Chapter 2

Jason hurried to the palace court, his gait brisk and his look stern as he moved with determination and grace. He met with Japheth, one of the dignitaries in the pack, at the door and bowed to him in greetings.

Japheth bowed back to him. “Do you know why this meeting was called?” he asked Jason.

Jason shrugged and shook his head. “I have no idea at all. I also just got notified by a messenger that the prince asks us to be present at the court within the next hour.”

Japheth nodded. “That was the exact message I also got,” he groaned to himself. “To think I was just coming back from a hunt and craving some alone time to myself.”

Jason pretended not to have heard that and opened the door, Japheth on his tail, and walked in.

The three other dignitaries — Fred, Sean, and Tony — were there as well, sitting with confused expressions on their faces, and their expressions got brightened as they saw Jason, hoping he would give them a hint of why they were all gathered there.

Jason shrugged as he settled down on the seat next to where Nate would be seated.

He couldn’t help it as their expressions went dull when he confirmed that he also had no idea of why they were gathered at the moment.

The pack dignitaries discussed among themselves what they thought the problem could have been.

Nate was an eccentric ruler, and they were aware of his ways of doing things on impulse, but they had never gotten a call to be present at the court within thirty minutes of getting it.

“What could have been the problem?” Sean asked, looking around at the faces of those in the room.

Fred shrugged. “Who knows?”

Japheth spoke up, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, and glanced at the door as if he was paranoid about someone lurking around it and barging at the moment he opened his mouth.

“I think the prince has heard the reports of treason again.”

Sean gasped. “Oh no! Not right now.”

Tony chuckled, shaking his head at him. “Is there a time to have treason when you moan that it shouldn’t be right now?” he snorted.

Jared chuckled, shaking his head at the rest. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair he was on, listening without concern as they bantered with one another.

He planned strategies in his mind as he sat, thinking of new battle moves in case he had to summon the army on behalf of Nate.

He rolled his tongue in his mouth and cracked his neck, feeling cranky about being cooped up in a space for more than a minute doing nothing.

He loved his job. He loved being the commander of the army. He loved the action, the stress, the adrenaline, and the thrill.

He loved that it was him Nate loved, respected, and depended on to keep him safe, and he missed all that as he sat there waiting for him.

He wondered what Nate was up to keeping them all waiting, knowing he had a bodyguard who was impatient.

The door flung wide open, and Nate walked in, his expression furious, the frown on his face scary as he moved toward his seat, his male servant struggling to catch up.

Jason looked up with a scowl as he watched the not-so-regal entry of his friend and wondered what had gotten him pissed to walk in that way and what made him tell the servant to tell him to get to the court before him.

Jason, on most occasions, had always been his escort to places, and even before anyone else heard what the announcement was going to be, he had always heard about it.

He could relate to the shock of the others when he had confessed to having no idea why they all gathered.

They all stood up due to respect and waited until Nate was seated before they sat down.

Nate cleared his throat and ran his eyes over his guests. They kept their heads bowed and were all mute, waiting for him to speak.

“I asked you all to be here because of the Alpha of the Fern Pack.”

A deafening silence reigned in the courtroom as they all looked at each other after the announcement of Nate.

Vincent, the Alpha of the Fern Pack, was a loner, an arrogant and crazy guy with whom no one liked to relate.

The members of the Oak Pack hardly related with the members of the Fern Pack even though they were neighboring clans.

Nate had never been one to form unnecessary alliances as long as there was an unspoken agreement for everyone to live at peace, cohabiting with themselves and not trying to stir up unnecessary war.

Fred always got into an argument with Nate, asking him to be more accommodating to the wolves in the other pack, but Nate never listened.

He was so sure of the strength of his army and always insisted he wouldn’t suck up to any other wolf clan.

“What is up with the Alpha of the Fern Pack?” Japheth asked, his fear evident on his face, and he gulped.

He shuddered in remembrance of the last war he had witnessed. He had thought he was going to die and had freaked out of his mind.

He prayed in his mind, rubbing his hands together and wishing that another war would not break out.

He thought of his daughter he had left at home, and tears streamed in his eyes that he might not live to see her get mated to the man of her choosing.

A small, pleased smile bloomed on his face as he thought of the last time there had been a mating ceremony in the pack.

He missed those days.

Fred shoved him on the arm and cleared his throat, motioning to the alpha. “Are you with us, Japheth?”

Nate fixed Japheth with a stern glare and relaxed in his hair, passing the letter to Jason, who sat by his right.

He flicked a hand to the servant and motioned to him that he was dismissed. The servant bowed and left the room, his feet moving lithely on the floor, making no sound.

Jason flicked the letter open and frowned as his eyes trailed over the words.

The others scowled as they watched his facial expression, waiting for him to be done with it and tell them what he found in the letter.

“Are you done with it?” Nate asked Jason minutes later.

Jason looked up from the letter and nodded to Nate, trying to pass the letter to him. “Yes, I am.”

Nate shook his head and gestured to him to pass the letter to the other men.

Japheth grasped the letter from the grasp of Jason’s hand, eager to know what was going on and settle the burden in his heart.

Fred scowled, hissing at the desperation he sensed from Japheth. By the way, the seating order was, he was the one Jason was meant to pass the letter to. With a yawn, he shrugged, knowing that he would eventually know what was written in the letter.

He didn’t have the strength to pick a needless fight with Japheth when he had more pressing needs to think of.

Jason shook his head with an amused smile playing on his lips. He hoped Japheth’s attitude didn’t land him in trouble with Nate or any other person in the pack.

He willed himself to remember to talk to Japheth to tone down his hyperactivity. He might not be there to intervene on his behalf like the day he had had to remind Nate of how useful he was when he was annoyed by how he loved to act brashly.

With a smug look, he stared at Japheth, watching for his reaction. He almost burst out laughing as he looked at the other man.

As expected, he wasn’t disappointed, and his reaction was more dramatic than what the situation called for.

Jason looked at Nate to note his expression and hid his grin when he saw his friend was trying hard not to cr*ck into laughter.

Japheth had a huge grin on his face, squirming excitedly on his seat as he read through the letter and wondered what had made Jason frown as he had just got a memo about the end of the world.

He shook his head, grateful he wasn’t in the pack army. He felt that the letter called for a celebration and only a man too used to battles like Jared was and a man who was paranoid like Nate was would see negative sides to what was a source of joy.

His lips formed into a grin as he passed the letter to Fred. His heart lit with joy at the hope that he would witness a mating ceremony soon.

Fred glanced over the letter, his eyes roaming the words. With just a groan, he passed the letter to Sean.

Sean shook his head as he poured over the contents of the letter and passed the letter to Tony.

Tony chuckled if the letter was what made the others react differently or something else. He checked the back page and smirked when he found it blank.

He stood up, walked up to Nate, and returned the letter, placing it on the stool beside Nate’s throne and going back to his seat.

Nate waited for Tony to be in his seat before speaking up.

“That is the recent development, gentlemen. I must confess that I was furious when the messenger brought this to me, and I had no choice but to call this meeting.”

Japheth exclaimed. “I see no reason to be furious. The Alpha of the Fern Pack is asking for our help in fighting an unknown danger in his territory, and to show that the letter was meant as an act of good faith, he promises his younger sister as a mate to you, my lord. All I see are wedding bells and bridal trains,” he said, grinning.

Nate growled at him, his gaze hard and stern as he looked at him. “I hope you see your death as well with how you are so sharpened to see visions on behalf of others.”

Jason smothered laughter and shook his head subtly at Nate, telling him to give up on the issue and calm himself down.

Nate scowled, continuing. “I never asked for your opinions yet, and you talk of wedding bells.” He fixed his glare at the rest of them. “Do I have to remind you all that I am not interested in any alliance with the other clans, and anybody promoting a relationship with them is my enemy and would be dealt with accordingly?” He looked at Japheth. “Are you my enemy?”

Japheth swallowed, his throat itchy and dry, and he shook his head. “No, my lord.”

Nate was satisfied and turned his focus away from Japheth and moved to all of them. “I called this meeting to warn you all to prepare for war. I don’t give a damn what happens in the kingdom of the Fern Pack, and neither do I care to send any of my soldiers to fight on their behalf, even if a seer tells me victory is assured.”

He continued. “The princess can go to hell for all I care. I came here to tell you to prepare for war.”

“But,” Japheth began in protest and remembered he didn’t want to offend Nate again.

He kept quiet, sadness filling his heart as he thought of a war that might happen because the pack was unlucky enough to have an alpha who was strong, stubborn, and unrelenting. It would have been an adventure for him to prepare for a wedding between royals.

He hoped the princess would come and steal Nate’s heart. Maybe he would be less grumpy, then.