Into the Woods

Chapter 9

Scarlett POV

                 

Well, fuck me running. I take a deep breath and look at the man lying on the ground. I guess there goes any hope of this being anything other than a vampire.

“We have to the call police.” I say.

“Do we?” Dax asks.

“Yeah, this didn’t happen on pack lands, this is human land. And a human victim. So, human cops.” I remind him. “Beta Cayden”, I say in the mind link, “call the local P.D. and tell them we have a deceased human male in the no man’s land between our pack and Alpha Connor’s.”

“Oh, shit. Is it…?” He asks as though he doesn’t want to say the word.

“Yeah. The guy has two small puncture wounds on his neck.”

“Well, fuck me.” He says more to himself than to me.

“That’s pretty much what I said, too.” I reply. “Did you get ahold of Alpha Connor?”

“I did. He said he’d be on alert for you and our crew crossing his border, but I guess you didn’t need to go that far. He said he wasn’t aware of any strange smells or anything else weird going on around his pack lands, but he said he’d question his patrols about it.”

“Great, thanks. After you call the cops, can you call Alpha Connor back and ask him to meet us in the no man’s land between our packs? I want him to get the scent for himself.” I tell my Beta.

“Will do, Alpha.” He says. Then after a pause, “be careful out there, Scarlett.”

I can’t help but smile, knowing that my Beta and best friend is concerned for my safety, despite my being out here with Raul, Dax, Tasha, Channing, Bree, Conan, Theo, Blake and Serafina.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got some of the most badass wolves around out here with me.” I say, smiling in our mind link. “Are things okay at the pack house?”

“Yeah, Zella and Asher are on top of monitoring our patrols and keeping everyone calm here. And Jacob took Delta Lupita with him to the houses to keep an eye on things over there.” Lupita is Jacob’s mate and a tough-as-nails fighter. In fact, had Dax not been interested in the Lead Warrior position with our pack, Lupita would have been my next choice.

“Sounds good. Go call the cops and then Connor. Nothing more to the pack yet until after we meet with the cops, so I can tell them what’s going to happen next.”

“Got it.” Cayden says firmly, like the Beta he is before closing the mind link.

“Cayden is calling the local P.D. and then Alpha Connor to meet us out here. He already spoke with Alpha Connor earlier and he wasn’t aware of anything strange around his pack lands, but he’s going to question his patrols just to be sure. In the meantime, I want him to come out here and get the scent for himself so he knows what to be smelling for.” The posse of wolves surrounding the area where I’m standing all nod, silently. “Since we have humans on their way, we’ll all need to get dressed before they get here. Tasha and Channing, you two probably know better than anyone where our stashes of clothes are around the pack lands…can you grab some for all of us before the cops get here?” They both give a quick nod before running off to fetch clothes for everyone. As wolves who regularly shift, sometimes ripping our clothes in the process, we see each other naked all the time and don’t even think twice about it. But modesty is still valued in the human world, so we know to cover up.

“Alpha Scarlett.” I hear a familiar voice call out. I turn to see Alpha Connor running towards us.

“Alpha Connor. Good to see you. Just wish it could be under better circumstances.” I say to him. Alpha Connor is closer to my parent’s age than to mine but wasn’t mated until he was a bit older, so his pups aren’t yet old enough to take over his pack. He may not be a spring chicken anymore, but he’s still one hell of an Alpha. And he has the handsome good looks of a matinee idol with piercing blue eyes, a strong, square jawline and salt and pepper grey hair.

“I take it this is the human your trackers found?” He says grimly as he approaches us.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

He looks up and does something of a double-take. “Alpha Raul,” he says, sounding both surprised and amused, making me assume that he’s yet another one who knows that Raul and I are sleeping together, “apologies, I didn’t see you. What brings you out this way?” He asks with a slight smirk, his blue eyes dancing.

“Alpha Scarlett wanted to talk to me about the possibility of werewolves being around her pack lands—this was before we found this poor guy—and then stay for a meeting tomorrow morning with her parents and Leader Bruno tomorrow morning.” Raul says diplomatically. And it is the truth. He’s just leaving out our dinner date and the raucous good time we had after dinner.

“Leader Bruno? Why’d you call him?” Connor asks, surprised that I would have reached out to a bear shifter, given the often-strained relationships between bears and wolves.

“Bears have superior senses of smell compared to us. I’m hoping maybe he and some of his clan members can continue tracking the scents after we lose them. And I figured that he could be another good resource as he was also part of the battle against the vampires all those years ago.” I tell him. While the relationship between wolves and bears haven’t yet progressed to the point of having alliances, it is one of the goals I’ve quietly set for myself as Alpha. And since Leader Bruno knows my parents and has fought alongside them, I always thought he’d be the best place to start. Bringing him to the fold early with these recent developments seems like the right way to get those lines of communication between our two kinds, widened.

Alpha Connor nods. “Very true. I was still pretty young, not yet Alpha of my pack, during that battle, so I never really got to know him, but I remember my parents said he was a good guy. They always appreciated everything he and the other bear shifters did to help us against the vamps.”

“Forgive me, Alpha, I forgot that you would have been old enough to fight in that battle. Would you like to join us for the meeting later this morning after Leader Bruno arrives?” I ask. I truly did forget. Despite the salt and pepper grey hair, Connor’s movie star looks make him seem ageless in a way that had me thinking he would have still been just a touch too young to fight in that battle.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to.” He says. “I may have some additional insights that your parents or Leader Bruno don’t, and given how close this guy,” he says, motioning to the deceased human still lying on the ground, “was found to my pack lands, I’d like to be a part of thinking through next steps. Have you contacted COWS yet?”

“Not yet. I wanted to wait until after the meeting with Leader Bruno and my parents because I wanted to go to them with a solution in place. Or at the very least, some ideas of how to proceed. The ages of the people on COWS runs the gamut, but a lot of them, like my brother Ronan, are too young to remember the last time we went to battle against vampires.” I inform him just as Tasha and Channing arrive with the clothes I asked them to retrieve, and we all start pulling on sweatpants and hoodies in the chilly night air.

“That’s smart.” He says. Yeah, I know it’s smart. I know that Alpha Connor doesn’t mean any disrespect by saying that—he’s too much of a gentleman for that—but, it’s always hard to not get my back up when a male Alpha pays me a compliment regarding how I thought something through. Like they’re surprised a female Alpha would know what to do in a situation. “What time are you expecting Leader Bruno?” He asks.

“He said he’d be here by 9:00am.” I say to Alpha Connor. “We’re making it a breakfast meeting. Aurora has already planned for bagels with smoked salmon.” I say with a chuckle.

Alpha Connor chuckles as well in response. “A way to a bear’s heart is through his stomach.” He smiles. “And I will certainly never say no to some smoked salmon, either!”

“Good,” I laugh. “Do you want to stay and speak with the police when they arrive?”

“No, my pack wasn’t the one who found this poor S.O.B.” He shakes his head somberly, looking again at our dead human, “but if they want to talk to me or my patrols, we’re happy to help. Just let me know.”

“Will do. Before you head back to your packhouse, have Tasha and Channing take you to where the scents are the strongest so you can get the smell for yourself.” I say nodding to my two top trackers. “They’d be happy to show your own trackers where the scents are too.”

“That’s great, thank you, Alpha.” He turns to Tasha and Channing, “Lead the way!” As the three of them begin walking off, he looks back over his shoulder, “see you in a few hours, Alpha Scarlett. And thanks again.”

“Of course. We’ve got to look out for each other. Especially if we’re looking at another vampire attack.” I say to him, feeling my stomach do flip flops, still not quite able to believe the words coming out of my mouth.

Chapter 10 coming soon