Chapter 49 Chapter 49
Suki’s world became still as the traumas of Brendan’s past began replaying in her mind like a horror movie; the visuals of his home pack and his own brother standing right in front of her made the story that much more vivid than before.
Blindly gaping at Hadeon, Suki hadn’t even realised she was staring at him so intensely.
Luckily, Reynard had noticed before Hadeon became suspicious and nudged Suki.
She shook her head and grabbed his hand swiftly. “Sorry, I’m mesmerised by your home, it’s beautiful. You said your name was… Hadeon?”
“Yes, Hadeon Ateos,” he said, giving a more present smile. His smile was almost as beautiful as Brendan’s. It was obviously their good looks ran in the family.
Suki swallowed, suppressing her wandering mind. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for allowing us to be guests in your pack.”
Hadeon chuckled, “You can thank Alpha Conri when you meet with him later. I’ll take it from here, Talon.”
Talon huffed, “You know I was told not to leave their side.”
Tilting his head slightly, Hadeon’s smile became more smug. “Of course, how silly of me.” Yes, he was definitely Brendan’s brother. Leading Suki and Reynard further into the village of Nighttide, he continued speaking to Suki, “You must be hungry; we have some divine restaurants you could indulge in before you meet with the Alpha.” He placed his hand on Suki’s shoulder, guiding her.
Reynard’s nostrils flared as a protective fire sparked within him, but he pushed it aside, knowing his mate could protect herself from any flirtatious man.
Suki looked up at Hadeon, examining him like she was trying to get inside his mind.
Looking down at her, he arched a brow. “Everything alright?”
“No,” she cleared her throat. “We’re happy to move forward with the meeting. We don’t want to keep Alpha Conri waiting.”
“Very well.”
✧ ✧ ✧
Hadeon led Suki and Reynard to the town hall, through countless doors, until they eventually made it to the meeting room where Alpha Conri was finishing up his previous meeting.
“Are these our guests from Moonstone?” Alpha Conri questioned.
“Yes, sir, delivered to you by yours truly.” Hadeon looked at Suki, overly pleased with himself. “I’ve got duties to tend to. Good luck and see you around, pretty wolf,” he said before walking off.
Reynard held back a snarl.
Alpha Conri stood from his chair and paced over towards them.
A glimmer of fear twisted in Suki’s chest as she watched this mighty oak of a man stomp over to her. He was much taller than any other werewolf she had ever seen, and wider too – all muscle. There was an intimidating aura that radiated off of him.
Images of him choking 14-year-old Brendan flashed in her mind. He must have been so scared; no wonder he thought he was going to die by Alpha Conri’s hand. Even she questioned her life in that moment.
Suki bowed deeper than she usually would. “Suki Twyla of the Moonstone pack,” she said speedily. As she straightened, she gestured to Rey. “And this is my personal guard and good friend, Reynard Otake.”
“It’s an honour to meet you, sir,” Reynard placed his fist across his chest and bowed.
“I knew an Otake from Moonstone. You don’t happen to be the son of Remus Otake, are you?”
Clearing his throat, Reynard nodded, “Yes, sir, that’s me.”
The Alpha held a pause, then exhaled, “I’m sorry for your loss. When I heard the news about what happened, I wanted to send my condolences, but then our pack was attacked and, well, more chaos seemed to strike us continuously.”
“It’s okay,” Reynard kept himself standing tall, “thank you for your condolences.”
He shook his head. “Terrible what happened to your parents,” he said as he walked back over to his seat and gestured to the pair to sit down too. “After all that trauma, you decided to become a warrior?”
Reynard nodded as they took their seats. “Yes, I wanted to make sure I could protect the people of my pack and ensure the people I love are always safe. I don’t want anything like what I experienced to happen to anyone ever again.”
Alpha Conri clasped his hands together. “They both would be proud to see the man you’ve become.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Let’s begin, shall we? The Beta made it seem like having this meeting meant life or death, so, what is it I can help you with?”
“Actually, since you mentioned it, I was hoping you could give us more insight into the attack on your pack all those years ago,” Suki said with slight hesitation in her tone.
Any small piece of kindness that was held on Alpha Conri’s face vanished. “Why do you need to know about our darkest time?”
Suki swallowed, “Um, we have reason to believe that whatever threatened and attacked your pack is going to strike again. We think that was the vision the seer-witch had seen.”
He growled, “They will never attack us again, I’ve made sure of it.”
“Yes, sir, I understand you have taken precautions, but our pack and many others are vulnerable; we don’t have a shield around our borders as you do. We need help–”
He slammed his fists against the table as he stood and roared, “NO ALLIANCES!”
Shivering, Suki tried to continue, “No, sir, this isn’t about an alliance–”
“Last time we were in the works for an alliance, we were attacked. I will NOT risk the lives of my people like that again.”
Suki’s mouth felt dry; she wasn’t getting anywhere with him. “I understand and respect that, sir. This is not about gaining alliances; we at Moonstone respect that many packs want to utilise their resources to fend for themselves. However, I have a problem with not knowing why one of the strongest packs in the world was attacked. So, please, help me understand so I can help my people – that’s all I want to do.”
Alpha Conri stayed silent. He crossed his arms and examined Suki.
“I know it was humans that attacked the pack,” Suki stated, slightly more annoyed than she intended.
Reynard looked at her wide-eyed. ‘You weren’t meant to tell him that,’ he pushed through the bond.
A wrathful glare grew on Alpha Conri’s face, “Is that so? And how do you know such a thing?”
“I have an impeccable resource.”
“Who is this resource?”
Suki retorted, “I never said it was a person.”
The Alpha sneered, “You never said it wasn’t.”
Lowering her head, Suki sighed, “Alpha Conri, please, I implore you to give us some guidance on why the humans attacked. I can’t go home empty-handed; my pack is in danger.”
“How so?”
“Aside from the seer telling us a threat is coming to the werewolf race? We’ve had a mysterious case of someone losing their wolf powers temporarily.”
The rage dissipated from Alpha Conri’s face, fading into a more concerned look. “A curse?”
“No, sir – there were no detections of wolfsbane, magic or even a curse, nothing of the sort of things we would know to deal with. I wouldn’t have asked to come here unless I thought it was dire for us. So, any information you give would be extremely helpful.”
Finally, the Alpha seemed to shed his intimidating and wrathful aura. His body relaxed as he leaned against the back of his chair and breathed. “Your father mentioned how persistent you are,” he mused, “he trained you well.”
She smiled faintly but proudly.
“I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer you, Beta-daughter. Humans breached through an invisible hole in the barrier created by a traitor of our pack. Once he was banished, the threat also left with that disgusting bastard.”
Suki contained her bubbling annoyance and waited for him to continue.
He exhaled, “The humans were ruthless. Even though we as a pack are mighty, it was as if they knew all our tactics – how we fight, how we win. They countered us with no flaws, they shot us with tranquilisers and wolfsbane to weaken us, they tasered us with such a high voltage of electricity that we had no strength left once our healing kicked in.”
“So, what are you saying?”
“It wasn’t just that the traitor opened up access for the humans to attack. They also had to tell them our weaknesses. That is why the traitor was banished. The one thing I’m not certain of is why the humans came here to attack, but I can take a wild guess.”
Leaning forward, Suki blinked and eagerly waited for him to finish.
Alpha Conri stroked his beard and hummed, “I believe the humans want to wipe out the werewolf race.”