Chapter 2

Maverick Peterson POV

Stopping what I was doing, I glanced at my surroundings. It felt like I had been doing something else, but I was drawing a blank, which was completely unnatural. With demon blood, I shouldn't be having memory problems.

'What's wrong, Maverick?'

'What was I doing?'

'You were going over the documents your father assigned you to look over.'

'Doesn't something feel off?'

'No? Perhaps you have been pushing yourself too hard.'

I grimaced.

That didn't sound right, but I couldn't think of any reason for the dissonance I was experiencing. It felt as if I was supposed to be in mourning, except no one in the family died recently. I couldn't think of any friends or servants who had died recently.

It was quite perplexing, to say the least. Perhaps father would be able to tell me what was wrong if Shadow didn't have any answers.

Anything Shadow couldn't help with meant that the problem was a demon issue and not a werewolf one.

Setting aside the papers and making sure everything was in order, I stepped out of my office. On the path to my father's office, I encountered a certain someone whom I wasn't in the mood to deal with.

"Hello, brother," said Jason as he barely kept the sneer out of his voice. "Are you perhaps looking for father? Unfortunately, he isn't available right now."

"Hello, brother. Where has father gone?" I asked, keeping my tone civil.

Even if my brother saw fit to be disrespectful and eager to pick a fight with me because of his inability to be the heir, I refused to act in the same manner. As the heir to the family, I didn't have the same luxuries as he did. Acting boorish would only reflect badly on me.

While not in Datumia, in other countries, they would use it as an excuse to say why those with demon blood were inferior. I might not care for their opinions, but it could affect the country's prosperity. As the future head, I couldn't allow that to happen.

This time he didn't bother hiding his sneer. "Father said he was making a trip to the border."

The word border caused a sharp pain in my head. It was only for a second, but it was enough of a sign for me to act on it.

"Which border are you referring to?" I demanded.

'Maverick?'

Jason seemed just as surprised. "Huh? Why are you so curious all of a sudden?"

"Just answer the question, Jason. I won't ask again," I said.

"Shouldn't you say please?" At the look on my face, he immediately raised both his hands up and said, "Okay, okay. Father said he went to the border of Prerana." I walked away, leaving him to yell after me. "Hey, where are you going? I'm not finished talking yet."

'Maverick, what's going on with you? This isn't like you.'

'I don't know, but for some reason, I feel that Prerana is important.'

'Didn't you go there almost a year ago? I thought you said you would never step foot there if you could help it.'

'I know what I said. I just feel that if I don't go there now, then I'll regret it.'

'That doesn't make sense. Is it your demon blood acting up?'

It was the only plausible explanation I could come up with.

Even after being tutored by my father about all matters regarding demons, there was still so much I didn't know about them.

The demons had tried to preserve their culture, but in the end, most of it was lost to the winds. The best they had was what was passed down orally and scraps of documents that had avoided being destroyed by the purebred werewolves from generation to generation.

Using my magic to teleport me close to the border, I found myself appearing not too far from where my father was. He was currently alone and staring off into the distance. Striding over to him, I stopped at his side to see what he was looking at.

When I saw nothing of value, I said, "Father, may I ask what you are doing?"

"The same reason you are here," he said. "You can feel it too, Maverick."

'What's he talking about, Maverick?'

'I'm not sure.'

"I understand you're confused. Even though I found myself struggling to understand what was happening, but now that I'm here, I can see what has been bothering me. Someone had used large scale magic," he said.

I tore my eyes away from the border to stare at my father. "What?"

Large scale magic was any magic that could affect at least a country. For someone to use such magic near our borders without us noticing was inconceivable.

"Have you discovered who?" I asked.

"That's the problem," he said as he frowned. "It hasn't happened yet."

It took me several moments to process his statement. "What do you mean it hasn't happened yet, father?"

"I don't know. It's unlike anything I've seen," he said as he bent down to touch the ground. "Magic was used, but at the same time it wasn't used." He stood back up again as he dusted his pants. "I would need to consult with others to find out more. I want you to keep an eye on the border while I'm gone."

"Understood, father," I said.

"Good," he said. "I'll be taking my leave. You should return home too."

With those words, he was gone, leaving me all alone. My eyes trailed back to the border as if expecting answers to magically appear before me.

'This is so bizarre.'

'I know, Shadow. I know.'

'I don't like this.'

That was understandable.

There were reasons why angels, demons, and werewolves used to go to war with each other. Magic happened to be one of them.

Werewolves were the only ones out of the three races that couldn't use magic, and they never forgot it.

After staring at it a while longer, I finally used my magic to take me back home.