54

54

Kaylan's POV:

I look at the longer message written on my phone, taking a deep breath, knowing that it's going to be a long read. "Go slower," I command to the driver. "I want it to be easy for me to take a detour just in case I find that it's necessary later." He does as I command, moving the car at a tortoise-like pace while I read through the message, or at least attempt to.

"What the fuck!" I exclaim out loud, noticing that the words are unrecognizable. "What's the meaning of this?" I send to Alex, who responds, "It's rather secret information, so I sent it in a code." I blink. "How am I supposed to read this now?" It seems like Alex is just fucking around with me, using his technical knowledge to his advantage and simply trying to have fun with me personally.

"I can't read whatever code you sent to me, so meet me. I'm currently heading and very close to the large oak tree bordering Starlight Park," I message him. "I hope you can get there on time." "Yes," comes the simple response, and I put away my phone. As long as I'm going to get the full clarification of this, I don't really mind the disrespect of sending me such a message.

Soon he arrives, and I know it's him because of the way he drives—systematically and calculating. Just seeing the way he turns the car around the bend in order to meet my own car, I have no doubt that he's the one because it's nothing short of a perfect turn. He comes out of the car and waits for me to do the same. I follow suit, coming out to meet him.

"So what is it you wanted to tell me?"

"It wasn't just a random attack," he points out. "It's not like the usual attacks because it's just a couple of sightings. They're like spies scouting from the rogues in order to foreshadow a much larger scene," he says. "Some people sighted them there, so I decided to report this one to you, especially just in case it means something more than we think at the moment."

I frown at him. That's one way to put it. He's literally presenting me with puzzle pieces that are so scattered that I don't even see or know if there's a full picture in the end. I stop myself from glaring at him. It's his job to solve this kind of process for me because I just can't, but it's important for me to know about it as well.

"Right then, I think we should enter my car so we can figure this out," I tell him.

He looks at his own car and frowns before smiling. "Your driver can drive mine back while I will drive for you."

"Pretty good idea," I tell him, and so we do as agreed.

I enter my car once again, and he takes the driver's seat, speeding along the road, clearly with a direction in mind. I simply let him drive, thinking about what he had said carefully. A couple of sightings of spies—well, if that actually happened, then I know there is a pretty good chance of a massive onslaught, a massive attack going to take place soon enough because this is pretty much the preceding factor.

"We need to get ready," I say, and he nods in agreement.

"Indeed, we need to get ready," he responds to me. "It might become a fully blown war anytime from now."

"Luckily, we already have a kind of alliance," I say, smiling. "With the pack of Alpha Zander. I'm pretty sure we are going to find it much easier to deal with them if they don't already stuck with their own wisdom," I tell him.

He doesn't respond, simply driving and stepping even harder on the accelerator. Before long, I see the car finally coming to a halt, screeching and stopping at a specific location. He opens the door and comes down, looking at me to do the same. I follow suit, frowning at his actions and wondering what I'm supposed to find here.

"This is where it happened," he says. "Where the people were sighted. Do you know the strange fact about it? They didn't just come and go like normal spies," he tells me.

I frown at him, waiting for him to explain.

"They took a couple of people—like kidnappings," he says. "Our people. Some of them have been stolen away by the rogues, and I have no idea why they were taken, but it's done already."

I freeze. Now that is a personal offense that I can't let go. For them to come and take citizens of my pack away—it is something absolutely terrible. It is one thing for them to fight against us and kill because then we also get to fight against them in return and kill them, blow for blow, strike for strike. It is even at that time, but taking captives—that is something that should not happen at all.

Sure, we can take captives of them because all of them are in on the matter, and they have information that we can leverage. What's more, we are the legitimate pack, and they are the aggressors, so I think it is good for us to take captives and that we are also allowed. But for them? No, they aren't allowed to take captives at all.

I glare into space, looking at Alex after a while before saying, "This is the last straw. How can my people be suffering God knows what condition in their hands? It's like they really want us to go all out against them and obliterate them, going on the offensive instead of defending like we plan to do," I tell him.

"Alpha," he calls slowly, his voice shaking a little. "You need to calm down. You don't want to make a decision when you are not completely rational or emotional, alright?"

I respond to him simply, my eyes narrowed into slits. "We have been calm enough, watching and waiting for them to stop their foolishness, but now I'm going to take the war over to them," I tell him.

"Alpha, please," he starts, but I shake my head.

"I'm taking this to them. We'll wage war on the rogue packs now. They are many, and they are scattered, but they seem to be pretty much united for this cause this time around. We've been letting them live in the shadows, fester like wounds around us, but at the moment, I'm done with all that. We will lead the raids into those packs and destroy them all—men, women, children alike—people who seem to be surviving because they are taking our mercy lightly."

He looks at me, his eyes wide in fright. I have hardly seen him like this before. He seems to know that I am out of control, that I am simply speaking out of anger. But I don't care any less at the moment. He lets out a deep breath, not saying anything as I stare right into space.

"Give me a gun," I say.

He frowns but obeys me without letting me ask a second time. I take it in my hand and then look at him.

"I'm going to get back our captives right now," I tell him.

He blinks. "You can't—" he starts, but I am already walking away briskly, with determined steps as I set my jaw, not wanting to change my mind at all for any reason.

Soon he rushes up to me, and I frown at him. "What's the matter?"

"I'm going to get them back. I'm not sure that concerns you."

"If you're going, then I'm going with you," he tells me.

I glance as he takes out a gun also, smiling at me. He still looks like he doesn't know exactly what I am doing, like he thinks that this is a very foolish idea—which it probably is. But the expression on his face also suggests that despite what he thinks, he is going to follow my lead. He is my beta after all, and that is his job—to follow my lead no matter where I go.