Darian's POV
The journey from Red Moon Pack to Ciara's Pack was a stressful one. After the warfare, walking back to Ciara's Pack, which was an hour walk, wasn't an easy task. We didn't come with enough horses, so the ones we came with were used to transport the wounded soldiers, and one was left aside for my mate Elena. Many of the soldiers couldn't shift into their wolf packs due to how tired they were, and in order to assure everyone's security, I suggested that we all walk back together, while Richard and his soldiers stayed back and burned all the dead soldiers.
After an hour of tiring travel, we finally arrived at Ciara's pack, and before our arrival, the sun had already started setting slowly.
We were still some distance away from the pack when we spotted Ciara and her soldiers approaching us.
Once Ciara saw us, she came down from her horse and started running towards us. As she was approaching, I thought she was coming to congratulate me for winning the battle, but to my greatest surprise, she passed me, ignoring my greetings, and went and hugged Elena tightly.
With the way she hugged her and the baby tightly, you would think that Elena was her daughter, that she had been lost for a very long time, and that she just found her.
"I can't believe my eyes, Elena. Is this really you?" Ciara asked Elena while placing her hand on her cheeks in order to assure herself that it's truly her.
"Yes, it's me, Alpha Ciara. I thought that I would never see you again," Elena said to Ciara, who couldn't contain her joy.
"Can I see the baby?" Ciara asked Elena, who didn't hesitate to hand the baby over to her.
"Wow, he's so cute and gorgeous; the problem is that he resembles his father," Ciara said to Elena before turning his gaze towards me, and immediately I rolled my eyes angrily at her.
"What's his name?" Ciara asked Elena while admiring the baby she was clutching closely to her chest.
"His name is Richard," Elena said to Ciara, who furrowed his brows at her.
"Did you name him after your mate's twin brother?" Ciara asked Elena with a surprised tone.
"Actually, he was the one who named him after himself, and when he did, I didn't know that the both of them were related," Elena said to Ciara, who nodded in agreement before turning her gaze towards me, a mockery smile hovering over her face.
"It seems like your brother loves you so much to the extent that he named your first son after himself," Ciara said to me with a mockery tone.
"He didn't do that out of love, Ciara; he only did that so that I will always remember the name of the person who tried to snatch my mate away from me and also adopt my son; if it depended on me, I would have already changed the name," I said to Ciara, who chuckled mockingly at me before turning his gaze towards Elena.
"Hope you aren't hurt, my dear." Ciara asked Elena, and she shook her head negatively.
"Thank goodness nothing happened to you and your son; if your mate had returned here without you or returned with you but something had happened to you, I wouldn't have hesitated in clawing his head off," Ciara said to Elena before turning her gaze towards me and rolling her eyes angrily at me.
"Let's go in, dear; my room is still your room just as usual," Ciara said to Elena, who nodded and followed from behind.
"Won't you ask me how I'm fairing after the battle?" I asked Ciara as she was passing by me.
Once I asked her the question, she handed Richard back to Elena and walked to where I was standing.
"What did you say?" She asked me while peering into my eyeballs.
"Nothing," I replied before turning my gaze away.
"With that, she looked at me for some seconds before stepping on my foot violently.
"Argh!!!" I screamed in pain while limping towards a tree in order to support myself.
"What was that for Ciara?" I asked her in the midst of pain.
"That was for everything you made Elena go through," she said to me before walking away.
"Let go, my dear," he said to Elena, who was withholding herself from laughing.
After Ciara had left with Elena, I sat next to the tree, enjoying the fresh air. I still couldn't believe that after all these months of struggle, I had finally found Elena, and not only did I find her, I had also rescued her from those trying to hurt her because of me. Now the next step is proving to her that I have changed for the better and also making her fall in love with me.
"Keep on dreaming," Shadow said to me after mind-linking with me.
"So you have finally decided to speak to me after snubbing me for months, right?" I asked Shadow through the link.
"You know me well, Darian. I always respect my given word. I told you that I would start discussing with you when you finally rescue our mate, and you have already rescued her, so now we can talk as usual," he said to me through the link.
"You are so unbelievable, Shadow, and what about if I decide to snub just like you snubbed me too? What are we going to do about it?" I asked him through the link.
"You can't do that, Darian; after all, you don't have a valid reason to do that," he said to me through the link.
"Whatever Shadow, just leave me alone; I have many things running through my head," I said to him.
"You mean things like how to make a mate fall in love with you?" Shadow asked me through the link with a mockery tone.
"Thought I told you to leave me alone?" I asked him while feigning to be angry.
"While thinking about how to get a mate to fall in love with you, you should also be thinking about how we are going to get our pack back; mind you, this isn't our pack," Shadow said to me through the link, and immediately I heaved heavily.
"I think you are right, Shadow; we need to get our pack back as soon as possible, but the question is: how are we going to defeat the supreme Alphas? Remember what they did to me the last time I tried fighting against them?" I said to Shadow, who sighed heavily.
"Why don't you go and ask Ciara if she has any ideas on how to defeat them? You know that she knows many things," Shadow said to me through the link.
"And why haven't I thought about that since?" I asked Shadow while standing up from where I was sitting.
"That's because I'm the smart one and you are the dumb one," he said to me through the link.
"Thanks so much; I really appreciate that," I said to him sarcastically before blocking the link.
I was walking through the corridor leading to Ciara's chamber when I saw Elena coming out of her chamber; surely she wanted to go and take something outside.
Once our eyes met, she immediately bent her head. While approaching me, as she was about to walk past me, I held her hand and pulled her closer to me, and immediately she gasped in fear. Without hesitating, I immediately clashed my lips on hers, just as I did in Alpha Benson's palace.