[GRANT]
"Follow Delbert, report to me where he goes, and whatever he does for as long as he is still within Acrod," Grant ordered his warriors, who looked at him like he had gone bonkers. Maybe he needed to get some sleep and get over this bullshit, no?
They had seen the Acrod junior warrior step out of their enforcer's office, but clearly, there seemed to be blank spaces. But then it wasn't like they had woken up with the thought that Delbert would be quitting on them.
"Grant?" Ferhat asked curiously.
He wasn't sure he had heard the man well. They couldn't catch Delbert even if they got to him. Besides, triggering the Lycan wasn't exactly what they needed right now. It was a terrible, terrible idea, and Ferhat understood it a little too well.
Clearly, there was a misunderstanding, but was it really, when Ferhat was not even sure what the man was on about?
"What the hell is going on?" Ferhat asked, and Grant sighed.
He seemed so angry and worried about everything that was happening right here. It was almost like he wasn't ready to lose Delbert, yet at the same time, he needed to show that he was a good friend.
"He left out of the blue, talking about the ruby wolf. No one has heard of the damned ruby wolf in almost three years and suddenly the bastard comes after my best friend and confidant?
"All of this doesn't make any sense, and I need to know what has prompted Delbert to leave. He isn't the kind of man who could just up and leave like that. Besides, he knows way too much about Acrod and me.
"It's not like him to be asking for a permanent leave from duty just like that. And you know the worst part? He is leaving with his family. It is almost like he doesn't want to have a part of his family in Acord, yet he talks of how he will come back someday.
"Do you even believe that?" Grant asked.
He was very stressed about letting Delbert go, and it was interesting, to say the least.
Ferhat himself had been shocked when Delbert had given him and the other Lycans in the kingdom the news. It seemed like the worst possible ending to a story they had begun in Acord hundreds of years ago, but they all knew that the mission had changed.
It was no longer about protecting the identity of the eldest Merdel Lycan from Udrad's king, Edison Stitt, but about the mate bond that was so sacred, the realm had finally managed a loophole to let the Merdel twins get their mates.
It was almost an impossibility that they all had to lean into, and right now, Ferhat wondered what the next stages of the plan would be. Leaving Acrod was wild as fuck, but Ferhat trusted Delbert. He knew the man would come up with a plan, or he already had one and was acting on it.
"You have never distrusted the man, and suddenly, when he asks for a break, you send everything you have, against and after him? Do you think he won't notice? Do you think he hasn't been around enough to know that you will follow him?
"If you do this, you will just be proving him right and reminding him that you don't trust him. The man has been with you for years on end. Maybe he lied about the Ruby wolf showing up, but he hasn't done anything in this kingdom that could warrant all this chaos.
"You will be making him choose between his family leaving and Acrod, and that is not something you want to pit the one man who knows you inside-out against. He could even team up with the ruby wolf and come after you out of spite.
"Is that something you want to deal with when you haven't even found the prince you are supposed to protect the throne for? This is too much even for you. Be smart, Grant and don't fuck this up for all of us. Let the man take his break and wait for him to come back.
"Don't be emotional or you will lose one of the best warriors on your side if ever the battle comes to Acrod and you need reinforcements," Ferhat said, and Grant sighed. He hadn't thought about it like that because he didn't have anyone to help him think.
All he had seen was just another person leaving him. If Delbert had chosen to stay in Acrod, Grant wouldn't have caused the ruckus, he would have been fine because his best friend was just a few houses away and in the same kingdom.
But Delbert was leaving him. He was going away and Grant didn't even have much control over that. If Delbert left, he would be left completely and utterly alone. He would be forced to try and trust others but that just didn't bode well with Grant.
Alanor had abandoned him and left for Greroth, only to show up to the mating festival with Unar Stitt as his Erasthai, and mate. It was the one thing that had haunted Grant. Perhaps that is why letting go of Delbert was seemingly a difficult thing for him to do.
"What if… what if he doesn't come back for me, Ferhat? What if he abandons me too? What if everything changes even worse after he leaves? What am I supposed to do without my best friend?
"What if the prince comes, and I don't know what the prince wants? What if I don't know who to trust now that he has left? What about me? Why does he have to leave, too? I thought I meant something to him," Grant rambled frustratedly.
Honestly, Ferhat understood him.
Grant was in denial about this whole situation and the fact that Delbert had sprung it up on him without so much preparation was fucking him up. Life wasn't supposed to be as complicated, and yet it seems like Grant was constantly being handed the rejection cards.
This was like the same day that Alanor had left and never looked back. Heartbreaks seemed to be following him everywhere, and it didn't seem fair to him. He had lost his first mate to Unar. He had lost his second mate to the fire in his home.
And now he was losing his best friend to a place that he couldn't even ask about because he was too scared of knowing. Delbert thinking of him as a friend reminded him that Delbert had wanted space.
Grant was truly heartbroken, and for a moment there, Ferhat wished him well.
It was almost like watching Delbert mourn his brother's absence years and years ago. Ferhat had had the hardest of days back with Delbert, and when Darius showed up, life had been a bit easier for him. Even that didn't make it any less challenging.
"Trust him, Grant. You need to trust him to come back. If you keep him hostage, he will hate you. Besides, didn't he tell you that he was just doing this for a family vacation, and he will come back when needed? Do you really want to fuck that up?" Ferhat asked.
This wasn't easy, and Grant hated every bit of it.
"I really hope he comes back even once to say hello," Grant said before turning to the battalion leaders he had summoned.
"Don't go after him. Let him be."