~ The Midnight Guardians pack ~
Damon and Talia returned to the main house in time for lunch.
They all gathered in the dining room. Sandy and Tyler were also present.
Talia wanted to use this opportunity to casually discuss their future plans. Whenever they were in the study, it was all too official, and Talia craved a relaxed atmosphere.
"Now that the pack run is done, we should plan for our visit to the Silver Flame Coven.", Talia said. "Can any of you think of something else that must be done before we can go?"
They all looked around, and no one had anything to say.
"Alright", Talia said. "I thought that I should go with Damon, Keith, and Liam. Yasmin and Cornelia will probably want to visit their Coven, which means that Axel and James will come as well. Meg and Kai should stay here and watch over the pack. Tyler and Sandy can take time off."
Sandy was not happy about this. She came here as Talia's guard, and she didn't get to do any guarding business yet… "You are leaving me behind while Keith and Liam get to go?" She wanted to see the witches also!
"Don't compare yourself to Keith and Liam, Gamma Sandy.", Talia said in her official voice, reminding Sandy of her new position. "From the moment you accepted Tyler as your mate, you are not my guard anymore."
"I can be a Gamma AND your guard, Alpha Talia.", Sandy protested. "I am a warrior, and my skill set is to fight and not to deal with paperwork and electronics."
"Don't argue with your Alpha", Damon interjected sternly. He didn't want to risk Talia's mood being spoiled, and Sandy talking back was insubordination. Didn't Sandy realize that her action was making Talia either cave in under pressure or punish Sandy? And neither of those were good.
Sandy blinked at Damon. She had no intention to argue, but before she could explain herself, Damon was talking again.
"Your Alpha ordered you to take time off, bond with your mate, and learn to control your ability. It was not a request you could refuse. Where will you go protecting your Alpha when you are like a lightbulb whenever you get excited?" Damon gestured to Sandy, whose eyes were flickering in silvery light. "Are you planning to follow us while leaving your mate behind? As a Gamma, Tyler is aware of his responsibilities. In the absence of the Alpha, other high-ranking members will take the lead. Do your duty where it's needed, not when it's convenient."
Sandy lowered her head. She didn't like being scolded by Damon, but she knew he was right. She was out of line. "Yes, Alpha."
Talia felt sorry for Sandy. Sandy was always energetic, yet she ended up being reprimanded in front of her mate.
"Don't think of this as a punishment, Sandy", Talia said, making Sandy raise her gaze to meet Talia's. "It's more of a reward where you get time to learn about your mate and about your new pack. Depending on the nature of your ability, it could be dangerous until you master it. What if you harm someone accidentally? Luckily, you can't harm your mate, and healers have ways to protect themselves, so stick to them until you get the hang of it. Once your ability stabilizes, you can join warriors in training. No one said that a Gamma couldn't be a warrior also."
Talia smiled when she saw that Sandy's expression changed into a grateful one and she thought of warning Sandy, "You will need to practice patience because it might take a while until you master your ability. In the meantime, if you want to contribute, you can go to the archives and start reading and sorting stuff. Axel could use a hand there."
"Definitely!" Axel exclaimed. "After lunch, I can show you what I'm doing there." He looked around the table. "Tyler, Kai, Meg, you should join also. The archives are a mess. Many documents are without timestamps, while some are written like ancient riddles. If you think of it as a game of clues, it will be fun."
James felt neglected because he was also interested in those ancient riddles. But he also knew that he was an outsider, so he kept quiet and continued feeding Cornelia, his chocolate-colored Goddess. They didn't go all the way, but they did a lot of handholding, hugging, and kissing, and they were sleeping topless with him holding her breasts, and that was definitely progress.
Damon saw that Sandy's mood improved, and he turned to look at Talia. He wanted to praise her for being an amazing Luna, but she was not a Luna; Talia was an Alpha now and a very good one. And he was lucky to have her as his mate.
With that, it was decided that Damon, Talia, Axel, Yasmin, James, and Cornelia will head to the Silver Flame Coven. Since none of them had anything that would delay the trip, they decided to go on the next day, which was just enough time for Yasmin to prepare presents for Evanora and her sisters in the Coven.
Later that afternoon, Talia met with Axel in the study.
"You wanted to meet with me in private?" Talia asked, curious why he wanted secrecy. It took her a while to convince Damon that she was just meeting Axel to see what he wanted and that it was not dangerous and that she won't leave the study.
Luckily, Damon had some important emails to handle, so he didn't make a big fuss when Talia left their suite.
Seeing that Axel was mysteriously silent, Talia guessed, "Is this about Guardians wanting to meet me? Or Alpha Edward?"
"There is nothing new from the Red Moon pack, but Guardians sent another meeting request. You told me to ignore them for now, and I will do so until you tell me otherwise."
Talia was out of ideas, so she asked, "Why are we here, Axel?"
Axel gestured to Talia to sit on the sofa, and then he handed her a pen and a notepad with, "I want to show you my ability."
Talia was super-curious, but… "Shouldn't you keep it a secret?"
"I don't think that keeping this a secret will do us any good. As an Alpha, you should know the abilities of your pack members. Only like that, you will be able to protect us and to use us when needed."
Talia knew that his words made sense. She had no intention of using any of them, but his sincerity was touching.
"Alright", she said and glanced at the notepad and pen. "How do we do this?"
Axel chuckled. "I will ask you questions, and I want you to write answers without showing them to me."
Talia's mouth formed a big 'O'. "Are you able to force my hand to write what you want? Or can you see through the paper?" Talia turned to look behind her.
"What?" Axel asked.
"I'm checking if you placed there a mirror secretly."
"No mirrors and no tricks. Only my ability."
Talia pursed her lips. "No matter how you call it, if you want me to write something without showing you, and you will guess what it is, it's definitely a trick. Or will you make it burst in flames while smoke forms the shape of what I wrote on the paper?"
Axel rolled his eyes. She really had some crazy ideas. "Can we do this?"
