Caught in the middle

Elijah’s Point of View

The letter from Veronica has been delivered to Val's secret hideout. It was a long way from East Land's community, and there were no signs of life here at the moment.

"I've completed the encoding of the message," Val said.

While waiting for him, I spotted numerous large wooden boxes spread around the tent where we were.

"Could you tell me what these are for?" I inquired. He claimed that these are weapon storage rooms that contain silver bullets capable of dispatching werewolves.

I then proceeded to question him about the message that had been decrypted because the Alpha had already come, we wouldn't have much time to waste.

"Can you tell me what it says? We need to hurry," I asked. “And I have to go back and look for Atasha to ensure her safety.”

I was afraid my father would catch a glimpse of her. Both of us were in serious trouble as a result of these events. If my father happened to learn that we were here, then Atasha would be dead. Aside from that, it was possible that Veronica, Zach, and I would be imprisoned in a dungeon.

"She stated that they are waiting outside. I suppose she wrote this response before the Alpha arrived, yet it is interesting that she indicated another plan in the event that the Alpha was able to reach East Land . . ." Val said as he shared Veronica’s thoughts written from that letter.

I shook my head. This has become a waste of time, and I didn’t have the luxury of sitting and listening to what Veronica had in mind. I stepped out of the tent to make my way back to Atasha's house, only to be met by a revolver pointed at the right side of my head.

“I'm going to blast your head off if you move.”

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you believe you have the ability to end my life using that toy?"

A figure whose face was hidden behind a wolf mask appeared in the right corner of my sight when I gazed there.

"Please accept my apologies, Elijah," Val remarked, his voice seeming almost teary in his tone.

"Don't worry. This is entirely my fault," I explained.

I was told not to move as another gun was pointed at my back. I was alarmed when I heard Val was getting beaten up from behind me. I had the impression that the weapons aimed at me were firing special bullets in an attempt to slow down the pace of my recovery if I ever took a single move.

Unfortunately, the blood that ran throughout my veins came from Montreal. No one would have the ability to murder me.

I took a deep breath and jumped as high as I possibly could with both of my feet. I spun my body around and was above them in a brief moment, and I counted how many there were.

Weapons were in the hands of two of the attackers, while the others were beating Val inside the tent. While I was in the air, both of them started firing their guns. When I landed, I swiftly swung my fist at one of them, smacking him in the wrist, causing him to lose his gun.

"Damn you!" he screamed furiously.

As a response, I partially shifted both hands, and my claws dug deeper towards his chest, leading the blood to splatter to the ground. He yelled in pain, and when I looked at the other, I saw how surprised he was to discover that his colleague was no longer alive.

"You'll be the next," I mumbled as I gave him a glare. He yelled at me and immediately began aiming and firing his rifle. I smirked as I dodged bullet after bullet.

"Come on. You're capable of doing better than that," I said.

I sprinted toward him and used my claws to chop off his head. When the others noticed that both of their comrades were now laying on the ground, they began to flee the scene.

"I was only getting started," I admitted with a shrug.

Then I took out my tiny cloth and began wiping the blood off of my hands. I also got out a tiny bottle of perfume to put on myself in order to mask the smell of the bloodstains left by these men and so it would not be detected by others. When I entered the tent to check on Val, I discovered that he had vanished, along with the letter from Veronica.

Knowing that Val's scent was still fresh in the air, I followed it. When I got close enough to the place where his scent could be smelled stronger, I noticed a vehicle. It appeared that they had taken him hostage.

"What the hell is going on?" I murmured as I hid myself not far from where they were.

They took him to an old, abandoned building. When they entered, I moved closer and took a peek inside. As I tried to take a look around from where I hid, I saw Val who was sitting down on a chair with both of his arms tied around the back of it.

I looked behind me to see if there was anyone around that might see me, but it seemed that all of them had already entered the building. With a thought that they might catch a glimpse of me here at the entry door, I started walking to the left side of the building, looking for any window that might be useful for me. I did see one, but it was closed when I got here anyway. I had no choice but to put my ears against the window and listen to their conversation.

I then heard footsteps entering the building.

"Val, I'm sorry for bothering you but we have to do this. According to what I've heard, you're with Elijah. I need your help and support in informing me of his whereabouts."

When I heard my name being mentioned, I immediately leapt to my feet and ran towards the building's front entrance.

"Ooh, are you searching for me?"

From there, I could see that Leo was bewildered by seeing me in person. I was staring at Leo when I noticed an opened door on the right corner of the wall. My brow furrowed when I saw a familiar werewolf who entered through it.

"Father?" I whispered in disbelief.

"Many thanks for your aid, Leo," Alpha Gregory said.

He then began walking in my direction. I took a few steps back as fear trembled down my spine; both of my feet started quivering.

Damn it! This particular game of mine has now come to an end. We’re doomed . . .

Where did we go wrong?

I felt bad for Veronica and Zach right away because I was the one who had brought them into this mess. My mind immediately went to Atasha. Perhaps we've reached the end of our story, and the doors are ready to close.

I was contemplating as I found myself in a big dilemma. Would it be easier if I just accept my fate? Should I just marry Margaux and take over as the Alpha of the Crimson Moon Pack? Should I just let Atasha go?

My father was also reaching the end of his productive years . . .

If only I had found her earlier, this situation wouldn’t happen in the first place. Before all these happened, it was difficult for me to convince myself that there was no sign of where and how I would be able to find my mate . . . But I guess my father was completely right. I would have to set aside my pride to lead the Crimson Moon Pack as its new Alpha. I suppose I didn’t have much of a choice right now but to accept my fate.

The image of Atasha's smile flashed across my mind.

"Elijah, let's go back to the beginning . . ." I recalled what she said last night.

Instantly, a sharp stabbing pain pierced my chest. When my father walked in front of me, I was jolted back to consciousness.

“Son, after the masquerade party that will be held this evening, we will return home and you and Veronica will be placed on administrative leave.”

I let out a deep breath. "How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"Zacharius. He told me everything from the gates before I even entered here in the East Land," he responded.

My mouth dropped open upon hearing it from him.

What the fuck . . . Zach, what did you do this time?

Father glanced at Leo. "Leo, please ask Glen to have everything ready for us. I'm really looking forward to going to the Coliseum this evening."

I also looked at Leo who just smiled and assured my father that he would take care of such things. The Alpha then tapped his shoulders and proceeded outside, until I heard a vehicle go away.

I couldn’t help but clenched my jaw out of frustration about Zach’s actions. He broke my faith and trust in him. He only made me realize that I couldn’t really put my trust in him in such situations like this.

"What an unexpected twist of events. I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," Leo told me and then walked to Val.

He then untied the rope that had been knotted around Val's wrist. "Please accept my apologies once more, Val. Your father has given me authority to do any of this."

Val and I were baffled for a second. What did he say?

Glen did?

“He was a very kind man, Val. I owe him a lot. He’s the reason why I’m holding a high position in the East land.”

Hearing that statement from Leo, did it mean Val’s father was a chief? I shook my head and no longer wanted to hear any of their conversation.

“Val, let’s go back and find Atasha,” I said.

“Elijah, I am afraid that you need to go back on your own now,” Val uttered.

Leo then took out a stick of cigar, lit it up and he put it in his mouth and started smoking.

“Val is the son of the Chief here in the East Land. He doesn’t take orders from you. You’re in our territory, Elijah,” he said.

His statement made me laugh out loud. "You are all my father's slaves, and I am your master. This land right here is my father's property, and I am his son, thus there is no such thing as a circumstance in which you do not obey my orders!"

This was the territory that the Crimson Moon Pack had taken over so they had no rights to object with my commands. My eyes were drawn to Val's, who turned away from me.

"Val, I was under the impression that you were a trusted man to my sister! I require your assistance because you are Veronica's messenger. And by the way, where has her letter gone?" I let out a shout.

"Oh, you're talking about this?" Leo then snatched the letter from Val's bag, then grasped it, and tore it to pieces.

"Elijah, pay attention to what I'm saying. Val Bishop and his father, Glen Bishop, have the same objectives in mind. We seek to bring down the system which your father had established. But, of course, their approach to dealing with this situation is different. My Chief informed me that Val is Veronica's loyal man who had received repeated promises from her about improving governance among the people here." He exhaled the smoke from his cigarette through his mouth and tapped the ashes out with his two fingers. He then dug into his pocket and offered me with one of the cigars he had.

“Come on, Elijah. I’m here to talk to you.”

I took the cigar from his hand and he invited me to smoke outside. He asked Val to go back home and leave us alone here.

“You know what, Elijah? I admit I hated your father because of what he did to our pack but when I spoke to the Chief, I realized that my plans will be bound to fail. After all, who can kill the Alpha, right?” He chuckled and he put back his cigarette to his mouth.

“My plans also failed. He knew that I was here. I was supposed to train Atasha from our territory because I wanted her to be my contracted Luna. I asked Veronica to bring the Alpha here to buy some time.”

I wasn't sure if I needed to say all this to him but with all this happening, I decided to tell everything to him about what exactly had happened and why we were all here.

“Oh, that’s what happened?” He laughed and tapped his thigh repeatedly.

He then told me stories about Atasha when they were kids. How she was in school and her funny acts during their classes. It was great to hear stories of Atasha when she was a kid. I also learned something about her childhood, how she was treated back then and her sister Astrid.

“You know I had a big crush on her when we were young. Her innocence was funny. She’s beautiful in a way that she’s so selfless. She could give up everything just to protect the people around her,” he added and I saw him blushing.

He then threw his cigar on the ground and stomped using his foot.

“Eventually, I developed my feelings towards her,” he added.

“She’s mine,” I said and glanced into his eyes with anger.

“Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that!” he said and chuckled. “I’m well aware of that.”

My forehead creased.

“Elijah, please take care of her. If I heard that you hurt her, I would really break your bones into pieces!”

What did he mean by that? His tone of voice made me guess that he had surrendered.

Was that simple?

I smirked. “Are you giving up now?”

“Right now, yes. But it doesn’t mean that I’m already giving her to you permanently. This is part of my plan. Things have changed now. You two can go back to your territory without me saying any word to your father. The Alpha didn’t know Atasha was here. So you don’t need to worry,” he said that left me dumbfounded.

“Go on and train her to shift, I’m wishing her the best,” he added.

To be honest, I was not sure why he was saying all of this. But I guess, I can take back Atasha without breaking a sweat. What I only needed to do was to deal with that detention from my father. With my conversation with Leo, it sounded like he had really decided not to assassinate the Alpha knowing that it would only bring chaos into this land.

I owe you, Glen Bishop. Even for a short period of time, I knew I could trust you.

A vehicle suddenly stopped in front of us. I was shocked when its door opened and saw familiar faces.

“Veronica! Zach?” I yelled.

I immediately grabbed Zach into his collar.

“What have you done? We are supposed to stop our father from coming here!” I told him angrily.

“Hold on, I’ll explain everything later. You missed me so much that you’re choking me to death?” Zach said and laughed.

I put him down as I breathed heavily. I checked the driver's seat to see who was with them.

“Hello, young master!” Joaquin greeted me.

Wait, why was he here?

I looked to my right and Leo was already gone. I came back to my senses as Veronica grabbed me to the vehicle.

“Now, tell us the way to Atasha’s place!” she said.

I looked at her, confused. “What the heck are you guys doing here? What happened to our original plan?”

.“El, we’ll explain later, but for now, it’s better to get Atasha with us,” Veronica said.

Zach then cut our conversation. “We’re waiting for you for how many days, El. Imagine how we’re starving to death. We only ate leaves and fruits. Look at Veronica’s face. Her jaw is popping out now! It’s terrifying!” He chuckled but then he stopped when Veronica hit his head.

“Ouch, Hey! I’m only telling the truth!” He scoffed at our sister then glanced back at me. “Anyway, looking at you Elijah, I guess you’re having a good time here with Atasha. That’s why you took so long!” he hissed.

I groaned knowing that I didn't want to continue this childish argument anymore. I would just like to know exactly what happened at the gate. I suppose that we would all be attending the Masquerade party later this evening thereafter.

I was waiting to hear their reason. They should have a legitimate excuse for not following through with our plan.

The sun was now setting, which served as a gentle reminder to me that our journey was coming to an end soon. We shall be punished when we return home after this night's shenanigans.

We all headed to Atasha’s house and knocked on her door which she opened immediately.

“My, I miss your face, Atasha!” Veronica screamed at my back and pushed me away.

“Hey! Watched it!” I hissed.

She immediately ran towards Atasha and embraced her.

Atasha, on the other hand, seemed very shocked and could only stare at me with her famous questioning look.

“Are you okay? Did Elijah hurt you? Tell me and I’ll kick his ass! I’m sorry if it took us so long for us to rescue you,” Veronica said.

Zach then slowly walked towards them and his eyes were tearing up.

“Oh, hey Zach! Go on and hug Atasha. I’ll let you borrow her in a minute,” Veronica exclaimed.

She then nudged him as Zach was frozen on his feet.

“Uh, okay.” He then embraced her. “I’m happy to know that you’re safe. What you said from the forest, I knew that it was all a lie,” he said.

He was then kicked by Veronica. “Okay, that’s it. Zach. Time is up.”

I sighed, thinking that I must let things pass for this moment.

Joaquin entered the house and began preparing some of our clothes for tonight’s party. By seeing all of this happening, I smiled and a warm feeling engulfed my chest.

Even though we didn't know what would happen in the succeeding moments, and despite the fact that it was possible that bad things may occur eventually, I felt that we can somehow seize this moment and enjoy it.

This night felt like a reunion.