Andre’s POV
I looked at Olivia with sad eyes. She pushed me away gently and rolled the other way, and I watched her body shake gently as she sobbed softly.
My heart shattered. I didn’t want to leave her like this. I reached out a hand to touch her, but she shrugged it away.
I sighed. I had my answer. I left the room and shut the door gently behind me. In the hallway, I gave a soft sigh. There was nothing I could do now. I had the let her heal by herself.
“Alpha? We are still waiting for you.”
Pierre poked his head out from a door that was two rooms away from Olivia.
I nodded and walked towards him. I had to do my duty. It was the only way that I could help Olivia. That bastard had to be crushed.
I walked into the room, and grim faces glanced at me as I assumed my position in the middle of the room, at the head of the table.
Sephora stood to my right, pale, and Pierre stood protectively next to her. I had never seen him so grim, either.
To my left was Gregory, one of the associates I had stationed here in Elvis Pine, to monitor things.
The atmosphere seemed to become thicker with tension with each passing second. The silence was begging to be shattered.
“Status report.”
Sephora stepped forward.
“Alpha, we were able to withdraw all our men from Jonas’ lair. I can’t say that we left unscathed. Several of our men have been injured; thankfully, none are dead. But they are all recuperating well.”
“I see.”
I was quiet for the moment.
I expected some retaliation from Jonas’ men, but I didn’t think any of them would be injured.
“How many injured people?” I asked while doing the numbers in my head.
“Twelve, Alpha. Team C had the most casualties.”
Twelve were injured by a guard of 40 men; twenty of them were my men. That was a thirty per cent loss. Bad odds for a small team, but we still had the advantage.
“How is Olivia doing?” Sephora asked gently.
Her eyes shimmered with concern, and her folded arms loosened. I was hesitant to speak of Olivia. Part of me still wanted to abandon the meeting, dash back into the room, wrap her in my arms, and kiss her until she stopped crying and was sleeping soundly in my embrace.
“Alpha?”
Sephora’s call pulled me from my daze. Now, everyone in the room was looking at me expectantly.
“She… she is fine, to say the least. It seems that the nurse that Sephora brought in knew what happened to her people. It is a turn of events in our favour, but Olivia is crushed.”
Sephora immediately lowered her head. Her fists clenched, and I could immediately smell anger oozing around her.
“Forgive me, Alpha. I… I should have done a thorough background check…”
“You don’t have to blame yourself, Sephora,” I said softly but firmly. “This is all in our favor. Now we know who the enemy is. It’s all there in black and white.”
I exhaled and lowered my head. Deep down, I had always felt there was something wrong with Jonas, too. I had even asked the men to do a background check. Even then, Jonas had been able to block the most information.
To a point, I was certain that other than the people who were involved, they had completely buried what happened to Olivia’s family.
“Jonas’ family killed Olivia’s family when she was a baby. She was supposed to be betrothed to him, but the family rejected him, and he killed them all in cold blood. That bastard, right now, still thinks that he has a claim on Olivia, which is why he is out to get her.”
“But it doesn’t make sense. He can’t be out to get her just because he was offered her at birth. Does her family have something that he can only get through marriage to her? That is when all of this can tie together.”
Pierre was leaning against the wall with his eyebrow furrowed as he thought hard. He had connected the dots almost perfectly.
“There is something,” I replied Pierre. Olivia’s family is a special breed of wolf.”
I unfolded my arms and stood upright.
“… As the nurse put it, the females in her family are able to control the desires and minds of other werewolves…”
“She can do that?”
Sephora was dumbfounded. Pierre and Gregory were silent and looked at each other in shock. I allowed the surprise to simmer in the room for a while. I was stunned as I heard it as well, but I was silent.
“… She can do that, and she can also empower her mate as well.”
I folded my hands, and my expression grew solemn.
“I actually thought that I was getting stronger, but I was syphoning from Olivia’s powers. I can’t help it but I am certain that I am not going to waste that power. We have to make a move…”
I unfolded my hands and slammed them on the table.
“… We are going to attack Jonas’ pack first. I won’t wait for them to make the first move.”
The mood of the room changed significantly. The silence was louder than before, and their eyes all glared at me as if I were mad.
“Alpha, I don’t think we should go through with that plan. We have Olivia, we know the truth, and I think that we should retreat. They can’t get Olivia while she is with you. We don’t even have the numbers to wage a full-scale war on them.”
“I’m sorry, but I agree with Gregory,” Pierre said. “We can’t afford a war at the moment. Our men are still healing up and I think we even stand a better chance of winning on our home turf with our allies by our side. We need Doran here, too. He is the Beta and thinks of Olivia. She needs to rest. A war would be too much excitement for her.”
I glared at Pierre. Olivia was my mate, and I knew what was best for her, but I couldn’t help the churning feeling in my stomach. Pierre was right. Olivia needed as much rest as she could get, but we couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
Was Jonas really going to back off? He had done so much to sneak around, be her friend, save her and even stay in my pack as a guest.
I couldn’t see him giving up just like that.
“Sephora? Any words?”
We all turned to her. Her hard eyes took in the room.
“As much as I would love to rain hell on the bastards that hurt the Luna, I am going to have to step back. We aren’t ready for a war, and I, too, am worried about Olivia’s health.”
I frowned slightly. It was three against one. Why didn’t they see the tactical advantage?
“I disagree with all of you. We are going to attack. Can’t you see that we can’t afford the wait? Jonas and his family think we have fled. And need I remind you, they only caught a glimpse of our men. They have no idea of our true number. We still have the element of surprise, and I think that it is best that we make judicious use of it.”
The frowns in the room persisted but were not as disapproving as before. I was slowly reeling them in.
“Jonas is still in disarray from our ambush to rescue Olivia. I am certain that there are casualties on his side as well. Sephora?”
“Yes. A handful of his men were very injured. We refrained from actively killing them.”
Sephora gave the report with slight pride in her voice. I could tell that she was ruminating over the number of men she had put down. Pierre gazed at her with admiration.
“Alright. So we know that our men are much more skilled and more capable. We just need to make the plan and set it in motion. Gregory…”
He stood at immediate attention and looked at me with all seriousness.
“… how much Intel have you gathered on the security detail in Elvis Pine? How many allies do they have?”
He cleared his throat.
“Not many, Alpha. They seem to have close ties with the other Royal families, but their relationship with them is variable. They go on and off.”
I felt a smirk of pride crossed my face. They had no idea how to run a pack, and I was going to capitalise on that…”
“Alpha!”
The door was forced open, and a guard rushed inside. We all fell silent and glowered at him. He immediately retraced his steps and apologised.
“Forgive my intrusion. Beta Doran is…”
He didn’t even finish his statement when Doran strode into the room. He had a smile on his face and a small box in his hands.
“Am I interrupting a party that I wasn’t invited to?”
I couldn’t help but smirk. I had missed his humour.
He placed the box on the table, and I looked at it suspiciously.
“Don’t look at it like that, Andre. You asked for more shots to be brought for Olivia. Remember?”
It all came back to me. I had been so busy that I had forgotten to contact the research institute.
Doran, however, didn’t leave and stood by my side with his eyes taking in the room.
“Gregory? Been a while.”
“Beta Doran. Good morning.”
“You have always been so formal. Nice to see you again. So”
He turned to me and clasped his hands together.
“What are we doing here? Planning a party?”
I rolled my eyes.
“We have a war ahead. We are planning it.”
A smile kept on his face and his eyes shimmered. He looked full of glee. He rolled up his sleeves to show his muscular arms and pulled a chair close and sat down.
“It’s been a while since I had a good tussle. So, what’s the plan?”