You Need to Find Her

Chapter 4

Alpha Dominic’s POV

   Something was seriously wrong. I had slept badly last night. This morning had started out fine for the first hour. After that, I could sense that Eva was gone. I always get up early, as my work never ends. So when I realized she was missing, I called my Beta, Douglas, through our mindlink and told him to go find her and bring her to my office. The nagging feeling I had wouldn’t stop unless I knew she was where she was supposed to be.

   Donovan had been hinting around the last few nights at dinner that he believed that she was going to run away. I questioned him about how he knew that, but he was evasive. He never mentioned how he knew; he just said that others had said they heard her telling one of the other Omegas.

   I couldn’t just come out and ask her. She would lie if she had really decided to leave. I couldn’t let that happen. I had plans for her, and I wouldn’t allow her to just run away. But something kept nagging at me about what he had said. He said that someone had overheard her talking to a fellow Omega.

   That was a blatant lie. Eva was ostracized by the entire pack. She didn't speak to anyone else, except for Lead Omega, Bertha. I had assigned Bertha to watch over her, and she had been doing so ever since Eva was little. She has always reported everything concerning Eva to me. She wouldn't have told anyone if she were leaving. She would have been too scared someone would report it to me.

   I had been offered money to take Eva into my pack. I didn’t want her here, but we were struggling back then. The pack needed the million dollars that they were offering to keep her here. At first, the money was easy. She was so small and easy to control.

   But the older she got, the more defiant she became. She was never outright disrespectful to any of us. But if you looked into her eyes, you could see exactly how she felt about you.  She hated us all for the way we treated her. I was still furious that I had lost my best friend, and Beta, after he went to get her. He had been followed back to the pack. Thomas and four of my best warriors were killed along with him while fighting two men who had come to take her back home.

   I changed the narrative about what happened, as the truth would have made me look bad. Having the pack against her also kept her in line. Even if I wasn’t there to make sure she complied, another member of the pack did. I was going to wait and tell them who she was at the right time.

   I was going to change their perception of Eva and call it an unfortunate misunderstanding. I would announce who she was and what had happened to her. Telling the pack that while Thomas was rescuing her, the unknown assailants who were trying to get her back had attacked my men. I would add that we hadn't known she had been kidnapped, and the men who attacked our warriors had just been trying to recover her for her family. Thomas was just trying to protect her.

   That way, the pack would feel bad for what happened to her, and let past grudges go. It would also keep her parents from coming after our pack and attacking us. I didn't want to fight against the Spirit Walker's pack. They were not a normal pack. Half their members were indeed wolves, which is why they could be accepted as a pack. They trained all the time, and I've never heard of anyone winning a fight against them.

   Probably because the rest of their pack included witches and warlocks, vampires, dragons, and even a few demons. It wasn't smart to cross them. They wielded a great deal of power, and Eva was the only child of Reese and Kiara Branson, who were the Alpha and Luna there. Anyone who dared to go against them never won. Changing the narrative from being part of her kidnapping to the pack that rescued her was for the best. No one would ever know what actually happened as long as I was careful.

   I couldn't correct the pack's perception of Eva until Donovan finally settled down. I needed him to be smart enough to accept what I needed him to do. I wanted Eva to be mated with Donovan. She was going to be a very powerful Luna. My son deserved to mate with her to make the strongest pups possible. Her wealth could only make us grow stronger. Eva was the future of this pack, and it was time that Donovan learned that.

   I didn’t have to start the wolfless rumor. When she didn’t phase, it ran through the pack like wildfire. Everyone knew it, and they couldn’t sense her power. I knew that it would be hidden away until she was marked. The man who had originally contacted me had explained exactly who she was and that she could never leave here. She was the daughter of Reese and Kiara Branson. They were both well known in the werewolf community, even if they lived in another country.

   Donovan would be lucky to have her as a mate. I knew he was attracted to her, so the battle was half done just knowing that, especially with the pack hating her. He would do as he is told. She will get her wolf after he marks her. Goddess willing, she will also have some magical ability. When our enemies find out who she is, that would help keep the pack safe. Messing with her means messing with the Spirit Walker pack, and no one is willing to go against them.

   Once she was the Luna here, she would be forced to stay here with Donovan. I’m sure he would get her pregnant quickly. That was the only way to bind her to us forever. It wouldn’t matter that her parents would find her after she was marked. It would be too late by that time.

   “Alpha, no one has seen Eva this morning. I spoke with her roommates, and they all said that her bed was slept in, but not made. They told me that she always makes her bed, even if she's sick, but no one saw her after they woke up. But, I think we have a problem, Alpha. I just overheard two warriors speaking privately on their way out to training. According to them, Donovan and Claudia killed Eva last night, and also ordered two trespassers to be killed along with her last night. Do you want me to investigate?” Douglas linked me.

   “No, I will speak to Donovan myself, Douglas,” I linked back.

   If Donovan had done what Douglas just said he did, all my careful plans would've been destroyed at one fell swoop. I already knew it was true. Claudia hated Eva. She has since they were children. It already sounded like something she would do.

   “Donovan, I want you in my office in less than five minutes. We need to talk,” I linked him.

   “Can't this wait, Dad? I'm a little tied up at the moment,” he lazily replied.

   “Five minutes,” I ground out and closed the link.

   Donovan was probably sleeping with another she-wolf. He hasn’t named his mate yet, and he uses that to lure them into his bed. They all want to be Luna of the Stone Fall pack, but I was never going to let that happen. I thought he was just having fun and blowing off some steam before he took over as Alpha. But he's disappointed me again.

   He’s got no drive. He doesn’t really care about running a pack properly. He likes to spend money and goof off. His mother, Ellen, has coddled him too much. She was never able to get pregnant again after giving birth to him. So she's babied him all these years. I loved her and thought that we would have another, but it never happened for us. But Ellen was my mate, and I had an heir. Life was good.

   I wasn’t upset with her; it was Donovan who needed to buckle down. There was nothing wrong with either of us. The Goddess just didn’t bless us with another. I wasn’t concerned before, but I am now. I’m worried that Donovan will end up being the end of the Shadow Fall pack. If Reese and Kiara find out that Donovan and his girlfriend killed Eva, they would level this pack. 

   If that actually happened, I would spend my last moments killing Donovan with my own hands. This pack has been led by a member of my family for over five generations. I knew I would have to drive everything home with him today. We need to get her back, and he needs to get her to fall in love with him. He has no other choice.

   Donovan would learn the truth today, but now I’m worried that it’s too late. Claudia has been walking around the pack lately like she's the Luna. Donovan's been foolish by encouraging her to act like that. It's not endearing her to the pack. Claudia likes to play dumb, but she’s much more intelligent than people give her credit for.

   I’ve watched her lead Donovan to where she wanted him to be on too many occasions to count. She's dangerous, and she might have ruined everything with her jealous actions. I believe she is the one who’s been hurting Eva, or at least she had someone do it for her. That way, she could keep her hands clean and deny any part of it. I will deal with her after I deal with Donovan.   

   I didn’t know what I needed to do next. I was furious, but I was trying hard to stay calm. Donovan knew I'd told everyone that bullying her was fine, but that Eva was not to be seriously injured. I was just trying to break her spirit, not physically injure her. I knew that she occasionally ended up in the infirmary, but she always refused to tell me who hurt her.

   I don’t know if she was too scared to tell the doctor or had just accepted that this was her lot in life. I should have stepped in more when she was getting hurt. Maybe if I had done that, she wouldn’t have wanted to leave the pack.

   I wanted to call Claudia to come to my office, too, but I wanted to speak to my son first. Donovan is a terrible liar. I would have told him he needed to work on that, but for now, it helps me know when he’s lying to me. I had to get up and pace to try to stay calm. Each passing moment made me even more anxious. I was worked up, and I needed to do something. How could Donovan have done something so foolish?

   I'd left clear instructions that she was not to be harmed. I knew in my heart that what Douglas said was the truth. Sometimes, eavesdropping gets to the truth much faster than questioning people would. I could hear Donovan approach and yanked the door open to let him into my office. He could see just how angry I was, and he seemed confused.

   “Get in here now, we need to talk,” I ordered.