CHAPTER 9. JAKE'S POV

Delilah would wake up at any moment now and it probably wouldn't take much longer for the Sleeping Beauty's effect to run off in Thomas either. Outside both Kyle's door and mine there were wolfs guarding them while almost everyone in group that was in the truck is sitting in my office staring at me. The only one absent was Gilan, who barged in not long after. 

"All tracks erased, boss." He said, sounding like a serious disciplined soldier. One second later, the acting was over and before I could thank him for his job, he was expressing what was probably going through everyone else's minds. "Now... WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?" If his tone of voice was disrespectful, Marte would have taken over. It was definitely not the case. He was just as shocked and confused as everyone else... Including me. 

"Marte felt her wolf's presence." Kyle, Ian and Jane looked at me knowingly. They knew his urge to find his mate was stronger than it already normally is for any wolf, since he remembered what it felt like to have a mate. The siblings were the only ones who knew that my wolf remembered his past lives. Back when we first met, I thought that was something common, so I didn't even think of hiding it from them. After I found out it wasn't, I made sure to keep it between us. "Then, he just took over. I didn't have much chance to pay attention to anything else besides getting her out of there. I didn't know who she was when I grabbed her. But, the fact is: Delilah, the Beta's daughter is my mate." 

"She is also three days short of 18, boss." Ian said in a worried tone and I heard someone saying "ouch", probably thinking how badly it would suck for Marte to not be recognized by his mate. 

"I didn't feel the mate's urge, so... Yeah, I imagined she was still a minor." I sighed. "Marte doesn't seem to care that she hasn't realized it yet, but it means that she will make things hard for us for the next few days." I could already imagine her trying to break out of here. "So will I, if anybody does her any harm." Marte growled, showing his violet eyes to make sure everyone knew who was giving that warning. 

"The good news is: a mated Alpha is always stronger." Jane said with a shrug. "How much trouble can she make in three days?" She added, right after. I saw the fire in my mate's eyes when she was awake. Something told me the answer was a lot of trouble, but I pretended that my friend's question was rhetorical and simply didn't answer. Jane was already moving on to the next subject anyways. "I am much more concerned about the Wolfsbane situation." She said, looking at Kendra, who nodded in agreement, much like almost everyone else present. 

"It was definitely another very unexpected turn our day took." It was my first answer, as I still didn't have time to figure out what to think of it. "Kendra and Jane, can you two keep a close eye on him?" I asked and both of them imediately said yes. "Do you think he knows?" I asked, although I already knew the answer. I just wanted someone else to confirm my fears.

"I doubt it."

"Definitely not."

"I don't think so..."

"Hell no..."

You get the point. We all agreed. He wasn't aware that he was being poisoned. 

"What truly bothers me is that we never saw him leaving the pack, which means the Wolfsbane is in their territory." Ian said, confirming another one of my theories. 

"Kendra, how long does it normally take for effects of Wolfsbane to be over after you are poisoned?" I asked her. She was one of my best warriors and one of the fierciest wolves I have ever met, but just the mention of this plant was enough to make her look like she was about to pass out. I hated myself for forcing this subject on her, but we didn't have any elders in our pack, Kendra was the only one who had any real experience with this. The rest of us, thankfully, have only heard or read about it. 

"Even for a very strong dosage, a barely lethal one, I would say no longer than two weeks. Why?" Her focus was not completely here, which meant she was probably reliving some nightmares in her mind.  

"It means that Thomas has been poisoned frequently." Jane answered, saying exactly what I was thinking, so I nodded.

"Exactly... The boys have been spying the pack for some months now and every single one of their reports pointed out that Thomas looked sick. This was an accidental ran in with Wolfsbane and it was also not an one-time thing." I added, agreeding with Jane. "Don..." Everytime his name left my lips, it sounded like a curse, which was exactly how my mother used to say it. I hated to say Delilah's father's name."...Is known for being paranoid about other packs in his territory..." I started saying, focusing my attention on Henry and Ian, who had been gathering intel on Delilah and Thomas. "Did you see any outsiders visiting the pack?" I saw the two of them exchanging a look and swallowing hard, as if preparing to say something that they definitely did not want to. I raised my hand, gesturing for them to wait. I wanted to finish sharing what was on mind, so everyone could help piece out this f*cked up puzzle. "I also need a list of people who leave the pack most frequently. And also... I don't wanna believe that they would have Wolfsbane, but we need to consider this possibility. Did anyone else look sick like Thomas? If not, we need to figure out where has the Wolfsbane been kept."

"Uhhhhh..." It was all Henry had to say. His eyes reminded me of a deer seconds before being hit by a car. He stared at Ian, silently begging for help. Ian himself did not look scared, but it was obvious that he did not want to be the one to tell me whatever they had to say. 

After almost a full minute of waiting for them to answer my questions, my patience ran out. 

"Speak up." I ordered. I didn't care who spoke.

"There is only one pack that visits the Amethyst territory." Ian said, his body shifting slowly, preparing himself to engage in combat. That itself told me that I would not like the rest of his answer. My mind started listing the names of all our enemies, trying to figure out which one it could be. "The Howlers." He added, waiting for my reaction. 

Large and very rich pack. Their Alpha - Luca Sheridan - was young, probably my age. He challenged his own father, who stepped down too afraid of being killed. A wuss and a jerk. What a great lineage... Despite that, I still could not piece out why they thought I would react badly to that.  

"Oh, for crying out loud! Man up, you little bitches!" Kendra snapped. She was clearly annoyed enough by their reaction to wake up from her daynightmaring (I mean, come on, nothing about what was probably going on in her mind could have been called daydreaming). "And you... You really didn't read the reports they wrote about Delilah?" She then proceeded to snap at me. I narrowed my eyes as a warning and she rolled hers in return. "They haven't figured out when the wedding is going to happen because it is a big secret to the whole pack but..." The mention of a wedding was enough for Marte to take over, my claws coming out. "She is engaged to the Howlers' Alpha." As soon as she said this, he fully shifted. I heard Tyler yelling for everyone to leave.

Marte would not hurt any of them. He knew it was not their fault. That did not mean he was not pissed off.