Chapter 11: Could It Be A Ploy?

ALPHA MARCUS' POV

The day has been so stressful for me. Being an Alpha King is not about authority alone. It comes with great responsibility. Taking care of the pack is one thing, and observing the welfare of the people of Alacia is another thing. I take off my royal regalia, changing into my nighties. The nighties is not just any nighties for a common being, but made of quality materials that's meant for only the royals. I'm about to retire for the night, but I just can't. Not yet. A lot of things are going through my mind and making me worried. I close my eyes, sending a message to my Beta, my best buddy and confidant.

"What?" his voice replies like a roar, a muffled moan. I know it's time for him to rest, but I just need him beside me. We need to talk about the problems at hand.

"You're screwing a pussy?" I want to ask, but I change my mind. His voice yells me all about it, but it would be embarrassing to him. He's one sex freak who won't want to quit his pleasure session just for a mere discussion, but then he has to obey the Alpha. His mate is such a sweet lady and capable of taking him so well that he never stops yearning for a pussy.

"Anything gone wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing, drop by when you're through with whatever you're doing."

"Okay, Alpha." he replies and I block the link for the moment. I won't want to listen in on his moans.

I hear a knock on my door and I sit up on my chair, in front of the golden table accompanying it.

"Come in," I instruct and the head royal guard enters.

"Have you seen him?" I question with a stern look.

"Not yet, Alpha. We traced his scent, but it disappeared at some point."

"What do you mean? Why would it disappear?" I know Emal is not powerful enough to erase his scent yet. It's either someone erased it after him or he's long gone away from North Alacia which is not possible.

"Alright, you can go." the guard leaves with a dismissal word from me. I sniff the air for a trace of Matilda, she's in the castle. She arrives in my room as soon as I call her.

"Good day father," she rushes to lean her head on my shoulder. She'll always be my little girl.

"I'm fine, I was quite busy all day long." she stands behind me, wrapping her hands around my neck. She never wants to grow. Since she was a kid, she loves clinging to me, whenever she sees me and it makes our bond stronger by the day, not to talk of her smartness and all.

"Do you need a massage?" she grips my shoulder lightly with her delicate but strong fingers, soothing my stressed muscles with a light massage. A skill she learned when she was eleven.

"Have you seen Emal?"

"No, father. I heard the guards went to search for him. He should be somewhere around the castle."

"He's not, the head guard reported that his scent vanished around the school area and could not be traced."

"How's that possible? He doesn't have the power to erase his scent yet except he's no longer within the north. Could something has happened to him?"

"You don't have to worry, he's still alive. I'm just worried about......."

The door pushes open and the Beta walks in. A fresh odor lingers around him, showing how refreshed he is. He sits opposite me on the vacant seat. Yes, we don't need so much honorifics or superiority between us.

Matilda nods her head in respect, a sign that she sees him.

"Good day, Beta." she curtseys. Aldrien answers her with a beatific smile and she winks at him. She is the closest to him again after her father.

"How are you doing?" she asks, standing in between him and her father.

"Princess, you should learn to use your manners." I scold her and she makes a puppy face. Her pass card in getting things done in her favor.

"Marcus, you should let her be. She's always been my little one."

"With that said, you should call on your elder brothers to search for him." I instruct, as a way of sending her out. I need to discuss the current situation with Aldrien.

"I'll rather go ahead on my own. Do you think those dickheads would answer me? Do they even consider him as their blood?" she replies inwardly with a hurting feeling in that I am the only one who hears her. She leaves my room, and closes the door behind her.

"You're searching for Emal?" Aldrien asks, toying with the lamp on my desk.

"Seems so, it's almost dark, yet he's nowhere to be found. I'm so worried about him."

"You should take your mind off it, he's going to be fine."

I sigh out loud, rolling out the letter we received earlier in the day. Rolling it open, I shift the lamp closer to it. Aldrien reads it and he gasps.

"What is this? This can't be true. It had better not be."

"Exactly why I said we need to take our time on this."

"Wait, does this mean that the Dominican Ice Wolves are still alive? Do they still exist?" Aldrien asks again, doubting the validity of the report in the letter.

"That's what is stated here. The Arctic Alpha says that they found dead pups at their bother with prints of the long-gone Dominican wolves on them."

In Alacia, every being has their recognizable prints, signs, culture, and traditions that belongs to every one of them and it serves as a very good way of recognition for them all in cases like a planned crime.

"And that's what I'm saying, it could be a trick by those bunch of introverts over there. Who knows what they might be planning? You and I know that they have gone extinct and we know how it all happened!"

"The more reason why I'm finding it so hard to believe." I rest my back on my chair.

The Dominican Ice Wolves are creatures of greater features than my White Fur Pack. Their wolves are bigger and six times stronger than any royal werewolf of my Pack. They are a special kind of werewolf with special abilities. Their human physique can be so alluring that one would find it hard to take one’s eyes off them once it's set on them. It's like they possess the bodies of witches which is not. Rather, they are enticing in their look and possess intricate seductive looks. They are three times faster than any royal wolf, talk less of a normal wolf. Their six senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling, and reasoning are greatly heightened, of about three times that of a normal Werewolf. In Alacia, every werewolf differs, but some wolves are no doubt stronger than others and they are the royal wolves. The royal wolves of every pack have slighter increase in abilities than others.

Legends states that the royal werewolves did something that made the moon goddess so delighted that she granted them more strength and a little more ability. But no matter how true it is, the Dominican Ice Wolves are far more than that. People believe they are deadly because once they get angry or provoked, destruction lingers in the air. To crown all their abilities and features, they are different from normal wolves due to the type of energy they possess. All other werewolves possess the fire or hot energy which provides them the ability to regulate their internal organs in a cold weather or under harsh environment, but the Dominican Wolves possess the Ice-Water energy. They can withstand any type of cold weather and mostly find it difficult to adapt to a hot situation which was why they lived close to the coastal areas. How strange! but no one knows why it turned out to be like that with them.

During the war between the werewolf packs of Alacia, a great incident happened that they all died in the war without the exemption of their pups. Everything about them vanished and the reason for their existence remains a mystery till date.

But seeing a report about their likely existence is something worth getting nervous for. It's been decades and they suddenly appear again? How possible? The Arctic Alpha sent a report that their prints were found in the corpses outside their border. Whenever they kill, they leave a lengthy frozen claw mark on the corpse. This is due to their method of fighting they all train with. Their sudden reported existence is getting me confused for so many reasons one which is the identity of those who brought the letter. The Arctic Howlers always stay hidden no matter what and they never associate or speak with other clans over the decades but they suddenly communicate with this kind of report, it's a bit suspicious.

"Could it be a ploy?" Aldrien asks like he read my mind.

"We can't be so sure, we have to tread cautiously no matter what, I'll say we ask for more details when it's daytime, what do you think?"

"Sure, let's do that."