"YOU GUYS should anticipate the party this night. The alpha allowed us to celebrate a little since we reached the target quota of people to invite this month." A woman showed her set of teeth brightly. Penelope offered to carry their wet clothes by the means of the horse. She feigned nonchalance and inquired about missing persons inside the pack.

"Yes. I've seen a lot of new faces this morning too. Isn't it hard to track them one by one? I mean—"


"Ah! It doean't matter really. And about those who left?" Three of the five girls had a distinct rotting smell coming out of their mouth. This led Penelope to think that the poison in their system might be consumed by food or drink. Long term exposure to these types of poison may lead to cavities, bad breath, dullness of the brain, excessive rashes and black organs. The severity of which is death.

'The question is, who did this to them?' The pack are searching for new members. Is it to replace the old ones? The number of people going inside the Crystal lake is two times a lot than her first time inside this pack territory.

They can't handle numerous wolves inside a small place like this. Looks like Alpha Beatrix doesn't believe in discrimination now, that's why most of her colleagues were either dominant Alphas or recessive ones. She had no fear for her status.


It was like she knew that her post in the system is immovable. That even biological dynamics of wolves doesn't affect her in any way.

An alpha can't have another alpha under their wing. It's not prejudice but the way their bodies were built.


Alphas' exude strong and aggressive pheromones. Their smell only means four things; attack, defend, claim and protect.

They don't have what it takes to submit and follow orders. Alpha's were biologically made to be leaders.

Alpha Beatrix keeping a bunch of alpha buddies in her circle only shows how far is she willing to bend the pack norms.

'How far is she going to maintain it?' Penelope knew, deep in her heart, what might Alpha Beatrix might be planning to do.

The alpha wants to collect these 'obedient' alphas and make the strongest force where she would rule over them. Their superior genes would make the perfect soldiers that she had been dreaming about.

Ambitions as big such as this one would only result to violence. If Alpha Beatrix succeeded, it would be a disaster for them and the people inside. But if it backfired instead, the altercation may cost Beatrix her as well as her followers' own life.

"IRLAN, PASS me a handkerchief." Lance gulped madly as he tried to fan himself nonstop with his shaking hands. "God, that man can sprint."

"Who asked you to mock Samael anyway? He's already pissed from the start and here you are, making it more difficult for him." Irlan raised his hand to create a handkerchief out of magic. He stopped upon seeing Lance's horrified face. "Relax, I won't do it. Use your clothes or something. You're sweating bullets."

"You're a mean kid. Your dad should've spanked you." Lance squinted before patting Irlan's face. "There, I'm fine."

He didn't notice how Irlan's face turned a few shades darker. Lance continued to complain about how twisted Samael has become. "It's okay. I can live through this."

"Your dad should've taught you about how bad is it being a heartthrob in this century." Irlan shrugged. "You're bad at it."

"Shut it. My father is no rake of his league. He's a goddamn king. Literally. Well, unfortunately." Lance basked on Irlan's open-mouthed expression. "Yeah, I'm a prince. Isn't it obvious?"

Lance didn't get to speak with the locals but he managed to get a scope of the whole area's map. He memorised every corner as he ran. Samael wouldn't give them a chance to speak with the people around them— he kept on questioning Lance's motives about joining the pack.

"The madame didn't inform me about your identity. Which clan were you from?"

"Why? Are you finally going to treat me with courtesy and respect?"

Irlan rolled his eyes. "No. I'm just wondering why are you like this. How can you be a prince?"

Lance mulled over his words. Upon staggering on a small bump in the ground, he realized that the kid is insulting him. "Why? Am I not handsome enough?"

"Who's a prince?" Samael's face leaned closer to Lance's. The latter almost jumped three feet backwards because of the shock. "Lance, are you a prince? Honest?"

Irlan managed to react faster and laughed on Samael's query. "He? A prince? Oh, come on. Joaquin could be a prince. This man here is a businessman."

"Prince of the business world then," Lance echoed. "I'm not picky on the title. As long as it sounds good, I'm in."

Before Samael could respond, Lance sighed noisily. "Why are you even listening to our conversation? Weren't you supposed to be lost or whatever?"

Samael grinned. Irlan can see no happiness in his eyes but imminent dislike. "This is my first time here too, just like you. We're going to explore together, you know. Might as well not exhaust the people by your questions."

Lance turned his back and ignored the man. Irlan went after him with his lazy steps. "Third wheeling is not a part of my training description, just so you know."

He tapped Lance's nape and sent the message through telepathy. This trick only works for the magic kind. He rarely use this spell because it will cost him a lot of energy. In this case, he wasted some of his stored power.

Irlan watched as Lance's mouth parted in shock. He frantically threw an appalled expression at him. This made Irlan chuckle. This was the reaction he was waiting for.

'Can you read my thoughts too?' Lance mouthed to him. Irlan rolled his eyes before twisting his lips into a mocking smile. 'If I knew how to read minds, we won't be wasting our time here investigating nothing.'

Irlan faked a stumble and grasped Lance's wrist. He sent his message through his pulsing veins. Once again, Lance had this dubious look in his face as though he doesn't believe Irlan.

Samael followed closely with them. His eyes never left Lance's back. 'He's pissed', Irlan guessed.

He thought about the party this evening and almost sighed in regret. He shouldn't have accepted this mission. Grown ups tend to make a crap out of everything more than he could.

This night would be just like of those nights where he's going to be busy, and not for the reasons that he'd prefer.