Heavenly Poison

Damien Gray

I was sitting across the desk from Emilia, waiting for her to come to a decision. Wayne, Randy, Sebastian, and even Tania were standing around us.

I had given Emilia a few days to consider my proposal. Although Layton was waiting to hear from me, Emilia had waited until the last day to give me her answer.

“This is my home,” Emilia firmly stated.

“I know.”

“What exactly does Alpha Layton want? If he’s only interested in Sebastian and you, why do we have to leave?” Emilia asked, raising an eyebrow.

She hadn’t cried yet, so I figured that was a good sign. The past few days had been difficult for us. Emilia missed Anthony and she missed how Mountain Peak used to be before it all fell apart. She was upset and my proposal didn’t exactly make anything better for our situation.

“That’s basically what he wants,” Sebastian replied. “But having all of Mountain Peak’s shifters will bump up the numbers in his pack. He’s a smart Wolf.”

“We’ll respect whatever you decide,” I assured Emilia.

Trying to show her how combining the packs was convenient had only helped to create a space between us. Emilia had pushed me away. It wasn’t until I stopped bringing up that it was better if we left with Layton and Cassidy that she opened up with me.

“I want to do what is best for the pack,” Emilia replied.

I noticed her eyes watering, and I reached out to hold her hand.

“Layton’s giving me a deadline, but we don’t really have to decide yet. You can think more about it, as long as you want. Sebastian and I will still fight alongside Blue Bloods when the time comes. You can stay here with the pack. If you change your mind about leaving later on, then that is what we’ll do.”

Everyone stared at me after I made that small speech. I could tell both Wayne and Sebastian were surprised by my words. Tania was grinning at me, and so was Randy. Emilia, who was the one I mainly cared about, looked nervous.

“What do you think Wayne?” Emilia asked, looking at her Beta.

Wayne hesitated for a moment, before nodding at her.

“I think we should stay, Luna,” Wayne replied, bowing his head at her and then at me.

“Randy?” Emilia asked.

“I want to stay,” he shrugged.

“Sebastian?”

Sebastian crossed his arms and a serious expression took over his face. The tension in the room grew while we waited for him to reply. I knew that his answer would mark the final decision.

“I think…” Sebastian said, building up the suspense.

I rolled my eyes when a devious grin broke out in his face.

“We’re staying,” he said, wrapping his arm around Tania’s shoulders.

Tania just broke down into giggles, while Emilia smiled at us.

“Then it’s decided, we’re staying.”

Although the happiness in her face relieved me, I was really hoping we were making the right decision.

“I love you,” Emilia said, wrapping her arms around my neck from behind me.

I chuckled, while I maneuvered her onto my lap. I had been too concentrated on my laptop I hadn’t realized she had arrived.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out?” I asked her, while I tucked behind her ear a strand of hair that had fallen over her face.

“I got tired of walking around,” she replied, giving me a small pout.

“Really?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Emilia smiled at me and shook her head.

“Nope, I just missed you, a lot a lot,” she said, giving into a fit of giggles when is started tickling her sides.

“I guess I could take an early break too.”

I smiled at her and nestled my head in her neck. She felt warm in my arms. Even though I knew she should’ve been somewhere else, I was glad that she was back.

“I missed you too,” I quietly replied, while placing a small kiss just below her ear.

It had been a week since the decision was made to stay in the pack.

Too much had changed for both of us. Each day, the responsibilities I had with the pack grew. Wayne had been updating me on everything — from new rounds to keep our protection up, to a file on every single Wolf in the pack, to our connections with other packs, to the amount of property Emilia now owned, down to how much she was worth.

With each passing day, I found myself busier trying to catch up and keep up. Wayne and Randy were by my side most of the time. I was still in talks with Layton, who hadn’t been too happy about our decision of not joining his pack.

‘I’ll be patient,’ he had said.

Most talks with Layton these days were about a certain member in his pack, Jason. He was the younger brother of Layton’s third in command, and I wanted him in our pack.

Wayne told me one didn’t move higher in the ranks, he was born into it. We didn’t have a third in command, and it worried both Wayne and Emilia. The foundations of a pack were strong if the pack had strong leadership: an Alpha, a Beta, and a third in command. After Brian and Luke’s betrayal and demise, we were left without someone to take over the position.

Emilia had grown stressed with all our talks, which lately consisted of what were the weaknesses of Mountain Peak and what we needed to do to make us stronger.

Emilia had spent most of her time with Tania, who hung around at the mansion most days. We hadn’t gone back to school. That decision had been mine. Sebastian, Wayne, and I had taken care of a few Rogues that trespassed.

Although the Rogues didn’t worry me if I was there, I didn’t want to risk leaving to school and have an attack while I was away. Wayne and Sebastian had agreed with me on that.

I had decided to spend my morning catching up with the latest profiles of each pack, while Sebastian took Emilia and Tania on a day out.

Emilia had been asking to go into the city all week, so I assumed she would spend all day out. I was surprised that Sebastian had brought her home early.

Sebastian tagged along for protection, which was something that hadn’t crossed my mind until Wayne brought it up.

Wayne told me that Emilia had kept guards on her all her life, something I had never noticed.

I didn’t like that. I had no interest in having guys following after her the entire day. Wayne told me having a guard on her was necessary. She was a Luna and times were shaky for our pack at the moment. We just couldn’t risk someone attacking her.

At the mention of someone trying to hurt Emilia, something in me snapped. I figured if Emilia was going to go anywhere and I couldn’t go with her, the person to be on her side was Sebastian. He was stronger than any Wolf, and I knew I could trust him

Emilia was a beautiful girl. Before, when I had fought my attraction towards her, I didn’t care too much for her looks. I just knew that I was attracted to her for some reason and that was that. I didn’t look too much into technicalities. But I kept learning that there was no fighting the bond.

It wasn’t just that though. Wolves, at least the ones in our pack, loved her. When she walked around the pack, the way the unmated male Wolves looked at her, it really unsettled me.

The more Wayne told me about Wolves, the more I found myself getting possessive with Emilia. Things got worse when Wayne told me I had more things to worry about than a Wolf being attracted to her.

Emilia was rightfully an Alpha. That never went away. Wayne said that any pup from her would produce an Alpha heir, and that was something a lot of Wolves would do anything to have.

“Has Layton decided on a day to attack?” Sebastian asked.

We were sitting in the back patio of the mansion. Emilia and Tania had been in their own conversation, but they both turned to look at us when Sebastian asked me that question.

“Layton isn’t going to attack. He’s letting Dylan come to him,” I answered, keeping my eyes on Emilia.

She didn’t want me to go fight. She’d been dropping hints about it more and more each day.

“I think he should attack, and he should do it now, when things are going great for him,” Sebastian said.

He lied down on the ground, and placed his head over Tania’s lap. I laughed when she swatted his hand away, after Sebastian tried to pinch her cheek.

“You just want an excuse to beat up some poor guy,” Tania said, while running her hand through his hair.

“It isn’t going to be just one guy,” Sebastian replied, grinning at her widely.

“Does it all have to be a game for you?” Emilia snapped. She was glaring at Sebastian.

“It’s going to happen either way. This isn’t up to me, Em. I’m just having a little fun with it,” Sebastian told her.

“What if you get hurt?” She asked, but her tone was still harsh.

“I’m stronger,” he shrugged.

“Physically, you’re not. A Wolf can overpower you.”

“Damy and I aren’t stupid, Em. We’re not letting them get too close to us,” Sebastian told her.

In his eyes I could see that Emilia’s doubts were not settling too well for him.

“Damien and Seb will be fine, Emilia,” Tania spoke up, while leaning her head down to press a kiss against Sebastian’s forehead. “They can handle themselves.”

“Not if a Wolf bites them,” Emilia countered and her eyes landed on me.

“We won’t let that happen. We’ll be cautious,” I assured her.

Both Cassidy and Sebastian had experienced firsthand what a Werewolf bite did. For some reason, it had stopped both of their gifts for a while and it had given both of them a high fever when it happened.

The fever was something we could handle, but Sebastian and I were both heavily counting on our telekinesis for the fight.

“I hope so,” Emilia said in a low voice.

Sebastian groaned at her words, and got up from the ground.

“We’re out of here. I don’t need your negativity to bring down my high,” Sebastian said, holding out his hand for Tania to get up.

“We’ll be fine, you know,” I told Emilia.

Sebastian and Tania were heading back inside. Emilia’s icy blue eyes were on their retreating figures. She didn’t look pleased, but more than anything, she seemed worried.

“No, you don’t know.”

“You don’t have faith in me?” I teased.

“Oh I have faith in you,” Emilia said, shifting herself so that she was sitting directly in front of me. “I just know Wolves.”

“I know Wolves too.”

“Do you know how many wars Alpha Dylan and Alpha Caine have fought?” Emilia asked.

I grinned at her, and softly brushed my lips against hers.

“Nope,” I simply said, my grin growing wider when I noticed she was blushing.

“Stop trying to distract me,” Emilia said, but her voice was breathless.

“I’m not trying to distract you.”

“Fine, then answer me. Do you know how many wars they’ve fought?”

“Alright, tell me, how many wars have the Alphas fought,” I said, very dismissively.

“They have both fought in four wars, and they have won each of them by a lot. Not only that—the wars they get into, they don’t mess around. When they get involved, Alphas die and packs are destroyed. They brought Roderick’s pack to the ground.”

“Yet Roderick is still alive,” I told her, cocking an eyebrow.

It wasn’t my intention to contradict her, but I knew that we had the upper hand in this battle. I didn’t want Emilia to stress out over something that we were more than likely going to win.

Emilia was looking at me with a sad expression, and her eyes got misty.

“Highland Pack was grand,” Emilia started to say.

I felt a story coming along, so I didn’t interrupt her. It seemed like Emilia wanted to get it all out of her chest.

“Highland Pack at one point had the second biggest pack in the entire country. But Roderick made some mistakes, which he paid awfully big for. When Alpha Dylan and Alpha Caine got involved, they brought him down. What does it matter if he’s still alive? He lost his mate and he lost his pack. Highland Pack no longer exists, and it was all thanks to Alpha Dylan and Alpha Caine.”

“Two against one, where’s the fairness in that?” I asked.

“Alpha Dylan doesn’t fight without Alpha Caine, and vice versa.”

“Well Layton isn’t going to fight alone. He has Zev and he has us. From what I hear, we aren’t Dylan’s only enemies,” I told her.

“Yes, but this is the first war Layton and Zev go into. Alpha Dylan and Alpha Caine are not only more experienced in a battlefield, they are a few years older. All of these things, they count. I just, I don’t know,” Emilia said, unsurely.

I gave her a small smile, and placed my hands on either side of her face.

“Just because Dylan and Caine have a lot of experience doesn’t mean they’ll win. Have a little faith in us,” I told her.

Emilia cracked a smile, although her eyes turned glassy.

“I love you,” she whispered, pressing her forehead against mine.

“I love you too,” I replied, closing the distance between us and crashing my lips against hers.