His Blind Mate

Chapter 14 With The Tides

Luan

“What!” Reire blurted out. The room stilled as I waited for anyone to question him. Don’t tell me we came all the way here without a plan!

“We have no leads left to continue investigating, no idea who our enemy is; we’re at a loss,” Ky explained calmly. “What we can do for now is tighten security around our borders and wait.”

“Alpha, our gammas -” Samuel began then trailed off. His voice was loud and firm, just as how it had always been, but as he spoke those words, it carried an undertone of frustration. It made him sound bafflingly powerless because for as long as I had known him, he was always in control.

“Are you suggesting we wait for them to show themselves?” Reire questioned, sounding calmer than before. She received silence as an answer.

“There has to be something that was overlooked,” said Penny. “Like … your pack can’t be the only one that’s been … threatened, right?”

Although she had a point, we were threading on thin ice. If Ky wanted these incidents known, it wouldn’t be the Red Circle in this room right now with his high ranks, but with the Alphas and their high ranks of their allied packs. Announcing to other packs that vampires threatened their pack is: 1) A blow to his ego as an Alpha, and 2) An implicit declaration that the vampires had breached the treaty. Assuming Ky stepped on his pride and admitted his helplessness, his fellow Alphas would take the second point as an accusation and ridicule him, making it seem like he was incompetent to solve his problems on his own.

It sounded over the top in my head, but … the possibility of a brewing war must be kept hidden until we had enough evidence to back it up. Even so, we can’t just leave the gammas’ fate to the stars.

“We’re certain that we left no stone unturned,” said Siel, clicking his tongue in annoyance. “But Alpha, we can’t just stay here and do nothing.”

What exactly are you thinking?

“A week from now, packs will gather at the White Lake Pack for the mating ceremony. We’ve also been invited to celebrate their Alpha’s birthday. He’s bound to find his mate this year,” said Kyhan. “The sisters don’t know this yet, but my pack won’t be attending this year. We can’t risk leaving the pack unattended any further.”

“So we’re just going to wait?” I asked, finding my voice. It was uncomfortable to have their gazes on me, but I had to know why he seemed to be taking this lightly.

He cleared his throat before he spoke. “Technically, yes,” he said. My brows furrowed.

“While the Alphas and their Betas are away for the ceremony, we’ll send spies to watch over their packs. No Alpha will openly admit that their pack is in danger - it's an open invitation for an attack, both from packs and rogues,” he carefully explained. “If some packs are under this same problem or have experienced vampires hanging around their territories, we’ll know. It’s not a solid plan, I don’t call it one, but it beats being in a slump and getting nothing done.”

That’s true. It might just be the only plan we have but …

“If a spy gets caught, you’ll be bringing more trouble on your doorstep, Alpha,” said Reire.

“Please, Reire,” he said with a tone of mockery, “don’t put yourself down.”

“You mean -”

“I’ve been informed of your team’s structure, Reire. I’d like to have you and Penny work with Siel and his team,” he said. “Yula is a healer. We only have a handful of them because we’re a small pack so in case something comes up, we’ll need her here.”

I bit my lower lip and tightened my grip on my bow. He didn’t have to say it - I was the least qualified person in the room to spy on anyone. Penny was a tracker and Reire was an all rounder. They were more useful in this case than I. Which meant that I’d be left behind … without Reire.

As needles pricked my stomach on what would be assigned to me, the door suddenly burst open and the sound of a child laughing broke the building tension in the room.

“Lulu, you’re not supposed to be here,” said a woman, her voice flustered.

“Daddy!” the child happily exclaimed, then I heard a chuckle.

“Hey, princess, what are you doing here?” asked Samuel.

Huh?

“I apologize, Alpha,” said the woman. “I couldn’t catch up to her in time.”

What?

“We were just wrapping up here anyway. You should take it easy,” said Kyhan. “These are our guests from the Red Circle: Reire, Penny, Yula, and Luan.”

The woman breathed sharply at the mention of my name, then hurriedly said, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. Thank you for coming to our aid.”

“This is my wife, Annie,” said Samuel, pride clear in his voice. “And this is our daughter, uhm … Lulu. She’s five.”

“Hello!” Lulu chirped. She giggled as she stared at us.

That doesn’t add up! How can he have a five year old daughter? When I was in the pack, he wasn’t married, was he? Had I never known about it? If she was five, then …

“Since we haven’t had lunch yet, I’m having them prepare it for us. Let me guide you to your quarters so you can rest for a while,” said Kyhan, interrupting my thoughts.

“Then, we’ll excuse ourselves,” said Reire.

Yula held my hand as we followed the Alpha. No one exchanged a word as we left the packhouse and trudged through a pathway. The heat of the sun pricked at my skin, but I wasn’t about to complain. After years of training under Reire’s watchful eye, I’d gotten accustomed to bathing under the sun’s wrathful rays.

If memory serves me right, the guest house was near the Alpha’s mansion. My stomach clenched at the thought of meeting Kyhan’s parents, who turned a blind eye on the abuse for years. At this point, I assume they already know we’re mates. I doubt they’ll just accept me as Ky’s Luna.

Leila yipped. Why … am I thinking of such things!

“You want to be his Luna,” she teased, awfully happy.

Just remembering what I did in the car made my cheeks burn. My pride melted away in his arms like it shouldn’t have been there all along. I felt disappointed in myself that after all that bravado, I easily gave myself to him after one talk like I was easy.

“Are you okay?” Yula whispered as she squeezed my hand. “You don’t look so well.”

I gave her a smile. “I’m fine, Yula. It’s just nostalgia.”

“It’s beautiful here,” she said, but didn’t elaborate on it.

“I’ll send an omega to come for you,” said Kyhan, addressing the group. “I’ll take my leave then.”

“T- Thank you,” I said, confused at where the urge to speak came from.

I heard the smile in his voice. “No problem.”

His scent washed through me as he passed me by, cool and refreshing that it beat the heat for a few seconds. If it wasn't for Yula’s hand on mine, I would’ve turned to look behind.

“Thank you?” Reire scoffed. “First his scent’s all over you and now you’re showing him gratitude?”

“I -”

“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for him after a few hours.”

My face flamed at the accusation. “Of course not! It’s an enclosed space so it’s only natural that his scent would be on me.”

“Okay,” she replied after a long silence. “I hope you don’t regret this later on.”

For the rest of the day, it felt like Reire and Penny were avoiding me. Yula and I stayed behind on the quarters after lunch while they continued with the meeting. They returned in the evening with dinner, and we ate in silence. Reire had been mad at me numerous times but this was by far the longest that she hadn’t spoken a single word. Even Yula was oddly more silent than usual.

I understood that they were worried and I also made it clear to them that I didn’t want to be with Kyhan, but … things seemed to have changed this morning. I was hiding the fact that Ky and I would work out things between us; it felt like betrayal.

The guest house had that peculiar smell of being newly constructed. Luckily for me, it had four separate rooms, each with its own bathroom. Two were on the second floor and the other two were on the first floor. Yula and I occupied the rooms on the first floor, which was convenient for me because I didn’t have to struggle with the stairs. Come to think of it, I had no trouble following his footsteps when he dragged me up the stairs at the packhouse earlier today. I shrugged. At least we each had privacy. Goddess knew I needed space to think for myself and what I was doing.

As I laid on the soft mattress, the heavy covers keeping me warm, my hand instinctively reached for the ring he gave me, which was the first present I had in years. Had I been wrong for so long? What do I even hope to accomplish by doing this?

The risks were far greater than a clouded future. It dawned on me that I didn’t know what I wanted - just that in that brief moment of wanting, I ached for him to make me his. But there were so many obstacles in the way of us being together, it seemed impossible. I didn’t even understand myself enough to construct a clear set of goals. Before this morning, I had my life planned - serve the Red Circle until my last and die in an admirable way. I had no regrets from my past and no desire for a different future.

I swung my legs to one side and sighed, sleep hopelessly in a dream far away. A chill went up my toes to my spine when they made contact with the floor. The guest house was quiet, indicating that they’d all fallen asleep. How long have I been awake?

I shouldn’t be thinking of … an us. I shouldn’t be hurt that Samuel hid the fact that he had a family of his own. I was sent here for a reason not related to my past.

As I decided between going to the kitchen for a glass of water or just flopping back down, I heard tapping on my window.

XXX

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A/N:

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

Hope you all had a good day. Now move on over to the next chapter ... ^^

Can't believe you're here reading this instead of binge watching and eating a whole cake by yourself ...