Chapter 32: Chapter 32

There was a large crowd in the house. There were pups, teenage werewolves, female werewolves and older werewolves present. The place was busy and chaotic until all eyes fell on Isabel. It was as if everyone turned into a statue the very moment Isabel stepped into the house. They all stared at her with bulged eyes and mouth agape like she just resurrected from the dead.

Daniel had to clear his throat as a sign for them to come out of their dazed state. They bowed their heads to show their respect, but that didn’t stop them from still staring.

“You can go about your business.” Isabel said in acknowledgement of their greeting, and like magic they immediately obeyed.

Isabel was quite young compared to Dylan’s older brother, Daniel, but her presence commanded more respect than Daniel’s.

“Why is there so much crowd in here?” Dylan curiously asked his brother because this was their dad’s personal house and not the pack house.

“The pack isn’t safe anymore. Everyday, at least one of our pack members are murdered by the rogues, so I decided to split the population. There are two groups in the pack houses. This is the last group.”

While Daniel was answering Dylan’s question, the latter was biting the insides of his cheeks, trying his hardest not to blurt out the question that has been burning inside him since they arrived. He was curious to know whether or not his older brother was the present alpha of the Greenwood pack as his dad was nowhere in sight.

As if on cue, Dylan’s dad and mom appeared on the staircase. Dylan swallowed hard, suddenly looking around him to find anything more interesting than the stairs. He was nervous to see his parents again.

From the corner of her eye, Isabel noticed her mate’s sudden discomfort. She quietly reached for his hand, forcing him to look at the stairs. He wasn’t permitted to act like a coward with her around. If he was scared of his parents, he shouldn’t show it in her presence because that would make her look weak.

When Dylan’s parents got to the foot of the stairs, it was like the two dominant werewolves were having a mind contest for supremacy as they both looked straight at each other. Mr. Dwight had always had a problem with acknowledging the Pride’s pack superiority, so it wasn’t a surprise when even in a situation as dire as this, he was still bothered about his pride. Isabel as stubborn as she was didn’t budge either. If there was anyone worthy enough to represent the Pride pack in accordance with its name, it was Isabel.

No wonder she's the alpha.

After what felt like an eternity, Desmond avoided eye contact with Isabel.

“Alpha Martinez” he greeted. His tone was curt and unfriendly.

“Alpha Dwight” Isabel also gave a curt reply. She then turned her attention towards Dylan’s mother, Jane, who was yet to show her respect to the dominant werewolf.

When Isabel raised a questioning brow at the older werewolf, she was left with no choice but to swallow her pride and bow in greeting. A small smile crept up Dylan’s lips as he watched his parents being quietly subdued by his mate.

“Where is your study? I’d like you to brief me on the current situation.” This statement was directed at Daniel, who eagerly nodded in agreement.

“This way, please.”

Before following Daniel, Isabel turned to face Dylan.

“I’ll be back soon.” She said and let go of his hand.

Isabel and Xavi maintained eye contact for a moment before the latter gave a nod of understanding. That must be them communicating through mind link. Isabel followed Daniel upstairs after that, leaving Dylan alone to face his parents.

For the first time in his life, he felt very awkward standing before his parents.

“Mom. Dad.”

“You finally decided to acknowledge us as your parents.” Jane scoffed. She was still upset with her son for choosing an outsider over his family.

“Not now, mom.” He whispered, cautiously looking around.

Dylan didn’t want the pack members finding out he had a fall out with his parents because of his mate.

“Dylan!” An excited squeal from the top of the stairs tore Dylan’s eyes away from his parents. It was his little brother, David.

Dylan grinned a wide grin as his brother started running down the stairs. He went on one knee, and with his arms wide open he received his younger brother in a warm embrace.

“Where have you been, Dylan? I missed you.” David’s voice was shaky as he spoke.

“I’m sorry, kiddo. It won’t happen again.” Dylan assured, hugging his brother tighter.

All three brothers had a close bond with each other, that was one of the reasons why Dylan was worried about his family when he was taken to the Pride pack.

“Are you here to stay? Cos mom said you weren’t coming back.”

Dylan frowned at his mother for being too quick to say those words to his younger brother. She made it sound like he didn’t want to have anything to do with his family, which isn’t true.

“I… I’m here to help.”

“Does that mean you’ll be leaving us again?”

Tears welled up in David’s eyes, breaking Dylan’s heart. He wish he could spend more hours with his baby brother, but he couldn’t. They’re going to be here for only a day.

“I’ll never leave you guys, you know that, right?”

He earned a nod from David causing him to smile.

“I’m just not going to be living here anymore because I’ve found my mate.” He picked his words carefully.

David was too young to understand the sacrifices that comes with having a mate from a different pack, especially in a case like his.

“Really!” David’s sad face disappeared in an instant, and was replaced with a grin.

“Yeah… So, I need to be with her in her pack.” Dylan’s explanation only confused the eight year old.

“Aren’t you supposed to bring her to our pack?”

David was a smart kid. Dylan would give him that. In the end, nothing could be kept from this kid.

“Come here.” he gestured for his little brother to bring his ear closer, which the latter eagerly did.

“She’s an alpha.” Dylan whispered in his ear.

“A female Alpha!” David exclaimed in surprise and excitement. He has never heard of a female alpha and was eager to meet the very first one.

“Where is she? I wanna meet her!” His usual cheery attitude was back to Dylan’s relief.

“She’s busy at the moment, but if you’re lucky, you’ll get to meet her before she leaves.”

“Why is everyone so busy these days. I don’t even get to play outside anymore.” David muttered to himself but it was loud enough for Dylan to hear. He stroked his brother’s hair and pulled him to himself.

“It will all be over soon, I promise.” He said into the hug.

“Promise me you won’t leave without saying goodbye.”

“I promise.”

“Fill me in on the crisis situation, and don’t leave out any information.” Isabel said as she sat comfortably on the seat offered to her by Daniel. She instinctively began to look at the papers scattered on the desk.

“It began two weeks ago when my dad officially named me the new alpha. Rogues were spotted around the borders, but we didn’t take it seriously because there has been rogue presence even in the past…”

“That was your mistake, taking things lightly… Go on.”

It was no news that rogues usually linger around the borders of different packs for various reasons. Some of them are newly turned rogues contemplating whether or not to be part of another pack while others are werewolves in search of what to eat. On other occasions, the rogues holds grudges against the alpha of the pack it lurks around or its member, which may be the case of the Greenwood pack.

“Some days later, we discovered that a few of our pack members were missing. In retaliation, our werewolves on patrol killed any rogue they spotted around the borders, but that only aggravated them as they attacked in their numbers, weakening the security around our borders… Since then, we’ve been fighting off the rogues night after night.” Daniel continued, feeling ashamed for not being able to handle the affairs of his pack without external help.

“Did you by any chance offend a rogue?” Isabel enquired, so she could understand what the real situation was about.

“None that I can remember.” Daniel sincerely replied.

“What about a pack member, probably in the past.”

“No.”

“Then they must see you as a weak alpha they can overthrow.”

From Daniel’s explanation and reply to her questions, she realized that these were some filthy rogues hungry for power they never had the chance to have in their previous packs.

“Are you?” She then asked a quiet Daniel, eyeing him carefully as she waited for his response.

“I may be new to all of this, but I’m not a weak werewolf.” Daniel confidently replied, finally finding the courage to meet Isabel’s eyes.

Satisfied with his response, Isabel gave a smile. She threw the papers lying carelessly on Daniel’s desk on the floor and leaned back in her seat, swiveling the chair around so that the back of the chair was towards the male werewolf.

“Forget whatever plans you had. We’ll wait for them to come to us… Can you give me a rough estimate of their number?”

“They’re over two hundred.”

It was a good thing she stopped Daniel from going ahead with his plan of attacking the rogues in their tents. That would’ve been a shattering blow to the Greenwood pack because they would be unknowingly falling into the hands of the enemy, giving them what they actually desire.

“Assign your beta and a few of your warriors to patrol the borders and send a warning signal as soon as they spot a rogue.”

Daniel immediately made the call and did as he was told.

“Call me the minute you get the signal.” Isabel said in conclusion, standing up from her seat.

If she was about to go against over a hundred werewolves, she needed all the strength she could muster.

‘This is going to be a long night.’ With that thought, she made her way to the door.

Daniel found Isabel intriguing. She was different from any other alpha he has met. In a case of war or crisis, some other alpha werewolves would be pressured to find a way around the situation or show worry when they find out the number of werewolves they would be going up against because they’re not willing to run the risk of losing their warriors for the sake of another pack, but Isabel showed neither of these attributes. In fact, she didn’t seem fazed by the number of rogues.

Having such a fearless werewolf from the Pride pack on their side was a blessing in disguise and a great boost to the ego of the Greenwood pack.

“Thank you.” He said as Isabel was about opening the door.

“Don’t thank me yet.” She replied without looking back and walked out the door. The door closed behind Isabel.

“Were you eavesdropping?” A suspicious Isabel asked her mate.

After her conversation with Daniel, she was amazed to find Dylan standing too casually in the hallway.

“No, I wasn’t… What do you take me for, a five year old?” He got defensive at Isabel’s question which only proves her right.

“Why didn’t you just come in, if you were curious to know what we were talking about?” She crossed her arms over her chest with an amused smile.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

Her skeptical gaze answered the question.

“Fine.” He sighed.

“I was with my little brother a while ago. He wanted to show me his new toys, so we came up. But along the line, I was dying to know if everything was going fine.” He eventually explained his reason for standing in the hallway.

“Am I that terrible?”

“I never said that. It’s just.. Daniel is quite different from my dad.”

“I can tell a well mannered werewolf from a proud one.” Isabel rolled her eyes at Dylan and walked past him.

What does he think of her? He thinks she’s a werewolf who goes about scaring people.

“Hey, hey. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I was just worried he’d say the wrong word that could trigger you.” He reached for her hand, stopping her from taking a step further.

“I can understand if you put it that way.” Isabel said, feigning indifference.

“I’m sorry… Aren’t you curious to see my bedroom now that you’re here?” Dylan smoothly changed the subject, tugging at her sleeve to get her attention.

He had a self satisfied smirk on his face when Isabel who was looking ahead turned to look at him.

“Someone’s interested.” he teased.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m only coming because I need a room to take a nap.”

“As you wish.” Dylan guided his mate to his bedroom.

On getting there, Isabel got lost in the comfort Dylan’s room brought. His scent was very much present in the room. As she walked in the room, she trailed her hand on his photos on the vanity table and his clothes in the closet before settling on his bed. Her wolf was jumping with excitement from being in its mate’s room. The moment felt quite special for Isabel and her wolf. She had to restrain herself from sniffing his mesmerizing scent.

“Not bad.” she mumbled, tapping the spot beside her. Dylan took that as his queue to join her on the bed, so they were sitting side by side.

The longer she stayed in the room, the more she realized that his strong scent covered the entire room.

Dylan watched Isabel in silence as she took in every detail of his room. It was obvious she was impressed with the dark theme.

Isabel wondered what her mate’s life was like in his previous pack. Did he have friends or was he a loner like herself? She highly doubts Dylan’s childhood was anything like hers.

“Look who’s here for a nap.” Dylan’s annoying smug voice whispered in her ear, interfering her peaceful thoughts.

She pushed him on the bed to show her displeasure at his interruption and swung her legs over him, straddling him easily.

“Of late, I feel like I’ve been too lenient with you.” She began, pinning his hands above his head.

“If you put it that way, you make it sound like I’m one of your subjects.”

“How do I put it, then?” She trailed open mouthed kisses on his neck, finding his sweet spot.

Dylan moaned with pleasure when Isabel rubbed herself against his groin.

“I’m waiting..” she seductively whispered against his skin.

She was teasing him, he could tell, but he was tempted to take things further.

What would it be like making love to his mate in his own territory? Would she be submissive to his touch like she was in her pack or would she want to be in control?

“It’s more like you’re going soft on me because you love me.” He eventually blurted out, not taking the time to organize the words carefully so that they come out right. It was only after Isabel stiffened against him that he realized what he just said.

Ever since they became intimate with each other, none of them had ever mentioned the word ‘love’, and although they have fallen hard for each other, they couldn’t bring themselves to say those three words because of the doubt they both feel inside.

Isabel stared at her mate in amazement. Why did he suddenly bring up the word ‘love’? Was her feelings for him that transparent even though she was trying everything she could to conceal it? Does this mean she was lovable despite her flaws?

But he never said he was in love with her, so why does his expectant eyes say otherwise?

Dylan was staring at his mate, waiting expectantly for her to say something instead of gazing at him intently. Why isn’t she accepting his claim or denying it?

He is going through a dilemma right now because he has not the slightest idea whether or not Isabel loves him.

In the beginning, he was convinced that she felt nothing for him and only wanted to show off her superiority, but recently he doesn’t know what to think anymore as her actions were unreadable. There were times when she emanated love and affection, tempting him to confess his love for her, but his feelings of insecurity due to her past relationship with Carlos kept holding him back.

Should he be the first one to express how he truly feels or should he wait for her to confess her feelings?

What if she doesn’t have any feelings for him? What if all he thought he was seeing was only his imagination? What if he musters the courage and say the three words he’s been trying to say and she rejects him?

‘We can live with that as long as we’re by her side’ his wolf answered the last question for him to his astonishment.

‘I didn’t ask for your opinion’ he mentally replied his wolf, earning a grunt from the latter.

He opened his mouth, ready to take the big step, but Isabel placed her index finger on his lips.

“Shhh” she exclaimed, slowly leaning in for a kiss.

Dylan’s heartbeat leaped tremendously as he wondered if she was indeed accepting the fact that she was in love with him. He closed his eyes, ready to welcome her lips when suddenly a knock on his bedroom door interrupted them.