A promise which seems more like an ultimatum; will this cycle never end? Once again, Alpha Julian finds himself between that damned rock and hard place; and upon some self-reflection, he's come to the conclusion that he's partly ... if not mostly ... to blame.
The alpha realizes that Teresa's foreboding declaration is more of an exaggeration brought about as a delusional concoction of Teresa's overly abundant self-confidence and the unwavering, unconditional love she has for her three adopted children ... especially Sasha, who is the only one of them who is guaranteed to belong to her for the rest of her life, since Katarina's great aunt may possibly want her to return to Transylvania someday; and, should that happen, surely Irena would go back with her. But, with no surviving family to have ties to, Sasha was here to stay.
Alpha Julian is one hundred percent certain that come tomorrow he will have plenty of defense sentries left; including Gamma Ray. That said, knowing very well how his sister is, the alpha is also one hundred percent certain that if he doesn't release Sasha, Teresa will storm into the detention center with reckless abandonment and keep fighting until she either somehow manages to free Sasha or until she's dead; taking out as many sentries as she can with her along the way.
Fact is, before adopting Sasha, Katarina, and Irena ... deciding to be a full-time mother ... Teresa occasionally served on the pack's security defense force and was recognized as being a fairly formidable warrior herself.
Time. Just a little more time was all that the alpha wanted. Time to come up with a plan to finally rid himself of this burdensome threesome. Alpha Julian never really wanted to take them in to begin with; and he was totally opposed to the idea of it as soon as the witches made him aware of the infants' true identities ... the surviving daughter of the recently decimated Shadow Hunter Pack's Luna, who Demon Lord Bezarius was fervently searching for, and the grandniece of the Matriarch of the Clan of the Old Order, who because of political strife was being targeted by the matriarch's opposition; including the maliciously sadistic Princess Analiese Vodrak, probably the most powerful and feared member on the Council of the Immortal Ones.
Unfortunately, before he was privy of this information, the alpha had reluctantly agreed to allow his sister to adopt them. This was done not because of some sort of doting brotherly love he had for his sister, but more like a gnawing guilt that he's been carrying around for years. Truth was he was directly responsible, more or less, for Teresa not being able to bear children.
That 'attempted assassination' was actually a connived ploy set up by himself and the current Beta Stephen, to make Julian look good in front of the pack and cement his future status as a brave and heroic alpha. Although Teresa being gravely wounded wasn't part of the plan, but rather a most unfortunate happenstance.
The plan was that before the rogue assassin ... who was hired by Julian and Stephen ... managed to stab him, Julian would heroically fend off and thwart the villainous attacker. It never once crossed their minds at the time that Teresa would leap in front of Julian to save him from the assault.
So, in the end, Teresa wound up with a ten-inch steel blade plunged into her stomach, tearing through her uterus; thus, preventing her from ever giving birth to the children that she had always longed for.
And as for the 'assassin', who after Julian would 'subdue' was supposed to manage to 'escape' later from the detention center and disappear, he also met his most unfortunate happenstance that day, as Julian cunningly killed him on the spot as 'retribution' ... more so a means to cover up his staged assassination gone horribly wrong ... for injuring his sister.
And, if the guilt from this wasn't bad enough, more was piled on years later. Truth is, that most suspicious car accident which killed Teresa's lover Sasha, from Raven Coven, was indeed orchestrated by Delta Colin, who loathingly despised their 'unholy' relationship with every fiber of his being ... and the alpha was well aware of this.
Of course, Alpha Julian wasn't happy about Teresa's choice of a 'mate'; but he himself would never it take it that far as to kill the witch. However, as misfortunate luck would have it, Delta Colin had known that the 'assassination attempt' that placed Teresa in her predicament was devised by the alpha and beta.
Fearing that the delta would reveal this if they stood in his way, they allowed Delta Colin to carry out his nefarious plot to get rid of the witch once and for all. So, the three of them made a pact of secrecy and swore to never bring up their dirty little secrets ... especially to Teresa.
For years, Alpha Julian has abided to that pact by keeping his mouth shut and never discussing those sordid matters; despite the multitude of times that Teresa had brought up her suspicions about Sasha's death to him. 'Teresa, it was just an accident' is what he would repeatedly tell his sister every time she spoke of it.
And so, the guilt has been festering within him; thus, placing him in the current situation of basically harboring two 'wanted fugitives'. The alpha, no matter how hard he tries, can see no favorable outcome whatsoever by allowing them to remain within their pack. He views them as a 'cancer that needs to be cut out before bringing on certain death'.
Tonight was the first sign of a glimmer of hope he's seen in these past four years ... the alpha truly believed that Sasha's murderous rampage would be the 'final nail in the coffin' that would justify the expulsion of the burdensome threesome from the pack; even in his sister's eyes ... but Teresa just won't let it go.
There's no way out of it; Alpha Julian has a hard choice to make. He either caves into the guilt yet once again and releases Sasha immediately, thus conceding and admitting defeat, allowing them to remain and prolong that daunting fear while awaiting the pack's inevitable demise...
Or he can take a more drastic measure, and present Teresa with an ultimatum of his own. Grant Sasha's freedom under the non-negotiable condition that Teresa leaves the pack and takes them with her.
But before he can render his decision, Teresa drops yet another bomb'shell...
"By the way, Julian, just so you know ... while on my way here, I got in touch with Countess Ardelean. She told me that she didn't send anyone here to come and pick up Katarina."
There's a brief moment of silence as the others exchange quick glances with one another; each of them conveying perplexed expressions on their countenances while doing so. Then the confounded alpha asks...
"If she didn't send them, then who did?"
The beta adds, "And, who exactly were they?"