“Are you okay?” I asked, noticing the way he subtly favored his left side, the careful way he moved despite his attempts to appear uninjured.
“I’m fine.” His dismissive tone didn’t match the weariness in his eyes “Just a few scratches.”
“I always knew something was up with Thalia.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Kaius moved to his desk, settling into his chair with a barely disguised wince. “Is there any news about the pack I should be aware of?”
“Nothing new,” Frost replied, his voice still tight with frustration.
“Come on, Frost, I know-”
“You don’t know anything,” Frost cut him off, his ice–blue eyes flashing. “You’re keeping secrets, and I don’t appreciate it. As your beta, I’m here to support you. But keeping me in the dark, like with my mother and now this ‘master‘ plan? That’s not our way.”
A tense silence filled the room. Finally, Kaius nodded, acknowledging the truth in Frost’s words.
“I apologize.” The admission seemed to cost him something. “But I need to hear what Elowen has to say about this.”
1 blinked in surprise. “What do I have to say?”
“You know something; you kept it from me, so I am clearly not the only one keeping secrets. Would you mind spilling the beans?”
His directness caught me off guard. I’d thought my secret meetings with Thalia were just that–secret. But Kaius’s expression told me he knew more than he was letting on.
“Some nights ago, I saw something. I had been standing by the balcony when I spotted this figure in the dark and so I went-”
“You went to check out two unknown figures in the dark?” Frost interrupted, disbelief coloring his tone.
“I am fine, as you can see.” I gestured to myself, annoyed at his protective streak.
“Sorry,” he said, though his expression remained concerned. “Go on.”
I took a deep breath. “It was Thalia and Lysandra; I heard them talking about completing some task or something.”
“And you didn’t think about telling me that till now?” Kaius’s voice was carefully neutral.
“Did that hurt you, Alpha? I mean, we are all keeping secrets now,” Frost remarked, a challenge in his voice.
“Very funny, but it would have saved me a whole lot of time if I knew about it.” There was no real heat in Kaius’s response.
“She threatened my mother,” I explained, the memory of Thalia’s words still chilling. “She said if I told anyone, then she would kill her, and I know she wasn’t lying when she said she has a spy there.
