Cassian's POV
“Ivy—”
“Don't even start,”
“Listen, baby, I was about to tell you–”
“When? When they finally decide to attack?” Ivy snapped, throwing me a death glare.
“Love, I just didn't want to worry you. Lily told me not to stress you out so I thought it was better if you didn't know. And it's not that big of a matter,” I put my arm on her shoulder which she mercilessly shrugged off.
“No matter how big of an issue it is, I have the right to know it, Cassian. I'm the Luna of this pack. Do you still not see me as it?”
“That's not true,” I defended. “I was just looking out for you, baby. You know I didn't mean it in a bad way,” I took her hand again and placed a kiss on it before she could snatch it away from me. “Please, don't be angry. Let's sit down and talk, yeah? I'll tell you everything,” I gave her a pleading look, and after a few moments of silence and a death stare, Ivy decided that I deserved some mercy.
She walked towards the sofa and sat down before looking at me. “I'll hear what you have to say but I want apples. Sliced up and dipped in caramel,” she demanded while I stared at her dumbfounded.
“Right now?”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “Of course, I'm starving,” she huffed.
“Okay then–”
“Wait, I'm not done.” She stopped me before I could turn towards the kitchen. “I want guava too. Sliced up with salt and chili powder sprinkled on top,”
“Salt and chili?”
Ivy raised a brow. “Yes?”
“Both…Both apples and this together?”
“Yeah,” She replied and tilted her head as she looked at me like I was dumb. I didn't dare to question her weird eating habits. As long as I can stay on her good side, I wouldn't mind cutting up a thousand guavas.
The work was done in no time and I placed the plates of apple slices dipped in caramel and guava slices sprinkled with salt and chili powder in front of her. I was curious how the guava slices tasted so my hand involuntarily went to take one piece but it froze the moment I saw my mate's eyes piercing my soul with a ‘don’t you dare’ look. I retracted my hand and gave her a sheepish smile. “All yours, love,”
Ivy took an apple slice and bit into it before looking at me expectantly. “So?”
“So…uhh…” I scratched the back of my neck as I started. “It was about three weeks ago when we first noticed them. They were in no man's land. There were far more footprints and paw prints and scents lingering for it to be one or two rogues passing by. We scanned the area and it was evident that it was either the hunters or a group of rogues. Guarding and patrolling were strict from then on but we didn't think much of it since it was still outside our territory. But soon we found them in our land.” I sighed.
“Where?” Ivy frowned, asking with a half-eaten guava slice in her mouth.
“In the far North,”
“How many?”
“Three sets,”
“Only three?” She tilted her head.
“Yes, and nothing after that. It's been a week and a half now but nothing else happened after that incident. We don't know who they belonged to and we don't know what they're planning but everyone is on edge.”
“Have you informed the members?”
“No, I didn't want to induce a panic,” I shook my head and leaned forward to rest my elbows on my thighs. “but I've discussed this with the council and they agreed it's best to not inform the members right now.”
“Hmm,” Ivy nodded. “But you still have to make sure that none of them wanders off to the forest. And you have to warn them about looking after their children and cattle. You know what happened last time, right?”
“I know. We have strong and strict patrolling. I don't know how to force them to stay inside without breaking the news to them. Just the slightest bit of control or warning causes mass fear.” I let out a sigh. If I break the news then, people will have thousands and thousands of questions and they might not go to work in the fields or look after their cattle at night no matter how many times we say that the patrolling is strong.”
“Tell them there's a mountain lion on the loose.”
“What?” I looked up at my mate with raised brows.
“Tell them that the mate of the mountain lion you killed is lurking on our territory and it only comes out after sundown. The patrolling is strong because of that but it's hard to catch it since we don't know when it comes to hunt in our territory,”
“Good idea but isn't it a bad image for me as a pack leader that I can't even catch a mountain lion lurking for days?” I smiled, tilting my head.
Ivy smirked and shook her head. “No. Because this information is supposed to be passed as a rumor and not an official announcement. Look, rumors have the ability to travel with the wind and the news will be exaggerated as it passes on. It's an effective way to induce fear and caution. And we're not creating a bad image for you as it was merely just a rumor. They're not going to doubt your ability as a pack leader just because of some rumor, Cass. You can always shoot it down or pass on another rumor saying that you've hunted the lion,” she shrugged.
I let a smile play on my lips. “Damn, my mate is pretty intelligent,”
“See the benefits of talking to your Luna?” Ivy raised a brow with a smug look on her face.
“Yes, ma’am,”
___
“Where are you going?” I raised my brows as I saw my mate walk out of the pack house.
“The pack kitchen,” she replied, not turning back.
“Huh? Why?”
“I have to help Stella with something. She already has so much on her plate. I told her I'll make sure everything is going smoothly in the kitchen since it's close to the pack house,” she shrugged.
“You don't have to do that, you know? You should be resting. I'm sure mom will manage it,” I frowned.
“Nope, I'm perfectly fine and this is something I can handle. Besides, I'm getting too many complaints from the community hall that food is often late. I have to find out what's the cause,” she shook her head and put on her slippers before walking out.
“Do you want me to walk with you there?” I jogged to catch up with her.
“No, aren't you going for an inspection at the borders?”
“Yeah, but I can walk with you—”
“You're supposed to go in the opposite direction,” Ivy let out a laugh. “Stop worrying so much and do your work, Alpha. I'll be fine,”
I gave her a sheepish smile before leaning over to place a kiss on her forehead. “Don't stand for too long, okay? Your feet might hurt later so take rest in between,”
“Okay,” Ivy smiled and then brought me down to her level so she could scent me for a bit. I returned the gesture and gently caressed her growing tummy while stepping back with a grin.
“See you later then,”
“See you later, Alpha,”
_____
“I told you,” Ryder grinned as he walked with me. “Ivy is a genius. You should've talked to her earlier, dude. See how she came up with the solution of keeping the members following a curfew without inducing panic in them? It only took her a small talk with you over some apple slices to get that idea. Freaking amazing!”
I rolled my eyes while looking around. “Yeah, yeah, she's smart,”
“No wonder she's the Luna of this pack. She was made for it,”
My lips quirked up at those words. She really is.
“So any new traces?”
“We found none,” Ryder shrugged as he looked around everywhere. I stopped when something caught my eyes, causing my beta to also stop with me, “What is it, Cass?”
I crouched down to look at the familiar small plant.
“Is that…”
“Mainel. It's mainel, Ry,” I mumbled as I took the small plant into my hands. A small but powerful tool to hide one's scent. One of the very sought-after scent blockers. Possession of mainel is illegal in many packs.
“Was it growing there—”
“No. Mainel only grows on rocky hill areas, Ry. Somebody was obviously trying to hide their scent.” I looked around.
“But who? There's no trace. The plant isn't that dry either and it can only stay like that for about three days without water.”
“Yep. That means someone was here last night or the night before and we didn't catch them.”
“That's impossible. Our men are patrolling left and right without rest. They couldn't have moved without being seen,”
“Ry, there's no trace of them on the ground,”
“That's what I'm saying,”
I got up to look around the area. There was no rain for three days so it's impossible that their trace was erased by it.
“Cass, look,” I looked back when I heard Ryder calling me. He was at the foot of a tree, holding a broken fresh branch. “I found it on the ground,” he said and then we both looked up at the same time. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Ryder murmured, gaze trained on the thick trees surrounding us.
My jaws clenched in anger. “Motherfuckers are moving through the trees,”