11. The unregistered wolf

“Did you get anything from the scouts you put on her?” I ask Anders.

“Not yet, I thought I would call them now so we could all hear the report together.” He pulls out his phone, flicking through the contacts and hitting call, putting it on speaker before placing it on my desk. The call rings twice before it’s picked up.

“Yes Boss?” the voice on the other end asks in a hushed tone.

“Hey Rodrigues, I have Alpha Zales and Gamma Colin here with me, we wanted a status report from you on Willow Doyle.” Anders prompts his scout, a smile in his voice. I watch Colin open a notebook, his pen poised to take any notes.

“Sure thing, Morning Alpha Zale, Gamma Colin. I’m about to swap shifts with Darian who’s just arrived so with your permission I’ll include him in the debrief as well.” Rodrigues requests formally, but I know if I wasn’t here, he would have cut to the chase faster.

“Permission granted.” I reply quickly to speed things along.

“Willow left the offices of Drakon Designs at approximately 5:40 yesterday afternoon. There was a moment I thought she sensed me as she went to car, she started searching the car park, and I was watching from across the road, she didn’t detect me but I think it’s best to keep a distance when tailing her. She drove directly home to a residence on Bakkar Road. There was an unidentified male waiting for her on her porch stairs. She seemed to know him well and didn’t show any signs of distress, so I didn’t intervene. The male is a police officer judging by the squad card he left in later that night at approximately 9:45 pm. During the time that he was there a pizza was delivered, I couldn’t see into the house properly but the few glimpses I managed, they sat on the couch eating the pizza and drinking beer. At about 10pm the downstairs lights went out, a light then turned on in the second story front left window. It was on for approximately 20 minutes before it went out. There was no visible activity until 7am the next morning when Willow exited the house and drove to the office. She arrived at approximately 7:45 and has not left since.”

“I’m assuming you got photos of the male for us to run a search on him as well?” I query, hoping he did, and I can find out who this unidentified male is that is circling her. For safety reasons of course.

“I did Alpha, I’ll text them to Beta Anders with my write up. Is there anything else you need?”

“That’s all thanks Rodrigues; finish your hand over with Darian and then get home to your mate and get some rest.” Anders ends the call and looks at me – waiting.

“I thought you said she was single.” I look pointedly at Colin and his brows raise in surprise.

“Out of all the information we just went through…you’re first thought is if she’s single. Zale my man, don’t tell me you’ve finally gone and got a crush on a she-wolf.” Anders teases, a smug smirk on his face as he looks between Colin and me. Why is it that me hearing about a male sitting on the stairs of her house, eating pizza and drinking beer with her has me so on edge? The second that Rodrigues mentioned him I wanted to get up, march over the Willow’s office and demand to know who he was – not exactly sane behaviour for me.

“What I actually said, was that she was single as far as we knew and has never been married. She might have a boyfriend; the databases I searched won’t be able to tell me that though they only record what’s registered and boyfriends are not on the list. There is no male outside her father listed in connection to her that I have found.” Colin explains that same twinkle in his eyes that Anders has, which I deliberately ignore.

“Well as much as we now know, we still don’t know enough. We need to get closer to Willow Doyle and her father – We need an in so winning the Drakon Designs account is now crucial. I don’t care if we have to sign them up at a loss – close on the account.” I order them both, giving them the leeway needed to get the contract signed so we have easy access to her for the next few years – something tells me she isn’t going to fold into line. Colin and Anders nod there understanding, but stay seated, giving each other meaningful looks – more than likely deciding who is going to break whatever news they have for me. “What is it – spit it out you two, I don’t have time for you to rock paper scissor it through your link.”

“Ah…it’s about the rogue epidemic. We have another two cases to add to the list.” Anders starts, his voice soft and sad.

For the last twenty years a sickness has been plaguing wolves across the region, slowly eating away at their clan and pack bonds until they forget who they are, where they are form and are unable to shift back to their human form – essentially becoming wolves and rogues, but without the inherent rogue violent tendencies.

No one can figure out where the illness came from, how it spread, or how to cure it. It doesn’t have any markers other then the bond deteriorations and breaks – nothing to predict where it will hit or who it will hit. No pattern that we can find to try and stop it or reverse it. We have our best healers working to find out more, but it’s been fruitless so far.

It's starting to feel hopeless.

“Where?” I prompt, from the look on his face this is worse news than just a wolf succumbing to the rogue condition.

“Cedar Falls, and it’s not where that worries us, but the who.” Colin joins, his face is a mask of pain and fear. I wait patiently in silence for them to continue, seeing that they need to compose themselves, my anxiety is starting to rise.

“It’s an eleven-year-old boy, only been shifting for three months. He’s the youngest case we have to date and that would be enough, but it gets worse. The second case is a newly mated female, and she’s four months pregnant.” Anders words drop into the silence of the room with a deafening boom even though he whispered.

This is the worst news we could have – a pregnant female and child. The first cases of their kind. So far there hasn’t been a case under twenty, and never a pregnant female. I sit back in my chair with an exhausted thump, all energy sucked out of me.

How can we fight this when it keeps shifting and changing the way it is?