Chapter 92- Who Will Lead Our Children?

The entire hall was filled with visibly angsty pack members and Asher could feel the change in various emotions once he walked him; some were angry, some were sad or unbothered, while a large number of them were plain confused.

The slight bickering between the large number had come to a pause and they stood up to acknowledge their Alpha, to which Asher held up his hand and shook his head, “Nome of that now”, he strode over to the stage and could feel their eyes burning into his skull.

He could not lie and say he wasn’t somehow nervous about this entire thing. Alpha or not, he had never liked facing large crowds and tried to avoid it however he could, but this time was different. His pack members deserved to know what was happening, no more leaving them in the dark.

At first, he thought of starting his speech with a simple, ‘We are doomed’ but even he knew that would cause more damage than good.

He sighed, “I believe it is time for all of you to know what’s going on”, he bit the inside of his mouth until he was able to feel some pain and draw blood. “As a good number of you know, my girlfriend and your Beta’s sister has been kidnapped”, murmurs filled the hall once again and Asher allowed them to discuss it among themselves and make all the false speculations they wanted before silencing them, “As much as I would love to say that we have everything under control, we don’t because a pack member has betrayed us” his face turned deadly serious, “Addilyn Villain is a traitor who will be killed once sighted. She has plotted ways to bring the pack down for revenge and we should be expecting her to attack with her new found rogue pack at anytime”.

He paused and allowed them to ask questions, “I heard that Viola is an accomplice, is that true?”, a woman enquired. Asher knew he could say yes and make the entire pack hate her, he wanted to say yes! But somehow, he could not bring himself to do it,

“No, she is not a part of this”, he found her eyes at the front row and they shone with surprise, “She is just here to search for her sister”,

“It’s hard to believe that, knowing that Viola was very jealous of her sister. Plus, why was it Imogen that was kidnapped instead of Viola, isn’t Viola your mate?”, how his pack members kept up with the latest news and gossip of the pack baffled him. They knew practically everything! How did he think they were in the dark?

“See”, he sighed, “Imogen was taken because she is the woman I love. It’s only through her that they can properly get to me- but not anymore, we are going to find a solution and get her back”, he was hopeful, he could feel that their success rate had become higher because he had come clean to them… in a way.

“Why put the entire pack in danger to save one person? She is not even our Luna and she can never give you heirs. Who will lead our children when your time comes to an end?”, leave Imogen? What on earth was this man suggesting? How dare he?!

“Imogen was the closest thing to a Luna that you had and all of you knew it! She took care of you guys no matter what, she gave without expecting back and she loved every single one of you unconditionally- she doesn’t deserve to go through what she’s going through. She is a good person!”, he snapped.

A woman shut to her feet, “Some of us are nice too, Alpha!”, she pressed her lips into a thin line, knowing that her next words would be an icebreaker, “But if it were just a random, nice pack member, would you put this much effort or will you even go through the stress?”.

Asher’s entire body stiffened, he narrowed his eyes at the woman and tilted his head to the side. She had kept him in a tight spot and he hated it, what was he meant to say and why was he even thinking about it?

“Yes”, he said after a long pause, “After all, you are all members of my pack”,

“I call bullshit”, another person said and Asher’s eyebrow rose up in surprise, “How do you expect us to believe you when you have shown no care for us in a long time”,

“First of all”, Asher spat angrily, “Watch your tongue when you are talking to me, I am your Alpha and you will respect me!”, his blood boiled but he knew he had to calm himself down, now was not the time to get angry, he needed to stay focused.

He sighed, “I understand that I haven’t been the best Alpha lately, heck, I’ve barely even been your Alpha lately and I am sorry”, he said sincerely, “But this fight is inevitable, whether or not it involves saving Imogen. We are all in grave danger but I believe we can get through this… together”, he stepped back and allowed Darian to continue,

“Which is why we are placing in a curfew”, the crowd erupted in protest, “We understand, we get it, okay? But this has to be done in order to ensure the safety of all”, Darian spoke.

A man stood up, “But my mate is pregnant, how do I tend to her midnight cravings if I don’t go out?”,

“We have put in place guards at every region that will be able to tend to your requests after the curfew time”, he answered, “Also, there are limits to where you can go. Please, no wondering into the woods and parents should keep an eye on their pups- we are trying to avoid casualties”, he took a step back knowing the next thing that was going to be said had to be voiced by the Alpha.

“We are short staffed of guards, we have also broken alliance with all of the packs due to a few misunderstandings and the only pack that still stands by us is the sister pack and even then, we do not have enough warriors”, the crowd engaged in another round of murmurs,

“What does this mean?”,

Asher sighed, knowing his pack members were probably going to hate him for his next sentence, “All men, aged eighteen to thirty-five are to join the guards immediately and prepare for battle. This excludes those who are sick, injured, do not pass the doctor’s evaluation test or have a pregnant mate”, he ignored all their yells of protest, “That is all”, he climbed off the stage and made his way out, feeling like he was able to breath once he stepped outside.

It was a windy and rather silent evening, due to the fact that the streets were empty. He took in a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair- he had messed up, badly and he had no idea of how to fix this. What even was this?

He thought deeper and realized something; he was the one paying for his father’s actions. Addilyn wanted revenge because of what his father did to her so, why on earth was she after him and not his father?

He took in another deep breath but this time, the air smelt different. He turned his head back so fast, he nearly got a whiplash, “Thank you”, she said and his eyebrow went up in questioning, “For not ratting me out to everybody even though you could”,

“I saw nothing to gain from it”, he shrugged and turned away from her. She bit her lip and took a few steps closer to him,

“Why didn’t you?”, she sighed, “You know…”,

He huffed, “As I said, I have nothing to gain from it, I could tell them a million times over and it still won’t change a thing… sure, they might hate you but what do I have to gain from that?”, his pack members started to file out and he knew he needed to get away, “Besides, I need all hand on deck and making them hate my ally’s Beta is not the smartest move”, that was the last thing he said before walking away from her and heading back to his home.