"What did you say?", Beta Milo asked Tony grimly.
Tony's composure cracked for a second, but then he responded, "I only spoke the truth. We are all Alphas here, was any of us pressured to take a random female for his Luna? If you think your daughter is worthy of being the chosen mate to Alpha Damon, she should earn that position on her own. What you are doing is… not right."
Maddox put his hand on Tony's shoulder and gave him a squeeze of support before adding, "Actually, considering Damon's current situation, I would more call it a blackmail."
"I agree.", Cristian chimed in. "If you are here trying to get Jade to be an Omega who will clean the kitchen, no one would say a word. However, you want to attach her to Damon, as his Luna. That holds a lot of weight. Did any of us get our current position because we made a deal? We all earned it. Luna is the one who proved herself as worthy by being better than the others, or because the Moon Goddess said so. If Damon accepts an undeserving female to accompany him, it will ruin his pack. Is that what you are trying to do here? To ruin the Dark Howlers pack?"
Alpha Adam and his Beta were both furious. They were surrounded by youngsters who were looking down on them!
Damon was pleased that his friends spoke up and shut down those two pesky people. There was nothing left to say.
Damon got his next glass filled with amber liquid when the door opened with an announcement, "Alpha Talia Moonrider and Beta Meghan from the Midnight Guardians pack!"
'CRASH!'
This time, the glass from Damon's hand fell on the stone floor and broke into a million pieces.
Damon wondered if his ears malfunctioned but then he saw a familiar figure in a dark gray knee-length pencil skirt and a matching blouse, and her hair lifted into a neat bun, and… that was his kitten! She wore high heels and light makeup that added a few years to her appearance, and she had a shiny token hanging on the left side of her blouse, but that was definitely her! Talia.
'Surprise!', Talia's voice sounded in Damon's head, and he could hear that she was smiling even though her expression was serious as she made her way to sit on an empty sofa with Meg one step behind her.
Damon was pulled out of his shock when Maddox smacked his shoulder with much more force than necessary.
"Is that…?"
"KHM! KHM!"
Caden's exaggerated cough cut off Maddox's question which was definitely related to Talia.
Maddox looked at Caden and it took him a moment to realize his almost-mistake. Talia didn't approach them because she wanted to conceal her identity!
"Another one, Alpha Damon?", the bartender asked sourly. Damon was more spilling than drinking, and he already broke two glasses for no apparent reason!
Damon gestured that he wanted another one. With Talia showing up in this den of wolves, he definitely needed a drink.
'Why are you here?', Damon asked Talia while peeling his eyes from her with difficulty. He didn't want to stare at her, fearing that his expression will blow her cover. But the fact that he looked away made him the odd one because all other eyes were on Talia.
He used the mirror behind the bar to look at her. She was beautiful.
'I heard that Alphas are gathering, so I thought of joining. Did you miss me?'
Damon caught her gaze in the mirror and he couldn't believe this. Was she flirting with him? In this situation? Did she know how dangerous this was?
'You should leave. Now.', Damon said ominously.
'Not without you.', Talia responded. 'I know that you want me to stay home and be safe while waiting for you, but I can't be safe knowing that you are facing the storm. Didn't you say that we are equals?'
'This is not about being equals, kitten', Damon said, his voice much softer than before. 'This is about all these people ripping you into pieces if they find out that something is wrong.'
'What could go wrong?', Talia asked.
Damon groaned as a million bad outcomes flashed in his mind. 'I knew that Keith will be useless as your guard. You probably winked at him, he fainted, and all others wished you a safe journey. Or are they outside waiting for you with banners of support while you risk your life here? And how did you reach here without a plane? And…'
'Damon!', Talia interrupted him. 'This is not about Keith and others being useless, but about me being capable. Cornelia used her magic to transport me here, but before that, I made a quick stop to the Lightclaw pack.'
Damon immediately understood one thing. 'You did something for Tony to become an Alpha.' This was worse than he thought!
Damon reached for the glass that the bartender gave him. He really needed that drink.
Talia didn't deny it. 'I wanted to talk to Alpha Magnus, to make him see the reason, but he was stubborn and one thing led to another. Don't worry, nothing happened.'
"PFFFT!", Damon sprayed a mouthful of whiskey all over the bar. Everyone at the bar looked at him questionably, the bartender included, but Damon was busy arguing with Talia through the mind-link.
'Nothing happened? You toppled the leadership of another pack. That's war!'
'There will be no war. I was careful. Axel was with me.'
'Axel…', Damon grumbled. 'So, he could come with you, and I was left in the dark?'
'If I told you, would you let me?', Talia asked.
Damon jabbed his hand into his hair. He knew she was right. He wouldn't let her, but there was a reason for it.
'It was safer for you to stay home. This is only for Alphas, and you can't expect that people will allow you to stick around.'
'What can they do? I have the token that proves I'm the Alpha.'
'This is more than just a token, kitten. There is a device to check if you are real Alpha.', Damon said dejectedly. He assumed that she was here because Axel gave her his token, and Damon was ready to punish Axel severely for enabling Talia to join this shitshow. 'We need to find a way to get you out of here. I will create a diversion and you…'
'Damon, do you trust me?', Talia interrupted him.
'With my life.', he responded without missing a beat. But he was not sure if he trusted her with HER life.
'I can feel that you are worried for me, for us, for our pack, but you are not alone. Let me do how much I can.', Talia pleaded, and she let him feel through their mate bond all the love and admiration she had for him. 'I have a lot of things to tell you, Damon. Let's talk when this is over, and until then, trust me.'
Damon released a frustrated breath. He wanted to argue and talk some sense into her, but how can he say no to his kitten?
