Maddy and Xander were the last to arrive at Jeremy's house even though they started off from the same place. It wasn't even because Maddy's ankle was hurting. It was all because Xander thought that Maddy's ankle was hurting.

Xander wasn't usually that overprotective but he seemed to have decided that Maddy was going to topple over if he didn't help her.

"Finally, the two of you have come! We arrived here like half an hour ago. What were you even doing, huh?" Alexa said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"As much as I would like to say that we did something like what you are suggesting," Xander said with a sigh as though he was deeply disappointed. "It's not true. All we did was walk."

Maddy glared at Xander. "You can blame Xander for that. He made sure that we were walking so slow, that I think a tortoise just passed by us."

"You have a sprained ankle! You shouldn't even be walking," Xander said defensively.

Maddy just rolled her eyes at his exaggeration of a small sprain and sat down on one corner of Jeremy's bed, opposite to Alexa and Jeremy. Xander sat down beside Maddy and the discussion started.

"We need to get to India immediately," Jeremy growled. "We can take a pack car to the airport and book tickets to India. That way we can start off tomorrow and reach at around early morning the next day."

"Hold on, hold on," Xander interrupted. "We can't go until all of us are fully healthy. That includes Maddy too."

Maddy groaned out aloud. "Are you never going to let it go? Believe it or not, I can sit on a plane perfectly fine with a minutely sprained ankle."

"I'm an Alpha and it is my job that everyone in my pack is safe."

Maddy was about to protest when Alexa spoke up. "He is right Maddy. You need rest. If we do go to India and we encounter rogues or something like that, you might get severely injured."

Maddy blinked three times just to make sure that she heard Alexa correctly. Did Alexa just agree with Xander on a topic? Maddy looked at Jeremy for help. Surely, he would want to rescue Leia faster.

"We'll wait for a few days and then we are getting Leia." On seeing Maddy's scowl, Jeremy continued, "I have faith on the matefinder. If she said that Leia would be okay if we even go after two weeks, then I think waiting for three to four days won't be a problem."

Seeing that everyone was on board with the plan, Maddy sighed. "Fine. The moment my damn ankle is healed we are going but first we should discuss about we are going to reach there."

Xander shrugged and leant back so that his head was leaning on the headboard. Maddy tried not to notice the way his muscles flexed when he did that. "It's simple. As Jeremy said, we take a pack car and got to the airport and then take a flight from there."

Maddy raised one eyebrow. "And how are we going to get the money to book tickets for a flight that goes all the way to Bangalore? You realize that costs a lot of money?"

Alexa's eyes twinkled. "You are part of a werewolf pack now. That means we all share the money and use it only when necessary. That makes us rich as shit. We can easily afford four tickets. Speaking of money..." Alexa trailed off and her eyes glazed over.

Maddy looked around and so that even Jeremy and Xander's expressions were similar to Alexa's. They seemed to be talking through the pack link. "Come on guys!" Maddy complained. "What are you talking about and why are you hiding it from me?"

Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Are you making plans to keep me locked in so that I don't go with you? Let me tell you that I can handle myself and nothing can stop me from helping rescue Leia. I even know how to pick a lock so there won't be any use of trying to lock me. And I-"

Maddy was interrupted by Xander's laugh. "We aren't planning anything like that," he assured her. "As long as you are with all of us and listen to my instructions, you'll be safe."

"Who said that you are in charge?" Maddy questioned.

"I'm the Alpha among the four of us which means that I'm always in charge," Xander said as he puffed his chest out.

"Didn't seem like that when you need my help to bust out of the room that tooth-necklace lady locked you in," Maddy muttered under her breath but because of their superhearing, everyone heard it. This resulted in Xander scowling and both Jeremy and Alexa trying hard not to smile.

"Anyway," Jeremy said. "We need to give you something."

"Give me something?" Maddy asked surprised. What did they want to give her? She discreetly wondered if it was another silver fork or some other silver piece of cutlery.

Alexa rushed into some other room to get whatever they wanted to give her. When she came back, she was holding something behind her back and practically bouncing on her toes.

"Open it!" she exclaimed as she handed it over to Maddy.

It was a rectangular box that was wrapped with golden gift wrap. Maddy wondered what it could be. It definitely wasn't any cutlery as the box was too small to fit a spoon, fork or knife. Out of habit, Maddy shook the box to figure out what was in it without opening the gift. It was a game that Leia and Maddy used to play during birthdays. Whoever could guess what the gift was without opening it was the winner.

Xander jumped in and stopped her. "You don't want to do that. Trust me."

Judging by Xander's reaction, Maddy decided that it was probably made of glass. She cautiously opened the gift wrap. The moment she saw the picture on the box and what was written on it, she nearly dropped it.

"No way," she breathed out. "This is some sort of prank, right?"

Maddy looked up to see the three of them smiling but they didn't say anything. With trembling fingers, Maddy opened the box to find a brand-new phone.

"An iPhone 12?" she cried out incredulously. "I'm sorry I can't take that. You must be crazy for buying something this expensive for me."

"It's the least we could do for all your help. After all, it is kind of our fault that you lost your previous one," Alexa spoke up.

Maddy shook her head. "A normal phone would be fine. I can't take something this expensive. It's probably more expensive than my kidney. No way."

"You risked your life for all of us even though you barely knew us. This phone is a gift to you from the Amalthea and Callisto pack."

"I'll probably drop it or lose it," Maddy said. "Something this precious shouldn't be handed to me."

"We'll make sure nothing happens to it," Xander promised jokingly. "You need to accept it. Dad's orders."

Maddy was at a loss of words. She just stared at the three faces and then at the phone. "I don't know what to say. I-"

They were interrupted by a knock. Jeremy went and opened the door. Standing there was the matefinder.

"Maddy?" the matefinder asked. "I'll need to borrow you for some time. And don't bother trying to not accept the gift. They'll convince you anyway."

Maddy still couldn't get used to the fact that the matefinder knew everything that was going on. Quite literally. She nodded and carefully packed the phone back into the box and then followed the matefinder outside.