90: A DOWNPOUR

A DOWNPOUR

Once Iris returned to her bedroom, the first thing that she did was take a bath. This room had a huge bathroom and when Hanna finished filling the wooden bathtub with warm water, Iris happily proceeded to take a dip in it. She breathed in relief when the warmth engulfed her.

This wooden bathtub was big enough for three people.

Hanna wanted to help her, but she turned her offer down, because she needed to be alone. There was something that was bothering her.

Iris read the documents from the Andelus continent and from what she read, she could tell that the Howling Wolf pack had started exchanging magic stones for rations. It was understandable, knowing how dire the situation in this pack was.

If this pack didn't want to be so dependent on the Blue Moon pack, they needed to find a way to meet their necessities and right now, magic stones were the only valuable commodity that they could rely on.

Winter would come and if they couldn't acquire enough rations, they would face great trouble during the harsh winter.

However, the people in the Howling Wolf pack had to return to their pack because this place would be so vacant and it wouldn't be able to defend themselves if there was a monster attack, which happened so frequently during winter.

If they didn't return, this place would be destroyed and all the people that moved here first after regaining their freedom would be killed, not to mention all the progress that Cane had made to make this place as livable as possible would go to the drain.

However, it seemed the merchants from the Andelus continent knew their plight and wanted to use it to their benefit, because they were bargaining for way cheaper exchange than the market price.

Cane just became an alpha for less than six months, thus his connections were not so great and he needed to build some. In that case, he didn't have many options, especially when their time was limited.

The Andelus continent was the place where magic was born and they were in a great need of magic stones, which could only be acquired from this Ogregon continent, in other words, there were only two magic stone mines in this realm.

No wonder the king salivated so much upon the thought of devouring both the Howling Wolf pack and the Blue Moon pack. He wanted the two packs under his control so badly.

When Iris was in deep thought, she caught a glimpse of someone entering the bathroom and because there was mist from the warm bath, which obscured her sight, she didn't realize it until the person came closer.

"Argh!" Iris shrieked when she saw Cane there, walking closer to her with only a towel hanging loosely around his waist. She immediately dived into the water, only raising her head until her eyes were just above the water surface to see the alpha's expression, who was as surprised as her.

"I didn't know you were here," Cane finally spoke after he collected himself.

"H- how can you come here?" Iris thought it was Hanna, who entered the bathroom, since she was in her room. But who would have thought that it would be the alpha? Did Hanna let him in?

Cane frowned slightly, but then he shook his head. "You must not have realized that this bathroom is also connected to my room."

"Ah!" Iris remembered that she saw another door inside this bathroom earlier. But at that time, she didn't pay any mind to it, because she really wanted to get rid of the dirt that felt like it had turned into her second skin.

So, that was the door to Cane's bedroom?

"I will return an hour from now," Cane said, as he turned around. He didn't see anything because she was hiding under the water, but still, her face was so red, though they had been intimate before.

"Wait!" Iris said urgently, but then when Cane turned around again and gave her a questioning look, she wanted to kick herself for meddling in his business. However, if drought befell on this pack, she would be in misery too, right?

"What is it?"

He was as cold as ever.

"I read the documents," she stated, but immediately felt so stupid, because how could she translate something if she didn't read it.

However, Cane said nothing and waited until she spoke again.

"There is this place near the Moon Dew pack, where the merchants usually trade their commodities." Iris then continued when she saw Cane's expression didn't change. "I think you can get enough food for winter."

"What place is that?" Cane looked interested in this new information. Ten years of slavery left him in the dark about how the world worked, but it was never too late to learn.

"A black market."

Cane knitted his brows, he had heard about this place before, but he never thought to go there. It was the place where the most vicious and the most cunning merchants would gather. It was a dirty transactional place.

On top of that, there was another thing that didn't settle well with him.

"How do you know about such a place?"

"I heard Mason talk about it a few times. He would be tasked to go there by father to buy crops around this time every year."

Knowing Mason, it was highly likely for him to blabber unnecessary things.

He would flaunt his freedom in front of Iris at every chance that he got, laughing at her face about the fact that she couldn't even leave the pack, since she was a scourge in the family.

Instead of selling the magic stones way below the market price, it would be wise to spend the money to buy the necessities from the black market.

However, to go there, there was another risk and consequence that Cane had to think of.

"Not everyone could enter the black market," Cane stated in a matter of fact tone. If it was only this, he knew.

"Mason always went there with Redmond. I believe he knows something about how to get there." Iris felt a little bit weird to have a conversation like this with Cane, while she was naked and the alpha had less clothes on him.

On the other hand, Cane couldn't care less about their condition or situation right now, his mind raced, he weighed the pros and cons of her idea.

But in the end, he only gave her a vague answer. "I will think about it."

And after saying that, he walked out of the bathroom, letting her finish with her bath.

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"What do you mean by the black market?" Jace frowned. "We don't need to go there, we can endure this just for this one time. Let them buy below the market place. As long as we can go through this winter, we will have another nine months to think about a solution."

Cane was deep in thought.

"Your father will not be happy to know that you went to the black market, that place is felonious. Not only selling rations, but they do many illegal things, including human trafficking," Ethan added.

The three of them gathered in Cane's study to discuss the idea that Iris proposed.

"Your father…" Ethan tried to speak again, but then Cane cut him off icily.

"He is dead."

The alpha's curt answer was enough to let them know that he didn't want to bring his father into this discussion and just wanted to focus on the matter at hand.

His father was a righteous man, he would never do such a thing, but he was dead now and the problem that they were facing right now didn't concern the dead.

"When will we see the merchants again?" Cane asked Jace, who was taking care of this matter.

"Two days from now, they said they will bring the produce and are demanding us to bring the magic stones."

There were fifty magic stones in their possession, this number was the same as a year of mining, but because of lack of information and limited time, they couldn't find the right buyer, after all, they were new to this whole thing and were still trying to find their footing.

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Iris woke up with a start when she dreamed of the five swords in that huge hall again. She was about to touch one of them when she woke up and found herself in the bed.

She looked around her because she felt unfamiliar with this environment, but then she remembered where she was right now. She rubbed her face and got off the bed, she was hungry. She skipped her dinner last night because she was too tired and fell asleep instead.

After she washed her face and changed her dress, she went outside. Last night Hanna had told her about the location of the dining hall in this pack house.

Usually, the dining hall would have a few long tables that could be occupied by hundreds of people, where they would sit and eat together.

Iris immediately went there, but halfway there, she met with Ethan. He looked so fresh and it seemed the desolated state of this pack didn't bother him so much, he was happy to return to their homeland.

"Good morning, Iris!" he greeted her cheerfully.

"Good morning," Iris replied timidly, because she wasn't used to him treating her so kindly like right now. Before people's perspective of her changed, he used to ignore or give her a curt word at most, thus to see him like this was a little bit odd.2

Scratching his head, Ethan chirped. "It is a good day!"

Iris glanced at the rain outside and the gloomy sky, full of thunder. "But, it's a downpour."

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