The Changelings

Chapter 9 : Living as werewolves 2

We finally made it back to our apartment. We literally dragged Cleo back home. At one point I wanted to knock her out but I couldn't because she is my teammate and we share a blood bond. She is really drawn to him. I can't even begin to imagine how beta Richard will be feeling right now.

Andrew and Queenie stayed behind in school to see how beta Richard would react and to monitor his actions to know if hes on our trail.

I left Cleo with the others while I ran straight to our operation room to report the situation.

Lord Harry : It's not yet time to give your report Isabella.

Bella : Am aware of that Lord Harry but something happened to cleo in school today.

Lord Harry : What happened??

Bella : She found her mate.

Lord Harry : Is that supposed to be a joke or what??

Bella : I thought so too but Beta Richard also recognized her as his mate. He was trying to sniff her out to get her location before we smuggled her out of the school premises.

Lord Harry : Hold on Isabella,, I need to report this to the king immediately.

He stood up and left but I stayed put.

I kept starring at the empty screen when my father's face suddenly came into view. I jerked up immediately but I still managed to comfort myself.

Bella : Greetings my king.

King Arthur : Where is she??

Bella : She's downstairs with the others. We still have to hold her down because the mate bond is pulling her to him.

King Arthur : What about the beta?? Does he know she's the one hes searching for??

Bella : No my king. He was still looking around the cafeteria for her before we took her away. Andrew and Queenie stayed behind to monitor him.

King Arthur : Stay put. And get someone to put her stuff together. An extraction team will be sent to retrieve Cleo and her belongings right now.

Bella : But father.... Is he really her mate??

He gave me a look that shut me up immediately.

king Arthur : Tell the domestic staff's to get rid of anything that has her smell. I want all traces of her removed immediately.

Bella : Yes my king.

King Arthur : And one more thing Isabella,, Focus on your mission.

Bella : Yes my king.

I went down to relay all the instructions given to us by the king.

True to my father's words,, the extraction team came to retrieve Cleo and her belongings and the domestic staff's got to work. Soon enough they got rid of everything that has Cleo's smell and all traces of Cleo was erased from our apartment.

Before they left,, Cleo was made to transform to another creature. A kitsune precisely. After they got all they came for the extraction team left with Cleo.

This is so much to take in. I could see the questioning look on the faces of my team mates. They wanted an explanation. But how can I explain something I don't even understand myself.

Queenie and Andrew returned few minutes after the extraction team left. They were puzzled about the whole situation too.

Bella : What happened to Beta Richard after we left??

Andrew : He nearly went crazy looking for her. He kept tracking her smell. He even wanted to follow the path you used to smuggle Cleo away.

Queenie : But trust me I alerted the school authorities and they stopped him and kept trying to calm him down because he was hell bent on finding her. He kept struggling to follow her scent but they wouldn't let him leave the school premises without proper authorization.

Andrew : Then all of a sudden he stopped.

Jess : Stopped what??

Queenie : He stopped struggling as if he had been in a trance all these while. He started questioning everyone,, wanting to know what's going on.

Then it dawned on me. That's why they made Cleo to change into another creature. They knew a wolf cannot mate with a kitsune that's why they made her change to a kitsune.

I can't tell this to the team because it can lead to a serious rebellion on their part. I have to figure this out on my own.

Meanwhile I need to report our current situation and also get a response on Cleo's case.

I went into the operation room and switched the monitor on and pressed the button to signal Lord Harry. Soon I saw his face starring down at me from the screen.

Lord Harry : Hows Beta Richard??

Bella : Beta Richard seems to have forgotten everything about Cleo and he doesn't even remember what brought him outside. Also we've gotten rid of everything that has her smell.

Lord Harry : Good. We don't have a replacement for Cleo right now. So for now,,the elite team has only seven teammates.

Bella : Cleo has been benched???

Lord Harry : Focus on your mission Isabella. Next report should come in after the party.

He turned off the connection and that was it. No explanation and no answers to all our questions.

I went down to my team mates who just starred at me waiting for an explanation.

Bella : Why are you all starring at me like that??

Jess : What the hell is going on bells??

Queenie : What really happened to me Cleo?? Is Beta Richard really her mate?? She can't mate with a werewolf right??

Bella : Whoa.. slow down guys. The truth is I really don't have answers to any of your questions right now.

Leo : What the hell do you mean by that?? You're our team leader you should have asked!!..its your duty to know what's happening.

Bella : Oh you think I didn't ask??? I asked ok.. I know my duties as a team leader. First I asked my father who totally ignored me.. Then I also asked Lord Harry who simply told me to focus on the mission at hand. So tell me,,what would you have me do?? If you want I can give you the key card to the operation room so you can go ask about Cleo but I'll suggest we buckle up,,finish our mission and return home. Then we can know what really happened to Cleo.

I could see they were beginning to see reason with me because they stopped arguing and just starred into thin air.

Bella : Where's Brian??

Andrew : He stepped out to clear his head.

Just on cue Brian stepped in and sat down besides Queenie.

Bella : Brian could you please give the location of the white witch to one of the domestic staff's. We need the potion before the party.

Jess : Ok guys put off those gloomy faces and put on your best smiling faces. Let's go get ready for work.

I smiled as I saw everyone smiling again. Her mood is so contagious. That's why she's my best friend. She's always positive and lively. You can never be sad or depressed when she's around.

The party was being held at the Raders pack. This pack is famous for their strength and unity. They are one of the strongest packs in this country.

We transformed into our fairies and teleported ourselves to the last floor in the Raders pack house.

From our investigation,, this floor is unoccupied because the current Alpha has not yet handed over to his son. When his son finds his mate,, the Alpha will step down for him And him and his mate will occupy the last floor with his beta and his gamma and their mate's.

Once we got in,, everyone went to sleep almost immediately. The powers of a fairy often drains us completely because fairies are magical creatures. But my true strength shows as a fairy that's why I was still awake.

I quickly set an alarm to wake us up before the party then I joined them and took a nap.

Our alarm clock woke us an hour before the party.

We spent almost two hours to get ready. When we are done we split our potions and sneaked into the party.

The party was already rowdy so our presence was not noticed.

Then we got to work. We targeted high ranked wolves,, spiked their drinks and got the information we needed. We did the same to some pack members just to be sure our information is accurate. We avoided the Alphas though. If we stay too long in the presence of an Alpha,,they'll be able to sniff our real scent.

After the party ended late at night,,everyone shifted to their wolves and we all ran in the woods together. That was when I noticed that its full moon today. Werewolves loves shifting and running during full moon to strengthen their bonds. From the way they ran I could tell that the effects of the potion is clearing already.

Although we went for just work,, I really enjoyed myself at the party.

After we returned home I told them all to rest a bit then they can report all the information they got today to me.

After I got the information from them,,they retired to their rooms to sleep while I went to the operation room to report all our findings home.

As usual I turned on the screen and pressed the button to alert Lord Harry that I was ready to drop our reports.

Lord Harry : What do you have Isabella?? Speak up

Bella : We successfully crashed the werewolves annual bonding party. The potion we used to get them high is untraceable and it wears off on time. We mostly went to the Betas because Alphas can sniff us out if we stayed long in their presence. We have confirmation from the betas that the leader of La Verdad approached their Alphas saying that they have a plan to get mates for all unmated werewolves. The Alphas did not believe his claims because he refused to share the details of his plans with them except they agreed to work with him and fight with him if the need arises.

But they individually refused him because they thought he was a smuggler that wants to sell humans to them.

Later on he approached the unmated werewolves personally and gave them the same offer. And since they needed their mate's badly so they could be fully complete,, they followed him blindly.

Lord Harry : By rough estimate,,how many unmated werewolves are his followers right now??

Bella : At least 20 from each pack and they have close to 60 packs in this country so the followers of La Verdad that are werewolves are over one thousand.

Lord Harry : We need to capture one of their followers so we can know how the fairy leader intends to find them their mate's. Get on it.

Bella : Yes Lord Harry... Errmm Lord Harry,,, I called hesitantly.

Lord Harry : Speak Isabella.

Bella : I was wondering if you had any news of our team mate Cleo?? We are all worried about her. Do you know if she's alright???

Lord Harry : You shall receive news about Cleo when you return to Nexus. You don't need any distractions right now.

Bella : Lord Harry,, Is Beta Richard really her mate??

Lord Harry : Isabella,,you and your team should focus on the mission at hand and do your jobs.

Cleo is no longer your responsibility because she has been removed from the elite team. A worthy replacement will be added to the elite team soon. For now just do your jobs.

Bella : Yes Lord Harry.

I know everyone would want to inquire about Cleo but I wont say anything about it. if they know that Cleo is no longer a member of our team,, it may raise a lot of questions in their minds.

I'll simply use my discretion to deal with this issue.

I went to bed and waited until morning before I'll tell them about our new mission.