Chapter 43 Shaken Calm
Alyssa's POV
I remained in Zayne's arms while he worked, the event with his mom was quickly forgotten. I didn't know what entered me but at the same time, it didn't feel terrible…maybe I felt bad that he used his Alpha command on his mom but there was no way I was going to remain sane watching him pick between Ivy and her perfect face or Brenda…whatever her name was. He was definitely mine and mine alone.
“We wouldn't have a problem if you keep thinking like that." Nira said, causing me to roll my eyes. "Is that your way of telling me you're proud of me?”
She shrugged, "you've made me proud a couple of times…can't complain."
“Thanks for that." I grumbled before looking over at the document Zayne was holding.
There was a frown on his face as he read the document which made me curious. If there was one thing I was certain about when it comes to my mate, was how he was swift when it came to dealing with pack business.
“What's going on?" I asked, leaning forward.
His hand tightened around me, “just this rogue who seems to be skilful in avoiding being caught and not knowing what his next step would be is driving me crazy.” He admitted.
"What about his smell?”
He explained how the person didn't have a smell which was making it difficult to trace. And he also avoided appearing on any of the CCTV cameras he had installed as if he had people on the inside but he knew that none of his warriors were crazy enough to betray him.
“But a witch…” the door opened and Xavier entered, his eyes landing on our position and he smiled softly.
"Do you want me to come back, Alpha?” He asked, "although there's something you need to see first of all.”
Not wanting to interrupt them, especially since it sounded serious, I made an attempt to stand up from Zayne's laps but his grip only tightened.
“Stay." He murmured and that's all I needed to hear before settling back into his arms as he let out a growl in satisfaction.
“What is it?" He asked Xavier.
Xavier sighed deeply, placing another report on the table, just in front of Zayne. “There was an attack," he started and I felt the air in the room thicken and my hand found Zayne as Xavier continued.
“Nobody was hurt and the warriors had things under control." He said, “they're in the dungeon right now…Tristan is handling them right now.”
Zayne thought about it for a second, his brows furrowed. "It's not him.” Xavier said even before Zayne asked. "I don't think I'm getting close to finding a witch."
I sat upright, collecting the report from Zayne, taking a good look at it. No scent, no footsteps…definitely a witch's doing but there has to be some other way of dealing with this without waiting for some witch to come to our rescue.
“You're on fire today, aren't you?" Nira teased, “but you've got a point though." She agreed.
The boys looked at me, waiting for me to spit out whatever was going through my head. "I think I know what to do.” I said.
"Hmm…Luna," Xavier started but changed his mind when my mate glared at him.
“What are you thinking of, Red?" He asked, meeting my gaze.
I took a deep breath, “I used to play around with some herbs when I was younger…” I started, the memories of my dad teaching me in his spare time came flooding back, making me realise how much I missed him but that wasn't what was important right now.
“There’s this plant he showed me…I think about scents and stuff, it helps to unmask smells. I remember him saying something about it being only available on a full moon.”
"Tomorrow's the full moon.” Xavier said, now fully interested. “And I think I've read something about that…but I can't place where.”
“Go look into it, we don't have much time." Zayne said, and Xavier hurried out of the office.
"Fuck! I can't believe all this while, I thought I was protecting you, not knowing you have the answers to what we've been looking for…thank you.”
I grinned widely, "we make a good team." I told him, kissing his lips. “And I do like you protecting me, from big bad guys."
He groaned softly, placing his forehead on mine. “I don't think I'm going to get anything done if you're close to me." He admitted and I chuckled, before pulling myself up.
“I guess I'll see you later.” I told him, in a poor attempt at sounding sexy.
“Thank you, baby." He said, and I frowned.
"I like it when you call me Red.”
"Duly noted.” He said, putting his hand in mock surrender, while smiling…I can't believe I got lucky.
“There's a lot of things you don't know," I heard Nira say as I opened the door but before I could ask her what she meant, I came face to face with Mel, whose hands were crossed in front of her.
I'll get to it later.
“Were you seriously standing here all the while?" I asked her, not hiding my surprise. "Girl, you need to take a break…have fun with your mate or something." I added and it was probably my imagination but a sad smile crossed her face but it was gone as soon as it came.
“I had to make sure you were okay." She said instead, leading me back to the childcare.
I wanted to argue that I didn't need protection when I was with my mate…he was the last person I needed to be protected from but I quickly pushed it aside in order not to push her if she wasn't ready to talk about it.
The girl's face lit up the moment they saw me, and after being around them for months now, I had a good idea what was going on in their heads.
“I can't believe you left us to go get some." Aileen said, “you lucky bitch!"
“I swear, both of you…"
“You can't deny it if you want, but we're going with the fact that you left us for Alpha Zayne…which is totally fine by the way.” Aria said, dragging the ‘totally’ and I just gave up.
Once they were done teasing me, I filled them in on the rogue situation and they had the same expression. “I trust the guys, they'll deal with it…I can't believe someone is dumb enough to want to spy on my brother, though.” Aileen said nonchalantly.
"What do you think they want?" I found myself asking.
“Their end?" Aileen said, making it sound more of a question than a statement. “And they'll definitely get it…I wouldn't mind watching when they do.”
I'm not asking about that.
But as they carried on with what they were doing, I found myself thinking about the rogues. What were they looking for? Witches? What exactly was their aim? And who was helping them?
Two of the kids running into my arms soon pushed the thoughts away but I knew I would still come back to it, seeing how I could push away the weird feeling in my chest