Chapter 114 - LUNA'S BAGGAGE

Asher

Whispers! They were constant, they were everywhere and they were getting louder. What had begun as small drops in the ocean with no impact were gradually turning into large waves. This was the impact of putting everything out in the open. All the psychological preparation that I had done prior to this was not enough.

I sat back and watched my fears come true. And to think that I had agreed to all of this just to please my mate, Mary had said to let her have her way as much as possible, something about pregnancy hormones, but if you ask me, I think this was part of their plan to make Alison get away with as many things as possible. Did pregnancy really change people this much? Give me my soft-spoken, understanding mate back. She was right though. Why were we still hiding from humans? If anything, we posed more threat to them than they did us. All that talk about us being better than them, and then going to hide in the dark.

Letting other packs come and see if we got their mates was a smart move. Even though I would not like to admit it, I had as much prejudice against the other Alphas as they had towards me. It wasn't that I thought that I was better than them, I just felt that they were quite simple-minded, and no, I was not trying to be petty.

"Did I cause you more trouble?" Alison broke through my thoughts. It was one of the rare free moments we've had lately and she had insisted on watching the news. 'Follow Mary's advice,' I reminded myself when I almost asked her to change the channel, going to another room was out of the question too, so we sat together doing the most mundane thing I have done in a long time.

At first, there was nothing unusual about what was going on. It was the same old human problems being reported, so I decided to sleep a little bit before duty called again. I hadn't even closed my eyes for a minute before I jumped off the couch. I even rubbed my eyes as if that would help with my hearing. "There have been talks about the existence of a species different from us. BTTv can now confirm the claims to be true. You had it here first. There are more than just humans living on this earth..." the new reporter droned on for a while, but I could no longer hear her.

The waves had come crashing, they knew! They knew about us! They were going to hate us, weren't they? When they found out why Dr. Hann had done that to their women...

"...sher! Asher!" it was Alison's fingers snapping in front of my face that brought me back from the verge of a panic attack.

"What?" my voice came out extremely high-pitched. Blood rushed to my cheeks as I hurried to clear my throat. "What is it?" I asked again once I was sure I sounded normal.

"You blanked out for a second there." She rushed out of the room and came back with a glass of water. "Have some." I didn't need water but I wasn't going to let her good intentions get wasted. So I forcefully chugged it down.

"Increase the volume please, I want to hear what she's saying." Yeah, the Alpha, with hearing better than most werewolves, suddenly couldn't hear what was on the TV.

I knew we would be uncovered as soon as they started digging into Dr. Hann, I just hoped it wouldn't be this soon. Well, I wanted it... you know what? I give up! I didn't know what I wanted, but one thing was for sure. There was no going back, it wasn't like we could if we wanted to now.

"NO WAY! HOW?" My eyes snapped to the TV screen as quickly as possible, only for me to see a blurry video of someone shifting. I was about to ask how they had managed to get something like that but quickly remembered there was a group of humans that had known about us for almost as long as we have existed. Freaking hunters! They were the only ones that knew where to find werewolves. What benefit had been offered in order for them to reveal something like that?

"Asher, did you see the news?" I hadn't even had the chance to say hello. My phone rang immediately after the report on werewolves came to an end. He had obviously been waiting to see what else would be aired before giving me a call.

"Yes, I did, Timothy. They know about us." I refused to believe that this was soon going to be our reality from now on. "What is the general reaction of humans?" I stepped out of the room to talk to Timothy without causing a disturbance to Alison. My phone vibrated several times due to other incoming calls while I talked to Timothy.

I didn't realize I had kept walking until I arrived at Jeremy's house. "Will you come in or will you keep on standing out there?" Mary yanked the door open just as I was about to walk away. "You better come in. I think he would like to see you." In the living room, Jeremy was intensely staring at a black TV screen.

"You are at Jeremy's? I will be there shortly." I was about to say I was just about to leave, but Timothy hung up. He didn't pick up when I called him back. This didn't look like a good time to bother Jeremy. I winced at the number of missed calls from all the alphas I had barely started getting along with. Did they want to abandon me again? I wasn't ready to find out yet.

I have never seen Jeremy look like this before. He was always on top of everything, which is why he was always the first person I sought out whenever there was anything troubling me. Maybe that is why I ended up here. It was as if subconsciously I was seeking answers, and ended up in the place where I usually got them. "How long has he been like this?"

"Since the broadcast ended. I was going to wait a few more minutes before calling you if he still looked like that. Where is Alison?"

"At home," How had I forgotten about her? "I didn't mean to come all the way here." I was just supposed to answer the call before going back inside. She was probably wondering where I had gone to. "I will just go back home. Tell Jeremy to call me when he is feeling OK.

I had pulled the door slightly open when Mary stopped me. "You stay here and wait for Timothy with Jeremy. I will take the kids and go see Alison." I was surprised she didn't scold me for leaving Alison by herself. She was out the door before I could say anything. Why were we friends again?

It was Jeremy that broke the silence that settled between us. "I can't believe they found out about us that quickly." I quickly explained to him my theory about the hunters. We have been so good at hiding all these centuries, there is no way they could have found out if they had no help.

"Sorry I took a long time, I was trying to find a last-minute babysitter. At long last, I decided to just take them with me but someone told me Mary had gone to your house with her kids, so I passed by there first to drop the girls off before coming." It was only then that Jeremy realized his mate was not in the house.

"Have you heard from the other Alphas?" Coincidentally, there was an incoming call just as he asked. Of course, I didn't pick it up, I let it join the growing number of missed call notifications. I wasn't ready to talk to them yet. I knew just how fickle they were. I wasn't ready to hear about how the group I had just won over to my side was ready to abandon me,

"Asher! Switch on the TV fast! Hurry up!"

I had a bad feeling just from hearing how urgent Alison's voice sounded through the link. Mary's voice came in right after hers and was just as urgent. Jeremy reached for the TV remote before me. Mary must have talked to him too.

Guess what was currently showing on the TV? Someone managed to edit the blurry shifting video from earlier. Even though it wasn't high definition, it was clear enough to see who it was. And of all the people, it just had to be the one man everyone was currently looking for!

What was that saying about all trees being slippery when it was a monkey's day to die? Why did it have to be Dr. Hann in that video?