Agrip sighed when he heard his son’s statement, knowing that there was no way he could talk his way out of this one even though his utmost desire was to find out who Esther and Derek’s mate was.
Well, his son had promised to talk about Esther, but what about Derek’s mate. He believed that was even more important.
His eyes met the gazes of Anthony and Derek and he could swear that he was seeing relief in them.
Those brats! He cussed, snorting louding before turning to his son.
“Let’s go then. Now that I think of it, I am very hungry.” He voiced out, deciding to deal with the two guys later. They were not dying anytime soon after all.
Jack nodded happily, before turning around to face Derek.
“We will be going now, Alpha. Have a nice evening, and send my regards to little Eva.” Jack mentioned, giving a slight bow to Derek, before walking out with his father out of the room, after Derek had acknowledged his bow with a nod.
But before they had entirely left the room, Agrip had turned around and had glared at the two boys which had caused the two, Derek and Anthony, to shiver both willfully and unwillfully.
“He gives me the creeps now. Is it because he just came from the mountains?” Anthony asked, rubbing his arms at intervals, his eyes still stuck to that path where Agrip and his son had just taken.
“Probably. But I think he has always been this fearful, whenever he chooses to be.” Derek replied, a small smile coating his lips.
“I see…” Anthony muttered, cocking his head as he remembered something. “While it is true that we had freed ourselves from the stronghold of his queries, we are actually, somehow, bereft in some way…”
“How so?” Derek asked, turning aside to look at an Anthony in deep thought.
“Well, we still don’t know the outcome of his journey to Ai, or what had really happened at the mounts of Egat. Who and who had captured him and why.” Anthony replied, sinking his fingers into his hair, tendering a soft touch to an itchy spot on his scalp.
“That’s right. But there is still tomorrow. Right now, I am just glad that he was back in time. What would have happened if he had been some hours late or a day late? What would have happened to my father? His son was right still, Agrip needed to rest, I heard from my father that mountains of Egat were very dangerous places especially at this time, but Agrip had insisted on going…” Derek mentioned, letting out a sigh deeply from his mouth.
“You are right. We do owe Agrip a lot. And come to think of it, he hadn’t come back with a car. I had tried mindlinking a friend of mine to check out his car and clean it up, but he had replied that Agrip didn’t come back with any. So how did he come back? On foot?”
“I… don’t… know.” Derek stuttered out, wondering how that was even possible. The distance from their pack to Ai was about a three to four days journey, or had Agrip run back in his wolf form?
He was getting confused now.
“Well… we can ask him that tomorrow. But for now, what are we going to do now? eat first and check out Emma’s place later or do we check out Emma’s place first?” Anthony asked, gazing at Derek deeply, Derek who seemed deep in thoughts.
“Let’s check out Emma now. If we don’t now, I don’t think that we might have the chance later tonight. I am thinking of calling for a short pack meeting tonight, you know, to reassure people and put some protective measures around.” Derek stated, fixing his hands in his pocket, his heart already increasing its tempo at the thought of seeing his little witch tonight.
For a weird reason, he reasoned out that he hadn’t heard Maru’s voice in a while. What was wrong?
Maru.
Maru!
He called, but there was no reply. It was like that period when he had lost his wolf temporarily, only that this time around, he could feel the presence of his wolf. It was just that it didn’t want to talk.
Don’t worry big mam. He thought. You are going to see her soon.
He was thinking that the reason Maru was this silent was because it held a grudge against him.
Well, that would fade away once he sets his eyes on Emma. Derek thought, starting to walk toward the door.
Behind him was an uneasy Anthony who for the life of him didn’t understand why he was suddenly feeling queasy and too sad. Was something bad about to happen? He thought, following Derek out of the room.
***
Clem saw Derek and Anthony walking towards the exit of the pack, and rushed toward them, sure that they were going to see Emma and apologise. And although, he felt bad for the sorry state of his father and then, his sister at the moment-for he wouldn’t deny that it would have pleased him if his sister had become the Luna of the pack; he still couldn’t afford to betray Derek or his future Luna.
His duty to Derek and the pack outweighed that that of his obligations to his family. And he wasn’t regretting that. He believed that whatever he was doing now, whatever path he had chosen now, was the right path. He wasn’t going to be greedy as his sister and mother, or disrespectful as his father. Someone in his family had to uphold the family’s good name and he volunteered to be the one.
“Hey, where are you guys going?” He asked as he got to Derek and Anthony.
“We are going to see Emma.” Anthony replied, watching the reactions on Clem’s face.
Although the latter was his brother’s beta, he still had cause to doubt his genuineness since the guy’s family were behaving like rebels already.
“Okay, that’s good. I will be following you guys then.” Clem replied, aware that his two friends, in the nearest future, would be waiting for him to prove his loyalty again. And although this hurt him a little bit, he understood their reasons for the matter, and decided never to let them down for any reason.