C5 Mr. Advisor

Dylan’s POV

After school, I gather all the subordinates to meet me at the old secret place, a Chinese restaurant whose menu changes in accord with the season. The owner claimed that she has been to China and learnt cooking there, but no one knows whether she lies or not.

We teenagers hate meetings. Thus, as a leader you need to find certain tricks to call on your people while not boring them. The splendid food could be a compensation, attracting all members of my pack to be present.

This is what Zander taught me. He is my best friend and the advisor of our pack. Moon goddess blesse him with wisdom and handsome look, making girls in our pack be crazy about him. Nany, my little sister is the craziest among all.

She inherits mom’s impulsiveness and is everything but a patient person. But she spends much patience on chasing my dear Beta, which reminds me of another motto created by Zander— Love influence people’s rationality in a horrific way.

At the beginning, Nancy followed Zander like his shadow. It was unbelievable that Zander failed to notice her because all his attention has been drawn to the phone in his hand. Nancy didn’t give up so easily. Determination happens to be a good merit of our family.

It didn’t take Nancy a long time before she found another way. She came to Zander after class from time to time, asking him to help her with homework, mathematic questions, to be specific.

I had expected Zander would be my brother-in-law within a week but Zander was such a nerd. He only considered Nancy as a competitor who wanted to defeat him in examination and gladly accepted her challenge. He taught Nancy every trick to calculate numbers and still got a score that was far beyond her reach. I called Zander’s behavior stupid while Nancy considered it an action revealing fairness, sportsmanship, as well as gentleness.

Anyway, Nancy is blinded by love and I know she won’t give up unless Zander formally reject her when they both turn 18. I don’t know what Nancy’s next move is. But I am quite looking forward to seeing the show. It will be hilarious.

“Hullo, Mr. Darcy and his mysterious friends.” The owner of the restaurant greeted us and offered me the menu, “What do you want for dinner?”

“The usual ones.” I smiled at the lady.

“Won’t you try something new?”

Before I can say anything, Nancy eagerly snatches the menu from my hand. “Pass it over to me!”

“You’ve already taken it from your brother.” Says Zander. I don’t know how he managed to notice that without taking his eyes off his phone.

“All right.” Nancy blinks and murmurs to herself, “guess you are right.

She starts to leaf through the menu, at a speed as slow as a snail. Several seconds later she claps the menu and returns it to the owner, claiming that she wants to try all new arrivals.

“Great.” The owner beams at her and goes back to the kitchen.

“What? Why do you look me like that?”

“We’d better not squander money like this if we still want to carry out the plan. The funds are enough yet limited.” Zander sighs, putting the phone into his pocket. A hint that he is going to join the discussion.

“Speaking of plan, you need to be more careful around that human girl.” Nancy suddenly looks in my direction, “I don’t like her at all. ”

“What human girl?” Zander asks curiously. It seems that the human girl we talking about arises his interest.

“No bother. I will take care of this myself.” I feel reluctant to share the information with Zander, which is rare. And I don’t know where this reluctance comes from.

Zander and Nancy exchange a look and he does not let the topic go.

“I happened to meet a human girl who I have never seen before. She must be a transfer student.” Zander smiles, “I am not sure if we are talking about the same person.”

“Does she have fair skin, long black hair, emerald eyes and a pedant dangling on her neck?”

“Holy moongodess, since when did you have such good memory?” Nancy exclaims incredibly.

She has a point. I shrug as I don’t have the answer either.

“That’s her.” Zander breaths and his face lit up as a candle in the dark room, “she is my deskmate.”

“Bullshit. She is MY deskmate.” It is difficult to hold back the urge to argue.

“Language!” Nancy sends me a glare as if she were a lady who never swears. How hypocritical my sister is. She is anything but a lady.

“The human girl was sitting next to me during the science class.”

“Well, that make sense. She and I are deskmates in the drama class.”

“Very dramatic coincidence indeed.” Nancy snickers and I feel so relieved when the waitress serves the meal in time and Nancy’s attention is immediately diverted to the roasted duck.

“Why do you hold grudge against her? She seems nice to me. At least she did not jump on me at the first sight.” Zander trails off and Nancy blushes beside him.

All right. I can imagine what happened when my dear little sister first encounter Zander.

“She may jump on you if she were a wolf.”

Zander shudders and defends the girl. “Innocent until proven guilty.”

“That’s human law.” Nancy is not happy about Zander’s defense.

“That’s a smart law.” Zander retorts and then Nancy continues to eat silently. She does not agree with him, of course. You can tell that from the storm in her eyes. She just can’t find a way to win the debate.

“You haven’t answered my question. What happened between you and the girl?” Zander asks me as he picks up the chopsticks. I consider his choice of tableware a kind of showoff while Nancy believes that this is a merit of forever-learning-new-things.

“I doubt she is my mate.”

“You what?!” Zander is shocked and Nancy spits out her water.

After a long silence, Zander offers Nancy a tissue to wipe the spilled water and says, “That’s delusion. Did you forget to drink the depressant?”

“I drink it every month.” I make a grimace. That liquid tastes bitter and we all loathe it. But it is the only method for us to hide ourselves among human beings.

“Then how does it possible for you to recognize your mate? Your mind link shall be blocked and you would not be able to smell her scent.” Zander furrows his brow and sends Nancy a glance, “Stop eating!”

“Do you check the expiration date? I mean, if you drink the depressant—”

“The depressant is not expired. My father brew it last spring and the effect will last more than 10 years.”Zander rubs his temple and looks confused, “Why do you assume the human girl is your mate? Did she awake your wolf?”

“No. I can assure you that Mr. Black is sleeping. Sometimes I can hear him snores.”

“That’s cute.” Nancy giggles and I roll my eyes.

Zander manages to hold back his smile and remains calmness in his tone. “Did she let you feel connected?”

“She did pinch me on the arm but no. I didn’t feel connected to her.”

“And I suppose you didn’t smell her scent either?”

“Her hair smells like mint but I don’t think it is related to the scent of mate.”

“Then how could you tell she is your mate?” Zander raises his left eyebrow.

“Because she is wearing a pedant which happens to be my fiancé’s ring.”

“The fiancé who abandoned you? I didn’t know you had given a ring to her.” Zander is shocked.

“The ring is actually a stone my brother picked on the beach.” Nancy snorts, “He used it to ask for a girl’s hand and the girl agreed. My sister-in-law must be kind enough to accept his proposal. I will never say yes to a man who uses a stone as a ring to ask for my hand.”

“What if the man is Zander?” I tease.

“Shut up!” Nancy leans ahead and smacks me on the arm. She accidentally knocks down a porcelain vase. The water is spilling and the petals are off the steam and scatters on the table. She huffs and leaves the table to fetch a rag.

“What are you gonna do?” Zander asks.

“Test whether she is my mate or not. If the result is positive, it will be happy reunion. If not, well, I will make this thief suffer.”

“Be more specific, please.”

“You sound like Mrs. Woolf.”

“I like her writing course.” Zander smiles.

“Anyway, I will chase this girl and earn her trust. Then I will ask her about the necklace. I am sure she will tell me everything until then.”

“I had thought you would use a more direct way.” Zander looks amused, “Why didn’t you threaten her? “

“Trust me, threatening does not work this time. She is not afraid of me.”

“What a brave soul.” Zander smiles, “You may not be able to win her heart by yourself. I will help you if you ask.”

“Absolutely not. Thank you very much. You know nothing about chasing girls, you will make the whole thing more difficult!”

“If that’s what you say.” Zander lowers his head as if he were showing respect. But I know he is just trying to hold back the laughter.

“Would you please just stay out of this?” I nearly beg him, “You should be loyal to your alpha.”

“All right.” Zander nods and says, “I will not interfere with this. But I do have some good news to tell you.”

“I’m hearing.”

“The girl has a sharp observation. She sensed something and is eager to know who we are and what we are doing,”

I break in, “How could this be good news?!”

“Hear me out. She asked me if I know something and I didn’t answer. I claimed that I didn’t have the right to leak any information and only you have the right to decide whether she can know about us.” Zander pauses for a while and adds, “That is to say, you have the leverage.”

“The leverage?”

“To negotiate with her, you idiot. One date for a piece of information. It won’t take you long to make her fall in love with you.”

“That’s a marvelous plan.” I can’t help but stare at Zander, “You are the best advisor in the pack.”

He smiles and mutters, “I am the best in the world.”