Chapter 80 - All Smiles

Xavier took a bite. 

'There,' he thought to himself, hoping for the best, and that news wouldn't spread around the pack like wildfire. 

Adrian would tease the life out of him! 

There wouldn't be a day that passed by without Adrian reminding him of what he happened to have walked into or heard from someone else.

Perhaps he'd wallow in the fact that he didn't get to see it for himself if it wasn't him that witnessed it. 

But he'd be all smiles all around. 

Whilst Xavier admitted it was nice seeing Adrian smiling after what had happened with… her. 

Oh yes, he knew about her alright. 

He had simply kept quiet about it since Adrian wasn't the type that wanted reassuring. All he wanted was someone to stay by his side through all his rough patches, and clearly that proved to be true as centuries later, he and Xavier were still friends. 

After everything Adrian had done for him, it was only fair he had done the same when his friend had lost the woman he loved. Except, Adrian didn't really need anyone so much as he needed space.

When he was hurting, all Xavier could do was pat his shoulder at most.

Talk to him? Xavier wouldn't have known the right words to say.

Actually, he still didn't know what to say about it even centuries later.

When it came to feelings and emotions, he had always struggled understanding his own, what more someone else's. 

He didn't know a single thing when it came to that.

It was why he made a better alpha than he did a friend, although many would argue that he made an amazing friend as well. 

It all depended on everyone's viewpoints. 

Nevertheless, that wasn't what one should be focusing on at the present moment.

Where was it that we last left off? 

Right, Madeline was just about to feed Xavier, and he was stressing and fretting about what ifs. 

'What if someone walks in?' 

'What if they see us like this?'

'Why am I thinking about all this anyway?' 

Madeline fiddled with the buttons of her dress. 

Xavier momentarily wondered what was going on inside her head. 

"Do you have any family?" Madeline questioned.

She had expected silence as a reply, but instead, Xavier nodded. 

"I do."

Madeline refrained from asking as to whether they were alive or… 

"They're all dead," he said. 

Madeline opened and closed her mouth. 

What was someone supposed to say to that?

Were they supposed to offer him condolences?

Was he pleased they were no longer here or was he hiding the grief and sorrow he felt? 

"I'm sorry to hear that," Madeline said to him, wondering what else to say. 

As a reply, he told her that they had all died of old age. 

But… did they really? 

'I should change the subject,' Madeline said before she shook her head.

'What if he wants someone to talk about it with? Wouldn't changing the subject be cruel and heartless?'

By no means was she trying to be cruel and heartless, or rude in any way. 

"It's alright. I was never close to them in the first place," Xavier spoke, his voice sounding robotic and unnatural. 

Madeline couldn't help but notice the abrupt change of tone. She didn't mind it, fathoming that family was a sensitive matter to some, her included. 

She never really had proper parents in her life, and she was an only child.

And from her current knowledge, she didn't have any siblings. 

'Imagine if I were to have siblings,' Madeline thought to herself.

She had always wanted siblings but now was too late. 

And besides, as far as she was concerned, Emilio had only one child - her. 

This wasn't a soap opera or a tv show or anything of the sort.

A stranger wouldn't mysteriously show up out of nowhere and claim to be her sibling and demand a paternity test to prove it, only for them to actually be the main character's sibling.

That stuff only happened in movies.

…right?

Nevertheless, Madeline decided to change the topic of conversation to something else. 

Something less… sensitive.

"So, how's work?" 

Xavier seemingly went along with it.

"So so."

"We're holding a hunt tomorrow, so there's that."

"A hunt?" Madeline asked.

"Sounds interesting."

Xavier didn't know how to break it to her that a hunt included feasting on the dead remains of whatever prey they lay their eyes on. 

How it worked was, the female and male alpha got to eat first.

However, since Madeline was unequipped to join in on the hunt, Xavier would lead it on his lonesome.

Of course, she wouldn't be totally alone whilst he and the pack hunted for prey. She'd have Briar by her side to protect her. 

[Author's Note: The Eudorian pack consists of about 40 members.]

Madeline wondered if Briar was alright with skipping the hunt. Would she be upset? Enraged? 

She hoped not. 

The funny thing was… Madeline didn't know this, but Briar was more than pleased to be able to miss the hunt. 

It wasn't that she enjoyed hunting… it was simply that she despised the killing part of any hunt. Seeing the hunted die Briar hated watching. 

The fact that she got to skip this one hunt meant that she could spend time with her friend, protect her at all costs, and skip out on it. It was a win-win. 

Meanwhile, Indiana wasn't too pleased with having to sit the hunt out this time. 

She loved hunting. It was the very thing that got her adrenaline pumping. The thing that breathed life into her very being. 

Being unable to join the others for the hunt struck her where it hurt. She was forced to sit this one out. Comparing her absence during the hunt to her demotion made her demotion seem like nothing. 

Indiana had hoped the alpha would have a change of mind, but knowing Alpha Xavier, he wouldn't change his mind once it was made up. That simply wasn't who he was. 

He was the type of person to stick with his decision. 

It was a rarity for him to change his decision, and that was something that served him well over the past. 

Xavier was heavily relied on to keep the peace within the pack and to deal with handing out punishments, as well as console his pack as a sort of consoler-in-chief. 

It was heaven compared to Emilio's former treatment towards the pack. 

A pack was supposed to be a family of wolves. 

When Eudora was in Emilio's hands, there were practically no one left other than the few werewolves that continued supporting him even though they knew the type of person he was. 

They knew he had wronged so many innocent lives, and they still kept supporting him despite knowing they too could lose their lives whilst doing so. 

Xavier thought them crazy, and he had all the right to do so. 

Oh yes, he was Emilio's beta. But as one said before, he had only done it to obtain more influence and protect those that truly needed it from Emilio's side. 

Even if it didn't do much, it did something. 

After all, had he not been a beta he would've never been able to face Emilio off in a duel.

Some of the things Emilio taught him ended up proving to be extremely useful, as he used those very things against him. 

It was a part of Xavier's plan all along. To get on Emilio's good side, learn more and more about him to eventually use it against him once he seized the right opportunity which was when he challenged Emilio to a duel when the ex-alpha least expected it. 

Did Madeline know of what he'd done to her father? No.

Did Xavier intend to tell her anything that happened in the past? The answer was a probable no. 

Did Xavier feel guilty over what he'd done? 

The truth? No. He wasn't guilty at all for what he had done for Eudora. 

Eudora would've crumbled. It would have no longer existed if someone hadn't stepped up to the plate to do something about Emilio. 

He was a monster that kept on destroying. 

Xavier didn't regard himself as some hero. No, he did not.

But, he felt responsible for whatever was happening to Eudora so he did something about it. 

Emilio hadn't only killed many, he'd slowly tortured them, starved them, made them watch their family die before killing them himself. 

Whatever Madeline decided to do with Emilio was up to her completely, but he'd keep an eye on him. 

Eventually, Emilio would get what was coming from him.

If not from him himself, then someone else. 

Emilio had made himself a long list of enemies in the past. 

Be it the families of those he murdered, or the people who had witnessed his despicable self in action, there was no telling everyone who hated Emilio. 

The list would go on and on, it'd be endless. 

Now… What if other forces were to discover that the tyrant ex-alpha had a daughter?