6. Chapter 6 #2
Cyrus held the ball under his arm and sighed heavily. “I don’t need you to accept it, just…make an effort,” he said.
Gabe nodded. Cyrus tossed the ball back to him and then started to walk away. He had some things to do for the day anyway before returning to his nightly shift during the week.
Cyrus was clicking away on his laptop that was perched on his lap slightly haphazardly when Liliana came into his bedroom. Granted, the door had been wide open.
“Morning,” Lily sighed.
Cyrus looked up at her to see her brown hair in a state of disarray.
“It’s three in the afternoon,” Cyrus chuckled. “…did you forget to put your bonnet on before you went to bed?” he asked her.
Lily rolled her eyes.
“Mn, whatever,” she mumbled. “Yeah maybe.”
“You weren’t even drinking last night. How am I awake, showered, fed, and working before you?” he asked.
Lily sighed.
“I may have stayed up until four in the morning watching TV,” she admitted.
“Of course.” Cyrus shook his head and looked back down at his laptop.
Lily tiptoed over and sat on the edge of his bed.
“What are you working on?” she asked him.
“A write-up of the blood moon ritual and the initiation ritual for the council,” Cyrus told her.
Lily scooted further back on the bed.
“Ah, isn’t Gabe supposed to help with that?” she asked.
“It’s easier if I do it and show it to him,” Cyrus insisted.
Lily laughed.
Cyrus looked up at her and cocked a brow.
“If you had it your way, you’d be doing everything while everyone else looked at it.” Lily tilted her head to the side with a cocky grin.
“Not true,” Cyrus mumbled and continued going about his way, pushing his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Oh yeah, you’re right. You’d just be doing it and not letting anyone else look at it.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
Cyrus sighed and looked at her over the top of his glasses.
“If you’re not going to be of much help, perhaps you should go eat?” he told her.
Lily rolled her eyes.
“God, you’re bossy,” she mumbled and hopped off the bed. “What would you be like if you were Alpha?” she asked with a mock gasp and then shuffled quickly out of the room when he glared daggers at her.
Cyrus looked back down at his laptop and continued typing with a sigh. Ten minutes later, he carried his laptop with him as he looked around for Gabe.
He finally found him sitting in the library in a lounge chair, scrolling on his phone. A couple of others were in the room reading books while listening to music in their ear buds.
“Need you to read this before I send it to the council,” Cyrus said quietly. His voice was a low rough sound.
Gabe jerked slightly before looking up at Cyrus and sighing.
Cyrus didn’t apologize for startling him.
“What is it?” Cyrus asked.
“A write-up about the blood moon ritual, you challenging and beating Liam, and the initiation ritual going over smoothly,” Cyrus replied.
Gabe’s brow furrowed for a second as Cyrus placed his thin, lightweight laptop on Gabe’s lap.
“I didn’t even know that was a thing,” Gabe admitted.
“Not surprised,” Cyrus said bluntly. “Just read it so I can get it to them.”
Gabe sighed heavily as he clicked down in the document.
“Looks…fine to me, very…professional,” Gabe commented. “I’m surprised there are no mentions of not thinking I’m a good fit for the pack.”
“Yeah, well, feelings are supposed to be left out of it. It’s just to keep the council updated.
If I were to put that I didn’t think you were a good fit, they’d tell me to shove it up my ass if they replied at all.
They rarely care about complaints about themselves, much less Alpha’s of packs in districts they only hear from once a year,” Cyrus told him.
Gabe blinked. “That sucks.”
Cyrus pushed his lips together for a moment. “It’s life.”
Cyrus grabbed his laptop from Gabe’s lap.
“Alright, I’ll just get this sent over,” Cyrus mumbled and started to turn around.
“Wait,” Gabe said.
Cyrus turned back around to look at Gabe as he stood.
“You’re right. I don’t know as much about running a pack as I should have for someone who made a challenge to be Alpha,” Gabe admitted. “I knew about the ritual, the power, the initiation ritual because I’d watched one before, but…”
Cyrus eyed him. “Not surprised, but good on you for admitting it,” he replied.
“I could use your help,” Gabe told him. “Look, I didn’t challenge Liam just because I wanted to be Alpha. I came here beca—”
As Gabe was mid-sentence, Cyrus’s attention was grabbed by his phone buzzing wildly in his pocket. He pulled it out to see it was Xavier, knowing he wouldn’t usually call him unless it was important.
“I need to get this,” Cyrus insisted and answered, putting the phone to his ear and left the library while carrying his open laptop in the other hand.
“Cyrus, something’s happened,” Xavier said, panting on the other end of the phone, “I was…in the woods with Tiki and Martin, just roaming around for the afternoon on the day off, and—”
“Short-form Xavier,” Cyrus said quickly, hearing the panic in his voice. He quickly shut his laptop, knowing it would put itself to sleep.
“I split up with Tiki. When we came back, Martin was hurt. He said someone attacked him.”
Cyrus’s shoulders straightened. “Is he okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, we got him wrapped up, and he’ll heal,” Xavier explained. “But we’re freaked out, man.”
Cyrus licked his lips.
“Alright, all three of you come to the pack house,” Cyrus told him.
“I need to get home to check on Kristen, but Tiki can bring Martin there,” Xavier explained.
Cyrus sighed.
“Alright, whatever, just get him here,” Cyrus said.
When he hung up the phone, he looked over to see Gabe standing there.
“Someone was injured, Martin Young. He was attacked. If there’s a hunter out there, we need to know about it. They’re bringing him here,” Cyrus explained.
Gabe’s brow knit.
“I guess I need your help then.”