Erika’s POV
I woke up and what I did last night flooded back to me. I still felt a little sick, but I had recovered my reason and I soon realized that I was poisoned. These days, I only left the pack once and I got poisoned. I gritted my teeth and couldn’t wait to find out who did it. I thought of the couples. They did smell strange. Now I thought about it, it must be the smell of poison. But how did they know that I would show up in the forest?
I got up and glanced around the room. The daggers had been cleaned. Derek must have left. I bet he didn’t sleep well last night.
Someone knocked on the door. It was Carl.
“Luna, Alpha Derek asked me to accompany you. How do you feel? Anything wrong?” he asked.
I’m good. Where’s Derek? I mind-linked him and I was surprised to find that I could mind-link him.
“Alpha is in the meeting room with other pack leaders. Luna, you can mind-link me!” Carl said excitedly and took out the phone. He told Derek the news.
I tried to mind-link Derek. I failed again. I was both frustrated and confused. Did the poison only worked on mates? Did this kind of obnoxious poison really exist? Or had the bond between me and Derek simply disappeared? During the ceremony, the Moon Goddess finally discovered her mistake.
No, I was overthinking. I was Derek’s mate. Nothing could change that, not the poison, not even the Moon Goddess.
I still can’t mind-link Derek. I mind-linked Carl and shrugged.
Then I began to braid my hair.
“Luna, will you go out?” he asked.
Yes, I’ll go to the meeting room. I mind-linked him.
“But you need rest,” Carl argued.
No, I don’t need rest. I’m immune to most of the poisons and I feel good right now. Tell Derek that I’m going there. I’ll take part in the meeting. I mind-linked him. I finished my hair and wore my gloves. Then I went out of the pack house although Carl tried to stop me. There were even two warriors downstairs. Of course, they couldn’t stop me, either.
Fifteen minutes later, I showed up at the door of the meeting room.
I knocked on the door and opened it before Derek allowed me to enter.
Derek, Gerald, Kent, and doctor Steven all looked at me surprised.
I noticed the laptop in front of Steven and walked to him. Then I texted, “I’m fine, seriously, except that I can’t mind-link my mate.” I showed them the screen.
They looked at one another and didn’t know how to react.
Derek kept silent for a second. Then he gestured me to sit down.
I pulled up the chair and sat down.
I texted on the laptop, “I was poisoned by the rogue couple last night. I am going to find out how they managed to know our whereabouts.”
I looked at them with determined eyes.
Derek said, “I agree with you. But after Emma was dead, we did a check on the pack members who went out frequently and we can make sure that there is no spy in our pack,” he paused and then looked at Kent, “Kent, step up the security at the border. I had a feeling that someone outside our pack was monitoring us without being discovered by us. Find out who did it as soon as possible.”
“Yes, alpha.” Kent nodded.
Derek’s words reminded me of something. Who could monitor us without being discovered? I patted my head and thought of a name.
I texted, “I’ll go with Kent. I know who he is.”
They all looked at me.
I texted, “When I was the Gamma of the Fly Rock Pack, I was responsible for selecting young people to be warriors. There was a boy called Hugh. He regarded me as his role model and wanted badly to become a warrior like me. He had an extraordinary vision and he could see much farther than ordinary people. He took part in the selections three times until he passed the age limit. I hated to do so, but I didn’t choose him to be the warrior because he was really bad at close confrontation. He hated my guts from then on. If there is a guy who has been monitoring the border of our pack without getting near, it must be him. He is the only one with the gift of extraordinary vision in their pack.”
“Is that his gift? That’s interesting. It would be good if we could use his gift to monitor what Richard is doing. I’ll go catch him by myself,” Derek said slowly as he took a drink of his coffee.
That was an awesome idea. We looked at one another in delight.
Then I was worried again. “But he hates me. How do we make him work for us?”
“You’ll know it after we get him,” Derek showed me a cocky smile and then looked at Steven meaningfully. Steven also revealed a smirk. Gerald and Kent took over relaxed expressions. I was even more confused by their reactions. Could Steven make Hugh change his mind? Seeing that Derek was so confident, I wasn’t worried anymore. He must know what to do.
“Wait, if he knows we show up in the forest, he also knows that we talked with James last night. James is in danger!” I texted them.
“Gerald, after the meeting, you go with Steven and get some masks and protection suits that can protect us from poisons. Richard must have gotten help from a guy who knows poisons. We need to be very cautious and we can’t risk getting exposed. Kent, connect James and see if anything happens to him and ask him to be very cautious. I don't think Richard will kill him immediately. He's safe for now. Tonight, we’ll go get Hugh first,” Derek commanded after thinking for a while.
Derek was right. James was still of use to Richard. Richard wouldn't kill James for now.
“I don’t need protective suits. I’m not afraid of poisons,” I texted them. Honestly, I didn’t want to wear protective suits. That must be very uncomfortable.
“Let me remind you, you still can’t mind-link me now. By the way, Erika, you can’t go there.” Derek looked at me and said worriedly.
“I’m good now. I need to go. You don’t know how he looks, and I can feel our bond getting stronger. Can’t you feel it?” I texted anxiously. I needed to go because I was the only one who was immune to many poisons. Ordinary poisons couldn’t do the slightest harm to me.
“You can’t go.” he rejected without hesitation.
“I’ll go if I can mind-link you tonight!” I texted.
He stared at the screen for half a minute and sighed.
“OK.” he said and shrugged.