Chapter 76

NATHANIEL

Miles and I walked back to the office. I knew Dane wanted to talk to Emily, and he would be with us afterward.

We walked into the office. "I think we need to have your father in here too," said Miles as he took a seat on the couch.

I nodded.

I opened a mind link to my father and asked him to come to the office, as we had something to discuss. I didn't want to give him much over the link.

I looked over to Miles, whose face was blank.

"You okay?" I asked as I took the seat opposite him.

Miles shook his head and looked at me. "I'm fine," he said. "My old pack knows what they need to know about; I didn't mention anything about Mila, only that I found my sister. The Alpha was shocked but happy that I wanted to be with her."

I smiled, even though it was a weak one.

Miles looked at me. He gave me a knowing look, but before he could say anything, the office door opened, and Dane and my father walked in.

Once the door was closed and they were seated. Dane and I told my father about Eric.

After we explained what we knew, my father looked angry.

"The witch is using someone we know," he said. "We need to get him here and place him under house arrest. We need to know what she knows."

I would agree with him, but Emily's voice told me we needed to keep the witch focused on us, so Mila had a fighting chance of saving the children and the dragon.

"We should," I said. "But we won't."

My father looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Nate, we need..." he started to say, but I cut him off. "Dad, listen to what we have planned. We must keep the witch focused on us so that Mila can save the children and the dragon. Emily and Gloria are making a potion or spell, leaving Mila's scent around the pack house, making Eric and everyone else think she is here. We can feed Eric false information to him so that it can go back to the witch."

I stopped and looked at him. His face was natural, but he nodded for me to carry on. But I looked at Miles and motioned for him to carry on.

"We need to ensure Aria is focused on us or as long as possible," he said. "Anna has been in contact with Archer, and everyone is fine. It seems they have met a witch who is on their side."

I looked at him; he had never told us this before.

Miles looked at me. "Anna mind linked me when she got to Gloria's room. Archer got hold of her and told her that everything was fine. He knew that we were all worried about Mila," he said with a warm smile.

I nodded.

Ox was close at the mention of Mila, and he has been resting in my head for the last few hours. "Mate," he whispered with a slight whimper.

I sighed. I knew how he was feeling as I was feeling the same too.

I shook my head to get back to the present. "How's Mila?" I asked. Ox was sitting on his hind legs now, staring through my eyes.

"She's fine," he said. "It seems Mila's magic is more powerful than we can imagine. She struggles to control it, but it is more affected by her emotions."

I stared at him; I wondered if it was my fault.

"Don't let your head go there," said Dane, which made me look up at him. "Emily ripped me a new one about how I was walking on eggshells around her, but she's right about one thing. Our mates have been through so much, and we need to have some faith and hope."

"Dane's right," said my father. "Mila's strong, and I agree with what you said. We must make it look like she is here with the pack house. We need a few members to be involved, members we can trust to go along with it."

I looked at him and frowned. "We don't need too many people knowing," I said. "We need only a handful; we need to keep it between as many as we can, but I think we could have one or two guards and omega's chime in once we get them vetted to know if we can trust them."

My father nodded. "I think I know two that will help, and Miles can vet them if you want," he said as he looked at Miles.

Miles nodded.

"I will," he said.

We carried on making plans to keep Eric guessing and also made up some information that we knew that Aria would like to know. We needed to make this as believable as possible so Aria has no clue that we are playing her.

After an hour, there was a knock on the door, and Emily, Gloria, and Anna walked in.

"We got it," Emily said as she walked over to Dane. She looked at me and smiled. "We made it into a spray with Mila's scent in it. It wasn't hard to create," she said. "We can spray it around certain areas of the pack house."

I nodded.

I looked at the little can in her hand, and my mind was going a hundred miles an hour. I wonder if it smells like her scent, I thought.

Ox was curious too.

I could feel eyes on me. "Think fast, Nate," called Gloria, which pulled me out of my thoughts. She throws me a little spray bottle. I caught it with one hand and looked at her. "What's this for?" I asked her.

Gloria looks at me, but a smirk forms on her face. "We have about four sprays made, but I made sure we made an extra one for you," she said. "This might help you and your wolf for the time being."

I looked at the spray bottle, but I could feel Ox push forward and comes as one with me.

"Mate," we said.

We look up, and everyone is staring at us.

I closed my eyes, and I looked back at him. "Ox, we need to be careful," I said. "We need to use this when we miss her."

Ox whines. "I miss her now," he said.

I stared back at him. "I know," I said. "We will use it in our room."

Ox nodded, but he looked defeated once again.

This is hard on him, I can tell. Not only is Mila wherever she is, but we have no clue if she wants us as her mate.

Ox would force the mark on her if he had his way. But that's not what we will do; I need to show Mila that I have changed.

I pulled back from Ox and looked at everyone else.

"I think we should all rest," I said. "Dane, you keep an eye on Eric tomorrow. And the rest of you, I think we need to train too. We don't know when all this will go down, and we need to be prepared."

I looked at my father. "Mind link all pack members and notify them that training will commence every morning at eleven. And all must train," I said.

"Emily, can you get word to the townspeople to join in the training," I asked her. She nodded.

"We all need to rest and prepare," I said.

Everyone all agreed and got up to leave the leave office. I watched them go one by one until I was left alone.

I looked down at the spray and opened it. I sprayed it next to me, and I could feel my heart race.

It was Mila's scent.

Ox breathes it in, and it instantly calms him. He sits back down in my head and puts his head on his front paws. "Not mate," he said. "But it's okay for now."

I couldn't agree more, and it would have to do for now. Well, until she comes back to the pack.