Chapter 5

Three hours flight and one hour sitting inside a taxi heading to Silver Light Pack, led by Cohen’s cousin, Janet Reese. But, Liam didn’t let the taxi take him straight into Silver Light’s territory. Instead, it stopped in a small town forty minutes away from the pack’s main territory. He walked along the empty road heading to the main territory, where he spotted a group of patrolling Enforcers.

“Liam Blake, it’s been a while,” someone greeted him at the border.

“Ashton, you’re looking good,” Liam replied.

Ashton Mayer was the pack’s Beta. Liam used to train Ashton back in Cohen’s pack. Silver Light Pack was established ten years ago by several members of Cohen’s pack. They left Cohen’s pack because their mates were from a different pack. Not wanting their mates’ Alpha on bad terms with Cohen, they decided to make their own pack. Hence, Silver Light was founded by the former members of both packs. Several other packs sent their former members to Silver Light.

There were some cases where some Alphas weren’t pleased by their pack members who found their mates from other packs. Sometimes, this could lead to another war between the packs because one pack was losing pack members while another pack was gaining some. To cool down a situation like this, both parties left their packs and established their own to maintain a good relationship with their former packs. These were the reasons why there were many small packs. In recent years, Silver Light Pack received an increase in pack members as they welcomed any former members of other packs into their own.

Liam knew Cohen didn’t mind it if his pack members found mates from another pack and left his pack to be with their mates. But not all Alpha thought the same as him.

Ashton led Liam to Silver Light’s pack mansion, and he spotted Alpha Zidane of Twilight Pack was there. Zidane was also Cohen’s cousin. Twilight Pack was established along with the Southern Werewolves Pack by a brother who continued the surname Kingsley and a sister who married someone who had a surname Sutton.

“Liam, nice to see you again,” Zidane greeted him. “How’s our grumpy cousin?”

Liam chuckled. “He’s not that grumpy anymore.”

“Right, right. He’s got Mira and the babies now. By the way, I’ve finished your paperwork to stay in my territory. I’ll email it to you soon,” Zidane said.

“Thanks, man. Where’s Janet?”

“She’s in the office. I’m heading back now. I’ll see you around.”

“I’ll see you around.”

Liam went into the pack mansion and greeted some of the people who passed him. He went to the Alpha’s office and saw Janet and her husband were talking.

“Liam,” Janet’s husband, Roy, greeted him.

“Roy, I see you do still not agree to be an Alpha,” Liam said.

Roy chuckled. “She does much better than me. I’m just an omega werewolf.”

“Was,” Janet corrected him. “How many times have I told you that you’re not an omega anymore?”

“Right. I’ll go check on the training.”

After Roy left the office, Liam turned his attention to Janet, who just huffed some angry breaths.

“It takes time,” Liam said to her.

“It’s been ten years, Liam. He still thinks he’s an omega!”

“Relax, Janet. Here are the files Mira wanted you to read.” Liam passed a hard drive stick to her.

“Knights of Death, huh?” Janet said softly. “I wished we could have sent help when you guys needed it.” She sat down on the chair with a sigh.

“Don’t overthink about it, Janet. It’s in the past now. Cohen’s happy. Mira’s safe.”

“Mira thinks the Knights of Death are still operational?”

Liam nodded. “She didn’t know the exact number yet, but there are some signs that one of their bases of operations is in your territory. Just in case things go bad, Cohen and Mira wanted you to be prepared about it. We’ll send some help when you need it.”

“I heard from Zidane. So, what’s your motive for going out this far from your pack? You never left this far before, especially now your Alpha and his mate are expecting.”

Liam smiled. “Mira challenged me. So, I accepted it.”

“Well, whatever it is, I hope you succeed.”

“Thanks. I’d guess that’s all for today. I need to head to Anita’s place.”

Janet reached for a key on the desk and threw it to him. “Your motorbike is in the garage. I could have taken it to Zidane’s place but knowing that idiot, he probably took a spin with your motorbike.”

“Thanks, Janet. I’ll come to visit sometime soon.”

“Sure thing.”

Liam went to the garage and sat on his motorbike. He sent a text to Anita to tell her his location while he was waiting for the garage door to lift automatically. Once it lifted, Liam rode out with his motorbike. Zidane’s territory was two hours away, but Liam enjoyed a long ride because it had been a while since he had a long ride like this.

Ten minutes after entering Zidane’s territory, Liam received a text from Anita telling him that Jazmine’s car broke down in a parking lot. Anita texted the address, and it didn’t take Liam long to find her. His breath hitched inside his throat when he saw her standing next to a man. Five years had passed, and Jazmine looked just how he remembered. No, she was different than before. There was no hint of a shy and quiet girl on her anymore.

Liam stopped at the guardhouse and said, “I’m a car mechanic. I came to repair Jazmine Diaz’ car.”

“She’s right in the parking lot,” the guard replied while pointing to the parking lot.

“Thanks, man.”

Liam rode his motorbike into the parking lot and parked next to Jazmine’s car. It took everything in him not to pummel the guy standing next to her.

“Your car broke down?” Liam asked as he took off his helmet.

“Liam?” Jazmine looked at him as if she didn’t believe he was in front of her after five years.

Liam almost couldn’t keep his calm for the whole time as he listened to the guy named Jay Bernard talk to Jazmine. When she agreed to his dinner invitation, Liam almost broke the starter relay inside her car. After getting it fixed and having a small talk, Liam left the parking lot because he knew if he stayed for another second, he would pin her against the car and do things he wanted to do. But he didn’t want to rush anything. Mira told him to see if Jazmine felt the pull of their mating bond. For now, Liam had to keep a proper distance to see if the mating bond would pull Jazmine to him.

He went to a car workshop he passed by earlier and bought a starter relay for Jazmine’s car before scheduling an appointment with the workshop’s owner to service Jazmine’s car. Everything was in order until he saw her in her bathrobe.

He almost lost it right then and there. He asked for her car key with a hint of urgency, but Jazmine took her sweet time to fetch the key. When she left with Jay Bernard, Liam turned into a stalker. He followed them to the restaurant. They sat in the private lounge on the far end of the restaurant while Liam took a seat a few tables away from them, making sure they didn’t see him. Then, Liam saw Jay Bernard touch Jazmine’s hand.

“Sir, are you okay?” The waiter asked him when Liam crumpled the menu.

“Sorry...I just…” Liam took a deep breath. “One ribeye steak. Make it well done.”

“Sure. Anything else?”

“A bottle of DRC La Tâche,” Liam replied. “That’s all.”

The waiter nodded and left with the order. A moment later, Zidane entered the restaurant and chuckled when he saw Liam.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked him as he sat down on the seat across.

“I came to have dinner,” Zidane replied.

“Welcome, sir. What do you want for your main course?” the same waiter asked after handing a menu to Zidane.

“I’ll have the same as he ordered,” Zidane replied.

“A ribeye steak and a bottle of DRC La Tâche champagne?”

Zidane looked at Liam. “What year?”

“1999, sir,” the waiter replied.

“Really, Liam? Are you that fancy?”

“I was feeling fancy tonight,” Liam said, shrugging his shoulders.

“We’ll have one bottle only,” Zidane said to the waiter before the latter left. “You spend—” he paused as he checked the menu for the price. “Nearly eight thousand dollars for a bottle of DRC La Tâche while stalking a woman.”

“I’m not stalking her,” Liam grunted. “I’m having dinner as well.”

Zidane chuckled. “Really? Have you met your sister yet?”

“No, she wasn’t in the penthouse when I arrived.”

After having their dinner, Liam left first even though Jazmine was still in the restaurant. He couldn’t risk himself being spotted by her. He rode his motorbike to the penthouse building. Anita was already home and had just finished talking over the phone.

“Five years without visiting your little sister, huh?” Anita said, crossing her arms.

“You didn’t even want me to come," Liam replied.

Anita sighed. “You’re right. Sorry about that. I didn’t want our old-fashioned parents to get mad at you as well.”

“You never returned my calls or wrote an email to me. I messaged you through your social media, and I didn't get your reply. You avoided me.”

“Well, you’re not the only one who has problems,” Anita replied. “You know, right after you left my eighteenth birthday party, I got a call from dad.”

Liam looked at her in shock. “What did he say?”

“He didn’t say a word. But I heard his breathing before he hung up. I’d guess he was still mad about me leaving. So, I stopped responding to your calls and email, thinking that they were mad that you always came to visit me.”

Liam sighed as he remembered how much pain Anita had to endure on her own after leaving the pack. She didn’t leave the pack. She only left the territory. She was ten when it all happened, and with her age, she couldn’t sign an agreement saying she left the pack. Their parents didn’t want to sign it either because they didn’t agree with her decision. Cohen handed the agreement to Liam since Liam was the only one left to sign it. The agreement was still inside the drawer of his desk in his office.

“How could you just mail the key to my college mailbox?” Anita asked him.

Liam sat down and leaned against the couch. “You didn’t want to do anything with me, and I couldn’t come without you getting mad about it. So, I just mailed the key to you. I didn’t expect you to accept it, though.”

“Just because we didn’t contact each other for five years didn’t mean I knew nothing.”

“Thanks for everything.”

Liam huffed. “I couldn’t thank you for maxing out my credit card.”

Anita laughed.