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The tip of Terry’s ears turns pink while the rest of us giggle. “You can dress up too, you know?” I tell the guys.

“Maybe we’ll do that,” Lion says, much to my surprise. I rather thought Terry might jump on this opportunity, as Lion is mostly into dressing casually.

I exchange a gaze with Nox, who nods at me shortly. “Why not?” he says, to not make Lion’s reaction look too weird. “Let’s make sure we all pack something nice to wear.”

For the remainder of the evening, we talk about our plans and what we will do in Paris. Jazz, in particular, is looking forward to seeing Valerie, her best friend, and promises us that Val has a lot of things planned for us.

When I return home, I notice that Titan has climbed through the window I left open and has curled up on my bed. “I need to get you your own bed.” I chuckle when he so generously makes space for me.

Chapter two

An Important Visitor

*AURELIA*

Idon’t have any classes in college the next day, so I can devote my time to getting some work for the pack done. I’m trying to get involved as much as possible with the elite warrior training but also the scheduling of patrols. Nox does the same. So, we spend the morning hours with our currently reigning beta, Vincent. He has taken Nox under his wing, to teach him everything he needs to know about his future tasks as a beta. Fortunately, he also takes some time for me, and we put together the schedule for the week.

Once we are done, I go to look for Dad. He has called me in for a little meeting. He hasn’t told me what it’s about, so when I finally enter his office, I can barely contain my curiosity.

Maybe we messed up somewhere?Maxima suggests.The schedules from last week weren’t perfect, and it was us who did them.

No, he normally tells me immediately when I did something wrong. That’s the whole point of him and Vincent mentoring me.

One look at my father told me I’m right. He looks worried but not in the way that indicates that I worried him. Instead, he gestures to me to come inside and close the door. Once I sat down opposite of him, he puts a stash with letters and folders in front of me. “Let’s start with these first. These are the proposals of this week.”

I stare at him. “What?” I chuckle.

“I receive these weekly, and I’m wondering if I should start to track these guys down to skin them alive.”

“Wait, they are proposals for me?”

“They even have pictures,” Dad says.

I snort. “You’re kidding?”

He nudges the folders towards me, and I pick one up, skimming through it. He is right. This reads like the poor guy being advertised for me to choose him, with pictures, CV, and all that. Taking a closer look, there are several second- or third-born sons of alphas, a few sons of betas, and even one or two actual heirs to the alpha rank… probably those who want to broaden their power.

“This is disturbing,” I mutter. “Some of these feel like the alphas are selling off their sons.”

“That’s pretty much what they are doing,” Dad says. “As this affects your person, I wanted to show them to you before answering them. So?”

“No way. I’m waiting for my fated mate. And if, for whatever reason, I decide to take a chosen mate, I want to choose them myself.”

“Then I will reply to these with a firm no,” he says. He shakes his head. “What were they thinking anyway?” He puts the folders aside before looking at me again, his expression much more serious now.

It sets my alarm bells off instantly. “What happened?”

“There is another one,” Dad says, and I immediately know what he means.

“Another disappearance?”

“Yes,” he says. “I already talked to Liam, and he is going to do his own research.” He hands me a new folder. This time it’s a thick one with all he and our allied packs have gathered so far. Over the last couple of weeks, we have noticed several wolves going missing. It happened slowly. One disappearance after another. From varying packs, not just from one.

“Who disappeared?”

“Another omega. A she-wolf this time. Disappeared from Mountain Gorge Pack,” Dad explains. “They only noticed her disappearance so quickly because she was working in the nursery, and the alpha’s five-year-old son really liked her. He is on the spectrum, and it’s said she was the only one who managed to calm him down.”

“So, they’ve still only taken omega wolves,” I mutter. “This is clearly not a coincidence anymore.”