As soon as his mate was out of view, the smile on Daniel's features disappeared. Through the link, Ryan tracked down and joined him in the hallway.

"Where are they?" He asked walking ahead briskly.

"In front of the pack entrance, Tristan's beta is here with their best warriors" Ryan answered.

"The students?"

"Safely guarded in the leisure room by some of the warriors where your mate should have joined them already"

He nodded, "Contact Dan, he should send a message to Asher, the kids would be returning today"

Initially, it had been planned that they would spend the entire day and return tomorrow morning which should be Saturday but the plans have been adjusted.

Since Tristan was still wounded, Daniel hoped that the Ranger pack would not attack them but there was no harm in being prepared.

At least his mate and the kids should be out of Kinney village before the Rangers reinforce and come back for an attack - if they would.

"Where is the delta?" Daniel asked as he neared the pack entrance yet didn't catch the scent of his best female fighter.

"Judith is scouting the pack's boundary for any sign of ambush and has sent some warriors to lead the humans and pregnant she-wolves to the cellars for their safety"

"Good"

The Alpha and his beta strode to the entrance where about forty warriors from the Ranger pack as Ryan had described, stood before their own warriors who had settled in a defensive stance.

The tension was so heavy with both sides growling and snarling at each other threateningly, proving that balance was just hanging on a thin strand.

His warriors opened a path and he walked to the frontline staring down at the frenemy werewolves.

"Who's the beta?!" Daniel asked with a tone of dominance that made some of the warriors who couldn't stand an Alpha's command, cower away.

Once an Alpha boomed a command to a werewolf of lower status, he or she would have no choice but to show submission by lowering their head once in wolf form or bow in human form.

But since this wasn't his pack, his power was limited however, it still affected some warriors.

"I am " A dark-haired brawny man stepped out of the pack standing at seven feet plus inches tall. Though he towered over Daniel and stared down at him intimidatingly, an alpha was still an alpha - he was not scared of him at all.

He tore his gaze away when he could not stare down Daniel, the man was too strong.

"What's your name?" Daniel went ahead to ask.

"Zach"

"Come on along" He ordered Zach to follow him.

Both sides were alert and watched as Zach followed after the alpha who led him to the direction of the pack hospital.

Thanks to the tension hanging in the air, the hospital which was normally filled with werewolves who may have wrongly popped a bone during their first shift, or during a rough play and labor, was empty today save the alpha lying on a bed in a separate ward.

"There he is" Daniel gestured to the huge man whose features softened upon beholding alpha Tristan on the bed, who had several wires attached to his body.

It was no secret that betas were normally close to their Alphas which meant Zach was sympathetic to Tristan's condition.

"Alpha" He murmured when Tristan opened and closed his eyes slowly.

If Tristan was a human, there was no way on earth he would have survived Lia's attack. The girl had been brutal on him last night but he was lucky to be an alpha, so his healing was faster than the average werewolf.

The sorrowful look on Zach's face abruptly twisted into anger, "The girl did that to him?!" He roared.

Tristan must have relaid the event to him through their pack' mindlink, Daniel thought.

"Where is she? She needs to pay for her crime!" Zach growled, taking a step towards the entrance but Daniel blocked his path, putting on an attacking stance as he said.

"You're not touching the girl, Tristan brought it on himself!"

"You're going to let that girl go after insulting our alpha even if it means war?" Zach asked, displeased.

"I value our brotherhood but I've made myself clear, no one would touch the girl " Daniel declared.

"Then I guess, we have no choice either"

At that point, Daniel knew the war was inevitable. Zach's silence meant he was mindlinking the rest of his pack on the next course of action - fight.

So Daniel did the same, laying out the formation and battle tactics to his pack members mentally. The priority should be the human students and his mate; nothing should happen to them.

No matter how Daniel saw it, they had the upper hand in this war the Rangers were brewing. They had Tristan in their hands which meant game over.

Just like a herd of sheep, once something happens to the shepherd, the sheep disperses to God knows where. It was the same for packs, if an alpha dies and has no heir to take over, the members scatter to the face of the earth.

However, the beta or any other brave wolf could take over, but it would take a lot of time and fights to prove himself worthy enough to lead the pack.

The Ranger pack beginning a war with their alpha vulnerable and laying in the enemy's camp was complete foolishness unless they had a hidden trump card.

Just as Daniel anticipated, Tristan called back Zach just as he prepared to attack.

"Stop!"

Tristan ripped out the wires from his body causing the heart monitor to beep incessantly.

"I've told you times without number to think with your brains and not your fists" he slapped the giant at the back of the head.

"But Tristan - " Zach shut his mouth when he saw the murderous look on the alpha's features.

Tristan's gaze connected with Daniel's who smirked mockingly at him -Tristan would have lost the war if it had started.

"I apologize for my beta's short-sightedness" Tristan bowed, but there was a fire in his eyes when he looked up, "But that doesn't mean I have given up on the girl especially now, I've proven I'm her sire"

"I highly doubt that, else how would she have broken out of the bond between you both?" Daniel asked, pretending to be ignorant of the reason behind that.

"I don't know but I believe once she abodes in her real pack, we'd find out the reason behind that" Tristan hinted that Daniel was keeping the girl from returning to her original pack.

Daniel took a step forward, "Trust me when I tell you Lia belongs to no one"

"We'll see about that," Tristan said and gestured to Zach to lead the way out.

" I'll be back " he leaped away, using his beta's body as support.

Daniel stood arms akimbo, watching that suspicious Alpha leave the ward, and finally took a deep breath when he left.

He hated wars with passion, he had lost his parents because of it, hence disliked it yet war seemed to be the culture of an everyday werewolf.

Meanwhile...

Lia was led into the entertainment room where the other students were being guarded. No one had the mood to play games after sensing the tense environment.

They were ordinary humans, yes, but humans had a sixth sense and it was telling them something bad was about to go down real quick.

Ben was the first to rush her as soon as she walked into the room.

"Hey, what's going on?" He lowered his voice, "For some reasons, I can sense the auras around here and it stinks of death as if a war is about to occur with lots of death"

Lia glanced up surprised, "You sense war and death?"

"I don't really know but I feel it, a strong intuition of death as if a ghost is going to pop into my view any moment from now" he explained, feeling uneasy.

"I think I might have caused problems for daniel which might lead to a war"

"What?!" Ben screamed, drawing the attention of the distressed students.

"Seriously, lower it" she scolded Ben while dragging him to a more private spot, away from the student's prying eyes.

"I seriously hate you" Ben whispered in a panic, "You know I hate ghosts yet you brought a future truckload of them to me"

He continued, "That is if we don't end up as ghosts ourselves after we become casualties in this war."

"Oh right, you're not going to die. How wonderful to be immortal" Ben said sarcastically and slapped his forehead.

"Trust me, if anything happens to me, Ben Atticus Alcántara Junior - the only hope of the Alcántara family. I'll hunt you down as a ghost for the rest of your eternity - I'm not going to be gentle with you, goddess or not " he rambled.

Lia facepalmed, so this was what Ben's panic mode looked like. She assured him, "Daniel is confident that they would not start a war "

"Well," he breathed, "Let's pray your boyfriend is right, else the humans are all gonna die. " Ben stomped his feet irritably and went back to the couch, yet his feet would not stop shaking.

Lia put on a brave front but inwardly, she was panicking just like Ben. If push comes to shove, she'd do her best to protect the students but she was worried about Daniel.

What if something happens to - no, she would not think negatively.

So Lia paced around the corner of the room - left to right and back- chewing on her nails obsessively when a certain idiot came to bother her as usual.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Your royal highness finally decided to grace us with her presence" Caroline taunted her, "How has your honeymoon with Daniel been?"