(Author’s POV)

Alaric extended his hand to get some water, only realizing his glass was empty. He has been speaking nonstop for more than an hour, so he was obviously feeling parched now. "We will take twenty and then resume the rest," he declared to everyone. Even after his words, no one uttered anything or dared to leave their positions.

Once he got up and was out of the screen, only then did others visibly relax.

As soon as Alaric left the room, he saw several people dressed in uniforms, busy cleaning the hallway. He sniffed their odour and could tell that most of them were humans. Because of the impromptu meeting that was going to be held tomorrow, there were a lot of unknown faces. The place was bustling with new people. Alaric paid them no heed and walked casually down the corridor and towards the kitchen.

When he reached the living room, it was packed with another batch of servants while a dusky, scar-faced vampire gave them instructions, his voice commanding, "Wipe it clean thoroughly. Don’t leave even a spec of dust."

Alaric had seen him multiple times, mostly beside Fabian, taking orders from him. ’If I remember correctly, Jacob Larson called him by the name, Gunnar,’ Alex uttered. ’He is a vampire through and through. A powerful one at that, I can tell. So why will he serve an ordinary human like Stephens?’ he questioned. ’Beats me,’ Alaric replied, thinking the same thing.

Gunnar noticed the constant stare and looked in his direction. He then bowed his head slightly and approached Alaric, "Young Alpha Alaric, my apologies for the ruckus. I heard you were in a video meeting. It must have caused a disturbance. Do you require something?" his voice even.

"Came out to get some water," Alaric replied casually, looking at Gunnar from head to toe, keenly observing him.

"Let me get it for you," Gunnar offered, but Alaric declined, "No need. You seem pretty swamped. Keep on doing your work. I’ll go fetch it myself."

Gunnar nodded and stepped aside respectfully, making way for him. Alaric started walking, then paused. Without looking back, he inquired, "Your name’s Gunnar, right? Since when have you been working for Chairman Larson?"

Gunnar answered, "Approximately thirty years, young Alpha."

"Ahh~ ... that’s a considerable amount of time," Alaric mumbled, then, without another word, strolled away. Gunnar saw his receding figure and then resumed his duties.

’Thirty years is a damn long period. His stature, his build, his facial features, he doesn’t seem to be from the Blood Fangs Clan. I don’t know why, but something feels iffy here, Al,’ Alex remarked. Alaric pondered on his wolf’s words while he reached the kitchen. Like always, there were house helpers there as well, very gossipy ones at that.

"Why do you think a meeting was called all of a sudden? When the Lycan wolves and their Luna mother is staying here? His majesty even called it on tomorrow, on the solstice’s day," one of them said. ’What can be his motive to make such a haphazard decision?’

"How would we, normal human beings or the lower-ranked vampire even know what the upper clansmen think? Ughhhh~ ... I just know that all the clan leaders will be in a foul mood. I am even getting goosebumps thinking about that many cranky vampires gathered under one roof. Tomorrow is going to be such a hellish day. Let’s watch ourselves and not piss any of them off. Otherwise, they won’t show any mercy and will go full throttle in torturing us. We can even lose our heads, needless to say, our blood," another one said, warning them.

"You are right about that part. But I heard the urgent meeting is to choose the next head," the third one added.

"The next head?" the first one repeated.

"Ummhmm~ ... from what I heard, his majesty and the council elders have been tussling with each other on this matter. The king has someone in mind already, but the elders, they oppose the person greatly," the third person added. Though her voice was hushed, Alaric could hear it clearly.

"Is it because of that person?" the second one asked, brimming with curiosity.

"Ummhmm~ .... that seems to be the case. His majesty favours him a lot. He even sees ’him’ as his family. So, he wants to hand over the head’s position to ’that guy’. He is quite adamant about it. Even though ’he’ is just a humaaaaaaaA~ ... Aaaaaa~" before she could complete her words, she yelped loudly, finally noticing Alaric’s presence.

Their eyes trembled when they saw his imposing figure as one of them spoke, his voice shaky, "M~r.~ .... Mr. Eve~rests~ ... we~ ... we are s~o sorry. We didn’t know you were here."

"Gossiping about your master. Quite bold of you all," he threw in a sarcastic comment. "Should I tell all this to Chairman Larson, how preposterous his servants are?"

They didn’t wait for even a moment and got down on their knees. Shaking like a barely hanging leaf, they pleaded, "Sir, please. We beg of you. We won’t do this again. We swear on our lives. Pleasee~ ...."

Before he could say anything, a familiar voice echoed, silencing the gossipmongers, "What is going on here?"

"Secretary Shadow," the staff gasped. Their faces filled with absolute horror.

"Young Alpha Alaric, may I know what happened? What did they do to offend you?" Chris asked, observing the situation.

Alaric glanced lazily at the people, then at Chris. He ignored his question and asked one of his own, "Secretary Shadow, you have got a nice tattoo there." He pointed towards his forearm. "What is it called?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Ohh this~ ... I don’t know. I got it a long time ago," he answered without missing a beat.

’Huhh~ .... long time? From what I remember, on our first day in Esteria, he didn’t have that,’ Alex mumbled inside Alaric’s head. ’Do I not remember it correctly?’

Before he could ask anything more, his wolf caught a weird stench. A knowing one. The one he had been looking for a while.

"I will be on my way then," after saying this, Alaric marched, following the odd scent. His eyes turned a shade darker as they darted around to find the source. The normally silent mansion was overcrowded today, which made his search difficult.

Closing his eyes for a second, he breathed in, focusing on just that odd one out scent. Alex spoke, ’There~ .... it is coming from that corner.’ Alaric hurried in the said direction. He soon realized the path led to Jacob’s room. His brows wrinkled as he increased his pace.

Just when he was about to go in, the door unlatched as the stench he was chasing brushed his nose once again.

To Be Continued . . . . . . . . .