Chapter 221 - Whatever I Know

"You called for us"? Caleb asked as soon as he entered the office alongside his mate.

"Yes… I guess that's all" Christian looked at the room at each person one by one. From left to right, they stood in the order; Mr. Wrisberg, Sebastian, Caleb, Ashton, Melanie and Riley, who was right next to Christian as well.

"Wait you…" Caleb mumbled as soon as he saw Riley.

"Yes," Christian nodded. "Dad, Mel, he is Riley, the one who helped us escape." He introduced to the only people in the room unfamiliar with his face. "He has some information for us. We are getting attacked, that's for sure" he declared. The tension in the air finally reached everyone's face as the hint of apprehensions started to appear on everyone's faces. 

"So…" Riley began as he felt those unfamiliar eyes on him. He cleared his throat before he began to speak as if he was briefing. "The Ice Fountain pack is not so big. It has even less than 500 hundred, making us quite vulnerable. But… Miller, our Alpha, is aware of this fact as well." He took out a map from his pocket and laid it on the table. Everyone gathered around further staring at the map.

"So this is our pack." He pointed at a red dot on it. "These are four more packs nearby with which we have close contact. I think they are the ones Miller will approach" His fingers roamed above the green dots.

"This is Esmogene and Cannibite" He noted at the two closest green dots. "They are more or less the closest to each other given their geographical proximity" He sighed. "This is Lycannar, the one which is closest to us." He paused for a moment. "And this is the Red Moon. The biggest of all these packs. If we total everyone, this pack is almost fifty percent of it" 

"I know Red Moon" Mr. Wrisberg declared. "My father once fought alongside them when he was a new Alpha" He sighed. "We have connections to them, will they really attack us"? Mr. Wrisberg wondered out loud.

"I think it's still too early to rule out any possibilities." Christian mumbled. Mr Wrisberg nodded at his son and urged Riley to continue. 

"So… if we do a total headcount of the pack members together, it comes around to approximately 3000" Riley declared. 

"It's less than us." Christian mumbled. ".. but comparable".

"Wait a minute. A headcount is not right. Not everyone will fight. Usually it's the wolves trained for such purposes take the lead. And if it's an emergency, the wolves with basic training participate." Caleb reminded everyone, drawing their attention towards himself. "Now… if we exclude the ones who absolutely can't participate. Children below the age of.. seven, and the pregnant woman… it'll be lower" He shrugged.

"Yeah, but we have no way of knowing that," Christian reminded him.

"Usually, the average wolf population wise speaking, the untrained ones consist of approximately 10 percent. That's still a lot, for a total of 3000, I mean" Caleb shrugged.

"How do you know that"? Taken aback, Christian asked.

"Grandpa taught me. He had fought a lot of wars in his time. He taught me how to play with the numbers" Caleb shrugged.

"He is right… My Father knew all this stuff" Mr Wrisberg nodded. "He taught me too… but I guess I forgot." 

"Okay…" Christian looked back and forth from his father to his brother before declaring. "So that brings us to what, 2700? That's still a lot. We have around 5000 members who are well trained. They will be outnumbered, but it will definitely be a fight". He declared.

"Maybe we should alert the subdivisions of our packs, '' Caleb suggested.

"Can you take care of that"? Christian asked him. Caleb gave him an affirmative nod. "Speaking of which. The under-aged and the pregnant ones of our pack need protection. Given they will attack us, we need to move them to a safe place." Christian asked.

"My aunt's lakehouse"? Melanie suggested. Chrisitian tilted his head so as to let her speak further. "My aunt married a human and moved out of this pack. She lives across the town, it's like a two hour drive in a car" Melanie shrugged. "It's big enough… at least to accommodate them for a while. Plus, it's away from the pack.. So it's safe," she suggested.

"That seems about right," Christian smiled. "But, it is still risky. We would need someone to stay there, in case we need it" He asked.

"I'll go" For the very first time, Ashton spoke up. "I haven't exactly been in the pack so I lack coordination with others. But I am good at fighting" he mumbled. Mr Wrisberg didn't look too convinced but he didn't deny him either.

"I'll help him," Riley spoke. "Even if I don't have any coordination with them, I can help him."

"I appreciate your help, but you are not from this pack" Mr. Wrisberg declared. Everyone looked at him as his tone turned to a stern one. "As much as I appreciate your help I cannot fully trust you when you keep calling Ice Fountain 'our pack' and this… Miller, 'our Alpha'." Declared Mr. Wrisberg.

"I get that" He nodded.

"But Dad-" Christian was about to protest his dad shut him by raising his hand. 

"It's a war son" He declared. "We have to be careful"

"What if he becomes part of our pack"?  Caleb suggested. "That way you will know if he is loyal or not" He suggested.

Mr Wrisberg shifted his gaze to Riley who nodded at him. "Very well then. Let's do that". He looked at Ashton and said, "While we are at it, why don't you join us too? Or you keep on planning to be an outsider forever while being mated to my son".

Ashton blinked at Mr. Wrisberg. He couldn't believe it was the same Mr Wrisberg who slapped him a couple of days ago. Honestly he was expecting Mr Wrisberg to throw him out sooner or later. He had always been hostile to Ashton, and the fact he was just asked to be a part of this Cresentile Pack meant a great deal to him. More than he would like to admit.

"I will join," Ashton nodded. 

"Very well. Follow me" He instructed them.