Chapter 35 Sleeping Ace
~Liam~
Behind the mansion, deep into the woods where wolfsbane grew in abundance, which was about a kilometer and a half from the territory’s boundary, was an isolated house. It was a bungalow like the rest of the pack’s houses, painted in the same red and gray motif. The only difference was that the blinds were all drawn, and the outside was unkempt.
One person lived here, and no one else was to come near this area except for Rigel, Gale, Lexy, and myself. The rest of the pack knew better than to take the risk of getting close to the house anyway since he accidentally zapped a few members thinking they were intruders. Their timing was unfortunate - he had just woken up.
“Is he awake?” I asked Gale.
We stopped at about ten meters from the entrance. After the last incident, he might’ve set some traps around the house. He didn’t like being disturbed. At least not when he was asleep, which was almost an entire year.
“If I knew, we wouldn’t be standing here with you,” he replied.
I surveyed the surroundings. Brown fallen leaves covered the ground thickly. If there were markings, there was no way of telling. The trees could’ve been marked too.
“Do you want to do it?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t like pain.”
“Still going on about that?”
Gale wasn’t weak. He just abhorred pain with a passion he’d do almost anything to avoid it.
“Your arm,” he said, pointing to it.
The lines lengthened, creeping up from my elbow to my upper arm, intertwining to follow the same pattern. It was almost sad to see this lovely piece of art be regarded as a marker of the remaining time of its bearer.
“Leave it,” I said. “The match will be over soon.”
Gale shifted his attention back to the house.
“I’m sure you need a warm-up before the duel,” he said.
Going down on one knee, he picked up a piece of stone and threw it carelessly. We held our breaths as we waited for something explosive or flashy – whatever performance he wanted to show off. The stone landed on the ground. Nothing happened.
Eight…nine…ten seconds, still nothing.
Gale exhaled in relief.
But it felt wrong.
“He must’ve undone them?” he asked. “Maybe he’s awake! We could be in luck, Liam.”
It didn’t feel like it. I picked up a stone and threw it as well. It landed on the ground and –
One after another, rings with written sigils around the inner area lit up on the ground. The colors were red and yellow.
Fire.
“Stand back!” I shouted at Gale and pushed him to his side.
We each hid behind a tree, and a blast of fire blazed past between the trees. It lasted for a few seconds. The heat was more than enough to burn the skin. Thanks to Luca, I didn’t have to worry about getting a burn.
Peeking behind the tree, the other half of the trunk had burned to charcoal, and all around were embers from ashes of burnt leaves and nearby trees. That was overkill, even for him.
“Is he trying to kill us!” Gale shouted in frustration. “Jayme, you ass! Get out of here!”
No response came from the house, no sound to indicate the presence of a person.
“He’s still asleep?” I asked.
Gale warily looked around. “Was that all of it?”
“Let’s find out,” I said.
Getting behind him and grabbing him by the collar, I dragged him towards the front lawn.
“Hey, hey, hey… don’t – “he protested but I shoved him down the once marked areas anyway. “I’m indispensable your ass!”
“Nothing happened,” I said simply as I looked around warily.
He got back up to his feet, brushing the dirt off his jeans.
“Thank Goddess. Look, I didn’t know you were with Anna, alright? Maybe next time, mind-link me to get you after you two are done.”
“Where’s Rigel?”
“With Salina. Our spies reported a witch. Other than that, we’ve got nothing,” he replied, narrowing his eyes at the front door.
“Sister Katrina. Used to be of the Black Star Coven. What do we know about her?” I asked, carefully making my way to the house.
“The coven’s gone. She’s the only one alive who used to be a part of it.”
“What happened to them?”
He wouldn’t set traps directly in front of the door, would he?
“Everyone burned to their deaths.”
“She survived?”
“She killed them all.”
I stopped. Witches were nasty, to say the least, but a sister killing her sister, worse. Her entire coven… the rest of her kind would hunt her for it. They were a sisterhood, all of them, regardless of their covens. To kill one of them would normally go unpunished…
“How’s she still alive?” I asked.
The sisters should’ve hunted her down to avenge their kind. Or did they change their system to adapt to the times – everyone was capable of change, especially if it meant their survival.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The team suddenly lost her, and the trackers can’t pick up her scent. She’s bad news, Liam.”
“He’s asleep,” I said, sighing.
Of all times.
We needed him now.
“What do we do now?” he asked, sounding worried.
“We’d have to handle this without him. Assign the Delta Unit to guard Anna. Tell Rigel to split the trackers and spies. Have them go by three’s, two trackers, one spy on each team. Have a team join the Delta Unit, another to the patrollers, three teams on the village.”
I turned to head back to the village.
“Inform Lexy to prepare for the worst. Have the medical unit standby and distribute potions to our men. Keep all channels open.”
“Get a team here but keep them twenty-five meters away. Jayme can take care of himself but I have a feeling he’ll need a bit of time if someone uninvited wanders here.”
“What about Rigel?” he asked.
“What about him?”
“You’re joking, right? We need him to coordinate all teams, not pass down orders.”
I stopped in my stride.
“You will be the brains tonight, Beta.”
“But I’m supposed to be with you,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me.
I kept my gaze straight.
“You’ve got to be joking. Tell me you’re joking. Do you trust Rigel with your life? We don’t even know if he’ll show up.”
“He’s my Head Gamma. He’s also our brother. I understand he’d want to protect Anna, that was what I promised him. But it’d be best if he was assigned to me, by me.”
“He’ll go to Anna. You know he will,” he muttered.
I smirked. “I’m counting on it.”
If things turn out as I expected, Anna will convince Rigel to stand by me.
My eyes glazed over as I tapped into the mind-link. Using the open pack channel, I called for their attention. The noise died down instantly. They had to be informed as well. We needed everyone…
