Conrad and I were walking towards his pack house to attend our rescheduled meeting. The early morning mist was beginning to clear; twilight had melted away, and the sun was peeking out. This morning wasn't grey. Soothing shades of orange and amber scattered across the sky, the gentle rays warming my skin were like kisses from the divine.

We reached his pack house, which was a big spacious house with an elegant feel to it. It was picturesque with its grey brick walls and blue stone decorations. Short, wide windows adorned the wall in a very symmetric way. It was fairly rounded in shape and fully surrounded by a garden path. The second floor was bigger than the first, which created a sophisticated overhang on two sides of the house. I could tell that this house was made by the previous Alpha as Conrad would have gone for a more minimalistic look.

We reached a room with a wooden door. It looked like a small meeting place. It had eight black upholstered chairs arranged in a square on which Selene, Cassandra, Beta Marcus and Gamma Daniel were sitting. The room had two windows, with its brown wooden panels and brown ceiling giving it a more neutral and serious look.

"Good morning, everyone." I greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning, Princess," Selene replied. "You look lovely this morning."

"Thank you, Selene," I said and sat down beside her, thinking about how a simple blue cotton dress could only appear lovely to her.

"Selene," Conrad began, his voice demanding our attention, "you informed us about this coven, and you said you wanted to know something about the Wild Creek pack. What was it?"

"Alpha, you need to tell us the number of pack warriors you have, and you should also tell the pack members to prepare for an emergency; things can get worse from here," Selene murmured, to which Conrad nodded his agreement.

"There are almost fifty pack warriors present in our pack," Conrad informed, looking at us, "but we will still need your support. We are strong, but trying to fight both vampires and witches will be foolish. I can put my pride aside for my pack members and ask for help," he said while looking straight at me. "Will you help us?"

All of them looked at me with Marcus fidgeting slightly in his seat. "We will help you," I said, and Marcus's sigh of relief was heard whereas Conrad was still waiting expectantly. I knew what he wanted to hear.

"You are my mate. My soul and the magic within my soul are connected to you," I said. "I can't let them take you away from me even if we don't know each other yet."

His eyes softened, looking more like the grey of a pigeon's feather than a concrete slab. This was the first time I had expressed my emotions to him, and by his soft smile, I could tell that he appreciated it.

I continued. "Which is why our next step will be to talk to the Vampire King." The change in their demeanour was immediate. Conrad growled loudly, Marcus looked at me with wide eyes, and Daniel squinted at me as if he was trying to figure out something.

"Haven't you just heard what we said? How could you even suggest such an outrageous action?" Conrad bellowed, to which Marcus was rapidly nodding his head. "Luna, we can't ask help from vampires," Marcus chastised. "They are with the dark witches!"

"Can you all listen to me before jumping to conclusions?" I asked calmly.

"No, you listen to me," Conrad commanded. I raised an eyebrow, which he completely ignored and continued, "They are killing humans and werewolves, and you are the future queen of werewolves. Do you not realise how dangerous will it be to talk to them?"

I felt slight anger due to him interrupting me, but that was quickly replaced by the onslaught of overwhelming emotions that came when he referred to me as the future werewolf queen. I quickly shook my head to clear my thoughts and snapped my fingers, willing my magic to work against my mate's anger, and Conrad visibly deflated, going into a less rigid and more relaxed posture. Marcus was again looking at me with wide eyes with a confused gamma sitting beside him. Selene was smiling while Cassandra coughed to hide her very evident laugh.

"Wha... What did you do?" Conrad asked, looking very puzzled.

"Nothing," I said in my serious voice, daring him to interrupt me. "Beta Marcus, I have to ask something."

"You can call me Marcus, Luna," he replied, "and please ask."

"Marcus, please describe the vampire's attack to me," I said politely.

He nodded quickly and explained, "We don't really have any evidence; no scent was present there, but we found the vampire's blood and their bite marks in two of three werewolf bodies."

"Was there anything that suggested the involvement of royals?" I asked.

Marcus fidgeted and whispered, "No."

I stood up so that I could face all of them and possibly convince them to follow my stratagem. Conrad was staring at me with no expression on his face, so at least he wasn't angry anymore. Everyone else was looking at me attentively.

When I was confident that I had everyone's attention, I began to explain, "We all know that the Vampire King forbade every vampire to drink human blood. We have no evidence to prove whether the entire vampire species is involved or if it's the work of a particular coven.

We were already aware of how the system worked; covens come under the king's regulation, but if any coven leader decided to not follow the king's order, it was possible that the king would remain in dark. “Think about it," I said forcefully, "can you blame an entire species without any proof? There is a possibility of the Vampire King being in the dark, so we will talk to him and gauge his reaction. Don't forget that we three witches here can sense his aura. If he has any malicious intentions, trust me, we will know," I said, emphasising the last part.

Conrad still looked unconvinced. I turned to him and said, "Witches are also involved in these killings. Why are you trusting us?"

"I am not," he said. "I am trusting you."

I walked closer to him; putting my hands on each of his chair's arms, I bent down to his eye level and said, "Sweetheart, I am still a witch first, the crown princess of the witch-kingdom. I could have gone against you. You took a leap of faith here; before even knowing that I was your mate, you were there to ask for help. We don't know the extent of their powers, and we'll be fools if we underestimate them." I straightened up, my heartbeat increasing at his close proximity.

"We need to take a leap of faith here as well. We need as many supporters as we can get," I said, satisfied with the look of deep thought on Conrad's face.

I sat down and gave them some time to think. While waiting, I observed how sunlight shone under the door like a phantom's grin whereas the same sunlight shines like a halo of golden rays through venetian blinds. That's the new morning, a sinner as well as a saint, just like me.

Thoughts about the chapter?

Thank you for reading!