The Returned

Winston

That afternoon, when I arrived at the packhouse with a big smile on my face, I didn’t think anything could wipe it away.

I was wrong.

It had only been a couple of months since I’d returned from Alpha training school, and now they wanted me to take a few more classes so I could officially graduate. That wasn’t a problem for me. Regardless of how I looked, I had always loved learning.

So when they called me into the main office, I wasn’t surprised. That was where the current Alpha held most of his meetings. But the moment I walked inside and saw the look on his face, I knew something was wrong.

I didn’t realize how bad it would be.

Grandad sat behind his desk, completely lost in thought. Whatever he wanted to discuss had to be serious.

“Hello, old man,” I said as I dropped into the chair across from him.

“Son, you finally showed up.” He gave me a pointed look. “Keeping me waiting like this, you better have been doing something important.”

I grimaced. “I don’t think you want to know where I was.”

Honestly, where I had been was something I preferred to keep to myself. It wasn’t exactly something I was proud of.

Grandad saw right through me. “You were with that girl again, weren’t you?”

I didn’t answer. Apparently, my silence was enough.

“Son, I know you’re grown, and you don’t want me in your business. All I’m saying is cut ties with this girl and make things clear before it becomes a problem,” he advised.

I knew exactly what he meant, my mate.

He wanted me to end things before I found my mate and the situation became a problem for her. But at this point in my life, I had almost given up on finding her.

When I got my wolf at sixteen, I had been excited about eventually meeting my mate. Three years later, that excitement had faded. I had accepted that maybe she wasn’t coming.

That was one reason I had this stupid relationship with that girl in the first place. “I know. Soon.” I quickly changed the subject. “So, what did you call me here for, old man?”

Grandad gave me one final look before apparently deciding to drop it. “You remember my granddaughter?”

“Of course.” Not many people knew about her. Since my brothers and I lived in the packhouse, Grandad had eventually told us what happened to the previous Alpha and Luna, and why he'd hidden his granddaughter away. “Did something happen?”

He wouldn’t bring her up unless something were wrong.

“No.” He hesitated. “But I fear someone has found her.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up.No one was supposed to know where she was. She had been hidden for her own safety. “What makes you think that?”

Grandad wasn’t the type to accuse without proof. He pulled out a yellow envelope and emptied its contents onto the desk. It was pictures, a bunch of them; I picked one up.

Two girls stood laughing in front of a large building that I assumed was their school.

“Do they know which one is her?” Hell, even I didn’t know which girl was his granddaughter.

Grandad shook his head. “No. That’s why they’ve been sending me pictures of both girls for the past two months.”

My head snapped toward him. “Two months, Grandad? And you’re just now telling me about this?”

Something this important should have been taken seriously from the beginning.

“I assumed they would eventually give up,” he explained. “But it seems they’re determined to find her. And I think they’re getting close. Her adoptive father called and told me he believes someone has been following him.”

That changed everything. “What do you need from me?”

I knew he hadn’t called me into his office to tell me what was happening.

“I need someone watching both girls without either of them knowing,” he finally said.

“I’ll have someone on them by tomorrow.” I already knew exactly who I wanted for the job. “Do you want me to have Wyatt find out where these pictures came from?”

If there was one thing that boy could do, it was find almost anything using a computer. He was always on the damn thing anyway.

“You think he’ll be able to find out who actually sent them?” Grandad asked, pointing toward the photographs.

“He can try, but I’m not making any promises,” I said.

“That’s better than nothing,” he replied.

“All right. I’ll get right on it.” I left the office and headed straight for Wyatt’s room.

I knocked but didn’t bother waiting for an answer. There was a good chance he had those damn headphones on and wouldn’t hear me anyway.

Sure enough, when I walked inside and entered the smaller room, there he was, headphones on with the computer in front of him, playing games.

I pulled the headphones off his head. “I need your help.” That barely got a reaction. “Grandad needs your help.”

That did it.

He closed his laptop, and we moved into the other room. “What is this about?” he asked.

I told him about Grandad’s granddaughter, but I left out the part involving our parents. That was a story for another time.

“This granddaughter, will she be coming here?” Wyatt asked.

I could practically see the pieces moving around in his head. “I guess if her safety has been compromised, then yeah, she’ll probably be coming here.”

His expression changed. “Does that mean you won’t be Alpha?”

There it was.

I knew what he was really worried about: our place in the pack. We were adopted, after all, but I wasn’t ready to go down that road yet. “I don’t know.”

I placed the photograph on his desk. “Just get me whatever information you can, and please keep this to yourself.”

Wyatt knew how serious the situation was.

Leaving his room, I went to speak with two of my most trusted guards. Their assignment was simple: watch both girls without either of them realizing they had bodyguards. I could only hope Grandad’s granddaughter hadn’t awakened her wolf yet. Otherwise, she might sense someone following her.

By the time I returned to my room, my head felt heavy. There was too much running through my mind. What would her return mean for my brothers and me? If the real Alpha came home, would we still have a place in this pack? Or would we be sent away?

“You need to stop overthinking and wait to see what happens when she gets here,” my wolf said.

I frowned. “Why are you so calm about this whole situation?”

Normally, he would’ve been driving me insane with his opinions. Instead, he was suspiciously quiet. “Do you know something?”

“ As I said, just wait and see.” And with that, he shut me out.

I stared ahead for a moment. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Shaking my head, I grabbed my whiskey and poured myself a glass before sitting beside the window. The cool breeze drifting into the room helped calm me, but it couldn’t stop my thoughts.

Everything could change once Grandad’s granddaughter came home, but maybe her return would finally give me the opportunity I’d been waiting for.

Maybe I could finally learn the truth about what happened that night.