THE PEACE RUN

WAYLON

As soon as we landed in this city, chaos unfolded inside me. I didn't know what it was, but I found it hard to sit still in one place for over a second.

My restlessness seemed to grow with every passing second in that place, and it often made me want to crawl out of my skin. This all meant that I couldn't focus on our work at all. So far, I hadn't managed to find anything on Aiden, which was quite disappointing, but I was trying to focus, even if it meant that I needed to go for a run three times a day to get it all out of my system.

Still, it felt utterly fruitless. It didn't help that Patrick had been feeling somewhat the same. It was one of the reasons I avoided him. He was generally the calmer brother, the one who handled things rationally under immense pressure.

And I? I was the jester, the one who liked to fuck around and find out, the shit-stirrer and the nonchalant one.

However, in all my years of fuckery, I had learned not to fuck with Patrick when he wasn't in the mood. That resulted in fireworks of the worst kind. This was why I was trying to avoid him as much as possible. His current mood made him feel like a volcano about to burst. I didn't want to be the reason he burst.

Hence, despite my crazed state, I tried to gather as much intel on Aiden as possible. I met some local Alphas who were already aware of our presence in the area.

They didn't have much to offer, and that was quite disappointing. So far, Patrick had mentioned Gabriel finding a she-wolf who seemed to know stuff. Patrick had offered to meet her tonight while I was trying to meet some rogues and see if they knew something.

However, they didn't offer much either. It was late at night when I finally gave up and decided to return to the hotel, but not before having another long and gruelling run through the sparse woods of the southern coast, enjoying the night air blowing from the sea.

I transformed into my human form before stepping out of the woods and entering the hotel through the back door. Some of the staff, especially the women, threw me curious looks. Maybe it was because I was in shorts and sweat, without a shirt. If my mood wasn't so bad, I'd have invited the attention exuberantly and flirted with a couple of them.

I headed straight to my room and took a bone-chilling shower, hoping it would wash off the distress and the chaos I had been harbouring for days. I was disappointed but not surprised when nothing happened.

After I had showered, I decided to see Patrick. I was curious if he had managed to get anything from the girl.

When I entered his suite, I found him in the seating area with his laptop on his lap, aggressively typing away with a stern look on his face.

"Anything?" I asked, taking a seat and ordering myself some coffee. I was not feeling sleepy; I was merely looking for a distraction- anything that could elevate me from the chaos.

Patrick remained quiet for a few seconds, his gaze murderously fixed on the screen. I waited, but when he didn't say anything, I asked, "Did you meet the girl Gabriel-"

"I found my mate," he said abruptly. It took me a few seconds for his words to make sense. I choked, unable to decide whether first to show my surprise or happiness that he had finally found his mate.

The topic of mates was sensitive for him. He'd given up his hopes of finding a mate the day he turned thirty. It hurt me to see him so defeated. He deserved to have a loving and caring mate after all the sacrifices he had to make. It was the only thing he had been looking forward to, but luck hadn't been kind to him in the past. But it seemed like things were turning around slowly, and I was immensely happy for him.

"Congratulations!" I laughed, getting up to pat him on the shoulder, but he grunted instead, not looking pleased or excited, which made me stop for a moment.

"What happened, Patrick? Aren't you happy?" I asked him, frowning. I sat beside him and peeked at his laptop to see what he was so intensely glaring at. I noticed he was going through some emails from our cyber team.

"She didn't seem pleased with me," He gritted.

"What?" I frowned. "I wonder why? Every girl should be throwing themselves at you since you're such a ray of sunshine. You have such a charming smile and aura that always enchants everyone-" Patrick growled at me as soon as he sensed the sarcasm in my words.

I laughed hardily. "Forget about that crap about first impressions. You can always woo her with some effort. What's her name tho? What does she look like? Did you dig up everything about her already?" I asked, peeking at the screen again.

"The Cyber team has been on it and..." He trailed off.

"And?" I urged, not familiar with the uncertain look on his face. This unsettled me even more. I had never seen Patrick like this.

"Oddly, there isn't much about her out there. Sure, the basics can be found. Her name's Giselle Beckett. She's twenty-six and from one of the local Packs. She works for the Pack's administration, and that's all. Nothing more..." He trailed off, staring at the screen grimly.

"It just feels too..."

"Fabricated?" I suggested, and instantly, his head snapped towards me.

"You think so?" he asked, looking more doubtful with every passing second. Patrick was anything but doubtful. He was the one who always seemed to have answers to everything, which further agitated me. I didn't have a good feeling about this.

"I can go down to the Pack and look for her if you want," I offered. "But didn't you spend some time with her tonight?" I couldn't help but ask. His situation didn't make sense to me. He should've been more excited to have found his mate finally, and instead of typing away on his laptop, he should've been spending the night with her, strengthening their bond.

"She left. She didn't want to be with me, and she's oddly fixated on Gabriel," he growled. I could see murderous rage flash through his eyes. Oh boy, things were more severe than I had thought.

I took the laptop from him and scrolled through all the data our Cyber team had managed to dig up on her. There was everything he had told me about her, and then there was her picture.

She was drop-dead gorgeous-just what my brother deserved, but I found it unsettling how she had managed to fuck him up in such a short period.

"I'll see what's up with her," I promised him, staring at her picture. She had enchanting blue eyes and a cute round face framed with bangs, making her look younger than her age. There was a slight smile on her face as she stared ahead. Personally, I found her cute and could see why Patrick seemed to be so weak for her already.

Oddly, I felt like I needed to be in charge suddenly. Now that Patrick had found his mate, my fuck around days were over. I needed to get more serious about shit. My responsibilities were going to grow. It scared me to some extent, but at the same time, I felt ready for it. I'd do anything for my brother!