The garden was mostly quiet. Wind moved through the hedges and set a cold ripple over the grass. Leaves scratched along the stone path. The air smelled like wet earth and cut stems. A low sky pressed down the colors until everything looked grey-blue.
Sophia stood by the iron bench, white sleeves pulled down over her wrists. The breeze kept lifting her hair; she kept tucking it behind one ear. Tyler faced her with his head slightly bowed, shoulders tight, hands opening and closing like he needed somewhere to put them. His breath showed in the chill.
She talked without drama, like reading a memory straight off a page. When I was ten, Redwill was already the shield everyone leaned on, he was four years older than me, but stronger and fierce also always determined . He climbed fast pack lead, then gamma when the old ones stepped aside. After him came Matins, Jason, Tengen. My parents liked the way he carried himself. Thought he was the right kind of strong. They wanted him for me, my dad and grandad always felt he was the right kind of alpha and I was to be his luna. Keep the line steady.
Her voice didn't crack, but it thinned on that last part. Tyler's jaw worked. He didn't look up.
"Why do you want to know?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said. Too fast. He swallowed and looked past her at the pond, at the faint ring of ripples there. His fists tightened again. The knuckles went pale.
She studied him for a beat, the corner of her mouth lifting like she knew he was lying. He finally met her eyes. "You don't want this," he said. "You don't look happy."
Sophia turned a little, letting the breeze hit her face. "It isn't about want," she said. "I'm expected to marry the strongest wolf. That's the way our history is built." No anger in it. Just a flat truth she'd learned to carry.
"I get it," he said, voice low. He didn't. Or maybe he did and hated that he did. The words sat heavy. Something burned under his ribs. Redwill's name moved through his head like a blade clean, cold. He remembered the look Redwill gave him in the forest: you're in my lane. Back then he'd brushed it off. Now it made ugly sense. He had let himself get close. Closer than he planned. Closer to sophia.
The wind picked up. A few petals shook loose from the late blooms and flew across the path. Somewhere down the walk, a chime knocked softly against metal.
"Tyler," she said, softer now. He looked at her. Her eyes weren't hard anymore. They had that careful light she saved for moments when she wasn't sure how he'd step.
She took a half-step closer, hands loose at her sides. "Would you like to go out for a drink?" she asked, a small, almost nervous smile on her mouth as if the offer itself was a kind of truce, or a way to breathe for a minute without the weight of titles or lineages.
The restaurant was warm and softly lit, the golden glow from overhead lanterns spilling across polished wooden tables. Low chatter from other diners mingled with the faint notes of a piano playing somewhere in the background. The scent of freshly baked bread and roasted herbs lingered in the air, a welcome contrast to the cool breeze they had left behind outside.
Tyler and Sophia sat at a table near the window, where the night beyond was a shadowy blur. The waiter approached with quiet efficiency, setting down their drinks glasses catching the amber light.
"I'm really glad you agreed to come with me," Sophia said, her smile warm, her voice carrying a note of relief.
Tyler grinned faintly, his gaze steady. "Yes… I am too."
"Mr. Jack wants to meet us tomorrow," she added, her tone shifting to something more serious. "Important."
"What exactly does he want to say?" Tyler asked, leaning slightly forward.
"I don't know," Sophia replied, taking a slow sip of her drink. "Jasper said he's been having visions lately."
"He said the same thing to me," Tyler admitted. "Men in black and red cloaks, preparing spells… using strange words. And… nightmares, more often now. Bella's been keeping watch over him, but she says we might have to tell the council soon."
"I really hope he's fine." Sophia's eyes darkened with concern. "I don't know why these visions are coming to him now, but… I think it's tied to the fight we're all caught in." She glanced at him, searching his face. "You… you haven't been able to enter the One Mind Wolf recently, have you?"
"No," Tyler said quietly. "I don't know why. Sometimes… I blame myself for Tengen's death. If I could've entered it, maybe…" He trailed off, his voice low.
Sophia's hand reached across the table, warm and firm over his. "It's not your fault. It'll come back to you. Trust me." She offered a reassuring smile.
Tyler nodded, but slowly pulled his hand away. "I want you all to enter the One Mind Wolf too," he said. "It would please me a lot, the vampires we are encountering are more stronger than I had thought, he remembered redwill, Jason and Matins coming to save them at the forest with the three vampires, redwill was right, he couldn't save himself, how on earth did he intend on saving the pack he thought."
Chucks and Desmond pack fought a vampire while on patrol yesterday, Emily and Marcel were badly injured, the vampire escaped before Desmond could land a blow on him, chucks told him he would go searching for him tonight even though his not on patrol, I tried calming him down but he insisted, I know chucks once he insists on doing something he does it, Sophia sighed am worried about him, he might do something stupid and get hurt or worse killed. I told him am coming too but he wouldn't agree, he wants to go alone.
"Am coming too", Tyler said I can't bear the leader of our pack going alone while am here, chucks is one of us, and whatever the reason he thinks he can do this alone is nuts, if the vampire really laid massive blows to their pack it means it is something more dangerous than we could imagine, probably like the ones we faced recently.
Sophia grinned, yes and am glad your coming too, three wolves would do she said.
Tyler nodded, tonight he had to fight the vampire with chucks and Sophia, he sure hoped two things the vampire isn't a chief council member and redwill doesn't shows up, gosh the dude gives him the creeps. He gritted his teeth.