ALEXANDER
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The red liquid trailing down my beta's nose satisfied my Wolf.
As soon as my eyes had landed on the dark-haired man, my fist had latched itself on to his face.
"How could you be so stupid!" I growled.
Dyami's eyes were focused on the ground. "I'm sorry for disobeying you but you need to me explain."
"Let you explain!" I repeated, shouting. "Not only did you both put yourselves at risk of getting hurt but you put the whole pack in danger!"
"It was stupid, I know," Dyami admitted. "But let me speak first."
"You know?" I scoffed. "You left the pack unprotected, disobeyed my words and now you have the audacity to ask me to listen to what you have to say?"
My fist landed on his face, again. The anger radiating throughout my body was making it hard for me to keep calm.
He was my beta, the one person who I should be able to trust my whole pack with.
"Alpha," Adam spoke, his voice hardly stable.
I turned my gaze on him. "Explain."
Adam exchanged glances between my beta and I nervously. He was my best fighter, but he wasn't the best with his words, especially at times like this.
"W-we," Adam stuttered. "We didn't want another pack feud, so when we found out, we just acted without thinking."
"I'll admit, on second thought, it was a careless decision. But just listen," Dyami pleaded.
I ran a hand through my hair out of frustration.
I knew of my beta and third in command as two of the best members of my pack, but right at this moment, I had to fight the urge to rip their heads off at the idiocy they were portraying. No amount of explaining could account for their actions.
"This better be good," I warned the pair.
"Dyami was hurt and I was going to take him to the pack doctor," Adam began explaining. "But then we found out the other Alpha had found his mate and we took that as an opportunity."
I was surprised to hear the news. Considering we hadn't always been enemies, I knew Gabriel's struggle with finding his mate, even when everyone else in his pack had already found theirs. But now he was the enemy and his personal affairs shouldn't have interested my members to the point of them going to his territory. The thought angered me.
"You left your pack for the enemy's Luna?"
"She's a big deal, Xander," Dyami responded, nonchalantly.
My eyes narrowed at him, but before I could speak the younger pup spoke.
"At first we didn't think anything of it. We don't really care about the enemy's personal business," Adam continued, shrugging.
Dyami nodded in agreement. My brows knitted at the pair as I awaited the point to their explanation.
"We were going to try to speak with you again to convince you to let us tag along bu-"
"God dammit, Adam. Get to the point!" I cut him off after I lost my patience.
Dyami grimaced, and Adam glanced at me in shock. "I'm s-sorry, Alpha."
"What he's trying to say is," Dyami cut in, covering for the former. "We weren't interest in their Luna until we found out we could use her to put an end to this without having you go to their territory."
I sighed deeply, not understanding where things had gone wrong with my two men. Either I was dreaming or they had lost brain cells. It was my first time seeing them irresponsible.
"Have you heard yourselves?" I asked the pair, bewildered.
Adam chewed at his bottom lip, meanwhile Dyami shrugged.
"Taking her was easy, she didn't even fight back hard. It was almost like she wanted to be taken."
"You have held the Luna hostage?" I asked, hardly believing my ears.
"The Alpha will put an end to this feud once he finds out we have her," Dyami said, confidently.
I couldn't believe what was happening at the cost of my beta and third in command. These were the idiots that I had placed in the highest rank after myself.
"Where is she?" I questioned, not wanting to waste another second.
The pair would receive their punishment later.
"The isolation cell," Adam explained. "We thought it would be better to keep her separate from the other prisoners. Given she is a small she-Wolf, she shouldn't need supervision."
His words hardly registered in my mind. The size of a Wolf didn't account for their strength, but that was not my concern right now. I needed to get her out of my territory before Gabriel attacked.
"Release her and guide her back to her territory," I ordered, my voice full of authority.
I did not need to give Gabriel a reason to attack my pack, especially not at the cost of his Luna. Just as I took a step toward my house, Dyami stopped me.
"I can't do that. There is an issue," he said, confusion plastered on his face. "There is something else."
"There is more?" I asked, astonishingly.
I wasn't sure if I could listen to more without tearing their throats apart.
"You won't believe it. Frankly, I still don't know if she's telling the truth."
I held my beta's gaze, not understanding what he was getting at. "What are you saying?"
He inhaled a sharp breath. "At first we only thought of her as the enemy's Luna until she told us who she was."
Adam swallowed hard, his eyes on Dyami. My gaze followed in the direction of his eyes and glued on the piercing green eyes that belonged to my beta.
"Tell me," I demanded, not understanding where my sudden interest for a mere she-Wolf came from.
Dyami scratched the back of his head. "Apparently, Lyra Dane, that's who."
The name didn't ring a bell. My brow arched in confusion as I awaited for the pair to explain.
Adam looked at me. "You do know who she is, right?"
I cocked my head to the side at his question. "No, does not sound like a name important enough for me to remember."
Dyami snorted. When he caught a glimpse of my glare, he coughed. "Alpha Joseph's daughter, apparently."
My brows rose in surprise. Alpha Joseph. Now, that did ring a bell. It was the same Alpha that had been killed by his beta over a decade ago. Although, I wasn't too sure about the details, I was surprised to hear the news.
"Joseph has a pup?"
The pair of men both nodded in unison.
"That was my exact first thought too," Dyami added. "I don't think she's telling the truth, though. She's probably trying to save herself."
My eyes searched his face for an explanation, but he remained quiet. He seemed lost in his own thoughts. Why would she pretend to be Joseph's pup out of any excuse to stay alive? His words didn't make any sense. But I knew the struggle Dyami had with trusting people.
"I will have to see her myself," I told the pair.
Joseph had been a good friend of my fathers' and I had met him a couple of times as a child. He had been around until I was four, before he had been murdered by his own men. His pack had been erased and the members had joined other packs. It was a tragic death. One that was never spoken of again. I was too young to remember anything else.
My mother knew the truth but had told me not to occupy myself with other pack's personal matters— and she was right. I had to focus on my pack and their protection.
But to find out Joseph had left an heir, who was mated to none other than my enemy, was odd and frustrating. No one even knew of her existence until Gabriel had brought her in to the picture. My Wolf snarled, wanting to find the loser and rip his throat out, but I paid no attention to him.
"I will bring her," Dyami's voice hard, snapped me out of my thoughts. "If you'll excuse me. Alpha."
He bowed his head slightly and ran towards the woods before I could stop him. Adam, not wasting a second, followed the beta quietly. The whole situation was a mess, but perhaps my men weren't stupid after all.
Having Joseph's pup in my territory suddenly seemed more appealing than calling her the enemy. I needed to confirm the information by speaking with her.
The anger and frustration that had been building up was completely washed away by this news.
I wasn't sure where the sudden interest in the enemy's personal affairs came from, but my Wolf urged me to speak with her before I could let her leave.
If she was Joseph's daughter, treating her with respect would be the least I could do to repay for the late Alpha's kindness.
My Wolf purred in agreement, but I simply ignored him as I headed inside of my house. A drink was what I needed as I awaited the arrival of the intriguing she-Wolf.