dark collisions.

14

With a sigh, her reluctantly peeled himself from his mate to get out of bed. As much as he didn't want to leave, he had to as he was having a quick pack meeting to discuss the upcoming plans regarding the rogues. And there was one decision he was in desperate need of making for his mate and her safety.

After taking a quick shower and dressing in a back v-neck with jeans, he stepped back into his room to see Azalea still asleep. A small, loving smile took over his face as she slept peacefully while hugging his pillow. Seeing her in his bed and hugging his pillow warmed his entire being. His wolf wanted nothing more than to skip the meeting so he could take care of his mate. The sight of her like this was not helping very much. But he pushed down the animal inside him, leaving a lingering kiss on her temple.

He entered the pack house with his signature emotionless expression on his face. A few wolves in the house immediately cleared way once they felt the presence of their Alpha near. This brought a sly smirk onto his face for a moment until he stepped foot into the meeting room.

It consisted of the same people from the meeting yesterday. Only this time Christian wasn't here as he was taking care of Victoria. Derek minded the fact he wasn't here but understood why so he decided to fill him in later.

"I know we were going to hold another meeting on Monday but we need to plan immediately." Derek spoke, taking his seat at the head of the table. "We still don't know who the leader is. We have no leads on the location of their territory, we have nothing."

"If they're smart enough, they would be scattered into different groups across town. Maybe we should expand our searches further around." Chris Argent suggested, earning a quick nod from Derek.

"That's what I'm thinking. Jamie, Scott, and I encountered some rogues yesterday. They've seemed to be watching us for a while." Derek informed them, clenching his jaw as he recalled the threatening conversation with the rogue yesterday. Especially now they were aware he had a mate.

Scott looked at Derek incredulously, "What do they want? If they didn't want anything, they wouldn't be wasting their time watching."

"They want to overthrow me. Why? I don't know, but they want this pack demolished and me killed." The Alpha responded, thinking of his mate to keep him calm and collected. He couldn't make any decisions out of anger. He needed to be smart and powerful to keep his pack safe as well as his mate.

"We should figure out why and decide how to approach it. I'm assuming we're going to war with them?" Scott questioned, bringing Derek to look at him without responding.

"We're about to have two new people move into the community. Azalea and Victoria. They are aware of Azalea being my mate and are already trying to use her to get to me." Derek explained, eyes flashing their ruby red for a few seconds. "There's an open house on the North side. That's where they'll be staying."

As much as Derek would rather have Azalea be with him, he wasn't going to force her like he did before. He learned that the last time. Knowing she was going to be within the gates of the community was enough to keep him grounded. He would get to see her everyday and be able to protect her himself. The only issue was attending college. That's where he couldn't protect her.

"Have you talked to Alpha Shawn already? We're going to need all the help we can get for this battle. And they're extremely skilled and lethal." Jamie said, leaning back in his seat as he exchanged a glance with Scott.