4-MATTERS ARISING

BLAISE

    I yanked my jacket away from me as I entered my study. I do not know what came over me, and I do not understand why I speared the Rogue that her brother killed my Luna. I had been filled with so much wrath that I never thought of a second chance, but what have I gone and done?

   The worst of it all was that she was my mate. How could the moon goddess make her my mate? Out of all the women, and after all these years, she chose to give me my supposed enemy as a mate. I yanked at my tie, too, and sat down. Not a minute longer, Agatha barged into my study, giving me a disapproving look. Her expression was a definition of disappointment. Slim nose upturned, lips twitching, and arms folded across her chest. She was the only one who dared barge in on me like that, especially when I was this mad and confused. Knowing what she was about to say, I raised my hand, stopping her.

      "I do not want to hear it."

  But Agatha has a reputation for being disobedient. She knew I was not in the mood to speak about what just happened a few minutes ago at the gallows; nevertheless, she said her mind.

      "What did you just do? Do not tell me you have become spineless just because you got up from a coma?"

      "Agatha, the last thing I need right now is your wide mouth. I won't spare you."

  She let out a derisive chuckle. "You won't spare me, but your hands shook, and your sword fell from your hands when you were confronted by the little task of executing a worthless rogue?" The glare I sent her did nothing to falter her steady gaze on me. "What was that preposterous verdict you gave out there?"

      "I do not need to explain myself to you, Agatha. I have a mind of my own, and I am the Alpha of this pack; I do what I want."

      "Is there something you are not telling me, Blaise?" She narrowed her eyes and came closer to my desk. "Do you want this pack to lose respect for this family? The old you will not spare that low life and—"

      "She is not even the culprit here!" I yelled, shooting up from my seat and banging my fists on the oak table, making Agatha flinch a little. But she recovered immediately.

      "Do not tell me—" A little chuckle. "You are not making excuses for her, are you?"

      "I will not let you question me anymore, Agatha."

      "But—"

      "I am your Alpha, and I ask you to leave right now." My voice was guttural, my eyes dark with fury, my hands balled into fists. Agatha's defiance faltered; she blinked severally and released her folded arm. "Now, leave."

    She finally lowered her gaze and turned to leave just as a slight knock came on my study door. Leo peeped in before coming in. On her way out, Agatha brushed shoulders with Leo and did not apologise. Leo stared after her until she left the door and then turned back to me.

      "What do you want?" I demanded, not looking at him.

      "She seems upset," Leo observed and walked up to my desk, taking one of the two seats across from me. "I came to deliver what you asked for." He placed the files he was holding on the desk. "These are the accounts of everything that happened in the pack for the past two years. We have captured more productive rogues over the years." He took out a sheet with names on it and handed it to me. "The Black fur pack are still hellbent on taking the bridge as theirs. Alpha Drax Huxley has sung us the songs of war if we do not give up the boundary lands."

    "What nonsense," I flared. "Who is Drax?" 

    Drax was no match for me in battle or affluence. His Pack and mine were perpetual enemies. We had fought for those boundary lands for years. My father fought them off the lands and claimed them as ours. Now Drax wants it back. That means he is asking for another war.

      "What are the warriors of Crescent Hill Pack doing? Have you all forgotten your responsibilities?"

     "No, Alpha. We fought Drax away from it, but he seemed to be getting help from somewhere."

  

   My brows furrowed deeply, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Who is helping him?"

    "We are not certain yet, but a rogue bandit is rising against packs." He handed me the files.

   I took the files from him, read through the next case, and looked at some of the gruesome pictures attached to it. My eyes scanned each word written down on it.

       "Fuck," I hissed, tossing the file onto my desk and rubbing my temple. The file detailed a gruesome kidnapping of a young Omega girl that happened in the last two weeks.

      The girl was found beaten and mangled in a back alley, crumpled behind a huge tree close to the disputed lands. Her face was scratched so badly that she was almost unidentifiable. This had Drax written all over it, but I know he does not have the guts. Something was giving him the courage and impetus to challenge my pack, maybe because I had not been around. But there was an unsettling feeling that he was too close for comfort.

      "This is his warning to us. We have to get a handle on this. He is a loose cannon, Alpha Blaise."

      "And the rising rogue bandits?" I asked.

  Leo handed me another file. "This is the hardest to document because they are anonymous and are surprisingly strong. They raided some smaller packs a few weeks ago and captured their Alphas."

     "How many packs were raided, and how many Alphas were captured?"

      "Four packs; all their Alphas were captured." He pointed at the piece that contained the names of the packs and the names of the Alphas.

    It was ridiculous. We were the biggest pack, and those smaller packs were our allies. They have fought alongside us in wars and supported us in our decisions. I found a pattern and a message in all of it. It still had Drax written on it. He was telling me that he was coming for me.

     I let out a long sigh. "What about the family of the Omega?"

      "They are grieving. That is not as important as the—"

     "Leo. Omegas are part of the pack; even though they are stigmatised, they are still people, and that stigma should not be brought up in their tragic moment."

  Leo nodded slowly in understanding before replying. "Yes, Alpha."

     "Arrange for a meeting with the Omega clan, along with some condolence gifts. This time, it was an Omega. What if it happens to Agatha or any of the she-wolves that are dear? Drax will pay for everything."

     "Alpha, the pack raiding is not Drax's doing. That I am sure of."

   Overturning the files so I would not see those awful pictures anymore, I stared at my Beta. What do you mean by that?"

      "This is much more complicated and neatly executed to be Drax. Drax is not this smart. Moreover, some of the survivors are here in this pack, and from what they explained, Drax did not do it."

      I gave him a levelling look, trying to make his words make sense. If Drax was not involved in the raiding, then who was? The news of a rising rogue bandit unsettled me. I got rid of rogue bandits before my accident. I made sure I beheaded their leader myself. Who had the guts to start another bandit group after what was done to the last ones?

     "Gather the Wolf Council for a meeting in ten minutes."

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LILA

     No one was as surprised as I was when Alpha Blaise spared me and made me his sex slave instead. Death was a better penalty for me because it was over my dead body that I would let him touch me, not to talk of loading his seed inside me. I can never defy my Nana and my brother's memories.

     Those deep brown eyes still stared into mine as the guards led me back into the cells. Even if it were moments ago when our eyes met, I could still feel their scorch on my soul. They burned with contempt and something else—something I could not put my hands on. I should be frightened because merely looking at him stirred something unknown in me.

    Alpha Blaise was nothing less than my expectations. When I saw him at the gallows, my heart had pounded so loudly in my ears that every other sound became distant, and we were the only ones standing there. Something I had never felt before pooled low in my belly and tightened. His cane did nothing to dent his superior and intimidating demeanour.

    As we approached the prison cells, the guards in charge unlocked the heavy metal lock and pushed the gates inward, letting us pass. There were no longer chains around my neck, but my neck still felt like chains were wound around it, and it ached from wearing heavy chains around it for years; even my spine throbbed. Curious whispers wafted from the cells as we walked down the alley and slowly turned into audible chatter, which soon erupted into a joyous cheer. They all thought I was dead by now, and even though staying alive was not my happiest adjustment at the moment, I was glad to see the look of defeat on Patrick's face. I stared him in the eyes, the corner of my lip twitching in a smirk.

  

      "Quiet!" he yelled, and an ice-cold silence swept through the cells. "Put her back in her cell."

     My prison door was opened, and I was shoved back into it. The noise erupted again as the guards locked my cell and walked away. The inmates could not believe their eyes; they banged on the bars of their cells, yelling my name, wanting to know what transpired between me and the Alpha. Cassie's back was turned to the cell when I came in. She reluctantly turned, and her eyes widened when she saw me. Surprise was evident in her tear-stricken face.

       "Lila?"

       "In the flesh," I replied with a deep smile.

     I was sure the whole of Crescent Pack heard her shriek of glee as she flew into my waiting arms. It upset the already settling prisoners, and there was an uproar in the whole Crescent cell. Cassie led me into the darkest corners of our cells, which we considered private and made me sit.

      "You are alive," she said. Her voice came out hoarse from all the crying since the previous night. "How did you do it?"

      "Well..." I blinked away the piercing Alpha's eyes from my mind's eyes and ignored the stirring in my abdomen at the thought of him. "I have my way. I looked into his eyes and said to him. 'You dare not kill me for something I did not do because I have people that care about me in those cells, you son-of-a-bitch."

     Cassie's eyes were wide with confusion, and she stared blankly at me for a moment before she realised I was done speaking.

      "You said that to him?" she asked quietly.

   I laughed aloud at her innocent cluelessness. "No, silly. That would have put me six feet below by now. I did nothing, but it seems Alpha Blaise is a sick bastard that only wants to get between my thighs."

       "What?" 

       "He said I will produce him with as many heirs as he wanted."

        "How will you do that?" Cassie asked innocently.

       "How else, if not becoming his sex slave, which I plan not to oblige."

   Cassie seemed stunned by my take. She shifted uncomfortably. "Is it not better than being dead? You will be alive but only become one of the Alpha's conquests."

      I smiled. "I cannot defy my brother to save my head, Cassie. I would rather join them."

       "So, what will you do when he wants you? He is an Alpha, and from what I heard, he is fearsome and ruthless."

      My mind trailed back to the gallows and to Alpha Blaise standing above me, looking formidable and relentless.

  

     Absent-mindedly, I replied. "Of course, he is fearsome, Cassie." My fear for him differed from the usual dread he exudes. It was something deeper, something I felt would be so difficult to overcome. "He is fearsome," I repeated. "But you must not settle for less, Cassie. We must not all settle for less. What I will do when he wants me is to tell him exactly what I feel."