I leave the dining hall after breakfast and go straight to my room. Recently, my room has become my safe haven ever since this whole epidemic started. I sit in bed, anxiously waiting for Kiara to come back, and she finally does.
"Alpha Kalista, it is me." She announces and I ask her to come in.
She stands right in front of me.
"Hello, Alpha." She greets.
"Kiara, what's up? Please, tell me about the spies." I ask her.
Kiara sighs softly. "Okay, I picked ten soldiers and tested them. Six of them passed the test and I let the other four who failed go back to their base. I then gave them all the necessary information they will be needing for the mission. Four of them will be sent to spy on the Black Fur Pack while the other two will be sent to the Lichen Pack. I hope you know why I made that decision." Kiara says.
"Yeah, I do. The Black Fur Pack is the strongest pack…I get it. Where are the soldiers now?" I ask her.
"I have asked them to go home to their respective families. I want them to relax at home until it is time. They leave at midnight." She reports.
"That's very impressive, Kiara. Thank you so much for all your help." I flash her a smile of genuine gratitude.
"No need to thank me, Alpha Kalista. We are in this together and I am just as affected as you are." She says and then pauses as if she has just remembered something. "That reminds me, I think there might be some light at the end of the tunnel."
I frown slightly. "How do you mean?" I ask.
"When I was addressing the soldiers, one of them told me that his grandmother told him, before she died four years ago that the Black Fur Pack is blessed with healing potions and concoctions, and that is why they hardly fall sick. I chose him to go with the other spies to the Black Fur Pack, and I have not been able to shake off the feeling that we might be on to something." She says.
"Wait, are you trying to say that there is the possibility of us finding a cure to the Blizzard, and that the Black Fur Pack could have the cure?" I ask her in disbelief, and if not for the seriousness of the situation, I would have laughed.
"I know it sounds far-fetched, but I have not been able to get it off my mind, and you know my gut is never wrong." Kiara reminds me.
She's actually right about that one. Kiara's gut is always on point. One time, about eight months after I became the Alpha, I was drawn to a particular young Omega girl, and I asked her to be my personal maiden. The first time Kiara saw her, she secretly told me that she had a very bad feeling about the girl. Being my Beta, I decided to trust her and we became very suspicious of the poor girl.
You won't believe what happened.
The 'innocent' girl poisoned my morning coffee. Turned out she was seeking revenge against me for her brother who had been executed by my late father for defiling a young Omega.
Thank the Goddess for Kiara's gut; if not for it, I would have been dead.
"Fine. Let us just keep our fingers crossed. The spies will leave tonight and be back in three days, and then we will know our fate. At the same time, we need to have a Plan B in place." I tell her.
"Alpha Kalista, I think we should just wait for the spies. We need to organize a memorial service for the dead werewolves and we need to keep our minds in one place to be able to achieve that." Kiara tells me and I agree with her.
"You are right. In lieu of that, I need you to call the Board of Werexecutives to a meeting in one hour. It is high time I discussed with them." I tell Kiara.
Who says 'Werexecutives?'. Well, Kalista Draconis does.
Kiara smiles softly. "Some of them don't like you at all." She reminds me.
I chuckle softly. "I know, Kiara, and I really do not care. I have a bigger problem than worrying about who does or does not like my face." I tell her.
"That's the spirit, Alpha." Kiara says and promises to schedule the meeting.
The meeting holds in exactly an hour and as usual, the whole room stands up to greet me as soon as I step in. I take my seat at the table and the meeting begins.
Let me quickly fill you in on who the members of the Board are. You see, all of them except Kiara, are my father's age mates and some of them are even older than he is. So, you can imagine why some of them do not like me. They do not think I am capable of leading them.
Okay, back to the meeting.
They all express their concerns about the epidemic and I do my best to assure them that I have taken active steps in order to curb the rising death toll. However, Elder Jack and his wife, who have always been my antagonists since I became Alpha, lash out at me, saying that I am a careless Alpha and that I am doing nothing about the whole situation.
I do not even get mad at them because I had expected this to happen. Calmly, I ask the guards to see them out of the hall and I tell the couple that they have been banned from being members of the Board of Werexecutives from that moment. Everyone else at the table looks at me with greater respect. I tell them that I am their Alpha whether they like it or not, and no one has the right to disrespect me.
The meeting continues and we agree to hold the memorial service two days later. The service goes well and I am able to go through it despite my devastation with regards to baby Craig's death.
Two days later, the spies we sent come back from the mission.
All six of them.