**3rd Person POV**
Dagen sat down with The Council of Elders and some of his own ministers including Lord Edvin, his Beta and Lord Tyler, his cousin. They were discussing the raids and how they had made no progress so far. They had searched the inns and there were no reports of any suspicious activities. Dagen felt like it was now time to impose a curfew on everyone once it was approaching nightfall.
“It is unfair, seeing as we are night creatures as well who enjoy a good hunt once it is dark,” said Lord Silver. He was an old man with silver hair. He was one of the oldest werewolves to be alive.
“We should think about protecting ourselves and our children first,” returned Tyler, who was interested in keeping his children safe. Already, he had banned his children from going out at night as he had deemed it unsafe. He wanted this to end though because he wanted to be able to give his children an opportunity to express themselves and hunt.
“How do we protect our children when we cannot teach them to hunt? Do you see how this line of thinking goes against logic?” quipped Lord Silver. Dagen swallowed hard and tried his best not to get angry at the man's words. He respected the man's age but wished only that the man would respect his crown.
“Your Majesty, I hate to agree but Lord Silver is right. We cannot live in fear,” said Elder Thaddeus. Dagen wondered how the Council of Elders had managed to live this long. He wondered at their real age. They had to be a lot older than the recently late Lady Tristan and yet they managed to remain frozen in time.
“I propose that all werewolves that intend to come out of their houses at night must only appear in their wolf form; we have a stronger chance when we are wolves,” this came from Lord Edvin. The Elders and ministers nodded their heads at this and Dagen was pleased with the suggestion.
“I am worried about something. What if this is what the vampires want? I believe they have a motive greater than stealing and killing us sparingly. They may be gearing up for war and may want to study us. We give them a chance to know all about us when we shift to our wolves in order to fight them off,” added Tyler. He liked Edvin's suggestion but it was his job to think of all the angles.
“You have a point there, Lord Tyler but we do not seem to have much of a choice in this. We must find a way to protect our kind and we must on no account avoid a confrontation. I say we fight this head-on,” returned Elder Walker.
“If we gather a portion of our military and wait for them tonight then we can capture them. We will know what to do from thereon,” added Elder Davis. Everyone else seemed to like the idea and preparations were made in that regard.
About a hundred werewolves were deployed in places where there had been the most casualties in recent times. They were made to hide in the shadows until the sun sunk in the clouds and the moon took over. The moon was beautiful tonight but the werewolves did not howl lest they draw the attention of the vampires.
Only a few holws that night. They were the werewolves that had volunteered as bait for the vampires. So that the vampires seeing a lone wolf would go after it.
It was a long night that yielded nothing. In the morning, Lord Edvin and Lord Tyler spoke about their frustration with the failed operation in detail.
“It was too quiet last night. There was no single robbery reported,” said Lord Edvin. Naturally, this would be good news but it meant that they had made no arrest.
“It's almost as if they knew we were coming for them,” said Lord Tyler.
“Yesterday's meeting was a closed-door one. There's no way they have a mole amongst our very own ministers,” said Dagen who did not want to believe that his ministers would betray the pack like that.
“What do we do now?” quipped Lord Edvin.
“We'll continue looking out for them the rest of the week. Perhaps, they have left for good,” said Lord Tyler. He knew this was wishful thinking but it also seemed like the only logical explanation at the time.
****
“Do you not miss your husband?” demanded Major Drieden from Lady Francesca whom he ran into walking down the hallway. She appeared a little surprised to see him. She said nothing but gave him a tight smile. Their union had not been one of love. It had been one of pure business relations. Her father had married her off to Drieden with a promise that someday when the vampires had successfully gained control of all the werewolf land, her family would be spared.
They had consummated the union but they rarely saw each other as Drieden was not welcome on werewolf soil and their relationship would be frowned upon by both kinds.
On Drieden’s end, he had agreed to marry Francesca because she was incredibly sexy. He had never met a woman who exited all his senses the way Francesca did. A part of him he would never admit to, however, was hurt that she did not share his feelings for her.
“Do you really want to admit that within these walls? Are you not ashamed of me?” came her response.
“I am not but I will never acknowledge you publicly. I will be marrying a vampiress soon; do not even dare ruin my wedding,” said Major Drieden. He may find Francesca a beautiful woman but he wanted a son with full vampire blood.
“Let's get divorced then,” Francesca suggested. It was all she really wanted. If Drieden would agree to divorce her then perhaps she could convince Lowell to leave his wife.