he said and took a long breath. “When I noticed that things had escalated, I called my Beta, Rudolph, and explained to him what I saw in the letter, I didn’t know that he had been compromised. I told him that on the day of the convention, I would throw it open on the table so that everyone would be aware of what was going on. But before I could do that, I got arrested in my own house and was made a prisoner. So, yes, I was aware that some were working with the vampires but I never had the opportunity to say it to the public of the wolves.”
“What about other guards in the packhouse? Why didn’t they fight to save you when they knew that you were in trouble?” I asked.
My father giggled. “Save me?” he said. “Some of them couldn’t even save themselves when the vampires came. Rudolph made sure he eliminated those he perceived to be highly loyal to me and worked with the ones he could deceive and put under his control. So there are non of them alive to save me, my daughter.”
I swallowed down, I became angrier. My only wish at the moment was just to get hold of Mr. Rudolph and destroy him, make him pay. “I think you have been able to explain how they attacked you,” the Prefect said. “Now, we need you to tell us who their primary targets are, the reasons for their actions, and what they intend to gain from this dreadful act.” Cecily was still standing on her feet.
“Their primary targets are Alpha werewolves. As you all may know, once you are an Alpha, your responsibilities and your priorities change forever. Everything about you changes and a new creature would be reborn. There is this aura, energy around every Alpha werewolves that these vampires had learnt to tap from. They somehow believe that this gives them a special power. This power could help them do things differently, move faster, stronger, and even walk under the sun. I don’t understand the full mechanics but I was made a specimen in my own house and I had seen how this works,” father said.
Cecily frowned. “Is this true? Does it really work?”
“Of course, it does,” he said. “It makes them a whole lot stronger and that is why they wish to have some cooperation with some Alpha werewolves and then make the rest their giant blood donors. It does make them resist the effects the sun has on their skins. With the Alpha types of blood, they would be able to move in daylight without much hassle which presents a bigger problem.”
“Why would they choose to work with some Alpha werewolves leaving others behind? Why wouldn’t they just catch as many Alpha werewolves as they can and kill the rest?” Drake asked.
“It wouldn’t be entirely possible. For them to succeed, they would need to work with some of us because if they don’t, they will surely fail. To defeat an enemy easily, you need to find a snitch around him,” he said. “Heard of the story of Judas Iscariot?”
“Makes more sense now,” Drake agreed, nodding. “Iscariot was a pretty badass money lover. Yes, I know his story.”
“Good. Basically, we are their targets and as far as I know, they have wedged war on us and we don’t need to sleep on it. If we dare allow this to continue without doing something about it, then I am afraid, our prosperity would remain bleak.”
Cecily nodded. “I think I have been able to connect some missing dots,” she said.
“What do you think we should do then?” Drake asked.
“I think we will need to start a war,” she said.
“A war?” Drake and I echoed together.
“Yes. We will take the war to the Octavian moon pack and do all we can to make sure that we will catch Rudolph alive,” she said.
My father nodded. “I agree with you,” he said. “Including that lady vampire that stole my blood. She sure knows more than a lot and possibly more than Rudolph.”
Cecily turned to Alpha Drake. “Alpha, what do you have to say?”
Drake kept quiet. Cecily waited for him to say the word. Of course, only he could give the orders. Fighting with my father’s pack would surely bring some devastating consequences to our pack. It could be an arduous task at such a perilous time as this- when they had already gained the support of the vampires.
Drake breathed; long and slowly. “This is pretty fucking bad,” he said. “But sometimes, the best form of defense would be a massive attack. In this case, I agree with you. We fight.”
“Fight?” I bemoaned. “No! I don’t think we need to fight at this time. At least, not until we are sure of what we are fighting against.”
My father shook his head. “That’s not the way forward, Muppet.”
“Don’t call me that, please.” I became angry. An anger I think was directed more at myself.
He sighed. “I am sorry my daughter,” he said. “But the Alpha is right. We need to make a move before they start making one. We can’t stay in the water and let the water drown us first. We need to swim.”
“The Alpha is right,” Cecily opined. “Luna now is not the time to think of the consequences of our actions. We need to capture these guys alive. They are the only ones who have the clue to the whole problem we are facing. The longer we wait, the more time they have to think.”
Of course, I knew all these already. I just didn’t understand myself. I wasn’t sure if I was just scared or if I was just being skeptical. An action of such magnitude and weight should not be rushed, or else we make an unforgiving mistake. But I was sure the Prefect knows this, my father too, even the Alpha. Why was I finding it difficult to agree with all of them? I wondered what was wrong.
Drake stood up from his chair and approached me. He looked into my eyes. I winced out of fear. I couldn’t handle his gaze. He touched my cheek and drew my head so I would look at him. “Anything you decide, I decide. If you truly do not want us to go, then we won’t,” he said softly. “What do you say?”
I avoided my father’s gaze but accidentally ran a glance at Cecily. She had weariness written all over her. If Drake needed my approval, it means he had respect for my decision. It wasn’t like he couldn’t do it anyway without me. “Okay,” I said, nodding. “We fight.”
Drake smiled and turned to face my father and the Prefect. “We fight. And we hit them hard.”