Valerie and the rest were left befuddled and confounded. No one knew who Mark is and what does Cayden saw in Scarlett's memories. But no one dared went behind him. Even Valerie did not bother to go behind him because she was still mad at him for asking for Kevin to become the scapegoat. She just sighed and left for her office.

When she reached her office she sat down on her chair and felt a sense of tiredness taking her over. "I wish you were here Dad with me to guide me, to give me advice. I miss you, dad. A lone tear left her left eye and she mumbled to herself. "Sometimes I feel that I am the least important person for my mate. I wonder whether he loves me or he loves the idea of having a mate. What should I do dad?" She looked up towards the ceiling as if her questions will be answered by some divine voice.

"No women should feel that way especially someone like you."

Valerie got startled. She looked ahead and found Dmitri and Alexei standing there at the threshold of her office.

"We are sorry that we were not there for you, we are not there for you." Dmitri said while entering the office and taking a seat followed by Alexei. "We promised your dad that we will take care of you and we will do everything in our power so that you do not miss him. But I think we have failed you and we have failed your father." Dmitri continued. "But let us rectify that mistake; by being always there for you. Whatever is the thing that is bothering you, tell us everything. Don't leave anything out."

Valerie looked towards Alexei and he understood. "Don't worry my feelings for you won't cloud my judgement" And so Valerie told them all her doubts and her fears.

"I think you should talk to him, tell him all your doubts. Ask him what he thinks about this relationship, what he thing about you. Communicate with him. Tell him your fears and listen to his. It is high time to act civil and mature, not like a bunch of teenagers." Dmitri said and Alexei nodded his head for confirmation when Valerie looked towards him.

"Do it." Alexei mouthed.

                ****************************************************************

On the other hand, Cayden was pacing in his office. He was thinking about Scarlet and all that he saw. He was also thinking about the fact that how easily he asked Valerie to sacrifice his brother for his guilt and for Scarlett. He knew he was acting like a three-year-old child and he has disappointed Valerie at every turn. 

He suddenly stopped in his tracks and a look of horror was visible on his face. What if Valerie decided to reject him, he thought. What he asked her in the spur of the moment could destroy his already weakened relationship. He ran a frustrated hand in his hair and punched the wall causing a hole in it.

"Son" He looked back to saw his father and former alpha standing. Jack was very disappointed in his son when he heard from Ryder what Cayden had suggested regarding Kevin to Valerie.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" Cayden asked.

"I came to ask you one thing but by the look of that hole, I think you are already repenting what you did. Cayden, son, what on earth possessed you to ask Valerie to give her brother away for the cure?"

"Dad, I can explain." He said

"No son, I don't need your explanations. This time I will ask questions and you will answer them." Cayden was shushed by Jack.

"Do you even love Valerie?" Jack asked.

"What kind of question is that dad, of course, I love her, more than anything."

"But your actions do not suggest the same. Why are you sacrificing everything you have for Scar? Do you have feelings for her?"

"Of course I love her dad, but not the way you think. I love her like a sister. Dad, she is equivalent to Michelle. I would have done the same thing for Michelle, she is family. Scar is an orphan dad, her father sacrificed his life for you and she is sacrificing her life for me. She has no one. Her mate rejected her. Her parents are dead. She has no one except me, except our family. I know I should have done something else instead of asking Valerie but I was desperate for Scar's  safety."

"Do you think Valerie knows this is how you are seeing everything and why Scarlet is so important to you?"

"Maybe." Cayden shrugged. "I don't know."

"You took Scarlet as your Luna in front of her." Jack reminded him.

"That was just..."

"Let me finish son. It doesn't matter why you did what you did. Valerie does not know. You have always chosen Scarlet, not Valerie. And she does not know why and neither have you told her." Jack suggested.

"I have told her once that I think of Scarlet as a sister." Cayden replied.

"She is not related to you by blood and moreover Scarlet does not feel that way. She loves you or loved you. Valerie would never understand what you feel and why you feel that way because you do not communicate properly. You and Valerie fight. It is always about power. Who will win? Who is right, who is stronger or who is a better alpha. You guys think and act like alphas, not mates."

Jack sighed. "Mates should communicate son. You don't communicate, you try to dominate her. Your wolf forces you to show your mate that he is powerful. But you should remember, she is not a luna. She is an alpha just like you. Both of you do not show any sort of maturity when it comes to being mates. You could be a great leader, a great alpha but you are not a great mate, son."

"You are right dad. Dmitri once told me the same thing. Heck, even Ryder pointed out the same thing once. How can I be so thick when it comes to love?"

"Because generally we alphas get a docile mate but you have gotten one with claws." Jack joked and chuckled.

Cayden laughed too. "Was mom easy to handle?" He asked out of curiosity 

"Kind of, but she was beast in bed."

"No, I don't want to hear that." Cayden said putting his hands above his ears making Jack laughed heartily at his son's reaction.

"Thanks for the advice dad. I will visit her this evening." Cayden said getting back to the topic of discussion.

" Then why wait? Go and win her back because I am pretty sure what you asked her do would have raised thousands of doubts in her mind and she would be thinking of politely rejecting you."

"You are messing with my wolf now dad." Cayden growled.

"Then tell your wolf that, that could be a possibility."

Anxiety took over him and he sprinted out of the office and the pack leaving behind a smirking former alpha.

************************************************************************************

When he reached the border of the Stalwart warrior pack he found Valerie walking towards his pack and he stopped followed by Valerie when she saw him.

"I was just coming to meet you." Valerie said

A sense of dread filled him. Was she coming to break up with him? He shook those dreadful thoughts away and gathered the courage to ask her. "I was coming to me meet you as well. I think we should talk."

"I think the same way as well." Valerie replied. "I think we should head to my office since you are already here."

Cayden nodded and they both started walking towards their destination.

Valerie closed the door behind her when they entered Valerie's office. She called Jason and told him not to disturb her and contact her if it is an emergency. They then talked for hours. Noon turned to evening and evening turned to night. Both of them poured their heart out to each other. Told each other their doubts, fought, showed anger and frustration that they had pent up. They talked about jealousy and their emotions. They told each other their darkest of their secrets and their moment of happiness.

It was half-past nine when Cayden asked the most dreadful question. "So where are we at?"

Valerie exhaled and said. "I was blinded by pride and did so many things wrong and you were wrong at times too. But I love you Cayden."

"And I love you Valerie." Cayden sighed and replied.

"I am ready to give this relationship one more chance. Let us start fresh. Be better mates." Valerie suggested.

"I completely agree." Cayden replied. "So can we start it with a kiss?" he asked.

Valerie giggled like a teenager and nodded her head. Cayden did not waste any second and pulled her towards himself and kissed her with love and passion which Valerie reciprocated.

"Thank you." He said once their lips parted for air and Valerie smiled.

"So should we talk about Mark now?" Valerie asked

"Ah yes. You should call your officers. I am ready to tell them everything. But first I am famished and I want something to eat."

Valerie chuckled. "You are such a boy."

"Hey! A man needs his food. I haven't eaten anything since morning" Cayden replied causing Valerie to laugh.

They both exit the room hand in hand like a happy couple ready to start afresh. They reached the hall where the rest of the officers were eating. When everyone saw them, they smiled, especially Dmitri. Alexei was happy for Valerie too. It pained his heart to see her with someone else but her happiness was all that mattered for him and if she was happy with Cayden, he was contented too.

After eating, Cayden told them everything that he saw in Scarlett's memories and about Mark. He left no detail and explained to them as much as he can. Describing Scarlett's pain and what Randall did to her was painful for him to describe but he did tell them anyway. He told them everything about teenagers being used and how Randall was blackmailing those innocent souls.

"So basically they are targeting the young and the innocent." Alexei said. "They are using newly made vampires and teenager werewolves. I am sure most of his army has young mortals only. They are easy to convince and easy to manipulate, no doubt he is interested in them. But the question of the hour is how we will convince Mark to help us. He denied helping his mate, we are bloody no one."

"No Lexi." Valerie interjected. "We are alphas. We are not no one. Rouge or not he can not deny a direct order given by an alpha. We just need to fix a meeting with him and then rest can be done."

"What about Scarlett?" Cayden asked. "Is there any way we can help her?"

"We are trying." Autumn replied "But we haven't reached any solution yet. The magic used upon her is very dark and cruel. I will have to imbibe all the darkness in me to do it. I haven't practice any kind of dark magic in my entire life."

"But can you do it?" Valerie asked.

"I mean yes I can. It is tough but with hard practice I can master it."

"Would it require killing innocents and torturing the mortals?" Valerie asked

"That is required when you want to derive power from the dark magic like eternal youth and stuff like that but if you just want to use the dark magic for some purpose that sort of things are not necessary. No doubt the darkness will try to make me it's slave but I have my pack with me whom I trust with my life and I know my alpha will not allow me to tread the path of darkness, death and cruelty."

Valerie smiled and took her hand in hers. "You can always count on me. You need to learn dark magic Autumn, not only to save Scarlet but also to defeat your mother. She lives with darkness, you will have to be so much powerful to defeat her.

"Then I will search every material I have regarding dark magic and will learn everything that I can."

"And we should find everything we can regarding Randall and his clan." Cayden said.