The atmosphere inside the office became a little bit depressing and Xander was not used to seeing his friend in a sad mood. "What would you do now?" he doesn't have any advice to give so he decided to engage him instead in a conversation.
Carl remained silent for a moment since he had not time to really think about if because he was shocked at the sudden turn of events. "I don't know. I'm just a little bit out of it so I can't think straight right now. It never really occurred to me that we would end up like this since we were actually happy and I thought that she was content of what we have right now. It seems that the saying nothing lasts forever really do happen in real life."
He silently listened. This time he knew that his friend was really hurt because the only woman to whom he had been serious about for a long time left. "Would you like to join us later? I would bring Xerra to eat ice cream and buy her some new clothes." He had no words to console his friend and the only thing he could do was to let his friend enjoy himself for now.
Carl smiled. It was the first time he had smiled after that break up. "Alright, don't forget to call me then." He stood up and bid his friend goodbye. "I'm glad that you became my friend because even though you don't have any experience in this kind of field you still try to be helpful." He gave Xander a smile before he left the office to his own.
The day passed by as usual until it was time to leave. Xander passed by his secretary and bid her goodbye, after passing a hall, he came to an office and knocked on the door, "are you done? Let's go."
Xerra's eyes brightened when he saw the person next to his brother, "big brother Carl!" she ran towards him and did not hesitate to jump into his arms. "Are you coming with us?"
Carl could not resist the cuteness of the child and pinched her lightly on the cheeks, "Yes, I am since your brother invited and besides its free so why not."
The three of them enjoyed themselves and like the good brother that he was, he did not forget to treat his friend too. Carl then took this chance to point everything he wanted in the store like a child, both he and Xerra thoroughly grasp this opportunity to splurge Xander's money.
During dinner, "Do you want to join us in a work-vacation trip this weekend?" Xander asked his friend who was focusing on eating his food.
"Are you going to the site of the mountain resort?" he was part of the project as the main architect and was not supposed to join them on the site inspection because of the other project they were handling but now that Xander invited him, he might as well go and take that chance to unwind for a bit.
"Yes, we will be there for three days since Xerra doesn't have school on Monday. We will be leaving this early this Friday since it's a bit far from here." Xander nodded, he would be there for work while Xerra would enjoy her long weekend and Carl can rest for a bit after all that has happened to him.
He thought about it for a while and finally decided to join them. "Alright I'll come, I'll let my assistant handle the project for now."
Xander raised an eyebrow after hearing Carl's words, "Are you sure, your assistant might come crying to me again because you are giving him too much work."
Carl laughed and only gave a wink. It was his way of saying that he would take care of it. Xander shook his head and sighed then continued on with eating his food.
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"How are things going on your side?" Amber asked Zayier when he came to report. It's been three days since the attack but during those three days, there were not concrete reports about the cause of the attack or on who was behind it.
"I've placed men around the Lurea Woods and our borders are tightly guarded but we still lack information about the attackers and why the rogues attempted to enter the forbidden forest." They had done what they can but no rogues had dared to attack Ceurian again and all traces they had followed came to a dead end. Zael had contacted the nearby packs but he got nothing out of them but they had promised to share any information if they found any.
"Those rogues might have mistakenly entered the forbidden forest that's why we can't find anything about them," Zael chipped in as he entered the Alpha's office.
"Stop assuming. We can't brush if off as an accident, there must be a reason why they are attacking Ceurian in particular and why they attempted to enter the Lurea Woods. We need to find out. I want you to look at anyone or any group that knows the secret about that forest then start from there." She glared at her beta because he was taking this matter a little bit lightly.
Zael sensed that the alpha was not in a good mood so he silently accepted the glare and adjusted his attitude then faced them seriously this time. "I apologize alpha, it was not my intention to make fun of our situation."
Amber 'tsked' and withdrew her gaze to avoid getting angry again. "Then give me a pleasing result next time."
"I have a suggestion alpha, instead of waiting for them to show up, why don't we monitor the Lurea Woods secretly. If we let our warriors roam around the area the enemy might not come but, if we do it secretly then they might take the bait and come." This suggestion from Zael made the other two in the room silent for a while.
"There's some credit to Zael's suggestion and we might also get a glimpse of their leader if we are lucky," Zayier agreed to his brother's proposition. "It is also favorable to us because we use our shadow warriors and test what they can do since there were not much mission for them as of late."
Amber nodded after hearing the both of them, "Then I'll give you permission to mobilize our shadow unit."
With that order, Zayier left to brief the shadow unit of their mission. Zael was left because he had some more to say. Amber raised an eyebrow when she saw that her beta was still standing there and was looking at her weirdly.
"What is it?" she became annoyed because of his look. "Could you just say it and stop staring at me like I'm going to explode anytime, it is irritating and I am not in the mood to argue with you."
"I'm just making sure that you are still calm enough to receive the other information that I'm about to say." He took a deep breath before he continued on, "I received a call from Mayor Mykel and according to him the land near our borders will be developed into a vacation house by its owner so he was requesting for us to include the area in our patrol especially due to the appearance of rogues. He is afraid that they might attack the workers that will be working on the project." He placed the letter of request on top of the alpha's table before he took a step back to avoid the alpha's outburst. He knew that it was not the right time and he was sure that Mayor Mykel was aware of this too but he still sent the message so it must have been unavoidable.
The shattering of the wooden table echoed inside the room and with nimble steps, Zael avoided the debris that flew towards his direction.
"That man…" Amber crumpled the paper while gritting her teeth, "he really does what he wants without even consulting with me ahead of time."
Zael could feel the tension in the air as he became hyper sensitive of his surroundings. He wanted to leave the room but the alpha's aura was enough to pin him down. The loud ringing of the phone finally eased the oppression and Zael took that chance to leave the room. He was not very keen on being crushed by the alpha's pressure once she answered that phone. He whipped out his own cellphone and immediately called their phone provider to let him prepare a brand-new phone for the alpha. Even though the person he called was stunned at the sudden request, he did not question the beta and did what he had asked.
"Why do you look pale?" Zael turned around at the question and saw his brother with his arms crossed on his chest.
"The alpha is angry and I got caught up in it luckily I managed to escape with my life," he touched his chest and took a deep breath. That was terrifying. Even though he was holding the position second to the alpha, he was not as powerful as her even against his brother, he might lose. All he had was the capability to think and manage the pack. Zayier did not answer so he decided to continue with his one-man narration, "she got angry because of the request from Mayor Mykel." He then explained and Zayier finally understood why the alpha became angry.
"I'm sure that the mayor can deal with it and I'm also sure that he will talk it through whit the alpha. Don't worry too much and return to your office instead, aren't you busy?" Zayier did not move an inch and just spoke with a poker face.
Zael sighed and shook his head after watching his brother say all those things, "I can't believe that you really are my brother and twin with that stiff face of yours." He shook his head once again then patted his brother on the shoulder before he left to continue with his work.
Zayier did not have any much reaction after that and decided to leave the place but before he could the entire pack house shook. He could even feel the alpha's aura pressing around him. The alpha was really angry this time.