Of ARES

Seven | Just Some Paperwork

Men love to lie. It is deeply innate to deceive when it benefits them.

I had to put my faith in the hands of the two Vician males. Jules was higher on my list of honorability, but Patton was more inclined to not tiptoe around the truth. However, Jules had things to hide, secrets to protect. Patton only owed it to himself to keep quiet on the unpleasant. They both were tied to Alpha Conte. Nothing good ever comes from relations as close as theirs. I had not a clue of the legitimacy behind every explanation and promise they made to me on the awkward drive to what I hoped was a shower.

It was safe to say that Jules chose to take the scenic route to our destination, a trip that I know my mother would have appreciated. We drove through the inner workings of the Erepo District, as Patton explained. It was the fastest way to High Territory, located in the heart of Erepo. It made Penn District look like a small town. Colossal buildings with brilliantly lavish exterior, pedestrians walking in all directions, so many windows, so many street lights, lush green predetermined patches of grass, store after store, a public park so grand that it should have had an entrance fee. For fucks sake, there was even a fountain. A big ass fountain built from a slab of gold. Not a single soul would dare damage it. The monument was in direct ownership of James Conte, and there was only one outcome for damaging what belonged to the Senior Alpha.

I'd heard stories of the immaculate nature of the Erepo District. It was determined to be one of the most magnificent cities in all of the Dark Realm. Notably, it is the oldest district within Vici Territory, managing to surpass the age of Vici itself. The region was specifically chosen by James Conte himself for the rise of his empire, surprisingly with no intervention from the House of Umbra. The already budding city bloomed with vivacity. An economic gold mine and the center of Vician glory.

High Territory was a paradox from urban Erepo. It was a stretch of several miles covered in opulent plains of grass with minimal sections of forest. Houses as big as the Delphine High Pack House stood proudly, outshining any above-average abode that I had ever laid eyes on back home. They were the homes of High Pack members. The people that mattered most. Grandparents, parents, siblings, the lucky first cousins, aunts, and uncles, and the even luckier close friends that could range anywhere from generations of Chief Healers to the most Senior Warriors.

A beautiful community that just so happened to house the Wolfdom's most fearsome wolves.

Above all, elevated upon a plateau, posed the centerpiece of Vici, the Vician High Pack House. A grand complex with dark exterior, a luxuriant combination of ebon stone and touches of light wood. Walls of windows occupied entire sidings. Gated with steel fencing, unlike all of the other homes within High Territory, to keep unwanted guests from making hasty entrances. It was the most telling sign of what I was looking at, besides the ornate golden statue of a wolf's face entwined with that of Selene.

The interior was just as mosaic as the exterior. Patton and Jules were required to do an eye scan before entering. I was advised to avoid it unless I wanted to lose my sight. Enchantments done on the house promised it and much more, apparently. Neither bothered to go into detail about it.

A burning feeling in the back of my throat warned me that Jules was much less trustworthy than he appeared to be. A sudden weight plummeting down on my chest as our trio strode down a long hall solidified that hunch. It was not the foreboding of anxiety, fear that the two wolves were cheats. The pressure was born from the vigorous pounding of my heart, pumping so much blood through my body that I felt like I was going to drown in it. My nerves crackled, heating my ears and palms. Every sense—sight, taste, touch, sound, smell—was on exhaustive alert.

I felt the ache in my fingers for him in every step.

I heard his calm breathing. Every inhale, every exhale.