The tide was changing for Channing, and he was becoming sterner with his words. I just hoped he did not lose on the kindness that he possessed. There is one unkind Alpha I know, and that would be Fang. The last thing I wanted was for Channing to come in contact with Fang at such a turning moment and end up becoming like him.

I had already planned some things, and I had to take care of them before Channing turned his switch on his kindness as well. Being strict was good, but being harsh was not.

"This place looks good," Arina's voice broke my chain of thoughts as I turned to her and saw her check the surrounding of a tall tree with thick bark.

"Yes," I said, going to stand next to her. I had walked ahead a little lost in my thoughts and had failed to notice Arina stop to check a tree. There was thicket here as we had walked a little deeper into the forest. Arina fished her bag to remove the long white silk cloth and then searched for a suitable outfit. I looked at her doing her job silently when it suddenly clicked to me that if Arina saw me turned, then she might see my mate's mark.

It already worried me that the members might have heard about the mark from Diana. I had to confirm it from Arina, then I can decide on what to say about the other baseless accusations by Diana on Channing being my soulmate.

The problem was, how do I put it without being too obvious. I watched Arina was busy opening the silk cloth, and I rushed my question before she asked me to turn in front of her, "Did you hear what Diana had said to me before I turned?"

It was the best I thought to beat around the bush, but my question came out more direct than I had intended it to.

Arina stopped what she was doing to look at me with a confused look. Her eyes went aimlessly around the top, trying to remember the answer. She was pretty close, not as close as Sam or Oliver, but she was standing around the front where the rest of the members were.

"No, you both were quite far away," Arina answered casually and her tone told she was being truthful. "Was it something important?" She asked innocently.

I shook my head, "No, she simply threatened me about Channing, misunderstanding why I was protecting him as the Beta." It was the fastest answer I could think of and there was truth in it. Arina accepted the answer as she went back to opening the silk cloth so she could cover me with it. It was a relief to know that she had not heard about my mark from Diana and I doubted anyone else did. I had to tell Arina that I couldn't shift in front of her, to not risk her seeing the mark by chance.

Arina walked ahead to stand beside me and wrapped the cloth over my wolf. I turned to her and our eyes met when I saw the hesitation in her to avert her gaze back at covering the cloth over my whole body properly, even though it was already done.

"Is it true?" Came her low voice. The hesitation had slipped, but she refused to meet my eyes as her hand stopped correcting the cloth and rested where they were over my wolf.

Somewhere I knew what the question was about, but I still asked, "What?"

Arina's hand slid down from over my wolf and I turned around completely to face her. Her eyes raised slowly to meet mine, and she gulped before asking, "that you are Channing's soulmate." She had an oddly troubled look on her face, as if that could cause a problem.

"No," came my immediate reply. That question was not a concern to me, but her reaction to her own question was. "What have you so troubled look about it?" I questioned.

Arina's tension had relieved when I had denied that I was Channing's mate. I was not and somewhere I felt that would have been much better than the one that was given to me. Fang was nothing but purely irritating and dominating in his ways. That man did not care about others, but simply about what he wanted. Channing, on the other hand, considered everyone. If told, Channing could even think of the entire kingdom at a time and then take decisions accordingly.

Arina sighed, biting into her lower lip as if she wanted to hold back something. "Actually, don't tell this to anyone but Channing had a soulmate."

"WHAT!" I couldn't hold in the shock of this news. Then I remembered something and asked quickly, "was it his previous girlfriend?"

Arina pulled in a deep breath before looking everywhere to see if there were hidden ears here. Somehow Arina always knew a lot when it came to information that was supposed to be hidden and I wondered how did fate bring it to her. It surely must be something about her ability that she must not have discovered yet.

After confirming we were safe, Arina whispered, "Yes, it was. Actually, I think the information that Warchilds were cursed to not have soulmates must be fabricated." For some time, even I had that doubt that someone must have fabricated the history of Warchilds that Arina had read because Fang and I both had soulmates, even after being Warchilds. Arina fiddled with her fingers before continuing, "I had met her once, Channing's mate. Back then, we were young and Channing's adoptive father was still the Alpha here."

"Wait, wait, wait," I stopped her from continuing, "one bomb at a time, Arina. Channing has an adoptive father. What about his actual father?" Being a Warchild he did not have a mother was obvious because of the ritual, but that logic did not apply to his father.

If this was the case, then John Walter was somewhere right with his ambitions, as Channing was not the legitimate heir to the position of Alpha. Although it would not have taken long for his Alpha blood to start pulling in followers behind him and he started leading because it was an uncontrollable trait to us Alphas.

Arina raised her hand, panicked, "Sorry, sorry, I thought you were aware. I wasn't born back then, so I don't know what happened to his birth father, but everyone knows Channing is adopted."

I didn't think Arina knew a lot about that matter, so I did not continue with it. "So you were saying you had met Channing's ex-girlfriend," I went back to the topic that was originally being discussed. I wanted to confirm things from Channing, but I also wanted to know what Arina knew because, the way Fang had said things, the third person's point of view about this matter was narrowed in my mind. I just wanted to see if there were different answers from Arina.

Arina nodded and stepped closer so she could whisper it standing closer to me, "I had met her coincidentally when Channing had brought her on a date near the waterfall where I had taken you to last time."

My mind rushed through my memories and I remembered the small waterfall that Arina had taken me to while she was telling me about the ritual.

Arina continued, "It was a place where I used to visit since childhood and that day I was sad about something, so I went there at night. That was the first time I had met Channing, and I think it was the start of their relationship phase then. Both of them were awkward around each other, but when I had apologised about disturbing them, Channing was ready to leave, but his girlfriend had rudely asked me to leave that place and asked whether I didn't have any manners. I mean, she was talking well only with Channing like two different persons in one body."

It sounded so weird for Channing to have handled such a girl. I always thought soulmates were supposed to be your other half and hence complimentary to you. It was somewhere funny how Channing's soulmate sounded stark opposite of him.

"Do you know that girl personally?" I asked, to which Arina shook her head.

"It was night back then, so I couldn't even see their faces properly," replied Arina. "I remember how Channing had asked his girl to go ahead and apologised to me before introducing himself. His girl had listened to him and walked ahead, but when Channing joined her after apologising to me, she had given me a bone-chilling glare, as if I would be murdered if Channing was not here. We weren't even twenty back then."

I almost giggled at her serious words, "if they were soulmates, his girlfriend must have been pretty possessive of Channing."

Arina shrugged, "maybe, who knows. That was the only time I had met them, so I can't say anything else about them together. But Channing had bumped into me the next day and he had apologised about his soulmate's rudeness and asked me to not tell about it to anyone as they hadn't marked yet. He was clear with the use of the word soulmate, so I know he has one. Though I don't know where she is now."

"Must be somewhere in secret," I said, trying not to break it to Arina that Channing had most likely driven her away because of his Blood Noesis.

Arina hummed and nodded. She spoke as if it clicked it to her suddenly, "We have been here for a long time, change fast. Do you want me to go away so you could change?"

This was perfect I was worried Arina might discover my mark, but she herself had offered privacy to me. Probably because I was still in my wolf's form that she must have thought I was awkward to change in front of someone. "That would be better," I said, and Arina gave a nod.

"The clothes are in the bag, so take what you like. I will be right here," said Arina as she kept the bag upright against the bark of the tree. "Be fast Channing is waiting for us."

"Yes," I waited for Arina to walk away and she stood just behind the same tree. I turned back to human and quickly first wrapped the cloth around me in a way that my mark hid. There just was no suitable dress in Arina's bag to hide my mark and I worriedly fished some more till I found a men's shirt so I pulled it out. I had no other choice, as only this clothing item had a collar enough to hide my mark.

I walked to Arina after being done with the clothing, and she gave me a confused look. Before she could point out, I spoke, "I found this shirt more comfortable please let me have it."

Arina smiled, "That's okay, have it. Let's hurry now, everyone is waiting."