Chapter 97
Silas
“This is not something you can decide on your own,” I said. I was so mad because Drake and the council were asking me to attack the Silver Moon Pack again. I promised Chastity to wait and that I was going to try to make things work. But I don’t think it is going to happen since everyone wants nothing but to kill the wolves.
“My Lord, what keeps you from hesitating to attack them? That Lycan will be the end of you if we do not attack them by surprise.” Alejandro, one of the vampire councils, said.
“I am not hesitating,” I replied.
“And what is it? Why don’t you let us attack them then?”
“Because I didn’t want to,” I replied. “I didn’t want anyone to do as they wished just because I was being lenient. I want everyone to follow me. To follow my lead. If you decide to do as you wish any time you see fit, then you are disrespecting me.”
“My Lord, we only want to diminish the threat of our kind.” It was Vladimir this time. I didn’t think that Drake would do something such as tell them about what I had told and warned him about. He is not as loyal as I thought he was.
“My decision is final; anyone who does what they want without my consent will have to answer to me and will be punished severely. This is the last time that I am going to warn you about this.” I said it with conviction. I know that my judgment has been clouded by my bond with Chastity, and I can’t do anything about it. I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t want to see her in a tight situation. I understand that she was already having difficulties having me and Xander as her mates, and I didn’t want unnecessary attacks on her pack to add to her problem.
But these idiots are testing my patience. They are part of the coven, and I consider them family. But if they continue to hurt my mate, that’s another matter. Yes, they don’t know about that, but I am now sure that they will never accept Chastity as my mate as well. It might trigger them even more and cause them to make hasty decisions.
“If that’s what you want, My Lord,” the council replied. I had a feeling that they would never listen to me. I know where their hatred came from, especially from Drake. But I am not going to let him hurt my mate.
It won’t be wise to tell them about my bond with Chastity because they will only take it against me. I want to do more for the whole coven, and that’s not going to happen if I force them to accept her. But I couldn’t think of any way to make things a little better at the moment. I can’t think of anything that will stop them from doing what we had planned to do without unintentionally telling them about what was going on between me and my mate. One wrong move and it will be the end of my reign, and I won’t have control over everyone when they decide to oust me from my position.
“Give me time to think. Listen or suffer the consequences.” I answered, and they all nodded. I want to appear dominant and in control; they shouldn’t see a single flaw in my leadership.
“Yes, my Lord. We will wait for your decision then.” One of the councils replied, and everyone bowed down before leaving the hall. To meet their expectations, I had to do everything to keep them updated on all the decisions I made. And that’s the hard part; just like I’ve said, I had no idea what to do for now.
I kept myself busy trying to figure out the mess I was in when my phone rang. It was Carlile, so I took the call. “Yes,” I said.
“Come to the lab now,” he said. He sounded worried and in a rush, so I went there immediately. The lab he was talking about was the place where we do the cloning. None of the council knew about it because we were just starting to deliver the blood clone to every coven when I went into hibernation.
I trusted Carlile, and I was very strict with my instruction to use any means necessary to hide it from our kind. Until I am awakened, since I want to be the one who introduces it to them. Without anyone in the coven’s knowledge, they had been drinking the cloned blood for years, and they didn’t even notice the difference. Unless they drank it directly from humans which will only happen if they disobey me.
“What’s going on?” I asked as soon as I arrived. It was a four-hour drive from the mansion, and this was the first time I had come here since I was awakened.
“One of our deliveries didn’t manage to pass through the route because of the checkpoint.”
“Which coven was it heading?” I asked.
“South.”
“Have you encountered something like this before?”
“No. I made sure to schedule every delivery for a safe day and the safest route. I have men watching all the traffic that every delivery van will have to go through beforehand.”
“Then what happened? Where is the blood?” As much as possible, we didn’t want humans to know about this. That’s why we have the pharmaceutical company as a front. We are also the makers of paracetamol, pain relievers, and other medicines that humans need.
“They managed to get away,” he answered.
“What do you mean, getaway? As in, they ran away from the checkpoint.”
“Yes,” he replied. “But don’t worry, because they are certain that they weren’t noticed. It’s just that the driver had a human look out on the area, and he was informed before he could make a turn.” I sighed in relief.
“What do you think about this incident?” I asked, although I had a bad feeling about his answer.
“Someone was behind it.”
“Wolves?” I asked,
“I don’t think so. If they are, all they have to do is ambush us. No need for a checkpoint.”
“What if they wanted to use humans to capture us?”
“No. You know how they were. I am sure that none of the wolves knew about us owning the company.”
“Then?”
“One of us. I’m sure of it. There was someone of our kind who did it.”
“Don’t say it, Carlile,” I said. I didn’t want to think that one of us would do such a thing. I mean, the blood was for our coven in the South; why would they try to stop it or get it busted?NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
“Accept it, Silas. You know that your ideals were never accepted by the council, and please don’t trust Drake so much.”
“You hated him even before,” I replied. We had been friends for a long time, and he never lived in any coven because he wanted to be free. He kept himself hidden to keep everyone’s eyes away from him, which he did successfully. I came to him to offer him the research, and I was glad that he accepted it. Other vampires were also like him and wanted to live in harmony and peace with humans. And they were the ones who work for him now.
“I had a feeling that he is not to be trusted.”
“But he had been an ally to me, especially when I was in hibernation.”
“Just don’t trust him too much.” He replied, “But I guess you are already doing that since he had no idea about the laboratory and the company.” He added, and he had a point. Maybe subconsciously, there was something in me that didn’t want to let Drake know about everything. Then I realized that I limited the information I gave him to only the council and everything that the others knew as well. I just hope that he won’t betray me because I have no mercy for traitors, no matter how close he is to me.