Talia turned the page and paused. "Guardians?"
"Yes.", Axel said. "They also want to meet with you. A person introduced himself as Julian. He said he has information that might interest you."
Talia released a long breath. She wanted to know more about the Guardians, and she would love to meet with them. However, that was before they implied how powerful people would want to get their hands on her and that if she doesn't join them, she will be either corrupted or killed. And weren't the Guardians powerful? Also, they concealed their nature as magic users, and Talia didn't believe that she can join them and swear to neutrality. And there was a problem with her injecting with the memory-erasing potion. What if he remembered, or someone saw it? There could be security cameras they didn't notice. The more Talia thought about it, the more reasons not to meet with the Guardians piled up. What if it's a trap? They could use runes or other items to seal her abilities and she would be a lamb going for slaughter.
"Problem?", Axel's question pulled Talia out of her thoughts.
Talia didn't want to share the gruesome scenarios that her mind conjured, and she decided to stick to the facts. "They want me to join them."
Axel needed a moment to process this. Everyone thought about the Midnight Guardians pack as mysterious, but the even more mysterious were the Guardians.
The Guardians were practically invisible unless there was an important issue that required the involvement of the packs. Axel remembered his parents talking about Guardians with respect and a hint of fear, and that meant the Guardians were dangerous.
It was one thing to meet with them; Talia was a new Alpha of unknown origin, so it would be normal for Guardians to be curious, but to ask her to join them? That was unheard of.
Seeing Axel's confused expression, Talia confirmed. "After the Council of the Alphas was done, they asked me to stay behind. I told Meg that she can head home because Damon was accompanying me. At that time, they invited me to join them as a Guardian." Talia looked at Axel seriously. "They have powers, like witches. When we were in the room where the meeting was held, they used runes to suppress the Alpha aura."
"My advice is not to meet with them.", Axel said solemnly.
Talia gestured to the notebook. "They called twice. Ignoring Alpha Edward is one thing, but I fear that ignoring Guardians will come with consequences."
Axel didn't like this. "Every pack has its strengths. Are you saying that you will obey Guardians because they have abilities?"
Talia was not sure what to do about Guardians inviting her, and the thought of meeting Alpha Edward again was making her skin crawl. The Midnight Guardians pack was known as difficult to approach. Maybe she can use that and just ignore them.
Talia was glad that Damon was there. She will talk to him. It's not that she didn't trust Axel, but Damon came with knowledge and experience, and he was her home.
She decided to see if there was something else in that notebook.
One page after another was filled with information.
"What is this?", she asked.
"Alphas who want to meet with you.", Axel said, like it was obvious.
Well, it was obvious that people wanted to meet with her, but Talia was wondering if that was normal. She met those people at the Council of the Alphas. She was the youngest, and the only female Alpha, and these were not only messages from Alphas, but other high-ranking pack members also, and the WW Magazine.
Talia guessed that people who attended that meeting were curious about her, and they spread the news how the Midnight Guardians pack has a new Alpha but did she really leave such a good impression? Or were they calling her to trap her somehow? Or was this just curiosity and she was overthinking it?
Talia remembered Alphas who were leaving the Council of Alphas and she felt a headache coming. Who knew what was hidden behind those sickly smiles?
She pursed her lips when she saw that Alpha Richard from the Steelbite pack also wanted to meet with her. Can she secure another tribute?, Talia wondered. That was a possibility. Talia saw that his invitation was for Talia to visit the Steelbite pack with her delegation and to stay in their packhouse. Will Cassie be there? Talia couldn't imagine Cassie's reaction if she recognizes Talia (aka Damon's date) as the Alpha. That would probably turn ugly quickly.
Kai and Meg were giving a tour of the place to Damon, Keith, Liam, and Sandy.
After going through the few common areas of the main building, they went to the garden and Kai was telling them how that was the place where Talia became the Alpha of the Midnight Guardians pack.
Kai and Meg were visibly excited as they don't get visitors often, and these people were associated with Talia, their Alpha, so Kai and Meg tried to leave the best impression.
Damon listened about the ceremony with great interest, and he felt sorry for missing it. His emotions changed into guilt and self-loathing when he realized how all that happened while he was under the influence of the dark magic, unaware of Talia as his mate. At that time, he thought of her as an enemy, someone who tried to seduce him and manipulate him, and the only thing she wanted to do was to help him. His shy kitten even accepted this Alpha position and she stood on her own in front of the crowd and went to a different realm and... he was not there to protect her and to provide support.
Damon wondered if he will ever be able to make it up to Talia. Well, it was not really making it up to her, because Talia obviously put all that behind them and she was happily planning for their future, but Damon couldn't forget how he mistreated her, and he wished to scrape those memories out of his mind so that he could breathe freely again.
He craved Talia's proximity, to press herself against him, look at him with her doe eyes colored with honey, and tell him that things are fine between them while allowing him to feel her love. Unfortunately, Talia went to the study with Axel, obviously wanting to talk to her brother in private and Damon forced himself not to go after them.
It was the first time that she asked him to stay behind, and he felt neglected.
Damon didn't approve. What did Talia want to say that Axel could hear and not Damon? Damon never left her behind. He wanted her to know everything he was up to.
Talia was his mate, but in this place, Talia was the Alpha and he needed to show her the respect she deserved.
Damon frowned. If Talia was the Alpha, as her mate, wasn't he the Luna of the Midnight Guardians pack?
Male Luna. That was unheard of!
He was not just any Mike or Joe. He was Alpha Damon Blake, the most powerful Alpha of their generation, yet now he wondered if anyone would be brazen enough to address him as Luna Damon. Whoever does that, will get a taste of Damon's fist.
