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I have not interacted with Calvin yet, but I know that Liam doesn’t like him much. He says it’s just a feeling and I should form my own opinion. But Liam has an excellent feeling for other people… so his slight antipathy towards Calvin is a bit unsettling. Calvin is older than Vincent. He is imposing yet likes to keep to the background. Now, however, he steps forward and nods curtly. He is about to leave the room when the door flies open, and Flora waltzes in. She looks slightly disheveled, though… much to my surprise.

“Elden,” she says without further introduction. “Don’t get upset or worried.”

His head shoots up, her opening words probably enough to set him on edge. “What…”

“Nothing happened,” Flora points at herself and twirls around. “See, I’m perfectly fine.”

“What happened?” Elden stands up.

“Alpha,” Aurel wears a grim expression. “Luna Flora was followed. Edward noticed it when we were in the parking lot.”

“Aurel and I didn’t want to risk a fight there,” Edward explains. “But I’m sure there were a bunch of wolves following us.”

Elden furrows his brows, his eyes darkening. “How many?”

“Six,” Edward says. “Maybe more.”

“I hate to run from a fight, but the Luna’s safety had priority,” Aurel explains. “We ran to the car, and I took a different way home. I wanted to make sure they couldn’t surround us.”

“One car followed us,” Edward adds.

“Why didn’t you link us?” Elden huffs.

Flora sighs slightly. “Wolfsbane,” she says.

“Could you decipher what they smelled like?” Elden asks.

Flora nods. “The scent was similar to the one sticking to Annie when Liam returned with her after her abduction.” She could smell them despite the wolfsbane in the air. She smiles at me, guessing my question correctly. “My sense of smell works better than other wolves. It’s one of my gifts as a Lycan.”

“Their actions don’t make any sense,” Vincent points out.

Dante nods. “Alpha Elden, it seems like Red Claw’s leader has lost his mind.”

“Dante and Vincent are right. Why are they attacking? Who are they after?” Liam finally asks. “My mate? Me? Your mate? You as our Alpha? Or our pack? It’s like a psychopath who is losing his mind completely.”

“If he really is keeping the she-wolves and children of his pack hostage,” I begin, “Then he is desperate. He might know that his power is receding or that he is losing his grip on his pack. An Alpha with his power, with so many hostages, is dangerous. It might not make sense to us, but maybe he is really just trying to demonstrate his power.”

Elden nods. “I’m waiting for the last bits of information from our informants. If it’s true that he was behind the attack on my pack, Annalise’s abduction, and now even the ‘almost’ attack on my mate and Luna, then we will be ready to fight.” He looks at his Betas and Liam. “Prepare everyone for a possible fight. Make sure that our pack warriors are ready.”

Now that Flora is being followed too, I finally decided to do something important. Something I have wanted to do since forever. Liam’s always tiptoeing around this topic, but I can’t waste any more time. I was abducted once, and now there was a potential attack on Flora. I need to learn how to defend myself properly.

I approach Finn swiftly. “Fiiiiinnn,” I singsong, making wide puppy eyes at him.

He looks horrified. “Oh goddess, don’t look at me like that.”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see that I piqued Elden’s interest. He and Vincent look at us. Vincent looks surprised, while Elden seems to be amused.

Finn shakes his head. “Nononono.”

I frown. “You don’t even know what I want.”

“I know it’s bad when you come to me,” he whines. “And that Liam will kill me if I say yes.”

“I want to train,” I tell him. “Train me, please. Liam doesn’t want to hurt me.”

“And you think he would take it better if I hurt you?”

“I’m the mate of an Alpha Lycan. I need to be able to defend myself.”