Free Web NovelChapter 119: Reason For Their Demise
I paused. Damon had not known about Petral’s appearance here, but I wondered if it was possibly safe to let him know. If Damon decided to pick a fight, he would find himself very short on allies. Elijah was still lying on a hospital bed, shaky with blood loss. And I was nothing better than bait.
Ironclaw’s wolves weren’t even worth considering. If they were willing to ally themselves with a vampire to begin with, they certainly wouldn’t work with him again to kill off Damon after he had murdered their alpha.
I decided to simply rip off the metaphorical bandaid quickly, shooing the doctor away before I told Damon the news. The doctor didn’t even wait, he simply turned tail and ran the moment he was given the opportunity, the doors to the infirmary slamming shut with a loud thud.
Now that we were alone, I could speak freely.
"That’s because a vampire was here," I said simply. "I don’t know if he’s gone now, but I saw Petral earlier."
Damon’s lips pulled into a snarl, and his hand was clenched into a fist with nowhere to fly. "And you didn’t tell me? Harper, did you not think this was important information?"
"Excuse me, it’s not as though I was deliberately concealing this information from you," I retorted, rankled by his accusatory tone. "We had other more important things to worry about!" I pointed at Elijah, who sunk into his bed, pretending to be as small as possible to escape being dragged into an argument between mates.
Damon sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. I could literally feel him trying to calm himself down.
"Fine. You are right," Damon said, rubbing the spot between his eyes. "At least I have proof of my suspicions now."
Before I could ask him to elaborate on his suspicions, he continued to speak, but this time, he asked about my well-being.
"Was seeing the vampire the reason why you felt so terrified earlier?" Damon asked, his voice quietly gentle.
I was so stunned I took a moment to answer.
"You felt me?" My eyes widened in surprise.
Then again, why was I surprised? If I could sense Damon’s rage, he must have also sensed my fear.
"It’s alright. You don’t have to worry about me. I was just so surprised to see Petral that I couldn’t control my emotions. I was hoping we killed him back at the borders," I said, trying to sound more flippant. "Did it affect your negotiations with Alpha Natan?"
I didn’t want to inconvenience Damon, but it seemed like I had. Imagine if he had shown that fear when dealing with Alpha Natan. Why, he would be treated as a joke! I had to do better next time. For Damon and for Blaise. I couldn’t burden them unnecessarily with my negative emotions.
"I can feel that you’re thinking something stupid," Damon said. He raised his hand and poked a finger at my forehead. My eyes crossed as I tried to keep his finger in view, causing him to snort.
"Are you a mind reader now?" I retorted, stepping back and rubbing at the spot where he touched. It was only the barest touch of skin on skin, no larger than a fingertip, yet warmth spread through me so quickly I almost thought I had inhaled a large pot of hot soup. My shoulders relaxed, and I could feel the tension and stress leave my spine.
The mate bond was a powerful thing indeed. It was as though my soul knew that I would be perfectly safe with Damon here by my side, that it could afford to be at ease even in such disadvantageous circumstances.
"No, I just know you well enough to know when you’re thinking stupid things. You have a... unique look on your face," Damon said smugly.
Before I could get him to explain what on earth he meant by that — unique look just seemed like another insult couched in a more pleasing word — Damon brought the conversation topic back to Alpha Natan.
"I would have killed him sooner or later, that man had no intention of allying with Fangborne. This would have been a wasted trip if you had not spotted the vampire," Damon said, a ferocious glint in his eyes as he gazed at me. "Now I have the proof I need to raze Ironclaw to the ground and take over."
"Raze?" I spluttered. "But you already killed their alpha!" freeweɓnøvel.com
That seemed like an overkill, especially after Elijah and Damon had taken out a bulk of their seasoned warriors. Who was even left to oppose them?
"They’ll rebel the moment they decide on a new alpha from their own pack, and they’ll have those fucking bloodsuckers on their side," Damon said with grim surety. "Fangborne needs to wipe the existence of Ironclaw off the map so that those vampires can’t use them to get to us."
Suddenly, I was struck with a thought. What Fangborne was going to do to Ironclaw was the same thing they did to Stormclaw. Perhaps just like Ironclaw, Damon and Blaise approached my father for an alliance but were rebuffed.
"Damon, was... was Stormclaw allied with vampires?" I asked, half in curiosity, half in dread. They were all dead and gone, but I wondered if my opinions of my father could sink any lower.
Damon nodded. "We got intel that Stormclaw had vampire sightings from as long as five years ago. It might be even longer. I wasn’t Alpha then, so I couldn’t get intel on anything older than that."
"Five years ago?" I squawked. I was 13 years old. "This has been happening for so long?"
"In the beginning, I suspected that Stormclaw could have been manipulated, or secretly subjugated. It wasn’t a particularly strong or rich pack. So I thought I might offer an alliance, a helping hand to wipe out the vermin infesting our people," Damon shrugged. "After all, what self-respecting werewolf would invite a vampire back home to their pack and let him feast among their people?"
He then coldly scoffed.
"Then I did more research, and that’s when I realized there were indeed wolves who were willing to push their own kind down a ravine for the privilege of dining with the bloodsuckers. How could I let them live?"
