Chapter 397: Have you gone crazy?
Selene pursed her lips. She stared at her for three whole seconds before turning to look at Matt. "Go and check the perimeters."
"What if I am wrong?" Inez grabbed Selene’s hand and spoke in a hurry. She lacked the conviction that she just had now because there had never been a time when someone had trusted her enough to believe her. The confidence in her dwindled a little bit.
Selene turned to look at Inez. Her eyes were steady and serious. "There is nothing wrong with running a lap around the perimeter. At least we will be prepared and won’t be taken by surprise. At least we will have another escape route prepared for us just in case things head south."
And if she was really right, then this might —
Inez gritted her teeth and looked at the people still quarrelling in the lodge. Though they had once stood against her, they had accepted her and given her a place in the pack. She couldn’t ignore the risk that might be hovering over their heads. After all, they were the ones who had helped her when no one had; she couldn’t just ignore their plight.
Lowering her head, she slowly let go of Selene’s wrist.
Then let it be. It was better to be safe than sorry.
**
"There is nothing," said Matt on the walkie-talkie. Their territory was located near the ocean, and half of the territory was hidden by the overgrown forest, twisted lanes, gnarled roots and trees. He hadn’t asked what strange magic was circulating in the territory that needed to be checked and taken into account. He had circled the territory for the fourth time, scanning for anything out of place, but nothing...not a single thing that could trigger his radar.
The territory was still the same, and the silence was absolute. Thick and quiet...as quiet as silence could be, he added in his mind.
Even the sound of birds chirping couldn’t be heard.
She thinks that there is danger coming, Selene had told him, and she had told him these words with absolute certainty, and there was not even the smallest doubt in her voice when she told him that Inez felt that there was something wrong. He had noticed that there was absolute certainty when Inez was whispering to Selene. There was absolute certainty when she was speaking to Selene. There was this subtle calmness in her eyes, like she knew something that they didn’t, and that shook him even more.
I am telling you, she is different from us. I don’t know, there is something different about her. She knows things —Matt. Please believe me.
Selene’s voice echoed in his head.
Matt didn’t know why Selene said such a thing to him, but he knew Selene well enough to know that the woman wouldn’t say such things without a reason. Matt knew what Selene was capable of; just because the lioness had lost her claws didn’t mean that she had lost her skills to hunt. Since she said that something was hiding in the dark, then there had to be something.
"Are you sure?" Selene asked.
Matt grunted.
"There must be something that you are not noticing." Selene’s confused voice echoed through the walkie-talkie. "Inez has never been wrong."
"What do you mean that she has never been wrong?" Matt seemed to have cottoned onto something. He always had a feeling that there was something different about Inez, but he couldn’t get the hang of it because he had never seen her do anything that might make her different from the rest. But Selene’s response made him wonder if he even knew Inez that well.
"Sel, I don’t know what you and Killian are doing, but you—"
"She is our pack member, and that is all that you need to know, alright?" Selene cut him off with a hint of irritation in her voice. "Our pack mate. That’s all that matters right now, and if anything, she is the mate of my brother. The future Luna of this pack. If there is a threat incoming, then we need to be prepared and ready for it. We need to protect our territory and our people. Nothing else is the priority at the moment. Do you understand?"
Matt whistled. His tone was low and teasing. "Damn, baby, I didn’t know that you could be this authoritative."
There was an annoyed huff from the other side of the walkie-talkie.
"Status? Just tell me the motherfucking status." Killian snapped on the phone. He had been silent till now, but the man was running out of patience as he couldn’t get out of the council, even though he was almost done with all the formalities.
"There is not a fucking single thing in here. What kind of status do you want me to give you?" Matt rolled his eyes for the millionth time. "That and your signals are shit because you didn’t hear me the last ten times."
"Is there something? Or are you not looking carefully?"
"Are you saying that I am fucking blind? I did not see anything or anyone; as a matter of fact, there is nothing but dear darkness and my old friend’s silence and solemnity. Alright?"
Killian grunted, sounding unamused with Matt’s response.
"You should still evacuate the territory until I return. Inez’s feelings... or, more like, I should say her intuition, it usually works, so you all better move when you still have the time. If she says something is heading over, then something must be heading over."
There was a pause when everyone stopped speaking altogether.
"I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. We made a mistake by underestimating the witches the last time; we shouldn’t make the same mistake again. If Inez feels that there is something, then we might as well take necessary precautions to be safe, or else... who knows what might be waiting for us?"
"I think that’s smart," came in Killian’s response. "It’s better to leave the pack’s territory."
"Are you crazy?"