Chapter Three

Duncan 

I was dragging my feet. I did not want to go meet with Coral. In the time she had been at the compound, I had been successful in avoiding her, although that did not mean that I was slacking in other responsibilities to my red wolf. I was providing protection. I was checking up on her often. I had honestly done everything but meeting with her. I might be a dick most of the time, but that didn’t mean that I was going to ignore my red wolf completely, It was my job to keep her safe. 

I sighed and left the compound. My head needed to be clear when meeting with Coral, and right now, it was a mess. I decided to go for a run before I met with Coral. That always seemed to help me feel better. Shifting quickly, I headed out back towards the Crescent River Pack. 

Running was always something that helped me feel better. Giving Conan a little bit of control allowed me to feel lighter; a bit freer. The responsibilities of an Alpha could be great. There was much more management that went on than most wolves realized. We had oversight of everything that happened on the packlands, and that could be quite burdensome at times. I would  never complain about that responsibility, but being able to step away, even for a few minutes to just run with Conan, was enough to help me feel better. 

I ran for longer than I intended to, and for much further than I wanted to. However, it gave me time to think and I was able to feel as if I was in a better place. At least I could hope that I was. I stopped outside of the training field, looking over the training that was currently taking place. Oscar and Tabitha were training some younger wolves, including my brother, Kaleb. This group included 9, 10, and 11 year olds. We liked to start the training early and gear it towards their skill level. This group of wolves was within the early stages of training. I like to have all wolves get at least four years of training before they shifted, so I liked them to start around 9 years old. Oscar and Tabitha were great with training the younger wolves, Tabitha especially. She was very patient with them and was always able to reach even the most stubborn of young wolves. 

I watched my brother as he trained. Kaleb was ten years old. He had shown some great fighting skills and I expected him to continue to improve. Kaleb was a surprise baby. My mom had been on birth control but was sick and had come off of it when they were trying to figure out what was causing her to not feel well. The best the doctors could figure was that her and my dad didn’t give it enough time for her birth control to be effective before starting up unprotected amorous activities. 

Kaleb was in a unique situation. As the son of an Alpha, it was expected that he would be quite powerful. However, because he was the younger of two sons, he was not guaranteed a pack. In fact, many times, the younger brother would take on another significant role in the pack. If there happened to be another pack in need of an Alpha, such as the unexpected death of an Alpha or no heir, then someone like Kaleb may step into the role. Given the complexity of having the red wolves to consider, there were plenty of opportunities for Kaleb here, but I would completely support him if wanted to find a pack and take on the role of Alpha. 

Training was wrapping up. Kaleb had spotted me and I waved him over. I did not spend nearly enough time with Kaleb. He was often quite busy with school. In addition to being very strong, he was also very intelligent. He had an eye for strategy that I had not seen in many Alphas. When we were discussing the increase in rogues a few months back, he had some extremely insightful ideas for addressing the threats. I had no problem telling him this, especially when we used one of them. He deserved the credit for his ideas, even though he was one ten. 

“How was training today?” I asked as Kaleb approached. He was hot and cold with training. He understood that he needed it and he was good at it, but he didn’t always like to do it. 

Kaleb shrugged, pushing his auburn colored hair out of his face. He had the color hair as our mom. He did, however, wear his hair longer like mine. “It was okay. We are working on defense right now. I like offense better.” 

I laughed at Kaleb. “Of course you like offense. We all like offense. But, you have to know the defense to handle the offensive attacks so you can go on the offensive.”  Kaleb was showing signs of being an excellent warrior. I was impressed, although not surprised. The same strategies he was already using when it came to security and defense, he was also using during his training. 

He rolled his eyes, laughing at me. “Anyway, what do you want? I have homework I have to do. Some of us are still in school.” While I didn’t doubt that my brother had homework, I was also certain that he could do it quickly. Kaleb never struggled in school. 

I motioned towards the packhouse. “Have you seen the newest reports on activity around the pack border? They are noticing patterns, and I was hoping you could look at the reports and tell me what you think.” Kaleb nodded and we started walking towards the packhouse. My dad wanted to ensure that Kaleb had a good childhood. Because Kaleb showed such keen insights into strategy at a young age, he was involved conversations that even most Alphas in training won’t hear until they are closer to taking over a pack. And in this case, Kaleb wasn’t even going to be taking over the Crescent River Pack, as I had inherited that. 

Kaleb and I had a conversation about this just a few months ago. I wanted to age sure that Kaleb didn’t feel like he was being used or manipulated. I was surprised to hear that Kaleb would like to be Alpha, but if he didn’t, he wanted to consider a role with the council. The council was mostly elders, but considering they are concerned with the protection of all wolves, I was actually very impressed by his potential plan. 

“I have not seen them.” He replied as we entered the packhouse, heading towards the office. He put the bag he was carrying down as he entered. Kaleb would occasionally stay at the packhouse, especially when he wanted to spend time with me. I never complained.  Iza and I had a typical brother-sister relationship. I irritated the hell out of her, she gave it right back, and I would protect her at all costs. Once I started spending more time at the Red Wolf Compound, I didn’t see her quite as often. I couldn’t blame her for it. That place was not always very inviting for single she-wolves. Red wolves like Vivian were often stealing away, unknowingly or knowingly, male wolves. It happened a few times to Iza and she made the decision to stay away. It just became easier for her to stay at our pack rather than visiting the compound. 

Entering the office, I motioned towards the papers spread out on the conference table. Kaleb nodded and headed towards the table. I sat down at my desk, looking over some additional reports while Kaleb processed the information. He would need a few minutes before he had feedback on what he read. I had some initial thoughts from reading the reports. Most specifically, I was concerned that the vampires were becoming more bold. Because they could move so quickly and quietly, I wondered if they were trying to see how close they could get. 

Running my hand through my hair, I reviewed information on the security systems we were working at setting up. It was a high tech system and could pick up on very minute movement. But that shit was expensive and while I wasn’t worried about the cost, it wasn’t going to be available for at least another month. My wolf and I were both concerned that the timeline was too long. We needed it now. 

“Duncan? Vampires aren’t invisible, right? This report indicates that guards have noted glimpses of something, but they haven’t actually seen any threats straight on.” Kaleb was looking through the reports, but had stopped on the most recent one. I knew that the report said that, as I had looked them all over numerous times.

I shook my head. “No, not invisible, but they can move quickly. That might explain the glimpse of someone or something. However,” I stated, standing and moving towards Kaleb, “if they are working with witches, then it is quite possible that they have something that makes them temporarily invisible.” Kaleb nodded as I spoke. I knew that he was thinking about all of this, processing the details. 

He rubbed his head. He was too young for the stress that he was feeling. Regardless of how good he was at strategy and planning, he needed time to be young. “I think we need to be most mindful along here.” He ran his finger along part of the western edge of the Red Wolf Compound land. It was a small area, where the northern edge met the western edge, and where there was no link to either pack. “There have been plenty of rogue threats there, so security is always higher. But it also makes it a less likely target. Since we are so worried about increasing protection, we would clearly focus it there. If the vampires can move quickly or otherwise conceal themselves, why not come through where our protection is the highest? By the time we realize it, and move even more areas warriors to that area, they would have already moved through there and could have taken Coral.”

I hadn’t even thought about it, but Kaleb was right. “We will have too many warriors there, so by the time we even realize that there is an issue at and with Coral, we will have too few warriors around her. Shit, that seems so obvious.” I shook my head. “We should probably just keep our protection as is, focusing on protecting the red wolves and the compound.” 

Kaleb stood, adding me a report. “Right. Just do what we have been doing, at least for right now. This report,” he stated, to one page in particular, “indicates that there is some intel that some creatures have been noted making runs about five miles from packlands. I would bet you that those are the vampires.” He shrugged. “I am hungry and I got homework. Mom said she was going to make my favorite cookies. And I told Josiah we could play on the PlayStation. Later.” 

“Are you free?” Tobias reached out via mindlink.

I laughed to myself. “Technically, yes, although I am supposed to be meeting with Coral. Are you at the packhouse?” 

A knock at my door answered my question. Tobias entered, followed by Tabitha, one of my head warriors and Tobias’ mate. 

“What’s going on?” I asked as they entered. I could tell that something was up. Although they were mates, they rarely came to my office together. 

Tobias sighed. He went to speak, but Tabitha stepped forward. “My sister told me that Audrey is asking about coming back. You know that Audrey and my sister were friends before she left. They have been in some contact over the last few months. Well, apparently Audrey has been asking my sister to find out if it is okay if she comes back.” Tabitha spoke quickly, no doubt trying to spit out the information as quickly as possible. 

I bit my tongue, closing my eyes briefly as I took a deep breath. I heard the door open and close and realized that Tabitha had left, leaving only Tobias and I in the office. 

“She knew that you would be upset but she wanted to be the one to tell you. I told her that she didn’t need to, but she wanted to.” I took a seat as Tobias talked and he also took the seat across from me. “She cares a lot about you and just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” 

Nodding, I opened my eyes. Tabitha and I had become closer since after she and Tobias mated. I grew up with her. That was part of the reason that I knew she was such a good warrior. I didn’t hesitate to offer her the position of co-head trainer when I was looking to expand my training protocols. . 

“I appreciate it.” I paused, but continued. “I guess I am just pissed. Why is she coming back now? There is so much going on with the red wolves. I don’t want to have to worry about her and what she is doing at the pack.” I sighed. “She has every right to come back. She was not banished.” I took another deep breath. Fuck.

Tobias and I talked for a while, just processing the situation with Audrey. It really wasn’t that big of a deal that she wanted to come back, but I was still struggling with the whole situation. Given the emotional and ego hit that I took from it, I wasn’t eager for her to come back. 

“Where the hell are you? Coral has been waiting!” Harley’s voice cut through the mindlink. Shit.