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The morning finally came and after eating, everyone gathered at this conference room.

I was honestly still sleepy when Archer started talking, but what took my attention and woke me up was when he started talking about how many packs had been destroyed by our enemies.

"In total, 14 packs have been destroyed ever since the last 6 months..." Archer ended grimly.

14 packs?

My breath stopped and my heart fell just thinking about the people who lost their homes, their families and friends and most importantly the bond that they had with their packs.

Thinking about the 14 packs who have lost their everything, I started to feel a mix of ander and compassion. But I think I felt more frustrated than anything.

I feel like there's nothing I can do.

I want to help them, but... how?

My hand instinctively touched my stomach and I felt guilty of being pregnant.

Am I really going to be useless at such an important time like this? I'm a warrior yet I can't even help these people out.

My thoughts drowned the voices around me, all there was is that accusing voice that I could not do anything for people who are in need right now.

And all of a sudden, Ian holds my hand under the table. The electrifying touch shocked me and I immediately looked towards him.

He looked at me with concern as if he knew what I was thinking and then shook his head gently. I felt even more guilty and ashamed of my thoughts so I brushed his hand away and looked away, a heavy feeling still sitting on my chest.

"The fourth warrior is my mate?" I hear Cassian mutter. I turned my eyes towards him instead of my concerned mate who was burning my back with his stare.

"Well, it's an assumption." Hazel clears out.

"Our packs are the oldest packs there are and the strongest of our territories. Panselinos has the first warrior, Luminare with the second warrior, Luna Flumine with the third warrior and your pack Caelum. All the more, your pack has elders who can foresee the future, even if it's rare." Chase says.

Cassian took a deep breath and exhaled tiredly.

"Uhm... sure, there is a problem though." Cassian starts. We wait as he continues the story and feeling the pressuring eyes around him, he decides to speak.

"Well, you know that at the age of twenty, if the Alpha, in our pack hasn't found their mate yet, they will have to go search for them in other packs right? So I did travel to a lot of packs for two years, but I had no luck. No trace anywhere. All I have are dreams of her, but there are no clear indications as where she could be." Cassian explained and looked at my way.

Right, that event earlier this morning.

"What if she's a rogue too?" Maddie asked, sympathizing with Cassian.

"Maybe, but when I briefly caught of her scent, it didn't belong to a rogue. And the legends called described her as lost, I'm not sure what that really means though." I answer with a pout.

To be honest, the fourth warrior had almost no clues and just trying to decipher the weird archaic writings was making my head hurt.

We all stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think of a solution.

"Well, it can't be helped. Until we have an idea of where she may be, we still have to continue our quest on how to stop the Strays and who is behind all of this." Hazel said as she put her head back the swivel chair and looked up at the ceiling.

"I agree and I think that we can follow the plan that we made yesterday." Ian says.

The two other Alphas nodded and I could only squint my eyes at them. They noticed and Chase could only smile apologetically at me.

"Well the plan is that while Cassian will be concentrating on finding his mate and helping packs that are getting attacked by the Strays, Panselinos will also be helping out packs that are under threat of getting attacked. Archer's and my pack will concentrate on finding who may be pulling the strings behind all the small fishes." Chase explains simply.

I sighed and thought about their plan.

"If that's the best thing we can do for now, I don't object. Our main goal is finding Effyía and find out who is giving innocent humans drugs and turning them as crazy rogues." I agreed.

"Is anyone ever going to mention the Council?" Cassian intervenes. We all exchanged uncomfortable looks between each other. Everyone noticed the hostility he had when he mentioned the group of people.

Yes, at some point, we all have had our suspicions about the Council, but we had no concrete proof of their involvement.

"Chase and Archer will deal with them, if you and I both approach it, they will get question us." Ian said beside me.

I observed as Cassian's eyes fell on Maddie's, his fist clenching but he held his anger off.

The meeting went by on what the territories that each of us would be covering, the packs that need extra help right now and all sorts of matters.

Again, I spaced out, my mind was on search for a way to help even with my dangerous pregnancy.

Without noticing it, the meeting was adjourned and everyone was standing up to leave, which reminds me, Ian and I would be leaving in a couple of hours.

Archer and Hazel decided to stay for another night and waited for their other comrades from our pack to pick them in Chase's pack instead.

Ian put his arm around me as we start walking back to our room when Hazel grabbed my arm also. We turned around and saw both Hazel and Maddie smiling at me.

"We'll borrow her for a while before you guys leave, Alpha." she says chirpily and it wasn't like Ian could object.

"Not a problem, just make sure she doesn't get too tired." Ian instructs and leaves me with a kiss on my forehead. At the gesture, Hazel made a disgusted face which made Maddie and I laugh.

I went with the two girls as we went at the backyard of the pack house and sat at some of the chairs placed there. From where we were sitting, I saw a group of kids running around playing a game of tag.

Hazel insisted that we waited for the food that was going to come before we started whatever discussion she had in plan.

It wasn't long before the pack helpers put down the food at the table around the chairs. It amazed me how Hazel was close even with this pack's helpers. I mean, she's been coming here ever since she was a child.

"Well, we noticed that you were feeling worried about the situation..." Hazel started.

"You're probably upset thinking that there's not much you can do." Maddie continued.

I was startled, had my emotions been so unguarded that they were able to find out about my inner conflicts?

Hazel sat closer beside me and put her hand on my stomach and smiled.

"And we just want you to know that you've done great so far, if it weren't for you, we all wouldn't even be here, still ignorant about who we are and our mission. So just rest up until your baby is born." Hazel says.

To my surprise, Maddie, who is definitely not a sentimental person, sat closer to me also and lightly held onto my cardigan. "You've had a hard time alone, we'll do our part now."

My heart warmed up, my lips couldn't help but tug into a smile.

Ah, really. What was I thinking?

Of course, everything would be fine. After all, I'm no longer alone.

I have Ian, the warriors and everyone else around me.

I felt so grateful of them, of their words. Their words were antidote to the growing poison of guilt inside me that I shouldn't even feel at the first place.

"Thank you."

Truly, thank you.

😪

💕