Alastair:
“She wanted to talk with him alone, Alastair,” said Merari as she answered my question about leaving our daughter alone. “She wanted me to warn you as well. She’d get two birds with one stone, I guess.”
If no one could handle themselves, Valene could. I had no doubts about that, but the father in me couldn’t help but be worried for her safety. Especially, when considering the fact that I had just gotten her back.
That was all besides the point that yet again, I got the feeling that Merari was hiding something from. Some pivotal information, that could potentially help out the situation that Shadow Veil was steadily sinking into.
“We will discuss what else you’re hiding from us later,” I said.
I wasn’t in the mood to spare Merari of her privacy at this point. The whole of my city was in danger and she was keeping something from me that could potentially turn the bad luck that we were having around. Now, was not the time to be blinded by my adoration for her.
“Let’s go!” I ordered. The pack had already started to disperse. “Maybe someone will find them while out on patrol. When we find them, Ares, I want you to push through from behind. We don’t know what Tobias is capable of and best we are prepared.”
“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Everyone was filing out of the room, when Talon spoke up. “Wait!” he bellowed.
I stopped. “What is it, Talon?”
“You-you’re not going to hurt him, are you?” he asked incredulously.
Talon looked at his father, waiting for a response. When Toran turned his attention to me, so did Talon, as Toran knew that he did not have the authority deem otherwise, if that was the plan.
“He’s innocent in all this!” Talon pressed. “It isn’t his fault that…that he’s like this! You know that!” He looked at his father again, hoping for some sort of back up. “Dad!?”
Toran clenched his jaw. I knew that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. “Talon, Tobias was innocent in this and he still may be, but…but if he gives us a problem, you know…you know that Shadow Veil comes first.” Talon was not happy about this. “We don’t even know if it’s Tobias,” added Toran. “But if it is…” Toran turned to me. “I need to know, Wade…that the boy is going to be a liability before we dispatch him.”
“Of course,” I replied. “Tobias saved my little girl’s life. I’d be remiss in my position as an alpha and most importantly, your friend if I did not tread with caution. However, you know, Toran, I will do what I have to do for Shadow Veil. And my family.”
“We’re wasting time,” Ares said and started for the door.
We all followed suit when he paused. “What is it, Ares?” I asked.
“She’s…” before he could finish his sentence, the doors opened, and Valene was met with Ares’s brooding form.
I noticed how their eyes lingered on one another for a moment before she finally pulled away from him. There was something going on between those two but I couldln’t think about it now. I needed to make sure that she was alright.
“Val!” I pushed through everyone and inspected her. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“No, dad,” she tried to shove away from me, but I had a cast-iron grip on her. She then squeezed my hand. “Dad!” she pressed. When I finally made eye-contact with her, she said, “I…am okay.”
It was only then that I realized how overbearing I was being with her. Remembering myself, I pulled away from her and backed off.
“What happened?”
She shook her head, and walked past me and the others. “Nothing,” she said.
“But something is wrong,” said Merari. “That much is plain to see.”
“Right,” said Valene. “I never said that there was nothing wrong.”
“Then stop pussy-footing around and tell us,” said.
Instead of directly responding to her younger sister, Vale smirked and then shifted her gaze away from Harlyn.
“What did he say, Vale?” I asked. “What did he want?”
“He was tracking us,” she answered. “That’s all we was tasked to do for the time being, but I don’t doubt that he will be back and he will be tasked to do more next time.”
“Was he after you?” Ares asked.
“No,” she replied after a prolonged pause. “Well, at least I am not the main one that his master wants. His only job, as I said, was to track, and find. Nothing more.
As she said this, I noticed Vale glance at her mother, a grimace clear on her face. She cut her eyes away from her shortly after.
“Is it…is it really him, Valene?” Talon asked.
Vale regarded Talon and his father with what I’d like to have thought was a hint of sympathy, before nodding her head.
“He says, to tell you both hello.”
“Hello?” Talon griped irately. “Hello?! You’ve got to be kidding me! And he couldn’t bloody well serve that message himself?! After all we’ve been through concerning his death?! The grief-”
“Calm down, Tal,” cooed Harlyn, as she took his hand into hers. “I’m sure-”
“Don’t, Harly,” he cut her off, glaring her down. “Don’t act like you care.”
“Talon, I do care-”
He yanked his arm away from her and walked away. It obviously hurt her feelings, but to be honest, if I was in Talon’s shoes I would have felt the same way.
“For what it’s worth,” Valen interceded the tension-filled situation. “I don’t think that he hasn’t made his presence known out of spite.”
“What do you mean?” Toran asked with renewed interest.
“There’s a darkness within Tobias,” Valene replied. “Whatever darkness it is, it’s the cause of him being alive. He cannot simply turn his back on it. It’s controlling him.” Her umber stare fell to the ground as a solemn expression took the place of her once stoic appearance. “He’s trying hard to fight against it.”
“So…so there is a chance.” Talon responded to Valene’s remark with a shred of hope. “There is a piece of him in there .”
“Oh, there definitely is,” Valene found something amusing. And, well, had I not known any better, I’d have thought she was sort of smitten by whatever it was that she was thinking.
“Still a charmer, I see.” When Toran said this she looked up at him and shrugged.
“That, he is. I don’t think any amount of darkness would change that.”
“Is that right?”
When Ares said this, I could hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice. He was not happy about this. Why wasn’t he happy about this? Surely…surely, the alpha wasn’t jealous.
“And surely, you are not so dimwitted that you cannot put two and two together, Alastair,”
Aziz was obviously frustrated with me. I didn’t care. I wasn’t ready for whatever he along with my paranoid mind was insinuating.
“We have to save him.”
I was glad when Talon interrupted my train of thought with something that was arguably more important.
“What are we going to do?” Talon asked his father. “Dad! We have to do something.”
“And we will,” replied Toran. “But we have to go about this carefully.” He regarded Valene, and Merari. “Surely, there is something more that you can tell us about who or whatever this darkness is that h as a hold on Toby.”
When silence ensued, Valene sighed, “To be perfectly honest,” she said. “I don’t know who or what it is that has control over Tobias. What I do know is that whatever it is has something to do with…you.” Everyone’s stare followed Valene’s. “Mother.”
Instead of denying it, Merari simply averted her gaze from us. She definitely was hiding something.
I’d had enough of it.
“Merari,” I stepped forward. “Enough hiding. You need to start telling me the bloody truth. And right now!” I snapped.
“Well, mum,” Valene replied. “Guess it’s time to start talking.”
I watched Merari closely and though her expression hinted at nearly speaking the truth, the frown that took its place immediately told me that she had thought better of it.
“Merari.” I called her on it before she even thought to refuse.
“This is my life, and my problem, and I do not have to tell you anything.”
“That’s just it though, isn’t it?” Talon interrupted. “You don’t have a bloody right to refuse us of any useful information. Even if that includes your life’s story!” Talon spat.
“Tal,” Toran warned.
To be honest, I was too surprised by his sudden aggression to say anything. He wasn’t wrong, and quite frankly, I was tired of tip-toeing around Merari because of my past transgressions. This was bigger than me and Merari at this point.
“No, dad!” Talon growled. “We lost Tobias because of you!” he snapped at Merari. “And instead of helping us in any way that you can, you keep secrets? You play these childish games about not owing anyone the private details of your life?!”
“Talon!” Toran barked. “That’s enough!”
Talon clamped his mouth shut, but glared at his father as he did and then everyone else before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
“He’s right,” said Ares. “This is far bigger than any secrets that you are ashamed of. I don’t know the boy, and quite frankly, I don’t even know if I like him. Still, his death is a direct correlation to Valene. She’s obviously in just as much danger as you,” he said to Merari. “Or does that not matter to you?”
“Don’t you dare!” she snarled, her eyes shifting darkly. The room began to fog slightly, and the lights started to flicker.
She grabbed her forehead with one hand and pressed her fingers against her temple.
“Mum,” Valene started to approach. “You have to calm down-”
“Give-just give me a minute.” she stumbled back and left the room.
Before I could stop myself, one foot began to move in front of the other, when suddenly I felt a hand pressed against my chest. I looked down. It was Valene, her gaze still staring at the door that her mother just disappeared into.
“I told you, I am not the only one who doesn’t have a handle on this thing yet.” she looked up at me. “Give her time.” with a sigh, she returned her attention back to the door. “She’s going to tell you. She just…she needs time.”
Valene walked away from me. It was as I did as my daughter had asked, that I realized how much she truly did care about Merari. Just in her own way. She was protective of her mother in ways that Merari didn’t even realize. There may have been tension between the two, but they understood one another.
“Disperse, for now,” I said. “We’ll reconvene when Merari’s ready. Until then, we move as planned, and guard the city line.” No one in or out without my consent.”
“Yes, alpha,” the remaining pack members said and then left the room.
Ares nodded and then glanced at the back of the room where Valene had settled.
“We’re going to need to talk later, young alpha.” I wanted him to know that I noticed that something was going on.
Are shifted his gaze at me and then nodded again. “You’re right,” he said, shifting his stare back to Valene before she too dispersed. “We do.”
We both knew what the subject would be, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure that I was prepared to hear what he had to say.