Chapter 275: A Message From Home I
After dinner was concluded, Darach invited Kyle and I to his rooms to give me an update about his situation, but technically I had already seen all that I needed to see. Dinner was an eye-opener, in more ways than one.
"Your pack is very disrespectful towards you. Does this happen often?" I asked Darach with a frown on my face as he gestured for me to take a seat across the table.
Ironically, his room wasn’t as fancy as mine even though it was equally large. I spotted two doors. Did he really need two bathrooms?
Darach gave me a weary smile over the piles of documents on his desk. "I know this seems appalling to an outsider, but truthfully, this is already considered an improvement from when I first took over the position. No food was thrown at me. I’m counting it as a success."
"Only because Milo was there to stop them," I couldn’t help but add, shooting a glance at Milo who had taken up a seat next to Darach, pulling a stack of documents towards him in a practiced motion.
He looked through the mountain of paperwork while his face remained as stoic as ever, reminding me ever so slightly of Kaine whenever he was helping out with work back in Fangborne. However, Milo was much chattier than Kaine would ever be. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.
"How are you going to handle all of this by yourself when I leave?" Milo chided with a sigh, shaking his head. "I won’t be in Thunderstrike forever. You’ll need to learn how to control your wolves rather than let them control you all the time."
"I’m sure it will get better eventually," Darach said, wincing when Milo slammed a pile of documents down in front of him with more strength than needed.
"There is no ’eventually’," Milo harshly said. "You need to step up into the role as the alpha of the pack before your sister and father overthrow you― or worse, commit regicide. It’s one thing if they banish you and another if your body ends up somewhere in the woods for the wendigos as breakfast."
"If that happens―" Darach tried to say, his eyes hopeful. However, he was cut off by Milo before he could even finish his sentence.
The latter had already predicted what Darach was thinking. He rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"If that happens, Hornstead will not step in. Thunderstrike hasn’t committed a crime that could be trialed, in that case, since it is a pack matter. The only reason why your father and sister got booted was because they tried to blame Alpha Damon for your injuries," Milo said.
"Even thinking about it makes me want to laugh," Milo continued. "They could’ve gotten away with it entirely, and yet, they couldn’t withstand the itch of testing Damon Valentine’s patience."
"It was well-deserved," I said, grinning at the memory.
"It was," Milo said. "I have to admit that council meetings have always been a bore ever since I could remember attending them. This time, it was oddly liberating. However, that also placed Darach in his current position― an alpha who has to sleep with both eyes open just in case he gets stabbed in the back by his own pack member."
"With all due respect," Kyle suddenly said, drawing our attention over. He had been oddly silent the entire time, and throughout dinner, he had also hardly spoken a word. "How is it that you’re able to command the wolves of Thunderstrike better than Alpha Darach can?"
Milo leaned back in his seat, exasperated. At the same time, Darach did the same, their actions in perfect sync.
"Seems like yet another troubling topic," I commented, watching their reaction.
"Tell me about it," Darach muttered under his breath. "Milo’s not even from Thunderstrike. As the acting-beta, he doesn’t need to be one. His loyalties are still entirely to Hornstead."
"It might be due to my wolf," Milo deduced. He paused, turning to look at Darach, his lips pursed tightly as he was unsure whether to speak his true thoughts or not.
Seeing his hesitance, Darach continued instead, "Right now, I am nothing more than a human that’s attempting to boss them around. I have no wolf for them to resonate to, which is why it was a shit decision to name me the next alpha of Thunderstrike in the first place."
"I tried to warn my father against it," Milo grumbled under his breath. "However, he was adamant that you would perform better than your sister ever could."
"Realistically, Dahlia might run Thunderstrike to the ground faster than Darach would," I said. "After all, the entire premise of her being the leader of Thunderstrike was to merge with Fangborne as Damon’s luna. She was never going to be a good leader."
"Not with her lifestyle, that’s for sure," Darach said with a sigh. "My father did this. She wasn’t this... this... horrid as a child."
Darach’s eyes were trained on his hands, his fingers fiddling together mindlessly. A mix of emotions flashed across his face― guilt, remorse, sadness, regret. Back when we first met, his main goal of tearing apart Damon and Dahlia’s marriage was because he thought Damon was beneath Dahlia and that she deserved better. If anything, that was a sign of how much he loved that sister of his.
Yet, that same love nearly cost him his life.
"Well, what’s done is done. You’re the current alpha of Thunderstrike, and hopefully, you’ll stay that way until you willingly retire," Milo said. "We’ll look into possible forms of therapy. Perhaps there’s something that could help you regain your wolf."
Darach merely smiled.
My heart clenched tightly in my chest. I hadn’t known Darach for long but he seemed like a shell of the man he once was. He was so much more of a spitfire when we first met, and now, he seemed entirely mellowed out after the ordeal he went through. There was no more confidence in his tone, nor a spark in his eyes.
He just seemed defeated.
Just then, my phone buzzed, the chime of a message notification catching all of our attention. I looked down at my screen just to see Damon’s name pop up. There were but two simple words.
’You there?’
