Chapter 3

(Harper’s POV)

My eyes widened as I looked between Tommy and the Sovereign. From the looks of it, this was news to Drake as well, who was glaring at the Sovereign.

“What!” I exclaimed. Tommy looked at me, and I could tell that he was not happy. 

“Harper,” he said stiffly, “Meet your grandfather.” I looked at the Sovereign, or I guess my grandfather, in shock. He smiled widely at me, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He was genuinely happy to see me from what I could tell.

“You’re the Sovereign?” I asked, and he nodded. 

“That’s right, Harper,” he said with pride. I shook my head, trying to blow away the confusion. I knew little about Samual Kirby. Only that he was the former Alpha of the Midnight Moon pack and apparently the man who had created the organisation that I had worked with for the last ten years. I also knew that he was run out of town by Alfred Chambers after he took the alpha title from him. 

“You’ve been here all along?” Tommy asked, his voice slowly rising. “I thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead!” He was shouting at this point. 

“Thomas, you do not need to raise your voice,” Samual snapped and Tommy shook his head.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he said. He turned and headed for the door. 

“Tommy!” I called, and he glanced at me.

“Sorry Harper,” he said, and glared back at his father. “I need some time.” He opened the door to the office.

“Young man, you will turn back around and sit down,” Samuel called, his voice laced with his Alpha tone. 

“You have no authority over me, old man,” Tommy snapped. “You gave up that right when you left.” Then he stormed out of the door and slammed it behind him. 

The room fell silent, and I looked up at Drake. 

“Did you know about this?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“No, I did not,” he replied and glared at Samuel. “I knew you took an interest in the girl when she arrived, but I didn’t expect this at all.” Samuel shrugged in response. 

“I gave what information was needed at the time,” he said.

“Wait, so you knew I was here?” I asked, and he nodded. 

“Of course I did,” he said. “I kept a very close eye on your development, young lady. I watched with pride as you flew through your training and completed mission after successful mission.” 

“Watched with pride?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My own grandfather was spying on me. 

“Yes, although I am not so happy with your more recent work,” he said and glanced at Elias before looking back at me with a slightly more forced smile. “Which is one of the reasons that I called you here today.” I stared at him, speechless.

“I’m sorry, what?” I said once I found my voice again.

“All I am saying is that you have been avoiding your duties as a Council Elite Warrior,” he said as he looked down at a brown file, “You have neglected to check in on your progress on many occasions, and actively avoided direct orders from a High Councilman.” I glanced up at Drake. He didn’t seem to notice. He looked deep in thought.

“Well, I am sorry you didn’t get my resignation letter,” I said sarcastically, “But I decline to work with an organisation that I can’t trust.” 

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Samuel said. “This would mean that your activities over the last six months have been entirely illegal and I would hate to bring my own blood up on charges. Especially one with the potential that you have.” 

“What do you know about blood?” I snapped.

“I know that you choose to work with demon bloods, sullying the sanctity of the Council name,” Samuel shot back and threw a lip curled look at Elias. “And then choose to bring one with you onto Council grounds.” Elias growled, and I shot up out of my seat, my blood boiling.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” I snarled at him. “You want to talk about working with demon bloods? How do you explain the hundred odd of them that were working within your precious Council? At least I can trust Elias, who has only tried to do good and do everything he can to take down the Circle.” I felt Elias slide his hand in mine. I knew he was trying to help me calm down, but my anger had lit a fire and it was blazing through me right now, looking for something to destroy.

“And while we are at it, Samual,” I snarled, “How many Circle Units has the council taken down in the last ten years? Oh wait, that would be none right? Since you had a high ranking Circle member right here in your precious council. Someone who was not only actively stopping the units from being taken down, but was using Council resources to fund and expand the Circle operations.” 

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” Samual stood up and bellowed. He crashed his fist into the desk and Elias jumped up, growling and pushing himself in front of me.

Samuel growled back at Elias, his eyes flashing gold. 

“Stand down, boy,” he snapped. “I am not going to harm my own granddaughter.” I put my hand on Elias’ shoulder and he leaned into me. He growled again and Samual’s eyes widened. 

“See,” he said, pointing at Elias but talking to me, “It doesn’t matter how much good he thinks he is doing, he is still that creature at heart.” I glanced over at Elias and saw his eyes were the empty black of the demon. I squeezed slightly and smiled at him. 

“Hi,” I said, and the demon looked over at me. “I’m okay. Can we have Elias back please?” the demon grunted, and I watched as his eyes bled back to the inky blue that belonged to my mate. Elias closed his eyes as if he was in pain, but I knew it was upset. He had said more than once that the demon seemed to be gaining more control, and in heightened emotions, especially anger, it was like he had a free pass to push his way forward. 

Elias opened his eyes again and smiled at me, although it was filled with sorrow.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and I leaned in to briefly kiss his cheek.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I said. “You were protecting me.” Elias chuckled as he lifted my hands to his lips.

“Yeah, because you need someone to protect you,” he scoffed, and I smiled. He kissed my hand, and I felt the shiver of the mate bond in that fragile touch. 

“You can control it?” I looked over at Samual, who for a second I had forgotten was even there. I shrugged.

“It’s not control,” I said, “More neutralise. The books all said that the divine warrior appeases the demon bloods. I guess that is what is happening here.” Samuel watched me with wonder before turning to Drake. 

“Were you aware of this?” he asked, and Drake shook his head. He looked over at me and narrowed his eyes.

“Although I might have known it if someone had visited the Order at least one of the many times that I had suggested it.” 

“Yeah, but if I had visited the first time, I would have denied you the fun of asking again,” I said with a grin. Drake scoffed at me, although I saw the corners of his mouth tug up into a smile.

“That is the other thing,” Samuel said sternly, and I rolled my eyes. “You have yet to visit the Order, which means that you have yet to accept your role fully.” 

“Huh?” I looked between Drake and Samual. “What are you talking about? I accepted. I have the glowly knife thing and everything.” I added a lilt to my voice at the end of the sentence since I was getting annoyed at this whole thing.

“Yes, and you have made use of that recently,” Samuel said, “But you still need to connect with the other Divine Warriors. You are a complex unit, and it is only when your power is connected that you are the strongest.” I looked over at Drake for confirmation, and he grimaced.

“I didn’t feel it was the top of the priority list right now,” he said to Samual, “Harper has been doing amazing work in the field. Plus, we still wouldn’t be at full power until we sourced the magic worker in question.” He smiled at me.

“Yes, but if Harper had taken her vows, then you would be able to find the magic worker, no?” Samuel shot back.

The door opened and Tommy slipped in. He threw a glare at Samual and then smiled at me. 

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“No, but I need to put my feelings aside for a bit,” he said and sat down in the last remaining seat.

“There you go, Harper,” Samuel said, “Despite his feelings, your uncle is putting his needs aside for the collective.” I glared at Samual. 

“What like you did when you turned tail and ran?” I snapped, and his eyes widened. “Abandoned your whole family because you lost? And then what did you do? Set up the Council so you could feed your ego again?” I had just about had enough of his holier than thou attitude, especially when his rap sheet wasn’t exactly sparkling white.

“What exactly did you tell her?” He growled at Tommy, and Tommy shrugged.

“The truth,” he said with a smug look on his face. 

“I mean, do you even know what happened after you left?” I asked. I could feel my anger rising again. “After you left the pack to the demon bloods?” Samual looked between Tommy and me. 

“I had to leave,” he said. “They would have exiled me after everything that had happened. Plus, my own son stood against me.” 

“Yeah, because you tried to kill innocent people,” I growled.

“They were hardly innocent,” he spat, “Or people for that matter.” 

“Darren stood against you because you were out of control,” Tommy said. “I mean, I am not even remotely a fan of Colton Stokes, but he was a baby when you attempted to wipe him out.”

“And if I had been successful, then Harper wouldn’t have gone through what she went through with him,” Samual stated, “Something that you and your brother should have been watching out for as her guardians.” 

“Darren turned his back on the Order,” Tommy said. “All you showed him was how awful it could be. And I did help Harper with dealing with Colton. I got her out and sent her here to keep her safe so she could get strong again.” Then he scoffed.

“Of course, if I had known who was in charge, I probably would have found somewhere else, so she could actually be safe.” Samual looked like he was going to burst. His face had slowly turned varying shades of red while Tommy continued to berate him.

“She was safe here,” he growled, and I scoffed. He turned his attention to me and glared. I returned his glare. I could feel his alpha call for my submission, but he was going to be very disappointed. Finally, he flinched, and I felt his call recede.

“Of course you were safe here,” he said, defeatedly. “Your safety was my concern as soon as I heard you were here.” I didn’t even stop the sarcastic laugh that left my lips.

“My mentor was the man you exiled,” I hissed. “You are going on about Elias being a demon blood, but you not only had one that you knew as a ranking councilman. You had your own granddaughter, who apparently you were protecting, had him as a mentor. How is that keeping me safe?” 

“That was maybe my fault,” Drake said, and I looked over at him. “The Sovereign tasked me with the objective of bringing you under my mentorship. Although that makes more sense now that I know how much he knew about the Divine Order.” He threw a not pleasant look at Samual, “But I messed up when I brought you to the Castle and shared all of its delights with you.” He shrugged. “I was trying to get you to safety, but Nathaniel had already poisoned Aaron’s thoughts towards me, knowing that he had your trust.” I looked between Drake and Samual, who had a smug look on his face. 

“And I wasn’t aware of your assignment back home until it was too late,” Samual said, “Although I had hoped that young Thomas here would have been on the ball with his duties. Instead, I hear he just pushed you towards our current predicament.” He glanced at Elias again and I sighed.

“How was I to know,” Tommy snapped, “Anyone who could have taught me about being a guardian, left when I was a kid. Harper needed closure, and Elias was there to give her it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked. I had the feeling I was missing out on something again.

“I was talking about your choices of a mate,” Samual said with clear disgust in his voice. 

“Seriously, get over it,” I snapped. “The moon goddess saw fit to put Elias and me together and you just saw how different his demon is. What is your problem?” I was beginning to lose my temper again. I looked at Elias, who was gripping the arms of his chair. 

“What is my problem?” Samual snapped. “Apart from you tainting our bloodline with his demon blood by actually completing the mate bond with him.” He emphasised the him and both Elias and I growled. “Of course, if that wasn’t enough, then we also have the situation that you both have caused, and then left behind as if it was nothing. Do you really think that running around the country killing off Circle units is going to do any good if hell breaks loose?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped again. He was making no sense at all.

“She doesn’t know,” Tommy said quietly, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I don’t know what?” I asked.

“We weren’t aware straight away,” he said, “And I wanted you to not have to worry about everything for a while.” He smiled weakly.

“Tommy,” I said slowly, “What don’t I know?” 

“When you and Elias completed the mate bond,” he whispered, “You also cracked the seal over the Midnight Moon hell gate.”