When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 203

Alpha Emm

Mom cuters the office as I say that. She’s the next to stare at me Silver is at her back, and the way he looks at me tells me be told her about the files I found

I pull out the drawer and lay it against the table.

Mom grabs it at once.

“What is this language?” Mom flips through the pages. “When did Kael do this?” She slams her hand on the table. Get a translator! Someone who will translate this barbaric language for me!”

“I’ve tried-

“The next heir of the Black Covenant Pack will take his Luna from ours.” Demetra’s eyes find that part…the only part I was able to read. She looks at me again. “Is that what he meant by promise? What did they give your father?”

“I don’t know But I promise, I’ll find them.”

Demetra walks out of my face before I can say anything more.

I push my fingers into my head.

The Zetas enter my office. I expect to hear they tracked Teddy’s phone and have found her location but it’s negative

“The signal is scrambled, Alpha. They’re using something to block it.”

“Put Slade on the phone and let him know what has happened.”

Someone leaves to go do it. I’m not sure who. My mind is cramped up. If we do not find a damn lead in the next hour before they call back, I have to say yes to whatever the Barbarian Wolves want!

“I don’t remember when your father did this.” Mom is still staring at the file. “What could he have gotten from them-

“Alpha!” Wren bursts through the door breathlessly with a tablet.

“I beg you, in the name of-

“I’ve been trying to find anyone who can translate barbarian pack language, and I just realized and right now, Laura Hale has a degree in it. She taught a linguistics module at Wolf Arts and one of the languages she chose to specialize in was barbarian wolf dialect. She’s fluent.”

“I'll get her here.” Silver moves toward the door.

“No. Silver, I need you.” I look at Jupiter. “Jupiter, go. Bring her. Now.”

Mom slams the table again!

“There’s nothing you can do, Emris. You have no plan. We cannot construct a plan in the next hour to save your sister. Agree to whatever they want, let them bring her home, and we restructure after.”

I press my teeth into my lip and my wolf hesitates against the very idea of surrender.

We sulllure Hook at my phone. “Forty minutes

“That’s if Laura can get here in

“She’s in the pack already!”

Jupiter runs back into the office and Laura is right behind him.

She doesn’t look surprised to be here.

I pick up the file and hold it out to her. “Can you translate this?”

She stares into my eyes first before collecting the file from me. Her brows furrow as she looks air. Then she looks at me again.

“This is from the Barbarian Pack. It’s Barbarian Wolf Language.”

“Please, can you help us translate it!?” Mom cries out.

“I need a pen. And a few minutes.” Laura says, and Wren hands her the one she’d been holding. Laura takes note of Wren’s presence with mild surprise but doesn’t have time to dwell on it, already bending over the table to rewrite the barbarian script into something legible against the original sheet.

I fold my hands and wait.

“Where’s Demetra?”

“I’ll find her and explain.” Silver moves out of the room as fast as he can.

A few minutes pass for Silver to returns with Demetra at his side/ We only manage to glance at each other once before Laura lifts herself off the table.

“There. That’s what it says.”

I put all five fingers flat on the page to read it myself.

“The Barbarian Pack provided gamma support to Alpha Kael in his contest against Jacob Covenant. This support consisted of no less than eight thousand gammas who were deployed to secure Alpha Kael’s claim to the Alpha seat.

For the payment of our support, the next heir of the Black Covenant Pack will take a Luna from the Barbarias pack. Failure to honor this will result in the barbarian pack arriving in numbers to remove the current Alpha, break his Luna, merge our

Γ wolves with the pack, and take it for our own.

“They want you to take a Luna from their pack?” Wren says, reading over my shoulder.

“Demetra is Emris’s Luna! That cannot happen anymore.” Mom says.

“The barbarian wolves operate on the principle of one Alpha having multiple Lunas.” Laura says.

Γ wolves with the pack, and take it for our own.

“The barbarian wolves operate on the principle of one Alpha having multiple Lunas.” Laura says.

“That’s not even a real bond.” Demetra whispers it, clearly trying to absorb what she’s hearing.

“What Laura mean is,” Wren says gently to her, “it doesn’t matter to them as long as Emris takes a female from their pack. The number isn’t the issue. The bloodline mixing is the requirement.”

The moment Demetra hears that I watch the color leave her face. It looks like in just those few minutes where she left, she went to ball her eyes. Now I can see her heart crack in front of me all over again. I cannot even get my hand around her

*ght now and premise her I have this under control.

“We don’t have time. If he calls back you need to be ready with an answer

“I think I can help here.” I

says and we all turn to look at her

“How.”

“My mother is from the barbarian pack. She was the daughter of the previous Alpha. The current Alpha Radius.”

“You’re…you’re half barbarian wolf!?” Wren says.

I leave where I’m standing to face Laura directly. Demetra is right behind her.

“Is someone in trouble?”

“My sister was taken, are you aware they’ve been migrating?” I ask.

“Yes”

“Did you know they were coming for our pack!?” Mom growls.

“Of course not-”

“Why are they doing that to them?” Demetra asks and Laura turns to actually listen. “Teddy did nothing to them. My cousin is lying unconscious! They kidnapped them and are HURTING them.”

My mate’s face is red to a fault, and I’m half a step from going to her because the way she’s holding her own arms tells she’s believes something horrible has happened to Eden-

I’ve genuinely never seen her like this before.

“If I can speak to my uncle, Radius… I can ask him directly what’s going on.” Laura looks past me at the translated document on the table. “Maybe it’s connected to that, I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to my uncle in years. As you know my father is Alpha of Cresthill, that’s where I grew up. My mother’s side of the family is something I was kept distant from on purpose.”

“Please. Laura, help us.” I say as it’s my only hope and time is running out.