Chapter 146

Chapter 146

We woke up early in the morning for training. Although I felt like my anxiety kept trying to kick in every two seconds, I kept reminding myself I was better than this. I wasn't going to let him being here—for whatever reason—stop me from achieving my goals.

Ayla helped me with my fighting form. "You seem a little distracted. You good?" she said as she easily pinned me to the ground.

I blinked twice as I caught a whiff of his scent. "Yeah, uhmm... what time is that meeting again?"

"Right about now," she smiled as she helped me up.

"Great." I was hoping he wouldn't be there, but if he was going to be there, I was ready.

We walked towards the hall. A few people greeted me, acknowledging me as the greatest Alpha King's daughter. I was used to it. At first, it used to bother me because I wanted to be known for me and my own accomplishments, but I learned to be proud of my father, my family.

Once we got to the meeting hall, I was relieved Alpha Jeremiah wasn't in. Asher walked into the room and approached me before going to his seat. "Are you feeling alright now? Chase mentioned you weren't feeling so well."

I gave him a small nod. "I'm all good now. It was just exhaustion."

He watched me for a second before nodding and walking to his seat. I sighed a little before walking to the empty seat Ayla had saved for me.

"Seems like most Alphas are showing up," Zalem said as we watched the hall fill up with people.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it to be this full. Seems like almost every pack is taking this seriously," Ayla added.

Zalem nodded. "They say a lot of people are dying and a lot of packs are being destroyed, so this is good. Everyone needs to take this seriously."

I was about to say something when his scent hit me hard. It had my wolf almost howling for her mate. He was here. Our mate was here.

My eyes spotted Alpha Jeremiah the moment he walked in. He hadn't changed much, except for his jet-black hair, which had grown a little longer—down to his shoulders. His striking blue eyes found mine in a second, and it took everything in me to immediately look away and act like his existence didn't bother me.

I could feel his eyes still on me. It literally made my skin hot.

I could feel my pack members already watching me. I knew what they were thinking, but I pretended not to care about any of it.

Ayla looked at me. "You knew he was here. Are you okay, Astrid?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned.

I was strong. I didn't need anyone pitying me or worrying about me—I was my father's daughter after all.

"I am good, trust me," I told her with a perfect smile. Alpha Jeremiah could go to hell for all I cared.

"Welcome, everyone. First of all, I would like to thank all the leaders for showing up today, especially in these numbers. I did not expect this, but it makes me proud," Alpha Rajeeve said with a proud smile on his face. "Unfortunately, we are not here on a good occasion. Almost every pack is being targeted—we suspect by a rogue leader, Romario Gonzalos. He is a danger to all of us. He has already taken down a lot of packs, and he leaves no one alive."

"Have we figured out why he is attacking and destroying every pack?" one member asked, looking worried. At this point, everyone was worried because we knew the answer to that question.

Alpha Rajeeve sighed. "We don't know what his motive is yet, but we are hoping that if we all work together, we can figure that out and make our next move."

"And what move would that be, Alpha Rajeeve? We are wasting a lot of time trying to figure out his motive and what not. We need to act now—get rid of the guy before he gets rid of all of us," Alpha Jeremiah spoke up.

I scoffed, and everyone looked at me as if I had grown two heads.

Alpha Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at me. "Is there something you would like to say, Astrid?" he said, as if I were some stranger he didn't even know—which annoyed the shit out of me. I wanted to punch him in the face.

The most annoying part of it all was that my wolf felt the opposite way. Oh, she loved the way he said her name. The fact that he said it did it all for her.

"Your clever idea is to go to war with an ex-Alpha, a dictator, right now—without knowing how much control he has or over how many rogues. Goddess knows who else he is working with—he's obviously not alone to be making such big moves. We need a proper strategy. We need to know exactly what we are dealing with here, Alpha Jeremiah," I said, trying to keep my voice calm and my tone professional.

At least a lot of people agreed with me. Even Asher backed me on this one—and that man is usually never on my side.

"Astrid is right. Without proper strategizing... we could lose a lot of people."

"Let's start by figuring out what his agenda is. We caught a few of his rogues. We need answers from them. We need to know why, who he's working with, and how big his influence is—this man might have an army of rogues under his control," Alpha Rajeeve said sternly.

I smirked. "The good thing about rogues is they have no loyalty. They can easily turn if you give them the right bait, so we have an advantage."

I could feel Alpha Jeremiah watching me. It almost felt like admiration, but I wasn't going to let the mate bond make me delusional again.

"Okay, let's get right to it!" Alpha Rajeeve said with a smile.

As soon as the meeting was done, I didn't waste any time getting the hell out of there—away from the man who almost tore my heart apart.