Chapter 27 Celeste
Celeste's POV
I kept my promise to my two sons.
That day, the two black slides finally went up in my front yard. Almost all the kids came to play there. Liam and Levi were thrilled to have so many new friends.
“Liam and Levi have so much energy to play until late at night,” I said, smiling as Levi burst out laughing at his friend’s joke.
Getting the higher-ups to approve turning part of my yard into a playground definitely wasn’t easy.
Even though we were certain that no one would be able to find or sneak into our base, they still didn't want my house to be easily accessible to my group members.
Previously, my house had no one guarding it, but starting today, two warriors will be standing on my porch.
This base has over 200 people. Dozens head out every day to gather intel or kill.
No outsider ever catches them because we have a department managing everyone’s in-and-out schedule. So every minute, someone is heading out or coming back from their mission.
I sat in a chair on the porch, having just finished lunch, and used the rest of my break to watch the kids racing up and down the slide.
“This base really isn’t built for kids,” I muttered. “No playground. Not even a park.” I shook my head.
“Oh. I just realized that.” I leaned back and folded my arms. “No river, no lake, no mountain. We literally don’t have a single place to relax.”
I couldn't believe I had never noticed. Perhaps I was just too happy living with Benedict and my sons to realize that we had never taken a vacation in this place.
"Since I'm an Alpha now, can I make this base a little more colorful?" I stroked my chin, frowning.
"I'd say this base is black and white." I surveyed my surroundings thoughtfully. I no longer even cared about how quiet this place was. "We really do look mysterious and dangerous."
I recall my initial impressions after spending a week here. Fear gripped me, and every minute, the thought of my life in danger hit me. I was completely paranoid.
“I’d love to bring some color to this base,” I muttered. “But there doesn’t seem to be any space for a garden. Even if there were, they’d use it for training.”
We even built a thirty-story apartment building to save space, and no one’s allowed to own more than one unit.
I stopped thinking about these impossible things when I saw Beta Dylan enter my front yard. For a moment, he watched the children playing on the slide with a slight smile on his face.
“Alpha.” Beta Dylan approached me with a bright smile. “Are Gamma and Delta here yet? Am I too early?” He was holding a bottle of tea and a chocolate donut.
“You’re too early,” I said irritably, glancing at him as he sat next to me. “It’s still break time.”
Beta Dylan grinned as he chewed on the donut. "I have no more work to do, and I'd like to discuss it with you guys soon."
I nodded. “Let’s just wait for Gamma and Delta, who are always on time.”
“Yeah. They’re busier than I am.” Beta Dylan chuckled. He drank his tea and then spoke in a serious tone. “An agent is investigating Alpha Jackson. He’s Alpha Eiden’s enemy.”
I nodded in understanding. They were trying to find out if Alpha Jackson's warrior spies knew about my two sons and me.
"Did you and Levi have to wait for Liam at the playground? Were you unable to go home after dropping him off, or did you just come to pick him up?" Beta Dylan looked at me deeply with a thoughtful face.
I paused for a moment. "People already know that Levi and I always drop him off and wait for him to come home at the playground. Benedict has even been to his school twice. Many people are secretly curious about why Liam is a werewolf."
"Mm, you're right." Beta Dylan nodded.
"If Levi and I change our habits, we're worried they'll use the opportunity to approach Liam, then wonder why he's a werewolf and who his father is," I added, revealing what was troubling me.
"Your friend will definitely ask Liam about Alpha Eiden, too." Beta Dylan couldn't shake his suspicions about Margot just because she liked to gossip.
"One more thing we shouldn't forget," I said, my eyes fixed on Liam, who was chatting with a little girl his age. "You know, even though the Rogue Clan is known for being non-racist, there's an organization of people who hate werewolves."
That group hadn't approached Liam all this time because of me.
“You’re right.” Beta Dylan nodded, wiping his hands with a tissue. “People in that organization hate werewolves because many Alpha werewolves attack rogue groups. In their eyes, all werewolves are evil.”
“Yeah, just like those people who think every rogue assassin lives for killing and loves blood.” I snorted.
Beta Dylan chuckled. He was pleased with the label that many people give us.
Our conversation ended when Gamma Silas and Delta Giana arrived at my house. We wasted no time, rushing to my office to discuss our plans for recruiting members.
“Every year we try to bring in new members, but the selection is so strict that sometimes we end up not recruiting anyone,” Gamma Silas said. He and Delta were the ones who created those complicated rules, so why did he look frustrated?
“It’s frustrating. It’s getting harder to find anyone who’s actually worthy of joining us,” Delta Giana said, shaking her head.
"I've said this before, we should go back to our ancestral rules," Beta Dylan said. "Recruit kids or teenagers. It's easier to shape them however we want and make them obey us."
I winced at his words. He said that because he was not a father yet.
"Our Alpha is Celeste now." Beta Dylan threw the difficult decision at me. “She knows the late Alpha Benedict’s rules have kept our numbers from growing for the last three years.”
Gamma Silas and Delta Giana stared at me, waiting, demanding my answer. I felt like I was standing at the edge of a cliff, and whether they pulled me up or pushed me off depended on what I would say.
Many of our members were aging. They could no longer run fast without gasping for breath. We needed young people.
“Are you going to separate them from their parents?” I asked, a worried expression on my face.
“Of course not.” Gamma Silas shook his head. “We’re not that cruel. We wouldn’t separate a child from its parents.”
“There are so many abandoned children in this world, Alpha,” Delta Giana said. “You’d be surprised how many there are if we brought them all to our headquarters.”
"I'll help with the selection," Beta Dylan said, looking way too excited. I had no idea what was going through his head. "I'm good at reading people and getting their emotions under control."
"What's your decision, Alpha?" Gamma Silas asked. They didn't give me time to think. We were desperate for new members before the older ones reached the end of their lives.
"I agree, as long as we don't separate them from their parents and force them to join us." There was no other solution to this problem. After all, the rule had been in place since ancient times, and Benedict was the only one who didn't enforce it.
For the first time, I felt like I was their Alpha. How happy I was that they asked for and listened to my opinion.