10

Arsens P.O.V

"It's best if we attack directly." Steven suggested, who couldn't wait to free his mate. I understood him. Any werewolf with a mate understood him. Still, the idea was stupid.

"That's exactly what you'll expect," I muttered.

"Who knows if they're even still around. If they let you go, then they should also know that you will betray them." Costa now gave his opinion on the matter.

"But we have to get her out of there." Steven tried again. He seemed more and more desperate.

But with a "No!" in the alpha tone, I ruined his plan. If we're going there, we'll need a plan, because I suspected that there was more going on than it seems right now.

Without knocking, the door to my office suddenly opened. Excited to see who was coming, the three of us turned our heads towards the door when, instead of an adult, my little son suddenly walked in. It's a miracle that at the age of four he was able to open the heavy wooden door at all. But he will eventually be an alpha. You could already see the strength he will have later on and that's exactly what made me proud.

"He's like you!" Costa grumbled amusedly. "You can't knock either."

But suddenly another little boy walked into my office. It was Sebastian, my son's future beta. "Sorry Dad, Sorry Alpha," he apologized, a bit intimidated. Unlike my boy, Sebastian seemed to realize that he was interrupting an important conversation.

"Arian? What are you doing here?" I asked my son sternly.

"I'm going to be an Alpha one day too, so I wanted to help you guys make important decisions," he said defiantly before walking over to me and sitting on my lap. This immediately brought a grin to my face.

"In what is he not after you?" Costa asked amused and then took his son, who he also sat on his lap.

"The eyes." It was Steven who answered this question. I almost got jealous again when I thought about the past times when Steven was only doting on my wife. But I didn't need that anymore. After all, he has a mate now and Aurelia is already expecting my 3rd child and this is just the beginning...

"Arsenic, please. You have your family, please help me save mine too. Because that's what she is. Silva is my family. My home." Steven started again.

"Exactly, you say it. Family. To which I and my men want to return again. We don't know exactly what's going on there and why they've been capturing you for years. So I say: We don't attack without knowing what's going on there. Something just doesn't add up. Call it an alpha's intuition." I had to be so stern now. Sure, I felt a little guilty about refusing to let Steven free his mate, but I had to be stern as a good alpha. I'm not just making a decision for Steven here , but one that could affect the whole pack.I don't know his mate, nor the other packless Steven told me about.

"That's for-..." Steven uttered in frustration. But before he could finish his sentence, Costa cut him off.

"Children present!"

Steven let out another breath of frustration before finally walking out of my office.

"Do you think I made the wrong decision?" I asked my beta for his opinion now that Steven had closed the door behind him.

“To summarize: 1. Steven is alive, although we saw that he was dead; 2. There is a pack of outcasts living in the forest trying to form their own pack; 3. They keep prisoners in the dungeon for no reason and as I understand it, initially there were 13 of our people. Means they did something with 5 of them. So yeah, I also think there's more to it than that," he echoed the sentiment I had.

"I agree with you too, Dad.", Arian now intervened in the conversation. One day he will be a Great Alpha.

Stevens P.O.V.

I couldn't believe it. Isn't that all nonsense? What doesn't go together? My mate is in danger! And all they do is play with their kids. What about me? With my mate?

Sure, it's odd that I somehow survived the attack 5 years ago, precisely because this pack of outcasts doesn't look like they have a doctor in their ranks. Nevertheless, I had to help my mate out of there!!!

I ran to the training ground. All I could do now was train and prepare to free my mate. I also want to return to my old glory. After all, I wanted to prove to my mate that I'm pretty strong too and can protect her. And one thing I will swear to myself: I will never back away from this Devin. He almost killed me back then, but I shouldn't let that put me off. If I have to, I'll kill him.

Arriving at the training ground, I first met Cody and Marius. Cody has meanwhile also become a man at the age of 20. We hadn't seen each other for so many years.

Cody and Marius trained together, which reminded me of the old days. The two used to train together. It's funny that today's training didn't look as brutal as usual. Somehow it looked...how should I put it...romantic?

I didn't think about it any further and joined Owen, who I now spotted as well. He sat on the edge and watched a little boy with curly brown hair and dark blue eyes.

"Hey, who's that?" I greeted my buddy. We may not have gotten along before, but being in captivity changes a lot.

"This is my son Alex. He is already 4 years. It's hard to believe what I've missed out on in his life.", Owen replied sadly and introspectively. I still felt terribly sorry for him. By now he should have processed the information about the death of his mate correctly. Poor me wouldn't take the death of my mate that easily either, I have to be able to do something to cheer him up.

"In return you will be there when he transforms for the first time or brings his mate home," I tried to cheer him up. In fact, I managed to tease out a small smile before he looked at the boy again, lost in thought.

"He has her hair," he then said. With that, he pointed back to his dead mate Kiana. I really felt sorry for him from the bottom of my heart. We had so much time to talk in this basement and also about our feelings. The only topic what he was always talking about was just how much he wanted to see his mate again, I understood him because I missed Silva too and I don't even know if she was still alive.

How could I tell Auri back then that I would refuse my mate for her. I really had no idea what an incredible feeling that is. I'm definitely not mad at Aurelia for choosing arsenic anymore. After all, the two belong together. Just like Silva belongs to me.

And one thing was clear to me.

I will set her free if I have to sacrifice my life for her.