Adrianna giggled and got down to prepare a hot bath for him. He followed her into the bathroom a while later and soaked himself in the hot water. It was so refreshing that he closed his eyes and rested against the back of the tub as Adrianna applied bath gel on her hands. Then, she moved to the side where he was resting his head and lifted it to place it on her lap. Gently, she made circular motions on his chest and his neck to lather up the soap. "Adri…"

"Hmm?"

​​

"I want to rest…"

"Rest Dmitri…"

She knew that he was too weak to go anywhere, let alone attend the council meeting. So she had to make sure that he was able to rest as much as possible. Dmitri looked up at her while she was massaging his scalp and said, "Who was that man who attacked us? I want to know all the details about it."

"Fleur told me that he was Cy, a military general of the wizard kingdom."

"But why did he attack you?" he asked, bewildered as to why anyone would come from the wizard kingdom just to attack Adrianna.

Adrianna sighed. There were a lot of things that she had to discuss with him. "Dmitri, for now, you should focus on the council meeting."

He looked deep into her eyes. She started rinsing his hair and said, "Once you are free, I will have a long talk with you to explain everything."

Dmitri didn't pester her.

When he was ready, he went downstairs for the meeting. He saw that there were already several chiefs and other important men waiting for him. Cora was also present.

As soon as Dmitri sat at the head chair, one of the chiefs started speaking. "Supreme alpha, ever since you married, we have been seeing bad omens. There was a huge fire in the center of the forest and many wild animals were affected. We think that it is a bad sign and we wish to call the shaman to resolve this."

"Yes, the nature and our ancestors' spirits demand a sacrifice. Only then will these bad omens leave us," chimed in another chief.

"There was also torrential rain three day back, making it extremely difficult to hunt."

Two of the chiefs, who had been very quiet earlier, looked at Cora. She nodded slightly and one of them said, "We went to consult a shaman and he had given us a solution which he says is the best solution anyone can think of. But... Supreme Alpha..."

"What is it?" asked Cora strictly.

Dmitri narrowed his eyes at them as he doubted their reply. "Be careful of what you say."

"Speak!" shouted Cora from across the room.

"The shaman says that if your luna is sacrificed during the next full moon, we will be saved from all the miseries in the future." After saying that, the chief shifted in his chair.

How dare you?" roared Dmitri as he stood up from his place. He marched towards that chief, held him by his neck, and forced him to stand up.

"That is my wife you are talking about! If I hear you speak another word about her, I will pull that tongue out of your mouth." Dmitri's face was red with anger. With a huge force, he lifted the chief into the air and threw him onto the ground. Dmitri placed his foot on the chief's chest and said, "Don't even show your face in my pack's territory. Otherwise, I will murder you."

Cora got up from her place and ordered Dmitri to leave the chief alone. "Dmitri, he is only concerned about the safety of all of us. It was just a suggestion to be considered. You must not treat him like this. Leave him alone."

He glared at his mother and kicked the chief to the side. As far as Cora was concerned, she had sowed the seed of hatred against Adrianna within all of the chiefs present.

Dmitri went and sat down on his chair again while the affected chief left the main hall in a huff. The chief looked at Cora as if trying to say that he would take revenge against her, but Cora knew that if she wanted, she could have him killed at any moment. Her main purpose was simply to put Adrianna in the bad books of as many chiefs as possible. It was only for this reason that she had called a council meeting which was to be attended by such a large number of chiefs. She had roped in an insignificant chief for the purpose of bringing up false information after promising him more territory.

Cora was very satisfied with the outcome.

For the next two hours, Dmitri busied himself with the other concerns of the chiefs. He was exhausted by the end of the meeting. He returned to his room where Adrianna was arranging her books. He smiled at her and said, "Adrianna, do you still want to go back to college?"