A Strange Man

••• Arabella’s POV ••• The next day, after breakfast, Max and I went to the council hall, where all the Elders of the werewolf council had gathered under my instruction. After thinking about it, all the Elders must have known by now of Lina and dark magic involvement during Abigail’s case and escape. Therefore, for them to tell me no suspicious attacks had been seen or recorded must be a lie. They had at least looked at the reports on the corpses we had gathered during Abigail’s escape and should know it was done by Lina and her master; it would be impossible for them not to know what I meant by ‘suspicious attacks’. And since they knew of Lina's involvement, they should've known about the rogues' attacks, too, as Lina and the rogues were on the same side. This could only mean one thing... That they were deliberately keeping it a secret from me, and there were spies among them, just like Max had told me last night. I was sure at least one of them knew about those attacks, or more than one. But who? Who would be brave and foolish enough to side with the enemy? Looking at the Elders present in the council hall, I asked them, “Please explain to me why our border villages had been abandoned and overran by rogues, and I knew nothing about it. Why didn’t anyone have the decency to let me know about it?” I deliberately excluded my parents, the Alpha King and Queen, who I was sure were being kept in the dark too since this was now my responsibility and not theirs anymore. My parents might have an inkling of these attacks, but they must not have evidence of it, or they would’ve told me about it if they knew and not just warned me as they did on our last meeting. The Elders, as I had expected, were all silent, not daring to make a sound. I walked into the center of the room, stepping to the middle of where all the Elders were sitting in an arch seating arrangement, sweeping my gaze across them, not missing even one of them. I let Iris merge with me, making my eyes flash dangerously with her golden color. To anyone, as an Alpha Princess, I was a formidable foe, especially adding my identity as the Luna of Silentmane Canines Pack, with Max, the ruthless Alpha, as my mate, standing by my side now. All the Elders avoided meeting my gaze, knowing I was looking for someone to blame. Of course, I was looking for the perpetrator behind everyone hiding the truth from their Alpha Princess. Letting the rogue population grow unchecked on our borders was exactly what Lina and her master wanted, as no Pack could fight a war on two fronts. Dark magic was already difficult enough for us to handle and fight since we didn’t have many witches on our side. And now, with the growing population of the rogues... I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if packs didn’t cooperate with each other during the upcoming war. Seeing the Elders had no courage to look into my eyes, much less answer, I was about to press them harder for the truth when I heard Max’s voice through our mindlink. “I will ask Beta Jaxon to inspect each area the Elders oversee and investigate their activities there.” I thought about it for a moment and finally agreed, as this seemed to be the only feasible option as of now. The Elders might have been threatened or bought by Lina and her master, or they simply wanted to rebel against the royal pack. Suddenly, I remembered Lina’s words when she kidnapped me - she wanted to become the next Alpha Queen and enslave all werewolves. Those working together with her must have wanted to become a member of the new royal pack that would be created by Lina once she got the title of Alpha Queen. If I wanted to draw out information from these Elders, I would have to put them in the dungeons, which wouldn’t look good to outsiders as they still didn’t believe in the upcoming war. “This meeting is adjourned,” I finally made my decision. “I will keep investigating this matter thoroughly, and I have to add one last thing. I am very disappointed with the werewolf council now. One of your responsibilities is to ensure the safety of the werewolf community, but by hiding the truth like this, this goes beyond our belief. Once I find out the truth, I will personally punish those who are working with the enemies.” I swept another cold and intimidating gaze across the room before taking Max’s hand and pulling him to leave the council hall without sparing another glance at those Elders. As we walked outside the building, suddenly, there was a middle-aged man coming to me and blocking my way. The man looked thin, hungry, and poor, with a disheveled appearance and dirty clothes. Max pulled me behind him, hiding me from this stranger, and stared at this strange man. “A rogue?” I mindlinked Max. “I’m not sure. He doesn't smell like a rogue, and rogues shouldn’t be able to enter this area,” he replied through the mindlink. He was right. With how tight our guards were, rogues wouldn’t be able to enter this important governor area. I peeked from behind Max and felt no ominous aura coming from him, nor did he look dangerous like the zombie-like man who kidnapped me last time. He just looked... poor. The man moved forward, trying to sidestep Max to get to me, but Max kept standing firm in front of me. “Please... Please give me some money,” the man begged me with his hands outstretched. “I haven't eaten for a few days. I need money. Please...” Looking at his pitiful expression, I decided to take some cash from my wallet and give it to him. But instead of taking the cash from me, he shook his head and looked at my fingers. “I prefer the ring on your finger,” he said and pointed to my ring with a gaze that looked like he had found a treasure. I frowned and quickly withdrew my hand, covering it with my other hand. That ring that he wanted was the ring Max had given me as my engagement ring. This was the ring that started my story with Max; of course, I wouldn't give it to him or anyone else. Max was also unhappy with this strange man’s request. “If you don’t want to give it to me...” The man showed us an odd, crooked smile and continued his words, “Then I’ll have to take it by my own hand.” Take it by his own hand? Did he mean he was going to take it by force? Max growled, and I shrank behind him so the man couldn’t get to me and I would be protected by Max’s huge body. Just as Max was about to attack him, the man reached out his hand, and suddenly I felt the place on my finger, which was usually wrapped with a ring, become free with nothing around it. I looked down and, to my horror, saw that my ring had disappeared! Did that strange man really take my ring? The man opened his palm, showing the ring in his palm. “Max, he has taken my ring!” I said in shock and panic. Our public confrontation with this strange man had gathered an audience who were looking at us with confusion and interest, but none dared to help, maybe because they were afraid their valuables might be taken by this thief as well. Max’s growl turned low and menacing, showing how furious he was. He suddenly pulled me in front of him, hugging me from behind, and whispered, “Arra... I’m sorry.” Before I could ask or comprehend why he was apologizing, I cried out as I felt a huge force crushing down my body. My body trembled, cold sweat started to form on my forehead, and if not for Max hugging me, I would have fallen to my knees. I saw everyone else around us had fallen to their knees. What was this force... “I’m sorry, my Luna...” Max apologized again and picked me in his arms, and the force became even more unbearable. Why didn’t Max... That was when I realized it was Max who had unleashed his Alpha Aura. Was this his real strength? He must have only unleashed half of his Alpha aura in front of me and his pack members because he didn’t want to hurt us. “Max...” I whimpered in his arms, nearly unable to withstand his aura. I couldn’t even unleash my own Alpha aura because of the pressure. “I’m sorry, Arra...” he apologized again as he stood calmly, tall, imposing, and intimidating with me in his arms as he stared at the man, his Alpha aura blasting on full scale, even able to make those audiences who weren’t members of his packs and surrounded us a few meters away to submit to him. But the strange thing was... It didn’t work on that strange man! He still had that odd smile on his face, looking at Max with interest, and he was standing there looking unaffected at all! His body language was still calm and lazy, his smile even looked wider, and there was a glint of excitement in his eyes. Just who was this strange man? As I was thinking of all that, I heard a familiar voice shouting from a distance. “Dad, what are you doing?!” Rosa yelled angrily at the man. Max and I froze as we heard Rosa’s words. This man... This thin, poor, hungry and dirty man was Rosa’s father?!