CHAPTER 12

Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to have you all join me on this fine day," King Jamal sat in one of his larger offices positioned at the top of an incredibly tall building that had a grand view of New York below.

Sitting behind his table and surrounded by armed guards, he faced seven, intimidatingly large men, all with either filled wine glasses or Cuban cigars in their hands. Adnan sat a bit far off from the rest of the men but still paid attention to what his uncle had to say.

"It's always an honor to be in your presence ultima" One of the men, dressed in an ugly yet expensive suit responded.

"Thank you, Isaiah," King Jamal said and the man gave a small bow in response, "Now, as you all know we meet now and then to discuss how to preserve the existence of our kind as well as the problems that might pose a threat to our preservation."

"Nobody would dare try to threaten our kind ultima" One of the men, the largest among them added with confidence.

"Is that right Rome?"

"Of course ultima. Everybody knows we are not the type to be messed with." Rome replied and took a drag from his cigar.

King Jamal chuckled. "You believe that don't you?"

"Yes sir" Rome responded.

"I'm yet to hear about any threat to our kind ultima" Colton, one of the alphas and the calmer of all of them added.

"Of course you are and that's because you have yet to notice the threat under your nose"

The men exchanged looks with each other, none of them understanding what King Jamal was driving at.

"A threat? What threat?" Xavier, another one of the alphas asked.

"Louise," King Jamal called to one of the alphas, "Do you mind telling the rest of our brothers what you've discovered?" he asked and Louise nodded.

"Yes ultima," he turned to the other alphas," for the past few weeks, there has been a rise of gruesome murders in my territory"

"That could have been one of your men Louise. You haven't been feeding members of your pack brother?" Gabriel said and the rest of the alphas chuckled including Louise himself.

"My pack is well fed brother but I did suspect my pack at first"

"Was it them?" Adam, the youngest of the seven asked.

"I asked and they all swore that it wasn't them"

"You don't think that they could have been lying?" Adnan asked and Louise laughed.

"Take a good look at me, brother. Do I look the type my men would dare lie to?" Adnan shrugged when he realized that it was true. His uncle may have been able to tame them when they were in his presence but Adnan knew that these men were wild and ruthless. It was this ruthless aggression that put fear into the hearts of their subordinates and kept them in check.

"So, what happened?" Adnan asked.

"The murders kept piling up and since none of my men were responsible for these deaths I decided to look into it myself and that's when I stumbled upon a sickening discovery. All these people that were being murdered were cubs"

"Cubs? You're saying that someone is targeting young werewolves and killing them?" Isaiah asked and Louise nodded.

"It would appear so. I knew that some members of my pack had bitten a few people and had expected to have a bunch of cubs that I would have to train by now"

"This would explain why you have no cubs then" Xavier added.

"Unfortunately, yes" Louise added.

"I don't get it," Adam said, "Why would anyone want to go after cubs? most of them were probably yet to realize that they were now wolves"

"Not only is someone killing innocent people in my territory, they're murdering our little brothers and sisters" Louise added, his fist clenched. He looked up at King Jamal, "This needs to be taken care of ultima. Before it spreads any further than my territory"

King Jamal thought for a moment. "Have you tried tracing the scent of the culprit?"

"Yes, ultima. I tried to track it myself but it was painful"

King Jamal leaned forward, one eyebrow raised. "Painful?"

"Yes, ultima."

"Do you care to explain Louise?"

Louise exhaled and scratched his head. "It's a little hard to explain ultima. When I inhaled the scent of who had murdered a cub a few days ago it felt like my head was going to explode. I was sick for the rest of the day"

"A scent threw you off that bad brother?" Adam asked.

"That was not a scent anymore, it was a stench" Rome replied and all except Louise burst out laughing.

"Very hilarious brothers but I would appreciate it if you would all take this seriously"

"Louise is right. This threat has to be taken care of especially if it's smart enough to cover its tracks with witchcraft" King Jamal added. His serious demeanor had returned.

The word witchcraft had brought a sudden silence upon the room. Werewolves had always tried their best to stay away from witches and the witches had returned the favor as both sides were prone to start very violent fights. The possibility of witches having a hand in the deaths of young wolves was one that for the sake of everyone involved should not be.

"Witchcraft? You believe those bitches had a hand in this?" Louise spoke through gritted teeth. All of a sudden, he craved