(Alnilam)

I open my office door after carefully closing the partition and sending out a prayer into the universe that those three would act rationally and not try to kill each other. Hopefully, Saiph can contain the chaos they will cause.

Jamina is standing there, worried, her eyes are almost watery.

Seeing me open the door she throws herself in my arms.

"I am so glad you are safe." She acts all bubbly and tough but her vulnerable self only surfaces with me.

My arms wrap themselves around her. No matter what the worries are, she acts as my safe space, and I as hers. How truly I wished my heart would calm down with her presence too.

"Never!" Snow roars in my head.

"I am fine." My fingers brush against her soft hair.

"I heard you guys got attacked. A breach occurred right near the palace. That’s scary." I agree with her words and believe someone from our ranks is involved. It seems that we have a mole from the Dread Army, and they are being paid a substantial amount to betray us.

"Yes, we fought them off. No one was injured." I let her go and she gives me a small nod.

She then hesitates, and a redness climbs to her cheeks. "I did something stupid. Now that I think about it, I don’t even know why I agreed to it and how big a risk I took."

I hold her shoulders and gently ask. "What is it?"

She proceeds to tell me how she let Ezran go after Amaia. Snow rages in my head hearing what she had done.

"It’s because of her stupidity that now Ezran also knows Amaia’s secret," he blazes in my head.

It angers me but I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Jamina, you know better than this. What if he got injured or something worse? You can’t just let anyone use your powers so they can go look for their mates in such precarious situations. We are responsible for these recruits."

She lowers her head in shame. "I know, I am sorry. But he is intimidating. That aura and pain he carries. I don’t know but I felt compelled to help him."

Ezran could have used his powers. Vampires possess mind control powers. How advanced they are for Ezran is left to be seen.

"It’s alright. Be careful in future." I squeeze her arms and she happily nods at me.

"Headmaster Fallon has called for a meeting. Come, let’s go." This must be a briefing on the breach and status report since we were away.

Quietly I close my office door and leave with Jamina. She gives me a brief summary of what happened here in my absence, and I have news for her, too.

"Well, Amaia is not only mated to Ezran but she is mated to the twins as well."

Jamina halts at my words, turns and watches me with her mouth open like a surprised kid on the morning of Christmas.

"What? Like this just happened? How? I have so many questions." I try to smile at her overenthusiasm. But inside my wolf deflates, and my magic painfully shuffles. Why they want Amaia, too, is beyond me.

"I don’t know. Everything about Amaia is complicated." We enter a corridor. The morning sun fully shines down now.

"I mean it’s good for Mintaka. He can finally have some peace."

"Peace? They are already at each other’s throats. Haven’t you met my brothers?" I ask.

"Yeah. It was bad enough when Alnitak and Ezran were fighting and now Mintaka too. Goddess help us. Also poor Amaia. I can bet they are going to drive her crazy."

Jamina shakes her head.

"Yeah, I know." She needs to wake up quickly.

"That reminds me, I spoke to Amaia while you were away and promised her a girls’ night. She could really use that after learning she has three mates." Jamina sighs as we head towards the staff room.

"Thanks for speaking to her. It might have been this stress which was dragging her down." Amaia has been slightly distracted since Ezran joined and I wonder if both of them knew from the beginning and recognised each other.

"A woman always knows, especially when it is the right one." Jamina squeezes my arm. She truly believes I am the right one for her.

Why isn’t the feeling mutual? Sometimes I feel like such a hypocrite.

We arrive outside the staff room, and I push open the door, holding it for her. She proudly enters, followed by me. I glance around to find that most of the staff members have already gathered.

Their concerned eyes find me and murmurs break out. Some sigh in relief, others ask questions.

I have hardly started to answer when Headmaster Fallon enters the staff room too.

Everyone stands straight, and a hush falls over. The man demands attention even without moving a hair. His cape flows behind him while he moves ahead and takes his place in the centre and faces us all.

"Thank you! For gathering here. Considering the recent circumstances and breach, I would like to praise you all for handling the situation with a graced professionalism." He points towards us.

Small murmurs of thank you erupt. His gaze stays on me as if saying.

"We need to talk later."

I give him an affirmative nod.

"Considering how the breach occurred near the palace, it shows nowhere is safe and it can happen anywhere. Any losses? What’s the status report? Walk us through."

He asks and all eyes shift towards me. I give them a brief summary skipping Amaia completely from it.

"We need to be more vigilant. Checking of perimeters will be tripled from now on. Also, the evaluation of crystals and feeding of magic in them will be more thoroughly monitored."

Headmaster Fallon continues while we attentively listen. I can feel more grim days are coming and grimmest will be when the Dread Army will come knocking, asking questions about the missing Reavers and Amaia’s still open case.

Sadly for them, I am not afraid and will be ready.