2 : I Told You

**TORA**

Running in Argos gray form is like a breath of fresh air. The wind blowing through his fur I can feel as if it were my back that the wind was hitting.

 I have been shifting into him since I was sixteen, which is normally when Alpha’s shift. I’ll never forget my first shift. Everyone was in awe when they saw his big fluffy form for the first time.. 

Apparently, I am a rare gray wolf. Alpha wolves are usually always black, and everyone else is either sandy blonde, brown or white. I just think the genetics just got crossed when I was born. 

I never got to meet my dad which is a shame, but my mom. That woman is a saint. She has a brown wolf named Akala. And she’s the wisest person I know. So wise that Jericho’s dad had her as his pack advisor since I was a kid. That’s how Jericho and I became best friends. Since we took over, my mom has retired, and gardens.. But Jericho still calls her from time to time for advice. It’s the smart thing to do, the woman knows everything.

But I haven’t asked her about any of this that is going on. For two reasons. One I don’t want her to worry her old heart about it, because knowing my mom she will be on the front lines investigating. And I can’t let anything happen to my mom.

 And two, I need to prove myself worthy as a Beta. 

Yeah, me, Jericho and Cree have been bestfriends since we were kids, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need to show Jericho that he made the right choice picking me as his right hand man. I don’t want to be Beta because I was the Alpha’s best friend. I want to earn that title beyond my friendships.

‘What are you thinking about over there, Tora?’  Cree asks without breaking his run in his wolf’s, Cedric’s, sandy blonde form. 

‘My mother. I bet she knows something that would help. But my pride is stopping me from asking her.’ I laughed.

And before Cree can reply. Argos stops..

‘What’s wrong Argos?’  I ask through the link.

‘There are fresh tracks here that don’t belong to any of our pack members..’ His sense of smell is impeccable.

I sniff the earth, letting the tracks filter through whatever is trying to cover it up and I growl.

‘Follow them.’ I growl. I don’t care where these tracks lead, we need to know why there are foreign tracks on our pack grounds and I just know there isn’t going to be anything on the cameras.

I am picking up a wet dog smell. And that usually means rogues, but it’s mixed with something that shouldn’t be there.. Like caramel apples…

Please for the love of the Goddess don’t make my mate a rogue… I think to myself. Argos stops and huffs.

‘It doesn’t matter if our mate is a rogue, we would be mated by the Goddess for a reason… And you would use MY Beta wisdom to figure out why she is a rogue..’ He growls. 

‘Sheesh, Argos. I’m just saying if the rogues are the reason our pack members are missing we can’t be mated to one..’ 

I tried to reason with him but he didn’t want to hear it. He continues sniffing the ground when a smell hits our senses that we are all too familiar with..

Decomposing flesh.

Argos pushes his form faster than before, Cree and his wolf Cedric not far behind us. What if it is my mate? And she’s dead…

When we arrive on the scene of the putrid smell.. My heart drops..

No. No. No. No!!!!!

Fuck…

Why did it have to be him?!?!?!

'Is that??' Cree gasps. 

'Fucking Julri… Why the fuck was he patrolling alone?!?!' I growl. I make Argos shift back. Cree stays in Cedrics form to keep watch. His abdomen is gashed like an animal clawed it out. He is missing an arm, and his face is slashed. Almost as if no one wanted him to be recognizable.

"He was killed recently… But he wasn't killed here. There isn't enough blood for him to have been killed here.." I choke out.. Goddess..  

I look around trying to find any evidence as to who did this to him, or as to why he was in this particular spot alone.. This is the first death we have come across. Now there is 7 missing people and a man is dead..

My eyes fall on a ripped piece of paper just a few feet from his body.

The only words that I can make out are 'I told you.'

I put the paper back where I found it. 

"Cree, go back to the pack house. Get the investigative crew. Grab my phone, and a change of clothes. TELL NO ONE. We don’t need to send the pack into a panic." He hesitates but henods his big wolf head.. 

I shift back into Argos and lay next to Julri's body… He was like my little brother. I taught him how to fight, how to flirt with the girls he likes, how to cook and look after himself. 

Fuck.. My mom. She took him in too. This is going to kill her..

I can feel cool tears fall from Argos eyes. He helped train Julri’s wolf. He felt the bond we felt with Julri.. And someone has taken him from us.

'I WILL find who did this Julri… And when I do, they will wish they were never born..' 

And that is a promise I will keep.

Cree comes back with everything I ask for, but before I shift from Argos, he nudges Julri’s neck and howls before shifting back..

‘C’mon buddy. I know it’s hard but we have to be strong. We have to work even harder to find who did this.. For Julri.’ He nods in my head and we get to work.

I have to call Jericho… 

He needs to get back here as soon as possible.