Wolf Bound

Chapter 31: Grimfur

Vincent flinched. "Well, it is an option that I do want to explore soon. But I don't know if now is the best time," he said, his voice gruff.

"When do you think will be the best time?"

A sigh passed through his lips. "I don't know. But my parents will be pissed if they find out I've hidden it from them for long. So, it'll have to be a lot sooner than I'm ready for."

"Well, if it helps any, I think Lady Teresa already knows."

"What? She does?" he asked, taken aback.

I scratched the back of my head, smiling sheepishly. "She sort of hinted that she was onto me a little while ago. But she hasn't brought it up since then. I figured she hasn't forgotten though."

"Of course." He sighed and massaged his temples. "She's as intuitive as ever."

"That sounds about right." I chuckled.

"Then, it's probably best that we tackle this now rather than later," he said.

"Are we also going to tell the others about what happened last week? With the shadow?"

"Not yet. . . We'll tell them when we tell them about Amaury. I believe that's our best course of action right now. I want to avoid mass panic again too. This may certainly be connected to old man Wilfred's death. I'm sure of it now. And is connected to the Erebus wolves somehow."

"Vincent?" There was a knock on the door.

"Finish talking about this later?" I whispered. Vincent nodded, then turned to the door.

"Come in," answered Vincent. I folded my arms on his desk and leaned forward, resting my head on them at a tilted angle. Bennett slowly entered the room, his eyes landing on Vincent, then me. His eyebrows furrowed at the close proximity between us but he didn't bother pointing it out. He wasn't the first person to notice and he surely wasn't going to be the last.

"Vincent," Bennett greeted him, "we have a message from Grimfur."

"Grimfur?" Vincent frowned.

I scooted closer to him, whispering, "What's Grimfur?"

"Grimfur is a fairly large pack in Georgia. Think about the size of a city. That's how big they are. They're a lot more significant than us too," he said, then looked back at Bennett. "What did they say?" Bennett's eyebrows flung up, his eyes shifting between Vincent and I as if he couldn't believe Vincent was allowing him to talk so openly about pack business in front of me.

Bennett cleared his throat, continuing, "They've invited Calamitous to their pack grounds. Their leader, Alpha Merrick, has called upon all the packs directly involved in the current crisis and requested that we be there. Apparently, they may have some important information.

"And he is offering . . . an alliance. Or I should say, he is asking of all the packs invited that an alliance be formed. There will be several other packs there to my knowledge, including Lichen. I thought I'd confirm with you. Are we going?"

"An alliance, you say, huh. . ." Vincent pushed himself back, rolling a pen in between his fingers as he rotated his neck. "Tell Alpha Merrick that we accept his invitation."

I stroked my chin, my lips curling the slightest bit. "Isn't Lichen the pack that was here not too long ago? What were their names again?"

"Yes, you're thinking of Alpha Kai and Beta Odin," Vincent replied.

I nodded, asking a follow-up question, "Do packs often form alliances?"

"If a situation calls for it. It isn't as often as you might think though."