Jayson POV
The white liquid getting tainted by pink, green and yellow, my fingers playing with the spoon so art could spray on the milk with my cereals.
My grip hardened on the cutlery with shame.
"Jay. Don't ever come to me with a fork in hand, it's sickening."
Her words hurt like burning iron marking my flesh. The only wound I wanted to make on her was my teeth sinking in her shoulder to claim her as mine.
But how much did I hurt her, how many of these wounds was she hiding from me.
I dropped the spoon, making it rang with the porcelain bowl. With a bit more strength, the container would have exploded.
I did not regret containing my anger.
"Alpha Rider, would you mind if I join you."
My view moved away from my food art to take a look over the empty kitchen.
"Kamil, when it's the two of us, Jay would be enough."
I went back to my spoon and my now monochrome milk.
His tray bumped mine, making small waves into my boring bowl. And it was all it took one drop reaching my shirt.
"Be careful with how you act."
My guard did not waver at my surfacing anger, he dug into his plate without sparing me a glance. With his fork and knife, he neatly cut the ham in small pieces.
"Did Serah tell you?"
I asked with nothing but a churning stomach.
His eyes unfocused, to meet mine but I could see he had no idea what I talked about.
"Did she tell you about her fear of forks?"
Comprehension dwelled into his being and resumed eating his proteins.
"You mean her trauma."
Volker and I winced at the gravity of our marks.
"She did not, but we spent enough time together for me to witness one of her attacks."
My heart did nothing but break in Ice Moon. As if the goddess herself was pointing out how undeserving of a mate I was.
Did I have a way out? Were we really meant to be or did I blew everything away.
"Don't torture yourself with that. She can manage herself. What she cannot forgive you about was your shitty behavior before she left, and how you did not miss a beat to defend your ex."
In the first half I was about to beg him to put the blame on me but he had the right words to drench me with guilt.
My body was numb to the accusations, I did defend Dina over her, I didn't even try to believe her and the cherry on top, I slapped her.
There was no getting out.
Even if I felt her waver at Kamil's mom's, could I be shameless enough to pursue her.
"Do you think she could ever forgive me?"
My face went down accepting my wrong decisions, the milk became dirty green, toned down by the milk, thus both the pink and yellow had been swallowed in that battle.
"If she was a mere human, I would advise you to give up but lately her lycan side is slowly taking over and I promise you, her instinct will always bring her back to you."
For the first time in this conversation, his words were more attractive than my half finished cereals.
"You know her right, what do you think I can do?"
He grimaced, it wasn't looking good for me.
His food were left alone as he tried to find me a good approach. To be honest, only a miracle could get me through this hardship.
"Nothing, she blames you and you coming back would be not respecting her boundaries. The only possible solution would be to simply give her space, and focus merely on yourself, let her see what a good person you are."
A frustrating growl escaped my throat.
"What if she never comes back."
His eyes rolled and his focus went back to the small pieces of meat in his plate.
"Then try to make her jealous."
God, fortunately, I had this stupid light laurel milk to sink my miserable situation on.
"Kamil, the last time it happened, she broke someone's face and walked away."
"She walked away because you were both in the wrong, Dina for insulting her mom and you for not even asking why she acted that way. To her defense, if I was in her place I don't think I would have managed to suppress my wolf. She'd be dead right now. She did good."
A smile reached my face because of his stupid sarcasm but at least my mind released its constant pressure.
The knife and the fork came in together to catch the last bit of food from his plate. And they clashed on the tray right away.
"So Jay, I'm packing my stuff and at 4, we'll be ready to leave with Serah, are you coming with us?"
My eyes became smaller to words I dared not to misinterpret.
"You're going back? And Serah is coming back to Red Crescent?"
"Yeah, you weren't there for the explanation but Serah needs to intercept a package her mom had sent, and it's coming to Red Crescent.
That would be really convenient for you, so will you go back with us?"
It wasn't convenient for me right now. The best way to win her back was to be away from the packhouse, my office and mostly Dina. However, I wouldn't let her go back alone.
"I have a meeting with all the alphas of the Region at 5:30, but the meeting is online and organized by Ice Moon. I could still negotiate with Asar, maybe he'll just make a report of the situation. I will go and see him now."
He nodded quietly and we both separated ways.
My legs carried me out of the main building and the air ran free on my skin. Volker purred to the sensation and went back to ignoring me.
This brat I could feel his loneliness, why wouldn't he just talk to me and leave his overpowering ego behind.
'Because I wonky miss my mate, not your stupid face.'
Kind as ever. I would appreciate any kind of interaction right now.
The modest house to the view and I was only a small walk away from their door.
It was eight in the morning and each of my steps were drenching my trainers. Not that it bothered me but they weren't mine.
My knuckles gently mistreated the old wood. A few minutes later, I was still rooted to my spot so the gentleness turned into some crude restlessness.
Rosa's face appeared behind the now open door.
"Sorry Jay, I fell back asleep after the first time. Please come in."
Words were not needed, her blond strays were everywhere, the blue of her eyes was dimed by her almost closed eyelids and her skin still wore the fabric she slept on.
I tried to suffocate the chuckle but it wasn't her fault.
I marched into the Markens private space as she closed the heavy door behind.
"I'm the one coming out of the blue, could you guide me to your brother."
She took the lead and we crossed the little guy eating in the kitchen.
"He's a morning guy."
She scoffed haughtily, but her aura only shouted honor.
"He's been up since five, training with Kamil. I used to follow his training but I'm just exhausted lately."
I silently agreed not wanting to make the conversation awkward. I heard she was pregnant and nobody knew who the father was.
The tour was short but it was perfect, the quicker I was here, the quicker I could go back with my pack mates.
"Here."
She opened without warning.
"Jay, what are you doing here this early?"
So he did expect me, probably some twin bond, because I didn't sense mind linking.
Rosa left slamming the door in the process.
I sat in front of his white coloured desk where a few skyscrapers resided.
"Good morning, dear alpha, I would need a little favor from you."
His eyes narrowed at me.
"Please, feel free to tell me Alpha Jayson."
The titles were used so the business was on.
"The meeting it's at 5:30; I would need to go at 4, is my presence required or should I at least connect by video."
His body relaxed but his posture stayed unwavering.
"Alpha it would have been inconvenient if you were not here right now, next time I would appreciate it if you participated with all of us."
His tone claimed his alpha rights and me overstepping was not welcomed.
"Alpha Asar, you just need to tell me, I would stay, I wouldn't want to disrespect your succession and my personal situation should not get in the way of my words."
My tone reacted to his but to my surprise, Volker was bitter than necessary, warm words but cold demeanor.
Asar laughed before leaving his comfortable chair, the material squeaked to the movement and it rolled a bit forward making the paper shake lightly.
He opened one of his drawers, and a massive sheet rolled, was out for my eyes to see.
Asar cued me to follow him towards the sofas and he spread what it seemed like a map on the low table.
I saw all the lines converging in one space and in italic I could read-
"Ice Moon, they all go from Ice Moon from all the packs around."
His words were perfect English but he needed to be more precise for me to understand.
My face was enough for him to continue.
"This is Ice Moon and these are all the in earth access to all the other packs. It's confidential information only Ice Moon had the privilege to know. However now, rogues are using it as a playground, endangering every single pack of our alliance. And it's mostly why they could break our patrol teams, because they never needed to.
So Jayson, this is what the meeting is about, most of the passages are mingled regardless of the territories it is on, so packs would need to cooperate so we could use this as an advantage and not as a subject for more conflicts.
Although, I would have appreciated to have a close friend near me, now that you know about this, I'd like you to log in because I would need an ally through this revelation. We both know how Ice Moon would be deemed responsible for all kinds of conflicts during this meeting."
I contained my anger, if we had this information, most of the intrusion we had been subject to would have been avoided.
But getting mad at a young alpha who was trying his best for all our interest was not a good move, not when he himself was restless about the reactions of other alphas.
"Your ancestors sucks for keeping it for themselves."
His shoulder relaxed as I tried to not pour my anger at him.
"Well, they paid with their life, but I can assure you that Ice Moon had this secret tradition to inspect these passages. So could affirm that the rogues only recently discovered these routes, but the thing is that the information could only have leaked from the inside, meaning my own family would have betrayed us.
I could not believe that, our family was more than secretive so it couldn't be."
His reflection was valid. Who was the insider? If not a blood relative, who would have access and then spread it to the rogues, logics were not part of this equation.
"For now focus on the succession, even the meeting is too early but I believe you know what you're doing. I'll connect when I enter Red Crescent and you can count on me to wholeheartedly support your pack and leadership. Now tell me, who would I have to fight to own my passageway?"
The atmosphere was lifted from its mystery cloak and the air became easier to breathe.
My friend laughed softly before telling me the unconceivable.
"That's the lycan's territory, you either fight your mate or you come to an agreement."
I smiled bitterly. Even with this surprising news, my mind was fixated on finding a solution so it wouldn't become another reason for us to argue.
...
Thanks for keeping up.