Dallan got a little confused. Abe was always the type to crack jokes, laugh, and make people feel at ease. But this particular type of congratulation did not sit well with Dallan. Who knew what the warlock had seen?
"Abe, I don't understand." Dallan nervously cleared his throat. "Why are you congratulating me?
"Wait... Are you telling me that you do not know?"
"Know what?"
Abe feigned a look of surprise. It made a corner of his lips tilt up. "Are you yet to feel the mate signs?"
"Oh. Is that what you are talking about?"
"Of course!"
Kai who was now smiling gently plopped on a sofa. He allowed them to discuss. Dallan also sat on a sofa. Now, only Abe stood.
"Please, sit." Dallan tried ushering him to a sofa, but the man refused.
"I am okay this way. I want to know why your face looks this way. You don't even seem excited that you have finally found your mate. What is going on?"
"If you saw a vision about me getting my mate, did you also see who the mate is?"
"Of course I did!" Abe frowned. "I know it is the Mer you captured."
Dallan looked directly into Abe's eyes. The disgust or reproach he expected to see there never appeared. Rather, Abe had a look of confusion. "Are you saying that you are okay with me being mated to a Mer?"
Abe scoffed. "Why shouldn't I be okay with it? Why are you asking all these?"
When Dallan looked at the floor, Kai took this opportunity to speak up. "Silhouette pack's wonderful alpha wants to reject his mate. Actually, he has forced Hazel, the Mer, into believing that they are not meant for each other. She has also agreed to reject him."
Abe's frown got deeper. The fact that Dallan said nothing with his head bent low told the warlock all he needed to know. "Dallan, look at me. I have always warned you never to talk to a man and lose eye contact. Look up, now!"
Dallan not only looked up, but he also sat up—straight. Of course, Abe had always given him survival lessons. Not only was the man a father to him, but also a mage, and spy. Most of the crazy things discussed in the council meeting of elders were directly reported to him. That way, he always managed to stay out of their troubles.
"Dallan, didn't you learn anything from your father?" Abe asked. "Have you no sense of reasoning?"
"I... I do."
"Then what is this I am hearing about mate rejection rites? Do you want to reject her? Hazel, right?"
"I can't accept Hazel as my mate," Dallan argued. "She will not be strong enough to help me in running the pack. She will be unnecessarily oppressed."
"How do you know she is not strong enough?" Abe asked. He weaved his fingers into each other and rested them on his chest.
"I asked him the same question," Kai interjected. "I don't know why he chooses to be so unreasonable."
"Didn't you hear me the other time?!" Dallan cast Kai a warning glare. "She said she has no powers." At the mention of that, Dallan remembered. "Yes Abe, I almost forgot. I will need your help in reading her. I want to know if she is lying or not."
"That might be impossible," Abe said. "Mers are complex creatures. If she is lying about not having any form of power and I try to forcefully read her magical energy, she could die. Especially if she tries to suppress it. All your efforts will be wasted. I will advise you to accept your mate, love her, and you will find out the truth."
"I... should accept her and try to coerce the truth out of her? Hmm, that is a nice plan." Dallan did not notice Kai and Abe exchanging knowing looks.
"I should be on my way now. I have a meeting with the elders. Dallan, take care of yourself."
"I will. Thanks, Abe."
"You are welcome."
Just as the older man's hand touched the knob, Dallan called him back. "I forgot to tell you my plan. I intend to make her my maid from tomorrow morning."
"That is perfect. That way she will be closer to you." Abe smiled and continued his journey out of the house. Kai got up moments after the warlock left.
"Let me see how things are going in the pack. Give me a moment."
"Don't be long. Don't leave me alone for long in this big house."
"You are not alone." Kai made sure he was very close to the door before adding the next part, "Hazel is upstairs. She is your mate."
"Get out!!"
Kai chuckled and did as commanded. "Don't call me back!" he taunted over his shoulder. The laughter disappeared from his face when he got outside. As expected, Abe was standing on the front porch. They started walking in the direction of the gate. "That was a lie, right?"
"I believe you already know the answer to that." Abe kept his eyes fixed on the front. "You are the smart one. Don't you think I lied?"
"I know you did."
"Good." Abe nodded. "And that lie should remain the truth—to Dallan. I would rather lie to him than see him destroy his life. The things I am seeing about this Hazel of a woman are too good. If Dallan misses her, he will leave his entire centuries in regret and loneliness."
"Before now, I had already told him that all female mers have powers. I don't know how his mindset will be how considering what Hazel said. I am very sure she has powers but is just hiding them."
"Yes, she does." Abe nodded again. "In fact, she has great powers. Time will unravel it. Now that I told him she could die if we try running any test, he will drop that plan." He wanted to say more but stopped himself.
"But..." Kai paused in his steps and frowned. "Couldn't you have just done the test and lied to him?"
"The part where I said she could be suppressing her powers wasn't a lie." Abe looked around to be sure no wolf-ear was listening in on them. This was something he didn't like about wolves. Their annoying ability to focus on and hear things from afar made it practically impossible to whisper or tell secrets. "Let's keep walking. If she is trying to suppress it and I enter her mind, there could be a violent release of all her magical essence."
"Hmm. It would look like she went berserk."
"Exactly! While that may be a good thing considering the energy that will be unveiled, it would hinder Dallan from focusing on anything about his mate life. Knowing him as I do, he will only be interested in those powers for his personal gain."
"I support that. Sometimes I wish he ruled this pack just like our father. Being authoritative and ruthless has its advantages. I never saw anyone in the pack and beyond doing anything to irk Alpha Morsephus. They would have had their head chopped."
Abe chuckled. "Since I worked for that man too, I can not help but agree. Working for his son should not be too difficult if that son can just listen for once. Dallan's father always listened to me and, goddess bless her soul, his wife. That woman tamed the wild in him, harnessed it, and controlled it to the benefit of everyone. The goddess wants to duplicate that kind of love in Dallan's life, and he wants to push it away just like that?"
"Wow. What did you see, Abe?" Kai knew he would not receive a good response. Abe never told anyone about his visions, and he knew why. It was a well-known fact that those the gods blessed with the gift of visions were never to tell anyone what they saw, or else the vision will be distorted and manifest great negativity in the person's life. Kai did not want to experience that. "I know you will say the usual."
"Yes, I will. It's forbidden to tell anyone what I see. I don't want to distort the happiness I saw and simultaneously put you in trouble. My job as the warlock of this pack is to keep everyone, especially the alpha, out of anything troubling."
"No. Your job as the warlock of this pack is to guide and protect your children, like the alpha. Dallan sees you as a father so you should see him as a son. That man loves you."
"Yet he doesn't listen to me..." Abe snorted. "Very stubborn just like his father. During all of my years of serving the late alpha, I learned a lot. It was like going through an academy course." Abe stopped walking when they got to the front of the elders' meeting hall. "I must go now."
Kai clicked his tongue. "Fucking council of elders. They do nothing than make life unbearable for me and Dallan."
"Please don't allow Aliana and Modeus to hear that," Abe chuckled. "Just keep our secret... as usual."
"I will. You know that." Kai watched him as he ascended the steps into the building. He hardly knew those other two members of the council of elders Abe had mentioned. Hell, no one in the pack knew them. The highest you could get was a view when either of them decided to come out for reasons known to only the goddess. They did not relate with the pack like Abe, maybe that was the reason everyone preferred the warlock. Kai knew that Aliana and Modeus were wolves and had worked for Dallan's father. Abe had come in much later when the late alpha's death was close.
Most people said that the alpha and Luna lived to a ripe old age and had gone back to meet the goddess. At that time, others said they were murdered, stating that wolves did not suddenly die like that without a trace or indication of a sign. Most wolves Dallan's father age were still alive. This was the part that confused Kai the most. Were the late alpha and Luna murdered as people rumoured? If they were, by who?
Kai and Dallan were out when it happened. Kai had only gotten home with Dallan to see the bodies of his guardians stretched on the bed, and the entire pack worshipping the goddess for giving the couple a great life...
Kai exhaled. He shouldn't be thinking about things of such nature. It would only make him more confused. As a beta, friend, and brother to Dallan, it was his duty to make sure the running of the pack went as smoothly as possible, especially when the alpha was indisposed to attend to some things.
Just like Dallan was now. If Kai could even call that an indisposition.
The first stop Kai made was the gate. He answered all the greetings offered before going to the kitchen, infirmary, then garden. Everyone was busy preparing for the feast arranged for the night. Their alpha had gone out and conquered once again. It was worth celebrating. Kai did not stop them even though he knew how much Dallan despised something as awfully pathetic as a celebration thrown in his honour.
"Master Kai!"
Kai did not need to turn around to know that the voice belonged to Drab, the leader of the pack's warriors. Dallan had forbidden anyone from calling his brother without adding the prefix 'master.' That way, Dallan made sure Kai also got awarded a reasonable level of respect. Kai didn't care about all that. "What is it, Drab?"
"Did you or Alpha Dallan order for the Mer to work in the kitchen or anywhere else in the pack?"
"No." Kai frowned. "What happened?"
"The people are saying that they want her to work in the kitchen. That way, they would have access to her at any moment of the day. I even learned that the head chef has left her an apron and space in the kitchen."
"What!"