Maddox was skeptical, thinking that Damon was messing with him. It wouldn't be the first time for Damon to pull a practical joke.
Damon wouldn't mess with this, right? This was about Maddox's fated mate, and it was important!
Maddox and Damon have such a bro-relationship where they tease and sometimes bully each other until it escalates into a fistfight, but when it counts, Maddox knew that Damon will have his back.
In any case, Maddox was out of ideas, so he decided to take the leap of faith.
Within seconds, Maddox was immersed in his phone while looking for solutions online.
At first, Maddox feared that he won't find anything useful, but only a few moments later he realized that the challenge will be to pick the right ones. There were so many!
Maddox understood that philandering and infidelity are common occurrences. Why else would there be numerous articles addressing those topics?
Damon silently enjoyed Maddox's predicament. Maddox was teasing him about Talia, and this must be some kind of a speed record for karma to do its magic.
At the thought of Talia, Damon got worried. Did Talia get a whiff of what happened here? And where was Tatiana?
Damon swiftly mind-linked Omegas in the packhouse and he found out that Tatiana was not in the packhouse. She actually joined other girls for shopping!
What if this incident with Maddox stirred some bad memories for Talia and she ends up with a grudge against Damon again?
How would he wiggle out of that predicament? Jumping in a waterfall was quite effective last time.
Damon rejected that idea. There must be a limit to how many times jumping in a waterfall will work, and he will save it for important things.
He didn't feel any resentment through their mate bond, so Talia must be fine or… far away. Right! They went to the human city! That was not really a big distance, so if Talia was in distress Damon should feel it, but he still wanted to make sure things were OK.
Damon tried mind-linking Maya, but he couldn't get through. One must know that the mind-link is not omnipotent.
The territory of the pack acts like a signal-booster, allowing pack members within their territory to communicate via mind-link without issues, but when outside of their pack territory, there are limitations in terms of range.
Since Maya was in the human town, she was out of the Dark Howlers pack territory, and Damon couldn't reach her with the mind-link, so he took his phone and send her a text.
[How are things on your end?]
Maya was in the swimwear store with Meg, Kalina, and Talia who were picking items under the supervision of Tatiana, and Maya was surprised to see a message from Damon.
Why didn't Damon contact Talia? If anyone would reach out to Maya, that would be Caden.
Something didn't feel right, but Maya still responded.
[Shopping]
[Is Tatiana with you?]
Maya cocked an eyebrow while staring at her phone. Why was Damon asking about Tatiana? Other than introducing themselves, Damon and Tatiana didn't interact.
Maya guessed that Damon might be asking for Alpha Maddox. Were they huddled next to Damon's phone? Maybe. Or actually… this might be Alpha Maddox using Damon's phone. Anything was possible. She decided to keep her responses short, just in case.
[Yes]
Damon was irritated with these one-word responses. It didn't tell him much, so he decided to be blunt.
[Do you know what happened between Tatiana and Max?]
[Yes]
[How did Talia take it?]
Maya smirked when she confirmed that this was Alpha Damon.
The scary Alpha was insecure! Should she call Talia and show her this?
Maya quickly dismissed that idea. The last time she meddled in the relationship between Damon and Talia, she ended up being separated from Caden.
Actually, Maya was happy that someone can stir Damon's previously stone heart. That's how it should be.
Maya swiftly typed a response.
[Lia acted like a true Luna and advised Tanya not to do anything rashly]
Damon puffed his chest when he read Maya's response. His kitten acted like a true Luna!
Axel was trembling from excitement when he arrived in front of the packhouse of the Dark Howlers pack.
His instincts told him he was only a step away from finding the child from Cassandra's prophecy and he couldn't wait to see Talia again and confirm that voices in his head were true.
How would he confirm it? Axel was not sure, but if he was successful, that would be H-U-G-E!
In his mind, Axel could picture Cassandra confirming Talia's identity, and there would be no calamities and curses and he would prove to his parents and to everyone else how he was right.
Why did they fear that Talia would have awesome powers? Shouldn't that be a blessing?
A powerful member of the Midnight Guardians pack could raise their influence in the werewolf society and maybe, just maybe, open the door of possibilities where they won't need to hide their nature anymore.
In the scenario where Talia gave herself to a man who is not her mate, she wouldn't have any powers, which would make her an ordinary she-wolf. How can she pose any danger then?
Everyone in the Midnight Guardians pack knew about Cassandra's prophecy, but several decades passed with no news, and people started thinking about it as some legend, and not the real thing.
Some people would bring it up whenever a child was born on a full moon, but it didn't go beyond that.
However, Axel believed that the child was born already, and that was Talia.
What he couldn't figure out was who were the real parents of that child (aka Talia).
His parents either didn't know or they didn't want to tell him, and when he asked Cassandra about it, she responded in her enigmatic way, "When it's time for you to find out, you will."
That was another mystery, but the parents of that blessed child were not important. If Axel ever found out about their identities, he would ask them how could they allow for their child to be sent away.
Did they really think that she will be safer growing up with strangers who didn't know how special she was?
The Midnight Guardians pack is safeguarding so many secrets, what's one more? Or maybe her parents perished?
In Axel's opinion, the safest place for that child was in the Midnight Guardians pack. That's where she belonged, where her family was, and if that's really Talia, bringing her back home would be his way of apologizing for what was done two decades ago.
Other than Alpha Isaac and Alpha Sophia (aka Axel's parents), no one knew what Axel was trying to accomplish by coming here and they were not supportive, but Axel was not discouraged.
Kai and Tyler didn't know why Axel wanted to return to the Dark Howlers pack so soon. Normally, they would have months between their trips outside of the Midnight Guardians pack. But since Axel was set on going, as his future Beta and Gamma, the duo followed their future Alpha obediently.
Back to the present…
Dawn and Zina were at the main entrance, to welcome newcomers and show them into their rooms.
"Is Alpha Damon here?", Axel asked even though he really wanted to ask if Talia was there.
Dawn confirmed. "Alpha Damon is in the lounge with Alpha Maddox. The group from the Lightclaw pack is on the training grounds with Beta Caden. If you want to see Alpha Damon right away, we can take your things to your rooms."
"That will be appreciated.", Axel responded with a smile that put Dawn and Zina in a daze.
Every Alpha had qualities that would attract women, but Axel was special. Other than having chiseled features that were pleasing to the eyes, Axel was mysterious, usually stone-faced, and it was widely known that members of the Midnight Guardians pack are saving themselves for their mates. This last clause only made Axel more desirable because every unmated girl dreamed of being THE ONE.
Axel's smile delivered a critical hit to Dawn's and Zina's tender hearts, and they needed a moment to collect themselves and scurry to help with suitcases that Kai and Tyler were hoisting out of the trunk of their car.
