DEOLYKOS

Chapter 3.

She could've sworn on her life that the air seemed colder in the meeting room than it did anywhere else in the palace. The marble tiles on the floor seemed to sparkle a little brighter and the gigantic chandelier in the middle of the high-arched ceiling hanging majestically above the grand table standing alone in the middle of the room almost made her cower back in intimidation. Everything about the room screamed important, and she knew she was far from that. At least within her pack.

A gentle touch on her shoulder brought her back to reality when she turned to see the reassuring eyes she'd woken up to greet hers with the same reassurance. His hands guided her to her normally vacant seat on the left of the Alpha. She avoided the gazes of the officials in the room – the pack head medic, the head of interior, the captain of the troops at the border, everyone. All people she'd grown up learning from and memorizing their duties. She bowed to them out of respect and greeted them with a smile as she took her seat, Theo taking his seat opposite her. She felt her breath shake with each inhale and exhale but refused to allow her fear to show to the crowd.

The floor-to-ceiling wooden doors to the room opened widely, revealing the alpha and the alpha-to-be – Mordelle and Villeta. Everyone around the table stood up without hesitation and bowed forward, one arm over their stomachs and the other resting on their backs.

"Alpha Mordelle. Alpha Villeta." They greeted in unison, then took their seats after Mordelle and Villeta took theirs. She avoided their gazes as she sat next to her father. In that moment, she realized she'd not seen him in months.

She'd chosen to keep it that way. The sight of her always forced him into a fit of fury few could calm. It would just make everything easier if she was out of sight. She stole a glance at him and almost audibly gasped at how different he'd looked from the last time she'd seen him. His bright hazel fiery eyes that she'd always only seen glare at her seemed sunken and tired. His skin a shade paler and his jet-black hair now peppered with white streaks that emphasized how old he truly was. His frown had set deeper into his face and though he looked older, there was no denying he was as impenetrable as always.

She looked away as quickly as she glanced at him and tried to control her breathing. Heaven-forbid she irritate him more than just her presence did.

The captain of the troops at the border stood up first. "Good morning, Alpha." He bowed quickly.

"Grenald. Update on the troops."

"A hundred and fifty more dead, alpha. We've lost communications with four out of six spies in the rogue camp."

He sighed audibly, the glare in his eyes she'd come to know well setting in. "The other two?"

"Communications are still secured but...very minimal. They stand to be found out. We've suspended comms with them for the time being." He sighed and rubbed his temples. "With all due respect, alpha, our troops are losing hope and morale. The ambushes are becoming more frequent and harder to defend against. To put it plainly, we're losing. We need reinforcements at the southernmost border as soon as possible, and then maybe more to the west."

"How many troops do we have left at the border?"

"Two hundred. Roughly. The number keeps dropping."

The head light witch, Louchi, stood up and bowed in the Alpha's direction. "Permission to speak, Alpha."

"Granted."

"We can offer more witches for the effort at the south border. We have at least seven new full witch graduates. They can help with healing as well."

"That would be helpful, but new graduates? They are not cut out for battle." Grenald offered, the frown on his face deepening with concern.

"We can give them more battle training. They've already mastered healing and concealment, a few more months and they should be fully battle ready." She argued. Angelie's fingers shook beneath the table. A hundred and fifty dead wolves, two hundred more at the border, four lost spies...They were losing the war, fast. She balled up her fists and tried to calm down. Theo had assured her everything was under control; it was a shit-show but they we're handling it as best as they could. He hadn't let her know that they were months away from losing it all to the rogues. Did they all know, and she didn't? She looked up at Theo and he avoided her eyes.