Chapter 58 The Meeting with the Alpha (1/2)

After taking their seats at the table in the centre of the marquee, both Victor and Grim were silent as they stared at each other, neither willing to concede. Grim's intimidation did little but amuse Victor, as he sat lazily with a small smirk on his face. After a few minutes, Victor finally conceded to speak first.

”So are you going to talk or shall I take your silence as unwillingness to proceed?”

Grim continued to stare. Victor stared back. Again, neither seemed willing to concede. Rassa found himself far more interested in what Grim thought he was getting from this drawn out silence. Exactly what was he trying to accomplish? If he thought Victor was going to magically comply, he was kidding himself. He was arrogant, powerful and had currently been dragged from his luxury home to deal with what he considered 'the dogs'. If Victor was the one to cave under Grim's intimidation tactics, it would be a first.

After a moment, Victor sighed and stood back up, ”Very well, I'll inform the council of your stance on this topic”.

”Wait”.

Grim's voice sounded annoyed. But on the edge of it was a tone that Rassa didn't quite expect from such an outwardly powerful and intimidating man. Desperation.

Victor paused, but did not turn back around. After a moment, Grim spoke.

”You have heard of the Chaos Crusades, yes?”

Victor sighed, turning back to look at Grim with unimpressed eyes, ”Are you going to talk about fairytales like the last Dragon being hunted down and its head mounted on a spike now? I really don't have the patience for this”.

”They've started campaigning in the south,” Grim continued, ”The Packs were unprepared, their numbers already too few to stand a chance against their Saint Class Magicians, let alone the God Class that commanded the lines. And the Elves are helping them too, even you must know they are far more adapted to forest warfare. My people cannot fight against a force that can track their every move so easily. No matter the raw power we throw at their lines, we can barely hold them at bay. If this continues, they will push us back. Right onto your Coven's territory”.

Victor's gaze narrowed. He could not sense a lie in the Alpha's words. He did not sweat, his heartbeat and breathing remained steady. Victor could not smell fear on him. Only that one emotion that Victor had sensed before. Desperation.

”How many have you lost?” asked Victor, ”For you to agree to this meeting so quickly it must be a significant amount”.

Grim frowned as he eyed Victor in silence once more, then the Alpha for the first time since Victor had met him, turned his eyes away. Rassa sensed that this meant something, and Victor knew it.

”Out of the twelve packs that operate south of your Coven to the border of the human lands, five have been utterly obliterated. The remaining seven have banded together, but Alphas never work together well. Our instincts are too dominant, we clash too often”.

”Have you thought of uniting under one Alpha?” asked Victor.

”That would involve multiple Alpha Magus, and we don't have time to re-establish order after the loss of so many Alphas”.