Chapter 3

ROMAN.

A cup of coffee obscured my vision. I grunted thanks and took a much-needed gulp of it.

Brock chuckled and started the car. He knew that my morning functionality stayed about 10% until I got some caffeine in my system. That was what made him the best Beta that I could’ve asked for.

It also helped that we grew up as best friends, so he knew me inside and out. Our camaraderie was important, but so was the fact that he had no qualms about calling me out even though I was the Alpha. There were times when I needed some sense knocked into me, and I knew that he had my back whenever that time came.

We have another two hours until we get to the Blood Lake pack. How are we going to play this?” Brock asked me.

He pulled the car back onto the highway with the other two cars following us. There were eight of us in all. Our Gamma, James, and Delta, Demetrius, were back in the pack with my parents. I didn’t have to worry about the pack because they were more than capable of running it in my stead.

The remaining people with us were elite warriors. Some were gifted, but each one was capable of getting everyone on the ground. Nobody messed with our pack because our warriors were beasts. We had one of the strongest warrior training programs out there. They were the best of the best. I wasn’t being cocky but just stating facts. There was a reason why other packs enlisted our warriors to train theirs.

Back to the matter at hand that took us on an impromptu road trip to the Blood Lake pack.

We’d been working on a case of missing she-wolves, totaling upwards of sixty. The youngest one was a seven-year-old female and the eldest was fifty-two. Many of the missing she-wolves were rogues for whatever reason. That fact didn't matter because each one was a person and had the same value as everyone else. Their lives held the same value as a Luna of a prestigious pack.

Many rogues were judged harshly because of the stigmas associated with their status. Simply put, rogues were without a traditional pack. They either willingly left their previous pack, were exiled from it, or were born to rogue parents.

Some of them banded together to create their own packs. Just like with any type of person, there were good and bad seeds. There were also those who were peaceful and those who were dangerous.

Our pack helped out wherever we could, whether it was in the form of food, shelter, security, or jobs. It didn't matter if they lived in our pack or not, because it was the duty of an Alpha to protect those who sincerely needed it. That was a truth that had been ingrained in me since I was a pup. It even led me to working with the Werewolf Council on protections that should be provided for them.

The Council allowed me to head up the manhunt for the culprit or culprits responsible for the savagery of what they’d done to the bodies that we’ve found. All roads led back to Alpha Richard of the Blood Lake pack, but we weren’t certain if he was directly pulling the strings or was just the marionette.

“I figured that we’d take a simple approach. Alpha Richard had previously dealt with Dad, but I’d yet to meet him. As Regent, it’s imperative that I meet the Alphas within my area,” I told him, tearing into one of the donuts that he got for us, groaning at the taste. Sour cream. My favorite.

There were around six hundred packs in the United States alone. They varied in size and power, but the truth was that there were too many packs for the Council to monitor on their own. Therefore, they enlisted the help of two Regents – one for Northern packs and one for Southern packs. The Council decided what was and what was not acceptable. Then the Regents were responsible for following up on accusations and claims on behalf of the Council. They were essentially enforcers of the law.

Our pack, the Blazing Fire pack, was the largest pack in the United States with roughly ten thousand members. As such, we held regency over the Southern packs while Alpha Vivek held regency over the Northern packs.

My eyes were drawn to the list of names that I’d been looking at before the blessed coffee came. I focused on the last three names on the list. All three were found within twenty miles of the Blood Lake pack. How very fucking interesting.

We've had other bodies turn up that were either from around that area or had some type of connection to it. Little Suzie Valters, for example, was the twelve-year-old daughter of Alpha Richard’s greatest rival. She'd been abducted one week after Alpha Richard's niece died in an attack that was done by rogues who were hired by the rival himself. Coincidences didn't exist in my personal opinion.

The question was simple. How in the fuck was he connected to all of this? Was he the mastermind or simply just a pawn, being maneuvered by someone bigger than himself?

‘I can’t put my paw on why, but it feels imperative that we are there,’ Creed, my wolf, told me.

‘Then it’s a damn good thing that we’ll be there in a couple of hours.’

He hummed and laid his head down, contemplating potential reasons for that feeling. It could be anything from something simple to a threat. That was precisely why we always planned for the worst-case scenario so that we were always prepared.

I hadn’t slept at all last night and ended up drifting off to sleep.

I found myself in a forest. Each new darkening shadow was more sinister than the last. The silence, however, was the eeriest part of it all. Where were the animals or proof of life?

Goosebumps rose up on my skin as the feeling of being watched washed over me. I didn’t know where I was but did know that I wasn’t alone. The only thing that I could hear was the beating of my own heart, but the feeling was unmistakable.

Whatever it was stood behind me. I wasn’t going to lie and pretend that I wasn’t at least a little bit hesitant to look. There were many possibilities for what I might be facing when I turned around.

‘C’mon, we’re stronger than this. Grow a pair of balls,’ Creed mocked me.

He was a jerk but an effective jerk. His words gave me the push to turn around, ready to face whatever it was. I was just greeted with more darkness.

Creed opened up his senses as far as they could go, trying to catch even the slightest thing.

A twig snapped in the distance, the first sound that we’ve heard besides my heart beating away like a drum. Two small golden rings appeared out of the darkness. They grew more defined, second by second, until I realized that they were a set of eyes.

Finding myself in the position that I am currently in, one would think that I should be wary of a random set of eyes within an odd as fuck dark forest. However, that wasn’t what I was feeling at all. They were mesmerizing, and I found myself intrigued by them.

Who and what did they belong to? I had this urge to find out because I felt like I was being drawn forward but was unable to move my body.

‘Don’t worry, Ro. The time is near,’ a beautiful voice rang out in my head.

-

I woke up with a start. It surprised Brock, which would’ve normally made me tease him about it. Not today, but I’d make up later for skipping it.

There was something familiar about that voice, but I couldn’t figure out why that’d be. It felt like they knew me, especially by calling me Ro.

‘Do you think it was just a random dream?’ I curiously asked Creed.

‘No. Not really. It felt like a message, which would mean that it was implanted. That’d require someone or something powerful, especially to get through our innate mental barriers. I didn’t sense anything malicious. On the contrary, I sensed hope,’ he told me.

He made some really good points right there.

Each psychic message that was implanted telepathically held a wavelength signature. You could think of it along the lines of a tone being used in a verbal message. The wavelength denoted the type of tone.

Creed awoke with very strong mental barriers when I got him at thirteen, which then extended to mine. Everyone had their own barriers. Sometimes they were flimsy and easily manipulated, but sometimes they were damn near impenetrable. Only something stronger than them could push through it.

While I should be worried, I wasn’t. Nah. I was insanely curious instead. I always liked a good mystery.