Chapter Three

“Sit down Iggy.” Caleb spoke calmly.

   The eighteen-year old eased himself into the chair opposite of Caleb with wary eyes. He rarely ever got a call from the Duncan pack which is something he couldn’t be more grateful for, the last time had been two years ago so he wondered why they’d need him again. Yes, they did keep in touch and he knew of a couple of their cubs who had attended his high school and still dropped by his house for friendly ‘visits’, but he didn’t think he would be walking into their compound this early. They were a friendly bunch and they paid good money for his services, but he still feared them especially since he had first seen Caleb morph into his wolf- he was terrified of them and would give anything to be off their land in record time.

   “I’m sure you must be wondering why we contacted you.” Caleb began, he wanted to smile to at least minimize the nervousness oozing from the kid, but he was in no mood for smiles. He had gone to visit Cassandra again this morning and she had been as distant as she was a day before, and two days before that, apparently his touching her had worsened matters. She wouldn’t even let him four feet close, he had to sit at the other end of the room for her to talk, and when he said ‘talk’ he meant monotonous answers. She wouldn’t speak about her family, sometimes he thought to read her mind, but he’d remember they had to be mated for him to get access to her thoughts and it made him angrier.

   She had been with them for a week and he was no closer to making her comfortable, even less mating with her. It occurred to him that he would need something extra to get her to open up, hence, he thought of having one of her relatives over, but she would not mention a name when he asked, perhaps fearing he would harm them, so he had gotten Roy to call Iggy.

   Roy had found Iggy four years ago, the kid was a computer whiz and Roy had suggested he could be of help in future. Of course, Caleb hadn’t thought there was anything they could use the boy for, he was just fourteen, what the hell did he know that an over hundred year old werewolf couldn’t figure out himself? Roy was proved right some months later when Iggy successfully traced the origin of a supposed virus that had wiped off Caleb’s document from his PC, it turned out it wasn’t a virus, rather his system had been hacked into. The pack member who had been working for Nolan Creek; Caleb’s rival and one of the strongest Alpha’s in the south, was subsequently killed and his carcass sent to Nolan.

   Since then, the boy had assisted them in seven other computer-related problems. It was only two years ago that he had discovered their true nature, he was pleasantly surprised that the kid had agreed to come over despite how awful their last meeting had gone.

   Iggy shrugged his skinny shoulders, “Something about your….wife’s relatives?” he asked, choosing his words carefully. He had done enough research on werewolves after what he had witnessed to know the partners of werewolves weren’t referred to as ‘wives’, but Roy had used that term to speak of the female, so he would go along with it.

   Caleb smiled, “Yes, actually, I’d like for you to search for her relatives online.”

   “Of course.” Iggy replied as he powered on his laptop. The device successfully distracted him from the two looming men….werewolves. he had to keep that little detail in mind, these two were far from human, “Can I get her name?” he asked once the system was running.

   “Cassandra Patrice.” Caleb supplied smoothly, his knowledge of her name was thanks to Magnolia and not necessarily because his terrified mate had been forthcoming with any information. He watched Iggy type in the name and then pause for a few seconds before attacking the keyboard in a manner that intrigued Caleb. Having been born in a time that had none of the present gadgets he saw, he was often awed by their abilities, but never bothered enough to learn more about them, he was quite satisfied with the basic knowledge he possessed.

   A few extra minutes passed before Iggy finally got everything he was looking for. He couldn’t speak for some seconds when his eyes took in the images that had popped up, he could only imagine what Caleb’s ma…wife must look like if her relatives looked this good, he was a lucky man for sure.

   “Anything?” Caleb asked impatiently. The fact that Iggy hadn’t typed anything else made him believe he had gone as far as he could, plus, the kid looked like he just got an invite to a party at the Playboy mansion, surely he must have gotten something.

   Iggy coughed, Caleb’s voice bringing him back to the present, “Um, yeah, she’s got two living cousins, Kennedy and Kylie Howard, they both live in Michigan. Kennedy’s twenty-four and works in an auditing firm, it says here she recently took a leave”

   Caleb raised a brow in curiosity, “Why did she take a leave?”

   “There isn’t much detail on that, though there’s a possibility her leave is connected to the disappearance of her cousin.”

   “Let me see that.”

   Iggy turned the laptop toward Caleb. The first thing Caleb noticed was that Cassandra’s cousins looked a lot like her, just without the dreads. The one who was Kennedy had her hair in a layered pixie cut, her skin was dark, she had a button nose and high cheek bones, while the younger one- Kylie, had a cute innocence to her features and the most captivating pair of golden eyes he had ever seen, her hair was a mass of copper coloured curls that framed her oval face and made her even cuter. He thought he got a nice blend of both women in his Cassandra

   He felt Roy lean closer to him and turned to find him staring hard at the images, “See something you like Roy?” Caleb joked with a smile.

   “Mine.” He spoke gruffly

   Caleb lost his smile and once again looked at the images of both women, which did he speak of? And how possible was it that one of Cassandra’s cousins was Roy’s mate? What were the odds? “Which one?” he asked through their telepathic bond.

   “The one on the left.”

   Kylie.

“Are you sure?” Caleb asked, he really didn’t need to though. Roy was a disciplined wolf, he wasn’t like the rest of them, he didn’t just sate his appetite with any female just for the fun of it, he kept his libido in check which was more than Caleb could say for himself and Rinaldi- and it wasn’t for lack of female attention. Yes, Roy was big and intimidating and the permanent frown on the man’s face could cause a shiver to run down the spine of any great man, he had earned his reputation as a seasoned warrior having defeated every opponent who stood in his way, but the blond was still attractive to females. They were drawn to the power that surrounded him, he had turned down more than Caleb could count, so, the man wasn’t one to just make a wild guess. If he said Kylie was his mate, then she had to be.

   “Yes, very.” He replied, his eyes never straying from the picture of his mate.

   Caleb thought his beta was lucky to have one such as Kylie for a mate, he didn’t quite know her personally, but she struck him as open-minded and fun-filled, a stark contrast to Roy’s brooding nature, but who better to release him from his life of solitude than this ball of excitement? She would surely be a welcome addition to the compound.

   Beyond Cassandra, it was now imperative that they find the Howard sisters as soon as possible, the new discovery had brought in new stakes and Caleb didn’t want to imagine the many things that could happen to both women if somehow, someone in enemy territory got wind of the fact that he had found his mate. Both women could be in danger just for knowing his mate.

   “Call Rinaldi.” Caleb said to Roy.

   The big man looked at his Alpha as if he hadn’t quite heard him correctly, “Why?”

   “He’ll go get them from Michigan.” Caleb replied.

   “Why him? Why not me?”

   “Because I don’t trust you to keep your wolf under control when you see your mate and the last thing we need is you scaring them away, besides, you’re not exactly known for your diplomacy. That’s Rinaldi’s thing.” Caleb replied.

   Roy wanted to protest his Alpha’s decision, but even he knew how right Caleb was on this one. He wasn’t the smooth-talking, patient and understanding guy that Rinaldi was. That man could convince the devil out of a deal, Roy used brute force to get his way while Rinaldi used a slick tongue. Rinaldi was in a far better position to get a positive result from such a trip, he would ruin it before he even got to state his reason for being there. Plus, just like Caleb said, he wasn’t sure how he would react to having his mate close-by.

   Roy took one last look at the smiling girl on the screen, he couldn’t wait to have her with him, “I’ll get him right away.” he said, and with that he left the study.

   “So, can I go now?” Iggy asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

   “Just help me print out this information, then, you can go.” Caleb replied.

   Once Rinaldi had gone for the sisters, he and Caleb would have to sit down and have a long talk of any possible rivals who would want to hurt their mates. He couldn’t discount the possibility of moles amongst pack members, if they existed then someone out there was waiting on the right time to strike him and anyone could be a target. He wouldn’t tell Roy that just yet, but that was another reason he needed Rinaldi to get the girls, aside Roy, Rinaldi was his best man in combat and would know how best to protect the girls just in case an enemy got to them.

   The jury was still out on who had harmed his mate and gone as far as making her scent undetectable to him, they had to be alert, anyone could be the perpetrator