Chapter 276: A Message From Home II
"Is that Alpha Damon?" Kyle asked, his eyes widening with an emotion that reminded me of fear and something else. He hurriedly looked at his phone, refreshing his notifications tab to make sure he didn’t receive anything.
"What are you checking your phone for?" Milo asked, amused. "If Damon Valentine wishes to have a word with you, he can use the pack link all too easily. He’s only texting Harper because she has no link."
"I am not taking any chances," Kyle replied. His eyes only darted up to look at Milo for a second before he returned to his phone screen. I watched as he tapped through all of his messaging apps and scanned through his call log, afraid of missing anything that might’ve been from home. "If the Alpha even assumes that I’ve been neglecting my duties, it would be a fate worse than death."
"Since when are you so afraid of Damon?" I mused, cocking an eyebrow. "You were much bolder back when you hated me."
"And that is why I now know fear," Kyle retorted. "You aren’t in the pack link and wouldn’t know, but Rachel and the others were punished for what happened at the cafeteria. It wasn’t a pretty sight, or so they say."
"Well, now you got me intrigued," I said. "Come on Kyle, you can’t just leave me hanging after telling me this. Did Damon have them scrubbing toilets or something?"
Kyle sighed. "Not only did he make them do their training exercises wearing those silver vests, but he also demoted all of them. Now, even the pack omegas outrank them, and pups can boss them around."
I let out a hum; that did sound like something Damon would do.
Then, Kyle continued, "He also ordered them to be shaved bald and they’re not allowed to cover their heads. So now everyone knows who they are and what crime they committed."
"What on earth? He did that?" I exclaimed in shock, while Darach and Milo had similar looks of surprise on their faces.
This was such a cruel, yet unusual punishment for Damon to implement, especially when all three of them prided themselves on their looks and their beautiful hair. I could still remember Lucia flicking her long black hair.
Damon didn’t seem like the type of Alpha who would be understanding of the female psyche to use this method of punishment. I wondered what changed. Or did such an idea come from Blaise?
"He claimed that since previous scoldings and punishments didn’t work, he decided to use another method. Alpha Damon was ruthless; now, all everyone can talk about are their shiny bald heads."
"What will the male werewolves get if they defy Harper?" Milo asked curiously. "I doubt hair is as important to them as it is for women."
Kyle shuddered, and his eyes instinctively went to his crotch. "There are other more valuable things to cut for a man."
There was a sudden silence as everyone contemplated Kyle’s words.
Ah.
"If only I could threaten my pack with castration," Darach sighed wistfully. "But I have a feeling that they won’t take me seriously even if I dove at their crotch with a knife in hand. The perils of not having a wolf, I guess. Ah, but imagine if it succeeded... a wolfless alpha in charge of gelded wolves. It would be a punchline on its own!"
I snorted, while Milo gave Darach a disapproving look.
"Do not make me smack you," Milo warned. "What have I said about needless negativity couched in humor?"
"That dwelling on it does me no good and I should focus on things I can change, and my self-decrepitating humor will harm my self-esteem too," Darach parroted with an ease that showed that this was an old argument. "But never mind me then, what does Damon want?"
"I’m going to ask," I said, as I quickly typed a reply.
’I’m here, what’s the matter?’
My phone pinged almost immediately, as though Damon had been sitting by the phone waiting for a reply. That mental image made me smile, even though I knew it was unlikely. Damon had many things better to do than to wait around for my reply.
’Just checking in on you,’ Damon replied, and I could almost imagine his voice in my ear. ’Is everything alright?’
’It could be better, but it’s nothing I’ve not dealt with before,’ I confessed over text, not wanting to tell Damon about dinner’s happenings just yet.
If he found out that Darach had zero to little control over his wolves, I had a feeling Damon might be knocking on Thunderstrike’s door the very next morning― vampires, hunters, and speed limits be damned. It was best to redirect the conversation.
’How is Blaise?’ I asked.
’He’s fine,’ was Damon’s reply.
I waited for more elaboration, but there was none.
Just as I was going to ask for more, suddenly, Damon sent another message. My heart skipped a beat.
’Why did you not ask about me as well?’
I could just sense Damon’s mulishness over text.
’If you’re checking up on me, you should be fine. But if it makes you happy, I shall ask too. How are you?’
’I’m fine, thank you very much,’ was Damon’s reply. I sensed the slightest tinge of smug passive aggressiveness from the screen, and I tried not to roll my eyes at the immaturity.
"Why is she smiling at her phone?" Darach asked
’So far we are still investigating possible leads about the case,’ Damon continued, and I sat up straighter now that he was finally getting down to business. ’Unfortunately, so far we have hit a few dead ends.’
’It’s fine. I expected it. Don’t worry about it. I know all of you are doing your best for me.’
What else could I say? I had only been in Thunderstrike for a day; if Damon and the rest could solve this issue so quickly, I would never have needed to leave Fangborne to begin with.
’But we have some news for Darach.’
’???’
’Nicole has a few ideas that she believes might help him regain his wolf. You’re going to have to help him with some of them.’
