The Alpha's Mate

CHAPTER 43: SYBIL

For over an hour, I tried calling my parents, my sister and even her husband’s phone, but none of those calls went through. It’s like something unknown had cut the network. How strange. My heart pounded in my chest, fear and dread taking over my senses. What the hell happened to them? Could it be that someone drove them out of the pack and ambushed them? Could my family be dead? If my father was dead, then it meant I was alpha now. Perhaps it’s what this person wanted. To drive my father away, kill him leaving me here because in their eyes, I was easy to dispatch.

Pacing back and forth in my room, a thought occurred to me. I still had other people who I could contact to know if my family was safe. After all, they went on vacation to London. I went to work in seconds. I called my aunt first and the rest of her family, only to get the same results. No call went through. I slumped in a chair. This wasn’t normal. Something was going on in this pack that messed with the phone signals. To test my theory, I tried calling Lucian and nothing. Sorcery. Nothing could explain this other than that.

Defeated, I rested my head on the armrest, thinking. Someone really drove my family out of the pack. Their plan to go on vacation came out of nowhere. If I knew the person who convinced them to do this, I could make the connection. Our only lead was dead now, which meant I was blind once again.

I sat up when someone entered my room. Harley carried a bowl of chicken soup in her hands from the smell of it. “I thought you might need something to eat.” I didn’t move. I would be a fool if I ate something made by her. She was my friend, yes, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help but think she was up to something. Sighing, she went and placed the bowl of soup on the bedside table.

“I know a lot is going on, but for you to think I would hurt you in any way is ridiculous. After all these years, why would I do it now?”

“That’s not what I’m thinking.”

“You’re a good liar, Sybil, but I know you. Seventy years is a long time, don’t you think?”

“I said that’s not what I’m thinking.”

“Is that why you sent Sierra to spy on me?” I paused. She shouldn’t know that unless Sierra told her. I sighed. Omegas, always loyal to each other no matter what. I should’ve expected it.

“Stunned?” Harley asked. I could see and feel her pain. Did I regret my actions in the slightest? Absolutely not. I did it to protect this pack, my mate and myself. If I perceive her as a threat, then I would eliminate her without blinking, friend or not.

“I’m not stunned. I know what I did and guess what? I will do it again and again for this pack. Try to do anything suspicious, Harley. You will be dead where you stand.” She said she knew me moments ago, and if she really did, she knew I wasn’t playing.

“You’re driving away anyone you can trust. People who can help you, it won’t end well for you.”

“Let fate be the judge of that. Now, send someone to call Derek, his father and the rest of the Council.”

“Why not use your phone?” she spat.

“No calls are going through. We’re dealing with something bigger than us. They need to come here now.” Harley nodded, and in seconds, she left me standing there, thinking about what she had said.

I went under the covers. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was still weak after what Damien did to me. Is this how everyone whom I used my power upon felt afterwards? If so, I felt sorry for them. Knowing the inflated egos of the Council members, I knew it would take an hour or two for them to come here. So, I closed my eyes and drifted into a restless sleep.

I had been right. It took the Council two hours to arrive at the pack house. The last member walked in all bloody. A swollen eye and a broken hand. His misery satisfied me. He talked a great deal, good to see that someone did what I always wanted for me.

“I was attacked!” He bellowed. He went into a fit of coughs after that, blood spluttering out of his mouth. Wiping it away with the back of his hand, he glared at us all as if thinking someone would confess.

“Do you know who attacked?” Derek asked. Why would a random person attack the poor man? Derek’s father refused to join us, as he didn’t desire to leave the rogue problem unsupervised.

“You didn’t provoke this person, right?”

“It’s you. You sent someone to attack me!” He pointed a finger at me. I wonder how these men qualified to be Council members when they acted like fools.

“Sybil had a visit from Damien,” Harley said. That silenced everyone in the room. One of the Council members scowled at her, clearly wondering why she joined us.

“And I only talked with one person and stayed locked in my room.”

“You’re still alive?” Pierce had all but forgotten his pain as he asked that question. I knew what he was referring to.

“You wanted me dead?”

“I would love to,” he sneered.

“Unfortunately, here I am. Besides, we’re here to discuss important matters. Should I elaborate, or do we all feel it?”

“We all feel it. Have you taken a closer look at me?” As always, Pierce made this all about him. “And did I mention humans? We thought we had them figured out, but no, they’re in our pack now.”

“Which means we should discuss how we can get rid of them,” Lucian said. He had been facing the wall all this time.

“I say we should call the real alpha back here. He left days ago, and the pack is losing the stability it has known for years. The humans are proof of it.”

“My family could be dead as we speak. The phones aren’t working around here.” They didn’t believe me until they tried it.

“Goddess,” one of them muttered.

“We’re alone in this. If we don’t work together…” I let the sentence hang in the air. We knew what would happen if we didn’t work together. We would lose many lives.

“Someone in the pack is working with the humans. That’s all I know and everyone I suspect is in this room.”

“I’m not stupid enough to work with humans.”

“People do worse things for power, Pierce,” Lucian said, and I agreed. If these people in front of me wanted me dead, they would do it without remorse.

Derek and the rest of the Council left an hour later. Sadly, as I had envisioned, we didn’t come up with a good plan. The only plan forward was to increase security around the pack. Derek’s father was at the border, taking care of the rogue problem. And it’s where Derek went once our meeting ended.

I tried reaching my parents again, to no avail. This time, I took it outside, hoping I would get a signal, only to be disappointed.

“Is this magic or something else?” I asked Lucian as I paced around the pack grounds like a madwoman. The pacing and talking helped keep my thoughts in check. The more I thought about the situation we were in, the darker my thoughts became.

“It’s magic. Powerful magic,” he said. Goodness, now that only caused my mind to spiral out of control.

“You need to rest.” He was right, as always. I still felt out of sorts. My limbs aching and an incessant ache at the back of my mind. Did I really make people feel this way when I used the power Damien used on me at them? Or did I have it worse because he was a thousand times stronger than me? I guess I would never know. Thinking about Damien led me back to his words. He called me family. What exactly did that mean? I knew that much: we weren’t related. I guess he was referring to us all being wolves. That’s why he called me family.

“Stop worrying about your family. I’m sure they can take care of themselves. We will be alright.” He will never know how much I wanted to believe him. To get lost in his words, to see this situation through his eyes, but no matter how much I tried, I failed. I couldn’t do this on my own. This was bigger than me. I spent decades training for this. Now I was unsure if I could do it. My father devised this test to see if I could lead this pack. If I failed this test, how could I lead the pack for years? And let’s say by some miracle I won this battle, one thing was certain. The man standing next to me, holding my hand while whispering words of encouragement, wouldn’t be in my future because fate said so.