Chapter 16

Even Adam and Alisha had not passed their infant and childhood years without being attended to by old Helena. 

"You heard from the chief during the ceremony that Adam's mate is dead. Which is already a problem to the clans and the pack as a whole."

The old lady nodded slowly again. 

"Yes, I heard."

"So don't you think we have to take care of this problem on our own?"

"I would like to know what you have in mind as regards arresting this current situation," She added.

"With all due respect, I think the Alpha is the one who has the right to talk about matters relating to his mate."

"He's the leader of the pack, and I—am—his mother. I have a responsibility towards him as a mother, and towards the pack as the mother guardian. Don't I?" Alicma countered, her voice echoing the seriousness with which she took the issue.

"Yes, you do. But I still think this shouldn't be discussed behind his back."

"We're both mothers. We can't wait for matters to escalate to a point where it gets to affect everyone. Of course this would be discussed with Adam. It's not like this is the first time I would discuss this with him, no. But you know what, he does not seem to even care about it. 

"Didn't you see how indifferent he was when the priest announced that his mate is dead? Even before we got to find out about this information, he didn't seem to care. He can't continue sleeping around with the human girls in the city to pass away time."

"He's a good leader nonetheless," Helena cut in. 

"Hell yes. That not a fact to be disputed, Helena. All I'm saying is to help him with the problems he doesn't seem to want to take care of by himself. The next leader of the pack might come through him, who knows? Let's not kid ourselves, Adam is still quite young." Alicma blurted with motherly staidness.

Helena nodded in concurrence.

"So what you mean is that you want to find him another mate?" The old lady inquired, more like she was stating the fact she already knew Alicma was driving at. 

"Exactly!"

"Shouldn't the Alpha be the one to choose his new mate?" Helena alluded composedly.

Alicma shook her head in dissention. 

"The fact that he has currently lost his mate is a big enough loophole for the pack, you of everyone else should know that."

Helena nodded.

"Anyway, I called you here to tell you what I've decided, and I'll be needing your help in finding a new mate for the Alpha. His mate must be announced by the next ceremony."

"Okay. I will make a list of the eligible maidens in the pack and have you pick the one who best suits him then," Helena told Alicma, finally unfolding her palms. 

"I trust you to do a good job. All I need is the best five then I'll make my choice from them and set up a meeting with her and her family."

"Alright. I suppose that is all?"

"Yes, you may leave."

Helena stood to make her exit, but Alicma stopped her again. 

"And...this is between the both of us. He should not find out about this yet."

The old woman nodded.

"What if the Alpha is already trying to find someone else on his own? Wouldn't that cause a conflict?" Helena claimed.

Alicma did a less-than-a-second reflection on Helena's question, but replied immediately. 

"Trust me, that's the last thing on his mind right now. More so, he already has a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. Don't you know why he goes to the city sometimes? He has to protect the humans from the enemy wolves who are ever ready to launch attacks at them. I should at least do this much for him as his mother. Just do as I've asked you. Leave the rest to me afterwards. You may leave."

****

"Yes!" The blonde handsome twenty-three year old kvelled with clenched fists of victory. He dropped his game console on the table and did a brief victory dance around the room.

"Ooh yeah… I won...I freaking won," Wesley23774536 sang. He had just won in the video game, for the first time in a month, against his opponent, Lycan.King.108446.

He took a huge gulp of water from the glass, burping annoyingly afterwards. His grey tank top was soaked in sweat even while the air conditioner was on. What a great battle. He wiped his sweat face with a face towel and looked around for his phone. 

Taking his phone, he dialed his friend's number and waited for it to ring on the other end. The phone rang, but wasn't picked up.

A mischievous grin played on his pink succulent lips. 

"Of course he's going to paper over me now that he lost the bet." 

He dialed the number again.

 The phone rang again, but was picked up this time.

A tired grumpy hello came from the other end. 

"Hey Adam, how you holding up with that loss?" Ian mocked his friend playfully. 

"Tch! It's good to hear how atop the world you're feeling right now. Did you call me for that? I'm hanging up…"

"Wait wait wait...are you sulking?" Ian teased, he loved that he finally got the chance to come back at his "always-winning" game combatant.

"I fucking made you win, man!"

"Haha! Don't give me that. That's a fucking lame excuse."

"Then let's go for another round. We'll see how long this victory of yours lasts."

Adam's voice faded away on the call, it was as though he was talking with someone else in the background.

"Are you with someone? You with your hoes again?"

Adam's voice came back on.

"No…"

This time, Sarah's voice was heard in the background. 

"Hmm... who's the lady?"

"No one. I'm hanging up." Adam cut the call and Ian flung his phone on the couch, taking off his tank top to go get showered.

*****

"Help yourself out," Adam told Sarah dryly, leaving her in the bathroom. She followed him out.

"Why aren't you helping with the bath anymore?" She quizzed confusedly, wondering why he mood swinged into a sour one in just a few minutes.

"I said help yourself out."

"Suppose I could work it, do you think I would have come to you? I hate it when I ask for your abetment. It ruffles my pride."

"I said to help—yourself—out! And stop following me."

Adam continued through the hallway, while Sarah watched him. She didn't know if she had upset him or the call he had just received was what upset him.

"Are you angered by me?" She asked in a raised voice which echoed through the hallway.

"Yeah!" Adam echoed back without turning. He smiled, quite satisfied that he got to make her feel bad for what she did. Sarah was still standing outside his room, watching him go towards the living room.

"What offence did I commit?" She yelled loudly enough for him to hear her. 

He chuckled, then cleared his throat again to make himself sound angry.

"I just fucking lost a game because of you!" He shouted back. 

Sarah wondered what game he was talking about.

At the centre of Nicosia town stood the gigantic home of Lead's alpha family. It was made out of old stones, giving it an exquisite and historic look at the same time. Tall osk trees surrounded the walls and paths crawled from all sides of the house, making it easily assessible from either the northern, eastern, southern or western part of the forest.

The surroundings of the mansion were silent, there were no birds chirping or insects flying around. The outside of the mansion hardly displayed a hint of the presence of life. Nonetheless, it sheltered over a hundred werewolves. The numerous windows above gaped sleepily as the rats if the evening sun seeped quietly into them. 

Was the Nicosia town asleep? No one could exactly tell. It was as though everyone was into hiding, but ready to pounce on any intruder when they trespassed. The running and splashing of the water from the stream could be heard from afar off. Even if all had gone to rest for the night, the leader of the night certainly wasn't. 

Behind the mahogany desk sat tanned heavily built leader of the Lead pack, Evan. He was young, but his heroic stature was a wonder to see. He had pointy ears and we'll carved out cheekbones. Three unequal horizontal lines ran from left hear to the middle of his left cheek. They were the scars he got as a toddler, from surviving the wrath of a wolf once, when he got abandoned by his mother in the forest. He also had a couple other claw marks on other parts of his body, but the ones on his face were more conspicuous and he was proud for having them.

His legs were rested atop the table while he swayed slowly from left to right on his swivel chair. The orange rays from the sun transuded from the open with brows, lightening up half of the his meeting chamber. Between his index and middle finger sat a lit cigarette stick burned halfway. He took a long huff from the stick, sending a thick whiff of white smoke escaping from his lungs in a puff.