Tobias let out a low gasp, and when I opened my eyes, I found his lips tightly closed, trying not to make a sound. Yet I could read no fear or pain in his expression.
With my teeth still in his arm, I couldn't turn my head at the sound of Luna's laughter. "You're forgetting that biting a mate brings more pleasure than pain." Her words still reached us, though, and by the way Tobias' cheeks turned red, they were true.
I finally let go of his arm, and he quickly used the opportunity to hide his face in my shoulder, knowing that everyone in the room could see his reaction to my bite.
The Alpha cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. "He could be pretending."
"We'll see soon," Luna assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Though I don't think there'll be much to see."
"In the meantime, we need to explain something else to you," Mason interjected.
His tone was serious, unlike his mother's light-hearted one, and that made Tobias straighten up again, preparing for more questioning.
"Tobias and Colby's bond was formed the day the hunters appeared on our border. Tobias is one of the hunters who set the trap," Mason began to explain. However, he did not go any further as Beta interrupted his speech. "So he's not just a hunter, but a hunter who attacked our pack."
But Mason was undeterred. "Only it wasn't an attack."
"It didn't look like a friendly visit," Alpha commented.
"It was an investigation," Mason clarified at once. "I've put everything you need to know in the folder on your desk." He nodded his head, and it was only now that I noticed that there was something like that on the table in front of them. Mason and the others had probably put in the files that Tobias had sent me back then.
Alpha automatically reached for the folder and opened it. I had no idea what had been put in there first, but he started reading immediately, and from the way his brow furrowed, I began to get an idea of what he had in front of him.
"Are you telling me that the Alpha of the Night Walker Pack has hired hunters to attack our pack?" The Alpha tossed the folder back on the table, and Beta Sanel automatically reached for it so he could read it as well.
"Yes," Mason replied simply.
"Do you have any other proof of this?" Alpha asked immediately.
"Not yet." Mason wasn't hiding anything, and from the look in Alpha's eyes, it was obvious that wasn't enough to make him believe us.
"There's something else," Tobias echoed, and it wasn't only Alpha who turned to him in surprise.
"Go on," the Alpha motioned to him.
"Almost two weeks ago we found an injured wolf in Tesall. He wasn't alone. His mate escaped unharmed, but the smaller wolf was poisoned. They are both staying with us at the clan house until he recovers," Tobias began to explain.
"Since when do hunters take care of injured wolves?" Beta Sanel's tone was ironic, and as much as it irritated me, I had to remind myself that he didn't really know how hunters worked like we did.
"I think Tobias should explain how hunters work first." Mason was obviously thinking the same thing as me.
"What do you mean, how hunters work?" Luna echoed her son's words.
"It seems that we've only had experience with hunters who break the rules. Hunters who honour the code are completely different than we thought," Mason explained. "Tobias can explain it to you all if you let him."
Before answering, the Alpha looked at the wolves at his side, and they all nodded in unison. It wasn't every day that they had the chance to get first-hand information about the hunters, so it was to be expected.
And so Tobias spoke. He told them all about how anyone could have alerted them to danger, about how they were not allowed to enter the pack territory, and even gave them the same examples he had told my father, knowing they would be needed most in the current situation. And everyone was shocked when he finished.
"Sounds too good to be true," Alpha was the first to find the words.
"Tobias has no reason to lie." As frightening as it was to contradict him face to face, my mate still came first, and I couldn't let anything happen to him.
"He should be on the ground in pain by now," Luna interjected, nodding her head in the direction of Tobias' arm. Everyone automatically turned their attention to it as well, but the wound on Tobias' arm was unchanged. It still bore the holes from my teeth, but the wound hadn't gotten any worse, on the contrary, it had stopped bleeding.
Tobias held up his arm to give them a better look.
"He's Colby's mate," Mason said in a firm voice that no one could argue with. Although his sentence stated what everyone could deduce for themselves, it was meant to imply that he told them, they just didn't want to listen. Mason, however, had been raised as an Alpha, so he couldn't say it directly.
"Do you feel different?" Luna asked Tobias, and he shook his head.
"It doesn't really hurt very much," he admitted. His words still indicated that he was at least a little hurt, though, and regret filled my insides. My mate was in pain because of me. And I wasn't the only one who was feeling guilty.
"This hurts, though," Tobias said with a hiss and clutched his head. I didn't even realise that my wolf had started howling in his head again. Apparently, this couldn't just happen in the heat.
"Shit. I'm sorry." I reached out to him and carefully took his face in my hands, pulling him into a hug, knowing that doing so would immediately calm my wolf.
"What do you feel now?" Luna asked curiously, watching our every move.
"Colby's wolf is howling again," Tobias said into my shoulder, but since he was in a room full of wolves, he didn't have to worry about being overheard.
"You can feel your mate calling out to you when he's in distress," Luna remarked, obviously surprised by the revelation, and she wasn't alone.
"Has this ever happened to you?" Alpha asked.
I was still stroking Tobias' back reassuringly, but I loosened my grip so that he could partially turn to face them. "When his heat started," he admitted truthfully.
Alpha let out an affirmative hum but didn't comment further. Instead, he turned to Beta Sanel, and their conversation passed quietly over the mind-link.
None of us dared to interrupt them, so there was nothing to do but wait under Luna's intense gaze. While Alpha and Beta were still reacting to Tobias as a potential threat, she was observing him as something of an experiment. Something she hadn't seen before, and it tickled her curiosity. I didn't know if it was good or bad news.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked Toby in a whisper. I cupped his face in my hand, positioning it so that my fingers could slide into his hair. It was a comforting gesture, not only for him but for me, too. Feeling his nearness was the only thing that kept my mind calm in this situation.
"Much better," he assured me at the same volume. Our quiet conversation ended there, however, as Alpha and Beta's attention turned back to us.
"Colby's mate or not..." Alpha spoke in a firm voice. "You wanted to tell us something about those wolves earlier."
"Yes," Tobias confirmed as Alpha paused to give him a chance to answer. He straightened up and slipped out of my embrace, but quickly took my hand, knowing how important it was for both of us to have each other's support right now.
"As I said, one of the wolves was poisoned. My clan is usually good with poisons, but it took them a surprisingly long time to find out what it was. The wolf was poisoned with Crimson," Tobias explained, but instead of shock at his weighty words, he was met with confusion.
I had never heard of Crimson, and from the looks of the others, they were in the same boat. However, none of them seemed to want to ask Tobias and instead, they argued quietly amongst themselves. In the end, it had to be Mason who asked out loud. "What's Crimson?"
Tobias seemed surprised that we hadn't recognised it, but he didn't hesitate to explain: "The Crimson Veil Orchid is a rare plant that can mimic the effects of a vampire's venom, or rather the effects of the venom when the body begins to reject it. Thus, when used properly, it can be deadly to both humans and supernatural beings."
"So someone tried to kill this wolf," the Alpha judged.
"It's quite possible," Tobias replied. "Sounds like someone wanted to get rid of him and play it safe. But there's a problem." Tobias grew nervous for a moment and seemed to think very hard about how to formulate his next sentence.
"What problem?" Our Alpha wasn't very patient, though.
"There is only one place where Crimson grows in our area, if not in the whole state," Tobias explained, adding immediately, "In Kelnar."
"The village right next to the Night Walker Pack," Mason said aloud, echoing what we all thought again.
Tobias nodded, although it wasn't necessary.
"We found something, too."
Surprised, I turned to Milo, who hadn't spoken until now. He didn't pay attention to me, though, and looked from his father to his brother, who nodded and took that as a cue to continue. "Tobias told us that one of the wolves introduced himself as Kristof, so we decided to try and find him in the database."
Mason took his phone out of his pocket and started tapping on it. "There's a wolf called Kristof in the Night Walker Pack, too," he explained, coming closer to us. The moment he turned the screen towards Tobias, everyone watched his reaction.
"It's him." It really was him. Although I only had a brief chance to look at him, there was no denying that this was the same wolf that had stalked furiously into the waiting room.
After this was confirmed, the room fell silent.
Although we hadn't presented enough evidence to prove that Tobias wasn't really a threat and that another pack was, there had to be enough to force them to consider it.
Alpha's expression betrayed nothing, but his face was serious, and even Beta Sanel didn't look as sceptical as he had in the beginning.
The heavy silence was eventually broken again by the voice of our Alpha. "Is that all you wanted to tell us?"
Mason nodded with a "Yes, Father" and then turned to Tobias and me with the same question in his eyes. I didn't know what else to say, so I left the last word to Tobias.
"My clan is trying to find out more, but for now, that is all."
"In that case, step aside and give us time to confer." The Alpha nodded his head towards the door, and the warriors backed away, clearing the way for us to exit.
Before we left the room, my eyes met Dad's for one last moment. He nodded, letting me know he was going to try, and I gave him a grateful smile in return.
Now, for as long as it took, all we could do was wait.