My Most Precious Human

I took a deep breath through my nose and closed my eyes. I could smell the faint scent of a she-wolf, clearly the one whom I chased, but there was no intimidating aura. I became more certain that JD had put the previous notes on my pillow himself, but not this time. Was she his spy? If so, that would have meant that she was in one of the six groups of warriors from the Moon Hill Pack. Who the hell was she? Truthfully, she wasn't too discreet as a spy. She entered my room and turned every light on like an amateur. It was hard to believe that someone like her worked for the elusive JD. Then I remembered she had been escaping through the employees-only stairs. That would mean that she either worked in the hotel or disguised herself as part of the hotel's staff. If that was the case, she could have taken a universal key to get fast access to my room. It could also explain her sudden disappearance: she must have known about the hotel plan. She knew where she needed to run to and where to turn so as not to get caught. Then I looked at JD's note again. It was a clear warning, or even a threat, telling me not to get involved. I wouldn't change my mind, but I thought that it was time to tell Draven about JD and those messages. He somehow knew that getting around Greystoneville would be dangerous. Would it mean that he would be there as well? If so... on which side would he choose to fight?

I was beyond every limit of tiredness. I felt I had to get some sleep, or I would die. I walked to the door and locked it twice, then put a chair right beneath the door handle to block it. It was a stupid precaution, but I felt that I had to do anything to feel safe, at least for a few hours. After I assured myself there was no possibility to open the window from the outside, I took a shoelace from one of my boots and used it to tie the window handle to a lamp beside my bed, yet another idiotic precaution. As an explanation, I had to admit that my mind had given up on logic at the time.

After turning my room into an anti-burglar bunker, I laid down in bed and fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes. I opened my eyes four hours later. It was dawning, and I heard someone walking through the corridor. I crawled out of bed and automatically stepped to the door to glance through the peephole. I sighed, realizing that the sounds I heard were the Moon Hill warriors, or, more appropriately, what was left of them after partying until dawn. There were around six of them swaying their way to hotel rooms. Amused with how careless and completely drunk they looked, I put away the chair, blocking my door, and took a peek outside through the door crack. Only then did I see an absolutely wasted Jetta, led by one of the guys from our group.

"Damn, fucker..." she mumbled.

"Shh!" The other guy tried to silence her. "Alpha might hear you!"

"So what?!" she spat, waving her hand and pointing at drunken-imaginary targets. "How can he say that this bitch will become his Luna! She's only a fucking human!"

The guy supporting her led her to lean against the wall and took a key to open the door to her room.

"Jetta... Lilith is Alpha Draven's mate. Get over it already!" he said harshly while pushing her through the door.

"Mate..." Jetta muttered, angrily biting her lip.

Her friend walked with her to her room and left a few seconds later, closing her door along with heaving a deep sigh. I quietly closed my door before that guy could catch me peeking and eavesdropping. I even felt a little sorry for Jetta. I wasn't even angry that she called me names again. My female instincts were telling me that she had feelings for Draven, but I could only wish for her to find her own mate. I was able to feel that way because her heart problems took my mind off JD's message... for a short while.

I got dressed in sweats and went for a run around the area. I needed to get my head straight, and I used to process everything far more quickly while running. According to the plan, every team should head to Sangreville right after successfully dealing with one of the southern packs. As far as I was aware, every single detail went as planned, and that would mean that the Moon Hill warriors and Royal Army were supposed to appear around the town shortly. I couldn't wait for that to happen. I wanted to talk to Patrick, and this time I wanted Draven to join that conversation as well.

After an hour of running, I got back to take a shower and went down for breakfast... or more like a morning feast. The generosity of the townspeople was tremendous. They set huge, long tables right outside the hotel and put all kinds of dishes we could ever think of. At first, I was afraid that most of the food would go to waste, but then I thought that it was the right amount of carbs, proteins, and fats for the still drunken warriors to sober up quickly.

I watched the zombie parade take their seats by the tables, wearing a wicked grin on my face. Then Draven walked towards me and handed me a mug of coffee.

"Morning, beautiful," he said, deepening his voice.

"Good morning, Alpha," I replied and quickly added, leaning closer to him, "I need to talk to you. Something happened last night..."

"What happened? Are you all right?" he asked nervously.

"I'm fine," I assured him, slightly stroking his arm with my fingertips, "It's about our attack on the Southern Woods Pack and Greystoneville."

He narrowed his gaze and then nodded. "Fine," he said in between taking sips of coffee. "The council meeting is at ten sharp, and we can talk afterward."

I smiled briefly, agreeing. I knew that Patrick would have to be present at the meeting, so it was convenient to gather him and Draven together to talk.

Our breakfast was beautifully blissful as if there wasn't a war going on. It seemed surreal compared to the harsh reality, which appeared like a cold shower when I entered the room where the council meeting took place. Ari, Raiden, and Patrick were already there. I smiled at seeing Patrick, but he only nodded with a grim look. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to guess what was wrong. When he saw my questioning gaze, he shook his head mouthing that he would tell me later.

I was walking right behind Draven. As he turned around towards me, stopping by his seat, he pulled out a chair for me to sit beside him. No one seemed surprised by his gesture, as if they were all convinced that I would agree to become his Luna sooner or later anyway. As much as I hated that someone wanted to decide on my life for me, I exhaled my sudden annoyance with a deep sigh. I had more important things to worry about.

During the council, every team confirmed completing the plan. The Great Five were in Moon Hill's hands. Certain parts of the army were left to manage the taken-over areas. The rest gathered at the Sangreville to prepare for an attack at the Southern Woods Pack. Previously, I wanted to actively participate in designing the attack strategy because I wanted to make sure that no innocent life would be lost. At that moment, I knew that most of the innocent people I wanted to save there, were already gone. My mother's part of the pack had been freed from slavery, while the two people whom I thought of as a family were both already dead... At that moment, I only wanted to see my father when he would receive punishment for all the crimes he had committed.

After the meeting was finally over, I brought Patrick and Draven to my room to talk. I couldn't care less about the two of them visibly disliking the fact of sharing the same space with me in private. As I closed the door behind us, I told them that it was a serious matter that required their focus.

As an introduction, I briefly explained to Draven everything he needed to know about JD and the coded messages he sent to Elora. Then Patrick completed information with the degenerates' attacks and that Sariel received the message from JD calling himself the New King. Finally, I got to the part when I started receiving notes from JD while being in Moon Hill's Pack territory...

Draven frowned, his jaw tense, and his hands fisted. I could see that the anger rapidly rose within him.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he squeezed through his teeth.

"I was trying to be cautious," I explained. "I knew there could be a spy within the Moon Hill Pack, and I didn't know how close he was..."

A frustrating grunt escaped Draven's throat. "Still, you should have told me. I would have protected you."

"I wasn't sure if it was right to get you involved in all this... I thought it was more of a vampire thing at first..." I said grimly.

"At first?" Draven leaned towards me, trying to read my face.

I smiled nervously, pulled out JD's message from last night, and handed it to Patrick.

"Son of a bitch!" Patrick roared once he read the note, then passed it to Draven.

"What the hell does it mean?!" Draven snapped. "Is this fucker someone from the Southern Woods Pack?!"

"Well, whoever he is, he has a well-trained spy among the Moon Hill Pack," Patrick let out a cold, sarcastic chuckled.

"What do you mean?" I shot Patrick a nervous glance.

He sighed, then gritted his teeth. "I planted someone to watch over Lilith and keep an eye on anyone behaving weirdly around her," he told Draven, and then his eyes shifted onto me. "Yesterday, we lost contact with him, and when we arrived in Sangreville this morning, we found him dead."