Chapter 342 - The Behind The Scenes - II
Arnold stepped inside the room, leaving her to wait outside as she heard him announce her like she was a lady born and breath for this and needed to have her presence announced.
The door was opened harshly and she jumped before the face of her beloved appeared in front of her eyes making her heart calm down instantly.
"Adeline," Xavier frowned lightly before he pulled her close to his chest but maintained eye contact with her. "What are you doing here?"
Her lips parted and the words almost slipped out but then she grew aware of Arnold\'s presence. He was still here and was watching them as well.
"I just wanted to see you," she reluctantly admitted. "Were you busy? I can leav-"
"Nonsense," Xavier pinched the side of her waist, "come, you can listen."
Before Adaline could say no, she was dragged inside the room, very gently she may add, by Xavier and was taken directly to the head chair.
Of course he was the one who was chairing the meeting.
Thankfully there were only three people in the room including Xavier and the other two who were the people that she was very much familiar with.
Escaping the presence of the butler of this palace seemed like the only blessing in the situation. That was something Adaline took without a second of thought.
He made her sit on the chair before wordlessly standing beside her and focusing on the various maps that were on the table.
"Shall I begin?" Dylan asked, nodding to the plans.
Xavier nodded, "From the beginning."
"These," Dylan glanced at Adaline, making sure that he had her attention before starting, "are the maps of territories that we have in the country. You can call them the maps of the states."
There were a lot of them and they were callously thrown upon the table.
"What are you looking at them for?"
Augustus chose to answer her. "We have various reasons to look at the maps, but the most common one is when different packs request to expand their territories. This is where we come in and help avoid Pack conflict. However, we are not talking about that now."
Adaline nodded, telling him that she was along with them.
"We are looking through the territories that have faced kidnappings."
Her eyes widened at the revelation. "What?"
Augustus nodded with his eyes flickering to Xavier every now and then. It felt like they were trying to figure out how much to tell her and how much to leave out.
"I can leave if you want," Adaline pointedly stared at Augustus then looked at Dylan and then moved on to Xavier. "I have no problem waiting with your mother or Ashlynn."
Xavier cocked a brow, as of challenging her right back before nodding at Augustus. "Tell me if it gets too much,"
Dylan cleared his throat, taking the attention of everyone on him. He pointed at the maps. "At the moment we are experiencing a few kidnappings, compare them to the world you came from, they are less but.."
"But?" Adeline parroted.
"But it is difficult to kidnap in our world."
And suddenly it made sense why.
They had highlighted senses, more than anyone. In fact they had more highlighted senses as compared to the dogs in her world.
So naturally, if anyone would step inside their home they would know even before the person could see their child.
"Is this possible with.." she tried to come up with a better word and used her hands as a gesture, "Someone like You?"
Dylan tutted, looking over to Augustus, "she makes it sound like we are Satan worshipers?"
Xavier chuckled, the corner of his mouth lifting up in a smirk. His eyes softened and shoulders when he looked at Adeline. "That is exactly what the problem is. It is not exactly easy to kidnap the pups."
"Which is why we are looking over the territories and trying to figure out which area is being Targeted and why," Augustus pulled out a map randomly, "and so far we have reached nowhere."
He didn\'t even look offended when he said that. It was like he was expecting that.
"Augustus," Adeline began as politely as she could, "why do you not sound like you are annoyed with your.. lack of success?"
Dylan\'s eyes moved to Xavier and he nodded, "Polar opposites, huh?"
Xavier growled in return, narrowing his eyes at the man yet It looked like he was just amused.
Whatever that meant, Adeline waited for someone to resume what they were talking about.
Deciding against that, she picked up a map from there, tens of them thrown across the table and tried to look for something.
It looked like a treasure map. It was vage, Street markings, any kind of landmarks except in a corner where mountains were drawn along with the outline of a river.
"How do you know about anything here?" She ran her eyes across every feature on the map. "It barely tells anything."
"Google maps are only on earth." Dylan shrugged, "as much as I would not mind their help, we do not need them."
Of course, they did not. "But then how do you know?"
Xavier leaned from her side and pointed to the corner, "the names are here."
It read Hidden furs.
"What kind of name is hidden furs?"
"Because they were the last ones to be found," The king explained. "Since they were the last ones to be found, they are more traditional and still like to wear furs more."
Adeline furrowed, "so furs?"
Xavier in his eyes and the name written on the edge of the paper before giving an uneasy shrug, "they take pride in the name because they also sell furs."
Huh, Adeline nodded, it seemed like that was the only reasonable factor behind the name.
"Anyway," Dylan pulled out a few papers from the chair beside him and handed them to the king who looked at it with his queen, the latter who had no idea what it was about before passing them on to the beta wolf.
"Now," he grinned at Adeline, "we talk numbers."