Hello all! Welcome to chapter 38 of 'Lod'. Hehe. This will be a short AN because I'm eager for you all to read this chapter. Hehe. I just hope you all enjoy it! Read and enjoy!

Chapter 38

Mombi is in her study, sporting a head with long, curly, red locks and spring, green eyes, and is staring at her desk with narrowed eyes. There is something different here but she can't put her finger on it. It has been bugging her for some time. She can feel it in her bones. She has been around long enough to know something is going on behind her back. She just has to figure out what it is. She rubs her chin as she slowly starts to circle he desk like a hawk circling its prey. Where is it? She taps her chin with a soft hmmmm. She looks up when she hears the door creaking open. She stares impassively when Alphie crosses the threshold.

"You called for me?" She questions with a cock of the head. She tries not to visibly squirm on the spot when Mombi throws her a sharp look. It's never a good sign when that look is on the witch's face. She can't be catching on, can she? Mombi looks at the desk with very pursed lips. Alphie puts her slightly trembling hands behind her and grips them. She needs every part of her body to remain cool and calm so not give Mombi any kind of hint on what she has been doing. Mombi looks back towards her protégé with a stony face. Her heels slowly clack on the hard surface as the witch makes her way towards Alphie, her eyes never wavering from the slightly freaking out woman. It's a form of intimidation she likes to use. She will stare at her with those evil eyes and silently daring her to break under her stare. Alphie has learned to stare right back with the same stare. Her hands fall back to her side still as an undisturbed lake. Neither woman is backing down. The air is crackling with the power building between the two of them

"How are things progressing?" Mombi finally breaks the tense air between them. The dark haired woman breaths an internal sigh of relief at the question. She has kept things moving along on the dark side but made sure Glinda and everybody had the countermeasures for when it happens.

"It's progressing as plan." Alphie answers smoothly. "The soldiers should be ready in a couple of weeks."

Mombi arches an eyebrow at the answer. Her lips begin to purse again. She doesn't like what she heard.

"Why so long?"
Alphie licks her lips. She has kind of fell a tiny bit behind with getting all the soldiers up to speed on the training then assign them to what their tasks are. With her trips to the Emerald palace she really hasn't gotten any sleep either but she covers the bags under her eyes with some very good makeup.

"It does take some time to make sure everybody is at the same level of skills. Not everybody catches on at the same time." She replies with a small white lie. She is not necessarily telling a whole lie. It's true that there are some stragglers in the learning curve but if she wasn't splitting her time those who were behind would have been already been up to standards. The lips begin to unpursued as the witch finds her answer acceptable. Alphie wishes she could relax but she always needs to be on her guard because Mombi can be unpredictable. She has lost count on how many times she has thrown magic at her just because she could. The red head backs up without flicking her wrist at her.

"You may leave. Get those men up to speed. I will not tolerate laziness." Mombi threatens with her eyes flashing for a brief second. A reminder on what will happen if the deadlines aren't met. Alphie ignores the warning because she will have met the deadlines and bows to her mistress before leaving the room. Mombi hears the door shut when she is back by her desk. She runs a finger along the cool top.

"I want you to follow her the next time she leaves. I want a full report." Mombi speaks up. Elsa saunters out of the darken corner of the room with a dark smirk on her face.

"It will be my pleasure." Elsa answers. She watches Mombi open up her locked drawer and pulls out her book. Icy, blue eyes watch it hit the desk with a loud thump.

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Alphie awkwardly scratches the side of her head as Xander is sitting across from her just staring at her with his ears to the side. He has been doing it for over an hour now. Her parents must have done this to her because she was talking strategy with her mother when she had to leave and said she would be right back. Next thing she knows, Xander is walking into the room. She painfully managed to absorbed his strong lightening attack. Then she dodged the other ones but never returned fire. She took cover behind a love seat which is now burnt and stuffing is all over the room. Xander did stop his assault when he saw her not fighting back and making the sheer effort to dodge his attack without returning fire. He did let her peak over her half damaged barrier to give her ten seconds on what she is doing here. His tail lowered as she rapidly tried to explain what she is doing. He turned his head to the side while his fur laid back down on his body. The seconds turned into minutes as the explanation was still being told. That is how the two ended up in their current position. He finds her actions noble but he still can't forgive all that she had done.

"I don't like you." He says to break the awkward silence between them. Alphie gives a soft sigh while she runs her fingers through her hair. She is wondering what is taking her mother so long to get back here. Granted, she is thankful he stopped attacking and actually let what she said sink in but his stares with those silver eyes are really creeping her out.

"Well, that is very understandable. I don't expect you all to be on board with all that I did." She replies politely. Under Mombi's influence she'd would show them why they should fear and dislike her. She was a mean son of a bitch when crossed. Xander puts a closed paw up to his mouth and clears his throat.

"Let me rephrase that." He sets his paw down and stares straight at her." I really really don't like you."
Alphie forces herself from rolling her eyes because she didn't want to start another barrage of lightening attacks. She is not here to prove herself to him just to undo what her and her mistress has done regardless of what people think of her right now. She knows what horrible things she has done and will have to live with it for the rest of her life even if everybody will still hate her she will be fine with it.

"I can sense it." The dark haired woman shoots back while the door opens up to have Glinda walking in.

"Sorry it took me so long. I had an affair come to my attention." Glinda trails off when she sees her favorite love seat completely destroyed and scorched marks littering the room. She puts her hand onto her hip with a soft hmmm.

"I see you two got acquainted." She says as she looks towards the two occupants. Xander gives a slight snort while her daughter just gives a slight smirk. She starts to walk in while silently calculating how much work needs to be done to fix all the damages. It looks like Xander was the attacker and Alphie, once again, just defended herself. The good witch stumbles slightly when a white and gold blur runs past her.

"Xander! I've been looking for you." Erwin shouts as she runs up to her brother. Alphie watches the silver eyes instantly turn green the second he hears his sister's voice. His demeanor changes in a second with his ears perking up and his tail swishing happily. His loud, rumbling purrs fill the room while the two Wolgers nuzzle each other in greeting. Erwin has hit a growth spurt and is little more than half Xander's size but is slenderer then hm. Faint, gold strips are starting to appear along her back.

"Sorry, I just been busy." He apologizes when they stop nuzzling each other. Erwin licks the side of his face to show she accepted his apology. She looks past him to see Alphie across the room. She pants happily at seeing the dark haired woman. She remembers healing her injuries a while ago and talking to her. She could sense the emotional scars on Alphie's psyche but her healing powers can only heal physical hurt but she lent an ear to her to try and ease the emotional hurt she bears on herself.

"Hi Alphie!" The young Wolger great as she starts to bound over to her. She gives a surprised yelp when something grabs a hold of her tail. She turns around to see her brother holding onto her tail.

"Uh…give me my tail back." The younger Wolger states. She rolls her eyes when he silently tells her not to go to Alphie. She snorts while turning her head back. She lifts up her hind leg and pushes his paw off her tail.

"Thank you." She says smoothly before sauntering over to the dark haired woman's side. Xander's mouth hangs open when he sees his sister eagerly accepting a head rub from the person who took Elsa from them and caused Violet and Balian irreparable harm. Glinda walks up to him then reaches down and gently closes his mouth. He looks up to her with questioning eyes.

"In time you will see the good in her." That was all Glinda said to him. He twitches his whiskers in thought before looking back to see his sister to see her on her hind legs and her front paws resting on Alphie's lap, her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth. She purrs when fingers rub her neck.

"How are you doing?" Erwin asks. She feels the fingers stop for a brief second before they start rubbing her fur again.

"I'm doing good." The dark haired woman replies. The Wolger can sense the heavy burden weighing down greatly on her shoulders. She gives a quick lick on the tan cheek, earning her a giggle for her efforts. She feels some of the weight being lifted but she wants to do more for Alphie. She wraps her mouth around a forearm and carefully pulls the dark haired woman off her chair. Alphie smiles with laughter coming out of her mouth.

"Where are we going?" She asks as she is being tugged along. Glinda and Xander part ways when Erwin pulls Alphie out of the room. Xander watches the retreating figures with his good ear flopping down. Maybe there is some hope after all.

Hehe. Hmmmm….looks like Mombi might be catching onto Alphie now and Elsa is going to follow her. Doesn't look good for Alphie right now. I hope you all got a chuckle out of the awkward interactions with her and Xander. That's how I pictured it happening lol. Anyways, I will see you all in chapter 39. I'm debating on which way I shall go in it. So we shall see how it turns out. Hehe. Until then.

DWK