-HER-

"I don't trust him. I'll be going too," I declared, holding Ezekile's fiery glare. In response, he cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Say that again," He growled.

"I didn't know you were losing your hearing," I commented even though I knew that that wasn't the case. He could hear me pretty well. He was slightly taken back by my boldness. I continued, "Anyway, for your convenience I will repeat myself— I'll be going too,"

His eyes burned like the sun.

"I don't think you learned from your mistake," He talked back to me, "For your convenience, I'll repeat myself— women aren't allowed in any of my military camps," He gritted. I couldn't help but slightly feel hot because of the way he imitated me. I'd have smacked him right across his face if we weren't surrounded by so many people.

"I'd like to remind you that I'm the General of wolves. I can go where my men can go," I told him, holding his gaze adamantly.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, my words didn't seem to have any effect on him other than feeding his determination. The fire burned even stronger in his as he repeated, "Women are not allowed in my military camps and I've no plans of changing this rule anytime sooner or later," He stated with all his pride and obnoxiousness, reminding me again about what kind of fool I was really dealing with.

Again, he thought that he had control over this deal. He was forgetting that he was on the receiving end, he was at my mercy and if he really wished to get what he was asking for then he'd have to comply with my conditions— every single one of them.

I remained quiet for a moment and simply looked him dead in the eyes, waiting for him to utilize whatever sense was left in him. The silence grew louder and tenser. I could feel Markos getting slightly uncomfortable beside me due to our staring competition.

"Fine," I sighed very deeply and told him, "I will not go," I didn't miss how Ezekiel's eyes slightly widened at this. I could see the hint of victory in his eyes but it didn't last long because I was quick to add, "And so wouldn't my men," I shrugged before crossing my legs and leaning back in my chair while holding his heated gaze.

He simply glared at me with his jaw clenched. The fire in his eyes threatened to swallow everything like a wildfire and turn them into ashes but I wasn't scared anymore. There was no reason for me to be scared. I'd been molded in the furnace. I waited for him to speak while Markos grew slightly more anxious.

This was my first day as the General and to say that I was enjoying my job would have been an understatement. I was actually having a blast!

I could have never thought that I would see Ezekiel like this— at my mercy! Without my cooperation, he was literally doomed but he continued to glare at me. The tension in the air was crackling but I couldn't care less... or I tried to. My wolf was constantly pacing inside me but I ignore her as usual. I wasn't going to give in this time. I was the one in charge.

"Fine," He gritted, "You want to come to my military camps then be my guest but, don't hold me accountable for whatever happens there," He spoke very grimly. I thought I saw something cunning flash into his eyes but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "Remember my warning,"

Should I be careful?

"Alright then," I commented, glancing at Markos to see if there was something else we needed to discuss. He shook his head in silence.

"Then we're done for today. Thank you, next,"

~

The meetings stretched longer and I met other generals and emperors from other ally kingdoms but I had to give it to Ezekiel for being the most sexist and problematic person I had to deal with that day. The meeting with him took longer than necessary and it was draining. I was very tired by the day's end. I headed straight to my wing that night and crashed right into my bed and dozed off with Pax.

I had a long day but I knew that the next day would be longer because I'd have to start preparing to leave for Thastonia. I'd need to do a lot of planning and choose the wolves who'd be actually going. Then I also needed to plan how much work we would do there, research on the geography, weather, and Ezekiel's current military strength and, and... I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up very early the next morning and went to the training as usual. Markos was with me all the while. It felt odd not training with Ares, Regulus, and Augustus anymore. It was because our routines had been drastically changed now. I was now required to get up very, very early in the morning and get basic training out of the way before moving to the important and never-ending work which was, surprisingly mostly down indoors— in my office.

"This would be dangerous," I couldn't help but comment when I actually got to look into the eastern valleys of Thastonia. Previously, I had assumed that they would be something like the one we had in Zaeris but I was completely wrong.

Those eastern valleys in Thastonia, which were also called the frozen valleys could be easily declared to be the Valleys of death. The topography of that place and the weather combined together made a dangerous environment for not only lycans but any creature. It constantly snowed in that place and the steep mountains on either side would easily burry one with heavy avalanches.

The visibility was even poorer— only half a meter and it was constantly stormy there. Not only this, the place was said to be infested with snow demons who could easily grab you from your behind and drag you inside a very deep burrow from where you'll probably never find your way out. They'd then lay their legs in your skin and fest upon your flesh while you're still alive.

A very, very ideal situation, you know.

The more I found out about that place, the more convinced I was that places like should be left alone. No one should go there. It simply wasn't worth it. Out of my thousand wolves, I could easily bet that eight hundred would be dead within a week. I considered it several times. Should I be going there with them?

I mean, I could always pull out of this. That region fell under Ezekiel's kingdom so it was his headache. If somebody questioned me then I could always say that we simply weren't well equipped for something like that (which would be an absolute lie) and call it a day but I reminded myself again that I was dealing with Ezekiel this time.

Pulling out of this cooperation at a crucial time like this would go on to show him that I was giving up— which I wasn't! I was just trying to be saner but my own ego urged me to go with this idea and do it.

"Not only this, we are supposed to find the Dragonians who might be hiding there," Markos reminded me. I did my best to not wince. I was now seriously regretting this but I wasn't going to step back now. We were in this and I needed to find a way around it.

"It would be hard but not impossible," I commented adamantly, receiving a look from Markos which read 'are you serious?'.

"I'll be going with the Frost platoon while you will stay here and make sure that everything functions properly in my absence," I could see that Markos wasn't pleased with this but he obliged. He had to. There simply wasn't any other way around.

The next week was spent training and planning. I got busy. Very busy. I'd wake up before the sun would rise and work all day and go to bed only at midnight. Even though I was tired, I continued working.

I was very serious about this and there was no way I'd allow any sort of slip-ups. I was preparing for every situation that we could face there. I'd everything planned out to the T and finally, the day of our departure arrived. I was feeling slightly anxious even though I had thoroughly planned out every detail and everything seemed ready.

Maybe, I wasn't ready.

NO!

I was ready! I had prepared so much for this day. I was ready. I did my best to convince myself but my wolf kept pacing inside me. She was just excited to see Ezekiel. I was too but for different reasons.

We set out at dawn. I was in front of the convoy with Lua— who was going to act as my second in command in the absence of Markos. That she-wolf was another top warrior from Zaeris, specializing in slaying dragons. I couldn't think of someone more appropriate for the job that we were going to do.

By noon, we finally managed to reach Thastonia.

I was greeted by Ezekiel's second in command, Tryfon but Ezekiel was nowhere to be seen.

Well, it was good for me. I'd have one less idiot to deal with and the idiot in question was the biggest idiots of all. So, his absence was actually a blessing for me but oh, I was so wrong.

Tryfon made up for the idiocy from which I thought I'd be saved by Ezekile's absence. Although, I was grateful that he wasn't there. It would have given me a headache. My wolf had different thoughts on it which I chose to ignore again.

"What are you doing here?" Tryfon enquired, looking down at me. His jaw was set and his arms were crossed on his chest.

"I'm here to save your asses from the Dragonians," I replied and thought I heard him growl very lowly at me. I added next, "I wonder what are you doing here? Where's your General. I'd need to discuss important things before we finally set out for East,"

He gave me a very hard look for a moment before he replied, "If you have any knowledge about how things work here then you'd know that I'm the General,"

"Great then. Let's get down to business," I cut to the chase. He gave me another hard look before taking a step closer and speaking, "I hope you'll go away after this,"

"No. I'm here to actually disappoint you. Now, we cannot waste any more time. Tell me how many of your men would be accompanying us?" I asked.

"Hundred,"

"Only?"

"My hundred men are equal to your thousand wolves," Tryfon boasted.

"Then I wonder why Ezekiel took the trouble of inviting us here?" Lua, who'd been standing beside me all this while and silently judging the idiot coughed beside me. I couldn't help but smirk slightly seeing the rage in his eyes. I was enjoying this more than I should.

He took a step closer to me and muttered very lowly so that only I was able to hear him, "You weren't so talkative when the last time I saw you begging Ezekiel to let you go,"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told him with a dead face. The fire in his eyes burned even more before he looked at Lua and questioned, "And who is this?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you to Lua, my second-in-command,"

"Two women leading an army? I'd never thought that Zaeris would have to see such bad days," Tryfon commented.

"And if the two of us decide to go back then Thastonia would see very bad days. Choose wisely, Tryfon," Lua finally broke her silence. I couldn't help but offer a very sweet smile with her response.

Fortunately, we were headed to the East where he'd find a lot of snow to apply to his burns.

_

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