Chapter 238: Warning
"This..." I trailed off, looking left and right. I didn’t have a wolf, but it certainly felt like my heart was racing, beating to the drum of his voice.
On one side, Damon and Blaise looked at me with panic in their eyes. On the other, the rest of the packs watched on with a mixture of amusement and shock. Either way, none of the responses were good and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why.
"This is impossible!" I cried out. "I can’t give you an answer right now, Darach. The best I can do is to sleep it over and... consider."
"There is nothing to consider!" Dahlia burst out in fury. "You cannot be the beta of Thunderstrike! A beta female, sure, but to be the beta is preposterous!"
All of a sudden, I wanted to accept Darach’s proposal just to rile Dahlia up. I rolled my eyes, snorting a little as I sneered at Dahlia.
"And why not?" I asked. "Are you saying that I can’t be the beta just because I’m a female? Because that sounds like what you’re implying."
"Double standards," Blaise muttered under his breath. "Considering how she was so eager to snatch the position of alpha for herself." Then, the smile disappeared from his face as though he had just noticed he was grinning. "Not that I am encouraging you to accept this ridiculous idea," he hurriedly said. "You’re fully capable, and I trust you would do an amazing job, but to be Thunderstrike’s beta of all packs..."
I reached over and placed a hand on Blaise’s, smiling.
"I know what you mean," I assured. Then, I turned back to look at Darach. "We’ll discuss this again when we get back if you’re still insistent on this, alright?"
"I agree," Milo suddenly spoke up.
He might not be the alpha of Hornstead yet but his voice carried as much weight as his father’s did. Everyone turned to look at him, their breaths caught in their throats as he waited for Milo to speak.
I couldn’t help but notice even Dahlia turned, her back a little straighter as her eyes remained trained on Milo. However much distaste and dislike she had for this fated bond she previously had, she was filled with the same amount of... enamor.
Dahlia looked absolutely besotted, and to think this change was all within an hour of Milo officially rejecting her. Even just now, she was filled with so much pride, so sure that she would never regret her decision and that Milo would be the one rolling in sorrow. Dahlia might possibly have to eat her own words really soon.
Truly, it seemed like the grass was greener on the other side. Dahlia could only treasure what she had when it was gone.
"Too much has happened tonight," Milo continued. "Perhaps it might be wiser for Alpha Darach to think things over. After all, as his second-in-command, his beta will need to be close by to him. Harper is a member of Fangborne, and the beta’s mate no less. This places her in a difficult position."
"Whatever the decision is, we will inform the rest of the council once it has been made," Damon said with a sigh. He pinched the skin between his eyebrows, rubbing it before shooting Darach a filthy glare. "Isn’t that right, Alpha Darach?"
"I couldn’t have phrased it better myself, Alpha Damon," Darach shot back. Even through the moonwater’s projection, I could see the fizzle of tension between the two, something that would surely only increase when we got back and saw Darach in person.
"In that case, that concludes our meeting for today," Alpha Burke said with a clap of his hand. "In the meantime, Thorton Elrod would still need to govern Thunderstrike until his son’s return. I trust that it would be well taken care of?"
"That’s needless to say," Thorton replied through gritted teeth.
"Great," Alpha Burke said, completely turning a blind eye to the way Thorton tried to kill him via the power of sight alone. If looks could kill, perhaps all of us would already be razed to the ground, left with nothing but our ashes. "Let’s end this, then. I am starting to miss my bed very much and would rather not stay for longer than I need to."
"Thank you, Oracles," Damon said, nodding.
One of the Oracles nodded back, and behind her, another waved a hand over the bowl of moonwater. Darach and Nicole’s faces blurred before vanishing. The connection was broken just like that.
"We ought to go," Damon turned to us and said. "I would rather not stay away from Fangborne for too long. The lunar eclipse might be over but the hunters and vampires might still be nearby."
We weren’t the only ones with that thought. One by one, the various pack leaders left their seats, thanked the Oracles for their hospitality, and disappeared into the forest. Dahlia and Thorton Elrod were the last, along with us and Alpha Burke’s family. They exchanged unpleasant expressions before trudging in separate directions, determined not to cross paths.
Blaise’s hand reached down and grabbed mine, intertwining our fingers together before smiling gently at me.
"Let’s go home," he said. I returned his smile, but as soon as I moved forward in an attempt to follow him and Damon into the woods, a piercing ring caused me to stop short in my steps.
I groaned, my hand ripped free from Blaise’s so that I could clutch my head in pain. The ringing did not cease, however, and I soon realized it was because it wasn’t something my ears heard, but rather, the sound was sent right through to my brain.
"Harper!" I could vaguely hear Blaise’s voice yell out. When I peeped through my lashes, I could see him crouched in front of me. Damon, too, was there. "What’s wrong?"
His voice was distorted, easily overcome by the sharp ringing. I instinctively raised my gaze just in time to meet the eyes of an Oracle who stood a distance away from us. She stared silently at me, her lips unmoving but her voice clear in my mind, louder than the ring which threatened to turn me insane.
’Beware the vampires,’ the Oracle said. ’They are working with the hunters.’
I winced, panting heavily as I tried to regulate my breathing. My hands, which were still cupping my ears, felt something sticky. There was a familiar coppery scent. I didn’t need to look to know that it must be blood again.
’They’re out for you, not Fangborne.’
