It took a few weeks of travel, but soon we were back at Ryumon.

"Alpha, you’ve returned home," a few members of my pack who were on patrol duty greeted me as I returned.

"Welcome back," they all bowed and got down on one knee.

"Have Selthia or Isabella returned yet?" I asked.

"No, alpha, only the moon princess is here. She’s currently out on a hunt with young miss Lily. Do you want us to go get her?"

"No, it’s fine. Has anything significant happened here since I’ve been away?"

The werewolves nervously looked back and forth between each other before answering.

"Noah has finished building the water pump, so we now have running water, and with the help of the newcomers, we now have several different farms growing various crops. We also managed to acquire a few livestock by capturing a few wild boars and domesticating them. We’ve also caught a few rabbits and wild geese." The werewolves answered, but for some reason, they still looked a bit tensed.

"Is that all?"

"No, alpha, we also received visitors a few days ago."

"Visitors?" I questioned.

"They were dressed like soldiers!" one of them quickly spoke up. "They had armored trucks and carried guns with them. One of them, some general I think, spoke with Eira in your office before they left. After they left, Eira looked a bit tense and told us to keep an eye on them. They’ve been moving a lot lately as if they had some kind of big operation going on."

So the soldiers are on the move. Right when I decided to handle the Veylmont situation. I wonder what they are planning. I’ll have to speak with Eira directly to get more information.

"Where is Eira now?"

"She should be in your office."

"Sounds like trouble," Khalissi chuckled.

I ignored her and instead went to my office to speak with Eira. I carried the Moth Queen with me since I wanted to keep an eye on her.

I shoved open the door to my office and saw Eira sitting at my desk.

"Alpha!" she hopped from her chair and immediately rushed to greet me. "I’m glad you’re back."

She greeted me with a smile, then ushered me to my desk where she was just sitting. She ignored Khalissi as if she didn’t even exist. I took a seat in my chair and felt a wave of relief wash over me.

"So," I said once I was settled in. "I heard you got a visitor."

"Yes, we did. It was from the military that took over the town nearby. I was the one who spoke with their general. I hope that’s okay."

"It’s fine. Tell me what he said."

Eira smiled, seemingly pleased that I wasn’t upset with her for speaking with the general.

"He said he wanted to do trade with our settlement."

Trade?

"What kind of trade?" I asked, feeling a bit intrigued.

"He said he wanted to trade resources like food and clothing. He talked about us entering some kind of partnership. Of course, I told him that the leader wasn’t here and that he would have to speak with you when you return. Surprisingly, he didn’t put up much of a fuss and left."

"What impression did you get from him while he was here?" I asked.

Eira didn’t have to think about the question to answer.

"I think he’s a smart man. He strategically surrounded us and placed snipers around our walls. The snipers wee so fa out that if we didn’t have supernatural senses then we wouldn’t have noticed. And the way his men navigated the forest, it was as if they knew it like the back of their hand. Like they had spent weeks investigating and planning. While he was being ushered around Ryumon, he watched and made note of everything he saw."

He does sound smart.

"Though while he was here, I made sure that he thought we were just regular humans struggling to survive. I did that by making the werewolves and skinwalkers carry primitive weapons like spears, and so on. I did all I could to make sure he thought we were struggling to survive."

It was a smart decision. Showing our hand to the enemy to lead to problems down the road.

"Thank you, Eira you did a good job."

She smiled and blushed slightly.

"Oh, by the way, who’s the woman with the wings and antennae on her head?" Eira suddenly asked, her eyes fixated on Khalissi, who was quietly listening to our conversation with a smile on her face.

"Is she a new addition to the pack?"

"Something like that. This is Khalissi. She’s a demon."

Eira’s eyes widened, and her face froze stiff.

"A demon? You can’t be serious. Why would you bring one of them here? They are our enemy, are they not?"

"They are, but they also hold a lot of valuable information, and this demon has agreed to cooperate."

Eira stared at Khalissi deeply, then sighed.

"I trust you."

"That’s good to hear."

"Oh, and by the way, that girl, what’s her name, Sylvie, has been acting strange ever since you left. Maybe you should go see her," Eira said.

"Don’t worry," I responded. "I’ll go see her when I’m done here."

In truth, I was actually postponing going to see Sylvie. Everything here could’ve been handled later, but I guess I just wasn’t ready to face her.

I spent the next couple of hours with Eira, finding out about everything I had missed. When I was done, I showed Khalissi to where she would be staying for the night.

"Hmm... I thought I would be sleeping in your room since you wanted to keep an eye on me."

"Just don’t do anything troublesome."

After that, I went back to my room and realized that Sylvie wasn’t back from her hunt. There was no way she didn’t know I was here. She must’ve been postponing seeing me too.

Sigh.

"I guess I’ll go look for her."

I knew exactly where she was. She had created a new hideout for herself just like the one she had at her old pack. She must’ve been there enjoying whatever prey she managed to catch. As I stepped outside, I stared up at the sky, looking at the full moon hovering above me.

It felt nice having a full moon for once where I wasn’t fighting for my life. I enjoyed the energy it gave me as I made my way towards Sylvie’s hideout, but just as I got there, I saw a blur dashing out the entrance.

"So she decided to make a run for it."

She moved through the trees with her high agility as if she was being chased by a monster. She was confident I wouldn’t be able to catch up to her because of how agile she was, but all her confidence was dashed when she saw me suddenly appear in front of her. She didn’t have time to stop or slow down so she crashed ight into my arms.

"Who are we running from?"

"Lee?!"