Chapter 27

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Roma was all packed and ready to leave, she was having her early morning breakfast when Maxwell walked in to the room. He looked disheveled with dark circles under his eyes.

She looked at him taking in his state "What to have breakfast?" she asked.

He walked over and popped himself opposite to her.

She continued eating breakfast in silence for a minute while he was just staring at the table.

"I am leaving" She declared as his eyes flickered to her.

"My work here is done" she said and added "However yours is just beginning."

He took a deep breath. They had not really had a chance of discussion post the debacle.

"I..." He started to croak, clearly somebody had a little too much to drink.

"What's done is done Maxwell" She cut him, there was no point in rehashing something you cannot take back.

"What I am trusting you to do is make this right" She gave him a piercing look while applying some butter to her toast and gently took a bite.

He looked at her for a moment and nodded.

"Good." She closed the matter there. She knew him, his guilt would weigh him down. He was his biggest critic, so no point in rehashing something he was already miserable about. But she also had faith in him to go fix it.

"You should also know" She added taking one more bite of her toast "David will be in tomorrow, so stay out of his radar and no one except Nick knows your identity. I want to keep it that way, at least until David leaves. I recommend, you wait till David leaves before you approach Nicks pack to fix things with your mate"

His mate!

He still could not digest that information, he had a mate! And worst he had claimed her without her consent. He had been replaying the past twenty four hours in his head like a broken record. How we wish he could have acted differently. How we wished he could have had more control on his stupid wolf. Who quite satisfied with his conquest has gone in to hibernation, leaving him to face the consequences.

All he could recall was the expression of fear and shock on her face, those were the only expressions he had seen on her and he was the reason for that. He could recall her face, her soft features. A petite brunet with silky long hair with big brown eyes. She was pretty and....his.

Despite all the guilt weighing him down he also had a sense of satisfaction, a sense of completion something only a mate could provide. He knew her had to make it right with her and he would, not matter what it would take.

There were a lot of things he had to do now to make things right and he was more than ready. The past couple of days have been pity parties for him. More to drown his guilt of his wolf's rash actions, but Alex had kicked him in to gear.

"Roma your car..." The door had opened and Adrian had walked in, he paused for a moment he had not expected Maxwell's presence. Maxwell was on his avoid everyone mode and everyone was giving him space as he clearly had lot to deal with. "Your car is ready Roma" Adrian finished his earlier incomplete statement.

Roma got up "All right, I am ready" She said as Adrian picked up some of the bags that were packed and kept ready and took them outside the room.

Even Maxwell slowly got up.

She came over to him and gave him a hug. She kept hugging him for a moment and gently tapped him on his back and pulled back.

"Don't make it long" She said and he nodded.

And as she was almost at the door she turned and said.

"And Maxwell, don't return without my daughter-in-law"

With that she stepped out of the room and he was simply looking at the open door when Adrian returned to pick up some more bags.

He picked up the bags and looked at Maxwell "You look like Shit!" he deadpanned and turned around and walked out without a response.

***

"How is she doing?" Nick asked as Jeff settled down in the chair opposite to him in his office.

Jeff sighed, he had gotten very little sleep.

"She is still burning up"

When Cathy had rushed in to his office in panic yesterday they had gone over to Jeff's house to encounter Evelyn burning up in fever and muttering incoherently.

Nick had asked the pack doctor to rush over. The doctor after examining her had given some sedative and tablets to bring down the fever.

But one look from the doctor Nick knew what all this was about. The change had begun, what surprised him was that how quick it had begun.

Usually after the claim it would take at least a week or so for the transformation to begin. The bite kick started the transformation process and like an infection it slowly spread throughout the body. The bite technically transferred the werewolf gene from the host's body and attacked the receiver's body. If the receiver was already a werewolf there would hardly be any effect but if you were someone who had not yet changed, this would be the trigger.

The fever was a reaction from the human side, the cells fighting a losing battle as the dormant gene woke up and started transforming the body, making it ready for the first shift.

The fever usually lasted a few days and would disappear post that. The end of fever signaled the death of the last remaining human cell in the un-shifted wolf. Post fever it was common to experience stronger sense of smell, eyesight, superior strength as the body readied itself for the coming shift. There was no hard and fast rule for when the shift would happen, it might happen in a few weeks or few months.

But looking at how quickly Evelyn's body started burning up, Nick knew he would see her wolf very soon. It almost unheard of someone getting fever so quickly and shifting in mere days but he strongly suspected the reason, she was bitten by the strongest bloodline in the world. It would explain the accelerated progress.

"Did the doctor tell why she was changing so fast?" Jeff asked hoping for some answer. Nick had been in touch with the doctor while Jeff was busy with a panicky Cathy and sick Evelyn.

"No" Nick said, keeping his thought to himself.

"The exact nature of shift is not completely understood. It could depend on lot of factors, mainly genetics" Nick added.

Or the genetics of your mate. He silently thought.

"So she will shift soon?" Jeff asked taking a guess

Nick nodded in agreement to the question "Yes, most likely. The way she is progressing, it could be mere days"

"Days!" Jeff whispered in shock. That would be the fastest change he had ever encountered.

"Yep. You better be ready" Nick added "I will Inform her mate"

The color in Jeff's eyes darkened at the mention of her mate

"Why?" he asked bitterly

"A mate provided comfort during shift"

"Not hers! For all you know he might agitate her, and at this point I won't risk it"

Nick let out a frustrated sigh "You can't keep them apart forever, Jeff" he gently admonished.

"I know I can't" Jeff added "But until Evelyn tells me otherwise, I will do what I think is best for her" he paused and added "And right now, I don't think she would want that bastard anywhere near her."

"All right" Nick conceded. It would only be a matter of days. Once she shifted her wolf would gravitate to her mate and there would be nothing that anyone can do about it.

"Let's talk about David" Nick said changing the topic. He needed to prepare for the enforcer's leader visit.

***

At the exact same moment David Nicholas Parnell the leader of the elite enforcers was preparing for his trip to the USA to meet Alpha Nick.

This had turned out to be a major headache for him. First off, his so called technical boss Gordon Lockbourne had flown off the handle and had been raving mad since he came to know of the Roma wolves' intervention in Colorado.

The story that was fed to him was that there was a rogue attack in Colorado and the Roma wolves had swooped in to save the day before the US council could get its act together and now were apparently not leaving.

Lockbourne was thinking up every violation he can ever think of and planning to throw the book at Roma. It was an agreement that you needed the permission of the ruling council of that region if you wanted to enter their territory and Roma wolves had not clearly done so. Lockbourne had just today send out summons for an emergency session. For an emergency session you need to give 48 hours' notice. So two days from now it would be convened.

So his overlord was sending him on a fact finding missions so he could get more fodder for his master. He hated politics with disdain. But he reported to the head of the council also known as the chair of the council who currently was Gordon Lockbourne and he had to walk a fine line. Though the enforcers enjoyed lot of autonomy, issues could be created if certain requests were not entertained.

Technically, the chair only had oversight capacity on the enforcers. For enforcers to be ordered to do something they needed votes from majority of the council. But, the chair could send him on some fact finding missions like this. He had obliged readily as he himself was curious of this event in Colorado, he felt like there was something vital happening out there, his instincts were pushing him to investigate and his instinct rarely lead him astray.

He had a feeling that there was more happening in the background. His and his team's primary goal was to ensure peace across the world. Cull the troublemakers, what bothered him most that why were the enforcers not sent to Colorado to tackle the rogue menace? That what they were supposed to do. There were lot on unanswered questions and he was sure he would not like the answers he would discover in Colorado.

To top it off Roma was no fool, Roma was a sleeping giant. The monarchy controlled a third of the world wolf population from Europe, Asia & Africa their net was far and wide and their influence quite deep. If they ventured in to America they would not go in blind they had a plan, a good one and one that Lockbourne would not like, not at all!

Lockbourne was hoping that as the head of the council chair he could curtail Roma's influence. He was a fool, of the six members of the council three members were in Roma's pockets. Europe, Asia and Africa. Out of the other three America, Russia & Australia, America was clearly against Roma and Russia and Australia were pretty neutral. The best Gordon could do was get Russia and Australia on his side to negate any influence of Roma, but to pass a motion against Roma in the world council and expect it to pass was a pipe dream.

He had a feeling Colorado was big, it would be a game changer and if things got nasty, it was up to him and his team to keep order in the werewolf world.

***

Cathy Parker opened the door and her expression changed to hostile.

"What are you doing here?" She spat.

"I would like to see her, if it's ok with you" he spoke kindly "She was...I still hope is my friend, a very good friend. My name is Alex" Alex spoke in a very pacifying tone. He had come over to check on how she was doing. He couldn't blame her for the hostility he was receiving.

Cathy Parker studied this boy for a moment. She knew his name, Evelyn had mentioned it to her in conversation multiple times and had nothing but good to tell about him.

"What about her mate?" She asked her arms crossed at her chest.

Alex gave a wry smile "Let's just say I am on her side"

She contemplated and finally satisfied, stepped aside which Alex took as an invitation to come in.

He trailed behind her as she took him to a bedroom on the first floor and opened the door to let him in.

He stepped inside and she came in behind him

"Look what he did to her" he heard her from behind him her voice broke due to emotions overwhelming her.

Evelyn was lying on the bed sweating, there was a bowl of water and a wet cloth next to it, apparently used to cool her down. He came close to her and touched her hand gently. It was burning up. Even though she was sleeping he could see her restlessness.

And then it clicked as his eyes widened.

She was changing.