The Alphas' Daughter (Alpha Eyes: Book 2)

Chapter 31

Sitting in my dad's office, I looked up when Liesel shuffled into the room. We looked at each other for a moment, and I braved a smile for her. Even though she knew that my dad was backing off, she still had a shadow of worry behind her eyes. I suppose years of anger aimed towards your kind would do that. Granted, the air in the room still crackled a little.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?"

I patted the chair next to me. "Yes, Liesel. My dad's gone out to take care of a few things, so you won't have to see him for at least a couple hours."

She sank into the chair and nodded to the stack of papers in front of me. "Are these the reports?"

"Yes, indeed. My dad gave us copies of every report that's been filed on the attacks, rogue sightings, the works... I was just about to start looking through them. Join me?"

"Sure. Answers, here we come." She glanced around the room. "Is your mate joining us, or is he out with your father?"

I snagged the top file from the stack, the most recent report. "He's out with my dad, trying to maintain peace during our visit. He's doing what he can to take care of me."

Liesel nodded and leaned back against her chair. "You guys have a special bond. I've only heard about relationships like yours; and even what I've heard is usually shared with a sneer of disgust. It's a unique experience for me to see a real relationship."

"Well, you know that werewolves have mates predetermined for us by the moon goddess," I reminded her. "Once we find each other, the connection between us just gets stronger."

"But some werewolves reject their mate, right? It's not always an automatic happily-ever-after?" Liesel grabbed a report but didn't look at it.

I glimpsed over the report in my hand without actually seeing the words. In realizing that I wasn't reading anything, I looked up at my helper. She fingered the edge of the pages and stared blankly off to the side. Whatever she was thinking about seemed to grab all of her attention.

"You're right. It's not always an automatic pairing, but those that do stick with it are the strongest relationships you'll find. We're certainly one of the lucky pairs that saw the wisdom in the moon goddess' choice." I smiled as said it, various memories flashing through my mind.

Liesel drummed her fingers on the edge of her chair for a second, the report all but forgotten. Her sudden interest in my relationship certainly intrigued me, but I knew she wasn't interested in Lucas. Maybe there was someone else? No; she lived in an underground, all-women coven. She'd never have had the chance to meet someone.

After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head and focused on the report. "So, what are we looking for?"

"...anything that would tie things together," I answered, seeing that the conversation was over for the time being. "There's been sightings and attacks, similar to the ones at our pack. We'll be able to compare notes once we have both sets of reports, but for now I'd say just look for anything that's similar between all of the reports."

"As simple as that, eh?" she sighed, turning the page over.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "Simple as that."

We sifted through reports for over an hour, highlighting anything we thought was noteworthy. To a certain extent, I felt like we were creating more work for ourselves later, but I didn't want to miss anything due to underestimation. Liesel seemed to be as cautious as me, so there was plenty of highlights to go around.

"How goes the hunting?"

I looked up when Lucas stepped into the room. Just seeing him put a goofy smile on my face.