I hated being in the city. Specially close to the human holidays. The noise of the cars, constant people talking, screaming, the smells of the sewers and the car exhausts, it was all too much for my wolf to handle.

The running around of the people, the tensions, the streets, the noise. Us wolves could pickup on that a lot, and it drove us insane. We couldn't understand why they would put themselves through so much stress just for gifts and to welcome people that they didn't like in their homes.

As Thaddeus and I walked through the busy streets, we were approached by a street vendor. An older lady that seemed to be close to Laurels age. She was human, and she held the biggest grin on her face.

"You two should buy some of my gifts! So you can take back to your girlfriends!"

"No, thank you" I brushed her off politely as I could and continue to walk past her, only to get pulled back by my collar by Thaddeus.

"What the fuck Thaddeus!" I curse as I fix my coat.

The old lady seemed to be taken back by my use of words as she lets out a gasp, making me roll my eyes internally.

"Maybe Aurora would like one" he says as she picks up the small necklace with a dark blue orb.

"Maybe if she liked for her neck to turn green" I say to him as I glance at my watch.

The lady gave me another look and I had to hold my laughter back.

"That is real gold! -ugh you snobby rich kids make—" She tries to argue but is cut off short when Thaddeus hands her a hundred dollar bill. The lady looks at him stunned, before she gives him a smile as she takes the bill from his hands. "Thank you kids!" she says as she walks away pushing the cart with her.

Thaddeus puts the jewelry in his pocket as we continue to walk down the busy streets. People would move out of the way the moment that they saw us, then again, we were like walking towers.

It didn't take long for us to arrive to our destination. The building looked like an old and abandoned church, but it was far from it on the inside. It looked like a five star hotel. I mean, it was a hotel since it resided Alphas that were visiting other packs.

"I hate this place" I say as I open the door. "I can already smell the old walking corpses of the Committee".

Thaddeus laughs before patting my back.

The moment that we stepped in, all eyes are on us. It wasn't uncomfortable, but with my reputation and word spreading of what has happened yesterday in my pack, it was to be expected.

"My Lords" a tall and skinny man that sounded more annoying than Thaddeus welcomed us. His hair was bright red, with dark eyes. He smelled like a human which made me raise an eye brow in question. Since when did the Committee employed humans?

"My name is Chandler, I will be taking you to the meeting place, please my lords, Follow me" he says as he guided us to the large golden elevator.

We get in and the door closes on us, the stupid elevator music started to play and I let out a growl.

"My goodness Caine, you wouldn't be able to make it a day in England!"

"Like I am planning on going there—"

"You have to—"

"Why?"

"Because I have to do the Coronation for Aurora for my pack" Thaddeus says as he adjusts his tie.

"You won't be stepping down then?" I look at him confused. A huge grin appeared on his face.

"I can't. Not with Aurora's father out there trying to take over with Goddess knows what".

He was right. We all had to be on our feet specially now. We didn't know what was going on, we haven't found the rat in our pack yet, Goddess knows where those girls were at as well.

"Here we are" Chandler says as the elevator stops. The doors open and we walk out. Chandler stays behind as the elevator doors close.

"Caine! You son of a Bitch! Come here!"

"Roger?" I ask as the small and fragile-looking man comes running towards us.

"Oh don't tell me you don't remember your old uncle now! Its my memory the one that supposed to be going bad! Not yours!" Roger says as he walks towards us with the help of his cane.

Roger was my mother's brother. He never really liked my father and tried to help me escape when my father was going to start experimenting with me, but the moment that my father had found out his plans, he had Roger banned from our pack forever.

I walked closer so that he didn't have to take the extra steps and leaned in for a manly hug. I loved Roger. He took good care of me and Cara when mom passed away.

"How is my favorite nephew!"

"Im good, it's been too long—"

The moment I said that, uncle Roger hits my arm with his cane. "Yes you little fucker, and your father passed away and you still haven't lifted that damn ban! How could you forget about your favorite uncle!"

"I am sorry" I apologized. "It has been a few rough years, you know how deep the damage was. He ruined many things uncle"

"I know child, but hopefully today you can lift it! I been wanting to see my little Laurel! How is she doing hummmm?" He asks as he adjusts his doing glasses. Goddess when was the last time he went for an eye exam!

"She is doing good, keeping my Luna company" I watch as Rogers eyes shine bright at the mention of Luna.

"Oh yes! Your Luna! I can't wait to meet her!" Roger replies back excitedly. "And when are you going to have your pups?"

"When she feels ready for it. As of now there is too much going on. We don't want to pressure her"

"We-" my uncle looks bad and forth between Thaddeus and I.

He looks confused for a moment.

Thaddeus then nudges me and I turn to him. The elevator opens and a tall, well built guy comes out. He's holding a metallic case in his hand and he looked top-notch with his best suit.

"Alphas. Please be seated, my name is Erick Green, I am in charge of foreign affairs and I will be putting this information in to take back to the Werewolf King"

Thaddeus and I do as we are told, even Roger who sits next to me. And great now the Werewolf King will be involved too. This was going to put on so much pressure on us now.

The man sits and bring out papers. We watch as they lay the papers out in front of us.

"I am from the Committee—"

"You don't say—"

Nudge.

I look at Thaddeus who is glaring at me hard.

"Alphas please, this is serious matters—"

"What is it? I came here to give all the information regarding Lenas execution to avoid a war with her wrinkly father and I see you filling out papers that got nothing to do with us" say quickly. Frankly I wanted to get the hell out of here, and go home to Aurora, but I knew that this was serious too. Still, I wanted to leave, I hated meetings.

"Maybe not with you, but with Alpha Thaddeus...Alpha Victor has been spotted in France, we had a squad of werewolves out there trying to follow him but they lost him half way. Alpha Thaddeus he is very close to your territory." Erick informs as he hands Thaddeus a black and white photo of Auroras father.

"What is he doing out there?" Uncle Roger asks as he grabs the photo from my hands so he can see it.

Erick adjusts his glasses before speaking. "According to the report that your sister sent over to us, the United States Government as well as the Canadian Government is looking for him and his friends on charges of Human Trafficking. There had been videos surfacing of female wolves changing and trying to defend themselves from the men that they are being sold to. Some people believe the videos, some call it fake and photoshopped, majority of people are calling it photoshopped, which is good, but it will only be so long until something bigger happens and our entire existence is put on jeopardy"

"Shit" Thaddeus curses under his breath as he pinches his nose.

"We need to find those girls" I say and Erick hands me over another paper.

"And we have, yesterday the werewolf squad rescued twelve humans and five werewolves. From the record that Alpha Victor had written down, there are three more female werewolves left. And they are in France." Erick says as he hands me a copy of Alpha Victors notes. "The human girls were taken to your sister Cara and the werewolves girls were brought here immediately.

We are interrupted by the doors to the elevator. They open and my dear sister Cara comes out with an angry-looking man next to her. His hair was cut short and he had dark brown eyes, he rocked a clean and wel kept beard too. The way he walked, I could tell that he was military. " I found that list, little brother. When Rodriguez, and I went in to raid your Luna's pack, a few hours after you happened little brother".

"And Rodríguez here is a human?" Erick asks.

Rodríguez nods his head before looking at Cara with a hint of softness in his eyes. I was quick to catch it and made a mental note to ask her about him later.

"He can be trusted. Rodriguez has been a friend of our species for some time now" Cara reassures as she notices Erick's hesitation.

"Care Bear!" Uncle Rogers cheers happily.

"Hey Uncle Roger" She greets back with a soft smile on her face. Uncle Roger was the the closes thing both Cara and I had for a father. Something told me that she had meet up him more than I have the past couple of years.

"Please sit, we must continue this meeting" Erick says as he looks through the pile of papers in his metallic briefcase. Cara sits down with her angry-looking partner next to her.

"Now on the topic of Lena. Her death was justified. The Alpha King approved and supports you on your choice. But her father...we have yet to hear from him" Erick says as he adjusts his glasses.

"Its to be expected, he pretty much threw her at me because he couldn't afford her lifestyle". Thaddeus confesses as Erick puts the papers away, leaving all but one. "Lena wasn't Luna material, and she didn't care about her own pack as her father would have wanted.

"Guess we get to add another shit father to the "Shit Father" list". Cara adds.

"But will he retaliate is the question? This could mean more issues for your pack" Uncle Rogers states in a serious tone and we all turn to him.

We shift on our chairs. Retaliation on her fathers side would be useless, especially if the Alpha King approved of my decision.

"We will keep an eye on foreign affairs, rest assured that no retaliation will happen."

With that Erick picks up the remaining papers and leaves the meeting place.

"Well that was fun" Cara says as she clasps her hands together. "Okay I'm going to head out and you two are coming with us.

"And go where? Cara every time me and you get together. Bad things happen-"

"Have you contacted Marcus?"

"Marcus- who the hell is that?"

Cara rolls her eyes in annoyance. "The phone number that I gave you."

I had forgotten about that. She had given me the number of a warlock that could give me some insight regarding our mate bond. I shook my head and she rolled her eyes.

"Then come, we are going to see him now" Cara says as she was already in the elevator. She was never one to have patience. Ever.

We get up, except for uncle Roger. Who just sits there looking at us.

"What are you sitting around for? You coming home with us" I say and watch as his eyes lit up.

"Oh! I have been waiting for this for years! My dear Laurel! Wait up!! I am coming to see you!! Oh I hope she still got that red sleeping gown that I like! Oh my dear Laurel! I'm coming!" Roger says as he cheers. Caras face was worth a million dollars and I held back a laugh.

Both Thaddeus and I watch as he wobbles to the elevator like a small child that's excited to see the Christmas tree in the morning.

"I get the feeling that we are about to have no peace at that house—" Thaddeus says as he fixes his collar.

"Nope, absolutely none," I reassure him sarcastically. We were really about to have, no peace.

————————————————————

We got in the black Cadillac SUV with Cara and her partner, Rodriguez.

"So where are we going?" Uncle Roger asked as he took out a cigar from his pocket.

Cara gave him a look and he put it away. "You know you can't be smoking that"

"Yea yea what ever"

I gave her a look before turning to Uncle. "Why she gave you that look for?"

"Because I'm getting old, that's why"

I turn to Cara whose eyes turned sad before she looked away. Her partner was driving and he was focused on the road. Too busy to bother with our bickering. I could tell he was unbothered by how calm his heart beat was.

I decided that it would be better to mind link her. I saw how tense she was with Roger but I wanted to know if my suspicions were true.

"He is sick isn't he?"

"He is, I have been helping him out, but he refuses to stop smoking"

"Don't worry about that, leave him to me, I'll talk to him Cara"

Cara turns around and offers a soft smile. I still saw the sadness in her eyes but sometimes, this was life. Our loved ones get old, and we just have to prepare that one day, will be the last day. I made a mental note to make sure he is as comfortable as he can be when he comes back to the pack. I couldn't help but to feel guilty though.

"So where does Marcus live?" I ask.

"He lives close to your pack, I gave him a heads up and told him that we are coming. Marcus will perform a reading for you."

"And you believe this...mumbo jumbo-"

"Ah yes, why wouldn't I believe? We ourselves are super natural creatures, why wouldn't I believe a witch...or a warlock" Cara says as she turns on the radio.

She was right too. I was just skeptical. Maybe scared of what we were about to find out about this whole ordeal.

We drove for another 15 minutes on deserted roads with nothing but plain fields that would go on for miles and miles. Truly the middle of no where. The car takes a turn into a small dirt path road, we drive down for a few minutes until we make a stop.

"We are here" Rodriguez says as he turns off the SUV.

We get out of the car and stand in front of a small cottage. It looked run-down but the nice smell of food said other wise. I had forgotten that I haven't had anything to eat since earlier this morning and I was starving.

I start to walk towards the front porch when Cara pulls me back harshly. "What the hell Cara?"

"You can't just walk in like that!"

"Why the fuck not?" I ask confused. She takes out her phone and starts tapping on the screen.

"He likes to receive text messages first, and he is a witch. You don't know if he has put a protection spell that can lit yourself up on fire the moment you set foot on that porch!?"

"So I can't just knock on the door like how normal humans do and I am sure he been knowing that we are coming. Isn't that a super power of them-"

"Caine...you just don't get it. People now a days don't like it when you just show up to their house without texting first! And trust me Marcus is one of them."

Her phone rings and she looks at the door as it opens.

A guy no taller than Thaddeus and I comes out of the house. "If it isn't the little she-devil herself" his tone was unshakable and sarcastic.

"Well I figure you would be cooking and it's cold outside...do you think you can let us in? Huh old friend Marcus?"

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and smiled at Cara. "And why should I do that? You still owe me a date with your friend-" his eyes land on Rodriguez who scoffs and just looks away.

What in the hell is going on here and what the fuck has my sister been getting herself into?

"Well Marcus, I got to use the bathroom and my brother here got some problems that require your guidance". Cara says as she sarcastically bows to him.

Marcus looks at me and then at Thaddeus and his face turns serious. "The cards told me that you two would come today. And here you are. I know what you seek, please come" He invites us in.

The house smelled like freshly made food and cookies. And Goddess knew I was in the mood for cookies. "Cookies?" Marcus offers as he puts a plate of cookies in front of us, on the coffee table.

"You reading minds now?" I ask as I pick up a cookie, not waiting for his reply as I start to eat it.

"No it's expected of freshly mated wolves actually. Especially when you are in your human form. I can smell it" Marcus sits down on the sofa next to us and his eyes land on his hands. "The cards have told me everything about you...and you Thaddeus. But you guys are looking for the answers that you cannot figure out just yet...is that right?"

My chest was starting to hurt and I felt desperate for something, I wasn't sure what it was. I couldn't pin point what it was but it was a worried feeling that started a few minutes ago. I turn to look at Thaddeus and his eyes said it all. He was feeling this too.

"What do you wish to know?" Marcus says as he motions for us to follow him. He takes us over to a room that looked like a green house. It felt like summer in there, just a tad bit humid. There were flowers and plants all around us. Beautiful flowers blooming, there were a few birds flying around as well. The place looked like a magical forest. I couldn't explain it but you could feel it.

He takes us over to a large wooden table. There were some crystals, small glass containers with herbs and plants inside and a deck of cards that looked like it was over a thousand years old.

"I want to know why the Moon Goddess gave Aurora two mates?"

Marcus let out a laugh. "When your sister told me. I turned to the cards too. I am someone that is very curious. But I was blocked. What ever the Moon Goddess has planned for you three, will show itself soon. I am sorry that I can not be of help with that."

"So there is no answer to that?" Uncle Roger asked as he walked closer to one of the large Hibiscus flowers.

"Careful with that one, she is a spitter" Marcus warns as he picks a few pieces of leafs before throwing them in a wooden pot. He started to add a few more things in before a small streak of smoke came out. He laid the cards out on the table and he closes his eyes.

"Why did he say that this plant is a spit-"

Rodriguez moves away, just in time to not get spit on by the large Hibiscus flower. "Maybe that's why" Rodriguez says as he stands by the corner away from uncle Roger and the mess.

"Oh she is a spitter alright!" My uncle giggles as he takes off his glasses to wipe away the slime from his face and glasses.

Cara giggles and I couldn't help but to roll my eyes.

Thaddeus now stood next to me. "Can the cards tell you where we can find Alpha Victor? Last we heard, he was spotted in France. I fear that he might be making his way to my territory"

Marcus picks up a card and closes his eyes. "That he is. He seems calm. Meaning that whatever he is looking for, he might have found. There is also another woman with him, I can feel sadness radiating off of her."

We wait silently for Marcus as he picks up another card. He places it down and places his large hand over the card.

I knew he was ready for one last question. I could see the sweat on his forehead and the shaking of his hand and I knew that he was already growing tired.

"What is Alpha Victor after? What does he want?"