Chapter 300

Pathetic fool. He should have paid attention to the situation around the territory. It was obvious that the situation was not good, and yet he had not taken the disappearances of the lycans seriously. How would he? The lycans were used to disappearing every once in a while. Sometimes they would go missing for even several months and days. Going off radar was like breathing for Lycans. Because of this very reason, Killian didn’t take these disappearances seriously, but now he had to.
’These witches have really gone crazy,’ his beast growled, looking at the long list of the lycans who have gone missing. Their territory still had it better than the other territories, where more than fifty or so shifters had gone missing, but a loss was a loss. No matter if it’s one or fifty. They have really gone ahead and done it. Can’t they just stay put and leave us the fuck alone? Look at the number of lycans they have kidnapped. It hurts me to think about how they must have been treated, and I dread to even think about their conditions. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ
And so did Killian. Rubbing the space between his brows, he raised his head and looked at his beta. “Why didn’t their families raise an alarm?”
“You know that lycans are known for going missing,” remarked Finn. His gentlemanly face was etched with worry as he too stared at the list of missing lycans. “No one took it seriously till now. It was only after the rumors of the failed prototype spread through the territory that these families came forward.”
Killian ran his fingers through his hair. He was slowly running out of patience, even though he prided himself on it, and to make things even worse, Inez’s scent – vanilla and coconut – was getting fainter with each passing second. Without her by his side, Killian seemed to be having a hard time controlling his anger.
You are going through some serious withdrawal.
Shut up.
Killian pinched the space between his brows.
“Is your beast giving you a hard time?” Finn asked gently. He could sense that Killian was not feeling better, and given how many days it had been since Killian last saw Inez, it was not a surprise that Killian was not doing well.
“Yes, he misses her.”
You miss her, too.
Of course, he did, but he also knew that the weight of the responsibilities on his shoulders was not something that he could just ignore. He was annoyed and frustrated at the situation and at Tracy, who kept trying to push him away from Inez under the pretext that he might end up dying under her for sirens, when they lose control, would kill their partners after they were satisfied and sated, and at the witches who kept popping up new plans like mosquitoes multiplying in dirty and stale water.
And worst of all…
“What did Seth tell you?” he asked Finn.
Finn rolled his eyes. Pushing his glasses above the bridge of his nose, he stated coldly, “He told me that the council members do not believe a word that you wrote in your report. In their eyes, vampires and shifters just cannot tangle together. The venom of the shifters is deadly to those bloodsucking creatures. Thus, they keep repeating only one thing: that you are trying to disrupt the peace that they had fought so hard for. Seth cannot go against the majority of the council votes. That’s the law—and don’t forget that the council elders do not like you because of that rebellious attitude and the lack of respect that you have shown them.”
The sound of flesh hitting wood echoed in the office. Killian, with his clenched fist, nearly smashed a hole in the table. “Those old bastards!” he knew that they were going to make trouble, but he never thought that they would ignore the danger that was looming right above them, as well as the rest of the shifter community.
“If the council doesn’t put up a firm attitude, I am afraid that it’s going to cause havoc.”
Cottoning onto what Killian was telling him, Finn nodded at once. “You are right. With the council insisting that nothing is wrong and the alphas telling the shifters that there is a war coming, I am afraid that it will create a lot of confusion.”
Killian sighed, his expression grim. “And the council is not the last of our worries. Some of the alphas agree with the elders of the council.”
“How can they? They have lost pack members as well.” Ajax exclaimed. He stepped forward and violently questioned, “How can they do such a thing? They know… They know that there is something wrong. The traces of the prototype were also found near their territories.”
“Some bastards like to bury their heads deep in the sand, Jax. Do you think that everyone is like you, who will honour the oaths that they took when they formed an alliance with our pack?” Laxus explained with an apparent air of teaching a two-year-old. “They might have allied with our pack, but ultimately, they have separate territory and thoughts. Naturally, they would stand by the council’s side at times like this; going against the council has never boded well for anyone. I am afraid that if we continue to persist, the council will try something against our pack.”
“Lying, cheating bastards,” snapped Ajax as he smashed his fist on the wall behind him. “Just because they are scared—”
“There is no point in getting angry,” said Finn. His lips were curled up in a gentle smile, but there was a firm edge in his eyes. “The council is against the entire vendetta of the witches, causing harm to shifters. They want to continue pretending that everything is going well, that there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. I don’t think that they will let anyone off if they find out that the truth they are trying so hard to hide and ignore is among the masses.”
“So, what do you want to say? Are we just going to ignore what is happening?”