Chapter 27: Triumph Card

Chapter 27: Triumph Card
Logan was watching Laila as she returned to their little cave. His first plan had worked out. He knew where she was. The next thing was to earn her trust, so he could infiltrate and find out what exactly Adam was to her. The both of them lived like two kids on an abandoned island. One played housekeeper while the other was the sole breadwinner. Adam would leave every morning to the creek just behind them to get fish, which they used to hide away their scents. Logan found the trick disturbing because not only could enemies not perceive their scent, they couldn't perceive enemies' scent either. But the idea was for his good because he could spend days near their cave and Adam would never sniff him out.
Adam treated Laila like a precious gem that he had to protect with his whole life and she didn't even know what exactly she was. Sometimes at night, Logan moved close enough to the mouth of their cave to be able to pick out their conversation but none gave a clue as to what they were. Or why Adam was helping her. He had been stalking them for days now and he still hadn't found an answer for Damon. Why was Adam interested in protecting Laila Danvers?
Despite not getting any answer, Logan was determined not to give up. He continued his job, watching and observing them from a distance. He also kept an eye out for other intruders such as Kyle who he knew was bent on finding Laila Danvers too.
The day was slowly coming to an end and Logan started retiring to the little cocoon he had made to rest on top of an old mango tree. The scent of mango helped in masking his scent but unlike the fish, Adam used, he could still pick out the scent of any creature within a yard from him.
He got to the large tree and climbed up like a professional, making it look so easy with one hand only. From a distance, one would think he flew to the top of the tree.
The tree branches were as wide as two meters and he could comfortably flip and turn in his sleep without the fear of falling off.
Before falling off to sleep, he decided to call Damon. It had been days since they last spoke and he wondered if they had found Max and what he had been up to. The phone rang out once and Damon picked it up like he was waiting for it.
"Logan? Is everything okay?" Damon asked him, breathing fast like he was having a panic attack.
Logan noticed the strange pitch to his Alpha's voice. He sounded worried. He sounded like he was anxious about something terrible happening. Immediately, Logan knew something was wrong. Something had happened.
"Everything is fine Alpha, are you okay?" Logan inquired in a small voice.
"Yeah, I am good," Damon replied, lying through his teeth. Though his voice increased in frequency, Logan knew he was only trying to cover it up so as not to worry him. Damon didn't want him to know what was worrying him.
"Alpha, I know you too well to believe that. What happened? " Logan asked.
But Damon didn't want to tell Logan about everything that happen. He didn't want Logan to get worried and then get distracted. He wouldn't be able to take it, if something were to happen to Logan, Damon wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He had already lost Max, he would not lose another soldier to this war he was fighting blind.
Logan knew he would have to threaten Damon to make him talk. Damon always liked to carry all his burden on his own, thinking he was protecting his people but sometimes one had to share their problems with friends for a solution to be found.
"Alpha if you don't tell me, I am going to abort this mission and return home as soon as possible," Logan warned. "And I mean it! Why would you be hiding things from me? If you hide it from everybody else, at least you could share it with me. I am your Beta, it is my job to share your burden. But if you refuse to tell me, then I have no choice but to return home!" He snapped.
Though he was only pretending to be angry, he wished Damon would listen to him, even if it was just once. Damon was stubborn and barely listened to anyone. He thought he could always handle things on his own but that wasn't the case. Sometimes one just had to let go of their fears and trust somebody. That was why presidents had vice presidents and Alphas had betas. No ruler could do it on their own.
Damon on the other hand stayed glued to the phone. He was quiet as he contemplated whether to tell Logan the truth or not. It was true that he preferred handling everything on his own but he knew there were some things he had to share.
"I just got jumpy when I saw your call. It's nothing!" Damon tried to wave off the matter but Logan was not having it.
Again, Logan could tell Damon was still hiding something but he couldn't put his finger on what it could be exactly. So, he threatened him again.
"Fine," Logan growled.
"First thing tomorrow morning I will drive out of here! When you are done feeling sorry for yourself you can call me and tell me what is wrong! Because I see no other way I can work with you if you can't even trust me." Logan barked, he was about to end the call when Damon's voice came up.
"Max is dead." The line went quiet as Damon waited for Logan's reaction while the latter stayed frozen in his thoughts.
It took Logan at least three seconds to properly understand the words Damon had said. Max couldn't have died —he thought.
"What did you say?" Logan asked slowly.
Damon took a deep breath before responding. "Max is dead but I promise you, I will find whoever did it and I will make them pay!" Damon spat.
Logan couldn't believe someone as strong and full of life as Max could just die like that. He felt his heart squeeze in pain and tears threatened to fall but he swallowed his pain and redirected the energy to anger instead. They had to take vengeance. Max's blood could not be allowed to go to waste like that. Max was worth more than that!
"Who did it?" Logan demanded, his voice vibrating with anger.
"We don't know yet but we are suspecting Adam, Laila, or Kyle. They are the only other werewolves in the area with the power to defeat Max." Logan could feel the anger in Damon's voice as he explained their skepticism to him but he knew better.
"It can't be Laila and Adam," Logan said slowly.
"Are you sure?" Damon asked. He had his doubts too. But he didn't want to cancel the option without good proof that they didn't do it. Adam was known to kill for fun while Laila was said to roam till the end of the world bringing destruction to werewolves on her path. He could neither trust them nor rule them out of his list.
"Yes, Alpha, I am sure. Adam has been around here for days now. He doesn't move too far from Laila and whenever he leaves, he only does so to get fish-"
"Fish?" Damon wondered. What did fish have to do with this? —Damon wondered.
"Yeah, to mask their scent. And Lai r runs around in the open fields. I have been watching their every move. It couldn't have been them."
"That leaves us with only one option. Kyle Mathews..." Damon trailed off.
"We will make him pay. I will return to our camp tomorrow, we have to track down that bastard!" Logan snarled.
"No, you should stay put. Keep watching Laila and Adam. They are our trump card." Damon explained.
"How? I don't understand?" Logan couldn't see why he had to stay in the field watching Laila and Adam like a babysitter when he could be back with them, tracking down the devil called Kyle. Now Damon was saying Adam and Laila were their trump cards. "Trump cards for what?"
"Listen, there is something bigger going on. I have taken the boys back to New Orleans. I am going to dig around and find out exactly what Laila is capable of and why Adam is protecting her. As much as I don't trust Adam, I'll rather live with him than with Kyle," Damon said.
Logan nodded his head in understanding. Laila could mean so much to them and they had to keep her on their side. "Okay, Alpha, you do what you have to do, I will be here and keep doing my job."
"Thank You Logan and please, stay safe. Do not engage Kyle if you see him. Just stay put and send me a signal," Damon said before ending the call.
Logan relaxed on his makeshift bed, looking out into the dark. Kyle Mathews was going to pay, not just for Max, but for all the cruel deeds he had done to all the werewolves in the city of fangs. Both he and his boss, Supremo. They were cruel and had no mercy for anyone, soon they would be the ones to beg for mercy.

Mike had been on the road for a long time now. He hadn't seen any more motels and he was starting to worry. Had he been driving in the wrong direction? Did he perhaps leave them behind? Was he not paying attention? Jimmy might have been a joy killer, but he had eyes for details. He would have seen something he hasn't been able to pick out no matter what.
He asked himself over and over again as he drove on and on to a place even he could no longer recognize. Perhaps he made a mistake. He shouldn't have run away from his partner.