Sacred Ties

Chapter Fourteen

Zach's POV

(Dream)

"Dad!" I call out to my father who is busy leading some teenagers in the meeting room.

"Zach where is your brother?" He ask turning to me.

"He's gone to collect his mate." I say while looking around me. The place is busier than normal. Adults are leading their children in the meeting room.

"Dad what is going on?" I ask my father.

"Go in the meeting room. I will join you once your brother gets here. Then you all will be told of what is happening."

He pushes me inside the meeting room and I find a spot to stand on. Teenagers keep on filling inside the room and I anxiously wait for my father. He has to explain what exactly is going on. A minute later, my uncle, who is the Lord of our clan, stands upfront and looks over to us. My brother and father walks in a second later and stand beside my uncle.

"We are under attack. The enemy is right outside our caves." My uncle states and the room fall completely silence. He looks around the room for a bit before continuing. "Unfortunately, we are outnumbered greatly, but we won't give up. The elders will be here fighting this war however you are our hope and we can’t keep you here now. Fleeing is the only option we have at the moment for you. You are not cowards by fleeing but this is a battle that will be fought best next time."

"Brother, we are running out of time." My dad whispers to my uncle and he nods then call me forward.

"Zach, my nephew, I crown you the leader of them. I believe I have taught you well on how to be a Lord, a very responsible one." My uncle speaks firmly in a commanding sound.

"What? Dad?" I call out to my father in confusion. Why am I being the leader?

"You should go, son. Look after the children you are taking with you. As a leader, they are your responsibility." My dad says.

"But dad, Xavier can be a leader. He's the oldest one."

"I can’t be a leader, I’ll be by your side though. You don’t have to worry about a thing." Xavier says.

"In formation!" My uncle orders and the group immediately make the formation.

I stand in the middle of the formation and my dad hands me the green stone. It is a special stone used for jumping time and places. I shakily hold the stone and my brother smiles at me in encouragement.

"You know what to do right?" My dad asks and I nod. Mum taught me how to use the stone.

Just then, the cave shakes due to an explosion and it cracks in some places. My dad shouts to me and I don't make out what he's trying to tell me. I'm very nervous and the explosion sounding outside doesn't help at all. I focus on my dad and understand what he's screaming to me about.

"Do it now son!" He yells and I tightly hold the stone in my hands and whisper the words my mum taught me.

"Ploíarchos forá pou érchomai brostá mou you. Grant pérasma se 300 chrónia apó simera."

(End of Dream)

**

It was a busy day which started with a busy night. The dreams were getting too intense that I didn’t know what to make of things. I had a childhood that I knew of all this time but my dreams were showing me living another life different from what I knew. The dreams were too intense to pass as dreams and not to forget the voice telling me to remember.

I wanted to pass them as dreams but no matter how much I tried, my heart wouldn’t dismiss them as dreams but I couldn’t believe them as my reality either.

Everything was confusing and I didn’t know what to do.

My morning was a blur at home that I couldn’t talk to Shane properly before I left for work. As I came into the office, I found a pile of files that I had to look up. There was a lot going on in the werewolf world and it really affected my day to day activities. I had to chair a meeting with my men in a few minutes as I had to brief them on a few things I had discussed with Kenneth last night.

After saving a document on my laptop, I closed it and left my office for the meeting.

"Is everyone here?" I asked while sitting down.

"Yes sir." The ten of them replied in a chorus.

“Alpha Kenneth called me last night and he informed me about a prisoner they got in one of their encounter with the enemy. He needs my help in making them talk and you are my best in that category so I want you guys to prepare. This includes the safe transportation of the prisoner to our base when time comes." I began.

I held the minute for half an hour and after I addressed all issues, I ended the meeting. I went back to my office where I was meant to continue with my work but the constant beeping of my phone when I sat down on my chair put everything on hold. My phone was beeping alerting me of few incoming messages and I took it off the table. I had left it behind when I went to the meeting and now it had a pile of messages for me. Most of the messages were from Cemil with the exception of one message which came from Alpha Kenneth so I viewed that first.

Meeting tonight at the Red Moon pack; don’t miss it.

I sighed after reading the message as it crashed all my hopes of tonight. I quickly set a reminder so that I would be alerted on time to not be late. Then I opened the texts from my lemon.

Good morning, Zach. I hope you are fine. I'm really busy today and I'm afraid I won't have time to text much or meet you. I'm spending the day with my uncle.

My heart dropped a bit at the message. I was planning to meet him later on this evening but it seemed that would be impossible. The message was sent in the morning and I had not seen it since my morning was a bit hectic. I opened the other messages and browsed through until I reached a recent one.

I'm at the mall with my uncle. He's trying out some clothes at the moment. Talk to you later. I miss you, Zach.

This text was sent two hours ago. I bet he was worried as to why I wasn't texting him back. I'd be really worried if it was me and just like I guessed the most recent text was him inquiring if I was alright or not.

Are you okay, Zach? Please talk to me.

I quickly typed a response and I assured him I was fine. After getting an 'okay' from him, I went back to my work. I had documents that I was supposed to read then sign them. My secretary would possibly be back for them in the evening.

My day passed by exhaustedly; thankfully I was done with my work in good time. It was already 3pm (15:00), so I left the office and drove to pick Shane up from his school. I reminisced about Cemil while passing by the hall that I bumped into him for the second time. Honestly, I didn't think I'd meet him again from that first time in the bookstore let alone meet him for the third time. I guess we were bound to bump into each other.

After I picked up my son, we drove home for some father and son bonding. I was glad I had this free time before my departure to the Red Moon Pack later in the evening. We prepared dinner together and ate it in the library since it was Shane’s favorite room in the house. When we were done eating, I played an animation movie on a laptop and we sat on the couch in the library to watch it.

As we watched the movie, my mind went to Cemil as I wondered; what he was doing at the moment, if he was thinking of me and what outfit had he chosen for today. Then I started day dreaming as I imagined him sitting with us on the couch watching the movie. I then started wondering; if he would like my son, if my son would like him, if he would want to stay with us forever and if he would ever love me and my son.

'Why are you smiling?' Shane signed after shaking my arm to get my attention.

"What do you think about meeting my new friend?" I said and signed to him too which was a habit I got into. I knew he could hear me when I spoke but my hands couldn’t help it joining in.

'The friend you are always texting when you are home?'

"Yes that one." I said while laughing at his words. Did I really text Cemil all the time?

Well, maybe and maybe not.

'I'd love to dad, when?' He beamed and I smiled lovingly at him.

"I will let you know once I've talked to them about it." I said and the conversation rotated to the movie.

I had just put Shane to bed since I was about to leave for the meeting, when I received a call from Cemil. I closed the door to my son's room and answered the phone.

"Hello lemon-"

"Can you come pick me up please?" He asked.

"Lemon, I'm a bit busy tonight. I can pick you up tomorrow and we can spend the day together."

"No, Zach, please come pick me up. I'll be waiting in the drive way." He said and ended the call.

I cursed silently and tried to call his phone but the call couldn't go through. I jumped in my car and drove off in the direction of his house. He seemed off on the phone and as much as I wanted to ignore him, I couldn't.

"What's wrong Cemil?" I asked him the moment he got in my car.

"Just drive please." He whispered and I did just that.

"Can I spend the night with you?" He asked and I stopped the car at the side and faced him.

"Why?"

"I just want to; you're my boyfriend. Am I not allowed to spend time with you?"

I sighed and checked the time; I was going to be late. I didn't have time to argue with him and so I started the car and drove off into the night. I reached my grandfather's house, the same one I had spent a week with Cemil, only this time it was in a good condition since I now had someone to look after it. I turned on the generator for the lights in the house and after making sure everything was in good shape, I faced Cemil.

He was huddled on the couch in the living room and he seemed off. Something was wrong with him but I couldn’t get into it then since I had to be present at the meeting. Fortunately, my grandfather’s house was closer to the Red Moon pack and so I had decided to leave him here while I attended the meeting.

"I'll be back soon, babe." I said after deciding to keep the farewell short and simple. I turned around to leave the house but his arms stopped me short as they wrapped around my torso. I remained facing the door while he rested his head on my back. I sighed and turned him around to face me.

"I won't take long dearest." I whispered.

"I'll be waiting for you, Zach, please hurry back to me." He murmured and I kissed him for a bit and pulled away.

After assuring him that I’d be back as soon as I could, I rushed out of the house and took out a motorcycle from the garage. I had added quite a collection of vehicles in the garage here in case there was need for them, like tonight. I turned it on and rode away to the Red Moon pack.

I reached the place of meeting just as Kenneth was beginning his speech. I've always admired the alpha and his strong spirit. He was an Alpha King in a younger age due to a sudden illness which made his father immobile. It was very rare for werewolves to get sick but it wasn’t impossible. He had been looking after his people without fail that’s why I was certain this new enemy would be defeated in no time.

I listened carefully to the meeting and took my own notes for reference later. The meeting painfully dragged on which made me lose focus for a bit. I kept checking my watch and when I couldn’t take it any longer, I even stopped taking notes and impatiently waited for the end to come. When it did, I didn’t waste any time approaching Kenneth to tell him I was leaving earlier.

“Is everything alright?” Kenneth asked and I nodded.

“I just have this very important thing I have to get back to so we will talk later; I have to leave.”

I didn’t even wait for a response as I quickly left for my bike and raced to the house.

--------------------------------------