a Primal Pursuit

forty eight

I stared, dumbfounded, at the elder wolf before me. He stared back, unblinking, with the smallest of smirks on his face. I blinked, once, twice, thrice... he said nothing further.

Was he being serious?

Bewitched?

What was this? Some stupid mid-season plot twist of a tv show?

"I'm sorry, what?" I spluttered.

Bodhi chuckled softly, and I looked at my mate with concern. Asra was frowning, his eyes flickering down Bodhi's body before they held mine.

"It would make sense," the elder shrugged. "Humour me, Alpha."

"I do not wish to speak of my mate's history with every alpha present, Alpha Bodhi." Asra shook his head.

"Very well," Bodhi nodded. "Later."

"We leave after lunch." Asra stated.

Bodhi's face fell. "Another time, perhaps."

"Why don't we have lunch together?" I suggested, and their eyes snapped to me. "I, for one, would like to know what Alpha Bodhi is implying."

Bodhi's dark eyes glinted with glee before he clapped his hands. "Agree. Lunch it is."

"Now, can we continue with why we are here?" I crossed my arms, leaning back.

"So eager to get back into work, Luna Zenith?" Conrad hummed.

"I am when it is something important." Tucking my hair out of the way, I nodded. "I believe we were talking about improving the human districts?"

"We were." Augustus grunted, drawing the attention back to us. "What is your first point, Luna?"

I grinned, unable to hide the happiness I felt from him calling me Luna. The other alphas were still uncertain, the quiet one even creepier. He didn't look at anyone much, staring hard at the table as though he didn't want to be here.

Asra must've caught me looking because before I realised the ache, he was in my head.

'He is the stand-in alpha for Blake's pack.' He murmured. 'Not an alpha in his own right.'

Of course, since he destroyed the last two alphas.

That pack was no good, and I was glad I didn't have to deal with it.

Asra's lips quirked, and I shifted my gaze away from him, ignoring the even more amused look from Bodhi. I could see more questions in his mind, but ignored him and instead meet Augustus' head on.

"First, families deserve to be together. That shouldn't even be a rule."

"Bigger families mean more mouths to feed in one home." He shrugged. "It was logical to separate the elder children and couples."

"There are no morals in that. It's just cruel." I shook my head. "You, as a species, need to learn more empathy. I understand you are half-animal, but you cannot imagine being separated from your family."

"It was their punishment." David grunted. "For killing us."

"Don't even go there again," I warned him, narrowing my eyes. "We have already covered the fact we acted in self-defence and did not go tearing up fucking villages and killing without mercy. We surrendered to the offender, which was you. Plus, that wasn't us, that was our grandparents. However, the same cannot be said about your kind since you live for centuries."

He gritted his teeth and looked away to stare at the table. His hands fidgeted with what appeared to be a coaster in his hand, twirling it in frustration.