Chapter 737 – Hidden Desires of the Werewolf King Novel

Filed To Story: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel

Maddox raised his eyebrows at the scene of Dayson, Talia, James, and Cornelia walking out, and Maya and Jaeden observing the scene like it was a totally normal thing. Since when were they that close?

…

James had a hunch what Dayson wanted to talk about. It was about Grady. James wanted to talk about him also.

The fact was that Grady saw Cornelia performing magic, and James was not comfortable with the thought that the rogue will be alive and able to talk about it. What if the rogue exposes James’ chocolate-colored Goddess?

The four of them went into the packhouse and used one of the empty rooms on the first floor for their discussion.

James was pleasantly surprised that his father didn’t contact him so far. It was unusual that Alpha Edward didn’t request a report on the situation, but James welcomed this silence. Was it possible that Alpha Edward was aware of what was going on? James wouldn’t be surprised if his father had his spies. Heck, James wouldn’t be surprised if his father had something to do with last night’s attack.

James sat on the sofa next to Cornelia and held her hand in his. As much as the whole night was a mess, he enjoyed this situation where he could be with Cornelia openly. His mark on her neck was concealed under a layer of makeup, but James knew it was there, hiding… just how he was hiding how important Cornelia was.

“I wanted to talk about how to handle Grady,” Dayson’s words snapped James out of his thoughts. “He is an asset, but also a liability. I’m sure you thought of some ways where we can take him with us, and he can be useful without endangering my pack.”

“How are you going to assure that he doesn’t talk about what he saw here?” James asked.

“Blood oath,” Dayson responded right away.

“Make sure to include concealing the existence of witches.”

Dayson’s eyes darted to Cornelia as he understood why James was asking. “Alright.”

“You might want to work with Alpha Maddox to stage Grady’s death before you leave.”

Dayson didn’t get it. “His death?”

James hummed in confirmation. “Tristan is not a fool, and the fact that he was not here last night proves it. Don’t underestimate him or the ability of rogues to get information. Many eyes saw that rogue sitting in front of the packhouse with a Wilkow sister clinging onto him, and that would mean only one thing… mates. What do you think Tristan will do when he finds out about it?”

Dayson nodded as he understood where James was going with this. “He will look for Grady.”

James raised his finger in the air that slowly fell to point at Dayson as James spoke, “Tristan will look for Grady until he finds him, and then he will use him against you.”

—

“How can rogues use Grady against us?” Talia asked. “He was seen here, and we will take him to the Shadow Fang pack secretly.”

James released a long breath. “No offense, Talia, but you are too na?ve.”

Talia frowned. What did he mean by, no offense? It was offensive, alright?

Talia would ask for moral support from Dayson, but Dayson told her more than once that she was too soft, so she guessed that Dayson would probably just agree with James. And even if Dayson defended her, he would do it because she is his mate and not because he believed it.

She decided to show some backbone. “What does my personality have to do with Grady?”

“Nothing,” James said. “But because you are so kind and inexperienced, you can’t see how dirty people can be. Your best quality is also your biggest flaw.”

“I am not sure if you are complimenting or insulting me,” Talia shared her thoughts.

“Oh, it’s a compliment. Trust me,” James said. “Consider yourself lucky that Alpha Dayson is your mate. If it’s any other Alpha…” James shook his head and decided to get back to the topic they discussed. Grady, the rogue.

“When Grady met Tristan and their group, he was stupid enough to believe that rogues are good guys. He was probably so happy that he spilled everything about his life in the human city. Grady said that his mother had passed, but what about his friends? Ex-girlfriends? There are so many ways to blackmail Grady into obedience, and if you think that the blood oath will protect you, I can tell you that you are wrong because there is always a way to go around an obstacle you are aware of.”

“That still doesn’t explain how rogues can use Grady. Don’t they need to approach him first? How will they approach him if they don’t know where he is?” Talia asked, feeling proud of herself for thinking of this.

“And that’s how we are getting to the point of the Wilkow sister, Varya,” James said with a smug smirk like he was waiting for that question.

“What about her?” It was Cornelia who asked. She loved when James displayed his smarts.

James’ expression softened as he looked at his chocolate-colored Goddess. “No matter how much they hide Grady, they can’t hide a Wilkow sister. Kalina and Tatiana are Lunas and too high profile. After last night’s live stream, everyone saw Varya standing among the bridesmaids. And there were also numerous photos taken by reporters. Do you think that she can go into public and not be recognized? Once Tristan hears how a Wilkow sister was clinging onto his man, it won’t be difficult to find Grady.”

Talia’s mood dropped at James’ words. She knew he was right, and now that he said it, it sounded logical. Why didn’t she think of that herself?

Dayson didn’t like this. “Are you saying we must stage Grady’s death and then hide them? Or should we ask them to wear disguises wherever they go?” If it’s for a limited time, it would be feasible. But what if it takes forever? Dayson regretted offering Grady to come to the Shadow Fang pack. Killing him would be simpler. Maybe he can make it look like an accident, preferably before Grady and Varya mate.

‘Mate won’t approve,’ Sapa spoke into Dayson’s mind.

‘She won’t approve only if she finds out about it.’

‘More lies?’

Dayson was exasperated. Why was Sapa coming out only to scold him? Praise or two would be nice!

‘I have no intention of lying,’ Dayson grumbled at the ancient wolf spirit. ‘I am only trying to keep Talia safe. In case you missed it, the last night’s mess was because someone wanted to get his hands on Talia, and we have no idea who that is. What do you suggest I do?’

‘Use your position and power to solve the problem without upsetting mate,’ Sapa said sternly.

“There is another way,” James said mysteriously, pulling Dayson out of his mental chat with Sapa.

“What way?” Dayson asked.

“Use Grady to your advantage.”

Dayson didn’t get it. “We can use Grady to send misinformation, but I don’t see how that would help. Now that we know where Tristan’s hideout is, we can just wipe them off.”

James shook his head, indicating how that was not what he meant. “It’s obvious that a small rogue like Tristan couldn’t be behind last night’s attack. Someone else organized them, but Grady is too low in the hierarchy of rogues to know anything useful.”

Dayson thought how that makes sense, but… “Rogues don’t keep databases we can hack into, and they don’t share their secrets either. What can a newbie like Grady do?”

James thought for a moment before responding. “It’s a long shot, but… if Grady could help us get to that Lisa person, he would be useful. As someone who has access to the information from your pack, she is a valuable resource to Tristan, and he will not let her leave his sight.”

Dayson rubbed his chin while thinking about James’ words. If Tristan won’t leave Lisa out of his sight, the probability was high that… “Lisa should know who was behind this.”

James’ eyes flashed in agreement. “If I understood the situation correctly, Lisa still belongs to your pack. Even among rogues, Tristan has a nasty reputation. He has a way with words and a short fuse. The rumors about him involve crippling people, and he doesn’t use tools or weapons to achieve that.” James lifted his fist, indicating that Tristan beats up people who disobey him. “I am confident that Lisa is not having an easy time there. You can mind-link her, but in order to make her submit, she needs to come to you. Grady is one of them, and he can help her escape Tristan.”

Talia shook her head. “Even if we find a way to get Grady to cooperate, you assume that Lisa wants to escape Tristan. Lisa is a tantrum-throwing person, unable to hold back her grudges, and her mother adores her. The last thing I heard, Stephanie was happily talking about how Lisa finding her mate. Assuming that it’s Tristan and he is mistreating Lisa, Lisa is set on hiding it, otherwise, Stephanie would go ballistic.”

It was James’ turn to pause. “It doesn’t matter if Lisa won’t or can’t escape her abuser. What matters is that her mother won’t approve after finding the truth.”

Talia’s eyes widened. “You want us to use Stephanie to get Lisa out of there?”

James spread his hands, palms up. “I am only telling you that you found the information you can use to get an advantage. How will you use it, it’s up to you. Considering Lisa’s unique position, if I were you, I would make a solid effort in getting her out of there and into my custody.”

Dayson ran his hand through his hair. Many things James said made sense, but everything was risky.

“We can storm that place and extract Lisa,” Dayson said.

James disapproved. “If Tristan knows that Lisa was close to you, and he probably does, he will use her as a hostage. Another thing is that he will know that Lisa is a double-edged sword, and he might eliminate her at the first sign of your attack. In either case, you won’t win.”

Dayson cursed under his breath. James was right. Those were rogues, and they won’t flinch when killing.

—

Nora spent the night in one of the side houses, and she had no idea why the whole packhouse was busy so early in the morning. She thought about sneaking in before breakfast or at least making it low-key, but she underestimated how early these people woke up.

“Did something happen?” Nora asked one Omega.

“We had a minor incident, but nothing that should concern you,” Omega responded as Luna Tatiana instructed.

They still didn’t know the extent of damage and casualties, and until they prepared an official statement, the story for guests was that nothing major happened.

The Blue River pack returned to their regular routine as people were emerging from shelters. On the outside, things looked normal, and only the warriors who were in the middle of it knew how bad it was.

There was one soul that suffered a heavy blow. Jane couldn’t stop sobbing, no matter how much Mindy comforted her. Only after Gideon fired up the calming incense did Jane fall asleep.

Beta Oliver returned, and he immediately relieved Maya and Jaeden from the burden of watching over Grady.

Warriors escorted Grady to the shared bathroom that soldiers used. It was a big space with dozens of showerheads, so Grady could clean up while being watched. Of course, Varya followed Grady. She didn’t want to leave him out of sight, fearing someone might attack him just because he was a rogue.

Varya didn’t get it. She was also a wolf without a pack. Would they look down on her also if her sister was not the Luna here?

Varya grew up in a diverse environment, with more humans than werewolves, and she learned to judge everyone by how they treated her. Based on that criteria, Grady was definitely a good guy. Why can’t they leave them alone?

Dayson and Talia worked with a few smaller units of warriors to identify the cube-shaped devices. After finding a few, Dayson suggested they return to the packhouse, but Talia wanted to keep going.

“You won’t achieve anything if you work yourself into collapsing, kitten,” Dayson said. He knew that she was staying busy so that she didn’t think about Lulu’s death. “You didn’t sleep the whole night.”

“You didn’t sleep either,” Talia retorted. “And neither did these warriors. I’m just doing what I can.”

“You should listen to me when I say that doing this is only postponing the inevitable. We have a lot to do and some things only we can do, and this is not one of them.”

Talia gave in grudgingly. Staying distracted was not working anyway. Whenever she saw a cube-shaped device, Lulu’s face resurfaced in Talia’s memory, and Talia’s heart ached. It wouldn’t hurt that badly if Lulu didn’t die while protecting Talia, and it would hurt even less if Talia didn’t suspect Lulu of being a traitor. Talia believed she wronged Lulu, and it was too late to say sorry and fix things.

Breakfast was gloomy.

People who knew what happened last night didn’t want to talk about it. There was a danger that casualties from last night could be labeled as Maddox’s and Tatiana’s incompetence, so no relevant information left their inner circle, especially because they had press members in attendance.

Talia was unsure if she wanted to reveal that she was marked, but she had no intention of applying makeup, so she tied a silk scarf around her neck.

Dayson was wearing a polo t-shirt, and he lifted the collar. It made him look cool, and it also concealed Talia’s mark there.

They were all sitting in the same positions as they did for dinner on the previous night, with the difference that about one-half of the seats were empty.

Even with that, there were more than a hundred people present, and guests were coming to Beta Oliver to inquire about Maddox and Tatiana. Everyone hoped to hear from Alpha and Luna of the Blue River pack about last night’s disturbance.

After the third group came to Beta Oliver, he went to the stage and took the microphone.

“I would ask for your attention, please,” Beta Oliver said. “Last night, we had an intrusion of rogues into our territory that caused everyone inconvenience. Reports are still coming in, and once we know the details, we will share them with you. Until then, we can assure you that the situation is resolved. We will proceed with our schedule for today as planned, with the difference that our Alpha and Luna might be absent for some time while they catch up on their sleep. Thank you for your understanding.”

Of course, Maddox and Tatiana were not resting. They were working from their room while having their meal there because they knew that people would disturb them. After last night’s events, Maddox and Tatiana didn’t have the capacity to smile and entertain their guests, and they had many things to handle. Guests will need to wait.

“I don’t see James and Cornelia here,” Talia said.

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