"I knew it!" Lionel exclaimed as he looked at his brother's wolf form with awe. "The position of Alpha king is indeed your fate." Alas, Jerome never wanted to be an Alpha, let alone an Alpha King. Likewise, the ever-playful Lionel disliked dealing with the pack's internal affairs and preferred to laze around.
Lionel tried to persuade Jerome, but his heartless brother rejected him outright and instead threatened him.
'I will stay in Eternal Empire if you keep pestering me with that.' That was what Jerome said to his brother to make Lionel give up.
Lionel knew that if nothing was binding Jerome to the Werewolf Realm, his brother would definitely wander into another realm, and no one knew when Jerome would come home. Furthermore, he knew Jerome was eager to find a little girl he once met in his younger days.
If only Lionel had not met his own mate tonight, he would have happily accompanied his brother to look for the fox girl his brother had met ten years ago. Alas, he already found the one.
Lionel didn't know whether he should cry or laugh at his unexpected situation. He was elated because he finally found his mate after more than ten years of looking for one. His inner wolf would definitely whine if he decided to travel around the world, accompanying his brother and leaving the girl behind.
Not only his inner wolf, but his heart would definitely feel broken and yearn for the girl too much if he couldn't see that girl for too long. Even now, he felt a longing and wanted to see the girl's face even though he had only seen her a few minutes ago.
Luckily, Cam took his role as he kept pestering Jerome to make the hybrid his pack's Alpha. Lionel laughed amusedly, remembering that he used to look for thousands of reasons to monopolize his brother's time and keep him away from Cam. Now that three months have passed since his brother's return, Lionel was immensely grateful to Cam―to the Moon Pack, who sincerely desired Jerome to be their Alpha.
Once Jerome was bound as the Alpha Moon pack, he would not release his responsibilities as Alpha by wandering off to another world. Well, maybe Jerome would still be looking for his fox girl's whereabouts, but at least he wouldn't be gone for too long and would send more people to look for information about the survivors of the massacre.
"The winner is Alpha Jerome." The referee's announcement drew cheers again. One of his hands rose as he muttered a few short incantations, causing fireworks to erupt beautifully to decorate the night sky.
Jerome changed back to his human form, with the same complete clothes as when he had not transformed. On the other hand, Cam was still in his feral form, considering he had no magic and would be naked if he returned to his human form.
Cam rose to his feet, lowering his wolf head, which was slightly taller than Jerome's―showing that he officially accepted Jerome as the Alpha of his pack―the Alpha of the Moon pack. Meanwhile, the red-haired man who previously used the power of fire had just arrived and approached Lionel.
"Lionel, your brother is annoying!"
"What happened?" Lionel was amused to see his best friend's exhausted, yet still as dashing as ever face.
"You sent him to help me exterminate the mutants, but as soon as he realized someone had escaped, he immediately used his teleport and killed the mutant without waiting for me. If not only my perfect time to burn the creature, the mutant will attack this place. Do you know what your brother did after that? He used his teleport gift again to take the human girl away and left me alone!" The striking red-haired man stamped his foot on the ground while staring dagger at Jerome, who was still in the middle of the crowd.
Sensing that someone was watching him, Jerome glanced at the red-haired man, then gave a crooked smile, which brought nothing but further wrath.
"I want to kill him!"
"Ares, calm down!" Lionel struggled to hold Ares' body, who was ready to challenge his brother. "I want to hear what happened to the mutants we captured. Did you manage to catch them back?" Lionel would have a hard time explaining the fight between Ares and Jerome if the two of them fight.
On the one hand, Ares was his right-hand man and the head of the guard who protected Alpha King. On the other hand, Jerome was his twin brother―the only family member he had. If hostility occurred between Lionel and Ares, it would provide an opening for the enemy to attack the Whitebridge Pack. Lionel had no other choice but to distract his best friend.
"Of course! But, this news had reached the ears of the convicts in the east. They started to feel anxious and demanded a final meeting with their families. It seems they are all worried that their time is near and they will lose their sanity before they are in their frenzy state."
"There is no need to listen to all their demands. Just kill them straight away."
"What? But not all of them yield in the frenzy state. Most of them struggle to maintain their sanity. Lionel, are you sure you want to kill them all?"
"Once the transformation from human to vampire fails, they will become a deformed vampire, and they already knew the risks when they decided to become vampires. Becoming a frenzied vampire is just a matter of time. I'd rather wipe them all out to reduce future labor. Don't you agree with me?"
"That's true. But..." Ares never expected his childhood friend to be so inhumane. "What if there is a cure? What if any of them never become frenzy vampires?"
"Ares, it's all just a myth. The higher-ups have also made their decisions. Once we find a deformed vampire, we have to kill him on the spot."
"What? When?"
"Just now. So you can't oppose me. My words are absolute."
Ares lowered his head with his jaw clenched and his hands clenched into fists until his nails dug into his flesh. If Lionel had not known Ares since childhood, he would feel suspicious and wary―preparing himself if Ares got out of control and burned everything in front of him.