Photograph
Kaiser
Adeline has not come back, and I had no idea when she would be back as well. According to her, she had no idea either. I had to know what kind of phenomenon this was.
“Kaiser, are you listening?” Misch asked, and that made me finch back to reality. We were in a meeting, and yes, my mind was somewhere else.
We were inside the warm vicinity of the meeting area next to Alpha’s office. Usually, I conduct meetings in my office; however, today’s agenda needed all the pack’s elders, and we wouldn’t be able to fit inside, so the best decision was to hold it here.
“You’re not thinking about any alpha’s daughter to fuck with, right?” One of the eight elders asked. He is the oldest in the pack and has gained our respect, so he could talk to me that way as well.
“I’m not,” I replied, and I heard Ryan and Misch laugh.
“What do these two idiots laugh about?” the old elder asked, confused.
“Just ignore them. You know how immature they are at times.” I answered before I looked at the two idiots. “Be serious.”Content is property of NôvelDrama.Org.
“We are. You’re the one who was spacing out.” Ryan replied.
“I’m sorry about that.” I said and looked at everyone, “Where are we again?”
“There has been an attempt from the rogues again,” Ryan said in a serious voice this time that made them all listen.
“Ron, being the oldest pack member, is there a time when we were attacked by rogues that were defeated?” I asked.
“Never; we always win,” he replied. “Though there was an alpha who was subdued by a human,” he added, that made me crease my forehead, and I don’t think I am the only one. Ron heaved a deep sigh before he continued.
“According to my father, there was once an alpha of this pack who was defeated by humans. At first, I didn’t believe it. Just like you are now, I was confused. How could an alpha lose to a human who was weaker in all aspects?” He said, “But later on, I believed him. We didn’t know what or how the pack was before your grandfather became Alpha, right?” he asked, and I nodded. The pack’s life before my grandpa reigns, we know nothing. It was never taught in the pack’s school as well and was not included in any history books in our library.
“How did he lose?” I asked curiously.
“My father thinks that it was his mate. Because the human got his mate and used her against him, which made him weak.” Yes, there’s no better explanation than that. There’s no way that a human will ever win over an alpha. With those thoughts, my eyes widened. Mike is a human, and Adeline loves him. Does that mean, whoever that alpha is, his mate left him for that human as well?
“Is there something wrong?” Misch asked worriedly. I looked at him and then the others and found them looking at me as well.
“Is something bothering you, Alpha?” one of the elders asked as well. I shook my head and smiled before concluding nothing.
“I just remembered something you all have nothing to worry about.”
“Are you sure, Kaiser?” It was Ryan. He, too, looks concerned.
“Yeah, let’s continue.” I said instead, “We’ll talk about the alpha some other time; the rogues are much more concerning than knowing the reason for a deceased alpha.” I added, and we are back in our discussion.
“The rogues have been able to continuously enter our border without fear. It’s as if they wanted us to see them lurking around. Provoking us, intentionally by mocking.” Misch said.
“We have been killing every rogue we caught, but that didn’t stop them from coming over,” I replied, and they all nodded. “With this, I want a change of patrol shifts.”
“What kind of change?” Ron asked.
“Let’s make an additional shift,” I replied. “I think their visit has a purpose. Maybe they wanted to know how strong our defense and security were. Or they were trying to familiarize themselves with our patrol guards.”
“For what purpose? Why would they go to such lengths, knowing that they would end up dying when they got caught?” one of the elders asked furiously. I understand their frustration since they knew that the pack members, especially the old ones and children, were fearful about our situation.”
“I had a feeling that they wanted something here,” I answered. My gut keeps telling me that there’s something I am missing, and I need to find that out. “There’s something I want to do personally, but I can’t because of pack issues. I want all of you to help me and do everything so we will be able to find out what those rogues want from us.”
“Alpha, is this thing that you are talking about the Luna?” Ryan asked. I nodded, and right there I saw how surprised the elders were by my revelation.
“Yes, I found my mate,” I declared.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Ron asked. Being questioned about what I do or say was the most annoying thing for me. However, I could not get mad at the old man simply because I respected him. Since then, he has been an important pack member who has always supported my family and the entire pack.
“Exactly what it means, Ron,” I replied with a deep sigh.
“Did she reject you?” he asked again.
“She doesn’t even know I am her mate. And she’s in love with someone else, so I guess that’s equal to rejection.”
“Which pack is she from?” Ron asked again. The other elders couldn’t ask me since I am their alpha. But this old man is really different.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“You heard me, Ron?” I replied and looked at him, exasperated. Respect was a thing to the pack, and I do not want to lose that, especially today, but if he is persistently asked for more, I will definitely lose control. It looks like he senses it-finally, the reason for his sudden silence.
“Let’s not talk about that yet; I would resolve it by myself. And before you say whatever you want to say, I am not going to let her reject me, and I will definitely make her stay here as well.”
After that, they all nodded and sighed in relief. I know that they have been waiting for my mate as much as I have. We all believe that Luna will be an additional strength for our pack and me. But that’s not the only reason why I was adamant about taking Adeline; above all, I want her because she’s mine and the moon goddess’s gift to me.
We proceeded to our meeting, and in the middle of our discussion, we received a mind link from the patrol guards.
‘Fire! There’s a fire in the cabin in the restricted area,’
“We’ll continue this next time,” I said, and without a moment’s hesitation, I rose from my seat, the urgent concern etched on every face in the room. Ryan, Misch, and the elders followed suit. The morning sunlight danced on the ground as we rushed out of the meeting room, heading towards the eastern outskirts of our territory.
There’s only one cabin in the territory, and ever since I was a kid, my father always told me not to go there until the time was right. I don’t know what he meant by that. But knowing that only the pack’s history was stored there, I never stepped anywhere near it since I had no interest.
Growing up, I totally forgot about it, but when I remember, I always have something important to do. Now I started to wonder why my father wouldn’t want me to get there.
The journey was swift, the crunching of leaves beneath our feet echoing the urgency in our hearts. As we approached the cabin, the scent of burning wood and paper filled the night air. The distant glow of flames painted an ominous picture against the otherwise serene backdrop of the forest.
The cabin, nestled among the trees, was a small structure primarily used for storing ancient books and scrolls-repositories of our pack’s rich history and lore during my grandfather’s leadership.
When we reached the cabin, the fire was almost down. I thought it was huge because of the way the patrol mind linked us, but it appears that it was not that serious.
“Did anyone get hurt?” I asked, I am more worried about my people than the history books of the pack. They matter to me more than anything else.
“No one, Alpha,” the guard replied.
“How much damage do you think that fire did to us?” It was Ryan.
“That wall and everything near it,” the guard replied, pointing to the cabin. The extent of the damage is evident. The left side of the cabin stood untouched, a testament to the swift response of our pack members, who had managed to control the flames. However, the right side bore the scars of the inferno.
The once-sturdy wall now had charred marks, and the intense heat had warped and blackened the wooden panels. Embers still flickered in the corners, a reminder of the battle against the fire that had threatened to consume the cabin entirely.
“See to it that every book is intact.” Ron chimed in. Seriously, he is more worried about books.
“Make sure that everyone’s safe before you take care of those books,” I commanded, and then I looked at the old man. I respected him, but as I already said, my pack members are important to me above anything.
“I already asked some warriors to take care of the books, Alpha. And no pack member has been injured. This is a restricted area, so no one would dare come here without permission.” The guard explained. Maybe he was torn between me and Ron, and I understand him. Everyone respected the old man the way I do.
We stayed in the cabin until everything settled. “Alpha, these are the books that we managed to save,” said the warrior who was leading the team, his voice tinged with regret. “The fire was contained, but some of the scrolls suffered damage. We did our best to salvage what we could.”
I nodded solemnly, my gaze lingering on the damaged wall. Although the loss of our historical records was a blow to our pack’s legacy, I was proud of our members for their tenacity in averting a more disastrous outcome.
“Let me see,” Ron said, looking at the books one by one as if he were looking for something. “Is this all?” he asked.
“No, elder Ron,” the warrior replied, and he pointed to three more warriors coming our way with huge boxes in their hands. They put down everything in front of Ron since he was the one who was more worried about those books.
Again, he checked the boxes and the books one by one. In the second box, he took one and flipped the pages. As he did that, a photo fell off and ended up right in front of my feet. I took it, but before I gave it to Ron, I was tempted to have a look, so I did.
Looking at it, my eyes widened, and I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was me in the photo. But what made it incredibly surprising was knowing that this was not taken recently; more or less, this was from many years ago. Decades perhaps.